Saturday, January 16, 2010

January Gardening

52 F, hazy sun and January gardening has begun in Newville, PA!  Larry was out trimming and tying up raspberry vines.  The strawberry plants are surviving (with weeds among them to be pulled) and actually creeping outside their low borders and around one of the blueberry plants and into the raspberries.  Much mud, much to look forward to and much to do! 
Bring on the seed catalogues and bring on Spring!


Looking from on top of Jose's playground.     Miller's farm (another Miller!) behind us.

                        Rows and rows to be planned!





Trimming and tying-up raspberry vines.



                
A blueberry plant from Maine, with creeping strawberry plants.
Strawberry plants to be weeded later, and replanted.





"To whom much is given, much is expected"

(Ted Kennedy - quote, paraphrased from the Bible in Luke 12:48)

Ban on Trans Fats and . . . the C Foods!

Of course restaurants, whole cities in fact, can ban trans fats, but do you know that we should not stop there.  Another similarly shaped molecule which does as much harm in your arteries and overall cell membrane functioning is the often used - partially and or fully hydrogenated oils.  These are what is added to improve shelf life of foods, similar in function to trans fats, but mostly they are used to help keep the "buttery/oil" solids neatly confined inside the cookies, crackers, 0% Trans fat spreads, frosting, most any type of baked good found pre-packaged, Jiff PB and a cupboard, fridge, and freezer full of other processes foods.

Getting rid of these foods often leaves one's cupboards bare - which it has almost done to ours -(that and looking at expiration dates, sigh)  But there is joy in an empty pantry!  Better foods can replace them as needed - and it leaves more room for craft materials for projects with Jose and for much needed - cool kitchen supplies - like a new rice cooker - and wok - sometime, we'll see!  Fact is that even Larry's Doctor said that most things stored in a cupboard are not good for you - and these mostly include C Foods:
cereals (excl. oatmeals, granolas), cookies, crackers, chips, cake mixes, canned foods, caffeinated coffee, candy.  If you can think of anything else that might be "hiding in a cupboard", it probably is bad for you; considering that you are hiding it!

Another helpful method, which several friends have described now to me, is looking at the ingredient list on a product.  If there are more than 5 or 6 ingredients - you should probably leave it in the store.  Also check for corn syrup (+ solids) and/or high fructose corn syrup within this first 5 ingredients or anywhere in the list.

The old addage about shopping around the periphery of a store may be true - but there are also other considerations such as meats and dairy products.  We are heading toward the low meat intake.  And honestly - this week, with eating meat only once in 6 days (in a vegetable-chicken pot pie I made) has made us believe this transition into healthier foods is completely doable and highly flavorful!  The spices and freshness of flavor is astounding and a relief.  We both love hot, spicy, aromatics, and complex flavors in our foods, so it has been great working through the 30-minute Vegan Cookbook (see past entry).  The added benefit has been cutting down on dairy and white refined foods as well.  Whites, the other hazard in foods;  especially refined sugar, and bleached white flour.  That may be another topic to tackle soon - whole grains!

http://www.bantransfats.com/banitathome.html

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Yummalicious for sure!

Hearty and refreshing - if that is a possible way to describe this soup.  I think the ingredients are both hearty - onions potatoes, carrot, cabbage, quinoa, vegetable stock, and refreshing - the clear flavor of vegetable stock, jalapeno (1Tbl minced), parsley, and cilantro.


Jose passed on this one - since it was finished later than he could deal with tonight - chicken soup leftover for him.   I love this happy boy!


Rechecking recipe.  Terrific book - even though we are not necessarily going vegan.



             ". . . yummalicious soup."






Most of the ingredients and stirring the pot near chow time!






Larry, joking around.  Really, we loved it!



Thank you sweetie!



Cookbook discovery

http://www.talronnen.com/

The Conscious Cook - Wonderful!

Facebook interruption

Facebook!  That's it.  Perhaps that was the interruption in the desire to continue the blog for family and friends.  Ah well, I'm still on Facebook and this blog is taking on a new dimension, so all is well.

No seriously, what happened to 2009?

Two years later, I have found this blog again.  Oh, yeah, it is mine!  Well what do you know!  I guess I would definitely call the last post a false start.  The sentiment is good and true - just lost at the gate.  I still like my blog title - only now there are multiple meanings to it and that is what will be shared over time.  And by "over time", I mean more regularly than every other year.  How about within every other week?  That sounds good.  Or perhaps as the cooking goes into full swing, every other day!  Wouldn't that be a hoot! 

Cooking you ask?  I don't see any photos of such deliciousness.  There's just a bright image of a young boy holding out a flower.  Nice!  Yes, that is Jose and that is Mother's Day last year, 2009.  Photo taken at Hershey Gardens in Pennsylvania.  You will see a lot of this fellow and flowers and gardens and oddities and ironies that play out in our life.  Mostly, I will be reflecting on the transition that is being made in our home.  Note, this is not a New Year's resolution, but a full-out revamping, simplification, culinary transition into . . . a vegetarian lifestyle.  Do you call it a lifestyle, really?  Not sure.  I only know that as part of changing up what our family eats, vegetarian cooking and healthy, flavorful meals are on the agenda.

A slow transition it will be, but a sure one.  Ours is a family that just this past Christmas had turkey, roast beef, pork, venison, salmon, and shrimp all within a four day time span.  I mean, we love meat!  And that has shown up on our waistlines and in our veins.  My husband and I are in agreement on this transition - and so it will begin!  With the help of some fine cookbooks (I will mention later), fresh vegetables, amazing spices, sources of rice, quinoa and other grains and a new pressure cooker, let the animals roam!

Seriously, we will make this happen over time and I will share recipes and reflect on how it is going.  I am not going vegan and the meatless transition may be a little different for our five year old son, however we are shooting for the goal of fish or a lean meat only once or twice a week.  I am worried that the fauna of our digestive systems will change too soon and the meat will not go over so well.  Ah well, we'll take it as it comes.

A side note.  Locavorism was high in our minds, and as omnivores - we were in local heaven (except for some seafood).  Fresh vegetables, milk, chicken, beef . . . and the pork - oh my.  But as we looked into recipes for vegetarian meals - the local supply in south central Pennsylvania for rice, grains and spices was lacking.  So, we will reap all that we can from our vegetable garden this year, and become more proficient in canning, and let the rest of the long distance suppliers be part of the cost in cleaning up our internal bodies.  Now, if only I can convince Giant Foodmarkets or even Wegmans (for goodness sake) to start carrying Gardein meatless products then we will be flying high.  Another goal - consumer advocate - I'll see how that goes.