Cajun Bean Stew w/ Garlic Saffron Rice

This is a really hearty and tasty recipe - it can be quite spicy if that's your thing (its most certainly mine!) or just savory. I adapted this recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, a delightful book I received as a Christmas gift.

This dish is particularly full of yum when served with orzo (Moosewood has a great saffron orzo recipe), or kale, or a thick absorbent biscuit of choice, OR, as I did it this go around, with some garlic saffron rice.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 celery stalks (around 1 cup chopped)
2 bell peppers of your color preference, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (1 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano (1/2 teaspoon dried)
Ground black pepper to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon)
Pinch of cayenne
Pinch of salt
2 cups chopped fresh or canned tomatoes (14 1/2 oz can) - I find I like to get canned tomatoes with a spicy marinade to add more flavor.
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
two 16-oz cans of butter beans
Chopped scallions
Sprinkling Daiya vegan cheese (optional)

In a medium-big saucepan saute the onions and garlic in the oil on medium heat. When things start to give you the first glimmer of brown, add in your chopped celery and bell peppers. Saute for about 5 min more, then add in your thyme, basil, oregano, black pepper, cayenne, and salt. Saute until the onions are really golden, and the textures of the veggies are too your liking.

Add your tomatoes (if your using canned tomatoes try experimenting with how much juice you want to include. If its a marinade it can make for a good stew, or you can drain the tomatoes and go for something a little thicker and less soupy). Along with your tomatoes add the molasses and mustard. Simmer for 5 min.

Add your beans (well drained), cover, and stir occasionally until thoroughly heated.

Serve over your garlic saffron rice, top your dish with scallions (highly recommended!) and - if you are so inclined and in a cheesy mood - sprinkle on some Daiya vegan cheddar cheese.

A really fast recipe and makes for great, filling leftovers (it gets spicier though so beware). Best of all, it makes the kitchen smell sassy.

This also, as my hacking cough and rubber nose can attest, is a fabulous recipe to turn to when I am sick - the spiciness can force some flavor onto my palate, it doesn't require diligent chewing, and its warm & homey.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Ep 101

Last Sunday gave host to the premiere of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

While I am as susceptible as anyone to the all-consuming power of vicariously participating in trashy drama, I have always made a conscious effort to avoid reality TV (both as a career and as an entertainment though, unfortunately, I have become entangled with both heads of the beast). However, given the subject matter I couldn't help but be instantly fascinated by this show. And so I marked my calander and plunged on in - wanting very much to love it and wanting, even more so, for the rest of trashy-drama-loving-America to love it. I really really hope that Oliver's message retains its sincerity and that he avoids making a superficial spectacle of it all. So far, I am on the fence.

The premiere focuses on the instant conflict Jamie hits upon his arrival to Huntington, West Virginia - opening with a scathing radio interview with a local radio station. Jamie, shaking off the local jerk, who accused him of trying to force-feed the town lettuce, heads next to a public elementary school where, despite his prettiest smiles and cutesy British turns of phrase, he finds another enemy in Alice - a tough no-nonsense lunch lady. Apparently at this school pizza works for breakfast (and counts for two servings of bread!). The only milk kids are drinking is strawberry and chocolate flavored. Apples are just for show and inevitably end up in the trash. Jamie's outrage is met with cold denial by the lunch staff who stand by their frozen processed food. As long as chicken is "one of" the ingredients in frozen chicken strips, then its legit. Luckily we finally find a friend in a local pastor (now there is a first!) - he's tired of burying his sickly parish (is it called a parish?).

We also spend some time with an overweight family who is more amenable to changing their lifestyle. Jamie shows them how to whip up a quick pasta w/salad dinner and - to my delight - features the dynamic duo!

The show ends on Jamie's tearful frustration (drama alert!) at his lack of acceptance, aggravated by a slam in the local paper, and his daunting task of being given a week to implement a new plan for the school - cooking his way - and show that he can follow all the regulations, come in on budget, and get kids to like it.

I have to say it was really interesting to see the behind the scenes of a school cafeteria. I do have sympathy for the overwhelming task before these lunch ladies. They have a ton of mouths to feed, limited time, ridiculously poor budget, and a ton of ridiculous red tape regulations and paperwork up the wazoo. But the food is completely atrocious.

I am really really excited about this show and eager to see where it goes. It has the potential to be fresh and thought provoking and through the guise of reality TV it just might captivate mainstream America. Yay for television as a tool for change! Right? I just really hope the reality TV aspect doesn't get the best of it.

If you want a more articulate review - check out this one I just found online in the Washington Post.

Vegan "Activism"

I am writing this in response to a poorly written, disappointingly insubstantial, article written by Steven Stern and posted on CNN.com. It read to me like someone looking for a filler article who wrote down some pessimistic thoughts about vegetarians and backed them up with a quick google search of "Vegan and Controversy."

While it is clear Mr. Stern has probably never in his life considered a vegetarian diet, what really bothered me was not his indicated standpoint against vegan activism, but rather the vagueness of his viewpoint and the dismissive way in which he treated his own article, and thus, vegan activists in general.

The article is entitled "Vegetarian Activists Try In-Your-Face tactics". Opening with a rather snarky comment, Stern's intent is clear :

Not content to sit quietly at home eating their tofu cutlets, more and more vegetarians, it seems, are taking action, trying to get the carnivorous masses to change their ways.

The article then hastily outlines some of those tactics. From some anonymous rogue pie throwers at a lecture given by Lierre Keith (trust me, when I finish her book, you will get a heavy dose of my thoughts on her), to PETA's attempt to get a racy ad to air on the Superbowl a year ago.

Stern points out the vegetarian activists have learned that "sex sells" and seams to suggests that media attention is the central goal of a vegetarian activist. He states:

Still, recipes only go so far. And, more to the point, they don't get as much media attention. For many vegan and vegetarian activists, getting coverage is an art.

While I felt the article had a dismissive, negative spin to it, I think the topic of vegan representation Stern hastily brings up is, when give real weight and consideration, an interesting one. I think anyone who is a vegetarian or a vegan is inherently an activist in the sense that we "lead by example." But the extent of our dedication to activism in the sense of "conversion" varies wildly.

I spend a lot of time consciously aware of the stereotype put upon me for being a vegan. A lot of people assume vegan is synonymous with adjectives like "extreme" or "crazy liberal" or "irrational" and even the less harmful but still generalizing "hippie" and "tree-hugger." Vegans are thought by many to be difficult, rigid, judgmental, and (usually) wrong. I've never found a fictional character in movies, television, or books who was a vegan and didn't inhabit these traits. Making fun of a vegan and their beliefs is fair game, especially now that it is so hard to make fun of other groups these days without an instant backlash.

"Not content to sit at home eating their fried chicken, more and more african americans, it seems, are taking action, trying to get the white masses to change their ways."

Or how about -

"Not content to sit at home eating their matzoh ball soup, more and more jews, it seems, are taking action, trying to get the Goy masses to change their ways."

And lastly -

"Not content to sit at home listening to Lady Gaga, more and more gays, it seems, are taking action, trying to get the straight masses to change their ways."

To see a CNN article so callously play into the vegan stereotype, by stringing together a series of unrelated minor events by various groups and individuals, is hurtful. To forsake serious examination of why some activists do take the in-your-face-approach is disappointing.

But all stereotypes exist for a reason. There are people who take extreme approaches when desperate for attention, this is true for any side of any debate. I do agree that PETA often takes advantage of this. I do think that dumping a ton of manure in front of Gordon Ramsay's restaurant is antagonistic and the equivalent of hurling a bowl of vinegar at your flies. While I understand the anger that feeds those actions, I think that it is important to keep such anger in check, especially if your goal is to get people to listen.

However, I personally do not have a problem with harmless publicity stunts. Sexy ladies clad in only lettuce handing out veggie hot dogs? Fine by me. An army of zombies protesting outside a KFC - sounds like fun. People have a right to speak their mind and, with so many people doing so these days, creativity definitely earns one a few points.

So what really got me so hot and bothered about this silly little article?

I fight really hard to get people to take my beliefs about food seriously. I enjoy a good discussion, especially with someone who does not share my opinions, as long as we are both willing to listen and engage in the debate. That is why I am reading Keith's book, and why I am loving doing so.

I became a vegan because I wasn't afraid to challenge my way of thinking. All I ask of others is to take a similar responsibility for their own beliefs and subsequent actions. And I want to never lose my own fearlessness, because I would never want to loose that freedom of thought.

I think the way we raise and grow food in this country is atrocious. I think we are killing the environment, we are killing each other, and we are killing our fellow creatures. I want more people to care, and I want to engage more people in the controversy over food. I want to end factory farms. I want revolutionize the food industry so that people are not eating themselves into early graves. I want to learn how to grow food sustainably. I want to help feed and nourish the hungry.

So no, Mr. Stern, I am not content to sit quietly at home eating my tofu cutlets.

Slow Food

Congress is updating the Child Nutrition Act. Email your legislators to tell them you support helping schools serve real food. Check out this website dedicated to advocating for better food in school.

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/time_for_lunch/

Jamie Oliver

Every year the TED Conference awards at least one of its speakers a "TED PRIZE" to "an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, "One Wish to Change the World." Designed to leverage the TED community's exceptional array of talent and resources, the Prize leads to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact." This years recipient was Jamie Oliver, and this week he revealed his wish to the world.

I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.

He speaks passionately about the need to educate children and parents about food. Repeating the haunting mantra expressed by so many other nutrition experts - that we have welcomed in a generation of children whose life span is less than their parents - he implores people to accept the reality of the situation and, even more important, accept the responsibility of it as well. He talks about obesity and bad health as a very serious and deadly epidemic (with diet-related diseases sporting a higher death toll than all other leading causes of death combined). Yet, unlike AIDS or Cancer, it is not only completely preventable, it is reversible as well. He presents simple facts and necessary solutions. Don't listen to me summarize - check it out for yourself in the video above.

Jamie Oliver is a celebrity chef who worked to revolutionize food in the British school system by launching a campaign entitled "Feed Me Better" and now has his sites set on America with an upcoming reality show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" on ABC, where he takes on the fattest city in the nation, Huntington, West Virginia, in hopes of turning around their eating habits.

I am happy to see him gaining attention and finding a way to bring this topic into mainstream media outlets. Its truly embarrassing what we feed kids in schools, and our justifications for it just don't hold up.

His talk got me to thinking and I realized that most of the issues I feel passionate about, with regard to food, stem from us as a global culture distancing ourselves from food. We distance ourselves from the unpleasantries of factory farming, we distances ourselves from the environmental strain of large scale agriculture, we distance ourselves from knowledge about where our food comes from - we don't properly understand its nutritional value, and often times eat things that contain ingredients we know absolutely nothing about. We distance ourselves from the responsibility all these revelations entail. When we are not properly educated we are helpless. Below is a list of a couple of things Oliver outlined in his talk to help the US get back on track.

• Every child in the U.S. should learn to cook 10 meals before leaving high school.
• Supermarkets should appoint "food ambassadors" to explain to customers how they can prepare local, fresh and seasonal foods.
• Food companies should make education a central part of their business.
• Food labeling should be improved to accurately warn people about unhealthy food. In his video he calls America's current food-labeling system a "farce."

Pizza Fusion

Discovered a great pizza place that opened up a couple blocks away. Pizza Fusion. They offer gourmet pizza, salads, sandwiches, wine, and other tasty treats, both for the vegan and the carnivore. It was a rare treat to find a pizza place that offered vegan pizza (with vegan cheese!). They also offer a lot of gluten-free alternatives. Pizza Fusion has a commitment to organic food free of artificial additives, like preservatives, growth hormones, pesticides, nitrates and trans fats. Even more exciting is their commitment to the environment and sustainable business practices. Furnishing their restaurants in hip recyclable material, participating in and sponsoring community events for the environment, and even proudly declaring that their website is powered by renewable energy, this business seems very sincere in its mission.

Originating in Florida, they have locations all across the US!

Vegan Cheesy Potatoes

As often happens when I am stressed out and mindful of my pitiful income, I realized quite suddenly this morning that I was both insanely hungry and faced with a near-bare kitchen. All I had on hand was a well stocked spice cabinet and some scant leftovers from last weekends enchilada madness. Thanks, however, to the dynamic duo (alongside a quick call to mom for inspiration) I was saved. Thus I present to you : Vegan Cheesy Potatoes

Ingredients:

Potatoes (I used small Yukon gold potatoes, about 12)
Garlic (four cloves) and Olive Oil ( about a tablespoon)
One small yellow onion
Daiya Vegan cheddar cheese (shredded)
Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Lime Juice (remains of Corona drinking!)

Slice potatoes as uniformly as possible and about half a finger's width. Chop up onion and garlic. Heat up olive oil in pan, dump in garlic, potatoes, and onion (yes I like them all in at once). Sprinkle on your seasoning and let cook. As potatoes start to get tender, give them some spritz of lime juice. Once potatoes are tender to your liking, sprinkle on some cheese, let it melt and mix it up, and then - enjoy!

Quite satisfying. Now time to make up the grocery list.