Saturday Dinner: Chile Relleno Casserole

Recipe: Simple Recipes.

Update on the Vegetarian Pledge

October was full of reasons to celebrate as well as raise awareness for all kinds of things from Breast Cancer & Domestic Violence Awareness to National Popcorn Popping Month and International Month of the Dinosaurs. I also focused on Vegetarian Awareness (my hubby is veg) and took a 30 day pledge to eat vegetarian and see what it's like. Here are my conclusions:

• Fast food is unfriendly and unhealthy for vegetarians on-the-go. The first weekend, we drove up to B.C., Canada, and I had a hell of a time finding anything to eat along the highway. There's Subway veggie sandwiches, yes. Sometimes you're just not in the mood for Subway though! My only other options were french fries, fried zucchini, fried onions...You get the idea. This would probably be easier for me if I liked cheese; it would at least open up options for cheese pizza, veggie-cheese dishes, and (more) fried food--the cheese sticks, popper, nugget, etc. Over the course of the month I discovered Burger King's veggie burger (I order w/o mayo - God, they put so much mayo on their sandwiches!!!) and I luckily have the good ol' northwest chain, Burgerville, which carries a veggie burger and a black bean burger that are so hearty and healthy and scrumptious!
• You rarely find vegetarian soups to go. This is kind of a part of fast food. When I go to grocery stores to get something from the deli or soup for lunch, it is really hard to find soup that doesn't have meat in it. It is even harder to find non-meat soup that isn't made with chicken broth. This is an issue for me because I LOVE SOUP.
  
• If I didn't live on the outskirts of a city like Portland--one that is VERY vegetarian and vegan friendly--I would most likely be screwed. This comes back to the on-the-go thing, as well. Portland's neighborhoods teem with vegan and vegetarian-friendly restaurants, bakeries, food carts, and cafes. The local grocery stores take pride in this quality, while chain stores offer more than the usual staples. (Most grocery stores, even in the Midwest where I'm from, are regularly stocking at least a small amount of alternative products. Brands like Morning Star Farms, Amy's Kitchen, and Boca are routine in chain grocery stores by now.)
• I had to grow a tougher skin. There are people who felt free to openly smirk, criticize, look at me like I'd gone crazy, etc. just because of my diet. This is the part that always fascinated me when Dan became vegetarian. Many people with meat-oriented diets became angry or self-defensive. It's just FOOD!
• I'm getting good at giving things up. I had a much more difficult time giving up alcohol (more about that later) than meat. I've never "craved" meat like ribs or steak, I hate seafood, and deli meats creep me out. Sure, I grew up on pot roast and potatoes, loved chicken, and enjoyed Thanksgiving turkey, but I was always a picky eater--which made the diet change less difficult for me than it could have been.
• I'm staying vegetarian. I haven't noticed any major health changes, but I am less stressed and more proud of myself as a vegetarian. After taking an Environment, Food, and Culture course at Marylhurst, I've always felt guilty eating things if I didn't know where they came from, how the animals were raised and slaughtered, and, simply, carrying around the knowledge that mainstream food culture of our country is detrimental to our health and nutrition, social and economic justice, and the environment. In addition to our vegetarian diets, Dan and I also strive to pay close attention to what is in all of the products we buy, where they are coming from, and their nutritional value.
  
• I do not judge people who eat meat. I don't think everyone in the world should or could be a vegetarian. My hope is that we could all pay a little more attention to our bodies, nutritional needs, and the overarching consequences of our appetites.

If you would like more information about understanding the connections between food, diet, environment, politics, and culture, I encourage you to read Food Politics, Diet for a Small Planet, Food Revolution, and/or Fast Food Nation.

Apple & Carrot Soup

Emboldened by my successful baking adventure, I selected an autumnal recipe to prepare for my husband tonight. We decided to cook together, and I am lucky for that because Dan knew that our bag of carrots bought last weekend had gone bad...

Hubby: (Wearing a black sweatshirt, green khaki cargo shorts, one black sock and one green sock) "Do you think anyone will care if I have two different socks on at the grocery store?"

Wifey: "Yes. The question is, Do you care if anyone cares?"

Hubby: "No."

So Dan went to the store to get new carrots. The soup, which we had with biscuits, was a success!

Recipe

Prep: 20 minutes (Unless your carrots have gone bad and your hubby has to go to the store wearing two different socks.) Cook: 35 minutes
Makes about 10 cups or 6 main-dish servings

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 medium Golden Delicious apples
2 lbs. carrots
2 cans (14.5 oz. each) vegetable broth
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated, peeled fresh ginger
2 cups water
Half and half and fresh chives for garnish

1. In a 5 quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden.
2. Meanwhile, peel apples and carrots. Cut each apple in half and remove core. Cut apples and carrots into 1 1/2 inch chunks.
3. Add apples, carrots, broth, sugar, slat, ginger, and water to onion; heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove Dutch oven from heat. Spoon one third of mixture into blender; cover, with center part of cover removed to let steam escape, and puree until very smooth.
5. Return soup to Dutch oven; heat through. Serve soup with a swirl of half-and-half, garnish with fresh chives.

I Want to be a Purple Girl

Snack Basket

Am I crazy to make myself a snack basket?

One of the frustrating things about living with depression is that I don't have much of an appetite. I also get stressed out very easily, and when I'm stressed, I don't want to eat. I want to have coffee and a cigarette. Unfortunately, I also am pre-diabetic, so my blood sugar is very finicky. In a better effort to feed myself (nutritionally), I decided to make myself a "snack basket" with all sorts of goodies that I can graze on throughout the day. When I came home with my basket and told Dan what it was for, I'm pretty sure he thought I was crazy. I reasoned, "If I put small amounts of small food in very pretty packaging, I'll be more likely to want to eat it."

I picked up some pretty sticker labels and a sturdy basket at the craft store, and a heck of a lot of nuts and grains in bulk from the grocery store. I was a little too ambitious because when I loaded up my baggies, there was too much food for the basket. Either I need to get a bigger basket, or I need to pair down my selections daily. To start, I have raw pumpkin seeds, shelled pistachios, halved cashews, cheddar crackers, sesame sticks, flax and veggie tortilla chips, walnuts, 5-grain cereal, Persian cucumbers, New England granola mix, chocolate covered almonds, roasted veggie crackers, flax+ granola mix, and dried cranberries:

Once I started filling my baggies for the basket, Dan was eyeing everything and "taste-testing" it. After a while, I asked him if he wanted his own snack basket. I'm pretty sure Rocco does, too. There was only 1 spill as I transferred the food and Rocco heartily licked up every last bit of New England granola mix off the carpet. I didn't even have to get the vacuum out. I obviously need to add more fruit and veggies to the basket, but for now we'll see how this goes. I usually have salads for lunch with lots of veggies and I have skinni dip, a new fat-free frozen yogurt shop next to Henny Penny. My favorite order is the mango yogurt smoothie with pineapples, strawberries, and bananas. YUM. For now I think the snack basket would do well with some grapes or cherries, and more dried fruit...What's a good dried fruit?

Past the Due Date

What I brought to my dear (and uncomfortable) friend, Jess, 1 day after her due date:



[Magazines, movies, chocolate hempmilk (yummy!!!) & vegan cookies, lip balm (for labor--apparently your lips get really dry from all of the breathing) and tummy butter.]

Menu for August 26th - 30th

A short list this week since we will be spending Friday and Saturday night up at April and Jason's in Orting, Washington. Leah has also begun a gluten-free diet, which makes for really interesting grocery shopping. What is a vegetarian with a gluten-free wife to do?

-Good old fashioned spaghetti (with rice noodles), garlic bread, applesauce. (1 slice of garlic bread is Leah's freebie for the week, at least until we can locate gluten-free fresh bread.)

-Curry chickpea and tomato hash over brown rice, and something with pears.

-Fried bananas and our take on the infamous Portland "Whole Bowl," a comforting pot of rice, beans, salsa, garlic sauce, avocado, cilantro, olives, and cheese.

-Stuffed peppers, baked with fake ground beef, onion, pepper, chili powder, and hearty salads.

Snacks/lunches for Leah:
-Sea salt and pepper rice crisps
-Fruity-tooty salad (bananas, peaches, pineapple, strawberries & cottage cheese)
-Spinach, walnut, grape salad
-Chinese chicken salad
-Assorted gluten-free yogurts
-Celery sticks & peanut butter
-Morning blend juice
-Chicken poppy seed salad