Vegetarian for Three Weeks and Counting

I haven't eaten a single piece of meat, including seafood for three weeks now. It hasn't required that much intentional effort since I ate very little meat to begin with.

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I went to an amazing Indian restaurant with my great artist friend, Jantira and I was able to order a completely tasty, SPICY, fulfilling meal with all vegetarian options. I went to the Spice Market with Amber and again, we were able to order a huge meal to be shared and it was completely vegetarian. I want to do reviews of both those restaurants soon!

At work, I'm often faced with challenges regarding my eating. It's harder to eat organic here and when lunches come it, we often just grab what's there. This time though...like yesterday, I just made sure I was intentional. Veggie Burger and Cajun Fried. In reality, I shouldn't even be ordering that. In actuality, I should be bringing my lunch each day because then I'd know my food came from the local CSA and its organic and sustainable.

(It trips me out that things can be organic but not sustainable. Or things can be natural but not organic. Or things can be environmentally sustainable but not culturally sustainable. I'm reading the book version of Food Inc and there is a section where the guy talks about heirloom tomatoes and he talks about what use is it to have an organic tomato, if the people who picked it are being mistreated, underpaid, and put at risk. So sure I eat organically, but is it sustainable environmentally and culturally? This freaking rabbit hole keeps getting deeper.)

As is, I have maintained a completely vegetarian eating regime for three weeks. Next week, after completely moving into my AMAZING apartment with the BEST KITCHEN ever, I will venture into a week of veganism. I did it once last year. The hardest part was not putting cheese and sour cream in my vegetarian gumbo. And after that, perhaps a week of raw food. I've been toying with that idea for YEARS! I even dated a raw foodist once. But I haven't taken the plunge. After finding the amazing blog , Raw on $10 a Day, I have renewed hope. I can't even begin to tell you about the amazing cheap recipes this woman concocts. Basically, I'm going to have to do a post just on her and her blog! Maybe I can even get her to do a granola interview.

The best vegetarian dish I've had in the past few weeks. Hmmm..the avocado, onion radish salad from the Spice Market and their stir fried asparagus with lotus root and lily bulb. God, you just have no idea!

What is your favorite vegetarian dish?

By the way...its a little hard being a vegetarian when you don't like mushrooms or eggplant. I personally kidn stand either.

The One Time its ok to Bite the Hand....Buddha's Hand.

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I was doing some grocery shopping and perhaps because I'm reading Food, Inc. as my book of the week, I felt the need to be even more conscious of what I purchased. I decided I wanted to purchase fruit that was in season so I turned to google to find some answers.

The best website I came across was EPICURIOUS. com


I use Epicurious for many of my recipes at Cafe LaShay and therefore I trusted their site. What separated them from many of the other websites I came across was that they listed by month and by location what was in season. Sure, a mango may be in season...but in season halfway across the world. So I wanted to know what was good for this month and for New York. I didn't get many options but that's not the point.

For New York, it said that the growing season is currently dormant and that I should opt for items from storage such as apples, pears and root vegetable. (Side note, I'm currently looking for a CSA to participate in in Brooklyn and am excited!)

While searching for seasonal, local fruit I came across some things I had never heard of. Have you ever heard of Buddha's Hand?

 

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I didn't read too much on it yet. I couldn't tell you where it comes from or if its even available in the US but I just loved the name. It's like saying "God's Hand." "Jehovah's Hand." "Allah's Hand" "The Divine's Hand" or something like that. Who wouldn't want to eat it. Its one of my goals to try a fruit I've never even heard of. Depending on the availability and location of this fruit, maybe I'll be biting into Buddha's Hand.

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Do you consider the season and your location when shopping? Do you find the choices limiting? Have you ever heard of Buddha's hand and do you know more about it.

Sugar and Coffee

I've pretty much given up coffee completely. Since December of 2009 I've only had two coffee drinks. I've also given up most forms of sugar even raw. I only use raw sugar for cooking and/or baking.

 

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I sweeten most things with agave nectar. Mainly my African Nectar Mighty Leaf tea. Because I've come to love agave nectar so much, I won't even use honey. Honey only comes in handy for baking, cooking, and homemade products now. Now if I run out of agave, I'll just have my tea by itself. Eventually I won't even need the agave nectar anymore!

I can't remember the last time I purchased granulater sugar. I like that. And the coffee that I still have in the house...that's just used for my Brown Sugar Coffee Body Scrub.

Taking coffee and sugar out of my daily nutritutional intake...adding more fruit, water, and vitamins, I've noticed my body feels lighter. Things are processed better. I wonder how enlightened I'd feel if I went completed raw. Perhaps I'll try going raw for just one day and then vegan for a day, just to note the differences.

Do you notice a difference when you eat only vegetarian meals versus raw meals versus vegan meals? How often do you drink coffee? What do you use to sweeten your drinks and foods?

Organic Natural Breakfast

A few months ago I watched Food Inc. To say that move shook me to my core is an understatement. Watching that movie reminded me of when I watched Friends of God and Rosie O'Donnell's Gay Family Cruise. After seeing those two documentaries, in addition to having some life changing experiences, my "religious" perspective was shook to its core and I went on a two year journey of self discovery and spiritual enlightenment. Watching Food Inc, also reminded me of when I read and saw The Laramie Project and Angels of America. After experiences those two pieces of art, in addition to having life changing experiences, my paradigm of thinking of same sex orientation was forever changed.

Watching Food Inc, altered my view of food. I felt it in my gut! For a few years now, I've "wanted" to change my eating habits. Its pretty healthy but I could stand to be vegetarian/vegan/raw. I could stand to be more intentional about consuming only organic or natural foods. I could stand to eat more fruit. I could stop snacking on certain foods which have no nutritional value. I even bought a lot of cookbooks on eating raw, vegan and vegetarian. I even once dated a raw foodist! But nothing worked.

Then I saw Food Inc. Have you seen it? It's available to watch instantly on Netflix, if you have a subscription. Shoot, even if you don't have a subscription, I'd give you my login info just so you can watch it. It's that important. I started taking notes while watching it. I'd post those later. I bought the book too. It's next on my reading list. I had my entire family watch it over Christmas too. At some points, my mother cried. I understood the sentiment too. But I'll talk more about Food Inc. later.

Because of Food Inc, I've changed a lot of my eating habits. But I still have a long way to go.

My daily breakfast intact now consist of one of two things.

 

 On the weekends, I eat cereal.

Right now I haven't found a specific brand of cereal that I like but its always some form of granola. I'm really liking this AgavePlus Granola right now. I then add a spoonful or two of ground Flaxseed. And I've completely switched the milk that I consume to almond milk.

I'm not a heavy milk drinker. I only consume it when adding it to something. Before Almond Milk, I drank 2% milk. I have a homemade recipe for almond milk that I will start making. I plan on doing that when I move into my new apartment. (I'm in temporary housing right now as I continue to transition. Just recently moved to New York!)

So when I'm home, this is what I have for breakfast. And i tell you, I feel like a treehugger eating it. But its good. And I notice that my body feels better. I respond better to almond milk than any other kind. Plus, I DO NOT like soy milk. Ugh!

When I am at work, my breakfast is something completely different. One thing I lack in my daily nutritional intake is FRUIT. I don't like fruit, except mango. So I hardly eat it. But I've found a creative way to get me to consume fruit.

 

Smoothies!!!

Yum. Yum. I love smoothies. Jamba Juice has received too much of money. And the fraps at starbucks receive too much of my money too. And I doubt either is as oganic as it could be.

Just about every morning I make a fresh smoothie at work. It consist of...

Fresh and Frozen strawberries

Frozen mangoes

Half a banana

100% pomegranate juice

sometimes a splash of orange juice

Ice

Half a container of vanilla yogurt

 

Mix it up and drink up!

Yummy. Natural. No extra sugar. Just fruit, yogurt, juice, and ice!

I have no clue how many servings of fruit I add to my intake by drinking it.

I usually have half a banana and half a cup of yogurt left, so I eat that too.

This is a great way to start my day.

 Sometimes I make way too much so I freeze the rest and later on I have a homemade sorbet and its just as good too!

What do you consume for breakfast? Do you have suggestions on various fruits I could add to my smoothies? Have you seen Food Inc?

Grocery Shopping and Cooking Vegan/Vegetarian

This past Sunday (or perhaps it was two Sundays ago) I went grocery shopping. I do my bulk grocery shopping about once a month and then every week I'll buy a thing or two. Such as one bell pepper here or there. Cooking for one while trying to be organic while not wasting food but not really liking to freeze things...is sometimes a daunting task!

Since I knew my schedule for tech week of Winter Pageant at Redmoon Theater would leave me no time to do anything else, on top of my regular "9-5" which is really "7-5", I decided to make a few meals in bulk and portion them out so that I'd always have lunch and dinner. Without planning to, they were all vegetarian or vegan. I'm still struggling with trying to create a raw dish. (Actually my homemade salsa is a raw dish. YEA!)

Due to this crazy schedule there is has also been a lack in posting and reading of other great blogs. My apologies for the absense. My day went something like this.

6 am to 6:30 pm -Wake up. (microwave water to brush teeth and wash face in - by the way I found a homemade recipe for mouthwash and I am starting to use baking soda as toothpaste). Get dressed. Use extra water to water my plants.
6:30 to 7am - Travel to work and try to sleep on the train. 
7am to 5pm - work like a horse at my wonderful job that is a bit understaffed. Hopefully the empty positions will be filled SOON!!!!! Please, gods of positons filled for understaffed companies...pretty please give us someone.
5pm to 5:30pm - travel to Redmoon Theater
5:30 to 12:00 am - TECH Winter Pageant. (Do you know what tech is? Holy crap. I forget what tech is till it slaps me in the face!)
12:00 to 1:30am - Travel home. (If I drove I could be home in 15 minutes. But since I take the bus and train everywhere and they run slower this time of night...morning...it takes a long time to get home. Shoot, I could fly to New York in that amount of time when put in prespective!)
1:30 to 2:30am - Send reports for theater, browse facebook when I really should not, take my shower.
2:30am to 6:00 am - Sleep
6:00am - wake up and remind myself I chose this life.

THAT HAS BEEN MY SCHEDULE FOR THE PAST WEEK. AAAAHHHH!

So as you can see, if I didn't bring my lunch and dinner with me, I would not eat.

I made my tofu veggie stir fry, vegan black bean soup, homemade salse, corn chowder with jalepeno parsley puree, and spicy potatoe soup. I don't have pictures of the later two right now, but will soon!

Some of the ingredients for the Vegan Soup.

 

This time i added a few more ingredients. Diced tomatoes. Corn. And Salsa Verde.

 

Next time I'm going to take out the diced tomato. I didn't like it that much.

 

And this time I let it simmer for about an hour as the recipe called for. And I didn't like that either.

But it was still good and I was eating it ALL WEEK LONG!

I also made my homemade salsa. I tried to keep track of the ingredients I was putting in it so I could compile a recipe later. Also while I was making all the dishes...half the salsa disappeared. I guess I kept eating it throughout my marathon cooking day.

Some of the ingredients were green, yellow and orange bell peppers, serrano peppers, jalepeno peppers, onions, diced tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, cilantro, salsa verde HOT, and lots of seasonings including hot shot, chili pepper, and cayenne pepper. (I noticed that everything I made was spicy)

These are the some of the veggies for my tofu stir fry.

TOFU. There are many ways to prepare and cook tofu and there are many kinds of tofu. If done incorrectly, it is gross, tasteless and people will never try it again. If done to perfection, people will beg for more! I had friends eating my stir fry all week.

The stir fry when complete! And this time I prepared it with brown rice instead of white rice. It was still the instant minute rice but at least it was brown!

Once everything was done, I started putting them in separate containers so that I could grab two or so each day. I've been saving all my containers and others containers as tupperware. All of it finally came in handy!

Even more containers of food! You can also see that I catch up on tv shows as I cook or clean. Because when else am I going to watch last season's episode's of Lost?

One thing I enjoyed about this process was that by making a few different recipes I was able to use a whole bell pepper or a whole onion. Sometimes I'll make something to eat and still have left over unused bell peppers and whatnot. And by the time I get around to using it again, it has spoiled. By cooking in bulk with a variety of recipes that had similar ingredients, I was able to keep my waste down!

A few things I noticed while grocery shopping.

• Because of the tons of vegetables in my cart, it looked like I had just robbed a farm. My cart was colorful, I didn't use any of those plastic bags and just about all of the vegetables were organic
• While the vegetables were organic, I forgot to even consider whether or not they were locally grown. If I want to become a more eco-conscious eater, I have to be more mindful of that. I am definitely going to participate in a local CSA next year.
• I went down the toiletries aisle to find some mouthwash and I saw so many products. Twenty differen face washes and shower gels and this and that and with pride I thought, "Either I have made my own versions of these or I am on my way to doing so. I can by pass this aisle now!"
• But I also thought, "Wouldn't it be great if I could by pass the vegetable aisle too? Wouldn't it be great if I had my own garden? Then I'd be saving loads! And what if I made my own bread and what if the only milk I drank was almond milk. But I like store bought popsicles. I still have to buy that. And that cream cheese fruit dip. That's too good to give up. But still, I really want a garden. Maybe my boyfriend will let me use his backyard.)
  

Taking the time to preplan and sort my meals came in handy. During a week when I normally do not eat at all, I always had healthy homemade food at hand. While I missed out on sleep, at least I was eating a balanced, organic and vegetarian diet for the week!

Granola Happenings

One of my granola goals was to become more active in sustainable community events and activities. I realize that in just over a week, I've already started to work towards those goals.

Tonight, I will be attending a speaking engagement and reception hosted by Blacks in Green where Dr. Greg Watson will be the guest speaker. Dr. Watson is the Senior Adviser for Clean Energy Technology within the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the Vice President for Sustainable Development with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative...amongst many other things.

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In order to promote awareness about 350, tomorrow afternoon I will be participating in the Chicago 350 International Climate Action Day bike ride. The group will cycle around the city riding past many of the other 350 action day events. I'm hoping that this event will spur me to ride my bike more often...even to work.

Also...I've been telling everyone about the International Climate Action Day and I have a colleague that's going to be joining me for the bike ride!!!!

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This weekend I will also continue to make my homemade body products including a face cleanser, toner, exfoliating scrub and mask.  I recently made a Coffee Brown Sugar Body Scrub and can't wait to try out some new recipes. I will also be tracking the cost versus what I normally spend at the Body Shop and hopefully there will be some savings. (I'm assuming so, since all the ingredients were products I readily keep at home except for the Witch Hazel.) I can't wait to tell you about what happens.  I am researching recipes for shaving cream, shower gel, and body butter too. What other things should I make? I suppose once I run out of my green cleaning products, I can look into creating my own. I'd need an all purpose spray, a glass cleaner,  and a disinfectant cleaner. I'll also poke around under my sinks and see what else I keep in there.

my homemade Coffee Brown Sugar Body Scrub

This weekend...tonight actually after the Dr. Watson event, I will be making a vegan black bean soup. Now I realize many of the meals I eat are vegetarian with a high percentage of them even being vegan. Therefore I'm on the right track. But what i want is to be more intentional about making vegan meals. And after calculating  my carbon diet I'd love to steer more towards a vegan approach to life with hints of raw food. Therefore I'm going to start using some of the recipes in four interesting cookbooks that I own. 

Raw: The Uncook Book.

The Voluptuous Vegan 

The Yoga Cookbook: Vegetarian Food for Body and Mind

Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy and Creative African-American cuisine

This weekend I'm also looking forward to posting an interview with my granola friend Sam as well as starting to process how I can become an eco-conscious theater artist and what that means for me as a writer and stage manager.

What are you doing intentionally to become more eco-conscious?

Do you know of any other events or things in the Chicago area that I could be a part of?

Food - No Impact Project

 

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I am always hesitant to evaluate my food intake. I don't believe its well balanced at all. While I eat TONS of vegetables, steer away from fast food, and could count on my hands the number of times I have eaten meat in the past few months...I still snack on candy, don't drink enough water, and hardly EVER eat fruit.

Its hard to describe. On the surface it looks like I'm eating a well balanced meal throughout my day.

 This was dinner last night. Good right. Tons of vegetables (Although I realize asparagus is now out of season and I could have substituted the instant white rice for jasmine or brown rice). But what I realized is that on an average day I only eat one to two meals a day. And its usually a salad or veggie stir fry.

Lunches vary. We order lots of catering at work. Today I had a falafel sandwich. Yesterday a ceasar salad. So I just kind of eat what's there.

I hardly ever eat breakfast. Just as I can count the number of times I've eaten meat..I can also count the number of times I've eaten breakfast. When I do it consist of oatmeal, with fruit and granola. Or yogurt with granola.

Again. Sounds wonderful and balanced. Except again, I'm only eating one to two meals a day. Either because I'm busy or just not that hungry. I'm also not eating enough fruit. And I have a feeling that if I ate an apple or orange or banana, I might have more energy. But I don't like any of those fruits. The only fruit I like is mango. And that's not in season either.

I could keep going back and forth with this. With how when I eat, its pretty good yet there is a need for more fruit and brown rice I guess.

Other things that I eat

Following the How To Guide, I learned a bit more about trying a Low Carbon Diet. This has nothing to do with denying yourself moderate tasty things in an effort to look like Halle Berry which will never happen because you are not Halle Berry. This is all about eco-conscious eating. Something I never thought about before. I played their interactive game.

 While I eat "healthy," I didn't realize it still wasn't that eco-conscious. One cup of coffee cancels out the positive effects of my eating tofu. Why drink coffee when I can drink green tea with honey? (because sometimes coffee just taste good...all nutty, caramely, creamy and delicious.)

But I think if I was fully aware of the complete impact of my tasty choices, perhaps I'd be more inclined to change. There are a few things that I know I can do.

One suggestion was to eat less, therefore you waste less. To me that means, quitting that bad happen of just stacking my plate with more than I can actually eat. We do that too often. I once heard of a study where people were brought into a room with plates of food and asked to eat until they were full. Most people finished everything on their plate. The next day they were brought back but this time they blindfolded the group and asked them to eat until they were full. No one finished their plates. More than half..didn't even eat half. I find that so interesting. How much food do I actually throw away? Such waste. (I couldn't collect some of my trash in my bag of shame because it was food and I can't carry around decomposting food in a bag for a week. But I was conscious of how much food was going into the regular trash and it made me uncomfortable.)

Another thing I can be more intentional about is eating seasonal food. The guide directed me to a website that shows you what's in season in your area depending on the time of year. Very simple. Although I have issue with the fact that asparagus is no longer in season. I eat that a LOT!

The website was also gently suggesting a lifestyle of vegan choices. Hmmm. I am open to change. I own two vegan cookbooks. One is a soulfood vegan one! I also have a raw uncook book and a yoga vegetarian cookbook. I've spent some time going through the recipes that seem interesting and compiling a list of ingredients to purchase. First up, I'll be making a black bean vegan soup. On Friday that is...while I'm also making my own facial products!

Another suggestion is to skip out on processed and packaged food. That means no CheezIts with Tabasco sauce or Triscuit Crackers with Rosemary and Olive Oil. Those are two of my favorite snacks. So what will I be able to snack on? They suggest nuts and seeds. I like sunflower seeds. I guess I could purchase that in bulk. But where do sunflower seeds come from? How far does it travel to get to my local grocery store? Or is there a better snack to try and that's better for the environment? (The fact that I'm asking these questions, is the first step.) Maybe I should snack on rose petals and then use the left overs to make a rose face mask. (dripping sarcasm)

I went through the list of the foods that are in season that I actually enjoy. That list consisted of....

• bell pepper
• corn
• garlic
• onion
• potatoe
• ruhbarb
• spinach
• tomato
• snow peas
• carrots

On my wish list, I'd have a garden. I remember my grandmother always had a garden full of vegetables and herbs. I also have an aunt who owns a farm. Although they keep livestock and don't grow food. They grow hay though. (Also, they don't kill the livestock. The bulls and horses are their pets. Must be nice)

My Aunt and Uncle's Farm in TN

I never considered the environment before when planning meals. I always just think about what I like and focus on making that. I was taught not to waste food because it cost money. But no one ever brought up the fact that is cost resources as well. That by choosing salmon during a specific time I was credit from the earth that I'd never be able to pay back Shelagh mentioned she has a friend who knows where all of her food comes from. I aspire to be like that. To know the true impact of the life that I live...from the electricity I use at home, to the way I choose to travel and to the food I choose to purchase. I am definitely considerings participating in a CSA next year as well.

First immediate goal....make my vegan black bean soup. (I need small measureable steps to exact large scale changes in my life. This soup with be one of those.)