Last week, Big A was watching one of our four local access channels and stopped at a televised lecture of a guy talking about humans and how we don't really need to eat meat. Everything that our body needs can be done through eating fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts. He went on to say that humans aren't actually built to eat meat. We have the jaws of a herbivore meaning it goes side to side, grinding up the food while the jaws of meat eaters do not. Their jaws are built to tear and shred.
When I got home that afternoon, he was telling me about this so, to keep in the spirit of our "fun" of tweaking our diets, I asked, "You want to go vegan for a couple of days out of the week?" He was game for it so we settled on Monday and Thursday as the two days that we won't be eating meat or any dairy products. This morning, I had oatmeal. For a snack, a Honeycrisp apple. For lunch, mushroom couscous and V8 juice. For dinner, meatless stuffed peppers. I think trying to come up with ways to include more good stuff in alternative ways (such as meatless stuffed peppers) adds interest to this project. The only hitch is that Big A doesn't like any type of bean so that's out of the window for protein. He did seem interested in trying tofu, surprisingly.
I wonder if I should stock up on Gas-X.
7 comments:
With a child that developed a diary allergy two yeas ago, we've become familiar with a lot of the vegan ways... The soy products aren't too bad. I don't like to drink soy milk, but don't mind it on cereal or oatmeal. That said, I'm glad I can eat regular cheese and yogurt
All the soy products seem to be trial and error. Some soy milks have a gritty taste to them while others don't, etc. I have read that they have yet to create a decent soy cheese. I know fat free cheese scares me. Why doesn't it melt?
I wish I could ask the guy on tv what the heck we have four incisors for since herbivores don't have incisors meant for ripping and cutting meat. Also, people like him make an argument saying we don't need meat because we can get protein from seeds, nuts and beans. I can rephrase that by saying we don't need seeds, nuts, and beans because we can get the same protein from meat. That guy made a lousy argument.
With that said, we eat a diet now that only has meat in it a few times a week. I eat quite a bit of tofu and when cooked properly, it is delicious. Growing up I was allergic to milk and drank lots of soy products. All I can say is that I'm glad I outgrew it because I prefer realy dairy to soy.
It may have been a better argument but I'm just repeating it secondhand.
What is the proper way to cook tofu so that it's delicious?
Murf - The best way, and you are going to snort at this, is to stir-fry it with some meat. It takes on the flavor and cuts back on the amount of meat. With or without meat, we mostly stirfry it.
From my research, it looks like a stir fry is the most popular use for tofu. I did also print a recipe for tofu sloppy joes. I guess if you can find it out there in the boonies, I shouldn't have any trouble finding it around here.
Don't forget, I live among 2500 leftover meditating hippies from the Beetle era that for the most part are vegans. We are probably the only town in the state of Iowa where you can find a half dozen vegan only restaurants with another couple dozen with half their menu devoted to vegan dishes. I say the most part because every Friday evening the campus empties and the students fill the fast food joints scarfing down anything that once breathed and had red blood in it once upon a time. The rest of the week they are forced to eat on campus which only serves organic vegan dishes.
Our tofu is in a refrigerator case by the milk, sour creams, dips & soft cheeses area of the store.
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