(Grilled or Not Grilled) Vegetable Chili

I adapted this from Rachel Ray's "Big Orange Book." It turned out SO DELICIOUS and just the right amount of spicy. This is a great dish for a chilly day. Here's the altered version of her recipe:

Ingredients:
2 diced zuchinni
1/2 large red bell pepper, diced
1/2 large yellow bell pepper, diced
2 large portabella mushrooms, diced
1 red onion, diced
some extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
equivalent of 2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 teeny can of jalapeno peppers
15 oz can of black beans
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup beer (if you're gluten free, hard cider would probably work as a substitute)
2 cups vegetable broth
juice of 1 lime
handful of fresh cilantro leaves, shredded
tortilla chips for crumbling on top
shredded cheese to add on top (optional)

Directions: Saute diced vegetables in extra virgin olive oil until they're tender. Add the garlic and jalapenos and cook for 2-3 min. Add the beans, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, and tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the beer for 30 seconds. Stir in the vegetable broth and simmer for a few minutes. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Serve with the crumbled tortilla chips and (if you're not vegan) cheesy goodness on top.

Quick, Delicious Sides

Veg sides that are delicious:

MASHED POTATOES!
Adapted from this random website.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 pounds (4 medium) Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes washed and cut into uniform 2-inch chunks
1 teaspoon salt
(optional) 2 tablespoons warm butter
1/2 to 2/3 cup soy milk

Preparation:

In large saucepan, add cut-up potatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and just enough cold water until potatoes are covered; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium; cover and let simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
When the potatoes are cooked, remove from heat and immediately drain potatoes thoroughly. Return to saucepan; heat over medium-low heat approximately 1 to 2 minutes to dry potatoes, stirring occasionally.
In the same saucepan that the potatoes have been heated in, mash potatoes with a fork until chunky.  Stir in warm butter, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup of the soy milk.  Add additional milk, a little at a time, if necessary, for desired consistency.

You can add chives or vegetables and stuff if you want. Yummmmm. I had never tried making mashed potatoes using soy milk but it turned out delicious!


KALE  Take your kale (using only the leafy part) and saute in extra virgin olive oil until crispy and delicious. Then you're done!

LENTILS & VEGGIES
This can actually be a whole meal, since lentils have so much protein. Cook your lentils according to package directions (basically 2 parts water for 1 part lentils, simmer for 15-20 min) and add some cumin while they're simmering. Then add some chopped up vegetables either part of the way through (to soften them) or at the end. I have tried 1 cup lentils + 1 avocado + 2 fresh diced tomatoes and it was AMAZING and perfect as a (large) meal for one. Super easy and very tasty.



I'll post pictures of all of these delicious sides when I make them again! 

Red Quinoa and Black Bean Vegetable Salad

Dearest readers - this is THE BEST VEGAN DISH I have ever had. So delicious. I am going to be making this many, many times.

"Light, fresh, and packed with protein and healthy fats, this tangy salad will have you dreaming of spring and summer." Inspired by Epicurious, and passed along from B. Makes about 5 cups.

Ingredients for the salad:
-1 cup uncooked red quinoa
-1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
-1 red pepper, chopped
-1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
-2 green onions, chopped
-1 cup fresh corn (optional)
-1 small avocado, chopped into 1 inch pieces

Ingredients for the dressing:
-4-5 tbsp of fresh lime juice (will take about 2 small limes)
-1/2 tsp kosher salt
-1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
-1 garlic clove, minced
-1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
-1/2 tsp ground cumin

Directions:
1. Cook 1 cup red quinoa according to package directions.
2. While quinoa is cooking, prepare the chopped vegetables and whisk together the dressing.
3. Allow quinoa to cool after cooking for about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Add the beans and vegetables and toss well.
4. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well with salt and pepper to taste. Bring salad to room temperature before serving. Keeps fresh in a sealed container for 1-2 days.

Book Review: Eating Animals

Disclaimer: I am predisposed to like something by Jonathan Safran Foer, and therefore to find him more persuasive. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was wonderfully written and so moving that I would find probably any non-fiction work by him if not compelling, than at least trustworthy.

I picked up Eating Animals from the local library knowing that it would probably sway me to maintain a vegetarian diet (which I had tried for 6 months sometime in college). Interestingly, Foer makes the point that most people when hearing about the book assumed that it would be a cry for vegetarianism, even though Foer went into the project simply looking to get the facts and make educated decisions about what he and his family should eat. Why would a book about eating animals necessarily be vegetarian-minded? It implies that we know already that there is something wrong about eating animals; that learning more about it will give evidence not for being omnivorous but for swearing off meat.

This book was eye-opening. Thorough. Personal. When I last tried not eating animals, I did it just to try. I hadn't had any particular experience or learned anything specific that made me want to be a vegetarian. I just felt that it was a morally preferable choice, and wanted to see what it would feel like to do it (and if I could sustain it). In the end, I went back to meat. In recent months, I've been cutting back chicken and beef in favor of pescatarian options, though not seriously making an effort to be pescatarian.

After reading this book, I decided I no longer want to eat meat. I believe that this time, my vegetarianism will last. I'm no longer ignorant about factory farming and the cruel conditions animals I eat have faced in their short, unnatural lifetimes. I'm no longer 'just trying it.' I enjoy the taste of meat, but knowing what I know after reading this book, I just don't want to eat it. It's not even just the gruesome descriptions of what happens at factory farms. It's a culmination of knowing that environmentally, vegetarianism is a more sustainable option. It's knowing that we eat too much meat anyway. It's knowing that I don't have to eat meat, and that this is probably the easiest time to be a vegetarian (for me, at least) ever.

Some excerpts from the book that I found particularly interesting and compelling:
"The choice-obsessed modern West is probably more accommodating to individuals who choose to eat differently than any culture has ever been, but ironically, the utterly unselective omnivore--"I'm easy; I'll eat anything"--can appear more socially sensitive than the individual who tries to eat in a way that is good for society."

A farmer who raises turkeys naturally, quoted by Foer: "People care about animals. I believe that. They just don't want to know or to pay. A fourth of all chickens have stress fractures. It's wrong. They're packed body to body, and can't escape their waste, and never see the sun. Their nails grow around the bars of their cages. It's wrong. They feel their slaughters. It's wrong, and people know it's wrong. They don't have to be convinced. They just have to act differently. I'm not better than anyone, and I'm not trying to convince people to live by my own standards of what's right. I'm trying to convince them to live by their own."

I'm going to try to live by my own standards.



One question that remains unanswered for me is whether to try and be completely vegan. Foer does all of the legwork I needed to see that a vegetarian lifestyle is best for me, but he didn't do as much digging (or writing, at least) about eating other animal products. I'm thinking of weaning myself into veganism, but don't want to make changes so suddenly that I find it too overwhelming to keep up with it. I want to do it right. I think I'll start by buying some vegan snacks and looking into vegan alternatives to products like eggs cooking-wise. I've already switched to soy milk (and it's delicious, and basically the same price as cow's milk!). Thankfully, I have a lot of vegan friends that I can look to for advice and recipes.

I still have questions about balancing being veg/vegan and trying to not eat as many processed foods. So many veg/vegan substitutes are highly processed. I was mostly swayed toward vegetarianism by Foer's arguments about animal cruelty, but I also want to make healthy choices for myself and limit my intake of highly processed foods. This is going to require some more research and legwork on my part.

Next steps for me:
1. Get more veg/vegan recipes to try, so that it's easier to have a healthy, varied, satisfying veg diet.
2. Get to the local farmer's market to see what products are available to cut back on processed foods.
3. Talk with veg/vegan friends about their advice and food recommendations.
4. Shop for more veg/vegan alternatives. Try new things.
5. Finish the fish, cheese, eggs, and butter that I've already purchased, but also be looking for items that can replace these once I finish them.

Movie Review: Hungry for Change

I saw this title and thought - maybe this will give me some information about processed foods and how to make healthier and more informed food choices! And it sort of did, but it was way overdone, too long for its message, and used scare tactics like comparing sugar to heroine and showing how much sugar elementary students consume just from milk. (My issue with the latter is that generally people don't understand or can't comprehend large quantities or how a small quantity over time always becomes a large 'shocking' quantity).

The documentary makes some important points. Ones that stuck out to me include:
1. the food industry doesn't care about your health; it cares about maximizing profits.
2. dieting is generally not done well.
3. diet cola is not a good alternative to non-diet cola.
 I would have preferred reading a more neutral article about this issue than watching people being interviewed about it. (In fact: I'm going to read this article soon and compare it to the movie). The film also fell into the trap of putting 'weight loss' as one of the ultimate pay-offs of eating right. Again...can we not conflate obesity / being overweight to being unhealthy? Isn't health its own reward?

I guess ultimately I prefer the more monotonous, balanced tone of NPR or similar reporting when it comes to nutrition, dieting, and food choices. This documentary didn't do it for me.

Movie Review: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

This documentary was an interesting look at two men who decide to juice cleanse to lose weight and gain health. However, I had a few issues with the film:

1. I finished the movie without understanding the scientific justifications for 'juice cleansing.' There was clear anecdotal evidence that the cleanse was healthful and rejuvenating, but the film lacked any sort of serious discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of juice cleansing for various populations. I was therefore unconvinced that this was a healthy thing for a typical person to try. My reluctance to accept the filmmaker's word as truth was solidified while I was listening to a Science Friday podcast recently. In the podcast, an author who researched nutrition and eating was explaining how putting vegetables through a juicer removes a good deal of their nutritional content by essentially changing insoluble fiber to soluble fiber. (Side note: I'm on the waiting list at the library for that author's book "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease.") I am not an expert on chemistry, biology, or nutrition, so this sort of scientific and accurate information is what I'm looking for more than a "Look how healthy I feel now!" fad.

2. The filmmaker too often conflated obesity with being unhealthy. This is not a scientifically accurate connection, and it is an all-too-often insulting one for people who are "overweight." In fairness, it seemed to me that there was a stronger emphasis in the documentary on being healthy than on losing weight, but there was too much camera time spent discussing the weight loss that resulted from the juice cleanse as opposed to the overall health effects (see complaint #1).

Overall: An interesting documentary, but more akin to an inspiring A&E show than to a really educational way to get information about healthy eating.

Movie Review: Vegucated

To make a documentary about food is necessarily to be a little preachy. Vegucated doesn't manage to fully shake off this preachiness, but it does manage to make itself personal and even funny.

The filmmaker's approach is really what manages to pull this off. Instead of exclusively barraging the viewer with impersonal facts and statistics, the film shows three omnivorous New Yorkers living a vegan lifestyle over a period of weeks, as they come to learn what it means to be vegan and why people choose to not consume animal products. The viewer is brought along the journey of trying to be vegan, making the path to veganism seem like a real possibility instead of an idealistic endeavor that no one would seriously successfully try.

This film was one of the first I watched in an attempt to educate myself about my own food choices. Some of the questions it made me think about include:
1. Why do I make the food choices I do? What influences my food choices - culture, tradition, price, packaging, marketing, etc. - and what other things should be influencing my food choices?
2. Why do I continue to eat meat and other animal products if they aren't nutritionally necessary? What would a vegan life look and feel like? Would it be difficult to become a vegan (prices, willpower, socially, etc.) ?
3. Where do the animal products I consume come from? What information can I get about how they are produced and processed? How can I educate myself so that I can make informed decisions about eating animal products?
4. It seems like a lot of vegan products or meat substitutes are highly processed. How could a person strike a balance between eating less meat and eating less processed food?
5. Of the reasons to become veg/vegan, which would be most important to me? Environmentalism, animal welfare, personal health...?