BE TRUE TO YOU

The combination of purple and green will forever remind me of Katie Flahive Niersbach - superbly endearing. I found myself with a pan of purple and green whilst attempting to make a tasty lunch out of limited supplies. So it was. Purple cabbage, spinach, chunks of onion, garlic, and jarred tomato sauce over pasta. I sauteed in oil, added butter, and seasoned with s+p and oregano. Hearty, but not heavy.

My pup, a near endless supply of wooden spoons, and poetry keep me happy in the kitchen.

DO:::DO NOT:::

DO:::

I can't stop eating pickled vegetables, homemade barbecued beans, and sauteed spinach. 

DO NOT:::

Craving something fatty and greasy, I bought Tofurky sausage.

yuck. yuck. yuck.

mushy + near tasteless + scary ingredients.

BUILDING BLOCKS

Phoebe Washburn

                                                                                                                 image

                                                                                                                  image

"Protein is an important component of every cell in the body. Hair and nails are mostly made of protein. Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues. You also use protein to make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. Protein is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood." from the web

I love that my dad is exploring a more natural approach to food and wellness - whole grains, oats, seeds, fruits, natural remedies. I won't push anything on him, but maybe he'll eat less meat. Or local meat? He's buying his eggs locally - that's a start! I thought I'd drop some knowledge to inspire my meat-eating friends to seek out more plant-based protein. We need 8 essential acids from our food, but they need not all come from the same place or the same meal.

While I've heard and read many opinions that meat provides the best or most complete form of protein, it's just not true. From Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet:

Will I get enough protein without meat? Think of it this way: The average gorilla could lift up your whole family, and he doesn't eat meat (okay, a few bugs, but that's it!) Clearly he's getting enough protein.

(I like Silverstone's book because while she firmly supports a cruelty-free lifestyle, she offers her knowledge and advice with a certain honesty and support that can only come from someone who's worked through making the change herself.)

Meat-eaters, I'm sure you know that meat is bad for your heart, it contributes to cancer and osteoporosis, it's hard to digest and can exacerbate other health issues, it's full of antibiotics and horomones, and carries scary pathogens - to say the least. But really, we're just not built for meat consumption. Think of a cheetah - razor-sharp teeth, long claws, super speedy runner. With our teeth, fingernails, not to mention our speed, we can't compare ourselves to a true carnivore. We want to eat the same things but rely on technology to provide us with goods. Okay, so society has "evolved" to make this happen, but we haven't. Beyond the flat teeth and lack of claws, our insides can't handle the digestion:

A carnivore's intestines are only about 6 feet long, because meat isn't meant to hang out in the gut forever. Our intestines are 20 feet long; when we eat meant, it takes a full 72 hours to pass through us. That's 3 days, and your body, my friend, is 98.6 degrees inside! It's like having a steak sit out in the hot sun for 3 days straight. Eventually it will start to rot and putrefy. And that's what's happening inside of you. You may not feel that process now, but I challenge you to abstain from animal products for a month and then eat some meant. You will feel how heavy and dense it feels in your gut. - The Kind Diet

                    Protein Source: Meat versus Bean

Here's a list of just some of the good non-meat protein you can try:

Beans, Nuts, Seeds

1 cup garbanzo beans 14.5 grams
1 cup pinto beans 12 grams
1 cup refried beans 15.5 grams
1 cup soybeans 28 grams
1 oz. cashews 4.4 grams
1 oz. peanuts 6.5 grams
1 oz. sesame seeds 6.5 grams
1 oz. pistachios 5.8 grams
1 cup tofu 22 grams
1 cup lentils 18 grams

Dairy
1 cup yogurt 13 grams
1 oz cheddar cheese 7.1 grams
1 egg 6 grams
1 cup cottage cheese 10 grams

Fruits and Vegetables
1 avocado 10 grams
1 cup broccoli 5 grams
1 cup spinach 5 grams
1 cup peas 9 grams
1 medium artichoke 4 grams
1 cup asparagus 5 grams
1 cup beet greens 3 grams

And here's how much you need according to the CDC:

 

Recommended Dietary        Allowance for Protein
	Grams of protein needed each day
Children ages 1 – 3	13
Children ages 4 – 8	19
Children ages 9 – 13	34
Girls ages 14 – 18	46
Boys ages 14 – 18	52
Women ages 19 – 70+	46
Men ages 19 – 70+	56

 

SOUP TO SAUCE

A couple of months ago, I made a delicious "green soup" - a recipe from Laurel's Kitchen. With a fridge full of squash, my mind went back to the soup. I also had my heart set on cold pasta. Instead of figuring out how to pair the two, I modified the soup to make a sauce.

The jist:
Cook down pre-soaked green split peas, green squash, onion, and garlic in enough veg stock to cover. Add a couple tablespoons of oil and season with s+p, oregano, and basil. After the ingredients soften and cool, add fresh parsley and basil. I would have liked to smooth my mixture in a food processor. Alas, I broke mine. Instead, I added a cup of unsweetened almond to the mix and hit it with a hand blender. This didn't work so well. I moved on and added a bit of ricotta cheese, sliced radishes, and almonds. I finished the dish off with a bit more s+p, a good squeeze of lemon, and shaved pecorino.

DINNER GUESTS

KAT+NAT

I had lots of great adventures these past weeks and consumed many tasty meals. Alas, I was too busy enjoying myself to document any of it. Natasha captured much of the fun, but I'm sure there's still more to come. Thank you, Lovely!

In a nutshell

A humble lunch for Nat + Gid

The bruschetta I could not stop eating!

The pizza on the lake I could not stop eating!

Sweet backyard dinner hosted by Sasha

IRON LADY



Above: I thought it was mint. It tasted like oregano. When you're primarily

eating plants, everything in the yard starts to look edible.

 Meat-eaters often grill me on vegetarian nutrition. So, here's the 411 on IRON, which your body needs to support proper blood health. How's your iron intake?

Age	Males (mg/day)	Females (mg/day)	Pregnancy (mg/day)	Lactation (mg/day)
7 to 12 months	11	11	N/A	N/A
1 to 3 years	7	7	N/A	N/A
4 to 8 years	10	10	N/A	N/A
9 to 13 years	8	8	N/A	N/A
14 to 18 years	11	15	27	10
19 to 50 years	8	18	27	9
51+ years	8	8	N/A	N/A

via National Institutes of Health

While flesh and organ meat are tremendous sources for iron, there are more than ample plant-based options. The National Institutes of Health recommend:

Food	Milligrams per serving	% DV*
Ready-to-eat cereal, 100% iron fortified, ¾ cup	18.0	100
Oatmeal, instant, fortified, prepared with water, 1 cup	10.0	60
Soybeans, mature, boiled, 1 cup	8.8	50
Lentils, boiled, 1 cup	6.6	35
Beans, kidney, mature, boiled, 1 cup	5.2	25
Beans, lima, large, mature, boiled, 1 cup	4.5	25
Beans, navy, mature, boiled, 1 cup	4.5	25
Ready-to-eat cereal, 25% iron fortified, ¾ cup	4.5	25
Beans, black, mature, boiled, 1 cup	3.6	20
Beans, pinto, mature, boiled, 1 cup	3.6	20
Molasses, blackstrap, 1 tablespoon	3.5	20
Tofu, raw, firm, ½ cup	3.4	20
Spinach, boiled, drained, ½ cup	3.2	20
Spinach, canned, drained solids ½ cup	2.5	10
Black-eyed peas (cowpeas), boiled, 1 cup	1.8	10
Spinach, frozen, chopped, boiled ½ cup	1.9	10
Grits, white, enriched, quick, prepared with water, 1 cup	1.5	8
Raisins, seedless, packed, ½ cup	1.5	8
Whole wheat bread, 1 slice	0.9	6
White bread, enriched, 1 slice	0.9	6

But don't forget about: spirulina (1 tsp): 5 mg, pumpkin seeds (1 ounce): 4.2 mg, quinoa (4 ounces): 4 mg, tomato paste (4 ounces): 3.9 mg, white beans (1/2 cup) 3.9 mg, dried peaches (6 halves): 3.1 mg, prune juice (8 ounces): 3 mg. Look at the plethora of options. Easy, diverse, and cruelty-free.

Here are some tips to get the most iron out of your food:

• Eat iron-rich foods along with foods that contain vitamin C, which helps the body absorb the iron.
• Tea and coffee contains compounds called polyphenols, which can bind with iron making it harder for our bodies to absorb it.
• Calcium also hinders the absorption of iron; avoid high-calcium foods for a half hour before or after eating iron-rich foods.
• Cook in iron pots. The acid in foods seems to pull some of the iron out of the cast-iron pots. Simmering acidic foods, such as tomato sauce, in an iron pot can increase the iron content of the brew more than ten-fold. Cooking foods containing other acids, such as vinegar, red wine, lemon or lime juice, in an iron pot can also increase the iron content of the final mixture.