WHAAA?
you better believe I bought those suckers up. Hubs and I are feasting on Avo and Black Bean Tacos tonight.
…sigh. no, they are not local. not organic. they were grown conventionally far from here and shipped in a refrigerated truck.
But…they’re delicious/nutritious/creamy/antioxidant-laden/fiber-rich and THEY COST 88 CENTS EACH…
In so many ways I am complicit/complacent.
Here is a letter from Sir Paul McCartney, who along with Stella and Mary McCartney, has founded the Meat-Free Monday campaign. I think this is a really smashing idea that makes loads of sense. The letter was published in today’s GOOP newsletter (from Gwyneth Paltrow). I’m going to try to think of gentle ways to share this idea with my meat-eating friends.
Hi Goopsters! Hi Gwyneth!
Ok, here’s the story on Meat Free Monday. In 2006, the United Nations issued a report which stated that the livestock industry as a whole was responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the whole of the transport sector put together.
I found this interesting particularly because people at the UN are not a vegetarian society and therefore, could not be accused of bias. They pointed out the following facts:
With this in mind, my family and I launched Meat Free Monday in the UK, an idea which has been gaining support from people like Tom Parker-Bowles who, after a lifetime of denigrating vegetarians, recently wrote in his Daily Mail column, “I wince at the memory of my boorish antics” and who pronounced himself “intrigued” by MFM: “There’s no doubting the plain common sense of the message…Meat Free Monday is something to really savour”. Another supporter is Al Gore who stated that initiatives like Meat Free Monday “represent a responsible and welcome component of a comprehensive strategy for reducing global warming pollution and simultaneously improving human health.”
Even a number of schools have already done this in the UK with great success. The town of Ghent in Belgium has a meat free day and, amazingly, Sao Paulo has one even though Brazil is a large exporter of meat. In Sweden, the government is now labeling food to give the consumer the opportunity to understand the dangers of indiscriminate food consumption and there are many more examples appearing online.
The point is that so many people these days are looking for ways to “do their bit” for the environment. We recycle – something we never would have dreamt of doing in the past. Many people now drive hybrid cars but most people understand that we cannot leave this important issue to the politicians of the world. Recently, at the Copenhagen Conference for Climate Change, this issue was not even on the agenda and so I believe it is once again left to us, the people, to do it ourselves.
It’s amazingly easy to take one day in your week, Monday or any other day, and not eat meat. When you think about it, there are so many great alternatives, for instance, in Italian cooking, so many of the dishes are vegetarian already and Thai and Chinese cuisine are the same. All it means is that you have to think a bit about what you’ll eat that day but, in actual fact, far from being a chore, it’s a fun challenge.
Having been a vegetarian for over 30 years, I find it very simple and in fact, tasty and most enjoyable.
So there it is! Next Monday – don’t eat meat and do your bit to save this beautiful planet of ours. For more information, ideas and lots of meat free recipes, go to the official Meat Free Monday website.
Thanks Goopsters! Thanks Gwyneth!
Rock on ya’ll!
Paul
Recently a friend asked me to give her some ideas for healthy, low-calorie meals and snacks. She has recently finished breast-feeding her little boy, and therefore is “allowed” significantly fewer calories than before. I generally like to eat smaller meals about every 3-4 hours, so I come up with quite a few healthy mini-meals. Here are a few of my own go-to meals and snacks.
I use seasonings like Tony Chachere’s, hot sauce, vinegar, and soy sauce liberally on many of my mini-meals; I have no patience for bland food.
Hominy!
Canned hominy has approximately 60 calories and 6 grams of fiber per 1/2 cup serving! That is a lot of fiber in those little kernels. Plus, they taste great! kindof nutty but corny and chewily satisfying. I will definitely be coming up with more ways to use hominy (other than opening the can and eating it).
For now, here are some hominy recipes that sound super:
Posole Soup
Mexican Hominy Bake
Vegetarian Menudo
Harmonious Hominy, Soybean, and Potato Salad
Happy Pooping!
Oh, if only I had an ice-cream-maker (which I don’t really want, as it would likely sit in the basement gathering dust except for this one time), I would make this:
I decided that today I’d do a little mini raw cleanse. I may carry it over to tomorrow as well, depending on how I feel. I figure it’s time for a little post-holiday clean-out. I’m keeping this one simple, and doing three raw smoothies at 5-hr intervals. I didn’t want to do a juice fast, because I want this cleanse to be high-fiber — I want to be poop-poop-pooping. Out with the bad, in with the good!
Here’s my recipe for a high-fiber energizing smoothie. One of these babies has about 12g of fiber; have one in the morning and you’re 1/3 of the way to your daily fiber goal. I think it’s around 250 calories.
Blend in blender, food processor, or with an immersion blender until everything is totally blended and the consistency is such that you can suck it through a straw easily.
Ways to tweak the recipe:
For lunch I used the other half of the large apple, but subbed 1/2 grapefruit for the clementine, and frozen cherries for the blueberries. In lieu of the flaxseed meal, I used a handful of soaked raw almonds. For dinner I’ll use frozen strawberries, a bit of apple and celery, some hemp powder, and one of the honeybells I just got in the mail from my grandmother who always gives Harry and David fruit for Christmas.
I know I’ve blogged about pot pie before. But I just love it so much. Today I had a bit of extra time, and decided to make potpie from scratch. Homemade whole wheat pie crust loaded with carrots, peas, white beans, potatoes, corn, celery, onion, and herbs, and baked to golden perfection. Ummmmm. You can do it too.
Lately I have been into pickled and canned beets. I throw them on green salads, mostly, for color and flavor and nutrient goodness. I have had this little side salad invention rumbling around in my head for a while now, so today I decided to give it a try. I think I was first inspired by a beet salad recipe I saw in The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, but this recipe is mostly my own creation. I’m not really willing to deal with fresh beets very often, at least not as often as I want to eat beets; so I’ve been hunting for ways to use canned ones. I kept the oil to a minimum since I’m watching calories pretty closely lately, but you could increase it to 2 tablespoons if you like.
Even Hubs, a non-beet-liker, admitted that this salad is good. Try it - you might like it too.
The Veg-eat-ables:
1 can beets (plain), chopped
1 can pickled beets, chopped
1 5-oz can water chestnuts, chopped
5 green onions
1/4 cup chopped parsley (more or less)
The Dressing:
1/4 cup lemon or lime juice
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp water
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne (more if you like)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of sugar or stevia
salt and pepper to taste
Chop all the veg and mix in a bowl. Mix the ingredients for the dressing with a whisk, then add to the veg. Chill for a while, stirring a couple of times during, so that things marinate evenly.
Serve cold, as a side dish, or on top of greens. If you were feeling really fancy, you could top with a few toasted slivered almonds or sunflower seeds.
Hubs and I made a meal of spiced lima beans, ruby-red rice, this yummy beet salad, and a simple salad of cucumber and red pepper marinated in a dousing of rice wine vinegar and a smidge of sherry. It was the perfect colorful plate to jazz up a dreary winter Sunday.
I love Kale. I love Garlic. And I love soup. A gastronomic match made in heaven.
This recipe is in the February issue of Vegetarian Times, and I happened to have all the ingredients for it on hand (except the wheat berries. I’m trying to cut back on the wheat consumption. I used cooked quinoa instead.) It is the most simple and wonderful pot of goodness you ever made.
Ingredients:
10 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
1 bunch kale, chopped coarsely
2 tbsp olive oil
1 package shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup rice vinegar
4 cups veggie broth
1/2 cup cooked quinoa or raw wheat berries (if using wheat berries, soak them overnight)
Saute the mushrooms in the olive oil till tender, then add garlic and saute a couple more minutes. Add salt here if you like. Then add the rice vinegar and simmer till it’s mostly evaporated, scraping up any browned bits in the pot. Dump in the grain and stir around a bit before adding the broth. If you’re using a raw grain, you’ll want to simmer the pot for a while here so it cooks. If you do like me and use pre-cooked grains you already have in the fridge, you can go ahead and add the kale. Simmer till the kale is tender. Salt and pepper to taste. I did not add any other spices, which is unusual for me. Usually I think everything needs a dash of Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning. The mushrooms, garlic, and vinegar are beautifully flavorful enough.
Chow down. Eat your veggies!
I was just over at Soul Veggie, where I read this:
One of the greatest opportunitities to live our values — or betray them — lies in the food we put on our plates.
I like reading sentences like this; they both articulate the message I try to live, and remind me of it anew. This is why I’m a vegetarian. I value compassion, frugality, health, environmental sustainability, and peace. Those are the things I want on my plate.
A friend and I recently watched Food Inc. together. She and I are kindof new-ish friends, so it’s new for her to be exposed to my food-culture. I don’t try to shove it down her throat, but she can’t help but notice it. Anyway, we enjoyed the movie (insofar as that movie can be enjoyed) and one of the things she said to me during it was something like: you should become an activist for this stuff, like, give talks and lobby congress and write articles, etc.
And my response was: I am an activist. Every day. My activism is in my fridge and on my plate.
I don’t think it’s in me to be an activist like she meant, although I agree with her that it’s an exciting prospect. It’s obvious to her, having known me for a few months, that I have passion for this whole Eating Intentionally thing. I think it makes sense on so many levels. But I’m not willing to argue about it with anyone. Arguing doesn’t usually change anyone’s mind about anything. The best way I can think of to change the world is by changing myself; making peace by living peace; quietly putting plants in my grocery basket, and on my plate; intentionally putting my food dollars/votes towards products that have the most peace-power. I never heard of anybody getting any peace out of arguing.*
Arguing strikes me as kindof indulgent sometimes. The point of arguing is to prove to the person you’re arguing with that you’re right, right? Isn’t that ultimately self-serving? If you do prove your point somehow, did you actually change your opponent’s mind, or did you only make them your opponent?
Plus, if you’re not arguing, then you’re not obligated to always have all the answers. I don’t have all the answers. That would never work for me.
*I can think of one exception, and that is marriage. In my experience of marriage, sometimes arguing is necessary, productive, and cathartic. That’s a reason it makes sense to marry someone who is your peer, emotionally and spiritually — you can help refine each other’s worldview.