Woke up with a couple hours sleep yet to fit in, not uncommon for me. Thinking about an upcoming devotional meeting, where the first part is devoted to God, and the second part is devoted to waffles. Fine and good, but people often make scrambled eggs and sausage, yogurt and so on. So my plan is to bring alternative comestibles to share. Still, giving in to the desire to eat those other death-dealing foods was my downfall in the past. I have to remember that just because kind souls provided them, no sausages ever actually leaped into my mouth unaided.
Although my newfound belief in and commitment to saving my eyesight, my hearing, my mind, and my organs and limbs, let alone my life, has given me a new sense of life, and a charge every time I make a choice for life and not death in my food choices, it's easy to lose focus. It's easy for my resolve to become eroded by constant exposure to animal sourced foods. I'm sure eventually it will become second nature to make these choices, as long as I never give in. But it's a white-knuckle experience.
So I was thinking about "getting through" the next few socialization opportunities and retaining this focus, and remembered the 23rd Psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
My enemies being certain foods, of course, not people! And I promise not to dump oil on my head at the table. And I'm still looking for Shirley, Goodness and Mercy. Sometimes they get lost.
I also ran across this quotation from Shoghi Effendi posted on Facebook, which has to do with teaching the Baha'i Faith, not to do with changing my eating style. Nevertheless, with all due respect to the beloved Guardian, these words seemed most appropriate to my journey:
There is no time to lose. There is no room left for vacillation. Myriads hunger for the bread of life. . . . To try, to persevere, is to ensure ultimate and complete victory.
I hope to do a following post soon to outline why changing away from animal-sourced foods is so crucial to the survival of humankind and to the planet, and why it is so urgent.
Hurrah, thank you and all to my brave friend Rachel who is currently choosing life by doing a juice fast, coincidentally with my choice to turn towards a plant based eating style.
Showing posts with label plant-based diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plant-based diet. Show all posts
Friday, November 18, 2011
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Awful Waffles
I share this sad experience so no one else will have to travel the same lonesome path . . .
My circumstances being that I am changing to a whole foods, plant based diet, and that I love to experiment with cooking, most of what I make lately is an experiment. Not all my experiments work out. That's just basically the law of averages. I've created some incredibly good recipes, mostly soups. But. I'm not going to hit 100%.
We went to the Second Sunday Devotional with Waffles [conventional egg and milk waffles, well-made and delicious] this morning. Fired up by the new lectures I've been studying online by eCornell, especially by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. and Dr. John McDougall on reversing coronary artery disease with a strict plant-based diet, I decided to bring an alternative waffle batter.
I started with a cup of buckwheat* pancake/waffle mix, added a cube of Mori-Nu tofu which in some dishes substitutes very well for eggs. [Both are white, mushy and full of fatty acids.] Then I goofed around by adding about a cup of applesauce and one cup dry oats cooked in soy milk: see, we are already getting way too moist. I added a squirt of agave syrup, and about a tablespoon of grape seed oil because I was hoping to avoid having the batter stick to the waffle iron, which belonged to the host. Thinned out the batter with soy milk. And about a tablespoon of ground flax seed for the health of it.
Okay, first of all, eggs are a binder, sticky, and cause the batter to keep sticking together as the heat coagulates the eggs and cooks the waffles. No eggs, less sticking-together. [On the other hand, we don't want the inner aspect of our arteries sticky, either, which is what eggs and dairy fats accomplish efficiently.] Second of all, buckwheat is not like wheat: it does not have the same level [if any?] of gluten, another sticky, binding quality. Third, too much moisture, so the waffles were never going to cook all the way through. Fourth, the agave syrup, similar to honey, caused a tendency to burn on the outside, while the inside was still uncooked.
We coated the waffle iron surface with olive oil, although we know it breaks down under high heat, but it was healthier than butter. We also added some frozen blueberries, which delay cooking time. After about five or ten minutes the waffler signaled that the waffles were as done as they were going to be. Although we didn't have the scenario of the waffle sticking inside the pan and creating a horrible mess, it took some careful extraction with a plastic spatula to remove it. The exterior was very dark, with an odd, waxy texture. The inside was barely cooked.
While I was fooling around with my initial waffle, my daughter was happily eating those provided by the host; by the time I extricated it from the waffle iron, most guests were moving on to the scrambled eggs and yogurt and working their way out to the living room to visit.
Okay, I thought, this batter won't work for waffles. Too friable. Let's see if it's still fryable. So I tried making pancakes. [I have made successful pancakes in the past with tofu instead of eggs, but I was using wheat, not buckwheat.] Same difficulties, but easier to get the pseudo pancakes to turn in the skillet. Pretty much a failure all around. Here's reason # 437 I'm in love with my husband. He's so positive. Even though, waiting for these monstrosities to emerge from the kitchen, he had to be pretty hungry, he stayed positive. "They could probably have cooked a little more, but they're delicious."
My plans for the leftover batter: see if it will cook up into muffins. Never say die.
Actually, I had fun with all of this. The only truly painful part was that, while I was still struggling with the vaguely pancake-shaped objects in the kitchen that burned on the outside while refusing to cook on the inside, was this: missing the puns I could tell were emanating from the living room. The most unkindest cut of all.
Next time I will bring potatoes.
*Buckwheat, despite the "wheat" in the name, is not related to wheat and not a grain. It is an ancient variety of grass. That makes the cooking properties different.
My circumstances being that I am changing to a whole foods, plant based diet, and that I love to experiment with cooking, most of what I make lately is an experiment. Not all my experiments work out. That's just basically the law of averages. I've created some incredibly good recipes, mostly soups. But. I'm not going to hit 100%.
We went to the Second Sunday Devotional with Waffles [conventional egg and milk waffles, well-made and delicious] this morning. Fired up by the new lectures I've been studying online by eCornell, especially by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. and Dr. John McDougall on reversing coronary artery disease with a strict plant-based diet, I decided to bring an alternative waffle batter.
I started with a cup of buckwheat* pancake/waffle mix, added a cube of Mori-Nu tofu which in some dishes substitutes very well for eggs. [Both are white, mushy and full of fatty acids.] Then I goofed around by adding about a cup of applesauce and one cup dry oats cooked in soy milk: see, we are already getting way too moist. I added a squirt of agave syrup, and about a tablespoon of grape seed oil because I was hoping to avoid having the batter stick to the waffle iron, which belonged to the host. Thinned out the batter with soy milk. And about a tablespoon of ground flax seed for the health of it.
Okay, first of all, eggs are a binder, sticky, and cause the batter to keep sticking together as the heat coagulates the eggs and cooks the waffles. No eggs, less sticking-together. [On the other hand, we don't want the inner aspect of our arteries sticky, either, which is what eggs and dairy fats accomplish efficiently.] Second of all, buckwheat is not like wheat: it does not have the same level [if any?] of gluten, another sticky, binding quality. Third, too much moisture, so the waffles were never going to cook all the way through. Fourth, the agave syrup, similar to honey, caused a tendency to burn on the outside, while the inside was still uncooked.
We coated the waffle iron surface with olive oil, although we know it breaks down under high heat, but it was healthier than butter. We also added some frozen blueberries, which delay cooking time. After about five or ten minutes the waffler signaled that the waffles were as done as they were going to be. Although we didn't have the scenario of the waffle sticking inside the pan and creating a horrible mess, it took some careful extraction with a plastic spatula to remove it. The exterior was very dark, with an odd, waxy texture. The inside was barely cooked.
While I was fooling around with my initial waffle, my daughter was happily eating those provided by the host; by the time I extricated it from the waffle iron, most guests were moving on to the scrambled eggs and yogurt and working their way out to the living room to visit.
Okay, I thought, this batter won't work for waffles. Too friable. Let's see if it's still fryable. So I tried making pancakes. [I have made successful pancakes in the past with tofu instead of eggs, but I was using wheat, not buckwheat.] Same difficulties, but easier to get the pseudo pancakes to turn in the skillet. Pretty much a failure all around. Here's reason # 437 I'm in love with my husband. He's so positive. Even though, waiting for these monstrosities to emerge from the kitchen, he had to be pretty hungry, he stayed positive. "They could probably have cooked a little more, but they're delicious."
My plans for the leftover batter: see if it will cook up into muffins. Never say die.
Actually, I had fun with all of this. The only truly painful part was that, while I was still struggling with the vaguely pancake-shaped objects in the kitchen that burned on the outside while refusing to cook on the inside, was this: missing the puns I could tell were emanating from the living room. The most unkindest cut of all.
Next time I will bring potatoes.
*Buckwheat, despite the "wheat" in the name, is not related to wheat and not a grain. It is an ancient variety of grass. That makes the cooking properties different.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Where's My Mind?
My mind these days is generally absorbed by two things: working 3 12-hour shifts per week, and studying my online eCornell course on plant-based nutrition. It is supposed to be able to be absorbed in 3 hours a week, but really there is too much information for me to truly assimilate that fast. Also the discussions are extensive.
I'm in the middle of the middle class, "Diseases of Affluence," and the course content is getting pretty serious. Read up, if you will, on Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and his work on reversing heart disease through diet. Heavy stuff.
Anyway, I don't have so many neurons available for blogging. Bear with me.
I'm in the middle of the middle class, "Diseases of Affluence," and the course content is getting pretty serious. Read up, if you will, on Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and his work on reversing heart disease through diet. Heavy stuff.
Anyway, I don't have so many neurons available for blogging. Bear with me.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Weird Foods But No Chicken Feet
For the first time in the years since I noticed its existence, yesterday I went to the Tai Li Asian foods grocery store. I found pre-fried tofu, not wanting to try frying it myself as I haven't figured out the proper technique. I was looking for Kombu, the sea vegetable mentioned in cookbooks for making cooked beans come out tasty and tender.
There was a surprising number of varieties of dried seaweeds available, as well as dried chilies and dried sea creatures, and so on. I asked the proprietor for Kombu, but he did not recognize the name. I did buy a package I found towards the back, which answered the description of flat leaves. When I took it home and showed Pearl she said, yes, that's Kombu. Yes!
Just cooked some beans in the pressure cooker, still a relatively new process to me, and working on some beets [they're off the heat.] Will see if the beans taste any differently with the Kombu.
The first time I went to an Asian market in my old neighborhood, trying not to look like the curious white geek that I am, the gross-out item was chicken feet. I learned many years later that in China, at least, they are fried and sold on trains [along with duck feet] as a snack, similar to the pork rinds concept.
One year we took our troop of Junior Girl Scouts on a field trip to the Lincoln District of 38th Street in Tacoma, looking at Weird Asian Foods such as little packages of wet jelly-like candies and so forth. We ended up at the Vien Dong Vietnamese Restaurant eating egg rolls; both recognizable and affordable for a troop of girls. I think it was one of the best activities we did with them.
Later yesterday as I shopped at the Fred Meyer in the Natural Foods section, reading labels and seeing that the interesting chik'n [fake chicken] patties actually contain egg yokes, I felt like a foreigner in my own land. [When the Cambodian refugees first arrived, unable to read English, they had to wonder what was sold in jars with pictures of babies on them.] I conceived the idea of an alien confronted with the odd concept of eating animal products. They're so pervasive. I'm not "there yet" but the idea of eating meat and dairy products is becoming progressively stranger as time goes by.
There was a surprising number of varieties of dried seaweeds available, as well as dried chilies and dried sea creatures, and so on. I asked the proprietor for Kombu, but he did not recognize the name. I did buy a package I found towards the back, which answered the description of flat leaves. When I took it home and showed Pearl she said, yes, that's Kombu. Yes!
Just cooked some beans in the pressure cooker, still a relatively new process to me, and working on some beets [they're off the heat.] Will see if the beans taste any differently with the Kombu.
The first time I went to an Asian market in my old neighborhood, trying not to look like the curious white geek that I am, the gross-out item was chicken feet. I learned many years later that in China, at least, they are fried and sold on trains [along with duck feet] as a snack, similar to the pork rinds concept.
One year we took our troop of Junior Girl Scouts on a field trip to the Lincoln District of 38th Street in Tacoma, looking at Weird Asian Foods such as little packages of wet jelly-like candies and so forth. We ended up at the Vien Dong Vietnamese Restaurant eating egg rolls; both recognizable and affordable for a troop of girls. I think it was one of the best activities we did with them.
Later yesterday as I shopped at the Fred Meyer in the Natural Foods section, reading labels and seeing that the interesting chik'n [fake chicken] patties actually contain egg yokes, I felt like a foreigner in my own land. [When the Cambodian refugees first arrived, unable to read English, they had to wonder what was sold in jars with pictures of babies on them.] I conceived the idea of an alien confronted with the odd concept of eating animal products. They're so pervasive. I'm not "there yet" but the idea of eating meat and dairy products is becoming progressively stranger as time goes by.
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