what you're eating NOW

Future applicants, take note. Is this not the sweetest submission y'all have ever seen? This week's winner of "What are you eating NOW?" is Miss Julia Wallerstedt. Her Sloppy Faux (HA!) was not only immensely creative but a recipe I personally can't wait to try out. Any way I can work a Sloppy Joe into my weekly diet without worrying about the aftermath is fine by me. And the carrot slaw on top? Like, get out of here, Julie.

Plus, her Q&A after the pictures just melted my heart.

As you'll soon see, Julie's a writer. And a damn good writer at that.

Be sure to check out her blog!

Dear Eat & Greet,


I'd like to be considered for your contest. I just indulged in a vegetarian sloppy joe, a recipe my roommate (a.k.a. mom) just threw together. A vegetarian sloppy joe? Some might scoff at such at notion. Well this creation, which I just renamed Sloppy Faux, was sufficiently sloppy & yummy.

Made from a mushroom-based ground beef substitute, tomato paste, crushed adobe peppers and onions, this sweet & spicy sandwich filling tastes like the real thing and has about 1/4 of the calories. Topped with a vinaigrette-based carrot slaw & extra BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's no doubt) and served with veggies and pop chips, you can't trick yourself much better than this. A side of ranch made from yogurt is optional for dipping. For dessert, I had a vitabrowine heated up with a dollop of dark chocolate fro-yo & organic frozen berries. What a treat. Delicious and nutritious.

I love your blog and read it daily. I hope one day to be able to eat, converse and photograph food like you do.

Your biggest fan,

Eat No Meat (Well, at least not tonight! I'm a flexitarian.)

What's your favorite part about cooking?

I know this sounds really cliché, but my favorite part of cooking is truly to make others happy (and fatter than me.) No, but really savoring food is one of the joys of this life and when you can share that joy with the people you love, there is no better feeling. It’s also a unique display of one’s creativity. The sensation you get when someone takes a bite out of your invention and says, “Oh my GOD this is the best thing I’ve ever had,” makes you as though you have brought something beautiful into this world that can be appreciated and it makes you feel good.Oh, and I have come to the conclusion that the old adage is true and that the way to a man’s heart is definitely through his stomach. Because one day the two of you are going to be old and wrinkly, but if you can still whip up that caramel cake he loves, he’s going to keep on smiling—even if it’s with a mouthful of dentures.

Favorite ingredient?

Well you know my least favorite ingredient is that controversial devil weed, cilantro. But I’m not the only one who’d rather go hungry than even sample this widely used member of the parsley family, one that Julia Child described as having "a dead taste”. See the whole story in the NYT.I think people overlook the wonderful vegetarian ingredients available to them. Tofu gets such a bad rap because it sounds like “toe fungus” but it really is delicious and healthy, especially in Asian flavors—think Kung Pao Tofu.

Best food memory?

One summer when I was about 12, my mom’s sleeping patterns were off and she’d wake up at 4 a.m. with nothing to do. So she baked. I would smell the aromas coming from downstairs and be automatically pulled out of bed. We’d sit on the back porch and eat homemade raspberry granola and watch the sun come up. I crave that taste to this day.4.

Last meal?

You mean my last meal on earth? I’d have to say dinner with my granddad, my dad’s dad. Dinner at his house is what he calls “simple country fare.” But sometimes fried chicken from an iron skillet, homemade gravy, a biscuit and some greens is all you need. “None of that organic crap,” would be his sentiment if he dared cursed in front of me. But that would never happen. Like always, we’d talk Shakespeare and Catechism by the numbers, between passing a pitcher of extra strong lipton iced tea.