Adventures in a Culinary Sense....

When a person announces that they are going to quit eating meat, go vegetarian, the most common question is "where will you get your protein?". But when they announce that they are going to take it to the next level and become a vegan, the most common question seems to be "what can you eat?", almost as though after meat, cheese and eggs, there is nothing else. But it is closing in on one year ago since I made that decision and while there was a bit of a learning curve in the first few months, it has been an adventure in flavours, a grand experience in learning, a new understanding of what is really good for the human body and a discovery of what is happening to our world from the environmental standpoint.

So what did we have last night for supper? Let me start by saying that many of our meals are becoming more of a one dish experience with some sort of pickled vegetable beside or sliced fresh cucumbers or pepper slices. Last night I made a rice noodle stir fry, every vegetable (as well as pecans and pumpkin seeds), that was in the fridge was involved and a sauce that I made up myself. It is possible that someone, somewhere thought up the exact same sauce, but this isn't plagerism of a recipe because I've not seen it anywhere yet.

My sauce had the following in it:

3/4 cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp five spice powder
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
dash of salt
1 - 2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch
1/8 cup pumpkin seeds (ground)

After the veggies were cooked (just barely) to perfection, I started working the pre-cooked and slightly cooled noodles in. The next step was to pour the sauce over the vegetable mixture and stirred it around til it had thickened slightly. And with that, dinner was served.

And while I don't make dessert every day, since becoming a vegan I've learned to make chocolate pudding with rice milk, coco powder, an avocado and half of a banana. I have a great recipe too for blueberry muffins that use no milk, and chocolate chip cookies that are butter free and are sooooo good! Another entree idea is a shredded potato wrap that is a meal in itself. Instead of being bound by the habit of preparing a meal based on and around some type of meat, I have learned to combine flavours, and use spices and a world of vegetable, grain and fruit flavours that prior to "V" Day, I rarely thought about. So back to the question of what do I eat, all the vegetables and fruits and grains and nuts and seeds and spices of the world.

Keep in mind that every food has a bit of protein in it. Protein is the building block of the body, be it the animal or the human body and without it, we would all launguish and die. But cows and horses get big on grass, and bears eat mostly vegetation. As a result, the need for the average human being to make some special effort to ensure their protein requirements is really not a big deal.

As for the health and environmental aspects, well that is another day I think. But for today, enjoy the sunshine if you are lucky enough to have it shining down on you, and if your not so blessed, make the effort to find something else to be grateful for.

Peace and love,
Debby

They'll Never See an Auction!

Five years ago I drove past the auction in Langley. As I passed, I noticed the portable "billboard" sign out front gave an upcoming date for a horse auction. I'd stopped in at the auction once long before that day, out of curiousity. The small dirty wire cages, filled with frightened chickens, ducks and rabbits were stacked up just inside the entrance and beyond them, the pens with the animals. I had walked through rather quickly, and for just a moment, had poked my head in the door of the room where the auction ring was. Rising up steeply against the back wall were the bleachers where people sat, watching to see if any animal came in that might be of use to them. The smoke from numerous cigarettes made the air hazy and I left without going in. And now, as I passed that sign, I imagined if Sierra and Ambra were standing, shivering in terror in one of those pens and the tears welled up in my eyes and I think in that moment I decided that my girls would never see a place like that.

So now Kim and Holly are long gone, no little girls to ride the horses we bought for them and Ambra and Sierra are getting older. Next March they will be 20 years old and we're on the downhill run. My dream for our retirement was that they would have green grass so graze on, a peaceful life and a peaceful death. I think I do this for me, for them and for the horses who will spend their last days in terror and pain. The US has banned horse slaughter and now all those horses that are born to spend their childhood on race tracks and in PMU farms and those who are born because unthinking and uncaring people want to have a baby running in the pasture or who are hoping for the next champion, will be shipped in overcrowded stock trucks, when they are of no more use. They will not be fed or watered on that trip, they will be injured and receive no care and when they arrive in Alberta or in Mexico, they will be brutalized. In Canada, they will be hit repeatedly by bolt guns and in Mexico, they will be stabbed in the neck, over and over again in search of their spinal cord. My girls will never see an auction. I will not sell them to someone else because I'm too old to care for them, because someone might send them to auction and I will not do that to them.

In making this decision, I've given up some things. I left the place I've lived for most of my life, I've left some of my family behind.....but I've gained too. I have peace of mind because I haven't tossed aside these animals that have come to trust me. I've taken a stand against animal abuse and live my life according to that stand and that gives me peace of mind too. When we live our lives according to our beliefs we become stronger.

Where this blog began as a way to keep family apprised on our comings and goings in the place we now live, so far from home, from this point on, you may notice a change. I hope that you will come on this journey with me and I hope that it will give you food for thought. The greatest thing that humanity can do for itself is to keep an open mind because that is the only way we learn and grow. So having said that, I leave you now, til next time.....

Peace and love,
Debby