I don’t eat marshmallows because they are made from gelatin, which is made from boiling down animal parts (like hair, bones, ligaments, etc.).  And I don’t eat boiled-down animal parts.

But I really want to eat a marshmallow.  A melty-gooey marshmallow.

So, off I go, on the Great Vegan Marshmallow Hunt.  Chicago Soy Dairy, the makers of the luscious Temptations Ice Cream, makes them; as does a company called Sweet and Sara. I will be making a trip to Whole Foods to see if they have any. Amazon has none, and neither does Pangea.

Meanwhile, has anyone made vegetarian or vegan marshmallows?  How do they turn out? Do they make nice s’mores?…

• sautee diced white mushrooms, a few minced garlic cloves, and some onion in olive oil in a medium saucepan
• once those are soft and the mushrooms are cooked down, add a little more oil, and a few handfuls of flour.
• fry the veg-oil-flour mixture for a couple minutes.
• deglaze the pan with a bit of red wine
• add some herbs like sage and thyme
• pour in 2 cups of veggie broth, and maybe a little more wine if you’re feeling sassy (I was)
• cook it for a few minutes till it’s thick and starts to look like gravy
• salt and pepper to taste

As I said, I put the Celebration Roast in a covered casserole dish with some baby carrots (I could’ve added potatoes also, but opted for rice as my starch instead.  What can I say – my soul loves rice n gravy.), then poured the gravy over it all and baked till the carrots were tender.  It was comfort yum food.

Then last night I made the Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh from Veganomicon.

I recently wrote a paper about tempeh for my Food and Culture class, so I’ve been in the mood to play with it.  I didn’t have any wine around, so after pondering my dilemma for a while, I decided to use orange juice instead.  I’m brilliant.  It certainly changes the undertone of the flavor of the marinade, but it was so yum. Killer even.  I stole a bit of the marinade in which to toss some halved baby new potatoes, then roasted them in the oven.  We had those with a side salad dressed in a citrus vinaigrette, but Monday’s green beans would have been just as nice of a green veggie accompaniment.

Both of these meals are fiber-full, traditional protein/starch/green-veggie meals.  Very balanced, homey vegan fare.  I think after all the transition in my life lately, what with moving, growing a baby, and adjusting to a new city; I’m hungry for some traditional (for me) home-cooked meals.

Wow. That’s putting your money where your mouth is. I’m kindof in awe. Newsom has pretty much removed high-fructose corn syrup from government vending in this city.

However, while it’s certainly a health-promoting move, the directive still allows diet (artificially-sweetened) sodas to comprise no more than 25% of the items offered in any machine. (To be fair, the directive states that there should be “ample choices” of water, and dairy and non-dairy milks, and that juices must be 100% fruit or vegetable juice with no added sweeteners.) Diet sodas are bad.  Aspartame (and Nutrasweet, Splenda, Equal) is bad. And studies show that these sweeteners don’t actually fight obesity – studies show that consumption of artificially sweetened beverages actually increases your chances of gaining weight; plus, they alter your brain chemistry and the body’s natural ability to regulate calorie intake, making you more prone to overeating  Don’t believe me? — check out here and here. Or, you could read this well-referenced article. Plus, the proof is in the (jiggling) pudding: Americans consume more artificial sweeteners than ever, and they’re fatter than ever; all the major health and medical organizations agree about this.  So artificial sweeteners aren’t the answer to our obesity problem.

Want to know what is?  get ready, it’s pretty revolutionary: WATER.  Yeah, just drink water.  The purest, cleanest you can find.  If you were my client and you came into my office and told me you drink diet soda regularly, I’d say: STOP.  Drink water, or herbal tea, or decaf tea, or squeeze some lemon into your water.  Folks, if I learned anything in my graduate nutrition program, it’s that we can’t be healthy if we don’t drink water. And if you must have a sweetened beverage, please use pure stevia, or a small amount of honey or cane sugar (unless you are insulin-resistant or have diabetes). ( I’m writing this as I sip on a homemade mocha made with decaf coffee, coconut milk, stevia, and cocoa powder…..mmmm.)

Kudos to you, Mayor Newsom, for doing something, anything, to combat obesity.  It’s certainly more than the Feds are doing, even as obesity costs the US around $150 billion dollars annually, according to the CDC.  But to be truly health-promoting, we need to acknowledge that diet sodas are just as destructive as regular ones, and should be limited just as strictly.

So far, I resonate with a lot of what she says regarding medicine, childhood illnesses, home remedies, nutrition (with a few exceptions, one being: she advises parents to avoid coconut oil — that’s a fail in my opinion), and breastfeeding, among other things.  Some of the parenting advice I don’t necessarily resonate with.   That’s in part because I am not totally sold on the whole Attachment Parenting philosophy, although I think it definitely has aspects I intuitively agree with, and I certainly want to parent mindfully and intentionally.  I find I resonate with AP’s overarching philosophies, but not so much with some of the particular approaches they preach.  For instance, I don’t really see my husband and I doing a long-term co-sleeping thing or forgoing sleep training altogether — but that’s us; everyone is different and will land in a different place in making these decisions.

But, I’m really glad I’m reading this book.  I feel like, despite the sifting I find myself doing, I’m learning some useful things about baby and childcare.  And, from a holistic medical perspective, I’m getting some decent advice from Dr. Feder.

How about you? Has anyone read this book?  Do you love it?  What do you think about Attachment Parenting?  Do you have other parenting philosophies you like?

From International Vegetarian Union

I hate that.  I mean, I know the little can of tomato paste only costs $0.79, but still, so wasteful.

Well, wonder of wonders, you can freeze it!  You can either freeze it in two tablespoon increments wrapped in plastic wrap (which is the amount many recipes call for), or just dump the remainder of the can in a freezer bag. You can also roll it into a log shape so you can slice off the amount you need later. Serendipity!  No more wasted tomato paste!

I learned that from my Mom, who just told me recently because she forgot to tell me ten years ago.

ps: don’t forget to label and date it.

A long time ago my mom gave me a book called Dinner’s in the Freezer.  This was before we went veg.  Basically it’s a bunch of recipes that you can make a double (or triple) portion of, and freeze most of it so that you always have something wholesome to heat up when you’re rushed or don’t feel like cooking.  At the time, I got all excited about it, and made several of the recipes, freezing vast quantities of turkey-rice casserole and Tally-Ring*. Despite the fact that we got tired of only having turkey-rice casserole or Tally-Ring in the freezer, having a freezer full of home-made heat-and-eat meals is definitely convenient, money-saving, and much more healthful than processed fast-food or tv dinners.

So, the freezing-meals habit has stuck with me, although I’ve tweaked the original plan a little bit.  Here’s how I do it:

• I freeze proactively: Whenever I’m making a freeze-able food, like a pot of stew or curry or a casserole, I immediately freeze at least two single-serve portions as soon as the pot cools a bit.  I’m usually only cooking for two, so I usually have generous amounts of leftovers from any recipe. Plus, it keeps us from getting tired of eating a dish before all the leftovers are gone (=less waste).

• I only freeze single-serve portions: This way I can take one out in the morning on my way to work to reheat for a quick, one-container lunch.  Single-serve portions take less time to thaw.

• I don’t make extra for the express purpose of freezing it: I found that was too much trouble.  If there’s extra, I freeze it; if not, we gobble it all up. (Except when I’m making Chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon; those I make extra just to freeze.  Yum.) If you double or triple a recipe, it means your precious freezer space is full of only one or two dishes = boring.  If I freeze a couple servings of whatever I’m making, then after a while I have a smorgasbord of dishes to choose from when Lazy Day comes around; I can choose what I’m in the mood for, and so can Hubs.

Ok, if you’re gonna do this, here are a couple things to remember:

• Label each container with the date and what’s inside.  You will forget what it is.  Or one will get stuck way in the back behind the popsicles and you’ll forget to eat it before it’s too old. I like to just write on the container with a dry-erase marker; it usually stays.
• Don’t freeze dishes you didn’t like.  You won’t like them when you re-heat them either.
• Don’t forget about food safety.  I like to freeze things when they’re still a bit hot, so they haven’t had time to grow an unfriendly microbe.  It’s best to thaw in the fridge, or to quick-thaw with warm water or the microwave.  (sometimes I fudge on this, oops).
• You can also freeze things like bean-burgers, muffins, fritters, individual slices of cashew-cheesecake, waffles, and flourless fudge brownies.  I usually wrap these individually in plastic wrap, then put them all in a freezer bag.

I should mention, this is an especially good habit to be in when you know that you have a time when you’ll need ready-made meals around.  I’m currently working on filling my freezer with yummy goodies for when our baby girl comes and Hubs and I take our Babymoon in a few months.  We had eaten up all our freezer-goodies before we moved, so I’m starting with an empty freezer.  I’m going to think of it as giving myself little baby gifts

Next time you’re laboring over a large pot of black-eyed pea gumbo or leak and bean cassoulet, set aside a couple of servings for your freezer.  Later, when you’re vegging out in your fuzzy slippers, eating yummy comfort food that you didn’t slave over that day, you’ll thank yourself.

Do you already do this? Do you have veg-friendly recipes you love to have hanging out in your freezer? Leave a comment!

Fragrances also contain synthetic musks, chemicals which have been shown in laboratory studies to be linked to cancer, skin sensitization, skin irritation, and fertility problems in women. According to the Environmental Working Group, “In the US, all musk chemicals are unregulated, and safe levels of exposure have not yet been set.”

Some health researchers believe that chemicals in cosmetics are partly to blame for the high rates of hormonal imbalances, particularly in women.  In addition, allergies and chemical sensitivities are on the rise — many people suddenly find themselves allergic to products they’ve been using for years.  My advice is: if you know you have hormonal issues, or find that you’re becoming more sensitive to personal care products, replace all your cosmetic and personal care products with all-natural, non-toxic, fragrance-free versions; many of these can be made at home.

On an environmental note, most of the chemicals in fragrances are petroleum-based compounds; this means, our use of them doesn’t decrease our dependence on a petroleum-based economy, which I think most people agree is a good idea. Not to mention, all these chemicals go down the drain and get into the water supply.

For more info, check out the Environmental Working Group’s stance on artificial fragrances.

Instead of artificial fragrances, use plant-based essential oils.  I have a few that I always keep on hand for fragrancing homemade cosmetic and bath products, and for use as natural pharmaceuticals.  Here are a few I like, and what I use them for:

• Tea tree oil: natural antiseptic and anti-fungal.  Dilute and use on cuts, scrapes, pimples, even some rashes.  Important to dilute, or to test your tolerance of this.  I find that tea tree is irritating to my skin unless its well-diluted with coconut or olive oil.  Also great to put a few drops in a bath if you’re dealing with an issue such as a yeast infection.
• Eucalyptus: great for colds and sinus issues.  I put a few (maybe 5 drops) in a bath to clear sinus problems.  Or I might add a couple drops to my neti pot. Rosemary oil has a similar effect.
• Lavender: the ultimate calming, soothing scent.  I add this to coconut oil that I put around my house in baby-food jars for use as moisturizer and lip balm, as well as minor first aid such as kitchen burns.  I’ve also been using this on my belly to prevent stretch marks.  (For more on preventing stretch marks, check out my friend and fellow nutritionist Jessica Forbes’ blog post on the subject.) And, lavender is my go-to bath addition – for me, no hot bath is complete without the scent of lavender.
• Lemongrass: I keep lemongrass around simply because I love the scent of it.  I add it to my homemade laundry starch spray so that our clothes get that fresh lemony-herbal scent.
• Peppermint: this one’s great for flavoring homemade toothpastes/powders, and anything else you want to smell minty.  Sometimes I mix it with lemongrass in homemade fabric refresher.  It also has some antiseptic properties.  (Side note: I have always loved the scent of Aveda salon products.  I found that I could mimic their scent by combining rosemary, peppermint, and lavender oils in my oil diffuser (the kind you burn a tealight underneath), to fragrance my home)

There are so many essential oils to experiment with, and they all have different properties.  For more info on the properties of essential oils, check out Aura Cacia, an Iowa-based company that sells quality essential oils and products.  Try a few out in place of your artificially-fragranced products.  You can even use them as perfume–I especially like rose and jasmine for this, and sandalwood is nice for guys!

If you have other essential oils you like to use, or have experience with the toxic effects of fragrances, leave a comment!

My plan is to try this recipe for a few weeks and see how it works — I’ve also read some good reviews of it online. It’s a mix of coconut oil, baking soda, and arrowroot or corn starch (I used arrowroot); and I added a few drops of lemongrass essential oil for fragrance (I LOVE the scent of lemongrass; you could use whatever you like best). I have dubbed it CocoDeo.  I’m enthused to find yet another use for my favorite all-purpose, cooking/baking/frying, moisturizing, healing, everyday healthful coconut oil.  If you haven’t heard me soapbox about coconut oil yet, just wait.  Honestly, it was the coconut oil that sold me on trying a switch again — coconut oil has antibacterial and antiviral properties. Plus, I live in San Francisco now, where it is never hot (except occasionally when one is hauling one’s pregnant ass up a big hill), so I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to only use Dove on special occasions and keep the CocoDeo for everyday.

If you’ve tried this or other non-toxic deodorants, homemade or store-bought, and were pleased with them, leave a comment to let us know what’s worked for you.  And I’ll post an update in a couple of weeks about the CocoDeo.

*the next day, the CocoDeo got me through a very warming 1.5 hr prenatal yoga class stink free!