What If?

So yesterday in my walk, I passed McDonalds and the thought jumped into my brain about a new restaurant idea. What if there was a fast food vegan restaurant? Would people flock to it as they do to the fat laden, unhealthly cousin? 

I thought it could be named McDaniels and have roasted potatoes, veggie burgers, and green smoothies. Of course it would have to have quick tossed salads and apple snacks, and could offer carrot and celery (organic of course) sticks. It could also have Seitan bites for the kids and there would only natural juices and water. 

I wonder of such a restaurant could make a go of it. I don't know enough of the restaurant business otherwise I would try. Maybe a food truck at first to test the concept. I suppose if the food tastes good enough people would buy it anyway. If you said it was vegan no one would try because you mention vegan and people simple scowl at you. Gee, I wonder...

Why?

I saw this cartoon on a friends Facebook page a while ago and loved it. It was posted shortly after I went vegan and laughed because I have experienced this attitude often when telling others about the lifestyle. I still laugh everytime someone coils at the idea of not eating meat and dairy.

The other day I heard that a coworker has been diagnosed a while ago with an autoimmune disease which could be helped with a grain free vegan diet. I know it is a very restricted diet, but if it made you get better why would you not try it? This coworker has not even tried it and I keep asking myself why.

I guess one can't force others to immediately take on a direction which is considered so out of mainstream like vegan-ism. I guess even if it makes total sense to me, others still find it too extreme. Oh well, maybe they don't want to get better.

Dressing

One of the challenges I have with the Forks over Knives (FOK) diet is the no oil. I love salads and usually liberally pour over straight olive oil and balsamic vinegar before I tuck in. Yummy. So when I read that oil is considered a no-no on this I was a little taken aback. 

After reading further I understand. Oil, no matter what its form is highly processed and contains just the fat and nothing but the fat. High in calories, which it know because I enter things into the recipe analysis app for the recipes I do I see that to be true. Their research has shown that oil does not  help the reversal of the arteries as the plant based whole foods do.

However, I was happy to find this link:  https://sites.google.com/site/hgkprintablerecipes/big-list-of-no-oil-salad-dressings that has all kinds of dressings. Not all of them are FOK approved, but there are some really good ones. In addition I found an oil free mayo that uses tofu,lemon juice, and some others stuff that sounds good on the blog Cooking With Plants. All of these are well worth the trip.

New Recipes!

I always love doing new things in the kitchen and am constantly on the lookout for new recipes. With this vegan diet, a new world of cooking has opened up for me and I find it really interesting to make something delicious that is also healthy. 

After seeing Forks over Knives I realized I used an awful lot of oil on my cooking. I pour in several tablespoons for practically everything and was wondering about the high fat this causes. The Forks over Knives uses no oil so sautéing things without oil is very foreign to me. But I bought the $4.99 iPad app, which Is basically the book to the lifestyle, and the recipes I have tried so far have been really yummy. My only complaint is that there are no calorie content listed so I have to use the app I found online to determine what the nutritional information is for everything.

All in all, this new road in my journey toward health is becoming more delicious at every turn. I am getting less bothered by not eating cheese and now not using oil - or at least not as much as I have in the past. 

The China Study

Last night I attended a screening of Forks over Knives (check out their site at forksoverknives.com) It is based on a book by T Colin Campbell called The China Study. This book entails the work Dr. Campbell has done, along with data from other like minded researchers, who have discovered that a plant based, whole foods, diet will cure everything from cancer to diabetes and everything in between.  As you may know, these diseases are the major causes of death in this country and it is their findings that show these ailments are caused by eating meat and dairy. "Milk does not do a body good..."

As you may know, I have been following a vegetarian lifestyle in the past few years. As of about six months ago I have tried to increase that to vegan. I have noticed some very interesting changes (see my blog entry for my recent dentist appointment). In addition to the dental improvements, I have finally been losing weight after years of trying unsuccessfully. I thought it was just due to the gluten aspect, but according to this film, the plant based diet's first really noticeable change is weight loss.

I got a copy of the book at the showing and will report more as I read, but this is very exciting to me. I have told many about the lifestyle and some have been interested and others have not. If I had a disease (and I do with the diabetes) and fixing it would be as simple as eating differently why would I not try it? You have nothing to lose but the pounds and bad health.

Something to this Gluten free

So I had a dentist appointment yesterday. I have had to start going every four months because my gums are getting bad. There was inflamation and bleeding even though my home care was good. I had pockets in the gums around my back teeth and things were not liking good. 

So almost a half a year ago I switched to a vegan, gluten free diet and my dentist was pleasantly surprised at things looked. My gums were not inflamed, there was no bleeding, and the pockets had reversed themselves and were much less. One went from a six to a four. They asked me what I had done differently and I told them about the new diet.

So I guess the gluten affects everything including my gums. I had heard that gluten caused inflammation in the body and I guess they are affected as well. This diet can be very demanding but with results like this, it makes it so worth it.

Insanity?

There was a story this morning about a hunter who accidentally shot a 6-day old infant. The child will live, but will be blind as the bullet missed its brain but went through the occipital area of the skull. There will be an investigation to see of the hunter used proper procedures. But the hunter was licensed and legally able to have that gun.

Stories like this make me wonder of anyone else thinks this is insanity. It is just me or are people not concerned about gun safety? Gun owners seem outraged when people question their right to own, gun violence opponents don't want guns around, and people who don't care start to care when their family is affected. Is this crazy or what?

This country has the highest number of gun owners and the most number of gun shootings. No one seems to think this is wrong or that a change is needed. At least that is my sense. Am I out in left field about this? I sure hope so. 

Making Wine

My husband came across an article in our local paper which featured three local wineries. One of them talked about having volunteers come in and help with the harvest, so he signed us up to go. Despite the hot weather, hard work, and sunburn, we had a great time. 

There were about 20 volunteers and we picked for almost three hours and got a lot of grapes. I am not sure, but I think the woman told us it was a half a ton, but it could have been more. There were lots of yellow jackets flying around, but they were more interested in the grapes than us.

As a thank you for picking , we were given a wonderful lunch, a t-shirt, and a bottle, each, of wine. We have not broken into them, but we had a sampling of some at the winery afterwards and they were very good. The winery is located in Douglassville, and they have a website. https://www.manatawnycreekwinery.com/

Fresh Coffee

Over the last weekend I happened to catch a Ted video done by Asher Yarin from Bali talking about coffee (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JaQNy0Ef4YY). It was quite inspiring and I learned a lot about one of my favorite drinks. I then went online and purchased a pound of green coffee beans, which came mid week.

This weekend, I had the chance to do my first roast. It was very simple. All it did was take a pie plate, put a cup of beans in it and set it on the stove. I cooked them, stirring the whole time, until they were a dark brown color, let them cool and out them in a jar. They should rest for about 24 hours and then they can be ground and brewed. The coffee was very good, but the first batch was a little weak because I had forgotten the beans to ground ratio from when we used to grind beans a while ago.

If you have a chance give it a try. There is nothing like a really fresh cup of coffee, hot and black. Even thougbit takes a while to do it, I am kind of hooked.

Technology Failure

First of all, my apologies for not posting until now. Life has intervened.  But I digress. As you may know, last year I purchased a table made by Samsung which is made to compete with the iPad. It costs almost the same, has a few more features that I like, and was working well until just recently. I am not sure what is wrong, but I think I have to do a factory reset. It was becoming so sluggish it is unusable.

My job as a council member afforded the ability to use an iPad because it was loaned to me for the length of my term. All I can say is wow, this thing rocks. It is fast, responsive and the resolution is beautiful. I was trying to put off buying Apple products because of all the hype but quite honestly I am sold. I may almost break down and get an iPhone when my contract is up on my phone. Not sure I am going to get a Mac to replace my laptop, but maybe...

It is very refreshing to work on something that works the way it is supposed to. The things it says it is supposed to do, it does, and the technology is incredible. There is not too much that disappoints with this thing. It is frankly a better product than the Samsung, and if you are considering a tablet, the iPad is the way to go.

Home Grown

I had the utmost satisfaction tonight making dinner. Most of the things I prepared were from my garden. It hasn't been the greatest this year, in comparisons to other years, but I do have one, and I made roasted beets with carrots and garlic (all from my garden), pasta with pesto (the basil and garlic were homegrown), and quinoa tabbuloeh with cucumbers from my garden and tomatoes from my neighbors garden, filled me with such glee.

I harvested some onions and squash also, but didn't use them tonight. The squash is from seeds I saved from last year. Despite the fact the resulting vegetable looks somewhat alien, I think it will taste alright. I have tomatoes, but they have not ripened yet. I also have eggplant, well I did have eggplant, but some squirrel or ground hog grabbed the two golf sized fruit right off the stalk.

I just love having really local, fresh produce, that came from my own back yard. It is so satisfying that I can grow something, harvest it, and prepare it for my family. I feel as if I am honoring my roots as this is what my ancestors would have done every night. What a great feeling.

Health

I got the results of my bloodwork back from this new doctor I am seeing and they were really interesting. Apparently I have something called Leaky Gut Syndrome, among other things, which could be the reason I am having all kinds of digestive problems and weight issues. The bloodwork showed that I have several low level food allergies which were a little surprising.

Mt mother has had food allergies all her life and for a long while I thought I didn't have to worry about it. However as I have gotten older, at a point where the body starts to decline if you don't really pay attention to it, they have reared their ugly heads and begun to cause me issues. Like her, I have a sensitivity to wheat, gluten, and dairy. Interestingly enough string beans ranked very high - weird.

So my doctor suggested I cut all of that out for a month and see what happens. I am having a good time trying all kinds of substitutions in some if the recipes I use, and finding new ones, so there is a positive on that. But cutting out wheat and cheese is a big challenge for me. She is also going to start me on two new supplements and feels pretty confident things will begin to reverse themselves. I am glad she has confidence here, because I am a little doubtful. But we shall see. As my stepfather used to say, "we can only go up from here".w

Food Justice

I attended a presentation of some Temple students who had done a study on sustainable food practices in Norristown last night. First of all I am really happy they chose Norristown to study, regardless of the reasons, it confirmed some things for me but I also learned some things.

One of our biggest issues, which holds us back on many levels, is the poverty rate of our community. In regard to food justice, the demographics prevent a good quality grocery store from opening in the 'burb. We do have a store, but it is not a god quality store and offers very little, if no, organic produce. However I was excited to know that we have several bodegas who do sell fresh produce. In addition, there is a CSA and a few community gardens which can help out. It is a matter if education to make sure they are recognized by the public.

The students offered some great suggestions, and at some point they will present their findings at a Council meeting. One recommendation is the creation of a food policy council where members of the community as well as government representatives can coordinate everything that is going on in the town. I have read really good things about other communities who have them and would be excited to have one of our own. I foresee many good things happening in the area of food justice for our town if we take the recommendations and act on them.

Contest

The other day I was talked into entering a garden contest. The judging is going to be in July and I am all excited. I usually don't think my garden is much of anything. It pleases me and yes, sometimes I blog about it but entering a contest is usually nothing I would think about. I don't think it is really that good. 

It took the picture below the other day before the I spoke to the person.  I showed it to the person who was asking me to enter. She apparent thought is was good enough and said I should enter. Now I am all worried about what needs to be done. There is a lot on my mind and. I have been going through it slowly. I also ordered some plants online and hope they are situated enough when the time comes. It is two months after all.

I have also enlisted the help of my husband, which actually helps because he always needs a kick in the pants to finish anything. He has been working steadily on the rain barrel collection system since this weekend so maybe that's helping. I think it will be finished soon. So wish me luck!

Recycled Art

I went to an art show the other day. It was sponsored by the DEP and Waste Management amd featured thebwork of Norristown Area School District children who had been involved in a project to make art out of trash. More specifically art from recycled items. It was fascinating, a d this picture is of one of my favorites. It is made from water bottles that were colored and then cut up to spiral and then attached to the panel. I love its bright, yet suble, coloring.

I think it is great that an art project like this is done. I hope it showed the kids that everything doesn't have to be thrown away, but can be useful in another way. We are such a disposable nation and are paying for it with the existance of land fills and increased pollution to the planet. Some of the kids said tney were doing projects at home because of this experience.

I know a simple project like this is not going to change the world, bjt it can have an impact. When the children learn that things you buy can have another life it puts a thougt into thier heads to spark their creativity. I hope it also sparks their thinking as to how we can create things that do not make trash, but that has value in and of itself.

From Blah to Fab

 I had a great time this weekend sprucing up my yard and one of the things I did was to paint some patio chairs that were looking old and outdated. I think I was inspired by a posting on Facebook of someone who had done something similar. I think they turned out great.

I used spray paint that said it adhered to plastic which I think is important. Regular spray paint I think will run, but this didn't. It stayed where I put it. First I washed them carefully with a scrub brush and a sponge with a scrubber side with just regular dish washing soap. Then I let them dry in the sun. Then I sprayed. 

I think they make a great impact to my patio and really make it something special and unusual. I will be curious to see how long the paint will last, but a friend told me about two seasons. I did get extra paint so a little touch up later shouldn't be a problem.

Sustainable Agriculture

Last night, a fellow council member and I attended a sustainable agriculture workshop. It was held at the senior center and sponsored by Temple University. The students there are undertaking a study about how a community can improve sustainability and picked Norristown. On one hand. I was thrilled that they picked us, and on the other hand. I was sad they picked us.

I met some very interesting people who are very interested in making Norristown better and it was good to be in a room with kindred spirits. These people understood that access to fresh produce and a variety of good quality food is important to the health of the community. However it is frustrating to note that there was not a large showing.

There are some places where people can get fresh produce, but it may not be organically grown produce, and they are few. We discussed things like CSAs (of which there is one really close), community gardens, education opportunities, and getting children involved. The students will go back and do their analysis and come back to us with suggestions. I will post when that happens.food

A Little Fightening

Last night I attended a viewing of GMO OMG. I came home more disturbed about this country than ever. The powerful people at Monsanto, along with other chemical companies, are not only destroying our health but our environment all in the name of money. I am not surprised, necessarily, but shocked at the gall.

If you have an opportunity to see it, please do. I did not stay for the panel discussion but I am sure it was interesting. There were several people there who are doing what they can making sure we are educated, informed consumers and know that our food items have GMOs in them by labeling them. This is something that Monsanto and the other do not want. They interviewed a European scientist who said that they have been labeling for a while and no one wants the GMO stuff. All we are asking for is the choice and the knowledge that we are putting quality - or not quality - food in our bodies. What could be wrong with that?

I'll tell you what's wrong. The more educated a consumer we are, the less likely we are going to purchase their product  and the poorer they will be. I am sorry, I am all for the rights of workers, but companies who make this stuff are criminals in my book, and all they are doing is making their employees accessories to the crime.

My Winter Garden

Over the weekend I started my first piece of yard work for the season. We had a tree fall just before winter hit and had not had the chance to stack the wood better.  I love this time of year when you can see the new plants poking their heads above the sol to make an appearance for the new season. It is so exciting to push aside some brown dead leaf and se something green. It makes you aware of the circle of life.

After working for about two hours I then sat back and surveyed the property. There are a few things that I definately want to get, plant-wise as well as otherwise. I would like to get a piece of sculpture for the new tranquility garden, and of course this year I will be needing to lay down the flat stones and get to planting the creeping thyme or other fragrant plant between them. 

I am getting very excited for the start of planting season. I do have some things started in my little basement greenhouse with the grow lights. I swear the neighbors must think there is some funny business going on down there. But there really isn't unless eggplant and veggies are illegal. Spring is here even though snow happened yesterday.

Global Climate Change

I follow a vegan cook named Christina Pirello. I have blogged about her before and shared recipes with several people. I am truly inspired by her story; curing herself of cancer after following a vegan diet. It truly points to the fact that we are what we eat and what we eat impacts us and our surroundings.

Her March newsletter went so far as to talk of this global climate change we are experiencing and the fact that even though we are currently shivering through a very snowy and cold winter, our earth is getting warmer. You see as the atmosphere contains more greenhouse gases, some areas are getting wetter and others drier.

While it is hard for us individually to change the use of fossil fuels, there is one thing we can do and that is to eat less meat. I did read elsewhere that raising cattle, and even poultry to some extent, does contribute to methane gas production and that there are more heads of cattle now than ever. Makes sense to me and one reason why I am going to stick to eating less, or even no, meat. Not only is it good for my health, it is good for the planet.