Satireday on Eco-Crap

Make you Fink on Friday

While I’m not a vegetarian and certainly not a vegan, there are some things that I like that qualify… not many, but some.

Found today a dish that I’d like.

Quinoa fried rice stuffed tomatoes (Dairy Free)

This Dairy free recipe contains Ripe juicy tomatoes are hollowed out and filled with quinoa stir fried veggies. Quinoa is sautéed with stir fried veggies and sauces; Stuffing can be personalised as per the taste.

Health Benefits:

Tomatoes act as an excellent source of the strong antioxidant, vitamin C, potassium and choline content in the tomatoes all support heart health.

Image: Chitra’s Healthy Kitchen

Fried rice using quinoa instead of rice as its high in protein and fantastic wheat-free alternative. Quinoa is a tiny grain that cooks up like rice and has nutty flavour and light, fluffy, texture similar to couscous.

This makes a fantastic vegetarian main course as it is stuffed with quinoa.

Source for what you need and what you do and how you do it: Chitra’s Healthy Kitchen

Hey, Vegans & Vegies… Mexican!

Like the look of this?

I think it’s vegan, if not certainly vegetarian.

::Whole Wheat Tortillas::

::Tomato, Corn & Zucchini Salsa::

::Black Bean & Pepper Filling

::Cashew Cheese Sauce::

::Guacamole::

Full recipes and instructions on: http://shineonbeutiful.com/

I’d like it!

 

Change the World Wednesday – 16th Apr

Oiling Brazil’s internet

The internet needs oiling, had trouble loading this page this morning, kept sticking.

All oiled and running smoothly again.

Now it’s 3:30am (making graphics takes time), do I need coffee or do I need more sleep?

Sleep now, coffee later.

I woke at 6am, still too early.

It’s now 9… Boy, did I sleep. I need more coffee.

Clorinha is not ‘green’. She likes plastic.

Clorinha thinks clear plastic is fun

She also likes boxes and empty bottles, they are so wonderful to roll around the floor.

After admitting on last week’s CTWW that I used a squirt of air freshener, I saw the suggestion of orange peel in vinegar as an alternative air freshener on another blog, Living Simply Free, I am trying that. I have the first orange peels in a small jar of vinegar. I have perforated the lid, hopefully during the process it will allow the smell to spread.

Small jar of orange peel and vinegar in the corner

I will have to buy a small spray bottle to try the full effect of the infused vinegar as suggested.

So another example of how blogs can change habits.

Click the banner for the full post

On with this week’s CTWW.

A health issue this week. One that I didn’t know about.

Small’s CTWWs are often full of surprises.

This week, for at least one full day, go vegan. That means no animal products … no beef, chicken, pork, or fish … not even milk, cheese, eggs, or honey.

.

OR … If you are vegan or find this challenge too easy, please share a recipe with your readers and encourage them to try meatless meals … for their health and for the planet.

 

You’ll have to zip across to Reduce Footprints for the preamble to know that we are specifically talking about kidneys…

Wanting to know more, I googled it, and found a site that confirms Small’s preamble, although I rejected what the site said about saturated animal fats, which more recent studies have debunked. Natural fats are good for you, it’s the trans and hydrogenated fats like margarine and vegetable cooking oils (canola, soya, etc) that are the killers. But that’s another story, already posted on here.

Animal protein does make the kidneys work harder, a lot harder.

So the suggestion is to go for a vegan diet to avoid the risks.

I have in the past written that I am a carnivore, and I still am. Meat is a major part of my diet, although I have reduced my beef intake dramatically not because of my health, but on discovering that beef takes more natural resources to produce than other meats.

Animal protein also features high in my diet. I eat half a dozen+ eggs weekly, I drink at least a litre (nearly a quart) of milk daily, my cheese intake would be higher than most people’s, I use butter and I use lard or dripping for cooking.

Now, my health is generally good, albeit that I am a little overweight due to my sedentary life style inflicted on me through a motor accident. Touch wood I have never had kidney stones or any such thing. The only malady that I can attribute to animal products is gout (high uric acid because the kidneys can’t process it all), in my case not serious, manifesting slightly at times and going again.

So, I thankfully consider my lot. For those who don’t know, I am 62 and rapidly (all too rapidly) heading for 63. So health-wise, I haven’t fared too badly.

I would no more think of a vegan diet than fly to the moon. Although, occasionally, unconsciously, I do eat vegan meals. Not because they are vegan, but that’s what I feel like eating. I am more likely to eat a vegetarian meal like yesterday, curried beans on rice.

Some observations: Do vegans use margarine instead of butter, being under the illusion that it is inline with a vegan/healthy diet? Do vegans use vegetable cooking fat or oils (canola, soya, etc) for the same reason? I don’t know, I am asking. If you do then you are far more at risk of heart disease and obesity than using natural fats. These products are amongst the most dangerous in the western world, if the governments weren’t so cowardly (quivering at the feet of the corporations), they’d ban them. Having said that, the US government is taking a close look at new research results.

I don’t consider vegan to be the whole answer.

Nor is it the answer to saving the planet because meat takes too many resources to produce. The problem there is simply too many people, that’s what we have to look at, over population.

We are living on a dirt ball that can support 500 million people, and we are stretching resources to feed 7 billion; we are 13½times over capacity.

Therein lies the problem.

Vegan is not the solution.

 

 

Satireday on Eco-Crap

Change the World Wednesday – 9th Oct

Rolls round fast, doesn’t it?

CTWW again.

First up, an update.

Remember those little red chilies from the week before, well, here they are again. This time picked and in olive oil. There are a lot more to ripen and add.

I should get two jars like this from one bush, and there are two more bushes coming on.

Oops, the photo is not the best, but you get the idea. Maybe the photo feels like me this morning… a little out of focus.

Must need more coffee.

The tomatoes are all but finished; I think only three more to ripen, and that’s it. The bush gets pulled for the compost heap.

Click on the banner for the full post

This week’s CTWW.

A vegan kick.

This week prepare at least one vegan meal. Vegan means no animal products … no chicken, pork, fish, beef … not even milk, cheese, or eggs. I encourage you to consider whole foods and avoid processed items. If you’re feeling ambitious, go for a whole day or even a week … make a switch for a month and you’ll be my hero!

 

WANT MORE? HERE YOU GO … If you’ve embraced this challenge, or have already made it a lifestyle, please share tips and ideas. Leave a comment on this post or use the link-up below to share vegan recipes and/or articles about incorporating plant-based foods into your diet. Posts can be your own or your favorites from around the blogosphere.

Recipe on La Cocina de Anita I leave out the egg

You all know that I am not a vegan, not even a vegetarian. Various meats and all dairy produce are a part of my diet. I will participate though being a beefless week. Today for lunch I had already planned Gnocchi with a homemade tomato and herb sauce. I think that qualifies.

So, while I am a confirmed carnivore, I do have meals occasionally that are vegan or vegetarian. For me that is normal.

Update:

Lunch was awesome.

I have also added a link on Reduce Footprints for a vegan meal that I sent to Small.

Satire on Eco-Crap

Make you Fink on Friday

This video is in Portguese, I will translate below:

From 7 seconds

“Oh Mom, the chicken. This chicken isn’t real, is it?”

Mom, agrees.

“Where’s the head?”

Mom: “It hasn’t got a head, it’s diced.”

“So the head is in the sea?”

Mom: “No, the head is in the shop.”

“So you cut it like this”

Mom: “Yes, I cut it so you could eat it.”

“But why?

“Mom: “So you can eat it honey. I cut the beef, I cut the chicken.”

“I’m  not eating it. Not animals.”

Mom: “Don’t eat chicken. Just eat the gnocchi, the potato, then.”

“Just the potato and rice. I’m not going to eat the animals. They are all animals.”

Singing.

“Why eat animals, they die, why?.”

Mom: “So we can eat, honey.”

“Why do they die? I don’t like this Mom. I like them standing up.”

Mom: “Okay, you won’t eat them any more, okay?”

“Okay.”

“We need to look after the animals; not eat them.”

Mom: “Okay, you’re right, eat the potatoes and rice.”

“Okay.”

“Why are you crying?

Mom: “I’m not crying, I’m just proud of you. Just eat the potatoes and rice.”

“Okay. I’m not eating the chicken.”

It’s not the best translation in the world, some of the words were unintelligible, but you get the picture.

Errata!

One of the problems with being multilingual is confusion. In this video, I heard pollo, which is Spanish for chicken; in fact the kid is saying polvo in Portuguese, which is octopus. This is why he asks if the head is in the sea. Octopus is quite a common food here in Brazil.

Monday Moaning

It tastes like chicken… But it isn’t chicken!

I read yesterday that PETA has offered a $1million prize to the first person that can ‘make’ chicken.

A synthetic chicken.

Same texture, same taste, even look like chicken.

Race to serve up artificial chicken for a $1m prize

Dutch scientist Mark Post displays samples of in-vitro meat, or cultured meat grown in a laboratory, at the University of Maastricht. Photograph: Francois Lenoir/REUTERS

Dr Frankenstein

This is just straight out scary.

This is a poultry version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein…

This is Chickenstein!

This is scarier than Scooby Doo!

It’s all very well for animal rights groups and vege/vegans to be concerned for animal welfare; you are not alone there, many of us carnivores and mere mortals are with you. The conditions that animals, particularly chickens are kept are generally horrific and truly a sad indictment on the human race.

But one must ask the question, is it the consumers or the producers (corporations) who are at fault?

My answer is resoundingly the latter; with the caveat that the consumer has the power to change the methods.

Mechanically separated chicken used by all fast-food restaurants to make chicken nuggets and patties

But this is not the essence of my moan this morning. I am asking the question, what are we looking at in this artificial ‘solution’?

More chemicals by which we slowly poison ourselves, subject ourselves to illness and cancers, genetically modified gunge with which to assuage our collective conscience.

It is bad enough to eat the crap pictured, but what comes next I believe is the next stage in degradation.

There is no way that you’ll ever convince me that meat, chicken or otherwise, that is grown/created in the laboratory like a bacteria or a virus remotely copies the properties of meat, regardless of how it looks, feels and tastes.

This is another example of man running amok, playing God; and I don’t agree with it.

Make you Fink on Friday

Try it for a day

This week the topic has been “vegan” on Reduce Footprints Change the World Wednesday challenge challenged everybody to go vegan for one day.

During my research into my post, I found this:

Hidden Animal Products

It is very difficult to avoid animals products in this ‘modern day and age’. Here is a list of some common things that surprisingly contain animal derivatives and others that are safe.

Casein: This is a product made when milk is heated with an acid, like lactic acid. This stuff mostly occurs in “no-lactose” soy cheeses like Soyco, Soy Kaas, AlmondRella, Zero-FatRella, HempRella, and TofuRella Slices.
The labels say “lactose-free” (lactose is another milk derivative), but that doesn’t mean they are therefore vegan, as we used to incorrectly assume. Soymage soy cheese is 100% vegan, but it’s kind of gross. Vegan-Rella is also totally vegan. Casein is also used in plastics, adhesives, and paint manufacturing.
Caseinate: Casein mixed with a metal, like calcium caseinate or sodium caseinate.
Chewing Gum: Some chewing gums contain glycerine. Wrigleys gum contains a vegetarian source of glycerine.
Margarines: Can contain fish and other marine oils. Many margarines contain whey.
Nougat: Usually contains gelatine.
Pasta: May contain egg, especially if fresh. Some pasta in Italy contains squids’s ink; this can easily be recognized because the pasta is black.
Pastes: Glues. May be animal or fish derived.
Pastry: Animal fats used in most shop-baked pies etc. Check ingredients.
Phosphates: Derived from glycerol and fatty acids. May be from animal bones too.
Rennet: An enzyme taken from the stomach of a newly killed calf. Used in the cheese making process. Look for rennin or the words “made without animal rennet”.
Shortening: Can be made from animal fats. Used in the food industry especially pastries and biscuits.
Stearate: This usually comes in the form of _calcium stearate_, and it is found in hard candies like Gobstoppers and Sweetarts as well as other places. It comes from stearic acid, which usually is derived from tallow, or animal fat. Stearate is also used in vinyls (like car seats) and plastics.
Sweets: Watch out for gelatine, eg.: wine gums. Nearly all mints eg.: Polo, Trebor, Extra Strong etc contain gelatine. See also Nougat.
Whey: Liquid part of Milk

What is cochineal/carmine?

Cochineal is a bright red colouring matter made from the dried bodies of a Mexican insect Dactylopius coccus. Billions of these insects are raised and destroyed each year for a red colouring that is used in desserts, some strawberry soya milks, clothing, etc.

An average two to three cows have to kick the bucket to keep you comfortable in the leather seats of your family car.

Enough to make you think.

Almost every facet of our lives is tinged by the use of animal products.

So if you are a vege or a vegan, remember when you hop in your SUV, or perhaps you have a ‘green’ electric rollerskate , the seats you sit in, the paint work the glue and other parts of your vehicle may well have animal derived products.

So, getting back to Small Footprints challenge; if you drove your car the day you chose to ‘go vegan’ then the chances are you failed.