Be the One
- Media
-
22 Jul 2010
Be the One. Sign the petition. Restore the Gulf.
Posted: July 22, 2010 at 11:40 am
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Real Food FTW!
- Dinner, Vegan & Vegetarian
-
21 Jul 2010
Food, real food!
Dinner consisted of black bean veggie burgers – a concoction from Emily over at The Front Burner, topped with a roasted red pepper pesto and spicy dill pickles, roasted broccoli, and roasted garlic potatoes.The other day, when I was making the roasted potatoes with the last of my bag of ‘taters, I threw a red pepper in the oven with it. I found the perfect use for that pepper today – I made roasted red pepper pesto, loosely based on a recipe from Brendan Frazier’s Thrive
book. It included 1 roasted red pepper, some basil, a couple tbsp of nutritional yeast, some sesame seeds, a tbsp of hemp oil, and a pinch of salt. I think that was it! Very tasty.
The spicy dill pickles were a farmers’ market find.
The burgers were very easy to make – throw some raw oats, black beans, pumpkin seeds, and spices into the food processor, then form into patties and bake! I plan to experiment with some different spices. This burger was very savory and really didn’t need any toppings – it was that good!
This was the first time I ever roasted broccoli. I tossed it with some olive oil and salt and pepper and stuck it in the oven with the burgers. It turned out to be the best broccoli I’ve ever had! Steamed broccoli seems flavorless to me, and raw broccoli just isn’t my favorite thing in the world. But roasting it gave it a really subtle, delicious flavor. So good!The roasted garlic potatoes were the splurge of the plate
Posted: July 21, 2010 at 6:54 pm
{Tags: beans, broccoli, pickles, potatoes}
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Fancy Oatmeal
- Breakfast
-
15 Jul 2010
It’s gonna be a hot one here in Chicago today. My boy Tom Skilling expects the heat index to reach 105 in my hometown south ‘burbs today, prompting heat advisories.
Then, why on earth would I slave over a stove to make hot oatmeal for breakfast?
It’s true; I haven’t had oatmeal since the chill of spring wore off. I’m not a fan of hot foods on hot days. But, it’s a chilly 68 degrees in my humble abode (the ComEd electric meter is zipping around, doing fly-by’s as my bill ticks upward), and I had an inkling that I was on to something with my morning inspiration.
As I pondered the oatmeal mix-in possibilities, my thoughts roamed to the pint of plump, red, juicy organic strawberries in my fridge. Then, it hit me: eat like the fancy people.
You’ve seen it – maybe even done it. You’ve seen people eating strawberries the fancy way, dipped in chocolate. What if I sliced up strawberries on top of my oatmeal, and served it with a blob of chocolate almond butter (Justin’s, of course)?
Fancy oatmeal was born, and I’m sure you might be imagining right now – it was the best bowl of oatmeal of my life.
Posted: July 15, 2010 at 11:01 am
{Tags: oatmeal}
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Ethical Eating
- Organic, Vegan & Vegetarian
-
08 Jul 2010
Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point has a great post up about her definition of “ethical eating.” I enjoyed reading the post and its comments, because this topic has been one I have mulled over a great bit over the past 7 months. (Wow, has it really been 7 months since I went organic?!)
In order to eat ethically, one must have some sort of code of eating – some set of principles or ways of thinking about eating (such that to be unethical would be to break those rules). Defining my own personal “code of eating” has been a challenge, and not just due to the changes it has invoked in my lifestyle. That has been the easy part. The challenge has been in navigating the social labels, and in absorbing and responding to the reactions from the public, friends, and family to my choices.
Caitlin’s definition of ethical eating is this:
I believe that “ethical eating” means you strive to make educated decisions about your food choices and the impact such choices have on our community, animals, and our environment, and then you strive to reach the best conclusion for YOU.
Notice that nowhere in her code of ethical eating does it say, “eat this, but not that,” or, “you have to be a vegetarian,” or, “you have to be vegan.” I like her definition. Based on Caitlin’s definition, I am an ethical eater.
With that, each person’s set of principles for eating will be different – and the point is, that’s completely OK.
Another concept hit upon in Caitlin’s post is this notion that you have to be a “perfect” eater to make a difference. This is the part of the equation I have wrestled with, and this is where the labels come in. When people ask me how I eat, I respond that I am vegetarian. If it is somebody that is truly interested, I’ll go on to say I’m “vegan at home,” but that I do eat cheese 4-5 times a month when I eat out at restaurants. So, what am I? A 25-days-a-month vegan? An 83% vegan? I don’t like labels, personally, but they are helpful in explaining my choices to others with less knowledge on the subject.
I don’t eat meat, seafood, or eggs. I don’t drink cow’s milk. I infrequently eat dairy products (cheese, yogurt, or dairy used in baking). I choose organic foods whenever possible – and to make this possible, I go out of my way to do my grocery shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. This is my code of eating. These are my rules.
Knowing what I know about factory farming and how we come to get most of our cow’s milk, I’m equally inclined not to eat dairy as I am not to eat eggs or meat or seafood. When I do eat cheese, it’s not because I can’t live without it. (Don’t get me wrong – I love cheese, but I really don’t miss it). I eat it because it is easier to allow myself to eat cheese at restaurants – because picking through a menu to try to find vegan options and then get the servers to relay your message appropriately to the cook staff can be complicated. Is that a cop-out that allows me to break the vegan ethos and eat cheese? I don’t know. But I do feel “guilty” about it – that I eat cheese. That I’m not “vegan enough.”
Yogurt is another bone of contention with me. I stopped consuming dairy milk and yogurt because of my desire not to spend my hard earned money on an industry that does not operate in line with my sense of compassion toward animals. But, I’ve had a hard time reaching my daily vitamin D and calcium requirements without my daily cup of yogurt. I’ve tried many different brands of soy yogurt. I don’t like any of them (though I love soy milk). I have resorted to taking a calcium/D vitamin supplement. This goes against my preference of getting my nutrition from food when possible. But eating dairy yogurt would make me even less vegan.
Here’s the question: who said that 100% vegan is perfection? Why does perfection even enter the equation? Am I not helping a great number of animals by not eating them? Am I not helping our planet just the same?
Last year, I went on a little day trip with my family to a dairy farm in Indiana called Fair Oaks Farms. What I saw there did not disturb me. I did not feel like I was watching unhappy cows. Of course, I know there is a deeper truth, and that deeper truth is disturbing (like, the fates of all of the baby calves that are born that happen to be male). It’s not a perfect industry, and not all farms are as “happy” as Fair Oaks. But if I choose to eat yogurt or cheese, I am doing so having fully considered where my food comes from and what effects its processing and manufacturing have on the animals and the environment.
Does that make me an animal killer? No. Life is not black or white. There is a gray area between these extremes. We have to maintain some sense of perspective, especially on a topic as personal and broad in scope as what we put in our bodies. When I visit an animal shelter, I want to take every single abandoned puppy and kitten home. I want to help all of the critters in my back yard – the birds, the bees, the rabbits, even the baby minks. Can I save them all? Should I save them all? No.
I can and should do my best to find a balance between what I need in my life and what is best for them – my animal friends. I rescued 3 cats; that is enough. I could not have more than 3 cats in my house and care for them properly. When I feel the need to do more, I donate to animal welfare organizations and local no-kill shelters. I do my part, whenever I can, however I can.
It’s the same with food. I need to find the balance between what I need for my health and well-being and what’s best for the animals and the planet. And I need to be OK with the fact that there is no such thing as perfection. Eating is a lifelong practice. We rehearse our food choices 3 times per day or more, every day, in hopes of achieving improvement. I hope to improve to the point of balance – a sense of peace with my choices and their effects on the world around me.
I need to draw my lines in the sand, enact those principles as my code of eating, and allow myself the luxuries of reflection, revision, and flexibility.
What is “ethical eating” to you? Do you have to be vegetarian or vegan to be an ethical eater?
Posted: July 8, 2010 at 12:26 pm
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Mickey Mouse Breakfast
- Breakfast, Vegan & Vegetarian
-
28 Jun 2010
When I was a kid, my parents used to take my brother and I to a little restaurant down the street called Olympic Star. It was (and still is) your typical American diner. We didn’t eat out often, so it was a treat when we did.
The kids’ menu had one novelty item that on most days, I felt too grown-up to order. But sometimes… just sometimes… I’d succumb to its sweet, gooey calling:
The Mickey Mouse pancakes.
These were no ordinary pancakes, you see. First of all, the looked like Mickey Mouse. One big pancake made up his head, and two smaller pancakes were cooked right onto his head to make up the trademark ears. (In retrospect, how in the world did they flip that giant pancake without breaking off the ears?!) But that wasn’t all – these were chocolate chip pancakes.
Oh, the decadence of chocolate for breakfast! (Actually, back then, I doubt I knew what “decadent” meant – I just thought it was so naughty to eat chocolate for breakfast, and could not believe my parents would let this happen!) But they did, and every so often, I’d dig into that melty, chocolaty mess with reckless abandon.
I decided to whip up some vegan pancakes for breakfast this morning. While they were cooking, I tossed some frozen blueberries in there.
I topped them with a drizzle of 100% pure maple syrup (if you’ve never had real maple syrup, try it – you’ll never go back to that chemical laden fake stuff in the cute little bottle that talks to you) and a sliced up banana. Then, it hit me – the call of the Mickey Mouse pancakes.
What the heck. I’m a grown-up now – I am certainly entitled to a little bit of chocolate love with my breakfast! So I blobbed on a teaspoon of Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter too.
Posted: June 28, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Food is so undeniably woven into our lives and our memories. This breakfast was a wonderful trip down memory lane – and I didn’t have to beg my dad to buy me a candy bar from the glass case on my way out.
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A Twist on Baked Beans
- Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
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23 Jun 2010
It’s grilling season! What’s the one thing you always find at a summertime cookout? Baked beans.
I just tried baked beans for the first time this summer. I know – all these years, you’d think they’d have been one of my favorite foods – so sweet and smoky. But no. I thought they looked weird. Strange color. Mushy. So I never tried them. But when I finally did (since this is the Year of Trying New Foods), whaddya know – I loved ‘em. Doggone it.
So last night when I dug through my produce drawers in the fridge to see what had to be used up, imagine my glee when I found a couple corn on the cob! (Corns on the cob? Corn on the cobs? Whatever!) I’ll take any excuse these days to throw veggies on the grill.
What goes great with grilled corn on the cob? A grilled veggie burger or veggie dog, of course! (I went veggie burger, to have an excuse to try out a new jar of pickles I got at the Lockport Farmers’ Market – a spicy dill pickle). And… baked beans!
I was feeling creative as I dug through the pantry, so instead of whipping up traditional baked beans, I went with a new twist on an old favorite: BBQ baked lentils.
These took a little while to prepare, as the lentils take a half hour to cook, and then the baking process takes another hour – but really, I only spent 5 minutes or so actually tending to the prep. The rest of the time was unattended cook time. So, they’re easy! If you plan ahead just a bit to fit them into your schedule, they’re well worth the wait.
Lentils are a great source of plant-based protein (third highest behind soybeans and hemp). When not going with the traditional cookout meal, I could see having these lentils on top of a salad or in a wrap (hmmm that may have to be my lunch today!) They’d even be good mixed with some brown rice and a side of greens for a complete protein and some vitamin C to help with the absorption of all that good iron in the lentils.
Behold: a typical summertime meal!
When I look up lentils in most of my cookbooks, I'm lead down a path of soups, with the occasional cold salad thrown in for good measure. But, it's summertime as I pen this note, and I was seeking something different! Enter: barbeque baked lentils. Lentils are a great plant-based protein source (third highest behind soybeans and hemp). This recipe makes a great grilling sidekick, next to a veggie burger and some grilled corn on the cob! I prepared my lentils in my rice cooker, but you could just as well do it the old fashioned way in a saucepan on the stove (bring to a boil then simmer 30 minutes or so).
Details- Prep Time:
5 min - Cook Time:
90 min - Ready In:
1 hour, 35 min
Posted: June 23, 2010 at 12:28 pmIngredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup dried brown lentils
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup onion diced (about 1/2 of a large onion)
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons brown mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Put lentils and water into the rice cooker and set to cook. It should take about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine ketchup, mustard, maple syrup, ginger, vanilla, pepper, salt, and liquid smoke (all ingredients except the onion) in a small bowl.
- When the lentils are done, drain them but reserve the cooking liquid. If you have less than 1/2 cup, add water to the 1/2 cup mark.
- Add the cooking liquid/water to the sauce bowl and stir.
- Combine lentils and onion in a covered casserole dish. Add the sauce and stir to combine.
- Bake at 350F for one hour.
{Tags: bbq, grill, lentils, Recipes}
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- Prep Time:
Simple Lunch
- Lunch, Vegan & Vegetarian
-
16 Jun 2010
I get really excited when I make a wrap and it actually wraps up nicely. Sometimes I stuff it too full. Sometimes I’m a clutz and just can’t get the thing to roll up without all of the guts falling out. Sometimes I do great, right up to the cut-it-in-half part, and then destroy the whole thing while trying to cut it.
Today, the stars aligned, and I made a pretty wrap!
I really could make a category here called “Adventures in Wrapping,” but it would be nearly empty because most of my wraps are nowhere near photo-worthy.My first foray into the world of making wraps was based on the discovery that cucumbers make a pretty decent sandwich base. You see, I occasionally have a hankerin’ for a Jimmy John’s sandwich. When I went vegetarian, I had to change my normal sandwich order over to the #6 – the creatively named “Vegetarian” (sans mayo and tomato, please – I still can’t stand the texture of tomatoes). It basically amounts to a cucumber sandwich with a wonderful avocado spread.
I started using cucumbers in my wraps, and was really digging them. Then, I worked out my own version of a vegan avocado ranch spread, inspired by a dressing recipe in the You Won’t Believe It’s Vegan!
cookbook.
Ever since, I’ve been using those two as the basis of many delicious veggie wraps.
Today’s concoction features, of course, cucumbers and avocado spread, along with a chopped up veggie burger, about 3/4 of a carrot (shredded), a handful of baby spinach, a handful of arugula, and a drizzle of garlic-infused extra virgin olive oil. (That’s my giraffe friend Milly pictured in the background).I have tried a lot of wraps in my day, and finding ones without offensive ingredient lists can be difficult. Lately, I’ve been using Smart & Delicious Tomato Basil Soft Wraps from La Tortilla Factory. The ingredient list isn’t perfect, but it’s not terribly bad, and they’ve got 12g of fiber per wrap at only 100 calories. They’re nice, big 9″ wraps and are (as the name says) very soft and easy to stuff with goodies (even for a wrap-challenged soul like me).
I swear, wraps taste better when they look pretty.
Posted: June 16, 2010 at 5:20 pm
{Tags: arugula, avocado, carrot, cucumber, spinach, veggie burger, wrap}
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Hits the spot
- Organic
-
16 Jun 2010
Oh man, I love food. I really, really do. If I would have known that what I’d been eating all those years wasn’t actually food – if I’d have known how delicious and satisfying real food actually is – well, I suppose I’d have switched to eating organic, whole foods long ago.
I just turned yesterday’s leftover bread from grilled banana sandwiches into french toast topped with fresh organic strawberry wedges and banana slices, drizzled with 100% pure maple syrup.
Ridiculous.
There were two motivating forces behind my initial decision to go organic. They centered around my anger at the various government food regulatory bodies for siding with corporate lobbyists and neglecting to properly protect and inform the citizens of the US. They centered around a general disgust of the money-hungry machine that is the American food industry. I didn’t want my hard-earned dollars supporting a corrupt system with deplorable priorities. The organic market isn’t perfect, and is of course run by those same regulatory bodies – but it’s as good as I could do short of growing my own food (an endeavor that I can only minimally participate in, given my current living arrangement). Today, I purchase as much food as I can at local farmers’ markets, and buy the rest certified organic.
What I didn’t expect was the deluge of reasons why I would choose to stay organic – a million little happy reasons called my taste buds.
I need to be a little more specific here, because it is quite possible to go “junk food organic” – which, while slightly better than eating traditional junk food (at least you wouldn’t be consuming pesticides and genetically modified food-like substances), isn’t exactly what I’m talking about. I’m talking about going whole-foods organic. Starting with real food that came from the earth. Minimally processed food. Clean food. (Coincidentally, I am in love with a cookbook by the same name – Clean Food
by Terry Walters).
It’s no wonder I didn’t like eating vegetables as a kid. When they all come from a can or a bag, or even worse – a box, guess what? They all taste the same. And when they’re swimming in pools of chemicals waiting for you to throw them into the microwave to be nuked – well, let’s just say that’s no way to treat a vegetable.
I’ve had a chance to try quite a few fresh vegetables in the past 6 months – fresh, whole, organic plants. I’ve played with different forms of preparation, from steaming to roasting to sauteing to grilling to eating them raw. I’ve learned the effects of each method of preparation on the nutritional values. And I’ve discovered something amazing – vegetables all taste different! They have subtle, delicious flavors – none of which even remotely remind me of the bland “green” flavor that I remember as a kid. Today, I fill my plate up with greens without a second thought – and not because I have to. Because they taste good.
Every week is a new adventure when you spend most of your grocery shopping time in the produce department. Once upon a time, I’d make it through the produce area in seconds flat, hurrying to get into the bowels of the grocery store where all the “real” food was. Oh, if I only knew! Today, I can easily spend an hour in the produce area, checking out the latest additions to what’s in season and new for me to try. If you told me a year ago that I’d become one of those “perimeter” grocery shoppers – one of those people that rarely set foot within the actual aisles of the grocery store – I’d have never believed you. I’d have declared it impossible, because what on earth would such a person eat?!
They’d eat real, whole foods. And they’d enjoy their meals more than ever before. So delicious!
Posted: June 16, 2010 at 12:42 pm
{Tags: Organic}
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Grilled Banana Sandwich
- Breakfast, Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian
-
15 Jun 2010
Oh, you sweet, decadent thing, you. You naughty, naughty thing… or maybe not so naughty! A naughty imposter.
Behold: the grilled banana sandwich.
Or, the bottom half of the grilled banana sandwich.Sweet, delicious goodness. This brunch sandwich was inspired by Caitlin’s Grilled Banana Sandwich over at Healthy Tipping Point. The only real difference is that I vegan-ized mine to avoid using eggs and dairy. This thing is like french toast and bananas all wrapped up in a sandwich!
I figured this would make a good post-run meal, as it’s got a good amount of carbs (and readily-available sugars via the bananas), and a little bit of protein. (I actually pumped mine up a little by adding a tablespoon of hemp protein powder to the liquid mixture, but didn’t add that to the recipe as it was pretty specific to my workout recovery goals – but for the record, it worked just fine!)
The whole thing clocks in around 300 calories, and makes for a pretty darn huge breakfast! You could even eat it like french toast – though I don’t think any syrup would be required, as the warm grilled bananas offer plenty of gooey delicious topping. I have visions of tossing warm blueberries on top next time. This one is definitely entering the regular rotation
DetailsPosted: June 15, 2010 at 1:33 pmIngredients
Directions
Oh, you sweet, decadent thing, you. You naughty, naughty thing... or maybe not so naughty! A naughty imposter. Behold: the grilled banana sandwich.Or, the bottom half of the grilled banana sandwich.
Sweet, delicious goodness. This brunch sandwich was inspired by Caitlin's Grilled Banana Sandwich over at Healthy Tipping Point. The only real difference is that I vegan-ized mine to avoid using eggs and dairy. This thing is like french toast and bananas all wrapped up in a sandwich!
I figured this would make a good post-run meal, as it's got a good amount of carbs (and readily-available sugars via the bananas), and a little bit of protein. (I actually pumped mine up a little by adding a tablespoon of hemp protein powder to the liquid mixture, but didn't add that to the recipe as it was pretty specific to my workout recovery goals - but for the record, it worked just fine!)
The whole thing clocks in around 300 calories, and makes for a pretty darn huge breakfast! You could even eat it like french toast - though I don't think any syrup would be required, as the warm grilled bananas offer plenty of gooey delicious topping. I have visions of tossing warm blueberries on top next time. This one is definitely entering the regular rotation :)
[recipe-show recipe=grilled-banana-sandwich]
{Tags: banana, bread, Recipes}
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Anticipation of Yum
- Breakfast, Epic Organic News
-
15 Jun 2010
This is the post whereby I anticipate YUM!
Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point had me at “grilled banana” – but imagine this drool-inducing scenario, if you will: grilled banana, stuffed between what is essentially 2 slices of french toast. Oh, sweet, cinnamony, vanilla-y goodness! A grilled banana sandwich. I don’t even need to cook this to know it’s going to be ridiculous-good.
As I sit here charging my iPod and transferring new diggnation episodes to it to watch on the treadmill, I’m also researching ways to vegan-ize the french toast part of this recipe, as I don’t eat eggs. I’ve mish-mashed a few recipes together and I’ve got what I think is a solid plan for making a most excellent brunch when I return from the gym.
Speaking of the gym… I figured out this morning why I couldn’t get video to play from my iPod onto the entertainment center screens on the Precor treadmills at the gym. It’s because I was playing the audio versions of the podcasts instead of the video versions. Duh. Video doesn’t play for an audio podcast, sweetie. *smack* It turns out, there’s a video category on the iPod – so if you happen to be having the same problem (I can’t imagine you are, but just in case), from the main screen, go to the Video category instead of the Podcast category. Run the podcast from there. I’m confident that the video will play just fine when I get to the gym today.
In other news, I added a widget to the right sidebar from DailyMile.com, one of the sites I use to track my running progress. (I also use Garmin Connect – I really need to buy the foot pod accessory so I can use my Garmin on the treadmill as well as outside). The Daily Mile widget shows the stats for my last run. I just completed the Couch to 5K training program, and will run in what is technically my second 5K race this weekend – but it will be the first time I attempt to run the entire thing. I have plans to add some running stuff to this blog shortly, so stay tuned!
Now, off to the gym so I can get home and make this insane grilled banana sandwich!
Posted: June 15, 2010 at 10:24 am
{Tags: Running}
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