Lunch ~ Veggiecakes

My Elflings love my “veggiecakes” when I make them, and I’m really glad. I love them, too!

2012 © copyright veggiewitch, all rights reserved

 Really basic from our Organic Pantry: cooked brown rice, 1-2 grated carrots, 2-3 grated broccolette stalks, diced onion, substitute for or 1 egg (I used a substitute), salt and pepper to taste, EVOO for frying. Mix it all up, and drop by tablespoonful into oil over medium heat. Works awesome with quinoa, too. Use your imagination with the veg. These could very easily become our “Whatever’s-in-the-Fridge” go-to cakes any old time.

2012 © copyright veggiewitch, all rights reserved

Enjoy!

We did it!

My mister and I have been discussing getting a juicer this past week, thanks to both “Foodmatters” and “Forks Over Knives” documentaries. Yay! We have made our decision and placed our order. Double yay!

We are getting an Omega BMJ330, centrifugal ejection juicer. It’s fast, but we compared it to the Omega 8006 slow, single auger juicer. Both are great juicers. Our choice was made in favor of speed and types of produce we’d be putting through it.

The 8006 is ideal for grasses/leafy greens and optimally preserving the vitamin integrity of the produce at a wonderfully careful 80 RPM. It is also perfect for home-production of nut butters, soy/coconut milks and grinding coffee. I loved the suggestion to process frozen whole bananas through, to produce a kind of sorbet! Delish!

The BMJ330 is 1100 PRM and is ideal for harder produce (carrots, cabbage, pineapple, beets, etc), despite the addition of air due to the speed with which the juice is expelled. I also had to consider the windows of time I would actually have to do the juicing, and speed made sense to me since I’ll be using it most and during the day. I Homeschool my Elflings.

We were actually so torn weighing the pros and cons of both juicers, that we compromised: we went with speed to expedite getting juice into the diet of our whole family, BUT we would like to get the 8006 at a later date, like Christmas. Triple yay!

Omega BMJ330 Juicer

We’re also getting a food dehydrator! Quadruple yay!

Either this week or early next week our goodies will arrive! =0)

Thank you, Foodmatters!

Initially, I had been very keen to evolve my semi-vegetarian style of eating/cooking to a vegan diet. I was even determined. My only problem was that I lacked the support of “my mister” to do it. Like I said, we’re already semi-vegetarian, but it can be hard getting someone to unlearn things they’ve been taught since childhood. I won him over a little by showing him a comparison between beef and beans:

It’s really math not magic when you look at the numbers.

I continued to cook with more beans, less meat, less dairy, and prepared more meals with raw veg added in or on the side. We were doing great. My Elflings didn’t complain. My mister didn’t complain. In fact, he was happiest taking leftovers to work when he could, rather than a sandwich. Yay!

The other night we watched “Foodmatters” together, and it was his light bulb moment. After watching the movie we started discussing the things I had been talking about 3 months ago. Our dialogue had resumed, but with him in favor of the changes as well, this time. We talked about getting a juicer (looks like an Omega BMJ330 or 390). We discussed participating in a CSA that didn’t use pesticides, or making weekly visits to a Farmers Market for certified Organic produce (Farmers Market won unanimously). We’re both on the same page to evolve our diet to a vegan diet, too. Double yay!

As we do more research into acceptable alternatives (we’ll miss cheese and yogurt, while the kids will also miss milk), and take the steps needed to eliminate animal proteins, we will all feel better than we do already. One step at a time is all we can do.