A mini-rant, soups, muffins and cat.
I just wanted to clarify, because there seems to be a bit of confusion, that the drawing for the goodies was random. I don't want you guys thinking I was judging it based on how "good" your memory was. I just wanted entering to be more interactive than just submitting your name and I thought that would be a fun activity.
On a different subject, I ran to the store today. In order for us to buy a house on our limited budget, Jim and I live in very east SE Portland. We live far enough out that Portland is our mailing address but when we tell people where we live their first response is always to laugh at us. But I don't care, we have a house that is ours and that's all that matters to me. Plus, Portland is so small compared to other cities I've lived in, everyone thinks everything is so far away, when in reality I can get to downtown in 20 minutes on the side streets, 10 on the highway. That's not far away. It is, however, inconvenient when I just need to get one or two things at the grocery store and I don't want to go on a field trip. Thankfully, there is a Fred Meyer just a few blocks from us. For those who don't have Fred Meyer, it's like a cross between a Wal-mart and Target. They are very big and you can buy your groceries and get name brand clothing and shoes. The quality isn't as cheap as Wal-mart, nor as nice as Target. But the workers are always nice from my experience, leading me to believe that they are paid better and taken better care of than other places. And they have a nice natural food section, with organic bulk selections (including vegan chocolate covered raisins!) AND I have been able to buy things there that were made in the US, which you can never find. I was able to find Jim American made underwear and undershirts and I just bought some new socks that were US made as well. And we've picked up and noticed lots of other things proudly saying they are made in the USA, so that makes me feel okay that we shop there from time to time.
Today, however, I was really just observing the other people there and the store itself. Usually, I just walk in and the natural foods section is right in the front, so I get to stay in my little bubble, go get my stuff and leave. But I needed to walk across the store today and I was really struck by the food. Obviously, we all know how other people eat and I always sneak a peek at other people's grocery carts, but man is it frightening. I mean, "food" consists of Hot Pockets and Kraft cheese and white bread with 100 additives. And our society is plagued with diseases of affluence, yet people wonder how we, as Vegans, can stay healthy. My mother is so disconnected from her food that she couldn't even understand why I would ever want to make bread when you can buy a loaf of store bought bread (that won't mold for weeks, yummy) for under a dollar. The natural foods section is a little pocket within the aisle upon aisle of pre-packaged, single-serving size mush that is marketed as food. Shouldn't people be questioning why the food they eat isn't considered natural? I hear so many people complain that it's too expensive to eat well. My favorite food related retort to that is from Bob's Red Mill, "It's health insurance you can eat". But in reality, it's not expensive to eat better, you just have to relearn some things and plan differently. Those premade pizzas and frozen White Castle burgers are expensive to both your pocket book and your health.
Anyway, enough deep thoughts for now. Let's look at the all natural food I made today! No doctored photos here, ladies and gentlemen! Just real bonafide food, made by hand, from real ingredients. They still make those things, you know.
Yesterday I made Leslie's Tofu Noodle Soup. It was delicious. 
I baked my tofu in a marinade of water, soy sauce, toasted sesame seed oil and crushed garlic. Jim and I both very much enjoyed it and Jim said that it reminded him of being a kid. Awww. Maybe next time I'll get some ABC noodles for him.
Today I made a recipe from a friend of mine from elsewhere in internetland. It's called "Gypsy Soup". It was a great, savory way for me to use some sweet potatoes in a way Jim will eat and it used up a bunch of odds and ends I had laying around in my fridge. 
I'm not going to put the recipe on my recipes page, because it's not mine, but here is my adaptation of it. It's really amazing, the spices really give it an intoxicating smell. Plus I got to use some of my green garbanzos again!
Gypsy Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups diced peeled sweet potatoes
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
4 cups veg stock or water
1 tablespoon tamari
1 cup chopped fresh tomato (I used a can of diced tomatoes)
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
DIRECTIONS:
Heat olive oil in a stock pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion, garlic, celery and sweet potatoes for about 5 minutes, or until onion is soft.
Season with paprika, turmeric, basil, salt, cinnamon, cayenne, and bay leaf. Stir to blend, then stir in veg stock and tamari. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Add tomatoes, garbanzo beans and green pepper to the soup, and simmer for another 10 minutes, or until all of the vegetables are tender. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaf.
Makes 4 large servings.
I made some muffins that are currently living in our freezer:
Dreena's Orange Poppyseed and some banana peanut butter chocolate chips. Basically I made a normal banana muffin batter, reserved a cup of batter and filled the muffin tins 2/3. Then I blended 1/4 cup peanut butter into the reserved batter and added a handful of chocolate chips. Spooned into the tins and then swirled with a toothpick. Voila!
Tonight I tried the BBQ ribs that Jess made for a recent post. They were okay. I might make them again, because they were insanely easy, but the consistency was too breadish for me. They were almost like a really big, BBQ'd dumpling or something.
Served with Green Goddess potatoes (again), mushroom gravy and some green beans and carrots.
Ravi was being so cute this morning, watching squirrels outside the windows. This is what we call his "pole cat" stance, which is also another name for a ferret. 
Ravi also gets called ferret. He wasn't very happy that I was taking his picture and he pouted a little bit after this. It's his fault for being so cute!
17 comments:
I totally agree with your rant. I hate how people badger me about my diet and health when they haven't eaten a vegetable in days. I like to sneek a peak into others' grocery carts too and its sad sometimes! All frozen convenience foods, junk and meat.
Those muffins look really good!
Kris, I could rant on and on about your rant. I notice the same things and can't get over how disconnected people are from foods and where they come from. It makes no sense to me. Just like organic and conventional. Shouldn't the "regular" stuff be the organic stuff and vice versa?! Same with foods these days, I can't get over how much crap you have to sort through in those stores.
Anyway, your version of the noodle soup looks wonderful. Tell Jim that I also think it takes me back to childhood! Glad it was a hit. Those muffins... I've heard about them from you... now you are killing me with photos!
I am going to try that Gypsy Soup, I have all the ingredients, thanks Kris.
Ravi is the cutest (after Killian of course!)... I love that pole stance. We should measure our kitties, full-length... we may have a close race! Great post Kris.
Oh I so agree w/ your rant! I have had this very discussion w/ my best friend- who got divorced and ended up on welfare. She is constantly trying to tell me she can't afford to eat like me. I am forever trying to explain that yes, if your motivated your children DO NOT have to be raised on hamburger helper, canned ravioli, and microwavable mac and cheese (horrific, I know). The cost per serving of convince chemical laded crap is very high compared to say a vegetable soup, beans and rice, it just takes effort. The last time we got together (she lives 900 miles away) I feed 11 adults and 5 kids peanut noodles w/ cabbage, carrots, peas and mushrooms and all of the condiments for about 20 dollars. errr I could go on and on!
I will have to try that nice looking gypsy soup! I just love the name! thanks for sharing.
Julee
You know, it drives me nuts how people think being vegan is so expensive. There is a comment on another website I read where someone said "Anorexia and veganism are both diets only the rich can afford". But how much do they pay for high blood pressure medication, insulin when they become diabetic, drugs for when they are constantly sick because their immune systems are worn down and not supported? Heart disease, stroke... even my parents have this very notion, "Oh, we don't have to eat healthy, organic foods because we are not sick like you are", while my mother has horrible fibromyalgia (along with a myriad of other problems) and my father is on blood pressure meds and has mild diabetes. One of my sisters is diabetic and she puts teaspoons full of salt on her cheese-laden white flour pasta, then finishes it with chocolate and diet coke. It was watching my family eat, and knowing that I don't have to end up like them, that partially spurred me on to change in a big way. It had the same effect on my youngest sister (though she is not vegetarian, she does eats organic, healthful foods and is a massage therapist/pilates instructor).
It just breaks my heart, there is no way to make them understand but keep doing what I'm doing and maybe someday they'll see.
Yeah, I try to avoid Freddy's, but every now and then, I'm on Hawthorne and they're there, and I make the run to the natural foods section as well.
Personally, I choose to spend extra money on specialty and organic items, and eating them in Portland is much more reasonable (ridiculously so) than other places. Why spend $10 at McDonald's or Friday's when you can feed yourself for a week, if not 2?
Sorry about the ribs! I should probably have pointed out that I am a much bigger fan of bread than seitan! I'm trying to get over my anti-seitan-ness, though.
Also - kudos on the Tribune spotlight!
Oh yeah! I have a um, love for the new Vitasoy Peppermint Chocolate milk, and Freddy's has it on sale 2/$4. In case you're interested..
Jess or Anyone else, do you know what the Vita Soy natural flavors are?! I don't see "vegan" written anywhere and I know it's hard to find out what the flavors are. I'm interested in that and the holly nog one (since I refuse to buy Silk anymore), but hesitant because it doesn't seem as natural, not natural flavors, whatever that could mean.
Meg, you can probably just leave the squash out.
Kris, pretty please make the comments window expandable. It is hard to see stuff in this tiny window esp, with a font set big for readability, thanks. This is the only blogger comments window I've seen that enforces a tiny size.
Reminds me of something I read yesterday in the New York Times in an article on aging:
The other thing relates to insensitivity about a disability. I have a hearing impairment. A third of all people over 65 have some hearing damage. I was recently at a conference in Washington, and the chairman wouldn’t turn on the sound system. So I asked him to do it. He said, “Aw, later.” You can only ask once about something like that.
Kris~
You're not kidding. I always used to glance at people's shopping carts in the checkout lanes, but now that I work in a pharmacy inside a grocery store, it's shocking! I'm always freaked out by those people getting several HUNDREDS of dollars worth of diabetic medication, blood pressure pills, cholesterol meds, etc, and getting a huge thing of ice cream, soda, oreos, and steak! Yuk :-P I sometimes try to sneak in a little joke about it... "Don't worry, the Rocky Road will definately make you feel better..." They don't realize how sarcastic I am!
By the way, your food looks amazing!! I love soup but have kinda over done it for awhile. I'm going to keep your Gypsy soup on file though for when I'm ready for it again. :)
Ravi looks like a cat we had growing up that escaped from the house and got hit by a car. It was so terribly sad. I think he's adorable though. :)
Hey Melissa- it is disheartening. It's sad how many people seldom eat fresh food.
Meg- you should give a sweet potato a try. Or carrots if they aren't already in there. Root vegetables are very hearty, like squash.
Leslie, the whole wording of "natural" and "conventional" really bugs me too. We should measure our kitties! Ravi is pretty tall, but Linus is very big, he still makes Bindhi look like a kitten when he stands next to her!
Julee- my family spent years using the food bank and we had our share of "crap" that people would donate, but there were good base foods available, I just think that we live in a time where many people have no idea how to prepare food from scratch. Food banks should also provide cooking classes on how to make good meals that stretch a penny.
Erica, the whole "expensive" thing drives me nuts. I spend less now than I ever did before and I'm not exactly a frugal grocery shopper. You just have to actually spend a little time on your food and not just pop a slab of frozen crap into the microwave. I know all about the family eating habits and them not connecting it with their health. My mother is grossly overweight and has MS, but McDonalds and cigarrettes have no effect on that!
I'm with you Jess. I buy organics and healthy foods because I put my money towards that. If my financial situation were to change, it wouldn't change how I eat. Money is a cop-out for when people really mean "I'm too lazy to learn". I'll have to check out that choclate peppermint stuff.
Les, I've never bought Vita-Soy before (sorry, I'm a Pacific girl, myself), but I'll let you know if I find out anything.
Anon: done and done!
Ruthie, I can only imagine how hard it is for you to not grab people by the shoulders and shake them! Your body is literally constructed out of what you eat, how does that not affect your health? Ug!
I was just talking about this very subject last night. It drives me crazy. Especially when I see people load up there cart with only processed foods and then head over to the pharmacist for all the medications that they need to take. I have family and friends like this also and they are alway's so worried about me and my diet. All I can say to them is that since going vegan i'm almost never sick and I don't need to take any medications like the rest of them do. They still think i'm crazy.
Also I've been wanting to make those BBQ ribs. Thanks for letting me know they are dumplingish. I'm still going to make them soon but it's nice to know to expect somthing different than i was imagining to be like.
JENNA
i love the look of those potatos (or yams?) with gravy.
lots of good looking soup there.
i do sneek a peak into others' grocery carts too and i feel so bad too. one time i was ready to load my groceries in to the cashier and the person who was first have lots fo meat and a pork head, i just go out of the line and make line in other one that was more full, i cant stand to view that and to put my food in the same place that the person put the meat.
nice food! yum
I love your food. Those muffins look incredible. And what a great pic of Ravi!
As for your rant, I agree. Yuck to most of what is in the grocery store. It's really sad. I love natural food--it's not that expensive either, if you are smart. I've been trying to buy mostly organic food lately, and I feel better and better about it.
I always look in other people's grocery carts, too, & have the same disgust most of the time!
Just a note re: "made in USA" clothing--I'm not sure if you try to get it because you want to support more local economies, or simply get stuff that hasn't been shipped halfway around the world. But if you go for that label because you think it ensures non-sweatshopped items, I just wanted to point out that it doesn't, that there are lots of sweatshops (sadly) in the US (& in places like the Mariana Islands, which get the USA label too) too. Not sure if that was your reasoning--but I've seen enough folks make that error that I thought I'd risk looking like an ass & pointing it out. ;)
For Leslie (and anyone else who was curious about Vitasoy), I e-mailed the company and asked about the "natural flavors." They responded that...
"The "Natural Ingredients" are our proprietary recipe information and can only look into an ingredient if it is food allergen related. The product is vegan and does not contain any animal products within it including the "Natural Ingredients". We would not be able to label our product vegan if there were any animal products within it in any way."
Post a Comment