11/28/2010

I am interested in turning to a plant-based diet. Some call this vegan but I was tempted when I say the very thin Bill Clinton say that after his last heart crisis he has turned to a plant-based diet and lost 27 pounds and feels better than ever. Clinton has always been the pudgy,gorgeous guy of my own gene pool-he could be a cousin,etc.
I know that the meat and animal fat and the processed foods are what has made me fat and ill. and then I have the added strain of using the pain pills habitually because i cannot use the old reliable pain relievers such as Motrin,etc. the "A-fib" has led to using warfarin to prevent blood clots and the feared strokes and heart attacks and after the months of using the pain relievers for the hand surgeries guess what I now use the pills all day long for arthritis and pulled muscles,etc.and I have issues now and must deal with these "issues"
Here is a soup recipe using Lapsang Souchong tea for flavor/body

Easy Black Bean Soup
From The Cat-Tea Corner™ Recipe Collection (great site to visit if you are Vegan, love cats and/or love tea).

1 onion, chopped
oil for sautéeing
2 garlic cloves, scored
1 cup water
1 can 15oz / 425gm black beans, not drained
1 can 14oz / 397gm diced tomatoes, not drained (plain or seasoned)
1/3 cup white rice (optionally basmati)
salt and ground cayenne pepper to taste
2 cups strong prepared Lapsang Souchong tea (use twice as much tea leaf as usual)

Sauté the onion in the oil in a 2 quart/ 1 litre pot. When it's soft and slightly browned, drop in the garlic and sauté about a minute longer. Pour in the water, beans with liquid, tomatoes with liquid, and the rice. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cover. Let it simmer for about 1/2 hour, until the rice is nice and soft. (While it's cooking, make and eat some salad; try lettuce, roasted red peppers, and olives.) Once the soup is finished cooking, season it with salt and cayenne. Stir in the tea. Then pour the soup into a blender -- including the garlic cloves -- and blend until pureed but you can still see flecks of black bean. (We had to do this in two batches to not overload the blender.) Dee-lish with some crusty bread. About 4 servings.

I love the idea of using the tea to flavor to give the soup a smokey flavor. I wouldn't need that since I have been eating beans,etc without bacon or ham for years now but I am looking forward to trying this recipe.

I have been haunted by the thought of how pigs and cows suffer in order to be my meant. Can't bear to walk by the section of the grocery store-I am especially troubled by the plight of pigs-don't know why except that I have read that pigs are actually brighter than we are,

At any rate I have been drawn to a vegetarian life for years and in fact was a semi-vegetarian in my 20's. the difference now though is that I am no longer drawn to meat and eat it only because meat is easy to purchase on sale and to freeze and also the kids love meat and want to see meat on the table. Still I often eat around the meat eating everything else offered and just avoiding the meat,gravy,etc.

Cooking without eggs, butter and milk will require training. First reading recipes then shopping then preparing.

OOHHOOHH interuptipn: I have Bill Maher on and he has Mike Huckabee on explaining why he doesn't want the Medical Covrage bill to go through. He mentions how the wonderful Pepsi company spent 65 million years ago removing the transfats from their products. There that it is: Republicans are hucksters for the monster corporations and he made it clear to me the corporate foundation of the "Tea Party".

I am hating on Obama these days: I do wonder along with the writer where I first encountered this thought: is Obama a Trojan Horse? Was he purchased to get the liberal vote and then turn right-wing on our asses? I just hate what he says and does. I read that he has done all this wonderful stuff that we would love if only we knew. Well!1 why don't we know?! Could it be that that line is coming from his PR workers and really nothing has been accomplished?? I don't know but he has lost those of us who really got him elected/

Sestac on HBO with Bill Meher. Michael Moore explaining the lie in Huckabee's praise of Pepsi: Pepsi removed transfats AFTER a government program proved how destructive trans-fats are.