Catching up

I haven't written here for a long time but now I'm thinking about using it as a place to work out ideas as well as post book reviews and recipes and random thoughts.

I have been using my journal for that and I have been writing for 30 minutes every night. I haven't produced anything other than a letter, one poem, and some meditations on colors (more on that later). Yet it's a good exercise for my mind and spirit. I haven't been sitting down and writing for so long that it felt like I actually rusty, as if my fingers and my mind would squeak as it tried to come to life again.

I do have projects I started. I should write some more short stories. I need to find a press to publish at least some of my stories so I can develop a track record. All I want to do is just write and not think about publishing. However I will do that.

I have some book reviews to catch up on as well. I am finishing Joel Salatin's "Folks, This Ain't Normal," about the changes of farming and food in this country. I don't agree with him politically at all (I have a great deal of issues with libertarians) but as far as farming, food, regulations that benefit big ag processors and ruin small local farmers I'm with him all the way. It's a common sense book and will have you nodding your head at many points in agreement.

I haven't started Michael Pollan's book "Cooked" yet but I have it checked out from the library.

Perhaps the most important thing I've done lately is to begin a 100-day Gong. This is a practice that is meant to change one's life by changing one's neural pathways through changing habits. It takes 100 days to make a new habit or pathway. Here's one place to read about it: Taoist Path

I have chosen to do 15 minutes of yoga a day, 15 minutes of meditation, 30 minutes of writing, and eat AIP (autoimmune protocol) Paleo and walk the dogs. So far it has been a good experience; I'm on day 7. I have, however, only been doing gentle calming yoga. Tomorrow I want to go back to doing Iyengar, flow, and Ashtanga yoga, all of which are more demanding. And today I woke up with my back hurting. I'm hoping I can even do the gentle yoga tonight. But I did take the dogs for a walk and made sure I was outside at the very moment of the winter solstice, 4:03 p.m. MST.

This is a place that I must return to, at least once or twice per week to write. I have many things to write and this blog needs to serve as an important place to write some of these. Book reviews, my gong, philosophy--all of that is appropriate fodder for this blog.

Saying that, I will sign off and go and try to do yoga with my stuff and painful back (hoping that it helps to loosen and soothe).

What I've read

Haven't been posting in awhile. Too busy--first shift on my job, second shift with the kids, third shift some writing if I get a chance. Oh yes, and have to find time to sleep too.

Last good book read: Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. I'm reading others but that's the last one I finished. I appreciated the honesty of going out and actually participating in what one eats; in other words, work on a farm and then kill a chicken if you're going to eat one. However, it still seems to me that only certain people--and certainly not the poor, working poor, or even the basic middle class people--can afford to eat cleanly, locally, and organically.

More on this later.

Food that makes a difference

So, once I got over all the crazy transmittable viruses I seem to have picked up the past few months, I have been feeling amazingly healthy. I love being able to eat fresh food (thanks to the great farmers market near my house on Sat. mornings) and I seem to have cured the arthritis in my hands by not eating dairy.

There's a new book I want to read, Foodopoly, by Wenonah Hauter of Food and Water Watch. I don't have a lot of extra money and I can't find the book in the libraries near me so I'm going to have to wait to read it. If anyone has read this, let me know. Feel free to leave a review. I'll attempt one when I get hold of the book and read it.

I can't wait to see what's new at the farmers market this weekend. My prize last weekend was a bunch of gorgeous rainbow chard. I'm thinking of turnips this weekend; it's supposed to be cool and rainy (cool for Phoenix anyway; about 60 degrees). Some nice roasted veggies like turnips, beets, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, etc. Yum.

Flu

Woo, nasty illness season. First that mutant strep throat and now, a really bad case of the flu that lasted 3 weeks. Yesterday (Sat.) was the first day I felt any better; I first got sick between Christmas and New Year's, on Dec. 30; today is Jan. 20! Wow, nasty. Fever, aches, and my sinuses still hurt like crazy.

I took my Vitamin D, my Vitamin B12, and I even got a flu shot back in October. Perhaps that was my undoing! I have heard that the flu was especially virulent this year. I think from now on I'll frantically and fanatically wash my hands (not that I wasn't) and have hand sanitizer in every room in the house! Maybe I can spray it at the kids!

So now everyone is looking at me like, "Oh so much for being a vegan, huh?" Except, I think I would have been worse if I had been eating meat and dairy, esp. the dairy. All I know is that the arthritis has not come back and despite the pain and aches and misery, I could keep down things like rice and plain pasta and some steamed veggies.

Now that I'm starting to feel better, I want to reintroduce 30 minutes of exercise every single day, 6-7 days per week, into my routine. I didn't want to overdo anything today, but after going shopping, I came home and stretched, lifted weights, and did a couple of sun salutations. It was a nice, not too strenuous, workout with just enough weight and effort. Need to increase it every day a little, add in a walk with the dogs.

So...I vow for the new year to be a happy and HEALTHY vegan. Here's to nuts and seeds and fruit and veggies! And occasionally tofu and tempeh.

Vegan pizza

Okay, I made gluten-free veggie pizza for the kids and my son inhaled it (5 slices!). I made 2 pizzas--one with traditional Italian cheese as well as organic green bell peppers and organic red onions on a vegan gluten-free crust. The second had everything the same, except Daiya shredded "mozzarella cheese." And while it's good, I just am not thrilled with any of the vegan cheeses I've had.

I'm thinking next time of simply using my homemade sauce (oh yeah, made that too) and a whole ton of veggies with no vegan cheese on my pizza.

I need opinions and suggestions. Help!

Read and eat -- books for cooking and eating and living vegan

So other than the mutant case of strep throat I seem to have picked up from my youngest daughter (neither she nor the other two kids got sick but mom has been miserable), I've been feeling much better not eating meat, fish, or dairy. And I've had time to read a lot more and when I've felt like it, I've been cooking some great stuff.

My latest finds? Main Street Vegan by Victoria Moran, with Adair Moran. More of a good read than a cookbook, although there are recipes following each chapter, plus a wonderful index at the end of companies that are vegan. The problem is that some of those companies are actually not vegan. For that information, I would see www.leapingbunny.org. For cosmetics, body products, and household cleaning products, I think this is a really good reference site.

The book I'm cooking my way through now is Viva Vegan by Terry Romero, co-author with Isa Chandra Moskowitz of Veganomicon, probably the one book I want for Hannukah/Christmas this year. Although I'd take Viva Vegan as well (hint, hint, if my kids are reading this!). The latino recipes are fantastic; I've made Venezuelan black beans and yellow rice with garlic and I couldn't stop eating! And I made a batch of aceite de achiote (annato oil) to cook with. I'm actually thinking about making homemade vegan tamales for the holidays as well. Thankfully, the Scottsdale Public Library has a great selection of vegan cookbooks; I'm enjoying myself.

Anyone have any suggestions for other books to look at or other website for vegan products? Oh, and by the way, for cheap and wonderful fresh food, if you live in Arizona go to Food City. I bought achiote seed for $.79, a big bunch of fresh spinach for $.77, two avocados for $.98. They had tons of dried beans, in bags and in bulk, all really cheap. Next trip: peruano beans ($.99/lb.).

Happy reading and eating.

Food, glorious vegan food

Okay, I'm waxing ridiculous now but I am having so much fun dreaming up dishes to eat that are vegan. Tonight, I had some leftover brown rice with some soybeans and some soy sauce and on the side a healthy helping of roasted brussels sprouts. Okay, I know, for some people that sounds like hell on a plate. But it made me happy. 

Now last night, I made an amazing lasagna--gluten free, with "tofu ricotta cheese" and "Teese mozzarella cheese" on top. The kids all had second helpings and they finished what was left (not much) for dinner tonight. And for dessert: gluten free, vegan oatmeal raisin cookies. Fantastic, chewy, sweet, raisin-y, oat-y. Okay, I'm getting hungry and I'm really just making cookies for the kids. I'm still trying to stay away from sugar, even if it's raw, organic, brown, whatever. 

Just read a really great book, especially if you're interested in or worried about good nutrition if you are a vegan. It's Vegan for Life by Jack Norris and Virginia Messina. They have lots of good sample menus for people at all stages of life--pregnant women, kids, teens, adults, older people--and extra nutrition requirements (we should all be taking B12 for example). 

Also, at the back of the book are good sites to visit for information about animals, animal rights, ethics, and other issues. Probably the best site to visit is Vegan Outreach. Of course, there's always PETA, but other good sites are Mercy for Animals and Compassion Over Killing. 

Two of my favorite blogs, which I've mentioned here before, are Gluten Free Goddess and Oh She Glows although the latter doesn't have as many gluten free recipes. 

I guess for me this was a natural move. I didn't like meat when I was a kid, I was vegetarian when I first went to college, and I was mostly vegetarian in graduate school. I'm not saying this is the only way to go. As my friend Colleen commented here, a couple of posts ago, she and her family practice humane animal raising and slaughtering. They are not factory farmers and they do not abuse animals. I think that's fine. I just can't think about eating animals anymore.

Okay, I've rambled on enough now. I think I will go have a cup of tea and one of those cookies I've been resisting!

I will post some of my growing favorite gluten-free vegan recipes as I make them. If anyone wants the lasagna recipe, let me know. It's my own and I'd be happy to share. Gluten-free, dairy-free (unfortunately for those of you who can't eat soy, not soy free). Next time I make it, I'll take a picture. I've got to remember to do that. Things look so much better in photos than just me blathering on about them.

In the meantime, till later, be healthy and have peace: of mind, body, and spirit.