A vegetarian agenda

The theme of 10th grade is social justice, but I don't think anyone has given much thought into what that looks like in practice, particularly given the state of the school district's budget.  My daughter has been assigned "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Foer as her first honors English book (other than 3 books assigned over the summer) of the school year.  

Frankly I think a different aspect of food production could have been explored as a social justice issue given that a significant portion of the student population receives free or reduced lunch.  The uneven access to healthy food or the rates of diabetes, elevated cholesterol, obesity among urban residents...these are topics that are much more relevant to urban children.  The companion book to "The Weight of the Nation" might have been a good place to start.  

I read "Eating Animals" very quickly (from cover to cover in a couple of hours), hence this is more of a response than a review.  I will state my bias from the onset - from a religious perspective, I fundamentally disagree that eating animals is inhumane. God clearly instructed us on the animals that are intended for human consumption and those that were not, who are we to question God's judgement?  That's not to say that we should go about raising and slaughtering animals willy nilly.  

As I've stated before, in the early 80s my family belonged to a co-op and ate no sugar, salt, beef or pork...we ate organic and "whole" food before it was fashionable. As time went on we slowly began to consume everything except pork.  Over the past decade I have transformed the way I eat largely because of my academic training coupled with the undergraduate courses I teach.  Because I love food, I can't help but bring food into the conversation; unfortunately those tethered to the factory farm system are unable to enjoy unadulterated food...so I teach about tropic levels, dairy farming, animal husbandry, aquaculture, the prevalence of corn and soy, and all of the "science" that gives us more food in shorter time. However, that hasn't hindered me from eating animals...as long as I "know" the source. I don't follow a one-size-fits-all diet, I do what feels right based on how my body responds...some meals are meatless, some are raw, and the majority are quite tasty. 

I do agree with Foer that industrialized agriculture (produce included) is environmentally degrading, both to the natural and human spheres. The food system has become a capitalist enterprise that is so out of control that some people are starving while an obscene amount of food makes its way to the landfill daily.  The food that is produced by agribusiness is virtually void of nutritional value and the multitude of health diagnoses provide evidence that you are what you eat.

I agree with Foer that factory farming exists because people are disconnected from food and have a mythical view about the source/production of food, if they consider it at all. Hence my food philosophy is one of "farm to fork" and I use "table fellowship" to propagate it. Obviously I don't eat food from every "farm." We try to support local farmers as much as possible and if you visit PA's Farm Show and look critically, the burden on animals is evident.  I am literally scared to death of mass produced meat and fish, but because I enjoy it, I source it as carefully as I can.

Foer claims to be a proponent of both vegetarianism and "honorable omnivores," however there are no examples in the book, unless I overlooked them by reading too quickly. It was not until page 244 that he overtly stated his bias and I'm a little concerned that his narrative about factory farming is not well documented (despite the lengthy "bibliography"). I think there are more objective exposes on the market about the factory farm system.  This book clearly arose from a complex relationship with food. His grandmother's uneasiness with food as a result of her ordeal escaping Nazi Germany and his I/Thou dilemma with animals. Just as my food philosophy arose from a complex relationship with food. 

A Day of Prep

I couldn't afford to have a repeat of last week...running around scattered...so I blocked out a few hours on my schedule for meal prep. My plan was to make the loaves to carry us for 2 days of breakfast, meaffins for Thursday (will be a constant this semester), crockpot drumsticks for Monday, and the wild-caught Dover Sole I caught on a WF Hot Deal ($7.99/lb) for tonight. I figured I could fill in the other days as needed based on leftovers...and of course Vitamix soup.

The first snag was I forgot to buy the bulk turkey sage sausage yesterday and the chicken sausage at WF is encased in pork, so I had to go with Wellshire Farms brown serve chicken apple links...this time I snazzed it up with some chèvre and kale, and substituted the red bliss for sweet potatoes...I'm super curious about the outcome. 

I brought 6 pounds of grass-fed ground beef at the WF One-Day-Deal ($4.99/lb) but I couldn't bring myself to remake the meaffins, instead I went for kefta meatballs (baked in a muffin pan), which I will accompany with a yogurt sauce, pita, and eggplant (most likely baba ganoush). The meatballs were too easy...I just used my Moroccan spices (cumin, nutmeg, paprika, ginger, & pepper), cilantro, onions, and garlic. I will pull them out of the freezer Wednesday evening.  I just have to figure out some way to rotate the flavors so that they don't become redundant.  

I forgot to take the drumsticks out of the freezer and hadn't even thought about how I would prepare them, so I bought a bottle of bbq sauce (yes, shameful) from WF...I sprinkled some seasoning on the drumsticks, dropped in onion, celery, carrot, and a seeded habanero...poured in half the bottle, then moved onto the next task. 

The hummus for lunch is a no brainer, especially with the Vitamix purée setting, but my planned salad-in-a-jar wasn't looking too good once I realized I had no meat for the base...finally I popped a few eggs in the egg machine, made a honey dijon dressing, and kept it moving.

Two & a half hours later, I'm looking good for the week - I'll make pressure cooker collards on Monday and do something with the eggplant Thursday...I also have golden beets and frozen haricots verts and okra...now I just have to prepare tonight's dinner...

Mixed up Meaffins

My son and I made "meaffins" for the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge...we mixed ground beef and black beans and went with a Mexican flavor. We didn't win the challenge but they became a nice addition to our family convenience meal options.

With all of the hustle & bustle of the onset of the school year and fall sports, I had to revive the meaffin. I used a totally different recipe but the concept was still basically the same. My goal was to use up what I had in the fridge...a pound and a half of ground turkey, tomatoes, a handful of peppers, onions, handful of garlic cloves, cilantro, all mixed in with a hodgepodge of seasoning. I baked them in a muffin pan for about 40 min and voila an easy dinner and lunch entree. I added a corn potato soup to the side that I prepared from the last 2 potatoes and ears of corn lurking in the fridge from the CSA, I simmered for 5 minutes in the stock from the chicken salad, blended in the Vitamix for a great texture, then added in another ear of corn for body. The only thing missing for tonight is something green, but I'm out of time.  Perhaps there'll be some salad greens in today's CSA. 

Leftovers gone haywire

Last night I conceptualized a easy dinner...I would convert the leftover lamb into pita wraps topped with zucchini, tomatoes, bok choy, and a garlic-cilantro-yogurt sauce. I planned to make eggplant or okra on the side...something went terribly awry.

I came up with the brilliant idea that I'd make baba ganoush, which I love but don't know how to make...I called my Syrian friend for instructions then went and bought some tahini when I picked up the pita. When I stepped into the kitchen I realized I had to make quite a few things but I told my sister that it wasn't a big deal because I have the Vitamix...clearly I was laboring under a misapprehension.

I put the eggplant under the broiler to roast while I for started with everything else. First I had to made chicken salad for my daughter's lunch...I was able to give my sister instructions while I made the hummus for my son's lunch (I used the purée setting this time...very smooth).  Then I put the chicken in the marinator and made the yogurt sauce. Yes, chicken...for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to cook chicken in addition to the lamb leftovers on a Wednesday night. 

I had my sister sauté the onions, chicken, and quickly heat the lamb while I made my baba ganoush attempt. It actually turned out ok...not the stuff I love, but with some tweaking I'll be running this in the ground in no time. I set the table taco style and we dug in...dinner turned out quite well...my sister lamented that "these flavors bring back memories"...an ode to Al Ain.

Back to school

We are in full swing with back to school...new routines means revamping mealtime. With just one kid back to school last week, things were relatively smooth...dinner, soccer, errands no big deal...especially since I am able to expand a meal quickly by making soup in the Vitamix.  I have been trying to develop as many varieties of carrot soup as I can..so far it's working; Saturday I was able to make a meal of sauteed wild shrimp and soup in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the day.

This weekend was a little hectic so I was unable to develop a solid plan for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and after school logistics. I also had to pull together dinner for my grandmom's 87th birthday, which I was able to do successfully despite a series of unfortunate events. I put a boneless leg of lamb in the rotisserie, haddock in the oven, sautéed eggplant (ratatouille style), and did the zucchini in the pressure cooker (Savannah style). Everything was delicious and she especially enjoyed the soup that I literally threw in the Vitamix - onion, celery, potato, carrots, jalapeño - so much that she's thinking about getting a Vitamix (I made a quick soup last week when she came over from crabs).

Monday morning did not go well...I made sausage for breakfast while making hummus to pack in the kids' lunch (I'm now officially out of the Persian lime olive oil that I didn't think I'd use)...since they were both late for school I knew I had to get a better plan. Last night we had leftover lamb, I puréed the eggplant in the Vitamix to make a baba ganoush style spread, and some roasted corn on the cob. At the kids' request, I put together some breakfast loaves...instead of just sausage, egg, and potato, I added Swiss chard and carrots to boost up the veggies; I also substituted ricotta for heavy cream...they were fabulous this morning and I made chicken salad for lunch (also at their request). This morning went much smoother. I also prepped a "salad in a jar" for tonight since we will be out until 9pm for back to school night and other activities (I'm excited because I used bee pollen in the vinaigrette). Here's hoping that the remainder of the week will be as smooth.

Crazy for carrots

We've gone from making carrot juice to making carrot soup. It took some iterations to create a soup that didn't overwhelmingly taste like carrots...but I think I've got it...and I'm loving the addition of a potato to create a bisque-like consistency.

This Vitamix is a bit addictive...I went on a produce spree Thursday and we've continued with daily green smoothies and soup on demand whenever we need a snack or want to stretch dinner. I know it's more than a soup and smoothie machine but for now that's really meeting our needs and helping us to increase our veggie intake. 

This week we've had 3 different versions of carrot soup...unfortunately they all look the same but taste very different. I made a soup this afternoon to go with the frozen pizza for an after-school snack/lunch (1/2 day). I was out of stock so I simmered a frozen chicken thigh with sautéed celery and onion then added a potato. I put the broth in the Vitamix with 5 carrots and a teaspoon of herbs salees and ran the soup cycle. I pulsed the chicken and then mixed in cubed uncured turkey ham. The texture was fantastic and it tasted delicious...it was also a good use for lingering turkey ham.