Wearing Your Ethics

The longer I enjoy meatless eating, the more sensitive I'm becoming to the needs of the planet and our animal co-inhabitants. As moved as I am to tears and disgust by cruelty in factory farming, I still need to know it exists and fight it. I have watched the videos and read the articles and I tell others what I believe and why. The easiest way to get the point across is fashion without confrontation, at least that's how it seems. The Peta Store has some awesome t-shirt choices. Paul McCartney wore the "Eat No (cow)" t-shirt on an album cover. I have it in the "Eat No (fish)" version, too. Order a few. Wear your convictions!

I went to the hairdresser recently. One of the working women there comes from Eastern Europe and had raised her own meat and poultry. Because diet seems to be a constant topic among us when I'm there, my vegetarian lifestyle came up (again). I explained that as much as I had enjoyed meat as a food, at least sometimes, it was exposure to factory farming cruelty that turned me from it, never to return to eating animal flesh again. The European woman said that she and her husband slaughtered their animals themselves and assured us that chickens and lambs "have no adrenaline" and therefore can't feel fear. I think that's preposterous. I told her that anything that dies in a state of distress is suffused with the chemical influence of that disstress and this is bad for the person eating it. Maybe lions on the Savannah are innured to those influences, but we who have many healthier alternatives, and the molars to grind grains and veggies, are not.

Holding My Own

Life as a vegetarian about 8 months into the process is really good. Thus far I've stopped eating all meat, fish and poultry. I've stopped buying new leather shoes (found great Chuck Taylor at the Converse outlet and Madden Girl shoes that you can get at Alternative Outfitters) and accessories. I especially like the Converse slip-style with eyelets but no laces that come in black and colors and even some funky patterns. I got black and aqua.

I cook and eat vegan as much as possible, while still eating eggs and dairy when we eat in restaurants that don't offer vegan selections. I anticipate reaching a point one day where I stop doing even that, just as I reached the point where the concept of eating meat bothered me too much. That took years, however, and I am allowing this journey to unfold. Meanwhile, Red Robin has meatless patties available on all their awesome burger selections.

One of my favorites is the Blackened Bayou Burger made with a Boca or Gardenburger. They describe it: "Blackened (meatless) burger topped with roasted red peppers, angry onions, Pepper-Jack cheese, Creole mustard sauce and cabbage-carrot mix on a jalapeño-cornmeal kaiser roll. Add a splash of Tabasco® for even more spice. It's good, we guar-an-tee!" Yup! Fer true!

I bake vegan, using soy milk, soy sour cream, egg substitute (Ener-G), and other goodies. I now subscribe to VegNews and recently baked the "Vegan Whoopie Pies" they featured. They were delicious but do enjoy them fresh if you make them. They're made with whole wheat pastry flour and are still light and yummy, with no sense of eating something grainy or rough.

The whoopie pies were great at first but after hanging out in freezer and fridge for a couple of weeks became too crumbly to really enjoy, so I threw them out by the bird feeders and expect the squirrels had a field day. In fact I saw one character holding up one piece in both paws and nibbling before scampering off into the woods.

Today I baked some Valentine's Day cupcakes to take to dinner with friends. I made the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and piped hot-pink icing hearts, and filled with Cookies-and-Cream frosting from the last batch of minis I made. My recipes all come from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and I recommend it highly! No, I haven't lost weight since switching from Atkins-style carnivore to vegetarian, but after gaining about 13 pounds from June to December 2008, I've lost about 8 of that and am havng no trouble maintaining. I'll likely lose again if and when I convert to vegan fully, but that's for another day.

That's it for now, except that we now have a real cat, not only a virtual one, and her name is Daisy.

My first vegetarian Thanksgiving

It was a nice holiday spent with great friends who made special effort to accomodate my veggie needs. Just to be on the safe side, I brought a few things myself: Whole Foods Portobello Mushroom Gravy and several side dishes (Vegan Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potatoes with Apricots, and Vegan Stuffing). I was so glad I took the trouble to make my own stuffing because our host had only what she made in the bird. I learned some valuable lessons along the way:

• Only use recipes from trusted sources. I selected 2 excellent ones that worked beautifully from Jill at Persistent Vegetarian State, but I still wanted and searched for the Green Bean Casserole and found many, most complicated. One recipe sounded great, substituting the Campbell's mushroom soup with Creamy Portobello mushroom soup, but the amount it called for had to be really wrong, 32 ounces. My guess is it should have been the small box, not the quart. I followed directions, and thank goodness my husband found a way for us to remove a lot of the extra liquid, which by the way became a tasty gravy. Leading to the next tip:
• Be prepared to be creative and innovative. My chosen stuffing recipe called for challah bread made into cubes and toasted. I found ready-made bread cubes at Whole Foods. Problem: after I assembled everything, I found that 2 bags was one bag too many, leading to my having to add twice the vegetable broth, plus some additional water. In the end it was delightful, and having a lot more than I needed, I was able to add some Earth Balance margarine to the surplus and make it into balls, then bake them in muffin tins. Yummy!

Last night we met friends for dinner out and I learned that K has virtually given up fish and is now vegetarian, too. They're having a Tofurky tonight, and I can't wait to hear how it turns out. Lucky girl, her man will eat stuffed peppers made with soy crumbles and Tofurky. Maybe in future days mine will, too. But until then, we peacefully coexist and both love animals. To each his own time and place for change.

Still Groovin' the Veggie Way

Wow, three months since my last post! Well, it's been pretty busy. First, we got very involved in the 2008 Presidential Election, working to elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden and all the good men and women down ticket. How cool that we succeeded! Yes we did!

Here's a nice YouTube from the campaign:




After enjoying that, let me tell you that we are trying to singlehandedly hold up the economy! Mr. Maven just got his very own 2009 Toyota Prius, a back sexy one. Gone is the fairly big SUV, and all that gas consumption. The Prius we already have (mine, a 2007 in beautiful blue) gets about 48 mpg and even driving between New York and PA weekly, we only use about 6.5 gals.

Now, it's Saturday and we're tired, but it's been a good week. Last Sunday Nature Maven presented a professional workshop in Chicago, and yesterday did it again in New York. Ahhhh. Rest and recuperation in the country!

And, yes, I'm still meat-free for these past 5 months. I've gained about 7 pounds overall with the return to carbs, but I'm okay with it at this point. Eventually I'll get back where I need to be, or maybe I'm already there.

Best Veggie Reading

One thing any vegetarian must do is stay up on salient information, new products, and recipes and stay plugged in to the veggie community. Some of the ways I do it:
Checking out Google's vegetarian headlines delivered daily to this blog, to the right.

Reading current issues of mags such as VegNews, Vegetarian Times, and a freebie that comes to the office called Natural Solutions that features some veggie products and alternative health options and information.I make many purchases based upon what I learn. For example, in VegNews yesterday I saw an ad for J-41 "Adventure On" very cool-looking vegan shoes with recycled rubber soles (note: they also sell shoes made with leather, so be sure to click on "vegan" when investigating styles and prices). I checked and a store right around the corner from my home sells them! Awesome.

Today: off to a local country fair we go to annually in PA. I know I can get some vegetarian lunch items and will do so. I also know that plenty will be off limits for me. There are 4-H exhibits. I have mixed feelings about them, since the animals usually head to slaughter at some point in their lives. Here's a heartwrenching poem if you have the stamina to read it, called "4-H Boy". On the brighter side, I'm hoping to catch some natural-product vendors and the local Democratic Party booth to get some Obama-Biden stuff.

By the way, Moveon.org is offering FREE (or low cost for quantity) Obama-Biden bumper stickers. Check it out here and get yours today!

Making it Day to Day

Having been vegetarian for 2 months, several truths have emerged for me:

• Maybe strict vegans, raw foodies and/or fruitarians lose any excess weight automatically with their diets, but (semi) lacto-ovo vegetarians (LOVs) as I am now do not. I am still eating cheese and foods containing eggs often when I eat away from home. I cook and bake strictly vegan at home.
• Some restaurants accomodate LOV's with pasta dishes, veggie burgers, portabello mushrooms in place of steak, and Mexican entrees featuring beans and cheese, but many other do not. Here's what I can share: Red Robin (Boca Burgers and Gardenburgers can be substituted for beef in any burger) and Chili's (black bean burgers and portabello fajitas are both winners) are LVO-friendly; Long Horn Steakhouse is not (my letter to the parent company to complain as been met with crickets so far); most restaurants will gladly fix an entree for you if the only change they need to make is to leave out the meat (e.g., cheesesteak with everything, no meat).
• Take home items are a little easier:


• Chinese entrees like tofu with black bean sauce or most any tofu entree, and veggie or mushroom egg foo young are fine LOV choices, and any veggie version of lo mein, mei fun, chow mei fun, or fried rice are high-carb but vegan (unless eggs are added--ask). Our local Japanese place will make any entree with tofu in place of meat or fish. That's a help, too.
• Pizza is a no-brainer, and with a few select veggies is best, like mushrooms or black olives (getting the touted veggie pizza offering on most menu boards unfortunately often inlcudes al dente broccoli (read almost raw), never a favorite of mine. PLUS most italian places offer or will make eggplant dishes (heros, parmargiana, rollatini) that are great for us LOVs. And pasta with olive oil and garlic is de rigeur.
  
• So that's it so far. My weight has stablized at almost exactly where I started. I have to keep reminding myself I'm not eating this way to lose but to be cruelty-free in my living, as best I can be. I know dairy is cruel too, and so is leather, but this is a One-Day-at-a-Time lifestyle. If it weren't, I couldn't do it. I've added in B-12 tablets and EFAs, and I'm feeling good. More later!

Delicious Vegetarian Gourmet Cooking

Yesterday I bought Madhur Jaffrey's wonderful book, World Vegetarian: More Than 650 Meatless Recipes from Around the Globe and tonight tried my first recipe. Oh my God, it was divine! I made her "Cauliflower and Potatoes with Ginger, Punjabi Style" (page 163). I had a gorgeous head of organic cauliflower and shopped today for potatoes, fresh ginger, and ground turmeric, coriander, and cayenne. I had cumin in the pantry already. It took awhile to prepare but was well worth the effort. I will serve this to company. I had some chickpeas as my protein, a big green salad, and a rice side dish with sauteed gourmet mushrooms and the bottom portion of a leek, sliced thin, all seasoned with some Bragg's and a spoonful of tahini. An amazing meal. My husband grilled a salmon fillet for himself and shared these dishes with me. He agreed the Jaffrey recipe was wonderful. The other he wasn't that thrilled with. But that was my quick little concoction. The bonus: I have leftovers to take back to the city to enjoy this week, and the wonderful book awaiting me when I come back Friday to try more delightful dishes.