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By kilax, January 6, 2010 5:40 am

What’s better than arriving home to a fresh cooked meal?

Nothing, really.

When I arrive home and Steven has a warm dinner on the stove, ready for me to eat, I feel like a pampered princess.

Do you like it when someone else cooks for you? Whose cooking is your favorite? Or do you prefer to make your own food?

Last night, Steven made a modified (because we were missing a few ingredients) version of Anna’s (newlywednewlyveg) Black Bean Fiesta Soup.

Here are the original ingredients, crossed out with what we substituted. Check out her site for the full recipe! I hope you don’t mind that we changed it up a bit, Anna!

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 3 clove(s) garlic, chopped
  
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 1/2 T. Dried Red Pepper, 1 1/2 T. Dried Green Pepper
  
• 1 4. oz. can green chilies, chopped 1 1/2 Tsp Dried Jalapeño
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder 1/4 tsp. Ancho Chili Powder and 1/4 tsp. Chipotle Chili Powder
  
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/8 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. lime zest
• juice of one lime 1 Tsp. Lime Juice
  
• 3 2 15. oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• ADDED: 1 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 3 cups 2 cans vegetable broth
  
• 1 15 oz. can corn
• ADDED: 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
  

Also, our favorite cornbread made a guest appearance. It went deliciously with this soup! I recommend trying the soup (either the original or our version). It was so tasty – perfect for a cold evening, and not too spicy!

Crap. I better be careful. I don’t want to turn into a food blogger. Stop making such tasty eats Steven! (no really, please don’t stop)

Time for another meme! Ayla (dainty vegan), Leah (why deprive), Kim (Adventures in Wanting) and Trayn Harder all gave me the Happy 101 award. Thank you! I am supposed to list 10 things that make me happy. Making this list was fun (I could have kept going past 10). I think I could do this everyday! Give it a try! Click “more” to read on.

Continue reading 'A twist on Anna’s Black Bean Fiesta Soup / Happy 101 Meme'»

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By kilax, December 31, 2009 5:33 am

We all want to know – how much exercise do we really need each week? How little can we get away with?

There was an interesting (although VERY confusing) article on the Well blog covering this topic yesterday.  The article stemmed from a study done in Scotland that concluded you only need 20 minutes of exercise a week to increase your contentment. Okay, but how much do you need to be healthy?

That’s more difficult to define. The article went into a discussion about “MET” minutes, which are “Metabolic Equivalent of Task” minutes. Huh? Apparently  you need 500 of those as week, and they vary based on what you are doing for exercise and how intense it is. For example, running at 6 mph is a 10-MET activity. So if you run for 60 minutes, that is 600 MET minutes. So, you’re done for the week then? Confusing…

Has anyone heard of this MET mumbo-jumbo before? How do you decide how much to exercise a week? Do you have any exercise goals for 2010?

I aim for at least 30 minutes a day, but usually go by how I feel. If I am in the groove, I will keep going! If I feel like crap, I won’t work out at all.

A few other interesting points from the article (repetitive, but interesting):

According to the Physical Activity Guidelines report, “It has been estimated that people who are physically active for approximately seven hours a week have a 40 percent lower risk of dying early than those who are active for less than 30 minutes a week.”

Interestingly, they did not find that exercise beyond a certain point conferred significant additional health benefits. Instead, the “dose response” for exercise, the committee found, is “curvilinear.” In other words, people who are the least active to start with get the most health benefit from starting to exercise. People who already are fit don’t necessarily get a big additional health benefit from adding more workout time to their regimens.

You do not necessarily have to divide your exercise time into daily allotments, either. Existing “scientific evidence does not allow researchers to say, for example, whether the health benefits of 30 minutes on five days a week are any different from the health benefits of 50 minutes on three days a week,” according to the activity guidelines. Do what suits your schedule.

Meme time! Leah, Gelareh and Holly have all tagged me for the “7 Random Things About Me” meme. Thanks, ladies! Click “more” to read on…

And of course, Happy New Years Eve! Enjoy your evening and be safe!

Continue reading 'How little exercise can you get away with? / 7 Random Things About Me meme'»

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By kilax, December 7, 2009 3:52 pm

Hi everyone. I had to re-post this because something was wrong with it the first time. I didn’t know – I’ve been in Detroit all day and am currently trying to leave… my flight is delayed and I am frustrated.

Thank you to everyone who notified me of the issue!

Winner announced at the bottom! But first, I wanted to ask for some input…

I overhead an interesting conversation in the gym Friday, regarding the Blood Type Diet. Three people were using treadmills, and the guy in the middle was essentially preaching about it to the other two. I am not sure how it came up (meaning, I doubt they asked, he sounded pushy) but he was explaining how he thinks that is the diet everyone should follow.

I only heard bits and pieces of what he was saying, but I did catch that he was telling the woman that she should not eat tomatoes (he asked her if she liked them, and when she said yes, he said, “but do they like YOU?”), and should eat ground beef instead of steak. Hmm.

So was this guy crazy? What is this diet? I briefly looked at the official website and the wikipedia page. The theory is that there is a specific diet you should follow based on your blood type. Here’s the breakdown of blood types from the wikipedia page:

• Blood group O is believed by D’Adamo to be the hunter, the earliest human blood group. The diet recommends that this blood group eat a higher protein diet. D’Adamo bases this on the belief that O blood type was the first blood type, originating 30,000 years ago.
• Blood group A is called the cultivator by D’Adamo, who believes it to be a more recently evolved blood type, dating back from the dawn of agriculture, 20,000 years ago. The diet recommends that individuals of blood group A eat a diet emphasizing vegetables and free of red meat, a more vegetarian food intake.
• Blood group B is, according to D’Adamo, the nomad, associated with a strong immune system and a flexible digestive system. The blood type diet claims that people of blood type B are the only ones who can thrive on dairy products and estimates blood type B arrived 10,000 years ago.
• Blood group AB, according to D’Adamo, the enigma, the most recently evolved type, arriving less than 1000 years ago. In terms of dietary needs, his blood type diet treats this group as an intermediate between blood types A and B.

The wikipedia page also covers some of the scientific criticism of the theory (research evidence, blood type evolution issues, etc.). Interestingly enough, I am blood type A+, which according to above, adheres to a (mostly) vegetarian diet.

But, really? This just sounds like another fad diet to me!

Have you heard of the Blood Type Diet or read the book? What do you think about it?

What is your blood type? Does the description above describe a diet you think would make you feel your best?

I let Data choose!

Just kidding! Steven drew the name. And the winner is…

VICKI!

Congratulations, Vicki! Please send me your address and I’ll send the signed copy of Eating Animals your way. I hope you share your thoughts on the book with us all.

I really want to thank everyone who entered the contest. I wish I had enough copies of the book to give one to everyone, because I think it’s a great read. See if your library has a copy! And do continue to share your thoughts on the topic!

I have fun doing these giveaways. I hope I can do more in the future.

Comments (29)

By kilax, November 30, 2009 5:11 am

When Steven and I attended Jonathan Safran Foer’s reading and discussion of Eating Animals we had him personally sign our copy of the book! How exciting! The only time I have ever had an author sign a book before this was when Frank Warren signed my copy of The Secret Lives of Men and Women (I also had him sign a book for my sister) – I have since lost interest in Post Secret. Ha ha.

Anyway, guess what?! I brought an extra copy of the book and had Foer sign it as well – so I can give it away to one of you lucky readers!

This book has been getting an amazing amount of press. I think part of the reason is because Foer delivers the message – that we need to start discussing whether it’s right or wrong to treat animals (for human consumption) the way they are being treated – in such a gentle, non-judgmental manner. You don’t feel put off reading this book – you feel intrigued to read more. Yes, there are some disturbing statistics, but they are not blared in your face. They’re just discussed as what they are – statistics.

A pescatarian coworker came with me to Foer’s reading. She hadn’t read the book yet, but started to right after the reading ended. When I saw her the next week, she told me she had finished most of the book and there was no way she could eat animals products every again. I was really surprised by the effect the book had on her. I didn’t feel like it pushed a vegan, or even much of a vegetarian agenda. But, Natalie Portman said Eating Animals turned her vegan as well. I’m just so surprised by the profound effect of this book!

Now, I don’t expect you to become vegetarian or vegan if you read it! I just expect you to think about it! I would love to hear what anyone else thinks of the book.

And on to the nitty gritty…

Contest Rules:

1. To enter the contest, simply leave a comment below telling me why you want to read this book. Again, you can check out my review of it here.
2. To get an extra entry, link to the giveaway in your blog, and leave me another comment linking to your post.
3. This contest is open until 5:00 PM CST on Sunday, December 6th. I will probably use the old “name out of a hat” drawing to select a winner on Sunday evening, or the Random Integer Generator. I will announce the winner on Monday, December 7th.
4. This contest is open to readers everywhere.

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By kilax, November 28, 2009 7:20 am

We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with my sister, Christina, and her friend, Will. What does a vegan Thanksgiving look like? Let me show you…

The Sous Chef and Chef

The main dish: Stuffed Acorn Squash

Your choices are lentils and rice or…

Dressing!

We also had lentils and rice

and dressing on the side!

A delicious new Green Bean Casserole recipe! We used the leftover sauce as gravy for…

… the potatoes! Nom nom nom.

Of course, we had to have Cranberries. We just bought the canned Ocean Spray kind, but I may make a fresh cranberry dish for Christmas.

And you can’t forget the rolls (from ALDI)!!!

The fully set Thanksgiving Day Table…

and the fully set table with peeps!

My plate (this is all I ate – I knew we would have LOTS of leftovers)

Christina makes the classic mashed potato sandwich!

There were just a FEW servings of leftover mashed potatoes

We waited a few hours (Christina and Will played Wii the whole time) until we got out the DELICIOUS vegan pumpkin pie (new recipe here)

My plate

Everyone else’s plates!

The only thing that wasn’t vegan at this meal was the butter for the rolls, the whipped cream, and ice cream.

We had a lot of fun yesterday. Steven and I did the food prep while Christina and Will chilled, then we just played Wii all day and hung out. Sometimes, it’s good to spend a day indoors!

I didn’t do a thankful post this year. After reading many of yours, I can say I am thankful for the same things. But one unique thing I have to mention is how thankful I am too have a supportive husband who loves to experiment with food. I became vegan on June 15, but Steven is still a vegetarian. However, he fully supports my decision to be vegan and is always “veganizing” dishes we used to make with animals products, and trying out new recipes that I can eat. What a sweetie! Being vegan is not impossible, but Steven makes it much easier.

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By kilax, October 20, 2009 12:35 pm

Every work day, I walk past the little dining section of Union Station. At the early hour, the tables and chairs are more likely to be used by tired travelers and homeless people, than people dining.

Every time I pass that area, I look for the lady with the cat. She sits with all of her bags around the table, but always has a special bag on the chair next to her, that has her cat sitting in it. He’s a big tiger cat, with mangy fur. She’s usually talking to him. And he’s usually looking right at her.

I wish I had an actual picture of the cat, but I will use this Simon’s Cat pic instead.

For some reason, it really intrigues me that a homeless person has a CAT. Does this cat follow her around all day? Does she carry it around in an open top bag all day?

Yes, these are my deep thoughts this particular Tuesday.

Every time I see her, I think about all of the homeless people in Rome who had dogs. Most of them did. They use pets to gain sympathy from tourists (like how this cat is catching my attention) but most don’t actually treat the animals very well. In fact, Rome officials encouraged people not to give money to the homeless who had dogs, because the dogs are so abused.

I’m so cynical/bitchy/jaded/unsympathetic, that when I see a homeless person here, I don’t give it a second thought. I don’t feel any sorrow or remorse for them. Especially because I see the same people, every day I’m downtown, in the same spots. Of course, I keep thinking about that cat. Is he well fed? Is he happy? Is he healthy? What is wrong with me? See, this is why they have pets… because of saps like me.

I would really like to understand the homeless problem better. I would like to not be so cynical/bitchy/jaded/unsympathetic. I remember taking a sociology class in college, and learning a lot of interesting facts about why people are homeless. Of course, I don’t remember what any of those are…

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By kilax, September 23, 2009 5:55 am

Which stores send you weekly (and sometimes daily) ad and coupon emails? Please let me know who is sending out great deals that I am missing out on!

I get emails from New York & Company, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and White House | Black Market (WHBM).

Damn WHBM and their marketing campaign. For the last two Thursdays they have sent me pictures of women modeling their dresses, while holding a cat. Apparently, all it takes to pique my interest in a product is a picture of a cat,* because I have visited their site after both emails. Is it more sad that I am admitting this, or that I am hoping one of you can relate (it doesn’t have to be a cat – anything cute and cuddly!)?

*Especially a GRAY cat!!!

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By kilax, August 18, 2009 5:06 am

Data’s been a bit of a sh*tbox lately. He normally likes to “hide” behind things in the evening, and jump up at our legs playfully when we walk by, then run away. But lately, his attacks have been vicious. On Sunday morning, he jumped up on me and bit me in the thigh. When I was standing up! He left a mark.

I think he is stressed because he hasn’t had enough alone/free-time (hey, that is why I’ve been in a funk too!). But seriously, he needs to get over it (and so do I).

On Sunday, on our way to run some errands, we stopped at the animal shelter near our house. I had never been to the shelter before, but thought playing with some nice, grateful, cats for awhile would cheer me up!

Surprisingly, seeing all of the cats (over 300!) didn’t make me feel bad. They were all playing together, and a lot of people were there playing with them. What made me feel sad was seeing the dogs, alone in their kennels, begging for attention.

Anyway, one of the small tiger cats really liked me. She kept trying to crawl onto me, and play with me, and steal all of my attention.

My new friend.

Some of her fur was still on me when I got home, and I think someone noticed. Maybe Data was a bit jealous… but he was really well behaved for the rest of the day! That is, until nighttime came and he wanted to jump up on me again.

So, all I need to do to get a little lovin’ from him is spend time at the shelter everyday. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Just for fun, here are some photos of the sh*tbox from this summer:

6/26 – Thinking “what have they done?!?!”

6/26 – “Who the hell is this guy?!”

6/28 – Sharpening his “claws.”

6/26 – Scandalous!

7/11 – Think he’s comfortable?

7/11 – Vacuum Kitty!

7/12 – Showing us a new way to lay on the couch.

7/15 – Sleeping on a large pile of dirty laundry (we had 6 men stay over!).

7/17 – Data is not a big fan of Rock Band.

7/21 – Playing with a ribbon from Gina.

8/9 – Steven holds Data back from bothering me so I can sleep awhile longer.

8/14 – Relaxing in the sun.

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By kilax, July 28, 2009 5:19 am

Steven sent me a text message yesterday with this image and said:

Data is missing an arm!

I am not sure why, but the text really made me laugh. I am still laughing about it today.

Sometimes you just need a good laugh to distract you from the things in life that are stressing you out. I get caught up in the little annoying things and forget that they are just little annoying things. Things that upset me but don’t really matter in the long run.

I am lucky to have someone in my life with such a fun sense of humor (meaning Steven, and well, Data too?).

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By kilax, June 27, 2009 9:13 am

Alright, it’s the big question! CourtneyInControl asked, “What made you decide you want to go vegan?”

Disclaimer: My intent is not to convert you to veganism, just to share my feelings on the subject!

I’ve been a vegetarian for over 8 years. The idea of becoming vegan (not eating milk or egg products) did not become intriguing to me until I lived in Rome, in 2006. I volunteered at an animal shelter with a lot of vegans who shared information with me about the lifestyle. I believed in the cause, as well as the health benefits of the diet, but honestly, I was NOT ready to make the change yet. I didn’t want to spend time worrying or caring about what was in  my food, especially when living in Rome! I wanted to be carefree and eat as much pasta and gelato as I could fit in in 7 months (rest assured, I accomplished that)! I didn’t want to go to the trouble of learning even more of the Italian language to read food labels, and ask waiters in Italian, “Does that have dairy or egg in it?” I was just lazy.

Since then though, I made a somewhat conscious decision to cut back on dairy and egg products. I didn’t eat them that often. When I lived by myself, I didn’t even keep those things in my apartment. BUT, I did enjoy the occasional slice of pizza, bowl of ice cream, or scrambled eggs.

Since then, I’ve constantly run across information on factory farming and animal exploitation. Honestly, I do NOT search this information out, because I cannot stomach it. If I read/see/hear something cruel, I CANNOT get it out of my mind. It makes me feel sick.

But since I kept finding myself running into this information, I did force myself to think about it, and came to the conclusion that I must use my actions to voice what I believe:

I believe that animals should not be exploited for our gain. I believe they are sentient beings, who should have the basic right of living a free life. I believe they should not be used for food, clothing, research, or entertainment, even if there is no unnecessary suffering.

I feel like cutting out dairy and eggs is one small step for me. Animals are used for more than just food. There are many ways they are exploited that I do not agree with. But I honestly cannot go on a rampage through my house throwing away all of my leather products, glue, the tires off my car, etc. I can only make small steps towards a more compassionate lifestyle.

I really want to share some of the awful things I’ve learned about animal exploitation, but I don’t want to ruin your day, if you are like me and cannot get the images out of your head, so I am going to share some links below.

Thanks for reading with an open mind.

Continue reading 'Vegan Saturday II | Why go vegan?'»