Vegetarianism?

After today, I think I may refuse to eat out more than twice a month. None of those restaurants will include chains. I will (do my civil best to) eat locally only, as well as to give a huge attempt to eat at local chains that use local products.
I will also put sodas to once a week, which will not be nearly as difficult.

I'll likely put down a lot of what I'm doing to avoid the occasional slip. I think I'll allow eggs in moderation (too many eggs are just asking for it, somehow, although, honestly, I really can't say how, considering how studies keep changing like lava lamps).

This shouldn't be too hard, really, since I don't carry meats around with me anyway, especially in warmer months. It's harder to keep them cooled to the proper storing temperature when I need to be out and about a lot. And when I make myself to-go-out-all-weekend food over the winter, it's not hard to exclude it.

We'll see how it goes.

Any tips would be appreciated, by the way. I'm not doing this solely for one reason. I am (slowly) putting on unnecessary weight where muscle should be; I don't like how animals AND humans are treated at meat packaging plants; I don't like the carbon footprint of most restaurants; I don't like how expensive it is to eat out as it is; I don't like how much crude oil is used to sustain the demand we have for chain foods. I think my decision will at least put my conscience at ease, if anything.

New soups

And we thought I got away from soups.

Let me tell you, that hasn't happened. I have two new recipes, mostly because of situational things. I made one soup just because I wanted to -- because I wanted to have an emergency 'I left with no real idea of what I'm eating after a while' kind of back up food. I do leave for the weekend here and there, and it's cheaper to make a soup than it is to get a burger.
On top of that, I had been given two HUGE heads of collards. I mean, HUGE. I think they were about 3-5 pounds each, and I had no idea how to eat them before they went bad. So, I cooked them. I mean, what else do you do? And that involved a lot of water and space. I think my new soup pot is 16 quarts, or some crazy thing like that. The collards didn't fit by about 4 inches over the top, after I'd broken the leaves down and whatnot. It was a lot, and I ended up freezing it all.
And then I had no freezer space AND I had just gotten married, which meant I froze some of my cake to save for my 1st year anniversary. Talk about no space! So, I made soup. It was logical, I guess, but who makes soup out of collard juice?


Then a friend of mine tells me she's sick. My response? Make soup. Make spicy soup, no less, which is obviously a good idea for sick people. She felt back to her normal self by the time she got the soup, mostly -- she said it gave her a pick-me-up kind of thing. Not surprising, since it was full of a ton of fresh veggies.

So, I posted the soup ingredients online. My soups, when I do them, aren't hard to do. I don't typically brown this, saute that, pre-cook things, etc, before putting it in the full soup. I might, given I'm really worried about extracting flavors like carmelized onions or something (the most I did was presoak the shiitakes I had in the sick-woman soup, because they're dried and in a container I got from Costco a while back. I only used them in the soup because I don't want to let those go bad, even though dried food takes a while to turn -- they will, eventually).
I posted them online to get names. I haven't chosen for the first, but the second is Melly's Sweet'n'Spicy Soup, which makes a lot of product, isn't terribly bad for you (no added salt, no sugar, but plenty of carbs; it's balanced by how many nutrients it involves from all the v8 juice, tomatoes, tubers, spice, etc). The idea was to get some energy back into her, and it worked.


Funny thing is, a friend requested soup for the Sunday night games which still go on this semester. I think they shall continue until someone graduates and moves away, and even then, unless it's Kevin and I moving away, they'll probably still keep going. Kyle says he wants potatoes and bacon. MOAR POTATOES. So many potatoes!

I shall post what I did and the ingredients I used when I can. I should shower first, because the skinny one and his visiting brother decided they want to go out, and I'm probably tagging along. I'll post by tomorrow night, given things go as I like. I have a few bread recipes I yoinked, which seem to go well with EVERYTHING I put them toward.

Grade: Caribbean Vegetable Soup

• Flavor
• Texture
• Cooking ease
• Price
• Estimated healthiness
• Creativity of the recipe
• Completeness 

Out of 70 points.

Flavor: 10/10. My job of replacing ingredients because I couldn't find that one thing turned out very well, and I hope the thing I replaced tastes like what I used (does that make sense? :P ). So much was going on. It's fruity, fun, playful, and would go well at a summertime party with fruity-alcomaholic drinks and some Caribbean music. It definitely merits the wearing of bathing suits while eating.

Texture: 10/10. What is not right about this thing? I love full, hearty soups. I learned some time back that hearty doesn't necessarily mean meaty, or heavy, or thick; it can be busy, or full. The Caribbean soup seems to take everything awesome and stick them together. It goes against what we seem to think of Caribbean as, but I'm thinking it makes sense. They probably sleep on banana trees (I jest; that wouldn't make any sense, but we have to import them from far away which isn't fair. Our deal locally is berries, pears and apples, really; we don't get neat fruits like bananas.)

Cooking ease: 8/10. DEAR GOD I CHOPPED EVERYTHING. I chopped ahead of time, thinking I'd need to, and although I was correct I didn't have enough bowls to put everything in. I had bowls everywhere, and I still had more to chop. And when I dumped in the first wave of food, I had to continue chopping. By the time I had everything in and cleaned up, it was close to done. And, my dears, it smelled AMAZING. Fruit soup = very large win. I think this and Apple soup may be my two favorites. Just.. get used to chopping.

Price: 9/10. Melons and plantains and so on and so forth do add up and I get that. Some of these you may have already (e.g. bananas, carrots and squash; everyone has squash when it's in season). Some may not, but that's okay. It's very filling and it's not a sinful food; you can have seconds and be okay with it.

Estimated healthiness: 9.5/10. If you're diabetic, this isn't for you due to the glycemic index of the fruits, plus the potassium in things like the bananas/plantains that are included in the recipe. But for the average person, I highly recommend eating more fruits and veggies -- like any future RD should -- but that doesn't mean in the conventional sense. You can team this up with other things like bread, meats and cheeses if you're creative, and save it for later for when you're too lazy to cook up some smoothies or head out to the store for more fresh fruit. It freezes well but takes freaking forever to microwave. The butternut squash soup, 5 ladel-fulls, took about 5 minutes; this one, same amount, could take 8-10, so keep in mind that warming it back up may be a challenge but it's worth it.

Creativity: 10/10. I don't know whether people in the Caribbean would agree -- if this is really something they'd eat in the first place -- but over here it's freaking brilliant. I would have never put those things together, or replaced that one thing with the melon and the squash like Magz the Food Scientist suggested, but it came out extremely well. It's colorful, bright, happy, and busy, and it's filling. It's just plain the best soup ever.

Completeness: 10/10. What the heck else could you PUT in this thing? It's not a gumbo. You don't necessarily need things like okra or sausage, but you could, I guess. The okra would be bland when eaten with the rest of the very sweet fruits and things, but the sausage would hold it's own. However, the fattiness from the animal meat would make the texture change, and I can't predict how that'd work out. I'm not sure I'd be okay with making this soup greasy. It works so well all on it's own. The only thing I could say, really, is to add some leafy greens, perhaps. But that's pushing it, and that's all I can really think of.

Grade: 66.5/70 = a strong A. And I agree, whole-heartedly. I recommend getting what you can at local markets to enhance the flavor, but I know some of that (e.g. bananas) won't be available here in the States like that. Do remember it's supposed to be chunky, with bite-sized things floating around. There's not enough room for floating juices; there should be enough so you can freeze it and not ruin the solids.

As always, enjoy cooking!

Hope this works

I'm on an old computer in the school's kitchen, so I'm not sure how well this will publish, if at all.

I ran through the estimated serving sizes / proportions of potato-to-squash from the soup I made last week. It means I also found the location of the 'low sodium vegetable broth' option, which was eluding me in the program I've been using. Hello, improvement!

Basically what this means is I have an idea of what went where. I think I have my amounts about as close as I can get - four potatoes and about 4 pounds of squash equal a lot. 

This is what I found, as a general idea:

• Serving size: 414 grams or about 14-15 ounces (a filling amount)
• Calories per serving: 2.5g
• Saturated fat: 1.5g
• Trans fatty acids: 0
• Cholesterol: 5mg
• Sodium: 150mg
• Carbs: 32g
• Fiber: 5g
• Sugars: 9g
• Protein: 3g
• Vitamin A: about 500%
• C: 70%
• Calcium: 10%
• Iron: 10%

I think, for a craving food, this is pretty good. I would grade this soup, but it needed something to offset a tangy, almost bitter flavor I was receiving. More potatoes? No pepper? I love the pepper flavor, though. So I'm not ready for that just yet.
It's obvious significance lies in the Vitamin A, in my opinion. It has a perk of having very few calories, saturated fats (an obsession now with people due to Clinton's weight loss), low sodium, healthy carbs, decent amount of healthy fiber, a small amount of protein, and some calcium and iron.

According to a site from Harvard, Vitamin A is related in not just eye sight, but in bone remodelling, white blood cell activity and the ability to grow and regenerate new cells. There are definitely downsides to having a deficiency in A, but according to the site there are a couple things related with overdose, as well, so if you take a supplement, this soup may be something you'd want in moderation (much like any other food high in X-nutrient). The things related with overdose are hip-fractures and pregnancy problems, but they weren't specified exactly as to why. Too much of a good thing is bad, which is all I know right this minute (which can also apply to Vitamin C, which people uselessly consume the living heck out of. It doesn't make your colds go away. Sorry, dears!)


Anyway, this Sunday is Indian Beef and Berry soup, a thing of which I don't have the recipe for right this minute. That's what my trip to the store tomorrow evening will entail. I'm looking forward to it -- it's leaning in a cultural direction I don't head to very often, and the only reason I ever really do is if I pull out some curry just to mix things up once in a while. An India-inspired soup sounds exciting, so I'll be sure to have photos up again this week (and they won't be phone photos this time, which apparently make my red pepper soup look like it's infested with ghosts. It's not, but I still wouldn't eat too much of it. Habaneros. Yikes.)

For anyone who reads, feel free to comment. I'm not trying to push people into it, but I think I may come across as a bit judgemental or overly Type-A personality. Typing gives me time to breath and actually decide what to say, so I'm generally nicer through here than in real life (I think). I'm just excitable -- I promise, I'm still approachable! =)

On a note of commenting, I will be needing a project for sometime next year (roughly 2-3 weeks into the month of January). I'm thinking of something that primarily utilizes baking; for the summer, I want something that primarily utilizes the crock-pot or the grill outside, hence why I'm saying to continue to use my stove. It helps warm my house up through the winter, but that's not welcome come May or so. If anyone ever comes up with any ideas, or has a recipe suggestion for me to look over and work on, I definitely welcome it. If you want me to test taste your favorite meal, then lower the salt or fat content in some way, I'm willing to give it my best shot. It's great for preparing for my career, so we'd both be winning out in that situation. Just a thought!! This Monday and Tuesday are also days I have break, and I may be willing to do a mini-experiment at home.. Hint hint.

Happy cooking!

Side-side project

People seem to look at me like I'm silly when I tell them I'm doing this soup blog thing. I suppose they wonder who would care so much about soup. I do. I like soup. I think it's comforting, easy to cook, store, reheat, mix and match. On Friday, I take it to school with me. I let a frozen container of it sit in my car, and after my first class (at about 11.30) I grab it, microwave it and happily wait for my second lab class. It waits for me, knowing how tasty it is.

Okay, so, I'm not so obsessed to go that far, but I don't think Americans consume enough soup. They've done studies: people are a little healthier, on average, if they eat a wet food like soup, melons and fruits, etc. And it ends up meaning we don't need as much to drink.

I primarily chose it because of the shear number of attendants for the gaming night at my house on Sundays. It's a set number (including my husband and myself, it ends up being eight. Sometimes, we tempt a ninth.) Sure, spaghetti and chili work, but why? Because it's large, it's easy, it's reheatable.. Sound familiar? And, I don't know about you, but a room full of seven young college-aged men do not need a stomach full of beefy-beans.

This soup deal is not my first ideal project idea. I've had a few. This one is just the easiest and most convenient. Next year, after I alter my top chosen 'unhealthiest' soups (no idea how many I'll choose to do, it depends), I'll start a new project, or two. I have no idea how I actually want to approach either of them, though. Do I make a grid? Do I make one of those books that identifies 30,000 types of different things (like those plant books)? Do I do a large survey? 

Surely, you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Have you ever thought, "Man, such-and-such is not working optimally; my doctor said an increase in blah-blah-blah would help. That means, I know I can eat such-and-such!'

Do you regularly think about this sort of thing? No? 

Who knows anything but staples? I mean things like how potassium is found in bananas; arsenic in apples (I hate you, Dr. Oz, but that's a different, much much uncalled for discussion). Proteins in meats; Omega-3 in salmon. Calcium in milk (or orange juice, as of the last few years.) Ascorbic acid (Vit. C) in many fruity things. The potential to become fat as the side of the barn in [insert appetizing food here].

Much more than that and we start to think perhaps there should be a place to go for that sort of thing. Which is where? Your doctor? Please, I'll hurt myself laughing at that one. Your dietitian? You know how busy those people really are? It's incredible.

I decided I wanted to fix that. However, poster board generally organizes one concept. Food + vitamins + minerals + healthy fats + carbs information does not equal one simple concept. 

What if you wanted diabetic-healthy foods? Or perhaps something else that's rising quickly in national interest/ (as a dietary problem): food more healthy for the elderly; for Crohn's disease patients; cancer patients; celiac's disease or related intolerances; vegetarians or vegans (they think they know everything, but really, I don't know if I agree.) 

I'm just throwing concepts out there. I can't see why, in the long run, they aren't legitimate things we can research.

They all have a need to alter their diet accordingly. Some are easier to apply to nutrition than others, and I would obviously want to wait before approaching the problems of Crohn's or cancer. Someone needs to at least put together current information on them, at some point, as a suggestion to those who are lost without a lot of complicated, wordy jargon, so that people without degrees can understand.

The first step in this field is to admit we know very little, hence why we need to get the ball rolling on this sort of thing. I mean all food scientists, nutritionists, dietitians. Those people in hospitals, the grocery stores, labs, all of us. 

For the record, it drives me insane when you look something up and you get information on anything BUT what you were looking for. Perhaps this is just me. 

How would I organize something like this? 

I'm thinking I need multiple things. But not everyone is so great with knowing which chart (or whatever) to use. Is what they look for a vitamin or a mineral? But, I suppose if you're that far into looking after your health, maybe you should be able to know the difference, or at least be a little more diligent in your search (either one). 

Would people use something like this, if it were credible? 

One has to realize I'd be accessing a lot of books, websites, and information from Ph.D's, doctors, nurses, and others who may be dealing with certain disorders or diseases. I'd be compiling a huge amount of information together that may change, which means by the time I get done I may need to just go back and redo it. Sometimes, the rate we discover things is great, and sometimes it makes staying current extremely difficult.