May 13, 2008 at 11:59 am · Filed under Culinary, Rants, Websites, Health, Random Info
Tamale Pie
Coconut Curry Tofu
White Bean & Artichoke Salad
Pumpkin Tofu Pie
Quinoa Sushi Roll
Vegan Mac and No Cheese
I feel like I have found a vein of information and I am swimming in it. I don’t know where to begin or where to end. So bear with me. I am becoming very passionate about this. Maybe if I can effectively share information I will have more support.
I am trying to convince myself that I should cut out eggs and milk from my veggie diet (aka - go vegan). It is becoming less and less hard of a decision the more I research. One amazing website that everybody should read is
Savvy Vegetarian is a great website too.
I tried watching ‘Meet Your Meat’ but I had to shut it off half way through because I started to cry and I’m at work. I think people kinda have an idea that the animals raised for their consumption are not treated well but they never actually SEE it and seriously think about it.
We need to open our eyes.
I guess that the hardest part for me would be the cheese, especially when I go out to eat at a restaurant because most ‘veggie’ meals are FILLED with cheese. Not that I like that anyway, I only like a little bit of cheese, but overall it would be more difficult to eat out. I don’t have a problem at home. I already only buy soy milk and sprouted whole grain breads, don’t commonly buy eggs, and I even tried some vegan cookies (Eddies vegan cookies - trail mix kind) a couple weeks ago and they were the most delicious cookies I have ever eaten. One thing I read was that cheese can slow down your digestive system by a whole day. I don’t like that idea at all. I don’t like it when my intestines are full of food, I’d much rather be on the empty side. I feel better. I have more energy instead of less energy as one would think from consuming less. When I ate only raw foods for almost a month and a half (Sept/Oct 2007) I felt amazing. (It was just really hard to keep up, I really love veggie burgers, beans, cooked sweet potatoes, etc.)
Some notes about dairy:
If you don’t have the right enzymes in your system to digest dairy products, it just sits in your intestines… think of the bad bacteria feeding on it and producing toxins, causing you discomfort and disease.
Humans are the only species that consumes another species milk.
Dairy cows commonly lead depressing lives.
The dairy industry has been brainwashing America to consume way too many dairy products to ‘protect against osteoporosis’ (also to blossom into a multi billion dollar industry and stay that way). People here break more bones than the Chinese and they consume a lot less dairy. There is more calcium in dark green leafy vegetables, it is much easier for your body to absorb and you get many other vitamins and minerals from them at the same time.
When milk is pasteurized, the proteins in it are also altered in structure. Not so severely as egg white is altered by cooking because pasteurization happens at a lower temperature. But altered none the less. And made less digestible. Pasteurizing also makes milk calcium far less assimilable. That’s ironic because so many people are drinking milk because they fear they need more calcium to avoid osteoporosis and to give their children good teeth. What pasteurized milk actually does to their children is make them calcium deficient and makes the children toxic, provoking many colds, ear infections, sinusitis, inflammations of the tonsils and lung infections, and, induces an allergy to milk in the children.
Too much protein causes calcium loss and damage to kidneys which is irreversible.
The dairy industry uses the word ‘culling’ rather than ‘killing’ ….. I find that very odd. Cows would naturally live 15-20 years, but on dairy farms where they are forced to produce so much and their udder ligaments can’t support the milk (etc) they only live 3-4 years. Then they are ‘culled’ … *rolls eyes*
Now research is appearing in place like The New England Journal of Medicine pointing toward a link between dairy products and diseases like:
* heart disease
* Crohn’s Disease
* prostate cancer
* premature puberty
* MS
* childhood diabetes
Good website on dairy cows and calcium.
Another touching page about dairy cows.
Moving on.
I signed a petition that Oprah does a show promoting veganism. I’m not pushing anybody else to sign - just spreading the word.
This is a great website on health.
Stupid but funny video - Steven The Vegan
Honey. Vegans ‘don’t consume any meat or animal products’, so honey would be an animal product. I will always eat honey - raw honey - because it it is very beneficial for health (enzymes, pollen, proteins, antibiotic properties) and I believe it is natural for us to eat. Imagine foraging for plants and berries and stumbling upon a bee hive. I’d be overjoyed… probably thank the bees, consider them my friends, not harm them and only take some of the honey combs. I love bees. I grew up with honey bees because it was a hobby of my father’s, and subsequently the whole family’s. I hope to have a hive myself some day. The bees are free and choose to make their home in the bee boxes.
… Our position on honey therefore just doesn’t make any sense, and I think the general population knows this on an intuitive level. Veganism for them, then, becomes more about some quasi-religious personal purity, rather than about stopping animal abuse. No wonder veganism can seem nonsensical to the average person. We have this kind of magical thinking; we feel good about ourselves as if we’re actually helping the animals obsessing about where some trace ingredient comes from, when in fact it may have the opposite effect. We may be hurting animals by making veganism seem more like petty dogmatic self-flagellation.
Yeahhh….. on the note of quasi-religion… it’s true and it sucks. It’s not just a label, something to conform to, it’s a way of living and realizing the truth about ourselves and the world we live in.
I am not against hunting in my thoughts on going vegan. I grew up hunting. November 2006 - I shot two white tail deer and processed them for food. I may or may not continue to hunt from time to time. I have a dog who needs to eat meat, a boyfriend who loves meat and the woods we live in have plenty of deer in them. Nature kills more deer than all of the hunting combined. Hunting can help populations not get over-run by diseases and for many families that choose to eat meat, it is the most healthy choice because it’s not farmed, the deer live wonderful lives running around eating fresh grasses instead of corn so they have little body fat and are full of omega acids. There is a connection between man and animal instead of the disconnect caused by animal farming, over processing and the grocery store.
Many household products contain animal ingredients when they don’t need to and/or are very toxic. I switched to buying non-toxic vegetable based cleaners, organic dish soap that wouldn’t harm me if I straight up drank some (it says to wash vegetables with it) and natural hand soap without harmful ingredients like sulfates, parabens and ‘fragrance’ (which can be anything). THEY ALL WORK WONDERFULLY!
Nearly all household products, including things we use on a day-to-day basis, contain cancer-inducing or brain-altering substances. One in five people suffer from allergic reactions to these products, mainly due to the chemicals used in the fragrance. Worryingly, manufacturers of household products have no obligation to reveal their ingredients, which is perhaps why so many people are unaware of these dangers.
I’ll save animal testing of these products for another post.
I hope you were able to learn something and can use the information to make a difference in this messed up world we live in that is run by the drive for money, not for a harmonious life on earth as it should be ……………
May 9, 2008 at 7:38 am · Filed under Gardening
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I won the top orchid by auction and my ‘best offer’ was accepted on the bottom one. This is the first time I’ve ordered any plants online and I am so excited. I spent hours browsing before I found these that I really wanted (although I wanted just about every one I saw) and felt comfortable enough spending $ on them. The orchids I have so far make me happy, I look at them every day, so I know this is well worth it.. and I know I can keep them alive. These 2 are ‘Cattleya’ hybrids.
The top one they call Lc. Diana Rehfield x (C. Summer Snow x Facelis).
The bottom one they call Lc. Dinard ‘Blue Heaven’ (Lc. Saint Gothard x C. Dinah.) and is fragrant.
Neither are in bloom now, these are examples. |
May 5, 2008 at 12:25 pm · Filed under Photography, Gardening
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Theodore Takiguchi x Mermaid… aka ‘ApiChart Rainbow’ a Dendrobium
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Previous posts: ‘IT BLOOOOOMED!’ and ‘Spring In Mid-Winter’
RVO’s Orchid Talk Forums
May 5, 2008 at 11:30 am · Filed under Random Info
Now that I’ve been to Tijuana and Puerto Vallarta, know a TINY bit of Spanish and have a real love for Mexican food (beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, their sauces.. mmm..) and their beer (Pacifico!) … it’s time that I officially mark this day, May 5th, as a holiday in my book.
May 5, 2008 at 10:35 am · Filed under Work, Humor, Websites
May 5, 2008 at 7:21 am · Filed under Cookbook, Salads and Veggies
I first learned that quinoa existed about 6 months ago. I just now, finally, cooked some up for the first time. I don’t know how I was so in the dark of this amazing seed/grain. A couple weeks ago I grabbed some from the salad bar at Whole Foods so I knew that I liked it and got to thinking about its versatility.
This is my first official quinoa recipe. Sorry for not adding amounts, I don’t like to measure because cooking (unless you’re baking) is not an exact science and you need to just enjoy what you’re doing and make it to your own tastes. A rule of thumb is to add a little bit, taste it and see where you want to take it from there.
Ingredients:
quinoa
grilled red peppers
grilled green peppers
grilled zucchini
grilled garlic
jalapeno
red cabbage
whole kidney beans
salt & pepper
olive oil
sesame oil
lemon juice
1. Make quinoa. Essentially.. you rinse it for awhile, mix with water (1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water), boil and then simmer for ~15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let it cool in the ‘fridge while you do everything else. I found it to be easier to cook than rice.
2. Cook up the red kidney beans and chill them too.. or use some canned ones. I had some ready from another recipe I was working on otherwise I probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to add them.
2. Prep your veggies for the grill. I cut them into fairly big chunks, put them in a big plastic bag, drizzle in some olive oil and make sure they get covered then dump ‘em on the grill and cook until soft and maybe a tiny bit charred on the skin side of the peppers. I use a fine wire screen to go over the regular grill top so my precious veggies don’t fall through. I used hardwood charcoal AND mesquite wood chips to really make it taste smoky but it would probably still taste great if you baked or broiled the veggies and a little more healthy. When done, cool them in the ‘fridge, then peel the skins off of the peppers… they should come off pretty easy… and chop everything up.
3. Cut the red cabbage in long, thin strips and the jalapeno in tiny pieces.
4. Combine it all. I made 3-4 cups total and so I used maybe 2-3 Tbsp. of olive oil, only 4-5 drops of sesame oil, 3 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
I think the flavors enhanced overnight in the ‘fridge and the cabbage wilted a little bit, making it oh so delicious.. even for breakfast. ^_^
April 24, 2008 at 8:29 am · Filed under Life, Dreams & Aspirations, Health
I originally found it here. Otherwise, click the image above to find the website they made for it.
I am so enthralled by this. Planning starts NOW!
April 23, 2008 at 8:40 am · Filed under Life, Work, Pets
I used to bring Della to Paul’s house with me all the time. Then she kept running too far when I’d let her outside and she would spend so much of her time inside just standing and staring at the floor or sleeping right where I needed to be working, so I started to chain her up on a runner at home during the day. She started acting happier and more dog-like so I made it her routine. However, the co-worker here at Adkins that actually found Della for me said multiple times that I should bring her in this month. So I gave Della Della Dog Food a bath lastnight and brought her in with me today. It is so much fun and she is such a good office dog…
… and look at how cute!
April 20, 2008 at 12:45 pm · Filed under Gardening
I have been reading about alternative gardening methods. I am going to try hay bale gardening this year because I bought so much bad hay this year trying to find a good supplier for my horses that it makes more sense than any other methods I could try to start utilizing this year.
Essentially, you take hay (or straw which is better because it has less seed heads to sprout up weeds) and soak it with water each day and add fertilizer a few times for about a week. Then you dig some holes and add some good potting soil or completed compost & dirt and transplant your seedlings or straight up sew your seeds in it. Then you keep it moist for the whole growing season. I’m going to transplant tomatoes, peppers and squash.. then sew lettuces later this week. I will try to keep up on pictures and posts about it so stay tuned.
Pulling the bales away from the house:
Nichols: Straw Bale Culture
Google Search: Hay Bale Gardening
April 13, 2008 at 2:08 pm · Filed under Inked!
April 8, 2008 at 7:07 am · Filed under Humor
(Age progression shown)
Create your own Simpsons Character
April 6, 2008 at 8:51 pm · Filed under Life, Photography, Pets, Horses
Thunder and Birgit LOVE IT.
Gizmo stayed right by my side all day.
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