PeaceBang

REALLY Cruelty-Free Eggs: A Veggie Vicki Post

These girls will be providing me with my next dozen eggs, and it looks to me as though they’re really, truly cruelty-free. In fact, their guardian-mama hen says they’re positively spoiled!

As far as the vegetarian life goes, though, I must admit that my digestion was such a mess for the two months I was completely veggie, that I started adding some meat back into my diet and feel worlds better. Apparently when some carnivores go “cold turkey” or (”cold cow/cold pig/cold chicken”) this happens to them. So I’m working it out, and would appreciate hearing from other converts to the veggie life who had to make a similarly slow transition… or for whom being completely vegetarian just did not work. I know it’s anathema in many veggie circles to say so, but I’m sure it’s true that for some people vegetarianism is not the best option.

I’m not sure if that’s my case or not, I just know that I couldn’t go on with the digestive issues I was having… and there’s also the reality that when I live in Nicaragua for three weeks with a family, it’s going to be very difficult to be a vegetarian.

Thoughts? Advice?

Do You Buy Bagged Greens? Veggie Vicki Dispatch 10/25/08

Veggie Vicki here, heading into month two of vegetarian life as of Nov. 4th. Geez, time’s going by fast. I did host a dinner party a week or so ago and served some pork obtained at Whole Foods (for new readers, my commitment is to maintain a vegetarian diet but on the rare occasions I feel that I really want to eat or serve it, I have to know that it was humanely farmed and slaughtered), and it was absolutely delicious. Thank you, pig. The next time I make that black bean-based dish, you won’t be in it.

My digestion is lousy again,which I attribute to constant pre-election and pre-sabbatical jitters, but I’m taking pro-biotics and I’ll keep doing so in the hopes that they certainly can’t do any harm. I like Good Belly and found a 2-for-1 manufacturer’s coupon online for it today, so I’ll be picking up more cartons soon. Thanks to the reader who recommended it.

This may sound weird, but I seem to react badly to eggplant, so I’ll be paying attention to that. It’s either eggplant or canned tomatoes, but I tolerate fresh tomatoes perfectly well. Actually, I never know what’s going to “hit me” wrong, which causes me great impatience. I’m sure you fellow tummy trouble sufferers out there fully relate. And is it just me, or does every second or third person seem to have celiac disease, IBS, colitis, peanut or wheat sensitivity, lactose intolerance, or a combination of these? Whatever happened to the good old days when we ate what we wanted, smoked and drank to excess, and felt great!? All this clean livin’ is killin’ me! (sounds like the title of a book, doesn’t it?)

I must admit that when I was in a rush in NYC recently, I was briefly tempted to stop in at Gray’s Papya for two or three their legendary hot dogs with the works. Didn’t do it, though.

My friend Amy taught me a great secret for curing a sinus headache: Wasabi Peas!! Non-pharmacuetical, all-natural, way to go! And of course we love our Neti Pot this time of year, when leaf mold and all manner of nasty dusties crawl up the nose.

I still get Gourmet and Food & Wine magazines because I had a year-long subscription, and I still enjoy Gourmet very much because it always has interesting articles and vegetarian recipes. Food & Wine is far more pretentious and inaccessible, so I won’t re-subscribe (an article about purchasing a $1200 bottle of wine, emptying it and replacing the goods with cheapie wine to see if you can fool your wine expert friends? In this economy? Or ever? PLEASE!).

This article on the e coli spinach and greens scare is very interesting and thought-provoking. I have only purchased bagged greens on occasion because they’re very expensive, and because I never trusted their freshness and “sanitariness”, funny enough. I mean, why buy bagged greens if you’re just going to wind up carefully washing and drying them again yourself? Sort of defeats the purpose of open-and-eat convenience. So enjoy this article by Barry Estabrook called “Greens of Wrath” (if “enjoy” is the correct term), and let me know what you think.

Veggie Vicki, Month One

I became a liberal vegetarian (as opposed to an orthodox vegetarian!) a month and four days ago and it’s been a fairly easy transition. I’ve had some fish (haddock at a restaurant and canned tuna a couple of times), and free-range, organic chicken from Whole Food twice (from their hot bar). My commitment was to eat vegetarian except when I felt I absolutely couldn’t do without meat, in which case I would only consume animals that had been farmed and “harvested” (ie, slaughtered) humanely.

Some surprises: I LOVE tofu and snack on baked squares of it (no one told me before that you have to thoroughly blot dry tofu — not just drain it — before cooking it, which makes a world of difference), and I don’t eat as many eggs as I expected to. I find that it’s fairly easy to cook up a batch of legumes or a tasty gratin of some sort and eat it for days. In a pinch there’s always soup, grilled cheese, and a host of other tasty options. I cook with nuts a lot more now than ever before, and I can’t believe how delicious pine nuts are in just about anything. I’m also very fond of the raw peanuts I get from the Asian market. It sounds corny, but food really does seem to taste better.

I still love the smell of meat cooking but I just don’t want to eat it. Weird. When a guy friend was considerate enough to pick the pork out of the lo mein we got at Chinese take-out for me recently, I thought I’d say, “Oooh, you didn’t have to,” but the fact is, I would have actually picked it out myself. In the past when I was trying to eat vegetarian I would not have bothered.

I still have some digestive issues but a doctor has helped me trace all that back to a trip to Guatemala two years ago during which I became incredibly ill with food poisoning. It took me months to fully recover and I guess the point is, I never did. Apparently my villi were hit so hard that I’ll be susceptible to digestive upsets for a very long time — maybe always — unless I follow a really mild diet and I’m sorry, but me give up hot sauce, coffee, acidic fruits and veggies and fried foods forever? Not happenin!

The doc says that my lactose intolerance is a direct result of that illness in Guatemala — it’s not at all uncommon for a GI crisis like that to bring on lactose intolerance in adults. So that’s a bit of a bummer, but I have discovered this absolutely delicious product, which helps take some of the sting away:

Aiieee, mami, this is so good! The trouble is, you’ll want to snarf down the entire container right away. It may be non-dairy but it sure isn’t low in calories!

Vicki Veggie #3 Israeli Couscous

Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains are YUMBY, ya’ll. You cook them up with some broth and they come out all chewy. I roasted up a bunch of asparagus and tofu with olive oil and sea salt and chopped it up and threw it in there.

Also, if you’re looking for a super flavorful vegetarian chicken base I discovered one by Vogue (what a great name!) that tastes really good, and I’m picky. I mix up a big container of it and then cook with it all week. Easy peasy. The dog likes it on his kibble, too.

So, okay, now I’m worried that I’m getting too much soy in my diet. I love edamame beans, I love tofu, I love soy burgers, I like other soy-based fake meat products (but am finding lots of good alternatives to them and not using them very much), I sometimes use soy milk (although I prefer almond milk and use that more often). Here’s an interesting conversation about soy. It concludes that we shouldn’t eat a soy-based diet but use it to complement a plant-based diet, which sounds like common sense to me.

Here’s Maxfield working out his carnivorous fantasies on these two innocent beavers, both gifts from friends:

Vicki Veggie #2

Some observations:

1. I’m gaining weight, not losing. Why? Because the gustatory delights I’m coming up with in the kitchen are leading me to eat too much!! This must stop! I note a definite psychological justification along the lines of “Well I’m saving so many calories not having meat in my diet, I can totally chow on this potato garlic feta cheese argula gratin. NOT! Chunky Monkey, cut it out!

I’ve gotten over the bread and cheese thing, but it’s so easy to eat too much pasta or rice or couscous or bulgar wheat or split pea soup or stewed pumpkin or huge plate of zucchini or sliced tomatoes with basil or whatever it is. I tell myself that I’m adjusting. What an excuse! Adjusting!? Probably to a pair of bigger pants if I don’t cease and desist. I am still on Weight Watchers, and I’m still committed to losing. It’s just that if I had any fantasies that becoming a vegetarian would help me avoid compulsive overeating, I was so wrong.

2. I’m not interested in eating out so much. My big “out” splurges tended to be carnivorous, so if a place doesn’t do fish or vegetarian entrees really well, I just don’t want to go.

3. Nutritional yeast is so good on popcorn!

4. Today while grocery shopping I was hungry and stopped short when I saw Roche Bros.’ fabulous display of chicken wings of various flavors and marinades. My mouth literally watered. Then I remembered the de-beaking of chickens, their cruel treatment, and their filthy living conditions and I walked on by. The same thing happened when I had a sudden, dizzying craving for ribs. I imagined those pigs… oh man, no.

5. I eat a lot of vegetables! Sounds stupid, I know, but I’m amazed at how, for instance, three Chinese eggplants cook down to such a relatively small serving! I just chopped up a whole package of mushrooms to sautee with scallions and to mix in with brown rice and they cooked down to nothing! (P.S. This simple rice dish is awesome with some unsweetened, shredded coconut stirred in and topped with a squeeze of lime juice).

6. I am immensely grateful for the huge Asian market relatively near me. I can pick up interesting fruits and vegetables, wonderful sea vegetables (aka seaweeds), yummy toppings for my rice, dried anchovies and other interesting condiments, mock duck and cans of quail eggs. The fried cuttlefish bar, however, I need to stay away from. I should note, however, that since starting my day with a smoothie made with almond milk, fruit, a small handful of almonds and a tablespoon of flax seed oil, I don’t crave fried foods much at all, and aside from LUNDBERG FARMS CHIPS (see rant below), have stayed away from them.

7. People ask if I “feel better” since eliminating meat from my diet. A little bit. I’m not sure yet. I think I have more energy but I’m really down on myself for overeating right now, so I’ll check in on that later.

8. Someone sent me a lovely vegan cookbook (Yellow Rose Recipes by Joanna Vaught) from Amazon and I’d like to thank you. Who are you? It’s a great book, and I can’t wait to make the lemon almond cake!

9. Another wonderful cookbook that has been getting a lot of use in my kitchen lately is Simple Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin. These recipes are absolutely delicious, easy and written in a very easy to understand style. LOVE this book.

10. Lundberg Farmily Farms, I hate you! I hate you with an intense red hot heat because you manufacture the most completely yummy rice chips I’ve ever tasted and because they’re all ORGANIC and have the word “STEWARDSHIP” on their packaging and all HEALTHY and everything, my brain says “get the chips get the chips get the chips” and then I do, and then I EAT THEM ALL, and that’s why I’m such a fat fatty!!! And it’s all your fault!! Because all the flavors are delicious and the next time I go to the health food store I am BREAKING UP WITH YOU. And you had BETTER NOT CALL me when I do!

Veggie Recipe #1: Yams and Coconut Black Bean Thing

Warm up some olive oil in a large covered skillet and sweat one diced red onion and a bunch of minced garlic. (Don’t burn that garlic!)

Peel and cut some yams or sweet potatoes into half moons 1/2″ thick.

Drain some black beans. (Trader Joe’s had organic ones on sale for .99 a can last week!)

After the onions and garlic are gently cooked, add beans and sweet potatoes/yams to skillet. Stir well.

Stir in one can of coconut milk and one half can of water into which you have thrown one teaspoon of kosher salt and a big old pinch of cumin.

Cover and cook for like 45 minutes until yams/sweet potatoes can be easily pierced with a knife.

In the last five minutes of cooking, add chopped cilantro and the zest of one orange.

If the sauce is too thin, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and simmer some of it off.

Serve over brown rice.

Raise Your Hand If You Have A Wheat Or Gluten Allergy

I try to remember that good bread is like crack for me, and to keep it out of the house. But yesterday I bought a beautiful loaf from Giuseppi so I could smoosh tomatoes on it (see my recipe for pa amb tomaquet). I hadn’t eaten all day so I ate two tomatoes on four pieces of bread.

Fifteen minutes later I felt as though someone had held a chloroformed rag over my face. I dragged myself up to bed and fell into a comatose-level nap for over an hour, waking in the worst, most hideous mood ever. My anxiety level was zooming. That could have been because church start-up is kicking into high gear, because I had lost precious work hours to napping and feeling foggy and lousy, or because anxiety is one symptom of wheat allergies.

Interesting.

I took an Emergen-C packet, did some work, got through the evening hours, had a nice talk on the phone with a nice guy, and cooked up a bean and sweet potatoes dinner (recipe forthcoming). The cloud passed.

But I just get so bummed out. My guts ain’t what they used to be and I hate that. And then I think well, we’re all ingesting so many toxins all the time, of course many of us are developing allergies. “It’s not your fault, Vicki,” I tell myself. “It’s not like you went on a fast food binge or drank too much. You ate bread from the local bakery!” Whatever is the world coming to?

I guess what my world is coming to is to motivate my bod to finally get that endoscopy the doc recommended a year ago, and while I’m at it to see an allergist.
*pout*

If there’s anything I hate more than going to the doctor, it’s … well, I guess it’s feeling lousy and not knowing why, and being foolish enough to ignore obvious signs that it might be a good idea to avoid ingesting processed flour. I don’t have this reaction to whole wheat couscous or bulgar wheat or anything like that.

Thoughts?

Day One: Veggie Vicki

Some of you might vaguely recall that I tried vegetarianism two summers ago after reading Barbara Kingsolver’s marvelous book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

I did okay, but it didn’t last. What did last was my appreciation for a more varied grains and vegetable aspect to my diet, and that’s still in place. So hey-ho, away we go with Veggie Vicki, Part II!

I emptied my fridge and freezer of meat this morning and brought the stash over to my neighbor pals who said they’d be able to use it. When I walked through the door Larry said, “Food with a face!”
I love him.

I already had three or four boxes of various Morningstar Farms vegetarian products in the freezer, and some fake ground burger. I went to my local, privately-owned health food store and bought some organic brown rice, whole wheat couscous, flax seed oil (I have a smoothie every morning with flax seed oil in it), and Lundgren Rice Chips (nacho-flavored) that were so good I can never buy them again! I also purchased some of Amy’s All American veggie burgers, some clear stevia liquid that I use to sweeten the herbal tea I drink by the gallon, and a few pieces of organic produce.

While I did see humanely-raised and organic meats in the freezer section I wasn’t hankering for meat so I skipped it. I’m glad to know it’s there, including OSTRICH MEAT (!). I’ve almost always purchased my Thanksgiving turkey from a local farm, and there’s no reason I can’t buy from them at other times of the year. For those of you who buy half a cow and such, how the heck do you know how to butcher it for cooking? As a single woman, I can’t imagine buying huge quantities of farm animal, but that’s helpful information for others, I’m sure.

I stopped by the local, privately-owned bakery and bought a loaf of soft, delicious Italian bread from Giuseppe. I ate pa amb tomaquet for lunch, a delicious Catalan dish that involves simply cutting a few slices of fresh, wonderful bread, squishing ripe tomatoes onto each slice so that the tomato guts seep into the bread and you’re left with only tomato skin in your hand, drizzling that with olive oil and sprinkling sea salt on top. YUM.

My friends Stuart and Stacey and I were talking about making lifestyle changes slowly, and I like what they said: they said that you don’t try to do everything at once. You make a couple of changes and then those become habit, and then you change a few more things. Recycling and composting have become habits, as has driving less, turning off lights more assiduously, unplugging unused appliances, and bringing my own bags with me when I shop for anything.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get those images from the video out of my mind, and that should go a long way to keeping me away from the meat section of the supermarket for long enough for new practices to become habits.

Happy Labor Day!

If you’re having a cook-out, you must try Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. I just discovered it and I think it’s the best that ever was. It would make CARDBOARD taste delectable!

Enjoy your holiday, PeaceBangers. I’ll be writing a paper and cleaning out guest bedrooms. But don’t feel sorry for me, because I had a great weekend with glorious weather and the company of great friends, I have a wonderful job to return to on Tuesday, and there are no hurricanes threatening anywhere around my region. So I feel like one blessed girl.

The thought of New Orleans folks evacuating again is heart-sickening. Folks down South dealing with Gustav, please know that you are being held in love, hope and some fierce praying.

Mark Bittman’s Meatloaf Recipe: Super Huge, Fat Thumbs Up

Please allow me to share with you the most delicious meatloaf recipe I have EVER used. Vegetarians, my apologies for what is to follow.

Mark Bittman’s Meatloaf Recipe
from How To Cook Everything

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs, preferably fresh
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 pounds mixed ground meats: beef, veal, lamb, and/or pork (I used half pork and half beef)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 5-6 crumbled, dried fresh sage leaves or 1 tsp dried (I used about six dried leaves from last summer’s garden & I think it was the winning ingredient)
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 small onion minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3 slices bacon optional but good, especially if the meat is very lean

What’s Next:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk until the milk is absorbed, about 5 minutes.
2. Mix together all ingredients except bacon. Shape the meat into a loaf in a baking pan (I baked it on a rack to keep it from soaking in its own fat); top with bacon if you like ( I did).
Bake 60 minutes, basting occasionally with rendered pan juices. When done, meat loaf will be lightly browned and firm, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a meat loaf will read 160 F, cook for 1 hr.

I made this for dinner tomorrow night but of course SweetieBang and I had to “sample it.” We had to wrap it in foil immediately and treat it like plutonium because it was so heavenly delicious we knew it wouldn’t last the night if we left it on the counter for one more second.

Yes, I’m still on Weight Watchers. Yes, this is one big fat and cholesterol bomb. But dern it, a gal likes to make a big ole meat loaf now and then, and we’ve been all about big salads and roasted vegetables and small portions of pasta for weeks (except for that one Oscar night pu pu platter situation).