Been Awhile...

In the words of 'Monty Mython,' I'm not dead yet. I just got otherwise distracted which ended up with me living for a season out of the regulalr internet zone in the middle of pretty darn near nowhere. Now that life has somewhat settled down post holiday season, I'm baaa-aaack.

Life in my world has been full of its rather typical ups and downs. Over the summer season I shared a communal kitchen with a bunch of non-vegetarians. I started seeing someone, who like most of the people I meet around here, is also not a vegetarian. He's considerate of our difference in eating habits, but also rather comfortable in his omni ways. the seven year mark of my meat-free lifestyle quietly came and went. The holidays came and went and now the new year is upon us.

There is something about the start of the new year that gives so many people inspiration and energy that can help us get through the rest of the chilled winter months yet to come. We see promise and potential, not only in ourselves, but in the world around us. For myself I am somewhat relieved for the holiday season to be over, not only does it mean a calm to things, but it also means a break from the heavy holiday foods, the regular family style feasts, and all the snacks and treats that threaten to bury us alive during this season. I am now onto a new challenge. During the summer and fall months when my family (and extended family) was in the midst of canning and freezing my aunt canned a box of assorted beans for me. Black beans, lentils, split peas, one I'm not excatly sure what it is, and a combination of all of them. I use black beans pretty regularly, but feel the need to branch out big time and take advantage of the pantry full of home-canned goodness. I've never really worked with lentils or split peas, but I intend to find a way. I'm just not sure how, yet. Inspiration will come... eventually. Wish me luck.

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men. " - Alice Walker

I think. Therfore I am Vegetarian.

I served myself up a couple of those large portabella mushrooms sauteed with onion, garlic, and a bit of balsamic vinegar beside some sauteed peirogies (think potato stuffed pastry), cooked carrots, and a toasted bun for an easy lunch. Love, love, love mushrooms. They are so versitile, yummy, and use them in so many different ways. Dinner was another simple endeavor as I made homemade fried rice using mushroom slices (white button), shredded carrot, red and green onion, garlic, frozen spinach and a nutty brown rice. The vegetable egg roll was all I needed to compliment it. Fabulous. Dill pickles for evening snack (another food that I love.)

With the New Year I am trying to be more aware of certain food issues. I know how to cook and truly enjoy food without needing meat or meat products, but now I want to streamline a bit more. In other woods, I would like to slim down for the New Year, tone up, and get back closer to where I was physically back in high school and right out of it, maybe even better than I was. People often have this stereotype of the super skinny vegetarian with a frame that reminds a lot of people of a plant. I eat and eat vegetarian, but I maintain a loveable curvy figure (I just want to improve a good thing).

In the Words Of George Bernard Shaw: "My situation is a solemn one. Life is offered to me on condition of eating beefsteaks. But death is better than cannibalism. My will contains directions for my funeral, which will be followed not by mourning coaches, but by oxen, sheep, flocks of poultry, and a small traveling aquarium of live fish, all wearing white scarfs in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures."

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!! I hope it was a peaceful and hopeful ringing in of the new year.

We celebrated the New Year's Day as a family and extended family for our Christmas. (It seemed so much easier somewhat before my teen years and New Year's Eve parties.) Everyone cooks and brings something, we play Christmas Bingo (family tradition) that involved wrapped and inexpensive gifts that eventually are stolen from each other as the pile runs out), eat, and just spend the day together. Somehow everyone was able to make this holiday, including my two cousins that work in emergency services. The food, as always, is plentiful and filling. We took veggie pizza, a strawberry truffle, and soda. Despite my one cousin's continuing ignorance and long standing offensive vegetarian/vegan comments, there was plenty for me to fill my plate with; homemade macaroni and cheese, green beans, scalloped potatoes, fresh veggies, vegetables pizza, and dessert (one cousin made homemade mini cheesecakes with cherries on top... yummmy!). It was a filling day of family and talk of an upcoming wedding (I'm a bride's maid in it), my cousin's new pregnancy anouncement (twins!), and playing with the babies. I was stuffed (of course then I came home and heated some hot pretzel and cheese pizza bites).

From Henry Beston's 'The Outermost House' (1928): "The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."

New Year's Eve

So the New Year is upon us. People all over the country and the world are busy making resolutions for 2008 as well as starting the celebrations. "I will lose x amount of pounds." "I will quit smoking." "I will get a better job." "I will do volunteer work." Sometimes, I think resolutions are just too easy to break. I want everyday to be a chance to live better and try to be better than I was before. It's nice to think of the New Year as a new chance, but everyday should be a chance to be better and to live better. For everyone out there determined that this is the year they will go vegetarian or vegan my hopes are with you and your success.

In the Words of Leonardo da Vinci; "Truely man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men."

A Night In

Tonight was a little "Guitar Hero," a little air hockey, a few beers, a couple rounds of "Apples to Apples," and the company of a few good friends. We put out some chips, cheese and crackers, and popped some pizza bites in the oven (they make meatless ones). Yet, everyone's minds seems to be on what to do tomorrow night. (I am still hearing crap for chasing those deer away Christmas Eve that my brothers wanted to shoot in the backyard. I couldn't bare to watch them kill something or attempt to kill something right before my eyes out the kitchen window. I feel like an oddity among these hunters.) I am loving that I have leftovers in the freezer to live off when I don't feel like cooking. Hope ya'all are celebrating the dawn of the New Year in your own fabulous way.

Here's a super easy recipe for Homemade Potato Skins (especially if you are looking for some New Year's Eve recipes).

Easy Potato Skins (easy to make vegan using olive oil or soy margarine and soy cheese)
Cooking potatoes
Butter, margarine, or seasoned olive oil
Cheese (or soy cheese)
Other optional toppings such bacon or sausage-like crumbles (ex- Morningstar or Boca), chili, sliced green onion, steamed broccoli, sautéed vegetables, etc.
* Slit or poke washed potatoes with fork or knife. Microwave (or bake) potatoes until soft (10-15 min approx depending on size, amount, etc). Quarter with knife. Scoop out excess leaving a shell and skin (approx ¼ in) and place skin-side down on baking sheet. Spoon or brush potato skin shells with melted butter or olive oil. Top with cheese and any other optional toppings. Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbling.

Paul Harvey: "Ever occur to you why some of us can be this concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Animals don't vote."

2007 Reflections

2007 is winding down and 2008 is fast approaching. It’s almost a new year, full of new possibilities and new potential. It also is the time when many reflect on the year that has past and what has been. It’s been a fairly decent year in which I have met some new people, said good bye to some others, and have attempted to reach out into the world with my veggie homepage <http://talkingvegetables.tripod.com//index.html> and blog. I hope that I’m able to make a positive influence on the world around me, but sometimes it is hard to tell living in a meat-loving family, that maintains that vegetarianism is weird and unnatural. I keep gathering my favorite recipes and trying to write down some of my favorites that have evolved in my everyday cooking. I’ve also been trying new twists on typically meat-laden foods (stuffed mushrooms, homemade potato skins, soups, chowders, casseroles, etc).

I’ve been gathering quotes, cartoons, links, and other ideas for new blog entries. I hope you have enjoyed the glimpses into my life and look forward to hearing from you. If there is something you feel that is missing, please let me know. I always enjoy healthy conversation and hope that the New Year Rocks for everyone out there. Cheers!

In the Words of Bradley Millar: "Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar."