May 7, 2012 Welcome to poop week (or two, sometimes these things take a while—ooh, let the potty humor begin) at The Organic Adventurer! We’re not squeamish about squishy stuff around here, so we decided that if you’re gonna do poop, you might as well go all in. Prepare yourselves for all things eco-poop!
In the spirit of going all in, we’re starting with people potty talk, specifically our adventures in dual-flush toilets. Many moons ago (look, if you want these jokes to get any better, you should probably just send your own!) The Organic Adventurer was looking for ways get greener and, as always, save a little green. Reflecting on my days of living and traveling overseas, where bidets are common and dual-flush toilets de rigueur, I thought, “That’s it. I’ll use less water and save money with the toilet.”
That makes a lot of eco-sense because, according to the EPA, toilet usage accounts for 30% of average household water use. So saving a third of the water from two-thirds of those flushes could add up to a lot of resource conservation. The remaining question was whether or not one could really save money with this eco-friendly move.
I looked into replacing my toilet with one designed specifically to be dual-flush. At the time, they ranged from $200 to over $1,500.
 These days a dual-flush model can cost as little as $98. This one has a button-flush on top of the tank.  "WaterSense" is kind of like the EPA's Energy Star for toilets. Not only was that out of my budget, but the potential seven cents in savings per day (at the 1.7 cents per gallon that I pay) meant that it would take a minimum of almost eight years to recoup the investment, much less to save any money—a little too long for me. So the next possibility was retrofitting my existing toilets.
First lesson to learn from my mistakes (and one of the reasons The Organic Adventurer exists): If you rely on someone else’s recommendation rather than investigating it yourself, make sure it comes with thorough research that examines all aspects of the issue or product. Personal experience doesn’t hurt either. I had been using a great website, called Practically Green, that lets its users make product recommendations. One of the products recommended was a retrofitting kit called the HydroRight Drop-in Dual-Flush Converter. My enthusiasm for the $20 price tag and the apparent ease of installation made me uncharacteristically impulsive, and I ordered it right away. Nine months was more my speed for return on investment!
 A good, cheap solution under certain circumstances Mr. Organic Adventurer was less enthusiastic, seeing as how his hands would be the ones all over the toilet, but he patiently read through all of the instructions and specifications. The first sign of trouble came when he discovered that because we did not have the flapper-style flush mechanism, we would have to also purchase the $12 flush valve. Yeah, that’s where the thorough research would’ve been handy. At this point, though, the toilet’s works were in pieces on the bathroom floor and Mr. OA wasn’t about to reassemble the throne just to disassemble it again later. Off we went to Home Depot, where we discovered that not only could I have paid less for the product that I purchased had I bought it there instead of ordering it online, but there was also a kit including both items for $24. We bought the kit and returned my purchase.
Once home, the 10-minute installation was a breeze. Trying to adjust the beast to actually flush while still providing maximum water savings was a different story. After four hours and way too many test flushes (some involving, I kid you not, a timer and a ruler) we admitted defeat and called the product’s customer service number. They were, to say the least, not easy to reach. So we spent five days with a non-functional toilet. Mr. OA generously pointed out that at least I hadn’t insisted that we do both toilets at the same time, so we had a backup.
 The original handle  The new handle—small button for partial flush, large button for full flush  On dual-flush models and in Europe, the "handle" is usually on the top of the tank. You may also see models that have tanks behind the wall and an almost flat wall panel for the flush buttons. When we finally reached someone who could help us with the adjustment, he was extremely patient and helpful. After two hours on the phone, though, he finally admitted that because we already had a relatively water-efficient toilet, we could only increase its efficiency but so much. The modern standard for water-efficient toilets such as ours is 1.6 gallons per flush. The product, he said, was really designed to retrofit pre-1995 toilets that use anywhere from 3.5 to 7 gallons of water per flush.
 The old works  The new works Our dilemma, then, was whether to keep the retrofit kit or revert back to the original iteration of the toilet. Based on the tank water level measurements, I estimated that I was saving more like .3 gallons per partial flush rather than the advertised .7, which meant a savings of 3 cents a day. That translated to a little over two years to start seeing any return on investment. Not too bad, but the fact that our utility charges us per 1,000 gallons meant that we wouldn’t be able to save enough water with a dual-flush toilet, or even two, to budge the utility’s round number. Mr. OA was also annoyed that you had to hold the partial-flush button for a precise number of seconds to make it actually flush. Still, not flushing 657 gallons of water a year is nothing to sneeze at, environmentally speaking, so I was in favor of keeping the new works. Mr. OA didn’t feel like doing any more plumbing work than necessary, and we’d already disposed of the original works; reverting would mean another trip to the hardware store. So we compromised by keeping the new dual-flush works in the master bath toilet and not converting the toilet in the guest bath.
The lesson here is that if you have a pre-1995 toilet and want to cheaply save a lot of water, a dual-flush retrofit kit is a great option. Whether or not you can save any money that way would depend on the original capacity of your toilet (and, therefore, how much water you were saving) and your utility’s billing practices. If you have a 1.6-gallon toilet, you could likely achieve the same water savings by putting a brick (or anything else that displaces water) in the tank and calling it a day. Just make sure there’s still enough water to complete the flush. And those rumors about bricks breaking down in the tank? That’s a load (had to get one more in there!) as far as I know from the personal experience of having a brick in a 1971 toilet for about 30 years. By the time I replaced the toilet during a bathroom remodel, you could still have built a house with that brick.
 Looks like somebody found a solution for saving water with their toilet! What’s your experience been with reducing water usage in the potty closet? Do you let it mellow? Do you co-pee? Have a composting toilet? What do you want to hear more about? Don’t be shy; we’d love to hear your stories, suggestions and comments…yes, that includes potty humor!
May 1, 2012 Last Sunday’s Slow Food First Coast Tour de Farm, the annual opening of Northeast Florida’s farms to visitors, is in the books. And what a day it was!
 Hayride tour of Black Hog Farm Last year, The Organic Adventurer had planned to check out four farms to the west and south of Jacksonville and only made it to two. This year, we decided to start to the south and work our way north. We actually made it to four farms this year, aided by the fact that their proprietors, for the most part, seemed to have opted for self-guided tours instead of the longer group tours of last year.
First up was Black Hog Farm. I was curious about the farm itself. It’s a relative newcomer to the local food movement (though the folks who run it are 5th generation farmers) that seems to have had success from the start, with collaborations with local restaurants and a brewery as well as much positive press. Not being much of a meat-eater these days, though, I must admit that the real draw was the guest speaker, about whom I wrote in my last post, Joel Salatin of Polyface, Inc. Black Hog had assigned an entire field for parking, and it was quite full. There was a uniformed police officer directing traffic and pedestrians, and we got there just as Mr. Salatin was being introduced beneath a large event tent that was filled to capacity. We joined the many people standing around the edge of the tent.
 Black Hog's Luke Watkins introducing Joel Salatin Mr. Salatin was every bit as genuine, charismatic and passionate about sustainable food systems in person as he seems on film and spoke for about an hour on the problems of our current “conventional” food system and what the alternative is and could be. Afterward, he took a few questions and was then overrun by people wanting to meet him and get their picture taken with him. His desire to get people fired up about eating locally and sustainably is admirable (and effective) but made his talk a bit disjointed. It did make me want to read a few of his books, though, to see the concepts and methods of which he is a proponent laid out in a more organized, thorough way.
 Farmer, author and speaker Joel Salatin speaks about sustainable food While I didn’t get the opportunity to ask him what he thinks about the “celebrity farmer” label, it seems clear why he has become the de facto spokesperson for those in favor of a more sustainable way to produce and distribute food in this country.
 Black Hog's heritage breed pigs  Black sheep at Black Hog Farm After the talk, we toured the rather large farm where there are primarily pigs, sheep and chickens. The soon-to-open Black Sheep Restaurant (formerly Chew) and Intuition Ale Works had teamed up with Black Hog to provide a lunch. It was recommended that those so inclined reserve their lunch, but more food had been prepared to accommodate those who didn’t reserve.
 Live music at Black Hog Farm There seemed to be an unusually large crowd at Black Hog compared to what we saw last year, and the food folks seemed surprised to have run out of food since they were aware that it was a sellout last year. We were surprised as well since it didn’t seem to be an issue at the farms we visited last year, but I chalked it up to the “celebrity” presence.
 Intuition Ale Works paired with Black Hog this year  Folks lined up early for Black Sheep Restaurant's food I had wanted to make it to the next two farms in time for an advertised workshop, but poor planning on our part left us hungry enough to briefly stop by Blue Sky Farm for some potato samples. While it seems from brochure descriptions and past news stories that Blue Sky is a conventional potato farm, I didn’t get a chance to ask around. It was here that we started to get the feeling that this year’s Tour de Farm was really packed, and not just because of any “famous” visitors, compared to last year. The three potato dishes that Purple Olive restaurant had prepared were fantastic, and we decided to add the St. Augustine Beach restaurant to our must-try list.
 Blue Sky potato farm Hunger sated, it was off to Terk’s Acres Goat Farm. The huge farm has only 28 Alpine dairy goats, giving them plenty of space to roam. The farm sponsors a 4-H Dairy Goat Club, and its members were at stations throughout the farm ready to explain different aspects of raising, milking and caring for goats. These were some well-informed kids! (No pun intended.)
 Terk's Acres: A tranquil dairy farm  Canopy of oaks at Terk's Acres  Sleepy baby goat at Terk's Acres Terk’s Acres was incredibly peaceful in spite of the, again, large number of visitors. Maybe it was the baby goat that had fallen asleep in one of the 4-H kids’ lap or the unbroken canopy of whispering oaks that produced a certain reverence in the crowd. Either way, it was fortunate because we were really getting the picture now that this year’s Tour was way bigger in terms of traffic than last year’s. The tacos from Corner Taco truck that we’d been looking forward to were sold out, and there was no way we were getting near the farm’s goat’s milk soap shop.
 Corner Taco provided food at Terk's Acres So it was on to Maggie’s Herb Farm since we were going to be late for the “Culinary and Medicinal Uses of Herbs” workshop that I’d so wanted to attend. (I’m still looking for an herb source for that tea!) Maggie’s is right off of CR 13, and long before we got there, we knew we were close because of all the cars parked along the side of the road. The raised beds and meshed tables at Maggie’s are complemented by a small store and several greenhouses. It was so crowded that it was a little hard to get around, but I immediately went searching for any gathering that looked like a workshop. Not finding any, I asked and was very disappointed to hear that the workshop had been cancelled because they were too busy. Maybe I have it backwards but, as a visitor, it seemed that the Slow Food First Coast philosophy for the day was about education and awareness more so than sales, so the cancellation seemed shortsighted.
 Plants and herbs abound at Maggie's It was good, though, to see some familiar faces. Austin Pool had sold out of his kimchi (call 904-419-7463 for more info. and visit Austin’s Kombucha) and Marcelle Fernee, of Community Loaves bread CSA, had also completely sold out of her tasty, earthy breads. Not surprising, considering the quality.
 Community Loaves and Austin's Kombucha provide sustenance at Maggie's That was all the “touring de farm” that The Organic Adventurer and Mr. OA had the energy for, so we headed home. There aren’t any numbers up yet on the Slow Food First Coast website, but I heard later from KYV Farm’s Francisco Arroyo and Vivian Bayona that they had a couple hundred visitors last year and over 2,000 this year! I do wonder whether there was more advertising this year or word of mouth from last year, or if that many more people are just aware of and interested in local and sustainable food. I really do hope it has a lot to do with the latter!
April 18, 2012 This Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., Northeast Florida residents and visitors will once again have the opportunity to get to know local farmers and tour their farms during Slow Food First Coast’s annual Tour de Farm.
But the event is really so much more than that. Although guests may visit participating farms in whatever order they wish, Slow Food First Coast has ingeniously suggested four different tour itineraries that make the day a cultural and historical experience as well as an agricultural one. For example, the Old Florida itinerary ranges across Flagler and Putnam counties and highlightsFlorida’s rural agricultural history. One of the stops of interest, in fact, is the Old Florida Museum, which houses antiques, memorabilia and historic artifacts of Old Florida.
That sort of variety also applies to the Tour participants. The Jax & Beyond itinerary, for example, includes produce farms both large (Twinn Bridges) and small (Down to Earth Farm), a livestock farm (Cognito Farm) and a you-pick berry farm (Harriett’s Bluff Farm). The suggested stops along the way include several restaurants, produce stands, a seafood supplier (Whitehouse Seafood), a coffee roaster (Bold Bean) and the Starke Strawberry Festival!
 Cognito Farms' Jerry Williams leads a tour of the sustainable livestock farm during the 2011 Tour de Farm  A Glades Ridge Dairy goat-milking demo. at farm partner Cognito Farm during the 2011 Tour de Farm  Farmer Scott Francis leading a tour of Twinn Bridges Farm during the 2011 Tour de Farm  Bistro Aix chef Tom Gray doing a demonstration during the 2011 Tour de Farm as Twinn Bridges' Denise Francis looks on What’s perhaps most exciting about the Tour de Farm are all of the chef, artisan and farm partners that SFFC has encouraged the larger farms to work with. Most of the farms on the tour will be hosting one or more of these partners on the day of the tour. One little-known fact about Northeast Florida’s food chain is that many local restaurants use produce, meat, cheese and other supplies from local farms and suppliers. On Sunday, chefs from those restaurants will be visiting their partner farms and providing cooking demonstrations, samples and advice. Some are even offering a brunch, lunch or an early dinner that visitors can arrange for ahead of time. For example, KYV Farms will be hosting two chefs: Genie Kepner, of The Floridian restaurant in St. Augustine, will be there from 12-2:30 p.m. and David Scalise, from the Sawgrass Marriott, will be cooking up tasty samples from 2:30-5:00 p.m. Meanwhile, in addition to touring the farm, visitors to KYV can pick up superb, locally made products from two businesses that will be on hand: Pie in the Sky will be selling homemade pies and Minorcan Datil Pepper Products will have their products available.
 2011 Easter potluck and potato harvest at KYV Farms. Local food is a family affair here! Other examples of artisan partners include Community Loaves, a local bread CSA (home delivery subscription), which has partnered with both Down to Earth Farm and Maggie’s Herb Farm and Sweet Grass Dairy, which has partnered with Conner’s Amazing Acres. Archangel Michael Apiaries has partnered with NaVera Farms as well, and Intuition Ale Works has partnered with both Twinn Bridges Farm and Black Hog Farm. There is so much going on at each farm, you really have to plan your time carefully!
 Community Loaves bread CSA and Down to Earth Farms will team up for the Tour de Farm  Intuition Ale Works will offer samples during Tour de Farm This year, there’s also much excitement about a special Tour de Farm participant whose presence seems to be an indicator of how popular and well-known Slow Food First Coast and the Tour de Farm are becoming. Joel Salatin, of Virginia’s Polyface Farm, will be speaking and doing a book signing at Black Hog Farm and will be attending a special dinner at Orsay in the evening. Mr. Salatin’s farm has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, Gourmet, and countless other radio, television and print media. He has authored nine books, most recently Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World. Most people, though, would probably recognize him from his appearances in the documentaries Farmageddon and Food, Inc.
The Organic Adventurer will most definitely be going to see Mr. Salatin. Though he has been criticized for being so busy doing public appearances and book tours that he can’t possibly be a “real farmer” (and recent press dubbing him a “celebrity farmer” can’t have helped), I basically grew up right down the road from Polyface, which is in the Shenandoah Valley. The people of “The Valley” are of immigrant ancestry. Much of their heritage is German, and there is a large Mennonite community. Valley folk are a hard-working, humble bunch who believe fiercely in what they believe, and most would shudder at being called a “celebrity”-anything. While I gather that Mr. Salatin’s family came from outside of the Valley in the early 60s, and I’ve not yet spoken personally to the man, none of what I’ve read and none of the interviews that I’ve seen of him demonstrate anything differently. I have mixed feelings about the issue. Being from Valley stock myself, the “celebrity” label’s sensationalist implications are a source of concern. Then again, perhaps it’s about time that farmers and local food systems had a representative public figure.
Either way, this year’s Tour de Farm promises to be an exciting, variety-filled event that will hopefully spark even more interest in, and conversations about,Northeast Florida’s local food system. Get your Tour de Farm guide book on the Slow Food First Coast website, and I’ll see you on the farm(s)!
 Everyone in Northeast Florida can get in on the bounty of local food, including Cookie, the KYV Farms' dog who loves farm-fresh eggs!
April 12, 2012 I had planned a very different post for today, but days of virus-induced fever, sore throat and general “feeling crappiness” had me reaching for my secret weapon, a linden tea blend I bought at a street market in Turkey years ago. I know what you’re thinking, but this is no “I-can-buy-that-at-the-grocery-store” kind of thing, so we’re going to play a round of “Do you know me?”
 Random picture of a saz player in an Istanbul rug shop circa 1997. Completely unrelated to the post, yet still cool. Most importantly, this tea isn’t all ground up and wrapped in porous, bleached paper that you can dunk in a cup and nuke in the microwave. At the market in Southeast Turkey where I bought it, row after row of open barrels displayed what seemed to me all the herbs and spices in the world. You could buy the individual ingredients for this tea or you could buy it already blended. After trying it once, I went back and stocked up. The problem is that now, 12 years later, my stash is running low and that street market isn’t exactly around the corner anymore. I’ve searched and searched, but can’t find this blend available anywhere, not even online. That’s the “super-secret” part of it. I’m almost resigned to the fact that I’m going to have to collect the raw ingredients and blend it myself.
So what is it? I’m only half-kidding when I call it magic because it has worked like a charm every time I’ve had a cold or the flu. A Turkish friend told me that it had been a well-known remedy for generations at least and gave me the Turkish-language names of the ingredients all those years ago. Unfortunately, I only wrote down the English name of the blend (just plain old “linden tea”). It supposedly consists of linden flowers, dog rose (though I’m not sure if that’s the flowers or the hips), sage, hollyhock, cinnamon bark, cloves, licorice root, daisies and wild chicory root. Some of those ingredients are easily identifiable and some aren’t. Frankly, I don’t see anything in it that looks like licorice root or cloves, and I don’t remember if perhaps they were in there and I used them all. So part of my motivation for writing this post is the selfish hope that someone out there will recognize the blend and tell me where I can find it, what the real Turkish name is or where I can get some of the harder-to-find ingredients like dog rose and hollyhock. Here’s a picture:
To make it, you fill a pot with water, put in two big handfuls of the dried blend, bring it to a simmer and let it steep just like any other tea. Then you can ladle it through a strainer and drink. It tastes great on its own, fruity and cinnamon-y, but I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to add a little honey or sugar. It makes about a gallon, so I keep jars ready to pour it into so I can have a supply for the entire time I’m sick.
Before I get to why it works, let me describe what it does. Today I drank about three cups while I was researching it. My previously dry, raw throat now feels properly moist and any lingering pain is the “in-the-process-of-healing” variety. I was starting to cough last night, but haven’t once in the last several hours and my sinuses, which were starting to get congested, feel clear. I am a little sleepy, and I’ve noticed that the sicker I am, the sleepier I get after drinking the tea.
 I would think the longer you steep the tea, the more of the healing compounds you get. Aside from the selfish motive of wanting to find more of it, I’m also just really interested, as The Organic Adventurer, in natural remedies. Maybe it was being around a Grandma who always kept aloe around for cuts and told us to drink ginger ale for upset tummies among other “grandma fixes,” but I think it’s incredibly interesting to pay attention to what nature can do, especially in our pill-popping age. After researching the uses of the tea ingredients in herbal medicine, it makes perfect sense that this tea should be so effective with the flu and colds:
Linden– induces low-grade fever to aide the body in fighting infection; expectorant; relieves throat irritation and nasal congestion; has a sedative effect
Dog rose – vitamin C…’nuff said.
Sage – antiseptic; fever reducer; decongestant; antioxidant; antimicrobial
Hollyhock – fever reliever; expectorant
Cinnamon – antibacterial; antifungal
Cloves – analgesic; antiseptic
Licorice root – anti-inflammatory; expectorant; cough suppressant
Daisy – expectorant; astringent
Wild chicory – anti-inflammatory; hepato (liver) protectant; deacidifier
It actually seems like a little bit of overkill to have all of those ingredients in there, some of which seem to do the same thing, but perhaps it’s the way they work together that makes it so effective. Either way, there’s no telling how long this tea has been used in such an ancient culture as that of Turkey, and there’s a very good reason for that—it works.
If you’ve ever heard of this tea, know a good source of all manner of herbs and spices, or just have a good home or herbal remedy story to share, I hope you’ll comment!
P.S. I am not a professional herbalist, and this post was in no way, shape or form intended to be medical advice. Most herbs, spices, barks and flowers used for herbal remedies can have serious side effects if used incorrectly. As with any medicine, one should always be very cautious and educated when it comes to herbal remedies.
March 27, 2012 The Organic Adventurer has been completely without meat for almost a month. In five more days, I could eat all the meat I want. Except I don’t want any! That’s a big surprise for me. Mr. Organic Adventurer just suggested that on April 1, he could grill a big steak for me. Without missing a beat, I said, “What if I don’t want it?”
I hadn’t yet thought about whether or not I will continue with the vegetarian diet after the Girls Gone Green- and Ananda Kula-sponsored No Meat March. There are reasons aplenty to stick with it though. (My reasons for doing the challenge were more about health and the environment, so I’ll set aside ethical issues for now.) First, the thought of the oily mouthfeel of red meat just isn’t appealing. Second, I promised myself that I would do this meat-free month only if I could avoid gaining weight, as I have in the past when I’ve stopped eating meat. I’m holding off on weighing myself until the last day, but my clothes actually feel looser! Third, our food budget is well under what it usually is, so the savings from not buying meat are very attractive.
Besides, it’s been a damned good excuse to go to Hovan, quite possibly my favorite restaurant in town. I also finally got to try Pele’s Wood Fire. We had two pizzas: The Mushroom Formaggi was absolutely delicious, but the Roast Pear and Gorgonzola stole the show for me. It was basically my ideal salad on a pizza! The sweetness of the allspice-dusted pears and the bite of the red onion slivers balanced each other well. The walnuts gave it an interesting crunch, the spinach was somehow just barely wilted, and the cheese was dreamy. The original order didn’t last long enough for a photo, but here are the leftovers.
 Pele Wood Fire pizza! While Pele’s isn’t participating in the No Meat March pledge card-holder discount (whaaa?!), The Organic Adventurer was impressed with their automated restroom that saves water and reduces the amount of paper towel used. Also, leftovers are taken home in the “Greenbox,” a recyclable pizza box made from recycled material that includes instructions for turning the box into plates and a storage container before it goes in the recycling bucket. Pretty cool!
 
We also went to Masala, another fave of mine, for Indian. They are offering a No Meat March discount, which made their awesome saag paneer that much more awesome. We also got the malai kofta and garlic naan. Mmm…naan.
On Sunday, March 25, The Organic Adventurer was at CoRK for the Cultivating Culture event hosted by Arbus. Helping people live greener, healthier lives is hard, hot work, so we walked a few tents down and got some cold orange ginger kombucha with chia seeds (call 904-419-7463 for more info.) and a bag of three organic seeded wheat rolls from Community Loaves. If you love fresh, homemade breads and pastries but don’t have time to bake them yourself, check them out. Their home delivery subscription service is available to residents of Riverside, Avondale, Ortega, Downtown, parts of Springfield, and San Marco. They also offer group delivery to ZenCog, so you could probably pick up there if you don’t live in one of those areas. The wheat rolls were dense, fragrant and delicious, and I will definitely buy from Community Loaves again (in moderation, of course)!
 Community Loaves' wheat roll  Now that's some happy bread! More on prepared food: One reader commented on Facebook, “For yummy, quick veggie take-away, try Sprocket’s Food Truck and Nalu’s Tropical Takeout, both in St. Augustine.” I haven’t yet had a chance to try either, but thought I’d throw that out there.
Aromas of yummy veggie dishes have also been filling The Organic Adventurer’s own kitchen as well. My go-to recipe genius, Dawn Hutchins of the Florida Coastal Cooking blog, came through again with Baked Pineapple Curry Tofu with Fried Basmati Rice and Veggies. It was so good, I had to make it twice!
I thought I’d also seen a dish at Florida Coastal Cooking involving roasted chickpeas and kale, but couldn’t find it when I went looking for it again, so I just made something up. This had caramelized red onions, roasted chickpeas and turnips, and kale sautéed with garlic. It turned out really delicious with the smoky chickpeas and sweet onions. I’m thinking of throwing some pine nuts in next time.
I got nostalgic for collard greens one night (Good thing I had some from my KYV Farms CSA membership!) and found a recipe for a vegetarian version online. I wish I could remember exactly where and link it, but you know how it goes: onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, veggie stock and simmer the crap out of it. I really didn’t have high hopes for this one – collards without the bacon? – but it turned out so good! The collards were somehow so smoky on their own that it didn’t even seem vegetarian. Some lentils cooked with onion and celery made it a very satisfying meal.
I can’t say I’ve really gotten into the whole smoothie/juicing thing, but Whole Foods had organic mangoes for $1 each. We also picked up a sample pouch of Vega One Nutritional Shake. Having just been at Masala reminiscing about mango lassis, it was kind of a perfect storm thing. I blended two mangoes, six ounces of Greek yogurt, about three-quarters cup of almond milk, the Vega powder and about three cups of ice, and we had Vega Mango Lassis for breakfast. They were very tasty and made me want to try other smoothie recipes—maybe something with apples and kale next time. Anyone have a good recipe?
Finally, it’s almost Passover, which always makes me think of a delicious vegetarian Passover treat called charoset. Charoset, in the Passover Seder, symbolizes the mortar Israelite slaves used in their building in Egypt, a weighty image for such light, delicious, easy goodness. Thanks to my favorite mother-in-law and to aunt-in-law Merry, I make it by chopping six semi-tart apples and mixing them with the juice of one lemon to prevent browning. I then mix in two cups of chopped pecans or walnuts (or both), two tablespoons of a cinnamon and sugar mix, two tablespoons of honey (agave syrup would work too), and about one-and-a-half cups of a very sweet wine. I’ve tried an organic variety or two, but nothing seems to do it justice better than Manischewitz Concord Grape. That’s probably just a mental thing on my part though. Anyway, the recipe calls for a few handfuls of golden raisins too, but I’m not a raisin fan, so I leave them out. Mix it all up and let it marinate in the fridge. Toss it once in a while; the longer it marinates, the more of the wine the apples soak up. It makes a great dessert or side dish and is as good a reason as any to love eating vegetarian!
As No Meat March winds down, I’d love to know readers’ reasons for eating or not eating vegetarian, so please comment! If you subscribe by email, you can choose to be notified when other comments are made on a post you’ve commented on. You can also subscribe to be notified of comments without leaving one yourself!
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