a few of my favorite things

Raindrops on kittens and whiskers on roses...

I was thinking earlier today about the number of times I've posted about some new ingredient or kitchen toy and said it was my new favorite thing: polenta and miso come to mind. But trust me - for every time I've said something was my favorite thing, there were at least four other things I didn't say that about to prevent repetition (and the obvious fickleness of having a different favorite thing almost every night).

Because I don't really have any fun stories about dinner (other than more proof that I shouldn't ever take Mister food shopping with me, no matter how much I think I need his help), I will share a list of my current favorite things:

1. Blender sauces. Seriously - does it get easier? I don't think so. Grab some of this and some of that, throw it into a blender/food processor and press play. Within seconds you have a smooth or chunky, velvety or gritty, voluminous sauce. I love that.

2. My "new" kitchen. I have my happy place and to my great delight, it is organized and efficient just like the pictures in the IKEA catalog. Where are my Martha Stewart mixing bowls? Oh! They're right here, on the top shelf - I don't have to push anything aside or give myself a pinched nerve trying to pry them out of the dark corner they ended up in when I needed something else they were hiding. They're just there - out in the open and waiting to be filled with flour and spices and soymilk and turn them into tasty treats! Where is my chili powder? Did it get pushed over the edge of the counter by Tarragon and Rosemary? No! It's right here, neatly corralled in its little tray on the second shelf of my kitchen trolley! To say I've found bliss could very well be understating the situation.

3. Making cupcakes. This had to make the list, but it's funny, because until Isa and Terry had to go put out their silly cupcake book, I NEVER made cupcakes. Seriously - never. I don't like icing! But I have learned that a cupcake without icing is a muffin, and decorating my little sweet-treats is part of the fun!
So far:
Carrot-Ginger-Macadamia
Chocolate-Covered Banana
Chocolate Cream Cheese (not vegan, but easily veganized)
Peanut Butter & Jelly
Pineapple Right-Side-Upcakes
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip
and coming soon - Mint Chocolate and Chai Latte (saved the best for last - who am I kidding? It's only October!)

4. Angst, curled up on my dining chair because it's the only thing that hasn't moved. He's so cute, all snuggled up against my coat or scarf, leaving me fuzzy bits of kitty love (to pull out of my lipstick after I wrap my scarf around my neck, heedless of the fur flying).

I could probably keep going, or even divide into sub-favorites, like my favorite cookbook, favorite cooking tool, favorite thing to listen to while I'm cooking dinner or baking, favorite smells...but I don't want to bore you (or run out of things to write in future posts).

I did remember something today. Mister became a vegetarian about 8 months before I did. I didn't understand his crazy ways and one night, after a few unsuccessful attempts to go out for dinner ending in his apartment because there was nothing he could eat anywhere nearby, I asked him to help me understand why he was being so inconvenient. He shared with me all of the information he had come across that led to his decision and we even had the "how much difference can one person not eating meat make?" discussion. The end of it (I thought) was me saying "okay, well, that's great - you keep doing that and I will respect your decision... but it's not for me." About two months later was when I became a vegetarian. In those two months, my mind muddled through the seeds of thought Mister had planted there and as time passed, they began to germinate and take root and eventually, took over. There was one specific moment in time when everything came crystal clear to me and I said, "me, too."

The reason I thought of that is because I fear I've done it to myself again with this whole honey thing. I can't get it out of my mind. It's not like I think about it all the time, but I do think of it frequently, as though my mind's mouth is turning it over and tasting it from every angle. Just like my slow, thoughtful conversion to a meatless diet, the more I think of honey and bees and nature and exploitation and general thievery, the more I begin to understand the argument that honey is not vegan. I'm sorry if my harping on this is getting old, but I really want to understand where I stand on this. Here are my most recent thoughts:

Honey is bee food. It's not meant for us to eat. Honestly, that's the beginning and the end of any logical discussion. Bees collect what they need to to make the honey and they make it to feed themselves and the rest of their family. That is such a simple fact to overlook that it completely escaped me until...today, I think. Because honey is so widely available with shelves full of different flavors (clover, orange blossom, wildflower, etc), we believe bees make honey for us to eat it without even realizing that we think so. Truth be told, though, even when you're talking about factory-farmed honey bees who technically ARE making the honey just so we can eat it, the bees don't know that - they are under the unfortunate impression that they are saving up food for the winter. There have been a lot of recent studies showing how beneficial honey-consumption can be for humans with health issues - eating local honey can alleviate allergy issues, for example. We never stop to think, though, that the same nutrients that make honey so good for us are what make it the only reliable food source for bees through the winter.

Another thing that struck me about honey comes from knowledge acquired through my workplace. Honey is a low glycemic food. For those who don't know, the glycemic index measures how quickly food is digested and how that digestion impacts insulin production. Food high on the glycemic index (candy, white bread, soda, etc) is digested quickly, sending a shock of sugar into the blood, causing a spike in insulin production - this is the "sugar rush" you get, but there is always that crash, leaving you feeling without energy and probably hungry again. On the other hand, foods low on the glycemic index digest more slowly, releasing sugar into the blood stream over time, resulting in a pretty steady level of insulin production. These foods stay with you longer, giving your body time to glean maximum nutrition from what you've eaten and helping you to actually feel satisfied for a longer time. Honey as food for bees to eat through the dead months + honey as a low glycemic food = lightbulb going off over my head about exactly how WRONG it is to replace carefully crafted honeycombs with a sugar-water mixture - it's not even close to the same nutritionally. Hopefully, you understood everything I wrote about the glycemic index. If not, just ask.

Anyway, this is the point where I remember that knowledge is dangerous. Once I research something and seek to understand it, it lodges itself in my brain and forces me to see the thought process through to its inevitable conclusion. It kind of worries me that I've only cracked the surface of topics related to veganism that I want to cover this month...

slow like honey, heavy with mood

Tonight's dinner was Tomato-Rice Soup with Garlic and Navy Beans from Veganomicon. I didn't end up making the biscuits for two reasons: first, I hadn't refrigerated the shortening, so it wouldn't be cold. Actually, that's the biggest reason. Once I realized I wouldn't be able to make those specific breadlettes, I looked for different ones in a few different cookbooks. By the time I stumbled across the Easy Biscuits recipe in How It All Vegan, I had grown weary of the prospect of making biscuits and the soup was nearly done simmering. The second real reason was knowing that I was going to make the lentil soup in a few more days and thinking I'd rather have the biscuits accompany that.
I think the thing I am most excited about right now is that the freaking rice actually cooked in the tomato broth! I truly did not think it would, or at least not in the allotted time. I thought we'd just be finishing dinner now. The soup was also heartier than I expected, since the rice was all hiding beneath a shimmering layer of tomato soup. I think it may be one of those soups best served as leftovers - by the way - there are plenty of leftovers. Isa said the recipe serves 10-12 and it most certainly would, probably as a main course. Mister and I each had 2 bowls and we have a huge amount leftover. I know what I'm eating for No-Cook Wednesday and Work-Lunch Thursday!

I would like to briefly revisit my post on honey - more specifically, whether or not it is vegan to eat honey and whether or not I care. A reader was kind enough to point me towards some more resources I had not found my first time around. The black writing on a yellow background was clever, but a little much.

Why Honey Is Not Vegan - very loooonnggg page exploring virtually every argument that has ever been made for honey. There are a lot of good points and a lot of "ah ha" moments where your heart could break a little on behalf of the bees. I would love to give a better summary, but to be completely honest, I can't stand to look at the yellow and black page long enough to say anything intelligent. I'll leave it at this - it appears obvious, from the author's article, that humans are exerting unnatural dominion over bees and are exploiting their labor and stealing the fruits of it. In a sense, they are stealing my well-balanced, nutritious meal and giving me a Special K protein bar in its place. If you can ignore the yellow background or take your time and read in installments, this could be a very helpful article.

Why Honey Is Still Not Vegan - well-made point on this page: Exterminating pests (cockroaches, for example) is vastly more justifiable than enslaving, exploiting, and eventually killing honeybees because I did not purposely breed the invading/offending insects. I can buy that.

The Ecology of the Honey Bee - because I chose to become a vegetarian largely based on the impact the meat industry has on the environment, this argument would be the most powerful in persuading me to give up honey. The basic crux of this page is that honeybee farming is unnatural, takes bees out of their natural habitat, causing whatever pollinating they may contribute to be inferior in quality. The author asserts that the factory farming of bees is actually harmful to the environment by way of "crowding out" the native bees that should be pollinating in the area where the factory farms are. I'm not completely sure I buy this, but it's worth investigating further.

In the end, whether I can (in good conscious) eat honey would not be the thing preventing me from going full-on vegan. It's just not that important to me. There are increasingly adequate substitutes for honey - in fact, I've been curious about agave nectar for years. I am not, at this time, forswearing honey. I am, however, looking into alternatives. I have not decided that it is harmful, but it is one of those things where for the sake of helping others stand strong in their decision, I could let it go.

she's as sweet as tupelo honey

It never occurred to me, until a few years ago, that honey wouldn't be considered vegan. I guess it was part of my exploration of my first vegan (cook)book ever - How It All Vegan, ironically. I noticed that instead of using honey as a sweetener in some baked goods, like my fruity, hippie, all-natural cookbooks, there was a lot of maple syrup or "dry sweetener of your choice" going on. Don't get me wrong - I like maple syrup, but it has a very distinct flavor that kind of stands out.

I'm not gonna lie: I like honey.
I like it in herbal tea. I like to cream it with non-dairy butter as the first step to making the best oatmeal cookies I've ever had. I like to drizzle it over chunky peanut butter spread on a tortilla and then roll the whole thing up and eat it like candy. Now and then, I've been known to stir it into oatmeal or coffee. I like how much easier honey mixes up in a cookie/cake/muffin/bread recipe than granulated sugar.

Furthermore, when I really get to thinking about whether or not honey is vegan, I really go for it. For example - is yeast vegan? What about soy yogurt with live cultures? Those are living micro-organisms, so I guess what I want to know is: where is the line? When does PETA stop caring?

So, I've done a little homework to help myself figure out the honey conundrum.
Checking back with HIAV, the appendix, "Vegan No-Nos A to Z" gives a very simple reason why people/vegans should not eat honey. "Food for bees, made by bees." Fair enough - that has been my anti-dairy argument for years: cow's milk is meant to be consumed by baby cows to help them grown into big cows. If humans were supposed to drink cow's milk, human mothers wouldn't lactate...makes sense to me. Also, as a side note - are you aware that human beings are the only species that drinks another species' milk AND drinks milk after infancy? The dreaded curse of lactose intolerance that so many unfortunate adults seem to suffer is actually the body's natural way of weaning - it's supposed to happen.

Okay, so chalk one up for the argument against honey.

I've seen PETA's argument against honey before, but I thought I'd check it out again to see if it made more sense. The crux of their argument is that honeybees are unnatural and exploited. The honey that lines your supermarket shelves is the product of factory-farmed bees, therefore putting it on the same level as boxed cows, caged footless chickens, and udder-infected milk cows. Quick disclaimer: these are PETA's thoughts, not necessarily mine. Honeybees are born, live, and die (or are killed) in an artificial environment and therefore do not contribute to the beneficial pollination of plants that "natural" bees enact. Their entire lives are controlled and manipulated by beekeepers that I have to believe are a little smarter than PETA is willing to admit. Ultimately, PETA's stand is that because bees have exhibited intelligence by recognizing home and "family," the exploitation of their labor is on par with the abuse and misery felt by veal calves, milk cows, egg-laying hens, foie gras-growing ducks, and bacon pigs.

They make a thought-provoking argument, but I'm not sure I'm buying it. What it comes down to (for me) is this: bees are insects, not animals. Granted, that opens up a whole can of silkworms, but we'll get to that, plus wool and leather, later.

According to vegan.org, a vegan is someone who eschews not only the flesh of animals, but also anything else that comes from them, such as dairy, eggs, wool, leather, etc. On their FAQ page, they classify insects as animals, but state that not all vegans "believe insects are conscious of pain. Moreover, even if insects were conscious of pain, it's not clear that the production of honey involves any more pain for insects than the production of most vegetables, since the harvesting and transportation of all vegetables involves many 'collateral' insect deaths."

If that means we have to give up vegetables, I'm in trouble.

Wikipedia, in a very well researched article, similarly defines a vegan as someone who not only restricts his/her diet to refrain from animal products/flesh, but also lives a lifestyle which seeks to avoid the exploitation or unethical use of animals. The article primarily refers to The Vegan Society, founded in the mid-1940s, but PETA protests are in line with forsaking cosmetics tested on animals, animals in entertainment, animals used for clothing, and so on.

On veganism.com, the homepage features a happy little pig in a field with this quote underneath the picture:

Veganism may be defined as a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom for food, clothing, or any other purpose. In dietary terms it refers to the practice of dispensing with all animal produce - including flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, (non-human) animal milks, and their derivatives, with the taking of honey left to individual conscience.

I feel like that last phrase (regarding honey) is kind of an underhanded guilt trip, but whatever. Even PETA manages to have a succinct and direct mission statement on their website:

PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other "pests," and the abuse of backyard dogs.

Just to dig a little deeper, because I'm kind of a perfectionist like that and because I figure the best decision can be made with the most information available, I checked out how close to the colloquial meaning of "animal" bees are. Science really isn't my thing, but here's a quick 7th grade science lesson to wrap things up:
Scientific classification separates everything possible into a hierarchy which begins with the broad category of "Life" and whittles it down through Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. Kingdom, third from the top and among the broadest classifications are what lump bees into the animal category. Because I actually love studying how we got the words we use, I could launch into a big discussion of the root of the word "Animal," but I won't because I've already been working on this post for an hour and a half and I want to go to bed soon. Suffice it to say, though, that anything which is self-animated (can move of its own free will) is considered an animal.

By this line of thought, a vegan cannot smush the spider creeping along the wall, even if it's a black widow and could do serious harm to her, her companion animal, or her child. A vegan cannot exterminate for a cockroach problem that is invading his food supply and causing his child to have asthma attacks. A vegan cannot slap the mosquito that just gave her West Nile virus.

This may be the most thoroughly researched and thought out justification for the continued use of honey in the history of people trying to justify their love for this sweet substance, but I've done my homework and come to my own educated conclusions.

I don't see anything wrong with using honey. The case is not necessarily closed, though. If you can make an equally compelling argument against my current point of view, I will certainly consider it thoughtfully and allow it to help me more fully develop my opinion on this blurry issue.

almost vegan just like I'm almost famous

Now, these tasty little cupcakes could be my ticket to superstardom, if I do say so myself. The only problem is that I don't really have a recipe. I have a recipe in my brain, but it's one of those kinds of things where you know how to get to your best friend's house, but you couldn't tell someone else if they were holding a gun to your head, you know? I will have to make them again sometime so I can figure out an official recipe (and because they're supertasty), at which time I will share it.
Or maybe I won't. Maybe it'll be my little secret.

Anyway, I'll be taking these little sweeties in to work tomorrow since I made them at the request of a very helpful co-worker. He's gone "above and beyond" to help me more than a few times and when I asked him what his favorite cupcake was, he had to come up with the hardest kind to make. Admittedly, these probably do not look like what he had in mind, but I promise (if you're reading, Mike) that they taste like it. I had to have one....you know, to make sure I wouldn't poison my colleagues...

They are not vegan, so I will not be counting this post towards my October-Vegan-Fest. They could very easily BE vegan, but I didn't want to use tofutti cream cheese in these treats for my omnivorous colleague the first time I made them. I used honey, too, but I'm still trying to figure out if I feel like that goes against vegan ideals and if so, why. But that's another post for another time.

don't you wish you worked with me?

nom nom nom the spinach

First, though, tales of today's bar. Today I had the thinkFruit Chocolate Pomegranate Power bar. It left a much more favorable first impression than the Jocalat bar yesterday, though I think that if I had to choose between the two, I would actually choose the Jocalat bar.
First of all, there's just something about me that cherishes the simplicity of 3-5 ingredients. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the thinkFruit bar had the most ingredients - granted, only ten, but they included things like added pectin and the ever-enigmatic "natural flavor." Also, I don't care for the trickery of using pineapple and pomegranate flavored cranberries to flesh out the bar. I would not have been less inclined to purchase the bar if it had said Chocolate Cranberry Power or something like that because honestly, I was more excited about the chocolate. Speaking of chocolate - the chocolate taste was subtle...possibly even more so than the Jocalat bar, which surprised me for some reason. On the plus side, this bar is lower in fat than other fruit & nut bars, with the added bonus of being enriched with omega-3s despite the lower fat. Also, there were a couple of times when I could swear I tasted figs, but there were none on the label...unless they are the "natural flavor." I guess we'll never know.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad bar at all. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about thinkProducts in general, but as it goes, I wouldn't turn my nose up if this was offered to me. I just wish pomegranate wasn't dead last on the ingredients list since it's part of the bar's name.

For dinner tonight, I made the Chamomile Couscous with Savory Spinach (but there was actually only one piece of spinach - the rest was spinach-flavored basil*). It was fun and different. I think it'll take a little tweaking, but all in all it came out well. Also, when you are absolutely certain you have an abundance of chamomile tea in your tea chest, please check before you arrogantly write it into a recipe as though you'll never run out. You can also read that as: My dumb butt didn't realize I only had 1 of the 2 tea bags I had written into the recipe, so I substituted one chamomile tea bag with Stash Sandman tea, which contains chamomile...and spearmint, which way overpowered both that chamomile and the pure chamomile tea bag. Also, in an effort to draw out the flavors of the tea and not just the scents, I think I overdid the honey. Below you will find the amended recipe, with less honey.

Chamomile Couscous with Savory Spinach
serves 6

Ingredients:
a little more than 2 cups water
2 chamomile tea bags
2 cups plain couscous
1/2 Tbsp (1 1/2 tsps) honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 Tbsp garam masala**
1/2 tsp salt
28 oz (petite) diced tomatoes
15 oz chickpeas, rinsed and drained
9 oz fresh baby spinach

Boil the water, then place the two tea bags in the pot and cover - allow to steep at least 5 minutes. Remove tea bags, stir in honey until dissolved, then add couscous. Cover and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep pot. Add the mustard seeds and cover. When mustard seeds begin to dance, sprinkle in the garam masala, then stir in the undrained tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, stir in chickpeas and salt and simmer a few minutes. Add about 1/3 of the bag of spinach, cover to steam 1-2 minutes, then stir into tomatoes and chickpeas to wilt. Repeat with second 1/3 and final 1/3. If your cat enjoys spinach, share some with him (or her) before you destroy it all in your dinner. Once all spinach is added and has wilted, uncover and allow to simmer about 5 minutes.
Fluff couscous. Serve spinach mixture over a fluffy white cloud of couscous!

*this was a joke...read about the pomegranate-flavored cranberries again if you didn't get it.

**Garam Masala is merely a mixture of popular spices used in Indian cooking. One brand will have one mixture and another will have a completely different mixture. For this recipe, I used Whole Pantry brand - a.k.a. the Whole Foods store brand - which ended up being much heavier on cardamom than I would have preferred. Cardamom is one of those very pungent and peculiar spices that is better seen but not heard, so to speak. Whole Pantry Garam Masala has the following spices: black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander. To balance out the pungency of the cardamom and cloves, I added just a pinch of cumin for its savory and a generous pinch of turmeric for its bitterness. You'll be able to smell if it needs something. For the record, my favorite Garam Masala (so far) is McCormick brand.

Finally, I got Angst to dance for his spinach. I tried to get some action shots to share:"mmm... is that my spinach?"
"nom nom nom"

magical talking devices

Every once in a while, I have this moment of clarity where I find the time to truly appreciate something that I take for granted every other day/hour. A couple of days ago, I was driving and suddenly I realized how cool that was. Now, I drive every day, just about, and there are times my 60 mile roundtrip for work everyday makes me want to sell my car, but a few days ago I realized how amazing it really is that this piece of machinery yields to my every whim. With just a tug this way of the steering wheel and some gentle (or sometimes quite abrupt) pressure on a pedal at my feet, I control the way the vehicle operates and it does what I command (this was not always so with my last car).

I had another one of those moments earlier today. This one is not nearly so deep and philosophical - actually, I think it's more comical than anything else, but I still appreciate it. Today's amazing moment was when my sister called me from a grocery store in Arizona. Here I am in Pennsylvania and my cellphone rings and connects me instantly with my sister, wandering the aisles of a grocery store thousands of miles away, asking me where to find pomegranate molasses (because she's such a wonderful sister that she is going to make a modified version of the Pomegranate Saute for a potluck). I know, you think I'm crazy, but that's because you're taking this moment for granted.

Stop and reflect on that story for a moment. Cellphones, though invasive at times, are magical!

Today was a fun day. First, Mister and I went to the spice store to get red lentils (and ground cloves, crystallized ginger, and black licorice, because I really did marry a man just like my father), then we went to a diner for breakfast at 3:30 PM. We're still celebrating his birthday, and if breakfast at 3 (after we'd been up for hours) was what he wanted, that's what we were doing. After stuffing ourselves full of omelets and potatoes (and craptastic coffee), we waddled home in the 95 degree heat and were thrilled by the still-working a/c in our home.

For dinner, we had Red Lentil Coconut Curry (thus the trip to get more red lentils):
Red Lentil Coconut Curry
serves 6-8
Spice mixture:
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp curry powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp canola or olive oil
2 cups water, divided
3/4 cup jasmine rice
2 large carrots
1 small head cauliflower
14.5 oz petite diced tomatoes
1 cup peas
1 cup red lentils
15 oz lite coconut milk
1/2 tsp honey

Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice, lower heat to lowest possible setting, cover and simmer 20-25 minutes, until all water is absorbed.
Meanwhile, mix together all the spices and salt in a small bowl. Quarter and cube the carrots and cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets.
Heat the oil in a large, deep pot and add the spices, stirring continuously for one minute. Add carrots and cauliflower and stir to coat with spices. Allow to cook for a minute or two, then add the undrained tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water. Stir well to dissolve spices, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in peas, lentils, coconut milk and honey. Cover and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and continue to simmer for 10 more minutes. Serve over rice.

It was a nice tasty birthday curry. Now I'm ready for leftover birthday cake!