Veganizing is so much fun!!

Okay, I got a little overenthusiastic there. But I do love taking cruel recipes and making them animal friendly. If you make your own seitan--and as I've said before, I recommend that you do--you can adapt just about any recipe that calls for boneless pieces of meat by using seitan. So I dragged out my American Heart Association cookbook, found a recipe for rosemary turkey with mushrooms. The only changes I made? Instead of turkey, I used seitan. Instead of chicken broth, I used vegetable broth. And since I was out of the shallots the recipe called for, I used half an onion. Oh, and since I didn't have cornstarch, I used arrowroot instead. I made the Seeds of Nature Seven Grain Pilaf, heated up some frozen green beans and had myself a tasty little dinner. Depending on how the leftovers go (sorry to say, but sometimes it's best when it's freshly cooked), I may just make this again. It would go best with a grain pilaf instead of potatoes, so I'll have to make another make some more.

And if you don't subscribe to Ms. magazine, check out the latest issue. In the banging-my-own-drum category, I had my letter published. Their last issue, in the spring (it's a quarterly magazine), had an article on global warming. After reading the articles, I was chagrined to see there was no mention of how what we eat affects the state of the planet. I found several big stats that would hopefully make people think and fired off a letter. Sadly, most of those stats were excised, but I'd like to think my point will get across to the readers. When I checked the website early this week--it just came out on the newsstand Monday--the new issue hadn't yet been put up. But, really, buy the magazine. Better yet, consider subscribing!

And when you see an article in a magazine or newspaper that affects you, that angers you, or an issue comes up that you feel needs to be addressed, write a letter to the magazine/paper. If you don't feel confident about the letter, get a friend to review it before you send it off. And even if your letter doesn't get published--and many letters I've written haven't, although a handful have in various magazines on various issues--editors (hopefully) have taken your views into account. I have read that for every letter the newspaper or magazine receives, there are dozens of people who feel the way you do.

So get writing!

Miss me?

I've been rather busy the past few weeks. I have started taking classes in American Sign Language at the local library, and I love it. It turns out a number of people I know have some knowledge of it, and almost eveyrone I know thinks it's pretty cool that I'm learning it. One of the women in the class pointed me to a website that has video of the signed word, which helps, but I would really love a site that not only had a person doing the signing, but an indication of what handshape, where you start, and the motion you use to make the sign. Sometimes the signer goes too fast, and I have to play the thing over and over. I keep a dictionary with me at all times and will look up random words while riding Metro. I don't know that I'll ever be good enough to be an interpreter, but if I can communicate with other deaf people--and there are a number of deaf and hard of hearing in DC--that will be a plus. I just wish I could get my boyfriend to learn, but oh, well.

This means I haven't had much time to cook, as the class is twice a week, and while it's supposed to be an hour, it frequently runs over. Not that I mind. I seriously want to learn. I will also be attending ASL Meetups if I can and trying to find fellow ASL newbies to practice with me to keep our knowledge and skills.

But never mind that--you probably miss my cooking, right? I recently discovered that there is a little farmer's market near my office building every Thursday. One day I saw a vendor with green tomatoes, and I knew I had to get some. However, I had plans for that evening and didn't think it would be practical, so I decided to wait. Last week, even though I had plans, I bought a bag of green tomatoes. I wanted to cook fried green tomatoes at some point! Warning: if you do buy green tomatoes, cook them the very same day. Even three days later, they've ripened quite a bit, much to my dismay. But I dipped them in soy milk, dredged them in a mix of flour, paprika, salt, and pepper, and then fried them up. I made a simple gravy from The Dirty South (which has another Southern-style vegan cookbook, Hot Damn and Hell Yeah on the other side), and then dredged some tofu in a mixture of flour, sage, pepper and powdered garlic. Mmmmm, gravy. The tomatoes were juicy, tart, and crisp, although I suspect a real Southern cook would disapprove of my cooking them in canola oil. Some recipes I looked up suggested using bacon drippings--ewwww. But mostly, you take some flour, toss in some seasonings, dip, dredge, fry. If you have ample space in your kitchen--which I certainly do not--it's easy, easy, easy. If you don't have ample space in your kitchen, trying to work around it can be challenging. But it was so worth it. The tomatoes really didn't need the gravy, but the tofu surely did. I've got a lot left over to try to use in a week (maybe I should halve the recipe next time), so I'm going to have to get creative here.