A New England delicacy

This week my husband brought home a special treat from work: fiddle heads! This was a food I had never eaten, until this week that is. To be completely honest the idea of consuming a fern sounded weird, to say the least, but I decided to give it a whirl anyways! Now to those who don't know, fiddle heads are the coiled baby plant from the Ostrich Fern which grows natively throughout the Northeast, they are only found during a small window of time (Late April through Early June) in the springtime. Not every baby fern can be consumed, only those of the Ostrich Fern species can be eaten safely. While I am mentioning it, these young fern'lings must be cooked thoroughly and properly before they are completely safe to eat.*

Fiddle heads should be tightly curled and have their brown papery covering removed before cooking. Here is a picture of what a proper fiddle head should look like:

Cook your fiddle heads by boiling or steaming, boil them for 15 minutes in a covered pot. The fiddle heads should be thoroughly cooked to be completely safe to eat. The flavor is similar to asparagus and according to my hubby the best way to eat them is boiled and then dipped into red wine vinegar. We didn't have any red wine vinegar, but we ate ours with apple cider vinegar. I think that they would be tasty in butter with salt and pepper as well! I am very happy that after living in the great Northeast of America for so many years I have finally eaten fiddle heads and they were yummy! If you are able to get your hands on some freshly picked fiddle heads give 'em a try, they are worth it!

- Night Owl Gal

spaghetti and springtime

I apologize for the extended period between my last blog post and this one! Time seems to fly by when springtime hits my normally sleepy little town... All of the tourists are showing up en mass, the shops are opening up and everything seems to be bursting with life. I started working again a few weeks back so I have been busy with that, my sleeping schedule is of course a little whacked out due to my new schedule, and I am suffering from some of the worst springtime allergies ever! I can't decide if the allergies are worth it, outside my window is the most beautiful tree in bloom, I really enjoy sitting on my bed smelling the scent of flower blossoms wafting through the window...However, my throat is in a constant state of flux, my eyes are always red and puffy, I get stuffed up every night and I am constantly tired. Is it worth it? Not sure yet, but heck it sure is gorgeous outside!

 Now for some kitchen time! Yesterday I decided that my hubby and I needed some good ol' spaghetti and red sauce for dinner. Instead of dashing to the store and grabbing a packet of pasta and a jar of Newman's Own pasta sauce, I decided to do things a little different with homemade pasta sauce! I wish I had also made my own pasta, I do have a pasta making machine, but that will come later... In any case, the sauce did turn out divine. I always love a good homemade pasta sauce, it brings back memories of when my dad used to make dinner for us. He would spice it up with all sorts of delicious veggies letting it simmer for a good long time until every flavor was melded together.

Pasta sauce has always been an easy dish to make. Mess around with it, toss in an assortment of flavors and see what happens! It is great fun, smells amazing in the process and the end result is always deeelish! Yesterday I chose to go with peppers, onion, carrots, garlic and Italian spices. So let's get cookin'!

Pasta Sauce

1 green bell pepper

bunch of carrots

large vidalia onion

5 large garlic cloves

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

salt

sugar

Italian seasoning herbs (fresh or dried)

Start by chopping up your vegetables.

Next sautee the vegetables in olive oil until they become slightly tender, don't over cook them or the sauce will be too mushy! When the veggies are tender add in the chopped garlic and a dash of Italian seasoning. Allow this to simmer for about a minute while stirring. 

Next add 3/4 of the can of tomato paste with a wooden spoon and mix it until the paste becomes incorporated with the veggies.  

Next add a can of diced tomatoes, juice and all. Mix in 1/2 cup of water, if the sauce appears too thick just add more water. Add a small dash of sugar (be careful not to add too much or it will taste sweet!), then add salt to taste at this point then cover and allow to simmer on low heat for about 45 minutes to an hour, while stirring occasionally. When the sauce is done the vegetables will be soft and the sauce will be full of flavor, cook up some linguine and serve! I promise you will love it! 

- Night Owl Gal

To eat meat or not to eat meat? That is the question...

This week something momentous happened in my life.  This week I truly revisited my choices concerning my diet and made, what I consider to be, a very impactful decision about it. This was not a decision that I arrived at lightly, it was the result of careful research and personal feelings, as well as the positive effects it would have on my overall health and well being. This week I chose to eat meat for the first time in about thirteen-years.  I have decided to become an omnivore and give up my long-standing status of vegetarian, at least for the time being. My reasons for taking on this new change spawn from years of study on the subject of whether vegan/vegetarianism is superior or inferior to an omnivorous lifestyle.  I have read many books, articles, and websites on this subject and it is definitely a two way street!  I have ferociously defended my vegetarian lifestyle for years and I have found that many others take the same stance as I did. I have also found that many people defend and promote the omnivorous lifestyle and its benefits to health and well being. The arguments are sound and just from both sides of the fence and until further scientific fact can be produced, the decision based on what is actually better for us, as human beings, must be a personal choice.

I was a child of about thirteen when I decided to give up meat completely. I based this decision on the fact that I did not like to eat meat, not because I knew about factory farming methods or the practice of injecting animals with hormones so that they had more meat on their bones for us to eat, or that something called pink slime existed in our beef patties... No, I was too young and naive.  My father would wait for me to pick out something about my meat every mealtime, so I think he might have been relieved when I told him I wanted to become a vegetarian! My family was very good about accepting my choice, well my two older sisters had both been vegetarians before I had chosen this so perhaps it was not wholly unexpected. So the years went on and I stood fast, eventually I gave in and began eating seafood again. I began to call myself a "pesci-vegetarian" which means that I ate some seafood, but not other animals.

I began to really consider eating meat again after my eldest sister sent me a blog written by a former vegan turned omnivore. I read through it and was really shocked by how much her health improved when she began eating meat again. Now I am not a strict vegan, I eat some animal products, however due to my being lactose intolerant my dairy consumption had gone way down. My relationship with eggs has always been a bit up and down, some weeks I want an egg every day and others I can't stand the thought of eating one! In any case, reading this blog really got me thinking about my own life and how I feel on a day to day basis. I want to make something clear here, I did not decide to eat meat based on the declarations of one woman through her blog, lets just say that years of research into the subject and then reading this, well it was a sort of tipping point for me.

I have taken time and truly reflected on my overall health and come to see that I am experiencing many health issues including a great deal of fatigue, digestion issues, frequent headaches that don't seem to go away no matter what I do, anxiety and brain fog. These are symptoms that have been happening more and more frequently over the past year or two and it got to the point where I had to step up and say what on earth is causing this?  Through my research I have found that the symptoms, as well as many others more severe, are in fact common in long term vegans and vegetarians. I have also learned that many of these issues tend to diminish after the continual consumption of animal products and meat. I believe that it is simply my time to once again eat meat, for the sake of my overall well-being and health.

I feel at peace with this decision. Since I am able to purchase locally raised, free-range and antibiotic free meat I can feel good about what I am eating and nourishing my body with. I will however vehemently pass up on engorged, hormone filled, antibiotic pumped, packed in tiny cages animal product. I have learned that there is an ethical way to feed our meat eating habits and there is a completely unethical way, I will continue to support ethical ways till the end.

My first meal as an omnivore was very lackluster! On our way back from an appointment, my husband and I stopped at our favorite alternative food stores to get lunch. There in the sandwich basket was a free range, antibiotic free turkey curry meatloaf sandwich... I have been telling myself for several weeks now that I am going to eat meat! However, after years of the same diet it is quite easy to just let another day go by without changing it up. I probably wouldn't have bought that sandwich if my husband wasn't there to persuade me otherwise! So it was time, I had the sandwich in my hands, it actually smelled delicious but it was difficult, to say the least, to make the final move. It wasn't that I was afraid of the physical side effects from not eating meat for so many years, it was a mental roadblock that I came up against in those few minutes before I actually took the bite. Most people who read this won't understand, however I have spent the majority of my remembered life not eating animal meat and to all of a sudden change that is very unsettling.

I almost chickened out. Perhaps a dozen thoughts crossed my mind before I took the plunge: this is an animal! was definitely the worst of those thoughts, but I knew that I had to do it. It all starts with a bite. One bite and it would get easier from there. It did, get easier that is. I managed to eat almost all of my turkey meatloaf sandwich. I kept expecting my body to violently react to the meat in my system, but nothing happened. My body didn't hate that meat being in it! Thus it begins, my journey into the world of omnivores. My hopes are that it will be an enlightening journey, one in which I will see many health improvements! Wish me luck, I will keep you all informed of how things are going and of course I will always remember to share any yummy recipes I try! 

Until then.

- Night Owl Gal