First, Happy Birthday to my Dad! His birthday was yesterday and he was still celebrating when I called him at 10pm EDT. My mom had invited all his siblings and their spouses over for a BBQ.
I am a big fan of barbecues, because there is nothing quite so satisfying as finding shortcuts to preparing meals. I like to eat, I just don't like to figure out what to make. Speaking of food, you may be wondering what I'm eating these days. Two years ago, I went to see a dietitian whose services were available to me through my doctor's office. I talked to her about going vegetarian, and she gave me a number of resources--the Vegetarian Food Guide Rainbow*, for one--and helpful pointers. I've been slowly incorporating a few new foods into my diet, to make it more vegetarian and even more vegan, and thought I'd share what I've found. (Individual tastes and preferences vary so greatly, there's really no way to know if you'll like something unless you try it, and sometimes you'll need to try it more than once.)
In terms of vegetarian/vegan meat products, I'm sold on Sol Cuisine Spicy Bean Burgers; their packaging labels them "Tex-Mex vegetarian burgers" on the front, but indicates on the back that they are "100% Vegan." They're also free of gluten and wheat. I eat these burgers with the usual lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup, but use Vegenaise spread or hummus (both are vegan) as additional condiments. Sometimes I'll add cheese (dairy cheese, therefore not vegan, but it provides me with some necessary B12).
Other burgers I've tried and not cared for much: Yves Veggie Cuisine's Good Veggie Burger (I'll have to try the other Yves offerings before I write off the brand), Gardenburger's Veggie Medley, and M&M Meat's veggie burgers.
In terms of hummus, which I use as a dip with crackers, vegetables, and even tortilla chips, or as a spread for sandwiches and wraps, I've been buying either Summer Fresh Spicy Hummus or Fresh2Go Chipotle Hummus at my local Metro grocery store (whichever's lower-priced in any given week).
I also relish Veggie Patch Meatless Buffalo Wings; they contain egg whites (so they're not vegan), as well as soy, wheat, and possibly sesame, according to the label. Kraft's Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing makes a great dipping sauce, its sweetness counterbalancing the spiciness of the buffalo seasoning.
Rice Dream Enriched Vanilla rice milk has become a staple for my Kellogg's Special K 5 Grains cereal at breakfast. According to the serving suggestion, 3/4 cup of cereal provides me with 40% of my daily iron requirement. The rice milk is a bit sweeter than dairy milk, so there's no need to add any sugar to the bowl. (Credit here to my sis-in-law for mentioning that my niece uses rice milk for her breakfast cereal; that's how I got started.)
To my great delight, I discovered packages of daiya mozzarella style shreds in my local Independent Grocer's last Saturday. I'm quite pleased with this product: the flavor and texture is not identical to that of dairy cheese, but it comes close. My only concern is the sodium content, which seems a bit high.
As for desserts, I've tried Soyummi's lime pudding (haven't seen the other flavors at Superstore in Kanata), which is fine as puddings go, but it's the hexagonal cardboard cylinder it comes in that signals "fun to buy"! More recently, in the non-dairy frozen category, I've had Organic So Delicious lactose-free Strawberry (the content at the link shows "Soy," but my tub says "So"; I checked) and Good Karma's Organic Rice Divine Mudd Pie. Rice milk tends to look and taste more watery than soy milk, so the Strawberry stuff better simulates ice cream; still, if one comes to it with the mindset that it absolutely won't taste like ice cream, the Mudd Pie is pretty good with its nuts and chocolate chunks. (I wasn't keen on the Mudd Pie the first time I had it, but enjoyed it the second time. "If at first you don't succeed...") Best to purchase non-dairy frozen desserts on sale, since they are pricey. Come to think of it, so are ice creams, which is why I tend to stock up on Breyers for James when I see sales.
So that's a sampling for now. I hope to write a few more posts as I continue my experimentation.
*I'd have linked to a Website, but all my searches turn up broken links right now. Wonder if this means the Vegetarian Food Guide Rainbow is undergoing revision?
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
O Canada!
Hope everyone had a Happy Canada Day!
We had a low-key day, with just the right mix of sun and cloud. We did not bother ourselves with William and Kate's itinerary. Instead, we slept in, puttered a bit, then went to Broadway's for breakfast after James mowed the lawn. Unfortunately, we were at least an hour too early to sit out on the patio, which only opens at 11:30 a.m. After we returned home, we went for a walk along Crestway, via the new transit station that's still under construction, and then towards the future Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge (also under construction; see our MP's self-congratulating video), across Prince of Wales, and along part of the Chapman Mills Conservation Area trail. On our way back, we saw the Snowbirds fly past.
Once home, we went our separate ways. James did James-type activities, involving computers and RC cars, while I harnessed up the cats in the backyard and read a book. We had dinner together over an episode of Battlestar Galactica (since we're caught up on our other shows right now), then parted company again.
It's always a bit of a toss-up at our house whether or not to attend Canada Day fireworks. We've gone downtown once or twice, but crushing against 50,000 others during and cramming into buses with what feels like that same amount of bodies afterward is not a picnic. The city encourages everyone to use public transit because so many streets are closed to traffic. Andrew Haydon Park offers a great view of its own pyrotechnics as well as Parliament Hill's (a two-for-one show), but then we have to contend with all the families flooding to AHP for the "festival": midway, petting zoo, etc. Kanata is a short drive for dinner and a movie, but seems too long a drive to take in fireworks. Barrhaven's festivities begin at 11 a.m., but streets around Clarke Fields are also blocked off for the evening, making parking nearby virtually impossible. So we'd decided to stay home (which made my husband very happy, because he had a date with his computer).
However, I exercised my prerogative as a woman to change my mind. A Googlemaps search had indicated that it would take me approx. an hour to walk to Clarke Fields; frankly, I wasn't keen on that destination, because it would have involved walking past some deep ditches, and there have been a number of skunks in that area, judging by the pungent odors and signs of roadkill. So I decided to check out the Strandherd Park'n'Ride, to see what I could see. It was actually a great vantage point. A few groups of people had gathered there already by the time I arrived. The kids in the bunch were stoked, chanting "Can-a-da, Can-a-da," waving their glow sticks, and, at one point, singing K'naan's "Wavin' Flag." They did a decent job of it, too.
I identified with their excitement: there's just something about fireworks that thrills me! (My favorites are the ones that burst and trail streamer-like glowing bits behind them.) I like them even better from a distance. For one thing, they're not as loud (so less risk of hearing loss--very important). Second, there's lots more personal space. Third, no worries about traffic tie-ups. The added bonuses for me tonight were not only that I got exercise, but also that I witnessed a few private/personal light shows here and there along my route. Very cool. In fact, some backyard displays came close to challenging the public one.
All in all, my kind of day.
We had a low-key day, with just the right mix of sun and cloud. We did not bother ourselves with William and Kate's itinerary. Instead, we slept in, puttered a bit, then went to Broadway's for breakfast after James mowed the lawn. Unfortunately, we were at least an hour too early to sit out on the patio, which only opens at 11:30 a.m. After we returned home, we went for a walk along Crestway, via the new transit station that's still under construction, and then towards the future Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge (also under construction; see our MP's self-congratulating video), across Prince of Wales, and along part of the Chapman Mills Conservation Area trail. On our way back, we saw the Snowbirds fly past.
Once home, we went our separate ways. James did James-type activities, involving computers and RC cars, while I harnessed up the cats in the backyard and read a book. We had dinner together over an episode of Battlestar Galactica (since we're caught up on our other shows right now), then parted company again.
It's always a bit of a toss-up at our house whether or not to attend Canada Day fireworks. We've gone downtown once or twice, but crushing against 50,000 others during and cramming into buses with what feels like that same amount of bodies afterward is not a picnic. The city encourages everyone to use public transit because so many streets are closed to traffic. Andrew Haydon Park offers a great view of its own pyrotechnics as well as Parliament Hill's (a two-for-one show), but then we have to contend with all the families flooding to AHP for the "festival": midway, petting zoo, etc. Kanata is a short drive for dinner and a movie, but seems too long a drive to take in fireworks. Barrhaven's festivities begin at 11 a.m., but streets around Clarke Fields are also blocked off for the evening, making parking nearby virtually impossible. So we'd decided to stay home (which made my husband very happy, because he had a date with his computer).
However, I exercised my prerogative as a woman to change my mind. A Googlemaps search had indicated that it would take me approx. an hour to walk to Clarke Fields; frankly, I wasn't keen on that destination, because it would have involved walking past some deep ditches, and there have been a number of skunks in that area, judging by the pungent odors and signs of roadkill. So I decided to check out the Strandherd Park'n'Ride, to see what I could see. It was actually a great vantage point. A few groups of people had gathered there already by the time I arrived. The kids in the bunch were stoked, chanting "Can-a-da, Can-a-da," waving their glow sticks, and, at one point, singing K'naan's "Wavin' Flag." They did a decent job of it, too.
I identified with their excitement: there's just something about fireworks that thrills me! (My favorites are the ones that burst and trail streamer-like glowing bits behind them.) I like them even better from a distance. For one thing, they're not as loud (so less risk of hearing loss--very important). Second, there's lots more personal space. Third, no worries about traffic tie-ups. The added bonuses for me tonight were not only that I got exercise, but also that I witnessed a few private/personal light shows here and there along my route. Very cool. In fact, some backyard displays came close to challenging the public one.
All in all, my kind of day.
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