Thursday 5 March 2015

What are you having for dinner?

Cherries from our trees last year.

I was going to do a completely different post today, but then I saw {this}.  There arent many things I praise the EU for but not allowing certain chemicals into the food chain is one.  Please read it.

We always eat vegetarian when in other countries apart from France and Germany, where the Mr can ask questions and the origin of the food is clearly marked in the supermarket and restaurants.  Even down to the House sign in France on the menus, meaning it has been cooked from scratch in the restaurant.  Being told it is from the farm on the outskirts of the village  where it is 'Biologique', gives me some relief.

Growth hormones in livestock has been rumoured to be linked to breast cancer in men and women and early puberty in children.

I wonder if Kim Kardashian ate lots of meat with hormones in as a child and they ended up in her bottom area?

I dont eat from McDonalds, as I have never liked their chips or the buns.  The last time I went in one was with my friend and we had her toddler with us.  They are vegetarian, we realised there was no veggie option on the menu for children?  We were told the vegetarian option was Fish Fingers?  um no.

The Mr prefers vegetarian foods now I have found more Souh East Asian recipes.  We eat meat at the weekend only as organic meat is so expensive.  Maybe it is time for us to give up meat...?  This will mean lots of investigation as I dont know where to get all of the protein and vitamins and minerals.  My sister did tell me to help with aneamia to get a cast iron pan and cook in that as it gives you some iron into the food...

Do you have any tips or recipes that we could try?  Are you vegetarian?  How long have you been vegetarian...  Maybe you could do a blog post on it and what made you change diet.

16 comments:

Raybeard said...

Must be over 20 years since was last in a McDs. I think at that time they'd started offering salads ("for our veggie patrons" Hah!) which were no more than token apologies for a 'meal'. Have no idea if they still do them or, more likely, dropped them as an unpopular idea.
Their 'chips' have always mystified me. Why can't they at least try the big, wholesome, fat chips you get in a 'proper' chippie, rather than the hopelessly unsatisfying bunch of fried, salted matchsticks. Yuk! I'm sure if they tried REAL chips they'd be mightily popular.

Sol said...

Hey Ray, I am just getting to the point when I really am worried about the food I am eating. My health has deteriorated in the past few years and I am sure it is because I am eating more food from the shops and not from my garden. Because we havent known if we were moving or not for the past 2 years I havent planted the garden that I usually would. No matter what I am planting a garden this year. I cant not.

northsider said...

McDonald's fries aren't the best are they Sol. We often go there when we go to Killarney because it's very cheap, clean and very fast service.

I couldn't possibly live without beef. Love the stuff.

Sol said...

Hey Dave, I wont say I dont like the taste of meat. its more I dont have any control of the raising of the livestock and there fore am at the hands of someone else and heck knows what they feed these animals.

We go weeks with out eating any meat. I think we went 3 weeks and then went to someones house for dinner and realised we hadnt eaten meat for a longish time and them when thinking about it we hadnt eaten meat since we had been at my sisters house over 3 weeks before.

I keep saying when we move, when we move... We will see how it goes not eating meat for a long time and then review it I think. Plus I really like soup. and I never cook any meat into any soup I make. I dont even use stock, just water

Sue in Suffolk said...

I've only been in a McDs once.....won't bother again!
We eat a little meat I can't eat pulses which limits things. Lots of people who are vegetarian eat quorn or tofu or soya but I'd rather eat just a bit of decent meat than things pretending to be meat!

Sol said...

Hey Sue, we dont eat any soya mince or quorn. Tofu yes, it is quite versatile. I have had it scrambled like eggs in Cambodia at a Temple cafe, and also in deserts. I like tofu with cashew nuts and oyster sauce. I dont know if I think that would taste better with meat. I cant even think what the dish would be in a chinese restaurant... Bean curd can be made in to many things.

one thing I dont understand is veggie bacon. That mystery to me.

kymber said...

Sol - we haven't given up meat and don't intend to. however, because of the prices and always wanting to know where our meat is sourced, we eat mostly vegetarian meals for dinner (a variety of salads, soups, etc.) and save meat for 3 or 4 suppers. we are incredibly fortunate that jam can get us free, organic fish in the river and the ocean all year round. so we do eat a lot of fish. we don't eat processed food unless we are out at a friend's house and that is what they are serving...then we are sick for 3 days. anyway, not sure if you ever saw this post, but it discusses our approach to what to eat:

http://framboisemanor.blogspot.ca/2011/10/framboise-manor-diet.html

much love! your friend,
kymber

Nora said...

My Hub was vegan then dumbed down to veggie, and I joined him about 10 years ago but only ate chicken and fish at the time so no great sacrifice. He has become quite ill over recent years and fancied Liver and bacon one day!

I cooked it and since then we eat meat on Sunday and it is usually roast chicken, beef stew and dumplings or gammon slow cooked and all organic with organic veg.

We only use organic milk and butter because of the growth hormones in milk and I never use toiletries, cosmetics or cleaning stuff that strays too far from natural and certainly none that contain SLS, parabens or minerals...fussy lot!

But the comments I get because people think I'm a 30-something and not knocking a ruddy great whole in 50, I think, is down to these choices.

Sensible, simple living.

Am going to try and grow a few things this year. Very small garden and VERY bad gardener....any suggestions?

Lovely cherries....mmmmm!

Sol said...

Hey Kymber, if we lived closer to the sea I would fish myself I find it incredibly peaceful and is something I learnt as a child. If the land was cheap enough in the UK we would defo aspire to your set up at the Manor. I think it is a slice of heaven. :)

I will look at that link right now.

Nora, I think we are kind of at the same place, meat only at weekends. We could try dropping to just Sundays to begin with.

Nora, seriously I thought you were the same age as me, late 30's. Your looking good! ;)

I think more people should be worried what they are putting into their body with food and then they wouldnt have to rely on all of these miracle creams for their face. Have you tried some of the toiletries from Wholefoods? We have one in Cheltenham. I load up when there is an offer. and all the staff are so knowledgeable about all the product. they are a credit to the company.

Anonymous said...

I tried to be a vegetarian for a few weeks and ate a lot of cheese.

You can order a Cheeseburger without the meat at McDonalds. You get a round grilled cheese sandwich that tastes bad.

:)

Chickpea said...

Hi Sol, I have been vegetarian for about 25 years. I have never been anaemic and get plenty of protein in my diet (most people eat too much, we don't need as much as we think)

Good sources of protein, pulses, peas, beans, lentils, soya, wholegrains, cereals and seeds, quinoa.

Good sources of Iron, beans, lentils, peas, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, wholegrains, dried apricots, prunes, figs, dates, pumpkin seeds, black treacle and cocoa.

If you eat dairy and eggs even easier.

All lovely delicious food. It's easy to incorporate these into your diet, I make fresh fruit salads most days and add figs, dates etc. Salads, add pumpkin seeds etc. Add pulses to casseroles, curries or make bean burgers. Tofu, baked, scrambled etc.

As a veggie I eat a far more varied diet than many people I know whose meals revolve around the meat or fish with a few veggies on the side (including my partner who I can't break of the food habits he grew up with)

I used to be criticised for bringing my children up as vegetarian by mothers whose kids were brought up on beef burgers and sausages!

Sol said...

Ha Ha Susie. Do the buns taste really bad like they do here? I really dont like the bread there. its kind of sweet tasting...

Lots of cheese? lol I dont eat cheese. So that is out. lol

~Hey Chickpea. Thanks for this comment. Getting the right foods is going to be hard to start with. lol maybe you could start a business where you send people menu plans and a shopping list and a guide every week so they know what to get and how to cook it. lol I would actually pay for that service at the moment. I am quite daunted by it all.

Molly Printemps said...

Hi Sol. Look up Lesley Kenton. I have several of her books and she is a real expert on healthy foods and juices etc. She has a website but you can browse her books on Amazon. She is in her 60s and looks amazing. Get iron from dark green leafy veg.

Carol

Sol said...

Hey Carol, I am going to google her now. thanks for that. And yeah I like green leafy veg. I like to add that to soup a lot just before eating it.

Kev Alviti said...

Gave up McDonald's about 13 years ago and don't miss it. You know we're doing the same and cutting down on meat but I don't think there's any reason to give it up completely so long as you know where its coming from. Since eating less I've felt much healthier though it must be said.

Sol said...

~Hey Kev, we have been toying with the idea of no meat for a long time. I dont do dairy so that is a worry about getting 'enough' into the diet.

yeah some fast food is weird isnt it. we wouldnt go into Mcdonalds normally as it isnt food I like, but screaming toddlers make my insides turn to jelly.

I am quite taken with the noodle bars that seem to be popping up all over. I miss the diversity of the food you can find in London