Scraps and Snippets ~ The Kind Diet ~ Reviewed

The Kind Diet

Alicia Silverstone

My Review:


Alicia Silverstone's Vegan/kindness tome went with us on a recent road trip. The passengers in the car passed it around and read up on some of what Alicia had to say. She gives great information on how and why to go Vegan. She shares delicious recipes. Her peanut butter cups and Rustic Pasta are amazing, and many pages in our copy of The Kind Diet have become stained and/or dogeared in the months since the road trip.


Alicia's voice is friendly girl-next-doorsy and she shares little stories, encouragement and pictures from her life. Her book is part why, and focused on the Kindness of plant eating, to animals, the planet and the human body. (Without graphic pictures and horrific stories of packing plants.) The how of her book is broken down into simple categories. In each category, she gives hints and examples and role models.The just getting started category, of those who are taking baby steps into Vegan eating, she labels flirts. The stricter and more devoted Vegan category is next, with tips and hints for those willing and ready to commit to a strict plant-based diet. Finally, she gives insight on the next class of plant-eaters, the Superheroes, those who embrace Veganism and take their passion to the next level. Some of her ingredients are not super easily grabbed at the local grocery store. Some I had not even heard of. She explores the debates on grains, sugars and soy. Discusses organics, pantry supplies, and the pros and cons of eating Nightshade vegetables. Her information includes a good, solid overview of how to get the nutrition the body needs from eating plants.


I don't think this should be the only Vegan cookbook you purchase if you are Vegan or going that direction. However, it's a good one to grab if you are a flirt, and it should take you to the edge of the Superhero chasm. We refer to it and cook from it often.

Scraps and Snippets ~Italian Cheezy Toflets w/ Garlic Tomato Sauce ~

Italian CheezyToflets with Garlic Tomato Sauce

1 pkge extra firm Tofu

Other veggies if desired. I used tiny, chopped up eggplant.

Marinade:

1 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 TBSP lemon juice

3 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp Italian seasoning

Breading:

4 TBSP nutritional yeast

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Italian seasoning

Sauce:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp olive oil

4 diced tomatoes

salt to taste

Drain and press tofu. Slice into cutlets (1/4-1/2" thickness, I got about 14). Drizzle or brush marinade on both sides of tofu. Let sit a few hours (overnight would be great but mine didn't sit very long.) Dip tofu slices in dry breading mix. Heat skillet and brown/crisp tofu slices. Lay in bottom of 9 x 13 casserole dish. If you have extra breading dump it over the top of the slices, or mix it with the other veggies you might be using. Put the veggie layer, if using, on top of the tofu. Let it sit. Mince the garlic and let it sit a few minutes. Heat the tsp of olive oil, toss garlic and saute until golden. Add chopped tomatoes. Dump garlic tomato mixture over the tofu slices. At this point I'd shake some sea salt over the whole dealio. Mine needed salt. Bake at 350 for approx 25-30 minutes. Serve with bread, salad, and whatever else sounds good. Serves 4-5

Serials and Scenarios ~ Rick Lawrence's Sifted

What Will Your Troubles Reveal About You?


Rick Lawrence explores God’s “sifting” to discover why we suffer in this life.


Worn down by the troubles in your life? Overwhelmed by piled-up problems? Worried about others who are hurting? In his book, Sifted: God’s Scandalous Response to Satan’s Outrageous Demand, Rick Lawrence offers fresh biblical perspective on pain, based on a single Scripture snapshot: Luke 22:31-32.


“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” These two simple verses from Luke’s account of the Last Supper launch a profound exploration of the meaning of trouble in a Christian’s life. Suffering is inevitable, and if we’re honest, the explanations commonly offered often just don’t hold up or help very much. But Jesus’ perfect metaphor of sifting provides fresh perspective on why we suffer and what the sifting process can reveal in our lives.


Peter was to be “sifted like wheat”—shaken hard, beaten, and finally separated from his false identity. Satan was the one causing it, but Jesus would allow it. Lawrence’s verse-by-verse exploration offers insight, comfort, challenge, and a call to greater intimacy with the God who allows our pain because He wants us to know who we really are and what we can become.


If we believe that Christians are still sifted today, why do we so often judge those who are experiencing hardships? They must have done something wrong. God must be punishing them. But suffering is inevitable, whether it comes in the form of life-shifting catastrophe or the drip-drip-dripping of daily troubles. Sifted will encourage those who are facing trouble now and those who will face it in the future. It will encourage us to see our pain as a means to greater knowledge and intimacy with Christ. Lawrence offers a rigorously honest, deeply challenging, yet powerfully comforting exploration of the trials that beat us down, the good God who allows our troubles, and the incredible beauty the process of sifting can reveal in us.

About the Author: Rick Lawrence has been editor of GROUP Magazine, the world’s most widely read resource for Christian youth leaders, for 23 years and is the co-leader of The Simply Youth Ministry Conference. In his role as “Youth Ministry Champion” at Group Publishing, he leads the organization’s expeditionary efforts to challenge, encourage, and equip youth pastors. Lawrence has authored hundreds of magazine articles and is the author, co-author, or editor of 31 books, including JCQ’s: 150 Jesus-Centered Discussion Questions, Jesus-Centered Youth Ministry, and the adult/teenager small-group curricula Make Their Day and Ten Tough Things. He’s a consultant to national research organizations and a frequent conference and workshop speaker. Lawrence and his wife, Beverly Rose, live with their two daughters in Denver, CO.


Sifted: God’s Scandalous Response to Satan’s Outrageous Demand by Rick Lawrence

David C Cook/August 2011/ISBN: 978-1-4347-0074-2/300 pages/paperback/$14.99


My incomplete thoughts : I can't do a full review yet. I'm so behind reading and reviewing. However, I have started Sifted and am impressed with the depth of Scripture usage and the study of this intriguing and a little unsettling conversation between Jesus and Peter. More to come. But in the meantime, check it out.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Farmish Thoughts...

This will automatically post while I'm at the farm today. How fun is that? 


Okay. Fun might be overkill. I do love the autopost feature of Blogger, though. 


There is a rumor that it will hit the mid-70's today. And if the weather today is anything like yesterday, it's going to be fabulous. 

Did I mention we found a tomato worm while we cleaned up the garden? Remember the tomato worm? The horned devil of the bug/insect kingdom? The farmer had a ritual dance to make them go away. And to dispatch with one is horrendous and hideous, and may necessitate counseling. This sucker, the one we found, had fortunately already crossed over and it was as long as my pinky finger, and as thick around, too. UGH! Shudder. I'm thinking the farmer dance might just be a natural girlie reaction to a wicked ugly critter vs. a chant to make them go away. 


Tomorrow won't be a Vegan or food post at all. Just so you know. Today was going to be the same, but I'll be at the farm. Farm = food and veggies. And I've found out that today is World Vegan Day. The US has a total of four events to celebrate. But worldwide, whew, apparently there are lots of Vegans out there. It's a whole alternate reality for sure. Here's a comprehensive website if you are interested.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Buh-Bye Vegan MoFo, Hello Isa...

I feel like I should post something profound today. It is the last day of my first Vegan MoFo.

A year ago I couldn't even fathom going Vegan. Nine months ago I was dreading it. Seriously.

But I decided I could give up dairy for a month. One measly month. And now. Here I am, just finishing seven almost perfectly clean months of Vegan eating.

I'm sure this won't be my last Vegan Month of Food.

I feel like I should have a radical recipe to celebrate with. There is a dill potato soup in the crockpot ala Vegan with a Vengeance. But I can't give you her recipe. And the weekend saw us cleaning out the fridge and using up some things that needed to be eaten. Most of them were tasty. Like the Asian slaw soup which was a serendipitous creation that will probably never be repeated because the salad was so so and the recipe was tossed. I was happy that I could use up some non-Vegan items for a potluck, too.

I do have a few Vegan things to celebrate.

One. See my left-sided sidebar? The cool Featured Recipes thing. My recipes will all be posted there and you can click on it and see a whole page of recipes. Right now there are nine. But as I get time to convert, I'll be doing that.

Two. I found out that Isa Chandra Moskowitz (Vegan with a Vengeance) is coming to my neck of the woods next Saturday. How cool is that? Very!

Three. Even though it was 26 degrees this morning, the sun is shining and we are pushing 60. That has nothing to do with Vegan, but the dogs are currently lounging in the sun as it splashes across the entryway floor, and that kind of makes me happy. (Mostly cuz they aren't up in my bizness while I'm trying to type, and because they are cute.) 

And yesterday was so nice we winterized the garden. My raspberry bushes are out of control. I think that means we are going to have a great harvest next year. Or they are alien mutants and are going to entomb us on Halloween night.

If you don't hear from me again, you can assume that the alien raspberries attacked. If you know Isa tell her not to be concerned. I will not be a creepy fan. I'll try not to be a creepy fan. I'm really normal. Tell her that. All of you who really know me are NOT allowed to comment unless it's nice. Not kidding.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Apple Soup and Pepper Yum....

Bizarrely good soup.


Xta emailed me a recipe that she thought sounded like me but pretty much said sounded overall nasty. Ha. Ha. Well, I now know how she feels about me!


Kidding. Of course Xta loves me.


I liked the recipe. But it needed major tweaking. So here is my version.

Harvest Candied/Curried Apple Stew

1 TBSP Coconut Oil

1 Large small dice onion

1 Clove (Large or two medium) minced garlic

4 Large or 5 medium stalks of celery, small dice

2 Apples small dice

4 Cups vegetable juice

2 Cups apple cider or juice

1 TBSP curry powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Sea Salt and pepper to taste.

Melt Coconut oil, saute celery, garlic, onion. When tender and caramelized add the vegetable broth, the apple juice, the apples, curry powder and cinnamon. Simmer for about an hour. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Not too sweet, not too spicy. Refreshing in an oddly delicious way. And easy. Win. Win. Win.


I also made stuffed peppers out of some leftover tidbits. I had about a 1/4 cup of Daiya cheese. Some peppers fresh from the farm, and a mish mash hash of leftover Seitan, garlic, onion and potatoes.

Stuffed Green Peppers

1/2 onion small dice

1 clove garlic minced

2 to 3 baked potatoes small dice

1 cup seitan diced into cubes

2 TBSP Earth Balance

1 cup of cooked lentils

1 cup of brown or black or red rice

6-8 Bell Peppers, cut in half and seeds removed

Melt Earth Balance, toss in the garlic and onions and saute until translucent. Toss in potatoes and brown until some of the potatoes get crispy, finally toss in seitan. Add lentils and rice. Scoop mixture evenly into the pepper halves. Sprinkle Daiya cheese. Bake until pepper is tender, (about 35-40 minutes in a 350 oven).

Scraps and Snippets ~ A Little Hair of the Cat er Kernel That Bit You?

I follow a few blogs. Most of them are Vegan focused because, clearly, that is my learning curve right now.

One is Peas and Thank You. I love Mama Pea's spicy posts.

She didn't disappoint the other day. I haven't made the recipe and don't know when I'll get around to it. But this caramel popcorn post reminded me of a hilarious, though a little icky, story a friend told me.

My friend has a favorite family recipe for caramel corn. A lot of folks pop the corn in a paper bag, my friend uses paper bags to actually caramel the corn. I'm not sure of the procedure but she told the following story.

Her dad (who looks a little bit like Parks and Rec's Ron Swanson sans the bodacious mustache) and sister were at home with her and it was one of those nights. Not much to nibble on in the house. A few good back to back television programs on, and the air had a tinge of brisk in it. One of the three of them decided that popcorn sounded fabulous. And as we all know how that goes, three heads together pretty soon popped out the idea of caramel corn. (If the original idea is good, pour a decadent sauce on it or drench it in chocolate to make it AMAZING!)

My friend hopped up to get the job done. She decided to make a double batch for efficiency's sake and pulled out the ingredients and paper bags.

Later, after the caramel corn cooled and hardened they polished off one of the bags. But one was not enough. (As is often true of sugar drenched or chocolate drowned goodies.) Her dad began noshing on the second bag. He stood up and turned on the light. He held up a handful of caramel corn. "This is hairy."

My friend looked at him with a Huh face and said, "Huh?" "Hairy?"

The annoyed cat, aka Feral Will, has nothing to do with the story. However, it's a creepy picture of a hairy critter and I'm sure he'd be thrilled to coat anyone's caramel corn with some of his fur.

He held out his hand. "Look."

And she did. And his popcorn was covered with hair.

After a little freak out dance by the entire, now completely grossed out, party. They began trying to figure out a) how the heck they got hairy caramel corn. b) If the bag they scarfed had been covered in it too.

Here's what happened. My friend's mom had been cleaning out some closets at a relative's home. One who was going into a skilled care facility and hadn't moved in years. My friend's mom packed loads of things in containers and bags and a few found their way into my friend's house. Turns out that the elderly relative had been a hair dresser way back in the 60's. One of her grocery bags, which had probably been used to hold swept-up hair still lurked in her kitchen closet. And my friend's mom was thorough enough to use every little container she could find, even the last bag in the kitchen closet. Being the green gal that my friend's mom is, she decided the bag could be used yet again. It ended up in her kitchen closet. Where her daughter could grab it and use it for caramel corn er Caramel-and-50-Year-Old-Hair-Bits-Corn.

(Need an idea for a creepy Halloween trick? There you go.)

This probably can't be considered a Vegan Month of Food worthy post. After all, I just tell a story. And the caramel corn that is featured in the story was traditional with dairy. But, I did link to Mama Pea who is a "Go, go, Vegan!"  cheerleader. And I think there is a moral to this story. It is safer to recycle paper bags that have not been used to haul meat and dairy products. aka VEGAN bags. Bonus Moral: Never, never, never, reuse a paper bag for caramel corn that has been played in by a rambunctious cat.