Hi again, Mustang Sally, the pics on the blog look so good! We're back to hot and humid again (in Maine, if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute, ha-ha). I'm doing something on top of the stove tonight: a veg curry. When I went to England for the first time, I was amazed at how many great Indian restaurants there were. Even in the Yorkshire hills, there were fine Indian restaurants where I got a rose on my plate, and incredible food. I have a former co-worker who was born in S. India and whenever we went out to eat at an Indian restaurant here in the states, she would whisper, "I make this much better at home," or "this type of food is considered very rich, we don't cook like this at home." So I'm going to try and get some recipes from her. In the meantime, I have experimented with curry dishes, and came upon a website explaining how to make a "wet masala," composed of onion, garlic and fresh ginger, sauteed for a few minutes in hot oil. Then the pan is deglazed with either broth, water, or a can of tomatoes. Sometimes I'll add the dry spices before the deglazing and stir for a minute to let the aroma come out. Tonight, however, I'm making a Thai style curry dish, using coconut milk. I thought about adding tofu but I can't imitate the fried tofu that I love to get at Thai restaurants, so I'm leaving it out (regular tofu doesn't do much for me). 1/2 chopped onion (I use sweet onions because my husband likes them) 1/2 inch of chopped or grated fresh ginger (tip: freeze a fresh ginger root and you can grate off it easily at will and it won't get moldy) 1-3 garlic cloves, finely diced 1 cup fresh green beans 1 handful fresh or frozen corn kernels 1 10 oz. package of frozen spinach, thawed (or fresh, or any other green such as chard, chopped) 1 can of veg broth or 1 1/2 cups water 1 can of coconut milk, I use "lite" Handful of fresh basil 1 tsp-2 tablespoons of red or green curry paste (tip, buy your curry paste in a jar, or in a small can, use a spoonful and put the rest in the freezer, it thaws quite easily so you can use spoonfuls at a time) -- unless you love hot stuff, use less and then add more if needed, just like salt, you can't take it away once you've overdone it! Can of beans or chickpeas (I have white beans on hand today but love chickpeas, optional) Saute the onion, ginger and garlic for a few minutes on medium high heat, using a decent quality cooking oil, until the onion is translucent but not brown. Add the broth or water, then throw in the green beans. Let simmer 5-10, depending on how done you like your green beans, and then add the spinach. Add the corn after a few minutes more and simmer again. While waiting, prepare cauliflower for "cauliflower rice," recipe below. Add the coconut milk and heat till hot. You don't want it to be boiling, just a nice bubbly simmer. Add the curry paste, dissolve it by stirring and taste after a minute or two. If it's too hot, add a squeeze of lemon or lime. If it's still too hot, add a dollop of yogurt or sour cream, depending on what you have at hand. You can also add bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, or substitute canned baby corn for corn kernels. What I do is look at what fresh produce I have on hand and try and use that up and a curry dish is the best. Normally, I serve my curry dishes over rice, but found this neat recipe for cauliflower rice: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbsidedishes/r/caulirice.htm If you don't use a microwave, note that many of the comments on this article indicate they stir-fried it with good results. I will try it and report back! BarbB, I used to live with a vegan, and it was hard cooking with no eggs or no dairy, to be sure! I make no claims to be giving up dairy and I'm not a strict vegetarian by any means, but I have been cooking vegetarian a few times a week, and MM is a good way to jolt me back into, "oh, yes, I don't need to center my meals around meat, do I?" When you look at the vegetable kingdom, it has a lot more variety than the animal kingdom, and I feel a lot better when I eat vegetarian. I think every little bit helps, and it's a process, a journey. I look at it as an adventure: cooking can be very creative, and I like to solve problems, so it's like, "how do I do this?" and the pots become my palette and the foods my paint. If I get it right, I get, "oh, this is as good as a restaurant!" But unfortunately, no money, just applause. That's what we're livin' for, tho', right? You might like to try some Italian fare, such as portabello mushrooms sauteed with (plain) drained artichokes and a bit of chopped garlic. Serve over spaghetti or your choice of pasta with a good crusty bread, and it's marvelous! Another one I love is mushroom risotto. The first time I made it, I was in love with the taste, unlike the thick gooey casseroles of my youth using cream of mushroom soup. My husband's grandfather was French, as were my great-grandparents, and I think the French habit of going to the market and seeing what's there is my method. I keep a huge staple of spices in my cupboard (most from bulk, purchased at the health food store or any store that sells bulk from Frontier, for example), and always onion, ginger and garlic, a can of diced tomatoes, dried and canned beans, rice, pasta. Then all I have to do is make some sort of combo with all of it and pick a region, as tonight, I'm picking Thai food. Mustang Sally, I can see those feta things also being made with the little wonton wrappers. A lot of people I know have put fillings into wonton wrappers in the mini muffin baking pans and then baking for oh, 12 minutes or so on medium high. I admit the instructions for wrapping got the best of me and I'd order it out but be hard pressed to attempt it at home. That fruit salad looks delicious! As the Italians say, mange'! Eat! Hugs, ~~Marie
Posts made by MarieMonDieu
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
I just found that salt rising bread recipe using Google, I'm a Google fiend, ha-ha. Been lax in posting any recipes lately, so here are a couple. It was very hot and humid the other day, you wouldn't think it could get that way in Maine, but it does. So I made a cold Asian style rice salad, using this recipe as the base: http://vegetarian.about.com/od/sidevegetabledishes/r/asianricesalad.htm * 4 cups cooked brown rice, chilled * 1/4 cup peanut oil * 1 tsp salt * 1/2 tsp pepper * 1 tsp sugar * 1 tsp sesame oil * 1 carrot, diced * 1/2 cup chopped snow peas * 1/2 cup corn kernels (optional) * 1/4 cup rice vinegar * 1 stalk celery, diced * 1/2 red or yellow bell pepper, diced * 3 green onions, chopped * 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley Preparation: In a small mixing bowl, combine the peanut oil, salt, pepper, sugar and sesame oil. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then pour over the rice in a large mixing bowl. Toss gently to coat, then set aside. Steam the carrot, snow peas and corn for one minute. Drain, then stir the vegetables into the rice. Notes: I had some fresh green beans, so I substituted those for the pea pods. I blanched the cut green beans and some thawed frozen corn kernels for 1 minute in boiling water, then strained from the boiling water with a fine sieve and dumped into a large bowl of ice water while I chopped the rest of the veggies. My brown rice had been cooling in the fridge for a while before this (you can make the rice ahead the day before or use leftover brown rice). I also added one chopped cucumber, and I had a half a red bell pepper so I used that. For the dressing, I used a bit of sesame oil, some rice wine vinegar and some good quality soy sauce. I also added some chopped garlic to the dressing mix. Important to taste it before you put it in the salad and make adjustments. A bit of sugar does help but you can use a little honey or just leave it out if you want. I ended up using a generous dash of apple cider vinegar as well, because I had a lot of rice and the rice wine vinegar ran out. I didn't even add the peanut oil (as I didn't have any and it didn't seem to make a difference, the soy sauce gave it a good flavor). Two days later, the weather has gotten dramatically cooler and drier. In anticipation of cool nights, here is a vegetarian paella recipe from Mark Bittman. I hunted high and low for something that wasn't too difficult and this one finishes in the oven, so it's pretty easy! I added a bit more water to mine, 4 cups instead of the 3 1/2, because I don't like my rice crunchy. I made the eggplant version, as they had some lovely eggplants at the store. My garden tomatoes seem to be ripening (finally!) so I will try that one next: http://www.howtocookeverything.tv/recipe.php%3Fnid=26.html For the beginning, I sauteed some green onion (leftover from buying them for the Asian salad, and I discovered that I was out of regular onion at the last minute), and some chopped green pepper and garlic. So if I'm cooking, I save a half a pepper and then the next day I'll throw that into whatever I'm making. After that was all soft, and just starting to get a bit brown on the edges, I threw in the rice. I used regular rice, but if you can get the better quality rice or arborio, I'm sure it would be great. Arborio rice is much kinder to this process than regular rice, which can burn quickly, so watch it. I deglazed the pan with a splash of white wine, then added a can of drained diced tomatoes, and a mini can of black olives, chopped (about 1/4 cup or a small handful of olives). Then I added the broth, topped with my olive oil coated eggplant (which had been sitting in a bowl since before I started frying the onion & pepper mix), and put into the 450 degree oven. I check it after 20 minutes, and decided to let it go a bit longer, so the total cooking time for my dish was about 30 minutes. In a true paella, the rice should crisp up on the bottom and this is desirable. Mine didn't exactly do that but it was very tasty. I wish I'd had some saffron (very pricey!) or at the very least, some paprika. I'm sure the tomato paste would have gone a long way toward flavor, but that wasn't in the cupboard so that's why I used the canned diced tomatoes. I also added a few sprigs of oregano, as I have some growing in the dooryard. I think if you follow his general recipe and method, you can't go wrong as long as you check the rice at 15-20 minutes (depending on how much water you use). The Asian salad gave us (2 people) enough leftovers for a few days, for lunch. I still have some of the eggplant and rice mix and will probably eat some for lunch today. All this came about because for some reason, I had tons and tons of rice in my cupboard and got a taste for Chinese food but didn't want to spend the money or have the extra fat that makes take out taste so good! The next day I found a nice eggplant and finally found the Bittman recipe after Googling "eggplant paella." If it can be combined, someone's done it and it's on the internet! Enjoy! Hugs, ~~Marie who saw a girl at the gas station yesterday wearing a Beatles "Let It Be" t-shirt
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
Hi MustangSally! Your Avocado Smoothie recipe reminded me of this vegan chocolate mousse recipe, which I've made before with excellent results: http://autonomieproject.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/vegan-recipe-of-the-week-raw-avocado-chocolate-mousse/ "Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse Prep Time: 10 minutes * 4 Ripe Organic Avocados * 1 Cup of Sweetener (Agave Nectar or Evaporated Cane Juice) * 1 Tbls of Pure Vanilla Extract * 1 Cup of Organic Fair Trade Cocoa Powder (or Carob) Slice each avocado open and scoop out the insides. Place the inside in a food processor or blender. Next add the sweetener, vanilla, and cocoa powder. Blend or process the mixture until fully blended. The mixture should be smooth and the color of chocolate. You can instantly serve the mousse, however we recommend you let it cool in the fridge for at least an hour. Serve in cups with fresh fruit or mint. Some of our favorite fruits we like to add are strawberries, raspberries, bananas, and sometimes pineapple! Now put your fears behind and delve into this delectable, healthy, and cooling summer dessert!" Also, I finally bought some sesame oil yesterday and so glad I did. I heated some sesame oil, just a small amount, in a fry pan. Then I added a small head of chopped bok choy. Stir fried that till tender-crisp, and added a large garlic clove, finely chopped. It was delicious! Congrats on the anniversary! Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
maccalindandme:
does anyone have, a recepie for Saltrising bread?? would greatly appreciate it. thank you, luv and peace,lil ole me
Goodness no, MaccaLindandme, but I found this: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/salt-rising-bread/Detail.aspx I felt lucky to have a guest on 4th of July who brought her own homemade sourdough bread. "Oh," she says, "I always have at least 2 sponges going." I feel good if I don't eat Ramen noodles for lunch. Actually, I do like Ramen noodles. But I don't make them from scratch. MustangSally, I do appreciate your hummus recipe. I think I was craving the sesame seed & tahini added, as I used to do. I know some people here in Maine use peanut butter in place of tahini, and I myself used to buy bulk sesame seeds & grind them up in a poor attempt to get the flavor. I will say, in my defense, that we do recycle plastics here, and I often re-use the containers for some other purpose. We do the same with cardboard. Sometimes, I have too much to do, so I buy some pre-made stuff like the red pepper hummus. Even today, I had a doctor's appointment and then laundry to do, computer work, etc., so we had a mushroom pizza that was store bought. I'd love to make meals from scratch all the time, but I just don't have the time if I'm going to do other things. However, I am going to make the vichyssoise recipe soon. #1 I am part Irish. #2 I am part French. It seems a match made in Heaven. Hugs, ~~Marie Who made black bean & corn salad the last few days, then ate it with pasta.
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
This is what we had for MFM on July 12th: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/oriental-cold-noodle-salad/Detail.aspx Sorry, the note at the top of this recipe says it goes well with fried chicken, but we didn't do that! We just ate the cold noodle salad! The only thing different I did was substitute a bit of peanut butter mixed with almond oil for the sesame oil. I was too cheap to buy a whole bottle for 1 1/2 teaspoons Even I was impressed with myself, it tasted just as good as a restaurant! Note: the 2 tsp of red pepper flakes made it pretty spicy, so I'd start with 1 tsp and then add more if you like it hot. It wasn't too hot for us but I could see it might be for others. This made enough for us to have leftovers (2 people) for 2 days. I also did a veggie fritatta, not sure if eggs qualify for MFM or not (?). I have a hard time going without eggs & dairy. So my breakfast was a Greek-style blueberry yogurt and then the veggie fritatta, and the noodle salad for dinner. I really appreciate the sort of relaxed attitude of "well, if people over-indulged all weekend, MFM is a good way to make up for it." I backslide every now and then but overall, it's making me more aware of my food choices, and also buying local when I can, to support our local economy and keeps from trucking things from all over, right? My first thought when I was buying the soba noodles was, "oh, how expensive," and then I mentally thwapped myself on the noggin, because they are less than $4 and I wasn't buying any expensive meat! Der. I'm just used to getting pasta on special and I imagine this dish could be made with regular spaghetti or even the newer enriched versions (i.e., Barilla, which I love, because it doesn't have that cardboard-y wheat taste). It's kind of weird because the town I live in is a huge outlet store town, with lots of tourists, so there's a lot of consumerism. I guess I fall somewhere in between. I do what I can with the resources I have. A lot of times I'll have crackers with hummus for my lunch, but tahini is very dear right now, so I buy the premade tubs and eat off that for a few days (roasted red pepper, yum!), with rosemary & olive oil triscuits split in half. Anyway, that noodle recipe is wicked good, you should try it! Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
Love basil! I have one little plant that I'm nursing along. Tomatoes are blossoming and look quite healthy. We have some farmers markets around here where I could probably get a good quantity of basil at a decent price. I'm going to make marinated garlic cloves today: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/market/msg1114345027953.html (recipe near bottom of page) "MARINATED GARLIC 30 cloves garlic, peeled* 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup white wine vinegar (I use Champagne vinegar) Salt and pepper to taste 4 sprigs fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp dried Blanch the whole cloves of garlic in boiling water for 5 minutes; remove, and plunge into cold water. Drain and dry off the garlic. Mix the remaining ingredients (except the fresh oregano sprigs) in a blender until emulsified. If using dried oregano toss it in with the oil and vinegar. Put the cloves in a jar and cover with the marinade, tuck the sprigs of oregano into the jar. Cover and allow it to marinate for at least 5 days in the refrigerator. Serve as is for a snack or side dish or add to a green salad. Don't be surprised if a couple of people polish off the whole batch in one sitting! I had tried several other marinated garlic recipes before this one and was not happy with the results. This one is perfect! *NOTE: You can double the garlic cloves and will still have enough dressing to cover. The marinade makes a fantastic salad dressing after you use up the garlic." My hubs says his former landlady made this & just let sit overnight and people gobbled them up at parties. I'm looking at it for health benefits as well. I was chopping garlic and stirring it into olive oil and using the oil for health benefits. Thanks for the recipes! It's going to be hot here tomorrow and I'm having a few guests over for the 4th celebration. I'm also thinking about the beet hummus & 3 bean salad. Don't know if I've ever made the bean salad before, just eaten it from the deli or at a party when someone else brought it. Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
It was really warm and humid here yesterday, so I made gazpacho, using this recipe as a guideline: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/gazpacho/ I leave half the veggies unblended and stir into the soup for a chunky texture. Also, I added a bit more spice, using a habenero pepper, which was, as expected, really spicy! But I like it. I also added a small zucchini, as I had one in the fridge. Next time I would probably add more cucumber, because I like it. I also left out the celery because I forgot, not sure if I'd add it or not. I made a lot so now I have leftovers for lunch! These are all the vegetarian recipes on that site: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/vegetarian/ Artichoke soup sounds really good!
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RE: Are you eating less meat since meat free monday?
I was asked to write an article by a local blog owner here in S. Maine, called Southern Maine Vegans. I rewrote some of the reasons I'd outlined above and here's the published article: http://somevegans.blogspot.com/2010/06/non-vegan-eating-vegan-meals.html They just recently started this blog, but there are several posts with vegan recipes if anyone's interested. Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: Are you eating less meat since meat free monday?
moonraker:
I'm definitely trying, but my husband is a midwesterner who thinks every meal should have some kind of meat product. It's kind of the reverse of hiding veggies in children's meals. I'm trying to hide the lack of meat.
I hear that Moonraker! My son's Midwestern dad was so into meat, especially the pork at one time, that I weighed out 30 pounds of pork products from the freezer once, and thought, whoa! I mean, he clogged the kitchen drain with all the fat, even after draining it off into a can first. And high cholesterol runs in his family. How about you just say you're on a diet and eat a nice salad and some of the sides? Tell yourself if you really want the meat, it's there anyway, so it's more of choice for you than a deprivation. I lived in the Midwest for years and years, so believe me, I feel your pain! But just because you're married doesn't mean your spouse gets to decide what you eat. And you can maybe introduce more veggie choices (eggplant parmasan? Spaghetti with a veg sauce and garlic toast?) that may still be somewhat fatty but appeal to the Midwestern style of cooking. If nothing else, tell him it's cheaper to eat non-meat a few times a week. That would have worked with my ex, ha-ha. I'm doing pretty well, only had some meat once this week so far (unless eggs count but I'm not giving up eggs at present). Bought some Beano today because I ate so many beans on Monday that I woke up after midnight and thought I was gonna die! LOL. Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
Hi MustangSally, I did see your recipe, yes! I wanted to try it but I forgot to soak my beans so I just threw something together this time. The brown rice was a little mushy. Been a while since I cooked brown rice so I may have added a bit too much water. Still tasted ok tho'. I have heard of the barley risotto, yes. Maybe I tried it once, not sure. I wish I had an asparagus bed! I can buy local but it's very pricey. So I got whatever they had at the market. Threw a little cornmeal into my beans at the end to thicken them, as some people do with their chili's. So it was more like a veg chili, because I added a lot of cumin. My son is very talented, I agree! He did that song for school. I submitted it to the Ellen show yesterday. She has a spot on her website for people to submit musical talent videos. You never know! Son flew back to Chicago on Saturday to hang with his buddies. He'll be back tho', I made him buttermilk pancakes for breakfast before his flight and he said they were really great! His dad lives in the Chicago area, see. But dad doesn't bake chocolate sheet cakes and strawberry rhubarb tarts, LOL. My son can cook too! We make cheesecake together sometimes, his favorite. My hips love it too, lol. I come back and peek at your recipes and just did a big grocery shop the other day so I'll be sure to be looking at them again soon! Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
So last night I made mushroom risotto, with some bread I'd bought, and oven roasted asparagus on the side. Risotto is pretty easy, you just follow the directions on the package. For the roasted asparagus, I put grapeseed oil, which I found on the cheap at Walmart (hey, Walmart even has free trade coffee for $5, have to watch my budget). Trim the asparagus ends and lay on a cookie sheet (with sides, so the oil doesn't leak out). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle some veg oil on top. Toss it all up with your hands, making sure you get the tips covered in oil. Bake in a hot oven for 10-12 minutes (375 F). Wicked good stuff! Today I'm trying some more beans, but I didn't think to soak any, so I'm doing a take on some veg chili that I used to do. Still trying for that Louisiana flavor: - 2 cans red kidney beans - 2 cans garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas, because I love chickpeas) - One small onion - 3-4 stalks celery - One half each of a red and green bell pepper - 2 chopped serrano peppers (or any hot pepper of choice) - 3-4 cloves minced garlic Fry the onion, celery and bell peppers in a pan until soft. Add the garlic and hot pepper. Then I'm dry roasting some spices, like cumin and celery seed and some fresh thyme from the garden. Like they do in Indian cooking. Wicked good flavor there! And putting it all into the pot with the beans and some water. If you add a lot of cumin, it's more Southwestern, if not, you can add some curry powder or even garam masala if you want more of an Eastern dish. I just do what I feel like that day, and usually it all works out. For the carbs I'm making some brown rice because I am sick of white rice and haven't had brown rice in a long time. It's nuttier, eh? I'm sort of a play as you go cook. Sometimes I make a hit and sometimes I don't, but so far my batting average is pretty good Just chillin' on a Sunday afternoon and thought I'd share. It's nice, exploring new things and creating new recipes on the fly, isn't it? Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: Are you eating less meat since meat free monday?
I would say it has definitely affected my eating habits, yes. I've been somewhat squicked out for a while, eating chicken, because I see chickens around here, and then I am sitting there going, I am eating the close relative of the thing I just saw pecking around in someone's yard. We grew up eating meat and my dad had to wring their necks at his grandfather's farm. Some hunters in my family, not fanatics, but they love their deer. I'm sort of the odd one in my family so it's hard. Today I went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of food, but no meat. I know how to cook vegetarian (minus some humorous catastrophies) and my husband will eat anything. And I do mean anything. Such as my chocolate, which I have learned to hide if I want it for nibbling or baking later on. I have to lose weight. Meat is expensive. I love animals. I can put hickory barbecue sauce on deep fried tofu if I have to have something "meat-like." Right? I got myself some chipotle hot sauce today and I thought, heck, I have made my own Seitan before, I could make the fake duck seitan, dribble this stuff on it, barbecue it, and I wouldn't even know the difference! I think it's tradition, the way you grew up, and being around all the meat eaters. Mom loves hamburger helper, and I can't stand the stuff! I look at the ingredients on everything anyway, to see if there is corn syrup in it. Not because of the sugar, necessarily, but because I know about the Staley plant in S. Illinois and how people were put out of work and people actually died because some big company came and took the plant over after Staley died or sold it (?) and it was three years of hell for those poor people, because of corn syrup. What the heck is wrong with the big corporations? I don't know. I left a big corporation and a fancy paycheck and a lot of benefits because I hated the way they did business. Not in my world, you don't. I am turning into a hippie as I age, I guess. And this site and the videos and things I've seen from Paul McCartney have truly served to tip me over the edge into eating less or no meat at all. I see how he thinks about the planet and the future generations, and while I still have several vices, eating meat doesn't have to be one of them. Right? Still onto dairy and eggs, and maybe I will eat seafood once in a while. So that's not really vegetarian, I know. Baby steps, as my friend Sharon told me earlier today. She works at Whole Foods, demonstrating some awesome all natural candles and perfumes from Pacifica in Oregon. I was there to get cocoa butter to make some more herbal soaps and lip balm, etc. In my crock pot Better than chicken soup, eh? Rock on, all you crazy fools. Marie in Maine is definitely leaning toward the veg lifestyle and even my 17 year old son asked me if he could heat up a can of refried beans the other day. For a big meat eater with a Chicago-area dad whose main purpose in life is to eat meat and fat and more meat and fat, that's progress. I showed my son all of the links about oil and how meat eating makes it worse and well, he took it to heart, I think. He eats a lot of salads and got his Caesar salad the other night without anchovies (because well, he said they are gross). Fish is hard to give up for us coasters... So yes. It's really been great. The attitude of "this is what I do and this is why," combined with the excellent social media and openness, humor, and connectivity with the fans, it's fantastic!!! Love and hugs to you all, ~~Marie in Maine Avid fan
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
Help! I have a question about making beans that aren't bland: Yesterday I got my beans all done and added some fresh thyme and a little fresh basil (as my basil plants are still small). To the original pot, I added: 1/2 large bag of pinto beans chopped onion (about 1/2 medium) chopped lovage (tastes like celery) 1 red pepper, chopped ground black pepper I am supposed to be on a low salt diet due to my blood pressure. It's hard but I have to do it I tasted them last night and while I added a bit too much water to the crockpot (not wanting them to stick and burn), they were done and pretty good. For the rice, I used the Alton Brown method of melting some butter along with the dry rice and then adding the water after stirring it up a bit (as you do for Rice A Roni mixes). That was fine but wish I'd made more rice! This morning, I decided to use the leftover beans at breakfast. I used a slotted spoon to remove some of the extra liquid and grated some pepper jack cheese into them after heating up in the microwave. Not a lot, because cheese still has fat in it and I'm supposed to lose weight in addition to be on a low-sodium diet. But I was starving and a little fat at breakfast helps me get some staying power. I also fried up a couple of eggs and some mushrooms and tomatoes (sort of like an English breakfast but only with no sausage or meat). And a hard little corn muffin. I think maybe my baking powder has gone flat It's been really humid with the recent rains and it was difficult to scoop out of the can. But I can easily get more baking powder. I ended up putting hot sauce on the beans and eggs and the cheese did flavor the beans up a lot. And of course, cheese is so yummy. But what else do you think I could have added to the bean recipe to make it more flavorful, without dumping a lot of salt into the pot? I was trying to go for a Louisiana style red beans and rice dish (and was out of red beans, hence, the pintos). Next time I make cornbread, I am going back to my original method of pre-soaking the cornmeal beforehand. They were really well, flat and dense. I did put in a bit of molasses to cut down on the sugar so maybe that didn't help. Usually my corn bread is pretty good, and this wasn't bad, just too thick. Any tips or other recipes for bean dishes would be welcome. Thanks, ~~Marie
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
Yum! Thanks, MustangSally10! My doc just told me to eat more avocado (BP issues). Also thanks for the Daily Kos link, that was really informative. I just got some pasta yesterday and my husband loves pizza, with anything on it. He will eat vegetarian any time so that helps. The bean brownies were a bit dry so I'd add something to keep them moist or maybe even put some salsa on top (as some people put ketchup on meatloaf). Or maybe I baked them too long. But they were okay crumbled up with other ingredients. I looked at the store-bought veggie burgers the other day and they are too expensive! I mean, any type of convenience food, you are always going to pay more for, right? I have several bags of dried beans and perhaps I'll soak some up later this week and use them in a few different recipes. I know in New Orleans, they typically do red beans and rice on Mondays. Perhaps I'll do a take on that tomorrow. Today I'm making herbal tea with several big handfuls of lemon balm, a bit of spearmint, and some yarrow leaves. Yarrow is supposed to be anti-viral and also a good tonic for women. I have been a bit stressed lately so I can use all the good tonic I can get There are several people on my Maine Twitter feed who do the meatless Monday as well. So it's like our meatless Monday support group and recipe exchange, ha-ha. Thanks again, will save the recipes. The sangria looks very good! Hugs, ~~Marie Whose lettuce got taken over by wild mustard, ack.
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RE: close your eyes.....
Now I see a bright blue-ish light. A winged lady with a staff in her hands, a blue-white beacon blazing from her entire body and it lights up the planet in a wave of white hot blazing energy. She stands upon the thick green grass, looking out over her world. Then she pounds her staff upon the ground, and speaks one word: "Misericordia." That is what I see every time I close my eyes.
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RE: close your eyes.....
I close my eyes and I see all of us as colorful spiritual beings, joining together in harmony, dancing as the rainbows dance in a spray of water, as the children run and laugh and play in the sparkling drops. What color are you? And why? Sometimes I'm blue, but not the sad sort of blue... the lovely shades of blue. The next day I might be green, the verdant green of newly mown grass. Or yellow, like a sparkling yellow topaz. Maybe red and orange, like the fire of rubies and citrine. Some days I'm just clear, like a crystal, and within some crystals are an occlusion that puts off rainbows when you turn them just the right way. I like purple too, but violet, like Liz Taylor's eyes. Or my irises. My plants, I mean, not my eyes. My eye are brown and green and gold. Like a cat on steroids, ha-ha. Wait, how can I close my eyes and be typing at the same time? It's all a puzzle.
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RE: VEGETARIAN RECIPES for newbies and the rest of us
mustangsally10:
Hello 2: Hope everyone is doing well Thanks MarieMonDieu for the yummy cheese cake recipe, I Looove cheesecake
Hi MustangSally10, Yes, I did make the cheesecake! It was quite tasty but I had a few mishaps because I was trying to bake too late at night. The same recipe that I gave you, plus: - 2/3 bar of dark organic chocolate, melted with a splash of veg oil to keep it from hardening again - Chocolate graham crackers, 1 and 3/4 cup plus 1/4 cup of toasted hazelnuts - A scraping from a part of a real vanilla bean (we get them cheaply at the natural food store and I save it for special things) - A generous dash of almond extract added to the cheesecake mix - Caramel sauce poured over the crust before adding the cheesecake mixture Here's where I went wrong: I overcooked my caramel sauce and it was quite hard, and I mistakenly thought if I poured it over the crust, it would somehow melt and stay soft. So we ended up scraping the crust out with a pie server. The other thing I did was pour too much mixture into my deep dish pie plate. It bubbled over and created a ring of hardened black goo on the bottom of my oven. Spent a while cleaning that up the next day! But it was really delicious! Love all your recipes, I will be sure to refer back to them this week. Everyone here loves Key Lime Pie! I was in Florida once and brought back a bottle of the Key Lime juice for pies and it was awesome. So thanks very much for that! I made bean "brownies' the other day. I was going to make bean burgers but I got lazy and no time to fry them up in a pan. Less oil this way. Here's what I did: 1 can refried beans 1 egg (optional) Dash of hot sauce Dash of Coleman's mustard (we like it hot around here) Bit of salt and pepper 1/3 can of tomato paste (the very small sized can) Ketchup (optional) Chopped onion, about 1/4 cup One garlic clove, minced finely 4-5 baby portobella (portabella?) mushrooms, minced finely Enough bread crumbs to tie it all together Think I added some fresh lovage from the garden I put this into an 8 by 8 inch pan and cooked it for oh... 1/2 hour or so until it was browning up a bit on top. Then I just ate one plain and they did get eaten but the next day, I chopped some up and made a vegetarian tostada using some freshly homemade salsa, lettuce, tomato, a small soft tortilla, a bit of shredded cheese, and more hot pepper (habenaro, just a bit, chopped up and put into the salsa mix). Was dying for some cilantro! Just planted my tomatoes and some basil, sage, and jalepeno plants. A cutworm got one of my pepper plants already I have to make a collar out of a paper towel tube to protect the rest. Cukes are next. Have to run errands and then come back and do my cucumber trellis. Not sure where to put it yet but there is plenty of room -- just want it to look nice. We're going to have some great veggies this summer!!! More later, but thanks again!!! Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: close your eyes.....
GYPSYGIRL:
I close my eyes & I can just envision what our home will look like when all of the remodelling work is completed in another couple of years.
I hear that, girlfriend! May it be so! Hugs, ~~Marie
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RE: close your eyes.....
Hrm. I see Frodo and Sam Gamgee on the way to Mt. Doom.
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RE: Does Paul do enough?
21st Century Paul:
That's one of the question I think... How come Paul can live with so many money? Would it make him happy, proud, guilty, worried? When asked Lennon on a Playboy interview about his 250 milions. "Yeah, you only can take your soul with you, but what do you want me to do, give everything and walk the streets?"... How much give? WHERE to give? Why give? Paul is a worker, he has hurt not no one to earn the money... quite the oppossite... Would part of the money fix something? The Golden generation of rock and roll are all milionaries or bilionaires... well... it gives them power, even to protect their music... God knows what would happen to the Beatles legacy after Paul.
First of all, I despise the vilification of celebrities based upon sheer jealously and vindictiveness of their successes. Once you have done what Paul McCartney has done, once you have lived in his shoes and gotten together a body of work, and nay, once you have changed the entire planet as much as this one single man had done, and lost your life's partner to a horrible disease and still have the grace to give your gifts to the world and be gracious to your fans, then you get back to me, man. Do it. Armchair quarterbacks have no place in my world. "The love you take, is equal to the love you make." Man. What the effover, Rover? Do not attack my Sir Paul McCartney, LOL. He is a human being, the same as your or I, and he makes choices, just the same as you or I do. I chose to ditch the corporate towers and the flourescent lights and the shite sandwich they tried to feed me every day and tell me how tasty it was, man. And it wasn't tasty, it was shite. A big heaping pile of shite. Under the name of the god of money. Now I'm poor and and down and out, but yet I'm not. The feeling of nowhere to be or nothing to do is pretty darned good, in my not so effing humble opinion. Maybe that's just an American upstart point of view, I dunno. Perhaps I am a rebel. I keep a picture by my desk. It's some artsy orange-ish thing with a spiral, very pretty. The quote reads: "You must be the change you wish to see in this world." Ghandi said that. Are you willing to give up all you possess and go out like Ghandi and Mother Theresa and live with poor people and lepers? Right now? Give it all up, man. Walk out the door with nothing on your back and go to India and help the poor people there with nothing but a cloak on your back. We can't fight the evils of this world with zero dollars, or pounds, or Euros, man. We have to make the money to fight them. Sting knows that. "Life imitates art," a saying by one Oscar Wilde, my cousins' ancestor, whose portrait I keep on my fridge to remind me not to take life too seriously. Sting knows that, he's no dummy. It's the artists of this world who create this world. That is to say, the artist reflect society and give back their vision of what this world can be, and SHOULD BE, under my watch, me being a Stewart descendant, a land steward, and well, just a plain human being who has come down to this planet into a body to clean it up, right now. I am the File, I am the Crow, I am the crazy Fox and I am the Sword of Light and Vengeance and I am here to stay. This sort of thing will not fly from a woman whose 9 ancestors fought against injustice, man. Not for one second. Don't you think that my husband's grandfather, Pierre Monteux, who was a Jew in Europe when Hitler was around, got that? He got out and came to the states and then he sponsored other musicians to come on down to America and get away from well, death. Have you ever watched "Fog of War," or "Boy in the Striped Pajamas?" Have you read history, and the history of how the Beatles and Sir Paul McCartney were influenced? Pierre Monteux caused a freaking RIOT when he conducted Rites of Spring, man. Some classical tune you can now listen to with ease in your comfy home on your internet, while poor starving kids play with sticks and drink out of arsenic-ridden wells in Africa. Get with the program, man. With riches, comes power. Power is just power. You can use it for good or bad. It's up to you what you do with your "power points." I choose to give mine to Doctors Without Borders, the American Red Cross, and Seeds of Peace, etc. I do what I can with the resources at my disposal. Think of that next time you want to heap criticism on my next imaginary 4th husband. Tu est pissant, mange la merde de la vache! Phhht! "But they told me, I'm made to be faithful... and fight to the end... but I'm only human." ~~Michael Jackson