People become vegetarians for different reasons—ethical treatment of animals, environmental concerns, health issues—and people also don’t become vegetarians for, oddly, the same reasons (except that those reasons are on the opposite side of the spectrum).

But whatever your feelings about vegetarianism, it doesn’t hurt to change things up a bit now and then. So, I throw out a challenge: Become a vegetarian for one month. Think you can do it? Can you do it for a week? I know some people who would be hard-pressed to do it for a day. But I have faith in you.

Think of it as a reason to try all those recipes you’ve been dying to try but kept pushing aside. There are so many fabulous ways to cook vegetables and fruits, and you can experiment with tofu, tempeh, seitan, and textured vegetable protein, or TVP (although, I’d use TVP on a limited basis because it’s actually a processed product).

Tempeh

And if you’ve been ignoring those recipes because of your family, make it a group effort. Tell your family that you’re all going to go veg for the month of October. And for the kids, make it like a special holiday (which, technically, it is anyway). Tell them that after they’ve vegged all month, it will culminate in a day of goodies with Halloween. You know, sort of like how they do it with Ramadan. Sort of.

To start you off, here’s a recipe from my cookbook, What, No Meat? Traditional Italian Cooking the Vegetarian Way. I’d love to know how you do, so come on back and leave a comment.

Have a great week, everyone.

Linguine with Creamy Leek and Sage Sauce

1 pound linguine
1 tablespoon salt for water
3 tablespoons olive oil
¾ cup chopped leek
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 cups cherry tomatoes, peeled and halved
¾ cup chopped mushrooms
1½ tablespoons chopped fresh sage OR 2 teaspoons dried sage
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup heavy or light cream
Grated parmigiano or pecorino romano

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the linguine and salt for the water and cook, stirring often, until al dente, about 10 to 13 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a medium pan. Add the leek and garlic and sauté over medium

heat, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are golden, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomatoes and

cook 1 minute. Add the mushrooms, sage, salt, and pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Stir in the cream and let it simmer over low heat for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and keep it covered.

When the pasta is done, drain well and transfer to a serving bowl. Pour the sauce over the linguine and mix. Sprinkle on the parmigiano or pecorino, stir again, and serve hot.

Store leftovers tightly sealed in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Copyright © 2008

What that means in the publishing world is that I didn’t have a built-in fan base. How does one get a built-in fan base? Well, in the case of food writing, it could mean owning a restaurant or other food-related business, being a celebrity chef, having a regular food column in a widely read newspaper or magazine, or being famous for some other reason. The last reason is a pet peeve of mine. It seems that every celebrity who gets a bug up their butt about it puts out a cookbook. I’d venture to guess that half the celebrity cookbooks on the market are “written” by people who probably don’t even know how to boil water. Or, even if they do, what are the chances that they wrote the book themselves? Don’t get me started on this!

Anyway, having a personal chef business simply wasn’t enough and getting an article published here and there wasn’t doing it either. But I had put years of work into this book. Years of researching, writing, revising, studying the market, putting together proposals, and bad experiences with unscrupulous publishers and agents. I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t just let it die. So, what’s a frustrated girl with a good, well-written cookbook to do? Self-publish. I chose Booklocker as my publisher and embarked on the journey.

Since then, I’ve been networking and trying to market my book in every way I can, but when you self-publish, it’s very difficult to to make the industry connections that a publisher can. It can also get expensive. Furthermore, in querying agents for my cookbook-in-progress, I haven’t been able to mention that I already have a published cookbook because there’s a stigma attached to self-publishing. Mentioning something like that can actually work against you (although the perception is changing).

The press that has picked me up is Rogue Books, an imprint of Bedazzled Ink. They’re an eclectic bunch and they have a great reputation for treating their authors with respect and for actually putting in marketing efforts, something that the average author doesn’t get much of.

I was approached by them with the offer of being picked up. The head editor there said that she (a vegetarian) and another editor (a vegan) had been wanting to publish a vegetarian cookbook and that mine looked promising. I didn’t take long to make my decision. Having a traditional publisher behind me is going to be a very good thing.

So my book is going to be temporarily unavailable, as Booklocker has already deactivated my book page. The nice thing is that the owner of Booklocker (and the writer’s ezine WritersWeekly), to her credit, is actually happy when one of her authors gets a traditional publishing contract. I’ve had a good experience with Booklocker and I’m glad I went with them. But this is the next step for me. (If anyone wants a copy of the book in its current incarnation—for lower than the retail cost)—leave me a comment and I’ll contact you.)

I’ve got numerous projects bubbling on the stove, which is keeping me busy during this period of unemployment. Now, if only I could figure out a way to make some money. Frankly, I don’t think the mortgage company is going to be impressed with my publishing achievements. I’ve posted another recipe from my book on the recipe page. If anyone makes anything out of my book, I’d love to hear how it turned out, so leave a comment!

Have a great week, everyone.