Dori can sew.

I finished the shirt I mentioned last week. It is the final project of a class called TX 121, designed for FCS teaching certification seekers who need basic sewing skills to teach in secondary education classrooms.

See Dori sew.

Here is the olive green cotton camp shirt, style B with interfaced collar, cuffs complete with pleats and button hole closure, and my machine can sew button holes :D. You can see that the sewing details include matching thread color and really neat wooden buttons. It is adorned with two simple branches of rosemary in picture one just because they happened to be laying on the table when I wanted to take this picture.

Sew Dori sew.

Will I ever wear this... It is to big and has some crooked sewing, but maybe I will. I really like the color and the buttons. Perhaps it will go well as a light jacket over a turtleneck and skirt this fall.

My next plan is to make a skirt that uses a 2 hour "easy" pattern and no where near the skill that this one did. The skirt will probably be the one I would wear with this :).

Dori can cook to, but you'll have to wait for the next blog entry to see that.

Punk Rock People

My punk rock herb garden with our punk rock Pup. Grow rosemary grow! I'd love to read some comments offering creative uses of fresh rosemary. I love the smell of this stuff! (the brown in the left lower corner is dead cilantros, I uprooted and moved it... it didn't like that very much).

I have been reading the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook by Isa M again. I was a teenager during the relatively peaceful 80's, listened to "poison" and looked at what the cat drag in as we poured on a little more sugar. I owned a pair of black parachute pants and even had green hair for a few days (note to self: green food coloring does not wash out the first washing or even the seventh washing). I grew up in Brooklyn for pete's sake and even had many friends on the south side. Just because the Brooklyn I grew up in was in Iowa and the south side meant the 1/2 of the town on the "other side" of the railroad tracks that separated the 1500 residents doesn't mean I'm not just as punk rock as Isa who rode around New York in her dad's cab on the weekends.

I'm feeling a soapbox moment coming on . . . .

Here are some important "key elements" of describing punk that I see in the book intro:
1. "I was not yet sure yet where my political affinities lay, but I knew that I respected what the activist and punks were doing: taking old decrepit buildings and turning them into homes, creating community gardens, making their own newspapers and zines, and just generally giving a damn." 2. " I already knew that I did not want to be a part of a system of oppression; changing my diet was an easy and practical form of activism." 3. If punk rock taught me anything, it's that we can create our own forms of entertainment. We don't have to sit back idly and wait for something to happen - we can make it happen."

Punk Rock Dave
Sure she later goes on to describe the kind of life she lived at thirty was something that her 18 year old self would hate her for, but the just is - punks are creative, active, and do-it yourselfers and so my dear one here shows just how punk he can be building a addition to the side of our garage to store the lawnmower and other wonderful tools. I wish we had a more green way to mow our lawns, but we mow over an acre of property and I don't have several days to lose doing that with a garden and everything else.

Punk Rock Matt
He's even dyed his hair, can you tell .... it's burgandy now. What is he eating, you might ask. Ethiopian Seitan and peppers recipe inspired from p. 167 of VwaV ... Another great episode of Matt's kitchen adventures. I have to say inspired because by the time we were done with it, very little was like the recipe in the book. I broiled tofu chunks in a little soy sauce instead of seitan for him to use and I was very impressed how well they came out.

After broiling the tofu w/ soy sauce chunks brown in the oven we added all the veggies and the seasoned puree. The little red here is the tiny tom's I pictured previously cut in half. I know ethiopia dishes use tomatoes so I thought this would lend a pretty and flavorful addition to this dish. We also are mild on the heat index and used 1/2 C yellow bell pepper with 1/4 tsp red hot pepper flakes to substitute the 6 serrano chiles called for in the recipe. We also have a combo of green and yellow peppers. After combining all the veggies, puree, and tofu the pan was broiled for 6 minutes, stir 1/2 way through.

Here's my plate. We served the completed veggie fry over salted bulghur with a side of fresh garden corn wheels and sliced tomato. Dishes like this inspire me. Several years ago when I resigned from my full-time american dream position to come home and be full-time active in the life I have now I had a little dream. When I would go to the library to learn how to stretch a $40 weekly family of 4 food budget including toiletries (it was super tight back then too!) I was inspired by what people of other nations ate. Not only was I inspired, but I also began to love the people of other cultures of the world.

As I taught my kids geography we always did an in depth exploration of the foods of the region, for example one day they woke up to a living room set up like a market place in a middle eastern city. We had hot "wadas" for breakfast, just like the ones we could have purchased from a street vendor at the market. All of our stuff was vegan of course and I found a wonderful selection of cookbooks that helped me accomplish my teaching goals. I loved this aspect of teaching my kids, to love and respect all people and cultures. I grew to hate the standard amercian culture (SAD!) and the kinds of stereotyping and intolerance that went on in even "good" small town public schools. My dream was that I would be able to go to any nation in the world with knowledge of nutrition to cook or eat that culture's (vegan) food and to raise two children who would have the openess never to judge a culture by minor differences and be able to adapt to the cultural foods and ways.

Anger is a powerful emotion full of potential energy. Harnessed in the right way it can take a person far and when used in a way that will have a postitive impact on another living being the end will result in joy for both involved. Some people have harnessed their anger and lead entire nations into freedom from oppresive forces that caused horrible poverty and unhuman treatment. I am not in a position to lead a nation ...... no maybe I am. I with my husband have raised two children to the best of our ability (well almost raised - age 18 and 15 in less than two weeks), fed a great many visitors from many countries at our dining room table, teach home school moms how to garden, bake, can and generally how to maintain sanity because of my anger. I do this at no charge because I care and I am angry.

I learned something about forgiveness along the way also. I hate many of the practices in the world today. I hate little girls showing all of their starving naked bodies hoping that someone will "love" them, I hate when these little girls get the "love" that makes them pregnant and then they must kill life in order to "exercise their rights"... I am not expressing my views of abortion I am expressing my view for the practices I hate. I hate that a family in America is considered at a poverty level and ramen noodles and white rice are given in food boxes... not skills to teach them, not a friend who will walk with them. I hate when young parents feel so much stress in this modern life that they hurt their children. I hate these things and I had many sleepless nights wrestling with the nightmares these things have given me. I have been clinically depressed, I have been angry, and now I choose to do something about it.

When I was able to forgive wrongs of people I didn't know, who had also been wronged by people who had been wronged by people who had been wronged (etc) ... I realized a prisoner was set free. I didn't excuse those actions, but I did free myself ... I was the prisoner unable to enjoy and live the gift of life that was given to me. If life is precious and the cause is freedom from oppression or animal rights, ect .... then this CANNOT be changed by doing and being the very thing we hate. (Wrongs = the ozone layer, the animals treated cruelly and sacrified to the "idols", the abused and chosing to dress naked little girls, the dead human babies, the hurting families of those who were killed because some one decided to make an impact on the world by killing humans and fear.) I hate it and I am angry about these things ... but I have skills and I am free to choose, free to love, free to eat what I wish and when I wish. I could not do this dead, nor in prison. The thing that makes this cycle all worth it is that I am loved in return... it all comes back to me. Weird I know, but it does. I cannot help, I cannot make a difference, I cannot fix all wrongs if I do not have the solution.... the answer to which is not throwing away my gift. If I can multiply my gift I can share it with others, sure maybe one by one ... but still ONE by ONE and that matters! I am glad I am one that mattered. I am glad I had the freedom to say this.

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).

Blueberries and george grill goods

One of these things is not like the other. Can you tell what is?

It is not the very happy cook posing lovingly with his tastey breakfast goods.

Matthew (aka banana scream bandit) presents VwaV lemon waffles with blueberry sauce topped with vanilla soy yogurt.

and

Dreena's Vive Le Vegan Blueberry Buns made on the special muffin top pan I purchased at a goodwill store for $1.99. How quickly can you say the word "GONE", well that's just about how fast these were gobbled up by a hungry family (minus one teen girl who is spending two weeks as a junior staffer at church camp).

George grills came out when I was already vegan, so tofu, onions and mushrooms were destined for it when I got my little one for Christmas severeal years ago. Here's evidence of it's destiny...
Tofu with BBQ sauce and a little salt....







Mushrooms and onions.....










Okay, pull out your calculator's it's time for a test,
hope you studied well...


Add these individual factors together and what do you get?



Hint:
Grilled tofu, onion and mushrooms BBQ sauce sandwich on organic roasted garlic sourdough bread (purchased).





Answer:
One well fed vegan family!

Have a "cool" weekend!

Movie, genisoy, and corn!

What is this?

A picture of four Harvey family hands holding their INCONVENIENT TRUTH movie tickets in front of the movie poster image last night. We went, we saw, and we had a quiet ride home.

Vicki at the Veg Family blog has started a new blog called World Warming. She inspired my interest in seeing the movie and continues to talk about what we can do to help stop this horrible increasing CO2 and warming trend. Right now my mind spins to fast with thoughts about this subject that I need to wait before I can say much more on the subject.... except that I did carry my Natural COOP white cotton bags into the store with me last night to carry out my grocery goods. I will now purchase energy saving lightbulbs. I will no longer believe that the "crazy liberal environmentalists" are truly interested in owls, it is about the impact on our environment that the forest land has or regretably does not have in the worst case scenario. *** big sigh... continuing to thoughtfully "chew" on this matter****
While I'm chewing I had an interesting thing happen. Several weeks ago while I was away for a class, I mentioned that I purchased Genisoy chips, deep sea salted. Kaysi of the Genisoy company posted a comment on my blog and said that she enjoyed reading my blog and that if I desire to e' here with my addy then she'd be happy to send me some coupons. I did and she did too. Here they are. I have about 12 coupons worth approximately $80 worth of totally free genisoy products ranging from soy protein powder, protein bars, trail mix, etc.

I also have to brag a little about this company. Awhile ago I was teaching a soy product and cooking class through our district community college continuing education program. I called several companies asking for information and many also sent product samples for use during my demonstration classes. Genisoy was MOST GENEROUS for this and sent a large packae with a variety of full size products. These were very helpful in offering free literature for the health education portion of the class. Many of my class participants were diabetic or menopausal looking and the literature they sent addressed these issues very well. The free samples, which were large full size portions of their various products were very much enjoyed. Although not ALL of their products are vegan ... many, many are.

While shopping or going out for a day with the kids I often stick a genisoy protein bars in my purse. These are convenient and there is no need for me to feel deprived if no other food choices are available. I love deep sea saltd and roasted garlic genisoy chips when I need a convienient protein choice.

And last but not least I am so happy to report our first planting of corn has been harvested and well enjoyed. YUM! Our tomatoes are finally starting to turn red so we can really begin to enjoy. I have canned various types of pickles... one that I really look forward to sharing with you! Ginger garlic pickles reminds me of the pickled ginger that is ofetn served with sushi, but I jarred with adding some onions, carrots, and cucumbers.

I'll be busy the next couple of days watching my cousin's little boy. He is 18 months old and a very active, so I might not get time to blog while he is here. I am also sewing an olive green "camp shirt" ... my first ever. I also have ten days to complete it, so I better get back to it to get as much done as I can today.