Favorite Five - Vegetables

Having spent eight years as a vegetarian, you can rest assured that I like my veggies. There are a few I don't care for, mushrooms being the most notable. They say your tastes change every few years, so I periodically try them again in one form or another. I still don't like them. I think it's as much the texture as the taste. Some vegetables, such as purple hulls and butter beans, I didn't like as a child but grew to love as an adult. Others, like Brussels sprouts, I wouldn't even try for years, but liked once I gave them a chance.

Here are my favorites:

1. Spinach - No doubt about it... my favorite! I like it in any form or fashion.

2. Tomato - Okay, it's technically a fruit, but I'm counting it as a vegetable here. I started yellow tomato seeds a few weeks ago and hope to have a big harvest of them this summer!

3. Onion - I like most kinds, but especially enjoy the red/purple variety when served raw in a salad or on a sandwich.

4. Summer Squash - I prefer yellow squash, not zucchini. Steam it, fry it, pickle it, bake it in a casserole, or just eat it raw!

5. Green Beans - This was my favorite vegetable as a child. I like canned better than fresh or frozen and whole beans better than cut.

I love potatoes but didn't include them on my list since not everyone places them in the vegetable category. So tell me.... what are your favorites?

A Happy St. Patrick's Day

I love St. Patrick's Day! Since I do have some Irish blood somewhere down the line, I don't feel too silly celebrating. This year I was especially looking forward to the day. If you'll remember, last May I fell off the vegetarian wagon. Well, really it was more of a leap than a fall, but anyway... having not prepared the dish since March of 2000, I was really looking forward to some corned beef & cabbage this St. Patrick's Day.

I invited the kids to come and eat with us. Our older daughter lives here in town, but ended up canceling at the last minute. A rough day at work combined with softball practice and lots of homework for her daughter left her too pooped to join us. Our younger daughter is on Spring Break from college. She and some friends spent the first few days in Lubbock, TX and Roswell, NM, but she managed to get home yesterday afternoon in time for supper. Our son is in college about 45 minutes away. He's not on break this week, but it didn't take much arm-twisting to convince him to come eat.

My original plans included homemade green pinwheel cookies, but they took too much time that I didn't have to spare. So, I went with a white cake mix with green food coloring and "rainbow chip" frosting. I did try a new garlic mashed potato recipe that turned out quite yummy: Boil 3 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes with a whole bulb of garlic; mash with a stick of butter and 1/2 cup of half & half.

I was sorry a couple of folks were missing, but otherwise it was everything I anticipated! Maybe I won't wait until next March to make corned beef & cabbage again.

Kooser & Kenyon

What would I do without my poetry-loving friends!?

Thanks to recent comments from Marion and Quid, I purchased two more poetry books that are both great! Good Poems for Hard Times is another anthology from Garrison Keillor and every bit as good as the first one I got. It includes this poem by Ted Kooser, a poet I was blessed to meet in person a couple of years ago.

A Spiral Notebook

The bright wire rolls like a porpoise

in and out of the calm blue sea

of the cover, or perhaps like a sleeper

twisting in and out of his dreams,

for it could hold a record of dreams

if you wanted to buy it for that

though it seems to be meant for

more serious work, with its

college-ruled lines and its cover

that states in emphatic white letters,

5 SUBJECT NOTEBOOK. It seems

a part of growing old is no longer to

have five subjects, each

demanding an equal share of attention,

set apart by brown cardboard dividers,

but instead to stand in a drugstore

and hang on to one subject

a little too long, like this notebook

you weigh in your hands, passing

your fingers over its surfaces

as if it were some kind of wonder.

Ted Kooser

I really liked the Jane Kenyon poems I read and decided to treat myself to her book Collected Poems. Most of the poetry books I have by individual authors are slim volumes, but this is a thick book, filled with wonderful poems like the one I’ve shared here.

The Pear

There is a moment in middle age

when you grow bored, angered

by your middling mind,

afraid.

That day the sun

burns hot and bright,

making you more desolate.

It happens subtly, as when a pear

spoils from the inside out,

and you may not be aware

until things have gone too far.

Jane Kenyon

On another note…. I decided to go ahead and start eating meat again. It was time for a change.

To be or not to be?

It was early in 2001 when I decided to become a vegetarian. February, to be exact, and I approached it like most other things in life. All or none. So, on Ash Wednesday of that year (a good starting point) I quit eating all forms of meat/poultry/fish. Going vegan seemed a little too radical, so I didn’t opt to cut out eggs or dairy products and continued to use chicken and beef broth in preparing various dishes. It worked for me.

Now, more than eight years later I’m thinking of going back. For the first time in years, I’ve started having cravings for certain foods and want more variety in my diet. In addition, I’ve noticed more and more research questioning the effect of soy protein (a major staple in my diet) on the brain.

Earlier this week it hit me… I don’t have to continue being a vegetarian if I don’t want to! It’s not like I began for any kind of ethical reason. There were a few health reasons (sort of), but none that would prevent me from discontinuing the practice.

If I really want to eliminate something from my diet that would benefit me health-wise, I probably should consider cutting back on stuff like processed foods and white sugars.

Ultimately, I think the two most important things we can keep in mind when eating and drinking are portion control and moderation.