where it's going

So why is this so important to me now? Several reasons.

First, I'm tired of feeling like a hypocrite--praising organic and natural living while buying the same old crap because it's cheap, or easy. I'm learning it doesn't have to be expensive. Last week at West Oaks Farm Market potatoes were $.49/lb. At the grocery store they were over $1/lb. So with some careful price-watching, it can actually be cheaper. And yes, there is more work involved cooking dinner every night. It's a challenge to cook things I've never tried before. But it's an adventure every time. Admit it, eating the same five things every week gets boring!

Second, as you can probably tell I have some very strongly held feelings about the right and wrong of things. I want to live my principles.

Third, I have a family. I have a husband fighting the negative effects of years of unhealthy eating, and a baby daughter that I want to raise right. I don't care if we have donuts for breakfast once in a while, but I believe it's important to teach kids good eating habits early on. I want us to be healthy together. I've seen people feed their babies good nutritious food but as soon as the child can eat what the grownups eat, it's all chicken nuggets and mac'n'cheese. I've seen what happened to my husband and how hard it is for him to break his old habits, how he struggles with his health--I don't want that for my child. And I want to help him too.

Fourth, it's fun. I love going to the farmers' market and being presented with a beautiful array of fresh goodies. I like talking to the person that grew my food. I like growing my own, even if it's just a few herbs to add to the pot.

Normally I don't do this kind of thing, but there's an Indigo Girls song that sums up how I feel. So I'll leave you, Internet-style, with song lyrics.

"Hammer And A Nail"

Clearing webs from the hovel
a blistered hand on the handle of a shovel
I've been digging too deep, I always do.
I see my face on the surface
I look a lot like narcissus
A dark abyss of an emptiness
Standing on the edge of a drowning blue.
I look behind my ears for the green
Even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
Gotta get out of bed get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands, not just my head
I think myself into jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose.
I had a lot of good intentions
Sit around for fifty years and then collect a pension,
Started seeing the road to hell and just where it starts.
But my life is more than a vision
The sweetest part is acting after making a decision
I started seeing the whole as a sum of its parts.
My life is part of the global life
I'd found myself becoming more immobile
When I'd think a little girl in the world can't do anything.
A distant nation my community
A street person my responsibility
If I have a care in the world I have a gift to bring.

where this journey started

I grew up on a small farm. My mom was vegetarian, although my dad wasn't--we ate veg around the house and we could have meat when we went out, if we wanted. We ate lots of homegrown food: eggs from our chickens, veggies from the garden.

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve eating things I found around the farm--mulberries, serviceberries, cherries when the birds didn't get them. I dug up wild onions in the yard and Mom would put them in the spaghetti sauce. We fished in our neighbors' lake and fried the little fish in cornmeal for dinner.

I remember being fascinated by all the creatures that shared our land, whether domesticated or wild.

As I got older I began to explore the origins of food, and decided on vegetarianism for the sake of the animals. I had known chickens and pigs and cows, known their personalities and intelligence and quirks. I couldn't support the needless cruelty of factory farms. My mom and stepdad opened a farm market that later became a natural food store. I began to understand that our bodies are literally made of what we eat; what better reason to nourish ourselves with healthy food?

Mom also taught me an important lesson: healthy doesn't have to taste bad. She had (still has) some kind of magic in the kitchen. I remember so many thrown-together "stuff in a pot" dinners that were always delicious.

I was never expected to do more than take care of my responsibilities and not to get in trouble. My parents were willing to let me make my own choices and to support them wholeheartedly, and for that I am eternally thankful.

Returning to this lifestyle seems so natural to me. It's where my heart has always been.

summer ahoy!

You know what I love about summer? Cherries, and raspberries, and peaches, and OH GOD THE TOMATOES ARE HERE.

return to the world of the meaty.

Fourteen years of (admittedly imperfect) vegetarianism have passed. And yet, the meal itself was so uneventful I forgot to even write about it. Jason made bowtie pasta (farfalle? what are we, the Rockefellers?) with a garden veggie tomato sauce. I ate about a spoonful of ground beef.

Saturday night he made steak. And while it wasn't bad, I have come to a conclusion: I don't really like beef.

However, I have been craving roasted chicken. I read that it's easy to do in a crock-pot. Must find local chicken.

noodles and carbs

This one... I liked it but Jason was not too keen. It was gloopy but tasty. I used a prepared alfredo sauce, but for texture's sake I think a bechamel or cheese sauce would work better.

Lasagna Primavera

1 pkg lasagna noodles
1 cup shelled fresh peas
1 cup chopped asparagus
1 15 oz tub ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 egg, beaten
handful of chopped fresh parsley
pepper
2 to 2 1/2 cups bechamel or cheese sauce

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Mix ricotta, egg, parsley, and a dash of pepper.

Ladle some sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Mix peas and asparagus with remaining sauce. Assemble the lasagna in layers: noodles alternating with sauce mixture and ricotta. Make sure the top layer is sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 425 for 40 minutes.

Or! Prepare two lasagnas: one 9x9 pan and one loaf pan. Wrap and freeze one for later.



In other news, a coworker has given me some starter for Amish Friendship Bread. This should be interesting.

love that man

Jason cooked last night. Along with the main course (chicken for him and veggie burger for me) we had roasted fingerling potatoes again and this creation, which was DELICIOUS.

Spring Saute

1 cup shelled fresh peas
bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
handful of green onions, finely chopped
butter
splash of wine (I think he used red, but white would be good too)

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute everything until asparagus is bright green and tender. Add the peas near the end--they barely need any cooking.

Lazy dinner

So money's been tight. Lately our strategy has been to go to the farmers' market first and base meals off what we find there, so we can then hit up the grocery store and buy the other stuff we need.

I think I'm not buying enough at the market. We shop on Friday and by Wednesday things are looking a little thin. I'm also trying to use up what we have already rather than buy a ton of new stuff. So, with that in mind, here's last night's recipe: cheap, filling, and relatively easy.

White Bean 'n' Green Soup

1 tbsp. olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
½ onion, chopped
3 cups chopped greens: chard, kale, beet, turnip, collard...
½ cup diced carrots
4 cups veggie or chicken broth
½ lb dry white beans
one can diced tomatoes
bay leaf
1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary, or whatever seasonings you want*
Salt and pepper to taste


Soak beans overnight in a large pot. In the morning, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Drain and rinse beans, cover with water, and simmer 1 ½ to 2 hours or until done. Drain beans and toss everything into the crock pot. Set to Low. Go to work. Come home, make some cornbread, and have dinner.

Or: throw in some browned ground beef and cooked pasta and tada, minestrone.

*I should probably mention, at our house Old Bay seasoning and Tabasco sauce go in everything.

at least the side dishes were good

Since the meat-transition is in its embryonic stage, I still have to come up with good, filling, protein sources. Today I tried a recipe for baked seitan which sounded excellent.

Well, not so much.

It was ridiculously chewy, and gave both me and Jason a touch of bellyache. I guess our stomachs just can't handle that much gluten. Usually I simmer seitan on the stovetop in broth. This recipe involved wrapping it tightly in foil and baking. The flavor was good, but I don't know how to change the texture. Maybe it's just time to throw in the towel with seitan, as I have been unable to find a decent recipe that has both good taste and texture.

On the plus side, the accompanying veggies were lovely. We had sauteed asparagus with garlic, and roasted fingerling potatoes.

I wonder if I can find a tofu recipe that Jason will eat.

drinkies

Beth at the Freight Station Farmers' Market sells blueberry, red raspberry, and cherry juice, as well as unpasteurized apple cider. I guess she makes juice during the summer and fall, and freezes it to sell year round. We have been adding the blueberry juice to iced green tea. YUM.

Also: I had forgotten how good real free-range eggs taste.

sneaky healthy greens

Swiss chard is my new stealth vegetable.

Admit it--you haven't heard of it, it looks weird, and how the hell are you supposed to cook it? Well, it's excellent chopped up and hidden in other things. I threw a whole handful in yesterday's black bean soup and it wasn't even noticeable.

I feel stupid even posting a recipe for this, it was so easy.

Gnocchi with Pesto and Chard

Cook one package of potato gnocchi according to label directions. Wash and chop a big handful of chard and saute with some minced garlic in olive oil until soft. Drain gnocchi and toss with chard and a hefty spoonful of prepared pesto.

musings from a possible ex-vegetarian

I feel like I'm weighing the karmic cost of food. Having made the decision to eat locally as much as possible, as a vegetarian I am suddenly faced with the issue of protein. Cheese and eggs are good, but I don't think we grow beans around here. And after the unpleasantness that was my latest (and last) meal of Quorn, I want to stop with the highly processed meatfakes. Quorn is kind of a Frankenfood, and a lot of the mainstream "meat" substitutes are made with non-organic, GMO soy. Jason will not eat tofu or tempeh, minimally processed soy yummies.

Ethically this is tough for me. And increasingly I'm finding it easier to accept the idea of eating local, pasture-raised, humanely killed meat over processed GMO foods shipped from god knows where. Conventionally raised meat takes a huge toll on the environment and is just generally a bad idea.

There are numerous farms in my immediate area that raise animals ethically. As I said in my previous post, I don't believe eating meat is inherently wrong. Biologically we are omnivores. Our teeth and digestive systems are designed to handle a wide variety of foods. And meat can fit into a healthy diet. I just have problems with the American system of factory farming. Animals are fed unnatural diets*, kept in confining cages or feedlots, and generally treated awfully. My friend Ron once made the very good point: what we experience as emotions are the result of various chemicals coursing through our bodies: endorphins, serotonin, et cetera. Fear and pain have their own associated chemicals. And when an animal lives and dies in fear and pain, those chemicals stay in its flesh. Do you really want to eat that?

Jason likes meat. He does not like tofu, and he's happy to buy feedlot beef and battery farm chicken. I am tired of preparing separate meals--we're a family now, and I want to be able to just cook one dinner that will satisfy everyone. And if I will only eat meat living up to these qualifications, that's what Jason will eat. I think he's happier to have "hippie meat" with me than separate meals. As a bonus, grass fed meat is healthier than conventionally raised. Apparently it tastes better too. And when Molly is old enough to eat, I want her to have meat and milk that are hormone- and antibiotic-free.

So I guess I'm considering this for three main reasons: the health of the earth, the health of the animals, and the health of my family. I'm thinking more and more that this is the way to go.

Thoughts?

*Did you know? Mad Cow Disease is spread when animals eat the neural tissue of a carrier. Cows in American farms are routinely fed ground up bits of other cows. Not to mention, feeding them corn causes a disease called acidosis--one that, allowed to progress, would inevitably kill them. But we slaughter them for food first. True fact.

Farmers' Market Quiche

This is excellent with whatever fresh veggies and herbs you have in season. This week's episode included asparagus, swiss chard, basil and thyme.

Ingredients:

Unbaked pie shell
4 beaten eggs
2 cups milk or half-and-half
1 cup shredded cheese
1/8 tsp salt
Fresh vegetables, chopped
Fresh or dried herbs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Steam or saute vegetables until barely tender. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Add cheese, veggies, salt, and herbs to taste. Pour mixture into pie crust. Bake 5 minutes at 425, then reduce heat to 325. Bake 45-50 minutes or until center is set.

ruminating

Ruminate, from the same root as "ruminant," a cow or other animal that chews cud. So, to "chew things over."

I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and it's galvanized me into making some much-needed changes in my lifestyle. I've always tried to buy organic and natural whenever possible. And I am a vegetarian not because I think eating meat is wrong, but because I think the American system of factory farming is cruel and immoral. But I got lazy. I thought that just being veggie was enough, that I was "better." Now I'm rethinking.


A Closer Look
The book began with facts about the fuel cost alone of getting food to my table. That January tomato began in California with petroleum-derived fertilizers and pesticides, and was shipped thousands of miles on a diesel truck to get to me in Virginia. We're so used to just buying whatever produce at the grocery store, and having the same selection year-round, that we as a culture have become disconnected from our food. What's in season right now? What's the hidden cost? Who cares? You can get whatever you want.

Back to meat: another disconnect. We pick up a plastic-wrapped cut of beef in the store, it's just food. We understand, intellectually, but have lost that visceral knowing that it was once a living animal. It breathed and ate and slept and pooped and mooed. It had a life. Eating it should be a sacrament--a deep and profound thanks for the sacrifice of this creature. We are omnivores. Life feeds on life. But how many of us acknowledge, spiritually, the lives that died so we might survive and grow?

Dilemmas
That said, I'm considering a return to eating meat. If, and only if, it is local and humanely raised. It's going to take some soul-searching for sure. But I need protein in my diet. Do I eat (possibly GMO) soy products from far away, or local meat? Or just a lot of eggs?

Another issue: local is better because the food is fresher and doesn't require tons of fossil fuel to ship it to me. Organic is better because it's more nutritious and pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics are harmful. But sometimes I can get local OR organic. Which do I choose?

For example: if my choices are between organic milk from Idaho (I'm in VA) and local rBGH milk, what do I do? Whose health is more important--the planet's, or my family's? I'm trying to find compromises.

In Action
I began this week by researching farmers markets. I went with no particular objectives, just to get whatever was local and good. I came home with eggs, asparagus, strawberries, beef for Jason, and some green beans (local? I forgot to ask.) Some of the markets around here stock produce that's clearly not local--limes and the like--so I went for stuff that was labeled "local" or had the name of the farm. In the case of the eggs, I talked to the lady whose chickens laid them. At the grocery store, I looked for local produce. I went to items I knew were in season around here, and even then they were grown in California! I did buy some fresh basil from a Pennsylvania farm--it smelled delicious.

Cooking this week has been delightful. So far we've had rigatoni with asparagus and green beans in vodka sauce, homemade pizza with basil and roasted red peppers, and cheese and asparagus omelets. Not to mention just eating strawberries. Jason seems to be on board with this endeavor as long as the food is tasty and he doesn't have to work harder.

And damn, the food is tasty. As Ms. Kingsolver puts it, the only thing you're depriving yourself of by committing to eating local is bland, mealy out-of-season supermarket crap. Things just taste better when they're fresh.


It's so easy to become complacent. Eating consciously requires research, and work, and commitment. (And label-deciphering, and people skills. And cooking a lot.) But even the smallest change is a beginning, and a worthwhile one.

This blog is my food diary, a record of an adventure. Stay tuned.

www.localharvest.org
www.animalvegetablemiracle.com
www.100milediet.com