Explaining the Vegetarianism and Vegan lifestyle

I am slowly on my way to vegetarianism and it sometimes irritates my husband.  I am sure I would have done it long ago if I wasn't so worried about what other people thought (stupid I know).  My sister has been a vegetarian for something like twenty years and I swear people are just now getting used to it!  My husband gets frustrated when he asks me to taste his chicken dish and I won't do it. It irritates him when vegans are "so picky" when they go out to eat.  I am sure many people feel this same way.   His theory is why not taste the chicken it is dead already and if you don't eat it I will.  In addition, you don't want the chicken to have died in vain.  This is how I explained it this morning and he got it.  He said I should share it because it really hit home for "someone like him."  So here it is.  I am sure others might not agree but this helped clarify in our household.

Daron I said pretend a friend of yours stole $2000 from a single woman and her four kids.  He then  offers you $50 of that money. Daron says "No, I can't take that money."  Your friend says "I am going to spend it anyway. You not spending it won't help the folks I stole it from." 

Beautiful Purple Eggplants



Eggplant June 2011

 It seemed like the eggplant wasn't going to grow for the first month or two and then all of a sudden it seemed to double in size daily! Today I have four eggplants and I believe a few more will be making an appearance soon.  The strawberry plants are growing but have only produced a handful of berries.  I read that the second year is better for strawberry plants so we will wait and see.  The two lettuce plants did great and I harvested chamomile and mint to have in tea this winter.  We are lucky here because the air is so dry that it is very conducive to drying herbs.
The tomato plants have grown like crazy which is probably why the other plants seem to not have grown much.  I read that you really shouldn't compare other plants to the fast growing tomato plants. We actually have one little yellow pepper on the only surviving pepper plant. I believe the cold killed them seeing that I got a little over zealous and planted way too early. 




Eggplant July 7, 2011

Little pepper with tomatoes behind.

 

But I REALLY love seafood...

I love seafood.  When I was a kid my Dad and I shared a love for crab legs and shrimp scampi. Ten years ago got violently ill every time that I ate crab legs.  I know you are thinking why the hell did you keep eating it? Well the first time I thought of it as a bad batch, the second time I cooked it and thought I didn't cook it long enough, the third time I said "to hell with it I am never eating crab legs again!"
Please remember this is a personal blog and I am not trying to be an expert or even an activist.  I just share what I find and explain how I feel about it.
Apparently becoming violently ill turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With all of the horrible devastating fishing practices going on today I would hate the temptation of warm buttery crab legs floating around in my head..  Today I am afraid to eat and buy any of it.  I however don't understand why it would be hard to factory farm fish in a clean and healthy environment?  Why does the water have to be disgusting and full of waste and parasites? These conditions of course lead to the use of antibiotics.  The aqua farmers want to increase the size of the fish FAST (can you say Cha Ching) so they alter the environment (like light).  In addition they rely on drugs and genetic engineering to accelerate growth and change reproductive behaviors. This is exactly the same methods used to factory farm land animals.  The turkeys we eat today are not capable of reproducing the way nature intended and can grow full size in just four months. Oh yippee.

WAIT! Don't stop reading yet.  Is there light at the end of the tunnel?  I'm not sure but there are some resources that I found to help you make informed choices and tell you which fish to steer clear of. Check out http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/fish/seafood/guide/     I also added some interesting facts from the  Food and Water Watch site and from the book Eating Animals.

• Less than 2 percent of imported seafood is inspected.
• Over 70 percent of domestic shrimp and about 60 percent of domestic oysters came from the Gulf of Mexico prior to the April 2010 oil spill.

The book Eating Animals really opened my eyes on the seafood industry.  These two sentences really hit home for me

"Shrimp account for only 2 percent of global seafood by weight, but shrimp trawling accounts for 33 percent of global bycatch."  What if seafood came with a label such as the following.
"So, with trawled shrimp from Indonesia, for example, the label might read: 26 pounds of other sea animals were killed and tossed back into the ocean for every 1 pound of this shrimp."
I can't imagine eating shrimp again unless I catch it myself.  However there are labels on cigarettes saying it is known to cause cancer and people still smoke...just saying.

I have also wondered about tuna. Everyone was concerned about the killing of dolphins.  Well turns out that not only sea horses and dolphins get caught as "bycatch" but so do 100 sea animal species.

The definition of bycatch varies but it is basically the other species of sea life that fisherman catch but discard because it is not the targeted fish.  I think I am going to research raising my own fish.  With my luck I wouldn't have the heart to kill them and they would become really big and expensive pets!

Artichoke and Fresh Basil from the Garden!



Addy smelling the Basil.

Addy and I whipped up some artichoke-basil dip because Addy wanted to pick some leaves on our basil plant. It's an easy and very healthy recipe.  A can of artichoke hearts, about 6 or 8 basil leaves, 2Tb of mayo, lemon or lime juice, 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.  We dipped chips in it, spread it on grilled cheese sandwhiches and quesadillas and added it to scrambled eggs.  Addy wouldn't try it but Daron liked it!  

"Lettuce" tell you About Growing a Garden!

Lettuce in April

Wow, Wow, Wow the lettuce is growing.


I trimmed the lower leaves and ate them same with the Bibb lettuce in the back.
I can't remember WHAT the tall lettuce plant is.

Drink Garden in April - mint and chamomile

Drink Garden in May - Mojitos and Tea

Onions in April

Onions June 1st

Salsa Garden in April

Salsa Garden in May - Peppers on far left not doing well but tomatoes and onions are.

Addy took this photo of our Rosemary. It is doing well.

Eating our own lettuce !!!

Addy took this photo we call it "waiting for strawberries..."

Addy took this photo of one of our lettuce plants.

Do you have TOMS on your Tootsies?

My choice Vegan with inspiring words.

What do you wear on your feet?  Is it hide from an animal? Glue from an animal? Rubber that will never decompose? I have all of those but I have found some earth/animal friendly vegan shoes from Toms.  Toms is starting to gain interest because they give a pair of shoes for every pair of shoes purchased.  They are a bit more pricey but you have to think of it like a donation as well.  In fact, who needs 10, 20, 200 pairs of shoes? Really.  Luckily for me I cannot walk in high heels and I refuse to have back pain for fashion purposes.  Therefore, I have two pairs of running shoes, a pair of hiking shoes, a pair of hiking boots, rubber rain boots (also great for feeding chickens), flip flops etc.  I am trying to pare down like the gal from Zero Waste Home.  She has six pairs. Period.  My new theory is that with all the money I save from not buying various shoes I can put more money into the few that I do purchase. They aren't the pretties pair of shoes I have ever seen and I am not sure how comfy they are but I think I will give them a try.  I saw a kid with a pair of Toms shoes on yesterday and they looked nice and I liked the fact that some other kids who needed a pair of shoes finally had a pair!

Edamame & Veggie Pasta

Yesterday I wanted lunch.  I couldn't figure out what to make.  If we had chips I would have just eaten those and called it a meal. Fortunately we don't have chips that I like in the house.  Yes, that is planned.

I knew I needed to eat veggies so I started there.  I took a bowl and dumped in some grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, sauteed onions, edamame, lots of olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, and rosemary tossed with some whole grain pasta. It turned out pretty good and Addyson loves edamame so that worked out great. Edamame is great because it is packed with protein and has all of the essential amino acids.  It is also high in fiber!