Vegan 'till 6pm

Mary Beth of Salt and Chocolate posted a link to a great podcast that I wanted to pass on.  Mark Bittman talks about his book Food Matters, and how he has Incorporated a vegan way of eating into his normally carnivorous life.  I listened to it and thought he had a refreshingly balanced approached to the subject.  I'm usually turned off a little bit by people with "loud soapboxes" so his personality appealed to me. He talks about eating less meat and other animal products to benefit both health and environment.  Anyways, Mary Beth is inviting others to join her in becoming vegan 'till 6pm.  Guess what?  I'm in!  My husband is a meat eater and as hard as I've tried, I just can't convince him to give it up. That is why this approach would work for us. It is more or less just a way of cutting back- way back- on animal products in our diet.

I'll share more as I get going, but I envision grains for breakfast, salads for lunch and then a normal dinner. Not too hard right? Just more plants! The hardest part for me will be giving up milk, cheese, yogurt and eggs.  I've long suspected that I have an intolerance or sensitivity to dairy but have never attempted to cut it out of my diet. (I take that back. Once I bought some goat's milk but when I tried to drink it, it smelled like a really stinky goat that I saw on my field trip to a farm in grade school.  I poured a $7 quart of it down the drain.)

 

**I also watched this last night.  I know, weird right?  A documentary on Saturday night!  If you enjoy that kind of thing, I thought it was very insightful.

Okay, this whole deal starts tomorrow for me-  Join in if you like!

Down Under

We're trapped.  We've been stuck under the same cloud for what feels like weeks now! Not a brain cloud but a frozen cloud. A very low frozen cloud.

 

Everything is covered in this thick furry frost, the air is completely stagnant and we haven't seen the sun in days. It is a bit dreary to be honest.  We've had to work hard to stay upbeat and cozy. 

 

Rice bags have the cozy part covered.  But ccreativity has come in the form cooking. There may not always be time for sewing or crocheting...but we have to eat right?  There is nothing like a little experimentation to beat the blahs.

Here are a ways we've been mixing it up:

 

Lots and lots of soup. (French onion- recipe here . You have to register but it is free, and totally worth it.)

 

Greek spinach.  (recipe in the book below)

This book rocks!  I am always stuck when it comes to vegetable side dishes- especially in the winter! I mean how many different ways can you make broccoli, carrots, squash and potatoes?  Quite a few different ways it turns out.  And, I've been forgetting about leeks, turnips, artichokes and mushrooms.  Lots of healthy ideas coming in. 

Please send us some fresh air, sunshine would be great too. Winter is so much more bearable under clear skies!

Breakfast

This week our schedules were a little wonky.  Dinner together, and at home, was hard to do.

 

So instead, we made breakfast-time a big deal.  I like breakfast.  I am generally a morning person anyways, so it makes sense to linger a little over whipped cream.  The kids went to town with the sprinkles...I, however, did discover that I love whipped cream twirled all atop my strongbrew from the stove-top espresso maker.  The challenge now is to keep it an occasional treat vs a beloved daily ritual that you wake up thinking about and longing for at 4:30am!

 

Being the first one up is a privilege for me.  Not only do I appreciate the quiet, but I like to fuss over breakfast.  I like to carefully measure, scoop, butter, set, and pour all the trimmings.  This cannot be said about dinner when there are usually little people under my feet and a day's worth of dirty dishes cluttering up my counters.

 

(scone recipe found in this book- super yum!)

Setting the morning table is like putting out little edible gifts. One by one my Sleeping Sweets stumble from their slumbers to embrace me and answer the question I pose to them each morning, "Did you have any dreams last night?  Their gazes quickly turn to the table with hunger and hopeful expectation. Some of the Bigger and Very Late Sleeping Sweets just offer a quick kiss make a beeline towards the hot coffee.  I love starting out the day with smiles and full bellies.

 

You have to try steel cut oats with pineapple, shredded coconut, almonds and a tiny sprinkle of brown sugar! A heavenly way to pass the time between 7 and 7:30am! So, who needs dinner really?  I mean those calories just camp out on your booty after 7pm anyways right? 

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day!  The loveliest meal of the day!  My favorite meal of the day.