If I was a horse...

...they'd take me out back and shoot me.

The litany of physical issues and aches & pains is just getting ridiculous for someone my age. I know some of you reading will see this as proof that my "healthy vegan diet" must be baloney, but you'd be wrong. First off, I don't eat as strictly as I should and do suffer some consequences as a result. Secondly, if I didn't eat as well as I do, I'd be in a much bigger world of hurt: constant sinusitis with blinding headaches, debilitating foot pain from the plantar fasciitis, digestive system upset, skin breakouts, and more.

I seem to be more prone to structural (muscular & skeletal) injury than to illness, although the ongoing vertigo problems are giving that belief a run for its money. Yep, the vertigo is back. Actually, that's not entirely accurate as I'm not having the sensation of the room spinning. What I do have, almost every day to varying degrees, is dizziness. Some mornings, it is enough to send me to the bathroom to hover over the toilet in case the nausea "steps it up." Other mornings, the dizziness is not so bad but its presence is a constant reminder that it could return full-force at any moment.

Its constant presence is hampering my productivity. When my head hurts and I feel unbalanced, it is hard to think, make decisions, or function. Despite my desire to be biking more (when it's not 107 degrees outside), dizziness stops me. Is this an excuse? Perhaps, but after my recent fall off the bike, I think it is a reasonable precaution for now. Falling off a bike, especially near traffic, can result in severe injuries.

On the other hand, if I'm going to have to live with this damn dizziness, I figure I need to learn to function as well as I can. I'm trying to keep up with my life, although I'm taking more breaks to rest. I've even forced myself to go to my self-defense classes, but taken the precaution of letting the instructor know that I may have to step away from an activity or exercise if I feel unstable. (Physically, not mentally. Ha!) In the meantime, I'm revisiting my shoulder stretches and exercises on the assumption that inflammation there may be triggering the dizziness since I am not eating any foods that should be affecting me negatively.

Do they shoot horses that whine too much?

My broken toe has worsened in the last few days. It hadn't been bothering me all that much, only hurting it I touched it (Obvious solution: don't touch it!) or flexed it too much stepping off a curb. However, my new orthotics that should resolve the Morton's neuroma - on the same foot, of course - seem to have shifted my stance in such a way that my toe is constantly aggravated. So now I am limping from pain and staggering from the dizziness at the same time.

Don't place any bets on me, folks; I won't be winning this race.

I shouldn't complain as these ailments are, hopefully, not permanent and they are not anywhere near as bad as conditions many others suffer through every day. My primary concern is they significantly lower my productivity, especially combined with other aggravating minor concerns such as a painful rib out of place, a sprained thumb that is not improving, the TMJ, and a wrist issue that impedes my ability to knead much bread. And, as anyone with chronic pain will tell you, ever-present pain is wearing. The effort of dealing with it constantly drains your energy, your motivation, and your joy.

How do you get the damn pesky inner voice to shut the heck up. It's reminding me that I have a book on my shelf that was written expressly for the purpose of helping people deal with chronic pain: Full Catastophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. It must be time to dust it off and actually read it, cover to cover. I was introduced to the concepts in it - the use of meditation to calm the body and mind - through an 8-week course but I haven't actually read the book. Funny, I've also been avoiding finding the time to listen to the book on tape I picked up on Minding the Body, Mending the Mind which is also about meditation. Okay, okay, I get the message. It's time to start taking care of myself.....before I'm put down like a lame gymnast.

Holiday Eats & Treats

Holidays during the summer months mean BBQ; not necessarily at my home, but definitely in the neighborhood. One drawback to an evaporative cooler is that it pulls in outside air (over wet pads) constantly, and along with that air comes all the smells of the area. When someone fires up their grill, I smell it and later smell the cooking meat.

When I know I'll be facing BBQ smells, I take pre-emptive action. I usually pick up some vegan hot dogs and/or hamburgers along with whole wheat buns. Depending on what came in the CSA share, I'll plan corn on the cob or potato salad as a side. This holiday, however, something kept me from doing my usual shopping. Perhaps it was calculating that my two dogs eat a pound of food a day and realizing what a hit the budget is going to take as a result. Or perhaps it was just that I want to avoid buying food someone else made instead of making it myself. I limited my shopping yesterday to just the vegan hot dogs, and got those only because my sweetie requested them. Personally, I've never really cared for hot dogs, meat or vegan. It's the condiments that are tasty.

I'll be making my hamburgers from scratch, using a recipe from a cookbook written by a monastery abbot. Just because the monks are vegan doesn't mean they don't want to enjoy the same types of dishes as everyone else. Simply Heavenly! is, I believe, currently out of print so it may be hard to track down a copy. It took me two years of scouring used bookstores to finally find a copy (at a reasonable price) after I first heard about the book.


The hamburger recipe starts with making "unbeef" out of gluten. It doesn't look too appetizing at this point, but I'll grind that up tomorrow morning, trying out the meat grinder attachment on my Italian food mill, and mix it with a number of other ingredients including shredded zucchini, minced onion, bread crumbs and flour, seasonings, and some fake cheese. I've got fake mozzarella cheese in the freezer, made from another good vegan cookbook I've mentioned before - The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.


I also avoided buying buns because I figure it's high time I try making them from scratch. As I began to search for a recipe this morning, I was finding ones with loads of eggs and oil in them. Once I added the word "vegan" to my search, Bryanna Clark Grogan's site popped up. She is yet another great vegan cookbook author. I haven't decided which bun recipe to try out of the four she posted, but I can't get started until my sweetie grinds me some flour on the bike anyway. Tomorrow will be baking day.


Last night, I made him happy by adding cut-up hot dogs to a can of vegetarian baked beans. A quick and easy supper was in order and this worked perfectly. Lest you think I'll let him just eat that kind of food without any vegetables, let me assure you that there is a sauteed onion, grated potato, and shredded zucchini in there as well. (Shh, don't tell him.) To round out the meal, I later made a delicious cherry cobbler. It really needed a scoop of soy ice cream but there is no room in my freezer for the ice cream maker.

For drinks, I'll again turn to the cucumber for a cooling lime drink. Maybe we'll have cucumber granita/sorbet for dessert again.

Are you planning a tasty holiday meal?

Cucumber Sorbet

A friend helping at the CSA solar cooking demos recently accused me of something kind of funny. I was telling her about my plans to make Vinagre (spicy pineapple vinegar) with the skin of the organic pineapple (from Mexico) that I picked up that morning at a new Farmer's Market in town. She said, "I think you have more fun using the parts of produce most people throw away than using the actual produce." I laughed and assured her that I would indeed enjoy the pineapple, too.

But, she has a point. I love finding new ways to use the trimmings and leftover produce bits that usually go straight to compost. I salvage limp leaves of lettuce and the thick ribs for a cooked dish, I make liqueurs with the "waste product" leftover from making pomegranate jelly, and I use every bit of the watermelon except the skin. I love the creativity that results from striving to avoid food waste and I get to enjoy more food for less money. Who could argue with that?!

This weekend, I made a delicious local meal which included a tasty cucumber and lime drink we occasionally serve for samples at the CSA. We get Armenian cucumbers that members tend to shy away from because they are so large. Once we share the drink, however, they hold on to their cukes and hope for more the following week. The combination of cucumber juice, lime juice, simple sugar syrup, and ice water is very refreshing in our summer heat.

Unfortunately, I don't have a juicer. I tried running a cucumber through my food strainer that worked so well on the tomatoes but the cucumber was just too firm. This weekend, I resorted to using the blender method. I peeled and chunked up the cucumber and processed it in the blender with some water until liquified. Then I added a few frozen lemon juice cubes, rather than lime juice, and blended it some more. After straining it to make the drink, I was left with a strainer full of finely ground solids. I took a taste and enjoyed the fine texture and hint of lemon juice. An idea popped into my head.

Why not make sorbet? Crazy, right? Well, who would have thought drinking a cucumber was a good idea...but it was.

I found a flat container for the ground cucumber and stirred in a fair amount of the sugar syrup. I popped this in the freezer and occasionally stirred it up with a fork. I didn't get around to eating it until the next day, but it was an intriguing dessert. The flavor, with each bite, was unexpected but it was refreshing and I felt good about making such a healthy choice for a sweet treat. Heck, when my mother told me that I had to eat my veggies in order to get dessert, I'll bet she never thought I'd simply combine the two!

Update: here is a similar-looking recipe for cucumber sorbet. It, however, does retain the juice as well for the sorbet instead of making a separate drink.

Recipe Index

This index includes all the recipes posted on this blog (except ones that link to other sites). The recipes may be in standard cookbook format or in prose. All recipes are vegan. Most are very low in fat. My other blog also has a recipe index.

Unless otherwise noted, these recipes are my original creations and protected by copyright. Please do not reproduce them without my written permission.


BEANS

• Bean Dips


• Chile's Lowfat Hummus


• Great Northern Bean-Red Pepper Spread


• Recipe Ideas for Beans

BEVERAGES

• Hot Cocoa


• Mexican Hot Cocoa


• Prickly Pear Smoothie


• Vanilla Soy Latte

BREADS

• Corn Tortillas


• Corn Tortillas Redux (with photos)


• Fat-free Whole Wheat Tortillas


• Garlicky Breadsticks


• Ginger Beer Gingerbread


• Jan's Cornbread


• Pumpkin Tea Loaf


• Stollen

BREAKFAST

• Breakfast Burrito


• Breakfasts - Quick & easy ideas


• Overnight Oatmeal


• The Best Damn Pancakes You'll Ever Eat


• Winter Squash Breakfast

CONDIMENTS

• Basil Flavoring Cubes


• Chorizo Spice Mix


• Cured Olives


• Green Indian Chutney


• Pomegranate Jelly


• Limequat Marmalade


• Prickly Pear Vinaigrette


• Tangerine Jelly


• Thai Dipping Sauce


• Tomato-Jalapeno Jam

DESSERTS

• Baked Pumpkin


• Butterscotch Pudding


• Candied Citrus Peels (Thick)


• Candied Citrus Peels - Variations


• Carob Truffles


• Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries


• Chocolate Espresso Truffles


• Cucumber Sorbet


• Harvest Holiday Cake


• Intense Mint Truffles


• Melon Candy


• Peach Sorbet


• Rootbeer Float Ice Cream


• Vegan Pumpkin-Pecan Frosting with Coconut

MAIN DISHES

• Almost Instant Mexican Rice


• BBQ Potatoes


• Baked Spaghetti Squash


• Chickpea Noodle Casserole


• Chickpea-Sweet Potato Stew


• Creamy Indian Eggplant


• Curried Chickpeas


• Dinners - Quick & easy ideas


• Easy Spaghetti


• Instant Mexican Rice


• (Leftover) Mashed Potato Samosas


• Lunches - Quick & easy ideas


• Mexican Enchiladas


• Pasta with Peas


• Rice & Lettuce Salad


• Simple Soup


• Tender Thanksgiving Turkey


• Thai Sushi Rolls with Dipping Sauce


• Veggie Burgers


• Vegetable Fried Rice


• Vegetarian Bibim Bap

MEAT, EGG, & DAIRY SUBSTITUTES

• Dairy Substitutes


• Egg Substitutes - recipes & uses


• Flax seed egg substitute


• Not-So-Meaty Balls


• Meat substitutes


• Reduced Soymilk

MISCELLANEOUS

• How to Dehydrate Pumpkin


• How to Roast Green Chiles


• Sprouting Wheat Berries


• Turkeyless Gravy

PASTA

• Beet Couscous


• Easy Spaghetti


• Homemade Egg-Free Noodles


• Pasta with Peas

RICE

• Almost Instant Mexican Rice


• Instant Mexican Rice


• Sushi Rice


• Vegetable Fried Rice


• Vegetarian Bibim Bap

SALADS & VEGETABLES

• Beet & Arugula Salad


• Chickenless Rice Salad


• Chorizo Spiced Potatos & Vegetables


• Cucumber-Onion-Tomato-Purslane Salad


• Lettuce & Pea Chiffonade


• Marinated Watermelon Rind


• Melon Kimchi


• Potato Salad


• Quick (Fake) Sauerkraut


• Rice & Lettuce Salad


• Sauerkraut


• Simple Steamed Broccoli


• Smoky Green Beans


• Vegan Kohlrabi & Fennel Salad

SNACKS

• Bean Dips


• Candied Green Chiles


• Lori's Dehydrated Candied Orange Peels


• Masa Quesadillas


• Prickly Pear Leather


• Roasted Watermelon Seeds


• Snacks - Quick & easy ideas


• Squash Blossom Quesadilla

SOUPS

• Acorn squash & mustard green soup


• Beefish Stew


• Chickpea-Sweet Potato Stew


• Cream of Mushroom Soup (vegan)


• Frugal Soup


• Indian Bean Soup with Roasted Watermelon Seeds


• Irish Garden Soup


• Quick Pumpkin Soup


• Stock - How to make a good one


• Simple Soup

Thoughts on Surviving versus Living

On Survival Chick's newly revived blog, she recently posted a preview of a new post-apocalyptic movie based on Cormac McCarthy's book, The Road. While watching the movie doesn't particularly interest me, I was curious about the book. I found it in the library yesterday and finished it last night.

I didn't finish it in a single day because it was one of those books you can't put down; I finished it because it was a fairly quick read due to the style used by the author. I wasn't crazy about his style, but it was effective for this book. The world he portrayed, after some unnamed apocalyptic event has destroyed most life on the planet, was dreary and bleak, gray and hopeless.

The two central characters, a man and his son, are on a journey to the coast in hopes of finding warmer temperatures. Their lives consist of traveling, by foot, in ash-covered landscapes full of dead trees and no other life whatsoever save the occasional other human. And not all those humans are ones they want to encounter. There is no joy, there is no rest, there is no comfort, and there is little hope. Each day revolves around survival, trying to find something to eat where everything is dead and trying to avoid the "bad people" who take advantage of the only remaining living creatures - humans - on the planet.

What struck me while reading this book was wondering why these people - the good and the bad - had such a drive to survive. This was not a temporary situation that could be remedied with good compost, conserved water, and a few seeds. This was the end of life on the planet. I see no nobility or heroism in slowly starving to death while living every moment in fear of being found by others who would hurt you, kill you, and, yes, eat you. In their world, it won't be all that long until the last cans of foods tucked away in someone's remote home or bomb shelter will be found and eaten. There will be no food left, there will be no way to grow food, and there will be no more people left. Death is a given for them.

I've looked at some of the reviews of this book and many people seem to have liked it. They were moved by the father's love for his son and willingness to do whatever it took to keep going. Perhaps I don't share this view because I am not a parent, but maybe also because I don't see making it through another day, just to make it through another day, while starving a little bit more as a positive life-affirming approach. The boy's witnessing of the worst that humanity on the brink of extinction can offer will not make him, in my opinion, a better person. He will still die -probably soon - along with everyone else after the book ends.

I'm all for learning skills to live through the harder times I think humanity is going to face soon due to climate change (rising sea levels, drought, crop pests expanding their range, pandemics, melting glaciers leading to freshwater shortages, more severe coastal storms, famine, etc.) and peak oil (the end of "cheap" energy). We can adapt and live more simply without rampant overconsumption, we can transport ourselves with our own energy (feet or pedal power), we can grow gardens, and we can work as communities to supply our needs locally. Life is still possible, even if it becomes much different and more difficult than what we are accustomed to now. There is still hope and we can still find satisfaction and joy in it. Where there is only death, however, where there is no hope, there is nothing.

It is one thing to know that conditions on this planet may become extremely challenging for humans by the end of this century. If we pass all the tipping points, and some experts think we already have, pockets of humanity will likely still survive, and carve out new lives, on a more hostile planet of our own making. If the planet is dead, however, there is no life. There is only survival, and that only until the food runs out. That would not be a world worth living in, at least not for me.

Time to read a more hopeful book, Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Change.

Ruthless Clutter Cutting

I was making very slow progress on the email clutter in my Chile inbox so I got ruthless this morning. For all the scanning through old comments I had already done, I'd only found a single link and one recipe I wanted to keep. I decided to ditch most of the remaining comments without reading them. This saves me considerable time that can be put to much better use....like training my new dog.

All I have left now are personal emails from other bloggers that I need to sort through to toss or refile. Since my total, however, is now under 1,000, I don't feel quite as much urgency to work on it right now. I have plenty of other clutter to tackle so keep an eye on that box in the sidebar. It will likely change periodically.

Dog Toy Sculpture

When your house is a mess, you have to find beauty wherever you can.