Another Meatless Monday Salad Day...

I visited a newly forming farmers Market last week and was pleased to see the people in attendance, the vendors being patronized, and the quality of the food. I purchased beets, Swiss Chard, and a summer squash.
When I got home, I immediately put the beets in to roast with rosemary and olive oil, and then tossed the chard into boiling water for that night's dinner. The beets I knew would take a lot longer, so when they were done (and forgotten for a few hours in the cooling oven!) I just put them in the fridge for the future.

So for Meatless Monday, I was able to pull them out, chop them into a mixed mesclun green salad, add in a tablespoon or so of feta cheese and a couple of tablespoons of chopped walnuts. A quick vinagrette later (did you realize you can get the last vestiges of mustard out of a container by adding a bit of vinegar (balsamic or white - choose whatever) and shaking it into the container? The mustard mixture forms a base for vinegrette that's got some substance to it - that is, as long as you don't use that yellow stuff! I added in some canola oil (the flavor of the mustard would overpower olive oil) and then some rosemary to continue the flavor I'd already used with the beets.

It was a delightful salad! With our weekend temperatures posting close to 102, a cool salad keeps me from heating up the kitchen and that agrees with me completely! Someone at work (who doesn't get - or agree with - the warming of the globe or the level of commitment it takes to be an evironmentalist) asked why my upstairs was hotter than down, "don't you have air conditioning?"

Yup...I do. I also push it way up when I'm not home, and it's pretty high (77) when I'm there.

So I don't make the heat pump work harder to cool the house by heating up the kitchen (well, not often anyway...)

I promise I bought this baked item! A lovely mini-loaf of banana bread I picked up at the farmer's market.

I didn't save any. It was good.

Obviously, I Can Do This...

I'm a sewist and Knitter (yes, with a capital K), who must have huge amounts of cotton fabric and yarn in my stashes, and I'm also an armchair environmentalist who can only step up and do what one aging Nana can do from her overwhelming sense of duty, but very limited available funds and energy, so I'm going to make some knitted dishcloths and small fabric handtowels for this project:

How can you even watch the news footage in the Gulf and not be moved to do something - at least for me, anything is better than sitting by and feeling so helpless. Finally, today? I found something that *fits* with who I am, and what I can offer!

Thank you, Green Phone Booth

Yoga Night and Meatless Monday!

I have no photo yet for Meatless Monday - I'm making my own stuffed portabella mushroom cap after yoga tonight, tho' so I'll post a photo (if I don't inhale it, first). (I'm planning on sauteeing red bell pepper, olive oil, leeks and Italian seasoning, stuffing the cap, and then tossing feta on top to broil...hope it turns out as well as I think it will!)

In the meantime - because I'm going straight from work to pick up my 92 year old friend to go to yoga class together - I made sure to have a snack that will keep me going till after class tonight: Kefir. I'm not in anyway affiliated with that site, but I love their low-fat version - in strawberry, tonight. I once picked up a 1 cup bottle of it at the co-op and have saved the bottle, dutifully refilling it from my much larger one for ease in carrying to work (I know, I should reuse a small glass jar and recycle the plastic, and I will, promise, as soon as I empty one!). A cup is only 3 points and with the extra calcium, my bones are really benefitting, too.

edited to add photo and comments!
Here it is...my own version of the quickie portabellas I've been picking up at the grocery store for "fast food"

It turned out well, but yes, it does take longer to fix - I did everything I said above, except that I used orange peppers (2 slices, chopped) about 1 tablespoon of chopped leeks (from the CSA share last fall that I froze), a large garlic clove, chopped (also from the CSA last fall), and oregano, basil, salt and pepper to taste. Then about 2 tablespoons of feta - and I broiled it for probably 8 minutes in my toaster oven.

That's summer squash from the Farmer's market, and a serving (I slice those slices thinly to go farther!) of artisan olive bread with olive dipping oil (Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning flavors it). Dessert was fruit, but I ate a peach out of hand (I know it's not local, but oh it was good) with a few blueberries...and didn't get a photo of that.

A great Meatless Monday!

I Could Not Say This Any Better...

So I'm going to LINK it, instead.

This has been a crazy week, so I haven't posted much, either here or on my knitting blog. Tomorrow is a family yard sale and I'm going to be sending out into the world many things I no longer need to new homes that hopefully can use them. I know I'll be repeating this event in the fall, too. My goal is to rid myself of much that is weighing down my thought processes and my living space.

But I hope I'll have a little time on Sunday to review the post above, and the links embeded there and come up with a compact list of not less than 10 things to begin doing myself. Because we do each need to make a commitment to changing our behavior if we want to see the change we'd like in the world.

If you decide to join in as a result of that post? Let me know, okay? I'll be very interested.
Happy Weekend.

Wow the Weeks Fly By - It's Meatless Monday Again!

Over the weekend, a friend and I made a roadtrip to a small town about 45 minutes away to celebrate World Wide Knit in Public Day with a few friends at a yarn shop there. The shop is next door to a farmer's market and you know I had to visit with an eye towards Meatless Mondays, right?

I picked up potatoes and green beans (oh they were beautiful) and whipped up another batch of a meal that makes me think of my Depression-era Mom and her sisters and the vegetarian dishes I grew up with:

(they usually added milk to this, but I don't. I rarely have milk in the house, for one thing, and when I do, I tend not to add it to foods)

I got fresh summer squash, too. There was a huge storm that knocked out my power so I couldn't enjoy this on Saturday night but I whipped it up for tonight's dinner and there are plenty of leftovers for Monday. What do I do? Simple - boiled potatoes and green beans with just a touch of butter, salt, and pepper. I steam the squash and season the same way.

Why mess with perfection?

I had more of the artisan olive bread and olive oil as a complement to this meal. If you're wondering, yes, my meals tend to be pretty simple; I save the fancy stuff for when I'm out to eat - let the pros mess up the kitchen, is my motto!

Which you can see here in my knitting blog post for the WWKIP day event. We stopped at a new restaurant that we've heard about and I have to say the bruschetta was fabulous - and totally veggie, tho' not vegan.

Meatless Monday on a Yoga Class Night!

You get another of those super fast, what can I pick up at the grocery store, meals tonight for Meatless Monday! Tonight is yoga class, so I can't eat before, and when I get home the meal has to be light - I don't want to eat much after class, and besides sleeping on a full stomach isn't my idea of a good night's sleep, either!

This is a salad from the so-called "olive" bar at my local Kroger:

Still, it's pretty wonderful...a curried couscous salad, with wheat berries and small white beans. A delightful, lightly spicy concoction that I tossed over salad greens and then added in slivered yellow peppers and halved grape tomatoes.

(If it weren't Meatless Monday, a salmon fillet would have made a nice main dish, with a smaller salad.)

I have no way of knowing how many Weight Watchers points are in this, but I tend to err on the higher side just in case.

Happy Monday!

What's Water Got To Do With It?

(to paraphrase - What's Love Got To Do With It?)

Do you ever think about all the plastic in our lives? Does something like what's happening in the Gulf ever make you think of plastic? Do you have any idea how much petroleum is in the plastics we use daily?

If you've ever drunk a pre-packaged bottle of water? Read this:
Responsible Plastic explains this more concisely than any other place I've seen. (And yes, I did read all the way through it. *wink*

If you don't have a refillable water bottle? It's time to buy one.

If you have a problem remembering the reuseable grocery sacks in your trunk? It's time to get one of those that stuffs into their own tiny selves and fits in your purse.

If you haven't had the nerve to ask the Chinese Take-out place to please put your to-go meal in your own carry-away To-Go Ware or other rewashable, reuseable container? Please find your backbone!

Wow. That's some impact on the environment! (And if we all do those 4 things? THAT's what love's got to do with it...

As we used to say in the 70s - Love Your Mother!
(Mother Earth)

Memorial Day Meatless Monday

I wonder if there will be lots of us doing "meatless" today, or if it will be a day that folks think they can skip?

After all, what's Memorial Day without the required cookout?

In my world, tho' Memorial Day is a regular workday - not at my place of employment but at my home business. Often I'm slammed trying to get bag orders filled and stock put back ahead of a July show. This year? The show isn't on the agenda, but there are still orders to fill, so my "cookout" becomes an indoor quick-fix event:

A Morningstar Farms Black Bean Burger (yes, there is cheese on it) on a Sandwich Thins wholegrain "bun," broccoli slaw, and fried potatoes (in a little olive oil and with green onions, red and green peppers all chopped with the potatoes, it's just 2 Weight Watchers points). In fact, using a low fat coleslaw dressing that entire meal up there is 8 points for the entire plate. I had points left for mixed berries and fresh pineapple (1.5 total there).

A patriotic meal in record time!

I hope your Memorial Day is not just meatless, but relaxing. Please keep all those who serve our country's interests or have given their lives for our benefit and their families in your thoughts!

Do You Feel Hopeless?

The catastrophe in the Gulf has weighed heavily on my mind for weeks (as I'm sure it has your's). I've never been to the area, but that doesn't mean I'm unaware of the incredible importance it holds in the ecosphere. I've been feeling totally overwhelmed and not quite sure what to do to make a difference other than redoubling my efforts at using less petroleum. I've begun to revisit my wish to take public transit as often as possible, and have decided to do a trial run this weekend, stopping downtown at the Farmer's Market, too.

But it's not enough (will anything ever be enough?).

I happened upon this site last night and decided to join up. Matter of Trust is an organization that, among other things, utilizes pet hair and animal fiber (alpaca, sheep!) to stuff pantyhose (even those with runs) to create booms that soak up the oil. They even have a study in process that evaluates whether the oil-soaked booms can then be used to be a fertile ground for mushrooms to reprocess the gunk into something useful. I think the results of that will be fascinating, and I'll be watching to see what happens there.

Right now, they need pantyhose. I've emailed to see if knee highs work as well, because I haven't worn pantyhose in years. Still. I'm going to be collecting The Meezer's and The Tonks fur in a bag to send them when they need more. If we all had a bag of it ready when the call went out? Wouldn't that be a phenominal way to make a difference with something that otherwise would end up in the landfill?

I feel a bit more positive. Organizations and groups that RETHINK this whole process of stuff? Well, that's my favorite kind to support.

And I'm going to keep on rethinking my own daily activities to see where else I can make adjustments to reduce my own need for plastic, petroleum...STUFF!
You?

Wise Environmental Choices....

I've been taking baby steps for some time to make smarter choices environmentally. There are plenty of things I've done with the primary focus being to reduce my electric bill (and while I'm sure it would be higher had I not done these things? It sure doesn't seem to be inching downward much - but so go the rate increases, eh?),

I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm trying to find interesting new places to visit (blogs and websites, mostly) with a focus on wise stewardship, environmental activism, and consumerism, too. So when I find something interesting and new, I like to let you all know...

The Conscious Shopper has been mentioned before. I like her style, I love her posts. She's totally committed to reducing her environmental footprint and helping all of us do the same...and right now? She's having an interesting contest.

Another place I visit often is Fake Plastic Fish. Don't you know, she's having a contest, too?

I can't imagine that I could ever get to the point of using no plastic, but because of her blog, I've rethought many things I do. I've finally started buying milk from our local creamery - in returnable glass bottles! I am using the Co-Op for that purchase, but even our local Kroger carries it. I don't use milk a lot, but it's nice to have this option...and the glass bottles are also a happy childhood memory!

On Fake Plastic Fish today, you'll also find links to this post over at Plastic Manners. An interesting addition to the typical Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra, she adds Rethink, Refuse to the three others. Then another addition I like that I've seen elsewhere - like my Ravelry Trash to Treasure group that does so - is Repurpose.

It's all about stopping, not doing the knee jerk reaction of just reaching and buying. Do you need that? If so, is it made from plastic? What will you do with it once it's empty? Can you recycle it? Reuse it? Repurpose it? If not, is there an alternative to the plastic?

With oil spewing into the Gulf, in a castrophic mess that will be with us for years, can we reconsider petroleum-based products completely? What LITTLE thing (or BIG thing?) can each one of us do? I'm planning to take the bus to the Farmer's Market every Saturday for local food, beginning this weekend...See? baby steps.

I know sometimes it feels like one person can't make that much of a difference.

But frankly, I'm coming around more and more to feeling empowered that I can do something at least...it's better than the overwhelming sense of futility that washes over me when I see photos of the coast covered in red slime...

What about you?

Macrobiotic Meatless Monday!

Tonight there simply was no time to cook, I hadn't thought about it at all, and I was hungry. I stopped at the Co-Op and picked up "fast food"

This is Shanhai Dumplings and Spinach Noodles by Macro Bento. I can't do the entire 1/2 a box for a single serving of either (they're spicy!), but that makes them last longer! Hot tea rounds out the macrobiotic meal.

And then I topped it off with a little crystalized ginger to help with digestion (and for a little more spicy-sweetness).

Who says you can't have meatless fast food?

Meatless Mondays Lunch This Time

It's that time again, and I've made lunch! It's a simple recipe, as I usually pack my lunches and I want things easy as pie (without the pie)

On the Weight Watchers point system this one weighs in at a heavy (NOT!) 4 points (but then I added strawberries for dessert, and a cup is 1/2 a point, so factor that into your counting)

A Hummus Veggie Wrap on Whole Wheat Tortilla:

(yes, this isn't the best photo, I'd already wrapped it up)

I buy my hummus tho' there are several good recipes out there to use if you want to make your own (if I ever get 20 minutes, I think I'd like to try one of them!). I spread 2 Tbls. of garlic flavored hummus on a warmed wheat tortilla, tossed on some baby spinach leaves, slivered some red pepper strips and drizzled a Ceasar Italian flavored dressing on it - I used a fat-free bottled kind, but you could make your own. IF you use olive oil, remember to add that into your point count, but don't worry, because you're using one of your Good Health Guidelines while you're at it!). I'm careful with the dressing, because I really just want a touch of flavor, not a soupy mess! Roll it up, steam a few spears of asparagus (with a touch of butter on it
for 1 point), salt, pepper, and the whole meal is ready in a flash. And I've got time to knit at my desk during lunch!

Happy Meatless Eating!

Meatless Monday Again!

For once I can claim credit for this recipe. I devised it after having something very similar at a fancy dinner some years ago:


Strawberry Spinach Salad
(I'm giving general quantities - I made this for just one serving)

1 cup fresh organic spinach, loosely packed
4-5 fresh strawberries, sliced (or more if you're like me and love them)
5 English walnuts chopped
2-3 Tbsp low-fat feta cheese (to taste)
Ken's fat-free Raspberry Walnut Vinagrette
(you may add slivered red or Vidalia onions to taste, my digestive system can't have them, but wish it could!)

Do I really need to give you directions to assemble? I think not.

(In the winter? Substitute canned mandarin oranges - or a clemantine, sectioned - it's every bit as good, and a fine salad to add to a soup or veggie chili meal.)
:)
Enjoy - Thankfully, 'tis the season for the freshest of ingredients...and wow is this good.

Meatless Monday!

Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry):

I can't take credit for the recipe, I found it here. I had no idea how it would come out, but it's good! I input all the ingredients to Weight Watchers e-Tools, and came back with 2 points per serving. Since it made 4 servings, and I was hungry, I doubled my portion for 4 points. Three points for the Na'an (which is storebought) and I thought I was in heaven for a dinner at 7 points!

I will tell you that I automatically chopped the onions, and then realized the recipe called for sliced (oops!). Then I did not have the garlic paste. There's an hysterical youTube video out there telling you how to make your own garlic paste, but I just mixed equal parts of minced garlic and finely grated fresh ginger into the mixture and didn't worry about it (yes, that's what garlic paste is. Equal parts of the two ingredients and perhaps a little water to make a paste...IF I could have found my mortar and pestle, I'd have made it up. Unfortunately, that's one thing that hasn't been unpacked since the move (three years ago).

Anyway! A great, warming meal (which I made last week when it was really quite chilly and appreciated no end!), not too difficult to make. Happy Meatless Monday!

Meatless Monday

I've almost missed posting, but this is Monday, and I've a yoga class to attend after work. Things tend to run very late!

And I didn't cook again tonight. No, this time, I picked up a (not so vegan!) meatless meal in a hurry - but very tasty indeed:

I adore cottage cheese (there's even a photo of me at my first birthday with it all over my face and in my blonde ringlet-ed hair, so you can tell it's a long-lived affair!), and tonight when I saw strawberries and pineapple all ready and waiting, I just couldn't resist. I added a bit of baguette with seasoned olive oil, and thoroughly enjoyed my very simple meal.

But oh, for next week? I've got something planned! I'll make it over the weekend so it will be ready and waiting after yoga class, and I promise I'll post earlier, too! *wink*

I did a little bit of veggie shopping this weekend...a fellow yoga student is a potter and she was having a sale of her wares. I picked up the eggplant salt and pepper shakes, and the little garlic head shaker was just sitting there all by itself. I thought, "why not for garlic powder?" and it came right along home with me! I love that her attention to detail even included the little rootlets at the base, tho' this photo doesn't show that well...

The three will reside on my stovetop and work in nicely with my vintage vegetable pottery collection - Shawnee King Cornware, and Made in Occupied Japan Tomato-ware, plus an odd assortment of peppers, squashes, celery, and beets (ALL ceramic salt and pepper shakes).

What can I say? I'm just a pushover for veggies and fruit in all forms. This purchase supported a local artist, too. :)

An Apology and - It's Earth Day!

I have to admit that I was away this weekend, doing a show, and as a result, did NOT post for Meatless Monday. I've been meatless both Tuesday and Wednesday, but repeated my Portabella Mushrooms from the grocery store, so don't have a recipe to share this week, I'll try to do better next week, I promise.

Today is Earth Day, and I'm wondering what you will do to celebrate and honor it?

Me? I'm working, as usual, and have an appointment after work, so cooking isn't going to happen. I think I might have a big salad tonight, meatless again, because I'm spending the evening in a 90 minute yoga class. It will be late when I get out and I'd like to toss something light together to end my day.

I'm going to use the least possible amount of energy (read "electricity") at home today, but that's in part because I won't be there.

I did, however, read an interesting article at Newsweek that if we think consuming green products is going to get us out of this mess we're in, then we're somewhat delusional.

Not that it won't at least be better for us to use these products. But it does boil down to not buying as much - reducing what we use, reducing the amount of waste we produce.

So I'll be looking for a couple of things I would like to have (glass yogurt cups, a personal CD player as mine broke and I have so many books on CD to read!), but I'll be looking for a used item, whenever possible. And over the next few weeks, I'll be working hard to pass along used items I no longer need.

As the Newsweek article says, there's a reason the first word in the slogan is reduce, reuse, recycle. And I'll add there's are reason many of us are adding the word repurpose to the refrain. It's about making less stuff and rethinking how we relax and unwind. Shopping can't be the way we enjoy ourselves any longer. If the economy and your credit card hasn't already told you this, then the Earth's predicament surely should.

More of us need to follow the old yankee proverb of "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." I feel somewhat embarrassed by the fact that having lost 40 pounds in the past 7 months, I've been forced to buy an entirely new wardrobe (remaking things wasn't possible with this much change in my shape!). I did, however, shop consignment, thrift, and charity shops as much as possible. And will be passing along my former wardrobe thru the same vehicles, including a yard sale and occasional ebay auction.

What ONE thing can you choose to do today to address the crisis facing the earth? Join up with One Small Change and just do one thing each month? I did. I've been using cloth napkins at home rather than paper towels as napkins. It's going great. I've kept a small stack of them next to my spot at the table all month, and have just washed them with my regular sheets and towels wash. Before this? I'd use a cloth napkin with my lunch, packing it in my tote. But I never thought about it at home, I just tore off that paper towel in "auto-pilot" mode. That's all changed, there's not even a roll of paper towels in my kitchen now.

I haven't made the napkins I promised my Ravelry pals I'd make, but there's still time this month to do that. I picked up some super-cool fabrics (OOPS, see? We buy without thinking!) to make them out of...like I needed more fabric? In fairness, I'd not read that Newsweek article yet, and was in a new fabric shop where I saw the cutest "green" fabric prints.

Which, of course, is exactly the Newsweek article's point - we see "green" in the advertising, and just figure we're doing something good. Forget about the fact that I have hundreds of pounds of fabric in my sewing room...
(sigh)
I forgive myself. And I'm going to change.

What about you?

Meatless Monday

It's Meatless Monday! And today's dinner is my fast, easy vegan spaghetti.

It's easy because it's jarred sauce, doctored up. It's vegan because the "meat" is Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles. It's fast, because I make it on Sunday and eat it for a couple of weeknight dinners, and freeze the rest for later on! There is nothing better than your own food for "fast food."

So I being with cleaning out the cupboard and freezer:

There's a small can of mushroom stems and pieces, three cloves of minced garlic (still from my CSA last fall!), and a small can of sliced black olives. I drain the canned items, and rinse off the mushrooms to rid them of any additional salts. Then in a frying pan sprayed with olive oil spray, I toss in a tablespoon of good olive oil, and let the veggies saute.

IF you have other veggies you'd like to add, now is the time. I've been known to toss in summer squash or zuccini, multi-colored bell pepper strips and sliced onions, even shredded carrots! None of them have any calories, so from a Weight Watchers perspective, there are no points.

Eventually I add half a bag of the recipe crumbles and let them saute as well. This particular time, I added in dried onion flakes to taste (I didn't have an onion in the crisper), and then a bit of dried basil. But not too much, because the jarred sauce I used was "tomato basil" flavor (Barilla).

Here's everything simmering away.

And of course, in the meantime, I had the whole wheat pasta on to boil:

Served on a salad-sized plate, with just a touch of shredded parmesan, this is a total of 8 Weight Watchers points (for anyone who cares - I do since I'm following the program).


Last night I also made up a vegan salad for lunch this week from Kalyn's Kitchen. I'd never cut up a mango and this was my very first avocado, too. It's a good salad, tho' I have to admit, I'm not yet loving the avocado...(and it's pricey on points, too - at 7 per serving, I rarely eat that many at lunch)

Come back next week and I'll try to have an interesting recipe to share on Meatless Monday again.

Apparently Convenience Can Be Healthy!

I discovered a wonderful concoction in my regular grocery store's produce section yesterday: stuffed portabella mushroom caps! Two to a pack, they were completely ready for me to grill, broil, or bake when I got home. $2.00

Now on the nights when I have yoga class (my Thursday class gets me home at 9p.m. and I surely don't want a heavy meal right before bedtime, but I can't eat dinner when I get off work and head to a 7p.m. class - talk about yucky, yoga on a full stomach? No thanks) I do whatever I can to eat lightly, eat intentionally, and to not eat meat.

Somehow meat and yoga don't mix in my head, either.

The mushroom caps I picked up were stuffed with fresh spinach, mozzarella shredded part-skim cheese and seasonings - I know there was oregano in there, and probably a touch of garlic. I input everything to Weight Watcher's e-tools and got 2 points per cap! With some Morrocan Olive Artisan bread and seasoned olive oil, the entire meal was 7 points, and as vegetarian (but not vegan) as you can get!

(I ate one last night after class and one tonight when I thought I could manage to snag a photo for you, but you know what? I was too hungry and I never thought about pulling out the camera! I'm sorry...believe me tho' they're really good!)

Hmm...that makes it meatless Thursday, and meatless Friday, as well as mostly meatless Monday so far this week! But considering the fact that eating lower on the food chain is easier on the environment, as well as on my own physical being, I'm happy about that.

This is a work weekend, as I've got a show next weekend. So I stopped by the library to pick up my "reading material!" (ok, one of those is actually printed material...)

I'm "reading" Hot, Flat, and Crowded this evening...while I cut and sew handcrafted bags for my show next week...
(thank goodness for books on CD!)

Meatless Mondays...

Meatless Monday's won't be a hard thing for me to do, and in fact yesterday I managed to join the movement (click that link and join up, too!), but after I'd packed my deli turkey sandwich for lunch, so that I couldn't change without having waste. But dinner was a vegetarian chili-filled whole wheat burrito.

I think I'm going to plan for making something vegan on Sunday nights, and having the leftovers on Mondays - because I have yoga class and don't get home till late. Dinner on Mondays has to be easy-peasy!

One Small Change - April

I learned of a blog event over here at One Small Change and decided to participate.

What will my one small change be? I have apparently got some kind of blip in my brain power that makes it second nature to use a fabric napkin when I pack my lunch for work, but then I come home and use paper towels! I have no idea why. So this month is going to be devoted to actively choosing to use cloth, not paper.

(I make many small changes during any given month. I may even try to find the time to dig out my delicate vintage handkerchiefs and carry them with me instead of Kleenex!)

Wow. That's two changes. When combined with last month's choice to use my drying rack for personal clothing items? See how they can make a huge difference in just a short time?

So...What will YOU do?