Vegetarian Survey: A friend of mine is working on a project to write a business plan for a vegetarian food store. She distributed this survey around here at work and I offered to post it on the ‘Net for her. Please take a second to post your responses in the comments. It’ll only take a second and I know she’d appreciate it! It’s technically only for Australians, but you international types can play along too, I guess.

Meatless Meals Eaters – Research Questionnaire

This survey is designed to explore the habits and purchasing intentions of frequent and sporadic eaters of meatless meals. Thank you for participating.

1) Which of these statements best describes your meat eating habits?
a. I do not eat meat.
b. I eat meatless meals at least 4 times per week.
c. I eat meatless meals at least 2 times per week.
d. I eat meat in every meal. (answer question 6 only)

2) What are your reasons for eating meatless meals? >> Select all that apply
a. Health and/or wellbeing reasons
b. Ethical reasons (animal rights, the environment, etc)
c. Religious reasons
d. Other: ____________________________________

3) Have you ever purchased frozen/refrigerated meatless meal or meat substitute (vegetarian nuggets, soy sausages, etc)?
a. Yes, more than once, and I plan to purchase it again in the next 6 months.
b. Yes, once, and I plan to purchase it again in the next 6 months.
c. Yes, once, but I do not plan to purchase it again anytime soon.
d. No, but I intend to purchase it in the next 6 months. >> go to question 5
e. No, and I do not intend to purchase it anytime soon. >> go to question 5

4) Where have you purchased frozen/refrigerated meatless meal or meat substitute? >> Select all that apply
a. Convenience stores (7-Eleven, petrol station stores, etc)
b. Supermarkets
c. Health food stores
d. Other: ________________________________

5. Where do you eat meatless meals? >> Select all that apply
a. At home
b. At work
c. In restaurants or cafes
d. In fast-food outlets
e. Other: ________________________________

6) In 12 months you expect to be eating meatless meals:
a. More often than today.
b. As often as today.
c. Less often than today.

7) How often do you have quick meals (pastries, pizza, sandwich, etc, with or without meat) at convenience stores?
a. At least once a fortnight
b. At least once a month
c. Once every two months
d. Rarely
e. Never

8) Have you ever purchased food from a health food stores?
a. Yes, more than once, and I plan to purchase again in the next 6 months.
b. Yes, once, and I plan to purchase again in the next 6 months.
c. Yes, once, but I do not plan to purchase again anytime soon.
d. No, but I intend to purchase in the next 6 months.
e. No, and I do not intend to purchase anytime soon.

Your gender: a. Male b. Female
Your age group: a. 18-24 b. 25-34 c. 35-44 d. 45-54 e. 55+
Your residential postcode: ______________

As you can see from the photos below, the Snook and I have been makin’ pickles. Specifically, we’re making sun dills. My mom used to make them when I was a kid and I loved them, so a few months ago we planted cucumber seeds in the garden. As with everything else we planted, they went berserk. Last weekend the Snook noticed that I had three big fat ripe ones. Here you can see the before and after shots. Now we just need to leave the jar in the sun for a couple days and I’ll be eating ice cold fresh pickles by Monday!

Also, we tried out a great new sausage and bean stew for dinner tonight. It’s sorta like a cross between chili and gourmet beanie weenies. It’s not exactly the most Atkins-friendly dish but it’s an awesome winter warmer. (Why we made it in the height of Indian summer is a mystery even to me.) It even involved fennel, which I didn’t think I liked.

This recipe is courtesy of my friend Kiri, with a few small adjustments by the Snook and myself…

Sausage and Bean Stew
4 thick Italian style sausages
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large bulb of fennel, trimmed and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
400g tin chopped tomatoes
440g can canellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 small sprig rosemary
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
Shaved parmesan

Place sausages in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for two minutes, then drain well. When cool, cut on the diagonal into 2cm pieces.

Heat olive oil in a heavy-based flameproof casserole, add sausage pieces and cook over medium-high heat until browned, then drain on absorbent paper. Reduce heat to low-medium, then add onion, garlic, fennel and chilli to pan and cook stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until soft and then stir in tomato paste and cook for another five minutes. Add tomato, beans, stock and rosemary, cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Stir in sausage pieces and parsley and season to taste. (Pull out the rosemary.) Serve topped with parmesan with a crusty bread on the side.

Note: The Snook felt that this was a little too much chili, so next time we’ll probably use about half that much. If you’re scared of fennel (like I was), don’t sweat it. The strong licorice-ness really mellows out in the cooking and it ends up complimenting the spiciness nicely. (Incidentally, the fennel was labelled “aniseed” in my greengrocer in case you have trouble finding it.)

I decided to make some treats for the office tomorrow to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I did the usual Rice Krispie recipe but substituted pink marshmallows (strawberry flavor) instead of plain. That wasn’t quite pink enough, so I also stirred in a fair bit of red food coloring. They’re quite gruesome now, don’t you think? I also stirred in a bag of white chocolate chips which I hoped would remain whole but instead they just melted into the rest of the cereal. It’s fine; they still taste good. The hardest part was punching the damn things out with the heart-shaped cookie cutter. I tried to do it while they were still warm (so I could mush the leftover bits back together to make more treats) but they cooled rapidly and I had a hell of a time cutting them out. Still, they’re kinda cute and it’s always fun to put the whole office into sugar shock first thing Friday morning…

Hmmm. I need some help. My Mom sent me one of those Jello Jiggler Easter egg molds, but the first batch yesterday didn’t go very well. The eggs all broke in half when I tried to get them out (even after running hot water over the mold), and the halves themselves weren’t as stiff as I remembered. Do you have to modify the basic Jello recipe at all for Jigglers? I was thinking that maybe I should use less water and that would stiffen them up a bit. Any ideas, either for the recipe or the unmolding process?

In memory of Dr. Atkins, Rodd and I will be eating his pancakes and syrup today. Yep, actual Atkins brand! They were sent to use for Easter by my Dad and Cindy. Such a cool gift. Although, the first thing I saw when I opened the box was… PEEPS! There were Peeps lurking in my house all along! Luckily we had four tipsy guys in the house last night who were more than willing to scarf down some weird marshmallow birds. (We even showed them the trick of putting one in the microwave.) Ahh, good Easter fun.

Another culinary success from the Atkins recipe book: Broiled Orange-Chili Chicken Breasts. It sounded good, and we had a couple oranges in the fridge to use up. (The Snook bought them for brewing last week. I didn’t even want to ask.) I only marinated them for 2 hours (rather than the 6-8 they recommend), but they still turned out delish. I even cooked up the marinade and turned it into a sauce! I am the next Nigella (except without the oral fixation).