As some of you have gleaned from my past posts, I am not a true vegetarian. The technical term for me is a pescetarian, but I guess I never really thought this term applied to me, because I don't like fish very much and it's such a small part of my diet. But it is technically correct.

You see, I decided to stop eating meat nearly two years into my relationship with Dan, who is also a pescetarian. He had been gently encouraging me to give up meat for awhile, but I only did so after an incident (yes, the one involving the crab, I'll share it later) that made me truly want to. But following in his footsteps, it seemed obvious for me to continue eating seafood like he did.

The other day, I received a reader comment on this blog asking what fish ever did to me. The answer, of course, is nothing. Helen then suggested I should disclose in the blog's introduction that I'm not a true vegetarian. To be honest, the thought of doing this upset me. It also made me question my choice to eat seafood.

I am still working out my own personal reasons for not eating meat. There are so many good reasons not to--moral, environmental, health, food safety, etc.--that I don't see myself turning back. But I guess I'm not yet sure if my reasons (which I don't fully understand yet) apply to to seafood. For instance, the land use issues of raising livestock certainly don't. And fish have a very different level of mental sophistication than, say, cows. But maybe the moral issues trump the differences. I just don't know.

So I'm asking you all for help. If you are a pescetarian, why do you choose not to eat meat but to eat seafood? If you're a strict vegetarian, why do you think it's not okay to eat seafood?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts...

This is a cute Thanksgiving story... a week late, I know. I just found it today.

I once heard someone on the radio say that it is virtually impossible for a person to eat a completely vegan diet and still be healthy. I'm not sure my source on that or whether it's true, though... can anybody confirm or deny it?

On the same subject, I read this really interesting article in the New York Times a few months ago. It's about how vegan parents have accidentally killed their infants by not feeding them cow's milk, or by nursing them when the mother is eating a vegan diet.

Lately, some family members have expressed concern over whether I'm eating a balanced and nutritious diet as a new vegetarian. And I realized that I have no idea.

I found this USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) site with a bunch of links on the subject from a vast range of organizations. There's tons of information here for the general vegetarian population as well as various subgroups--women, children, older adults, pregnant women, vegans, those with food allergies, etc.

MyPyramid.gov, a creation of the USDA, has a site for vegetarians too.
I found this helpful list on the site of nutrients that vegetarians might find themselves lacking-things that are usually found in animal-based foods, I guess.

• Protein has many important functions in the body and is essential for growth and maintenance. Protein needs can easily be met by eating a variety of plant-based foods. Combining different protein sources in the same meal is not necessary. Sources of protein for vegetarians include beans, nuts, nut butters, peas, and soy products (tofu, tempeh, veggie burgers). Milk products and eggs are also good protein sources for lacto-ovo vegetarians.
• Iron functions primarily as a carrier of oxygen in the blood. Iron sources for vegetarians include iron-fortified breakfast cereals, spinach, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, lentils, turnip greens, molasses, whole wheat breads, peas, and some dried fruits (dried apricots, prunes, raisins).
• Calcium is used for building bones and teeth and in maintaining bone strength. Sources of calcium for vegetarians include fortified breakfast cereals, soy products (tofu, soy-based beverages), calcium-fortified orange juice, and some dark green leafy vegetables (collard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, mustard greens). Milk products are excellent calcium sources for lacto vegetarians.
• Zinc is necessary for many biochemical reactions and also helps the immune system function properly. Sources of zinc for vegetarians include many types of beans (white beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas), zinc-fortified breakfast cereals, wheat germ, and pumpkin seeds. Milk products are a zinc source for lacto vegetarians.
• Vitamin B₁₂ is found in animal products and some fortified foods. Sources of vitamin B₁₂ for vegetarians include milk products, eggs, and foods that have been fortified with vitamin B₁₂. These include breakfast cereals, soy-based beverages, veggie burgers, and nutritional yeast.

I guess the question now is whether I'm eating the right balance of all these foods to get enough of each nutrient...
I'll try to find some recipes that incorporate many of the nutrient rich ingredients. If you have any, please post them!

I have learned the hard way again that raccoons don't live by bread alone. Or, it seems, by any yummy grains. When a pair of rampaging raccoons made their way into my basement on a recent evening, they made it quite clear that they were not interested in any of the three kinds of nutty and grainy mouse food we keep on hand for our pet mice.

They ate the mice instead.
This, a mini version of survival of the fittest playing out in my home, was not a pretty sight. A large adult raccoon is a terrifying creature to face; the idea of the (apparently) tasty morsel of a mouse made them willing to face whatever two adult humans could do (not much) to drive the raccoons away. Unlucky for us, local animal control officers wanted nothing to do with helping us keep the natural order where it belongs - in nature. Lucky for us, two police officers were willing to help my husband bravely persuade the raccoons to leave the house (cat food did the trick), while I mostly cowered at the top of the stairs. The incident, though darkly comical in retrospect, ("Maybe I should have tasered it," one of the police officers joked after the second raccoon had fled safely and unharmed up a tree) was at times truly frightening. But it also was reminder to me that though we people are omnivorous by nature, eating other animals does not come without a price. You have to kill it first.

Over the weekend, I spent hours paging through vegetarian cookbooks in the library looking for new recipes to try. I left with a thick handful of photocopied recipes and was all ready to cook the most ambitious of them... and then I chickened out. I couldn't find some of the ingredients in the grocery store (can you believe they were out of carrots??) so I scrapped my plans and instead decided to make an easy Rachael Ray recipe for which I already had all the ingredients. It was very easy to make and really delicious, in my opinion. It also seemed pretty kid-friendly to me—that is, if you can get your kids to eat broccoli.

By the way, I fudged all the proportions, skipped the nutmeg and parsley, and used penne instead of bow ties because I had it in the house already. So feel free to change it as you wish.

Here it is:

Broccoli and Bow Ties from Rachael Ray's Veggie Meals
1 cup water
1 pound broccoli florets or broccolini florets, coursely chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound bow-tie pasta, cooked until al dente
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a couple handfuls)
A handful chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
course salt and black pepper, to taste

Bring a cup of water to boil and reduce heat to simmer. Add broccoli or broccolini florets, cover pot and steam 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Cook pasta.
Heat olive oil in a deep, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. When garlic begins to sizzle, add broccoli or broccolini and saute, 1 to 2 minutes. If your pan is not large enough to toss florets with pasta, transfer to a large bowl. Toss broccoli or broccolini with pasta, cheese, parsley, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving dish and serve with a green salad and crusty bread.

Yum.

I found this article from the New York Times enjoyable....

Where the Votes Are, So Are All Those Calories

This will make your struggles to keep to a healthy regimen seem like a piece of cake (ha! get it?)

My commute to and from work in New Haven takes me about 45 minutes each way—if there’s no traffic.

Last week, I found myself driving home in my not-terribly-fuel-efficient Volvo station wagon listening to an NPR special on climate change and feeling very guilty about the emissions I was spewing into the environment. How would I ever offset this?

At home, we already make little efforts, like unplugging our computers and television when they’re not in use, and turning down the heat overnight. Of course, we recycle and we bring our own reusable tote bag to the grocery store (when we remember) so as not to accumulate a million plastic bags.

But it turns out that the commitment to vegetarianism is probably the most important thing we do to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Here are some interesting articles about the impact meat-eating habits have on the environment.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug97/livestock.hrs.html

http://www.time.com/time/reports/v21/health/meat_mag.html

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2007/08/why-the-no-impa.html

A summary of points I found interesting from them (these are copied directly from the articles, I take no credit for them):

Water

• U.S. agriculture accounts for 87 percent of all the fresh water consumed each year. Livestock directly use only 1.3 percent of that water. But when the water required for forage and grain production is included, livestock's water usage rises dramatically. Every kilogram of beef produced takes 100,000 liters of water. Some 900 liters of water go into producing a kilogram of wheat. Potatoes are even less "thirsty," at 500 liters per kilogram.
• To produce 1 lb. of feedlot beef requires 7 lbs. of feed grain, which takes 7,000 lbs. of water to grow. Pass up one hamburger, and you'll save as much water as you save by taking 40 showers with a low-flow nozzle.
• The livestock sector accounts for over 8 percent of global human water use, while 64 percent of the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas by 2025.

Land

• More than 302 million hectares of land are devoted to producing feed for the U.S. livestock population -- about 272 million hectares in pasture and about 30 million hectares for cultivated feed grains.

(I looked it up, 1 hectare equals 10,000 square meters, 107,639 square feet or roughly 2.5 acres.)

• About 90 percent of U.S. cropland is losing soil -- to wind and water erosion -- at 13 times above the sustainable rate. Soil loss is most severe in some of the richest farming areas; Iowa loses topsoil at 30 times the rate of soil formation. Iowa has lost one-half its topsoil in only 150 years of farming -- soil that took thousands of years to form.

• Agriculture is the world's biggest cause of deforestation, and increasing demand for meat is the biggest force in the expansion of agriculture.

Pollution

• Two-thirds (64 percent) of anthropogenic ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and acidification of ecosystems, come from cattle.
• In the United States, livestock are responsible for a third of the loads of nitrogen and phosphorus into freshwater resources.
• The world’s largest source of water pollution is believed to be the livestock sector.
• In recent years livestock waste has been implicated in massive fish kills and outbreaks of such diseases as pfiesteria, which causes memory loss, confusion and acute skin burning in people exposed to contaminated water.
• In the U.S., livestock now produce 130 times as much waste as people do. Just one hog farm in Utah, for example, produces more sewage than the city of Los Angeles.

Food

• The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the entire American population.

As a new-comer to the world of vegetarianism, I'm still figuring out how to eat a diet that is nutritionally balanced and varied enough that I don't get bored. At present, I'm not sure if I'm doing the former, but I'm definitely not achieving the latter.

The weekly menu my boyfriend and I enjoy (?) goes something like this:

Sunday: Baked potatoes with cheddar cheese, sour cream and steamed broccoli. Dan also adds hot sauce and a variety of spices to his (he's more creative than I am).

Monday: Spaghetti and marinara sauce. Salad.

Tuesday: Frozen veggie burgers. Salad.

Wednesday: Frozen perogis. Salad.

Thursday: Um... cereal, I guess.

Friday: Order in pizza.

Saturday: Maybe make a fish or sushi (yeah, we still eat seafood, but rarely).

And don't even get me started on the lack of variety in my lunches.

In the spirit of making both this blog and my diet more interesting, I've decided I'm going to try cooking foods I haven't previously enjoyed. Over the years, my ability to tolerate different kinds of vegetables has improved, so maybe if I force myself to try others, I'll like them.

Here's a list of vegetables from our trusty friend Wikipedia.

I challenge the readers of this blog to pick any vegetable off this list and, as long as I can find it in the supermarket, I will find a recipe and cook it and (gulp) eat it. I'll even share the recipe on the blog if it comes out well. If you have a recipe to suggest, that would be much appreciated.

Post your entries on the comments section.

Oh, and more about the nutritional balance stuff to come later.

Post your own favorite meatless holiday recipes to share with the veggie community.
Or, what's the non-vegetarian food at your family's Thanksgiving table that you most wish you could eat?
Happy Thanksgiving!

The hunt for a Tofurky was a resounding success. There was no stealthy behavior involved, no taking aim, just a trip to Trader Joe’s. There, a smart buyer reported that the roasts were moving fast, but 12 new cases had come in.
It wasn’t always so easy. There have been past years when a grocer’s refrain, as Thanksgiving drew near, was "try a health food store," or "sorry, we are all out, the health food store bought them all."
Who could blame anyone for buying up all the Tofurkys, the vegetarian’s answer to the turkeys that will grace nearly every American table on Thursday.
And it wasn’t easy giving up that tastiest of traditions, that bastion of baked fowl that graces the centerpiece of mom’s table. It will still sit there in all its glory on Thanksgiving, but so will the Tofurky roast, the tofu-wheat gluten concoction that comes complete with its own stuffing and the spices that make it the way to happiness on a day when food reigns.
The idea that a Tofurky and gravy would replace breast meat or a leg is not one that sits well with everyone in a "where’s the meat" culture. But as we sit down to give thanks on Thursday, think of this: a roast made with organic non-genetically engineered soybeans is a tasty way to celebrate a national holiday. Consider making it your custom too.

Helen Bennett Harvey

This is a recipe I JUST tested (it's still on my plate) in anticipation of Thanksgiving. It was easy to make (even by my standards) and pretty good. It uses apples and butternut squash, both of which are in season I think.
I ate it alongside a garlic flavored grain, which, oddly enough, was a good pairing.



Credit goes to Self Magazine for the recipe.


Roasted Butternut Squash with Apples

Ingredients
1 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
1 tsp canola oil
1-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix squash with oil in a bowl. Add spice mix; toss. Spread squash on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until squash turns golden brown at edges. Mix vinegar and syrup in a bowl. Pour over squash and bake another 5 minutes. Combine apples, pecans and squash in a bowl.

Turns out that gray football-shaped holiday treat not only spares the life of a turkey, it's got less fat and calories too!

Tofurky versus Turkey nutritional comparison

	Roasted Turkey	Turtle Island Tofurky Roast
Portion size	4 oz meat and skin*	4 oz
Calories	240	190
Fat (grams)	9	5
Sat. Fat (grams)	3	0
Cholesterol (mg)	85	0
Protein (grams)	32	26
*Source: USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory and Turtle Island Tofurky

Here are directions on how to prepare it:
http://www.tofurky.com/recipes.htm

Lauren remains skeptical, but Helen swears it's good!
More traditional recipes to come.

Welcome to Vegging Out! We'll be launching in time for Thanksgiving--every vegetarian's favorite day!
Thanksgiving recipes to come.
No turkeys here...