That's how I roll

It was a rainy, quiet Sunday here. I made one of my favorite recipes, whole wheat seed-y rolls, and took a nap while they were rising. This is a good recipe for people who are intimidated by yeast. The rolls contain yeast, but they are pretty much foolproof. I've never had them turn out badly. They're yummy with their sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and hint of garlic flavor, and just the right size for a veggie burger. I'll send the recipe to anyone who wants it!

Get happy

Things that have rocked my week so far:

1. Manzana Chili Verde from Veganomicon. It's a white/green chili hybrid, containing unusual ingredients like apples, potatoes, tomatillos, and white beans. I was a bit dubious about how all this would taste as a savory chili, but it is damn good. The flavors are complex and the amount of heat is just right.


2. My new Envirosax bag, purchased at Greater Goods. I've accumulated way too many bags from stopping at the market a block from my place on my way home. I'm coming from work so I don't think to carry a shopping bag with me. Enter Envirosax. The beauty is that it folds up small enough to easily fit in my (quite small) purse, so I always have it with me,



And it unfolds to a huge, sturdy shopping bag:



3. My hemp hoodie, made by Livity and purchased at the newly opened Capitol Hemp store. It's perfect for the chilly, rainy days we've had this week.

4. Finding that Probar did not forget about me, and made good on their promise several months ago to include me in a testing group for new Probar flavors. I received a package of 5 new flavors and will review them next week, since HS (one of Probar's biggest fans) has begged to be part of the review process.

Yahoos

I've come across two rather mind-boggling articles on Yahoo recently:

1. Substituting chicken, fish, or vegetables for red meat can help combat climate change.

What the article says: It's not very clearly written, but I think the point is that it's better to eat non-red-meat foods than to eat locally grown red meat. The energy used to grow or to raise food is responsible for 83% of the resources used to get food on your plate, while the transportation part is only responsible for 11% of the resources.

Why it works my nerves: Learning about the environmental impact of eating meat was one of the reasons that I converted to vegetarianism...19 years ago now. This is not exactly news. Also, chicken is hardly the anti-red meat if we're talking about resources used to produce food. Vegetables, fruits, and grains are, of course, the best choice for resource-efficient food production. I wish the article had stated this instead of suggesting substituting meat for meat. Also, the article degrades the movement to buy food locally, saying the benefits to buying local are overblown. Maybe they are, if you don't care about supporting small farmers, but supporting Big Agriculture and some of its evil machinations is troubling to say the least.

2. Better weight loss through chemicals.

What the article says: Four ideas for 100-calorie snacks.

Why it works my nerves: Apart from the extremely annoying cutesy tone, this article gets to me because these snacks are mostly processed to the nth degree. Fat-free cool whip is not food and therefore not a snack. Peruse the ingredient list if you will:
WATER, CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL* (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, POLYSORBATE 60, POLYSORBATE 65, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR).

I will admit that the last "snack," broccoli nachos, has 2 out of three components that are actually food (broccoli and the corn chips which are processed but with a lighter touch). But who knows what's in the broccoli's cheese sauce.

Hey, Hungry Girl, if you want a 100 calorie snack, how about an apple? Or 2 cups of carrot sticks or strawberries? Or a small handful of almonds? Oh, never mind, I guess you're too busy trying to make cupcakes containing ingredients such as diet hot cocoa mix and "jet-puffed marshmallow creme." No wonder you're hungry.

Be realistic. Demand the impossible.

In honor of May Day, the above is a slogan from the May 68 uprising. When I was in Paris in March, there were all kinds of great new books about Mai 68 as the 40th anniversary approached. One that I purchased for HS had very thick cardboard pages and was in a block shape with sand pasted to the cover, so it looked like a paving stone.

This week, I've been enjoying a yellow split pea soup with Indian spices and spiced yogurt as a garnish. The yogurt is simply plain yogurt mixed with turmeric (which has all kinds of good medicinal properties), cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt. What I like about this is that savory yogurt is much more unexpected than sweet yogurt. I like challenging my tastebuds with familiar foods used in unexpected ways. For example:
--salty, briny preserved lemons
--peaches in a chunky salsa with black beans
--chickpea flour used in sweet baked goods
--breakfast muffins with quinoa and black beans
--a few squares of dark chocolate added to bean-based chili

So, in the spirit of rebellion, how have you used familiar foods unconventionally?

Hemp-head

At the request of HS, I've been taking a teaspoon or two of hempseed oil a day. He pointed out that it helps mitigate PMS symptoms. Now, why would he say a thing like that? I need you to tell me why (wail!).

Anyway. Too soon to tell if I'll enjoy that benefit yet, but it does have a yummy flavor and my skin has been breakout-free since I've started taking it.

HS is going for the fish oil, himself, and the chronically dry skin on his forehead has cleared right up. See, it's all about the Omega 3-s. There's, like, three different kinds. Two kinds are used pretty easily by the body, the other kind is not. Algae supplements and fish oil contain DHA. Fish oil also contains EPA. Flaxseed and walnuts contain ALA, the type that isn't as easily used. Hempseed oil is best for the ratio of Omega 6-s to Omega 3-s, a balance that is out of whack for people in most "developed" countries.

Why should you care? The list of Omega 3 benefits is long and contains short-terms (better skin, better mood) and long-terms (better...chance of staying cancer-free?). Especially pertinent to me is its calming effect on blood sugar wackiness. Anyway, I'll report back on the benefits of the hempseed oil in a month or two!

Transitions

I'm having a little trouble adjusting to the fact that it has been 80 degrees here more than one day this month. This may be the new normal for our poor fevered planet, but my closet is still stocked with winter clothes and I'm still prone to making winter dishes. Last weekend, when I actually had to use the air conditioning, I made lentil soup. The picture shows my Good Mother Stallard beans from Rancho Gordo, soaking. I was thinking about making a bean and vegetable stew with them, but that doesn't seem seasonally appropriate. So my new plan is to make a taco salad-esque entree.

Today I went out and bought ingredients to make the Pineapple Cashew Quinoa stir-fry in Veganomicon. So now I've got a fresh pineapple sitting on my counter, ready to usher in spring. I also went to the farmer's market this morning (it ends at 10:30 am and you don't want to know what time it starts) and bought heaps of strawberries and two delicious filo dough creations from the Filo Dough Lady. She has at least half a dozen different varieties of little filo squares, and many are vegan. I passed up the mushroom and green lentil/bulghur varieties this week, but I bought black bean/rice/chipotle and apricot/ricotta.

What are your favorite spring dishes?

Oh, and I know I haven't been a very consistent blogger lately, but I hope to improve. The other transition in my life (the change in my tax filing status a few months hence) has been cutting into my blogging time, but that's OK.

Veggie Vacation

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I went to Europe and then got the flu. The two events overlapped by about 2 days. I'm still recovering from the flu (1.5 weeks later) and have much less energy than I'm used to. I took about a week off from push-ups but am back to my regimen now.

We went to Amsterdam and Paris. I'm not going to lie and say I ate vegan all the time, but some of my favorite meals were vegan.

Fresh mint tea on our first day in Amsterdam helped wake me up:



Maoz makes amazing felafel, and they have branches in the US, including a DC branch coming soon! (Finding this out just made my day.) Every component of the felafel is great. The patties are light and crunchy, the bread is super-fresh, and the toppings are tangy and spicy.



Amsterdam's also famous for its fries, which we got topped with satay (peanut) sauce, due to my intense dislike for mayo.



Where does one get great fries? Why, the Chipsy King, of course!



One of the best meals we had on the trip was when we ordered rijsttafel, the Indonesian meal where they pull out all the stops. About half of the places we saw had a vegetarian rijsttafel. Check out this insane spread for just the two of us (not even showing the first course, a tomato vermicelli soup)! I imagine there was some honey involved but I don't think there was any dairy or egg in the meal. There were "shrimp chips," though. My favorite dishes were the coconut cabbage and the corn fritters.



Paris was not a vegan tour de force but I loved our street, Rue Mouffetard (we rented apartments in both cities rather than stay in hotels). Behold the glories of the street market!



One of the temptations in the farmer's market was morels. But at 80 euros for a kilo, I had to pass. I did see them this weekend at a farmer's market in DC, though, for about the same price, in case I change my mind!