Vegan Activism

Am I a poor hostess, I must confess. I made my guest WORK ... here he is doing the dishes. He also decided that my floor needed a good mopping so he helped me get it all wet so that I could pull out the mop and clean it up. He helped me pick corn (he put the cobs in a bucket), wash potatoes, and make spaghetti sauce. I tuckered him out and he had to go home to get a few hours sleep before coming back and doing some more.

My motto: Children learn what they live, help them learn how to live. No matter how much $$ Mc Donald's spends on commercials they will never give your child the skills they need to live a content and satisfying "free" life. It is freeing to have the skills you need to be able to make a conscious decision about the lifestyle you want to live and the heritage you want to leave those around you. I'll have him a few days this week too because his dad is having surgery.
I pressure canned the garden potatoes this weekend. I love having this pressure cooker! The potatoes are fully cooked inside the jars. The kind of potatoes pictured here will be soft and can just be mashed or heated and eaten once the jar is open. (VwaV punk rock mashed potato and chickpea gravy here I come!). If I wanted a firmer texture potato that can be taken out of the jar, sliced and fried I would have used yukon gold variety. It took cooking 55 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure to achieve the right temp that would kill the boutullism bacteria in a quart of potatoes. Other foods vary. Canned legumes take 1 hour 15 minutes per pint, 1 hour 30 minutes per quart.

I also canned quart jars of Savory White Bean and Corn Soup. The cool thing is that I soaked baby lima beans overnight. Drained, brought them to a boil, and then added all the soup ingredients raw. I boiled it for 5 minuutes. Placed soup into sterilized jar and placed in the canner. It takes about 20 minutes to bring it upto pressure and then I cooked for 1 hour 30 minutes. The soup cooks in the jars while it is canning. The soup was wonderful and believe it or not but my veggies were not mush and the lima beans were cooked perfectly. I chose this soup becasue I had fresh tomatoes, corn, and onions. We really like this soup with a wedge of savory foccocia and something appl' ish for dessert to complete. Interested in the recipe, let me know and I'll post it later.

These tiny tom's are so cute I had to share them with you. These came off a plant variety that I have not tried beforen this year. You can see their size compared to a regular kitchen teaspoon here. They are sweet yet pleasantly acidic, perfect for salads and eating plain.

This weekend I had a couple ears of leftover cooked sweet corn, 1/2 of a medium zucchini, some onion, fresh made spaghetti sauce, homemade feta cheese made from tofu and a New Jerusalem pita bread in the freezer. I was hankering a pizza dish so I sauteed the veggies in vegetable broth and assembled this wonderful little pizza. As Racheal Ray would say, "yum-mo!" and this was laso ready to eat in less than 30 minutes.

I plan on making one today that will include roasted red peppers, sauteed green and garlic and more of the tofu feta (I used Bryanna's recipe). I am salivating just thinking about what I will prepare for lunch.

BRYANNA'S QUICK TOFU "FETA"(link)

Follow the link above and you'll see variations for herbed feta as well as some other delish ideas.

Makes about 3 c.

Pour it into a flat container, cover and chill until firm. Cut into squares. To store, make a fairly salty brine of water and salt (about 1 T. salt per cup of water) boiled together for 5 minutes, cool it, and pour it over the chunks of “cheese” to cover. The “feta” will keep for several weeks in a covered container in the refrigerator in this brine.

2-14 oz. firm regular (NOT silken) tofu, crumbled

NOTE: You can use 8 oz. medium-firm mixed with 4-6 oz. extra-firm tofu, if you have no firm tofu)

2 tsp. agar powder (or 4 T. flakes)

1/4 c. water

1 tsp. vegan sugar

2 T. neutral-tasting cooking oil

2 and 1/2 tsp. salt

1 T. light miso

6 T. fresh lemon juice

Blend the tofu, agar, water, sugar, oil, and salt in a food processor until very smooth. Place the mixture in a heavy-bottomed small saucepan and stir over medium heat until it bubbles for a few minutes and thickens. MICROWAVE OPTION: Place the mixture in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on HI for 3 minutes. Whisk briefly. Microwave 2 minute more. Whisk the miso and lemon juice into the cooked mixture. (You add these last because the lemon juice interferes with the jelling of the agar if cooked with it, and you want to preserve the enzymes the miso.) Pour it into a flat container, cover and chill until firm. Cut into squares. To store, make a fairly salty brine of water and salt (about 1 T. salt per cup of water) boiled together for 5 minutes, cool it, and pour it over the chunks of “cheese” to cover. The “feta” will keep for several weeks in a covered container in the refrigerator in this brine.

Last bit of activism...
How about a fresh blueberry sorbet with a slice of frozen carob zucchini bread sticking out of it.

P.S. What's really on my mind?
I think activism should be enticing and one would choose it because of the genuine and practical benefits and how it makes life truly better for all involved. Become the change you wish to see as Ghandi said. A person can disagree with what I do, but I would hope they would not destroy my garden to stop me from doing it. Future vegans, animal right activists, and others who disagree with factory farming practices or minimum wage slave labor, etc, etc ... need others to show them all the options of how to live!

That is what it is about for me... living, peace, and contentment. I must choose to live and treat others as I would want to be treated. Prison is not a good way to promote the cause no matter how much attention it brings. I disagree with current abortion practices too, BUT it is wrong to bomb the clinics to stop it. I strongly disagree with the practice of corporation public school teaching my children (stomping on my parental responsibilties) so many hours of the day yet by the time many are done they may have no ability to balance a checkbook or have the skills to live a satisfying life, BUT it is wrong to damage any part of it. The education of my children is at the top of my agenda (not attention on what is not working), I cannot change others BUT I can influence others by the things I have found to be positive with our chosen lifestyle (as well as tell about many challenging experiences we had to live and learn through).

Generating fear will not cause the true change you desire to see in the world. Instead of pointing out what is wrong (of which I am not blind or ignorant of all the wrong in the world) ...Dori say teach by example and DO what is right even if no one else agrees (modern country gardener secret).