Thoughts On Small-Scale and Humane Farming...

As you know, I live in New England - a beautiful and bucolic area of the country where the rolling countryside is dotted with family-owned farms seasonally producing berries, corn, maple syrup and - year round - milk, of course.

Driving to work every day, I see the cows in the fields ambling around grazing, rubbing along the fences, laying down to soak in the sun. And, knowing some of the people involved, I also know how hard their 'owners' work to look after them, to keep them safe and well.

And I am conflicted.

I have always been a believer in supporting small producers over agribusiness - the Davids over the Goliaths.

So surely it is better to buy cows' milk from the little guys than soy milk from WhiteWave Foods Co???

But then there is the 'bigger picture' - when the lens is widened to take in the full scope of the industry. When you view the panoramic shot, you see how the dairy industry - for that is what it is despite the pretty picture of the old-fashioned family farm - feeds the veal industry, that most intolerable and unconscionable of capitalist profiteering. The industry which imprisons babies from their first day until their slaughter at 4 months old. Which orphans them, confines them, renders them sickly anaemic and then transports them, to the knife.

You see how the 'spent' dairy cows end their days in the very same slaughterhouse hell as those free roaming steer, raised for beef. How their lives of enforced pregnancy and constant bereavement are artificially-foreshortened when they are deemed no longer economically viable as units of production.

And when you bear this in mind, you realize once again that despite the touchy-feely hype this system is not humane. Far from it. That organic, free-range, hormone-free milk for which you are paying top dollar comes at such a price - such a terrible cost to the animals - that it cannot be considered a humane, sane or sustainable alternative. The only sane option is the vegan option; the only 'humane' farming is arable farming.

There is no alternative.

Stay Vegan, Friends!

Interesting in Becoming Vegan?

If Oprah can do it - you can do it!

For an excellent introduction to all things veggie and vegan, Erik Marcus is producing daily podcasts on his new Vegtalk blog! If you have even the mildest interest in how to make your diet more compassionate and healthy - for you, for the animals and for the environment - please do check out Erik's work...

Oprah Goes Vegan

Yes, I know that's a headline you are going to read on a million blogs, but I just had to jump on the bandwagon too! Yesterday, from 3 separate sources - and later also from my Dear Mama who is staying with us right now - I heard the excitement that Oprah was undertaking a 21-day cleanse that includes cutting all animal products out of her diet.

This is a great development for the vegan community as she is such a mega-star and can only do us good. I found a link to submit comments, questions and notes to Oprah's production team (no, I am not sufficiently naive to believe she reads these all herself, but no matter!) so I emailed the following:

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Oprah!
I am a long-time fan, of course, and also a new vegan so am very proud of the steps you're taking. I truly hope the transition brings you what it has brought me: peace, integrity, renewed energy and hope. The vegan lifestyle is so very rewarding and life affirming - every day, in the simplest way, we are living our values of compassion and mercy for all creatures. Plus we are giving our bodies what they need to carry us through this remarkable adventure. One of my greatest inspirations as I move along this path is Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of Compassionate Cooks and I wonder whether she could be a guest on your show? Eloquent, intelligent, engaging and dynamic, she is undoubtedly the most charming spokesperson for veganism I have ever met and you would just love her! She can be reached at www.compassionatecooks.com, I believe.
Have fun with your challenge!!
Best wishes,
Amanda

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As a complete hero to me, I would love to see Colleen on Oprah! And if you feel the same, why not click on this link and suggest it too!!!!

Oh, and to follow Oprah's journey, bookmark this link.

Stay vegan, Friends!

Gemperle Enterprises- Supplier to NuCal Foods Inc.

When you buy those cheap eggs in the grocery store...this is what your dollars pay for:



Every day, in every way, tofu tastes better and better.

New England Lovelies...

Some old friends...



...and some new!

Hot Pans & Shiny Hands

Sounds like a bizarre euphemism, right? But actually no, it's more a matter of one preceeding the other. In my last post I mentioned being slightler the worse for wear (am fine and dandy again now - thanks for asking!) and the reason had to do with Spanish Omelettes, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and raw stupidity. Let me explain....

Last night, I was yearning for an omelette - you know, the kind you have with a huge fresh salad and perhaps some crusty bread. So I plumped for the Spanish Revolutionary Omelette in VWAV - throwing in some extras like kalamata olives (yes, more Greek than Spanish but wickedly tasty in any dish as far as I am concerned) and sun-dried tomatoes. I steamed sme asparagus to have on the side (My Beloved won't touch it for some insane reason!) and was thrilled when the timer echoed brightly from the kitchen to announce that the omelette (50 mins in a 400 degree oven) was finished.

I was busy trying to work out how to use Facebook at the time so My Beloved answered the timer's call and took the saute pan out of the oven. Enticed by the aroma, I finished up my FB activities - becoming friends with Erik Marcus of Vegtalk! - and wandered into the kitchen to serve dinner. Now, I ought to say that - in my own defence - I was pretty tired. It had been an incredibly long day which started with a routine trip to the doctor's office (I finally, finally agreed to a cholesterol test just for the anticipated pleasure of getting a good result and blaming it on my diet! tee hee!!) at 7am, work from 8am to 5:30pm, errands on the way home, walking les gars who pulled and tugged and barked hysterically for the whole walk and then starting dinner at 8pm....Yes, I was a trifle fatigued.

However that doesn't excuse the idiocy with which I proceeded.

Yes, you can see it coming, right?

Noticing the omelette on the stove top ready to be sliced, I picked up the saute pan.

Sparing you the grusome details involving screams, gallons of cold water and tears, I spent the rest of the evening with my hand in a gallon baggie of ice, even taking it to bed with me wrapped in a flannel pillow case because my skin was on fire. Well, not literally, but it felt that way whenever the ice-numbing wore off.

Waking up this morning, I found to my utter amazement that not only was the hand still there, but it hadn't even blistered. Yes, the skin is kind of tight and white across my palm and fingers, but there is no lasting damage. Except to my ego, of course. Oh and the Chardonnay-fueled hangover from drinking a glass or two too many 'for medicinal reasons' as prescribed by My Beloved.

So the moral of the story is....?

There isn't one. Just wanted to explain my ealier comment of feeling under the weather....

Stay Vegan, Friends, and away from saute pans!

Didn't your mother tell you...

...NOT to play with your food???



Russ - that one's for you! And here's my own favourite!



Not a particularly erudite or inspiring post but am feeling distinctly under the weather this morning having enjoyed - arguably - one too many glasses of white wine last night. More on that later, but for now...

...Stay Vegan, Friends!

"But humans are designed to eat meat..."

A quick post....

I found this article in The Guardian. It is scarcely news in the vegan community!

(the emphasis is mine, by the way)

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Heart disease linked to bad diet, urine shows
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor


The leading cause of heart disease and stroke has been linked for the first time to a person's diet and chemicals in the urine.

In the first study of its kind to link blood pressure to a person's "metabolic fingerprint", a measure of how they process food, the good news is that genes do not seem to be to blame.

Diet and gut bugs appear largely responsible for high blood pressure, which will give a boost for efforts to provide new health advice.

The international team led by Imperial College London has found chemicals called metabolites in people's urine. These have a direct relation to blood pressure, linking it to diets rich in meat, high in alcohol and low in fibre.

Using metabolic fingerprinting, they looked at the relative levels of many different metabolites, which are the products of metabolism and act as markers which can reveal how diet and lifestyle contribute to disease.

Researchers said the approach and the new data point the way to greater understanding of dietary and biological causes of the epidemic of high blood pressure - which does not link in a simple way to genes - and possible enhanced ways to prevent and control high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

The study reveals a fundamental difference in what is happening in the western and eastern guts that could be linked with high blood pressure, which affects 16 million people in the UK alone and is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke.

Prof Jeremy Nicholson and his team, working with colleagues in Northwestern University, report in the journal Nature how they analysed the metabolic fingerprints of 4,630 middle aged adults in the UK, USA, China and Japan, by using a method called NMR spectroscopy on their urine samples, which reveals the way food is broken down in the body.

The research shows that adults in the UK and USA, which have similar incidences of high blood pressure and heart disease, have similar metabolic fingerprints.

In contrast, although adults in Japan and China have similar genetic profiles, they have very different metabolic fingerprints from one another. Meanwhile, Japanese people living in the USA have typical American metabolic fingerprints, showing that lifestyle - diet in this case - is a dominant feature in determining metabolism.

Professor Nicholson says the find will "give us important clues as to the causes of major health problems such as high blood pressure".

"Metabolic profiling can tell us how specific aspects of a person's diet and how much they drink are contributing to their risks for certain diseases," he said.

Professor Paul Elliott, a co-author, adds: "The flip-side of this is that whereas a person can't alter their DNA, they can change their metabolic profile by changing their diet and lifestyle."

The new study reveals that people with increased levels of the amino acid alanine, which is found in many foods but which is particularly high in animal protein, have higher blood pressure and also increased energy intake, levels of dietary cholesterol, and body mass index.

People with increased levels of the metabolite formate, made by the breakdown of the starch in foods such as rice, have lower blood pressure and increased energy intake. Formate arises from the action of microbes in the gut or as a product of metabolism in the body.

Increased levels of hippurate, a by-product of metabolism by microbes in the gut, are found in people with lower blood pressure, lower levels of alcohol intake, and higher levels of dietary fibre.

"We think that hippurate excretion is broadly linked to having a healthy diet (which makes a healthy gut flora) - at least in western populations," says Prof Nicholson, adding the team will now study what aspects of diet promote hippurate.

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Read the original article by clicking here.

And Stay Vegan, Friends!

Sausages for All!

Even before becoming vegan, I had a hard time with sausages. I loved, loved, loved them - so handy, so portable, so easy to incorporate into a snack or a solid meal! But for several years before I made the switch to the vegan lifestyle I had been unable to eat pigs anyhow, so had restricted my (deluded) self to chicken and beef sausages. But, having finally seen sense, I reconciled myself to this being a food, like cheese, that I'd just have to deal with really missing.

Enter the Sausage, Reborn!

I happened across a recipe for vegan sausages and gave it a go.

Then My Beloved and I took it to the next level, by customising the base recipe, and I am tickled pink to report that sausages are welcome in our kitchen once again! Here's the basic recipe, which will make between 5 and 6 sausages, depending on how thick you like them:

1 vegan bouillon cube (enough to flavor 2 cups water, see below)
1 slice whole wheat bread, toasted and made into crumbs
1 cup vital wheat gluten (about 4.5 ounces or 127 grams)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon flax seeds, ground

1 cup cool water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cashew butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce

And the recipe is simplicity itself. Yes, I know I always say that, but it really is sooooo much easier than growing a piglet....

1. Dissolve the bouillion cube in the water and set aside.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and stir well. They will look like this:


The vital wheat gluten.


The toasted breadcrumbs.


My 'cheesy' favourite: nutritional yeast.


The herbs: clockwise from 12 o'clock - sage, thyme, black pepper, onion powder, marjoram, ground flax seeds, and nutmeg in the center.

BTW: this is what whole flax seeds look like:




3. Whisk together all of the wet ingredients (garlic, cashew butter, soy sauce, plus the 1 cup of stock) until the cashew butter is well dispersed. Prior to whisking, they look like this:




Plus, of course, the vegetable stock, but no-one photographs their veg stock, right?

4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and stir until well mixed. If the mix seems dry to you, feel free to add more water. I do, frequently.

OK, so now you have the base sausages. This weekend, I made a double batch, halved it and then created one set of 'cajun spicy sausages' and the other of 'mexican tequila, lime and black bean'.

For the Cajun-spicy, add the following:

1/4 stp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
dash of liquid smoke

For the Mexican-style, I used these:

1/2 oz tequila
1 oz lime juice
2 oz black beans
pinch of salt

These are very approximate measures as, by this point in the game, I was not exactly thinking 'scientifically', due to dwindling tequilla reserves....

Anyway, in either case, just add the extras in and mix.

Now, the fun starts when making up these little beauties. Grab some aluminium foil and tear into rectangles. Divide your mix into 5 or 6 equal-sized portions and plop each one down on the foil. Roll out gently to form a log shape and then roll up the foil, twisting the ends tightly. Once the sausages are wrapped in the foil it becomes easier to make them more regular in shape....just keep practicing, it's not hard! :)

Then all you have to do is to steam them for 35 mins.



When they're done, you can either leave them to go cold for a meal another day, or give in to temptation and try one right away. I have adopted both of these tactics and, although I know I should act my age and resist the urge for instant gratification, I find the second option infinitely preferable!

Stay Vegan, Friends!

Four People in a Small Kitchen...

....a recipe for disaster?

Possibly, but not on this occasion. In fact, it's been a lovely weekend!

Our friends, Sue and Russ, came over last night to try out some vegan recipes and I think it went well. They are both very into health and fitness and star athletes to boot, so are curious to see how the vegan diet might suit them. Now, as you know, neither My Beloved nor I are terribly fit or athletic (to put it mildly) so we are hardly poster-children for the health benefits of veganism, but for us it's about the animals anyhow. But I digress...I know that Russ particularly is interested in seeing how well a plant-based diet might serve his needs, so we were determined to show that giving up animal flesh and associated secretions need not mean subsisting on carrot sticks and green tea.

No sirree. Not unless you want to, of course....

So, to demonstrate the point, this was the menu:

Appetizer: roasted garlic and white bean soup with crusty bread (the latter helpfully collected by Sue and Russ on their way down here): source = Veganomicon

Main course: chickpea steaks with mustard sauce, scalloped potatoes and lemon-roasted aspargus: source=Veganomicon, FatFreeVegan's blog and common sense, respectively

Dessert: silky chocolate mousse tart with vanilla ice cream and raspberries: source=My Sweet Vegan and Veganomicon, respectively.

So, Sue and Russ arrived around 4pm and the only thing I'd done ahead of time was to make some vanilla ice cream - soy milk, cream of coconut, sugar, vanilla extract and cornflour (I think) - and to roast a few heads of garlic. So when they arrived, we set to working backwards. Not running around the kitchen in reverse as such, but starting with the chocolate mousse tart and finishing by making the soup. And this is how we divided up the work and still stayed sane and friends while crowding into a little kitchen....

Sue and I made the dessert and this is how it turned out:



It's a no-bake mousse tart and wonderfully easy to do, especially as we needed to keep the oven free for the scalloped potatoes.

OK, so then My Beloved and Russ set about making the main course. The potato dish was intriging, I think, in that it made use of ingredients most omnis aren't even aware of, such as nutritional yeast and miso, to make a cheesy taste. And it really is simplicity itself. Follow the recipe in the 'Eat Me!' sidebar to the right on this page and enjoy! The chickpea steaks require little more than mixing together some mashed chickpeas, vital wheat gluten and some seasonings but taste awesome. They are one of my absolute favourites and as such, of course, I have no pictures....But take my word for it, they are goooood!

And here are our friends in action:



And again...



And Sue takes control...



And, after a couple of hours, this was the end result:



I regret that we don't have more pictures of the dishes themselves, but I did manage to get another one of the dessert, which you might like:



Go ahead - lick the screen...there's no-one looking!

Stay Vegan, Friends! :)