April 2007 Archives

Saag Tofu from Eating Well magazine. I was surprised at how well this turned out. It was also easy to put together and didn't include any difficult, hard-to-find ingredients. I used chopped frozen spinach instead of fresh, which contributed to the Indian-spinach-mush quality of the dish (that's a good thing, in my book), and used pre-packaged crushed ginger. I am sort of in love with this recipe.

Even magazines like Shape and Domino are featuring sustainable products and encouraging readers to eat organic foods (which is surprising and totally cool), so I might as well throw my own bit of token trendy activism into the mix.

Living in a progressive community, it's easy to assume that you're doing a pretty good job, buying organic cereal and bike commuting and all. Still, looking at my own life, I realize that in the last few years I've gone from crazy rabid radical youth out to rescue the world, to being completely centered on making my own individual life run well, which involves using my money to get through college instead of on organic groceries, and using my time to further my career and physical health instead of volunteering. And I think that's good, because it's important to be able to live your life in a way that satisfies your individual needs and not be a martyr to The Cause, but it's also good to step back every now and then and examine how your life fits in with everything else. Some of my friends are starting to have kids. It makes you think about stuff.

I found a few small extra things I could do that don't cost that much money or brain power. I signed up for one of the sustainable energy options you can get through PGE. When I realized how much energy it takes to run the water heater (my old apartment included hot water in the rent, and now my PGE bill is more than double what it was), I stopped taking quite so many long showers and baths.

I'm also considering trying out some energy-saving flourescent type lightbulbs. Supposedly they are getting better and don't make your house feel like an office anymore. I read about it in Domino. I'll report back.

It isn't feasible for me to do all my shopping at farmers markets and natural foods stores because one, it's expensive, and two, it's annoying, but buying local produce is one of the best things you can do, so my goal is to go to the farmers market once a week and buy one or two things from a local farmer. The food thing is incredibly complex, though. I still feel OK about buying a lot of pesticide-frosted apples from Fred Meyer, because at least they're coming from Washington close by, whereas most of the organic produce at New Seasons these days is flown in from Chile. And it also probably takes a lot less energy to produce a local apple than a processed soy and flax seed organic vegan energy bar from Vermont. I mean I still eat stuff like that too, but I'm just saying, there are ways to be sustainable that circumvent the whole green marketing circus and radical guilt hippie militia.

So, yeah. I'm finding a way to make it work for myself, without it feeling like I'm giving up hella stuff. I'm not going to tell you what to do, because that's annoying. But I just wanted to mention that we have a lot of options now.

It's nice to get to the point where you know how a recipe works enough so you can do it without sticking with the recipe, and have it still turn out well, with the added bonus of not having to go buy hella things at the store and measure things and stuff.

I made a super rad lasagna last night. It had lots of protein and vegetables. Obviously, you could sub out whatever kinds of protein or veggies you want, and amounts of stuff don't really matter. Lasagnas are really good and don't have to be intimidating. It's pretty easy. And then everyone will be impressed and think you can actually cook.

Power lasagna for mental and physical fortitude!
lasagna noodles
ricotta cheese
ground turkey
mozzerella cheese
spaghetti sauce
salt, pepper, garlic powder, fennel (for the meat, to emulate sausagey-ness)
an egg or two depending on how big you're making it
frozen spinach thawed and squeezed dry
nutmeg

Brown turkey on the stove. Season to taste. Dump in spaghetti sauce. Meanwhile, boil lasagna noodles, and seperately in a bowl, combine the spinach, ricotta cheese, and egg(s), and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a little nutmeg. And grate some moz. Then, make layers with sauce, noodles, spinach, moz. It doesn't matter how many layers but there should be sauce and cheese on top. Bake at 400 F for like 30 minutes for a small lasagna, or longer for a big one. That's it, dude.

I went to visit my grandparents in Maryland. My grandma made brisket. I basically live for the two or three times a year I get to eat brisket. I made a sandwich for the plane home with leftover brisket and horseradish paste on this really dense, moist multigrain bread from Great Harvest. Oh yeah.

I have been trying to eat more protein and less sweets, especially at breakfast. It makes me less of a sugar fiend, plus I want to build muscles like Arnold. I've been eating a lot of eggs and toast, or cheese and bread, or, say, brisket and bread. At Ben's Chili Bowl in DC (Sean, I couldn't find Sparky's) I had eggs with a grilled biscuit and saucy cooked apples on the side before meeting up with my grandma to look at cherry blossoms, the FDR memorial and the Hall of Mammals in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History - all pretty cool stuff. Did you know the Smithsonian museums are free? They're funded by federal taxes and donations.

Anyway, eggs. This morning I improvised a hella budget-style version of chilaquiles, and it actually turned out pretty good. (I've been brainstorming different versions of eggs and toast that don't involve bread since Passover starts tomorrow. Most Jews who observe Passover by abstaining from bread don't eat tortillas either, but I fail to see the logic in including matzoh and excluding equally flat tortillas, just because they haven't been blessed by a rabbi or something. Seems pretty elitist to me, especially since Fred Meyer is selling matzoh at $4.50 a box and they don't even have it in whole wheat.)

Budget Chilaquiles
You need:
1 or 2 eggs per person
1 or 2 tortillas per person
a little oil
a little milk if you want
enchilada sauce, salsa or chili powder

Lightly oil the pan and put it on med-hi. Tear up tortilla and cook it with a little water until it is no longer mushy. Meanwhile, beat eggs with a bit of milk. Pour eggs in with the tortilla and add sauce or seasonings. Scramble and fry until it looks like something you'd want to eat.

I used a Trader Joe's whole wheat and corn tortilla and their enchilada sauce, which is a really good all-purpose Mexican sauce. This would probably also be really good with some green chilis or chipotles in adobo sauce, both of which you can get in a can.