Tuesday, January 25, 2011

It Is a Bloody Shame How People Are Misinformed And Judgemental

Yahoo's Shine is not a good source of information about veganism or vegetarianism. This article is an example of one of those cases of poor journalism skills, not to mention the ignorant and blood boiling comment in the response section. I had my share of dealing with people who are misinformed and do not care about what you tell them about anything. This is why alot of people have this "stick with your own" mentality.

*This post will be updated after homework*

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Moving Back on Campus/ Other News

Yeah....I made the irrational decision to move back on campus, instead of ust looking for an apartment closer to my school. Next time I'll think more rationally, because now I will be required to live out of a microwave unless I adapt the raw food diet. The raw vegan diet seems like a better alternative to a microwave that damages important vitamins and nutrients. So, I'm looking into smoothies, fruit bars and the like. I can only hope that I have a nice roommate. Hopefully. My mom suggested buying apples, oranges and bananas and cutting them up and eating them, but I was trying to tell her that those are not the only inexpensive fruits sold in stores. I can always eat salads, sprouted seeds and beans, sprouted wheat berries and the usual alfalfa sprouts. Aside from eating those foods on the weekdays, I can eat vegan soy or rice yogurt on the weekends, if I'm allowed a rice cooker, then I can use it to make soups, rice, fillings for sandwiches, etc. I will keep a microwave just to heat up a few packaged meals or instant foods. In light of the new situation, a new food list (suggestion list that I usually make) will be added for the raw vegan and semi raw vegan diet (I'll be a semi raw vegan).

Other News

I was going to save this until I'm done with at least three sketches for drawing class, but I have to put in my commentary. Jack Lalanne has died today at the age of 96. For those who do not know him, he a fitness guru that came up with the Jack Lalanne juicer and he partially accredits juicing to his health and vitality. I usually don't look up to other vegetarians and vegans because I would expect them to be perfect and not fail, but I give him credit for at least trying to healthy eating and excercise out there. If I can really choose who inspired me to be vegan, I would say COK.Net, Upton Sinclaire and one of my mom's friends who was trying out veganism. This was aside from fasting due to poor body image when I was 18. Then again, I was and still am an anti-fat person.

A friend of mine posted a question on facebook. She asked if parents of severely obese children should have their kids taken away from them. I believe that the answer is yes, they should. If it's possible for a vegan parent to have their children taken away from them for prescribing that diet to them, then someone who stuffs his or her's child to oblivion with fats, sugars and simple carbs should have his or her's child taken away. I see it on Maury too many times aside from the DNA and lie detector tests. A parent is confronted by someone because the paren't child is obese. I understand the right to not miss a meal, but there is a need for moderation. Obesity should be seen for what it is: something that can be prevented and controlled. A child's quality of life will be diminished because obese children will have a hard time catching up with the other children. Later in life he would be a candidate for diebetes and heart disease and not to mention the social implications such as being bullied by other children due to weight. So, a parent who carelessly gives a child whatever he or she wants without advocating a whole healthy diet along with excercise is neglecting the child's health and wellbeing and the child deserves to be taken away. There were others who responded to her and disagree with taking children away for being obese. I think some opposition is due to having a Libertarian philosophy when it comes to raising children. I noticed the "I don't care as long as if it does not disrupt the social fabric" mentality in this city as well. I believe that it's the parents' responsibility to raise the children also. Maybe parenting classes can help as an alternative, but I would not rule out CPS in this case.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

My New Yr's Resolution

Veganism has only been popular within the past five years. However, most food companies use chemicals to treat and process their products before putting them on the shelf. I came across some ingredients in some conventional bread that I did not know were non-vegan. My goal for 2011 is to make all my food from scratch using mostly fresh ingredients and as little processed food as possible. I think it is pertanent to read every ingredient and look up every ingredient as possible. The best way to go is making everything from scratch.

Recipes

Baby Potato and Broccoli Salad

Yoga Soup

Sunflower Seed Sour Cream

Vegan Mozzarella Cheese

Tofu Sour Cream

Essene Bread (Raw)

Coconut Whipped Cream

Enchilada Recipe

This is my take on the enchilada. Some of these ingredients are canned. Fresh ingredients can be used for the sauce or the filling.

Ingredients

Corn Tortilla Shells*

1 12oz can garbanzo beans*

1 12oz can green enchilada sauce*

1 8oz pack tempeh, any flavor

1 small white onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 bunch cilantro

1 1/2 cups green beans, I used french cut

1/2 peas

1/2 bag  fresh spinach

Earth balance margarine

1 cup vegan cheese, preferably rice cheese

Canned olives

Salt to taste


Method

1. In a sauce pan, place tempeh in water. Simmer in water until both sides are soft. When fully boiled, place tempeh in a bowl.

2. Drain, rinse and heat chickpeas until soft. Add into bowl with tempeh.

3. With a potato masher, roughly crumble tempeh and garbanzo beans.

4. In a pan on medium heat, add oil.

5. Add garlic, onion and cilantro. Cook until brown. Add tempeh-garbanzo bean mixture and heat until toasted. Add peas and green beans. Cook until slightly brown. Add cooked mixture into a bowl.

6. In a 9x13 baking dish, cover in foil.

7. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a microwavable plate, heat the corn tortilla shells, three shells at a time for 30 seconds or until soft.
Place in baking pan and add spinach and 1/4 teaspoon margarine to each shell and add bean filling. Roll each  filled shell. Repeat until baking dish is full.

8. Pour enchilada sauce over filled rolls. Add rice cheese and sliced black olives. Bake for 15-20 min or until cheese is melted and sauce is well incorporated into the enchiladas.

Serves 4-8 (Two tortilla rolls per serving)

* Fresh ingredients can be used in lieu of canned/frozen ingredients. I also recommend being adventurous with the corn tortilla shells. I tried some tortilla shells made from corn and cactus in a taco and they were amazing. Perhaps I will use them in this recipe as well.

* A friend of mine gave me a list of ingredients that goes in the green enchilada sauce. If I can find the list, I can make a variation of this sauce and the recipe.

Condiments and Sides for this dish:

I used vegan rice cheese and tofutti sour cream as toppings. I want to try this recipe with Tzatziki sauce made vegan, using some previous recipes that I posted. To make the sauce more like sour cream and less like soy or coconut yogurt, strain it overnight before serving.

A healthy side dish would be the Taquila Lime Rice recipe with cilantro, except substitute quinoa for rice and to make this dish more American vegan, add kale or a type of mild green like spinach. Rice can be boring at times. I really love brown rice, more so than white rice. This recipe can also be used with tabouli or couscous, depending on where you are going with the main dish.

The recipe can get a bit expensive, especially if the ingredients are from Whole Foods(inc.). There are only four items from Whole Foods: Tempeh, which  can be purchased at Trader Joe's (inc), Earth balance margarine, tofutti sour cream and vegan rice cheese. I recommend making items from scratch when possible.