Kitchen adventures on a Saturday afternoon

We discovered a new fruit & veg shop we thought we'd try out. We did our weekly shop there this morning, and bought a couple of things in bulk. One was a large bag of green beans, which I decided to take home and freeze.

I figured I would just blanch and freeze them, but decided to google it, just in case there was anything important I was missing. This site told me I was right on the money, so I spent half an hour or so rinsing, trimming and cutting the beans. Peachfuzz came running in to me calling "Mummy, pwesent" and handed me two little pink flowers she had picked from the front yard, which I promptly tucked into my jumper.

After blanching the beans, Peachfuzz helped me put them in bags for freezing.

After a couple of good attempts, she decided that tongs were too hard to handle, and opted to use her hands instead.

This little exercise made me realise just how far removed I am from the production of my food. When I first opened the bag, I was surprised to see so many "imperfect" beans. Into the compost went those that had even the slightest blemish. As I went on, I started to be a bit more judicious, and cut out the bad bits, rather than throwing the whole bean for the sake of one spot. I started imagining how I would do it differently if I'd grown these beans. If each bean had been grown and picked by my own hand, I wouldn't be so hasty to toss them out for minor spots. I've become so accustomed to "perfect" supermarket fruit and vegies, that when I see the real thing, warts and all, it somehow doesn't seem right. And yet, the warts and all version is how it was intended to be, and has a taste so superior to the supermarket produce, that it's worth the warts. I'm going to have to get used to imperfect if I want to grow my own vegies. Imperfect, but delicious.

Soup's on!

The weather has started turning cooler, and rather than gaze longingly at all the signs of spring on the other side of the world, I'm going to embrace the change of season. I decided tonight to make soup - you know, the "clean out your pantry and fridge" type of soup. I hoped Peachfuzz would enjoy it, since she hasn't been eating many veges lately, though she will gladly scoff down these pumpkin muffins (with sultanas instead of carob chips). Being that this was a thrown together, whatever goes sort of soup, I was thrilled that Peachfuzz not only liked it, but ate it up with cries of "more, more". Papa Bear and I also couldn't get enough, so I thought I'd share the recipe here. And even if nobody else tries it, we will have the recipe for next time.

Quick & Easy Vegetable Soup
Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan. Add:
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 2 medium zucchini, diced
- 3 large cloves of garlic, crushed
- a good shake of Italian herbs
- a couple of pinches of salt
- a few good grinds of pepper

Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or so. Add:
- 1 large (810g) can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 litre (4 cups) vegetable stock

Bring to the boil. Turn down heat, simmer and add:
- ½ cup red lentils

Cook for 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add:
- 100g soup pasta
- 1 can (400g) corn kernels, drained
- a couple of handfuls of frozen peas

Simmer for another 10 minutes, or until everything is tender and soup is thick. Enjoy with some warm crusty bread.

Going vegan

veg·an
1) a vegetarian who omits all animal products from the diet.
2) A vegetarian who eats plant products only, especially one who uses no products derived from animals, as fur or leather.
Definitions courtesy of dictionary.com

Look at all the delicious vegan food. Yes, every single thing pictured is vegan - even the cupcakes. And obviously it looks fantastic, because Peachfuzz is sitting here on my lap eating strawberries as I type. When she saw the picture she said "yummy, yummy", which is her big tick of approval!

I've been thinking of transitioning from vegetarian to vegan for quite some time. I have a small collection of fantastic vegan cookbooks which we eat from most nights of the week. I still enjoy cheese (soy cheese - not so much) and ice-cream, but I'd really like to eliminate all dairy, eggs and honey from my diet. And eventually, though it will be a slower process, eliminate leather, wool, silk, fur (don't think I own any fur anyway) from my home/wardrobe etc.

There are so many reasons I think this is the right step, and only a few that have been holding me back so far. Going vegetarian started primarily as a health thing. We just felt better when we didn't eat meat. Then as I looked for delicious vegetarian recipes, I started doing some research into the lifestyle. My reasons now are not just health reasons, but ethical and environmental too. One of the biggest things you can do to reduce your ecological footprint is eat less animal products.

So, the next logical step is to go vegan. There is animal cruelty and loss of life involved in producing dairy products and eggs. I just don't feel right supporting the factory farming industry. I know some people will say "just eat organic or free-range, it's more humane", but I really think my body will thrive without any animal products at all. Everyone I've ever spoken to who is or has been vegan (particularly raw vegans), have said nothing but wonderful things about the health benefits. I really don't believe we were designed to consume the milk of another species. When you actually think about it, there's something a little gross about that.

These are just the thoughts on my mind at the moment. I expect this will be a gradual transition. There are still eggs and cheese in the fridge, honey in the pantry and ice-cream in the freezer. Papa Bear is not ready to give up these foods yet. I hope that one day he will follow me along this path. There was a point in time where I didn't think he would ever give up steak, and now the mere thought of eating a steak makes him sick. So perhaps eventually he will come to the same conclusions as me. But for the time being, I will continue to cook vegan food, and support him in his occasional enjoyment of animal products.

I know this will not be a popular decision. Some people may not want us to eat with them any more. Cooking vegan food is not difficult, but it's a whole different thing when you're not used to cooking or eating that way. This may completely kill my social life, but if so, that's okay. I really feel like this is what I should be doing. So I'm going to do it.