Add Pulses to your diet!

The pulses.org website is a great resource to learn more about the many benefits of Pulses and how to include them into your diet easily. Check it out!

Image attribution: pulses.org

Tasty Armenian Tagine

Over the Independence Day holiday, I tried this Armenian Tagine recipe from Timeless Foods. It was really good! See the picture below, shown with a side of Cous Cous 😋

Grilling tips from chefs

This article from Bloomberg is worth a read if you're into grilling. What may seem intuitive about the craft is actually not always complimentary to the food. Good stuff to know!

NYT Article: How to Cook Beans

Here's a great article from the New York Times cooking section on "How to Cook Beans". Check it out for some great tips!

Chickpea Tips

Here are two tips regarding chickpeas (garbanzos). I generally cook chickpeas from scratch; this means re-hydrating them in water overnight, then cooking for just 30 min. I learned from Alton Brown to add 1/8th tsp. of baking soda to the peas while cooking. I'm not sure why he suggests this, but I just do it. Then, I sometimes de-husk the peas after cooking, which is beneficial for the following reasons: 1) It makes for a smoother hummus, 2) The peas will be easier to digest! De-husking can be done by gently squeezing a cooked pea between the two forefingers and thumb, the husk will slip right off. Of course, it's tedious to do this, but the benefits are as noted, and if you enlist help it will go faster! In a 1/2 cup dried peas, a surprising portion is actually husk (see the picture below). It's OK to consume the husk, but it's just fiber, with little nutritional value.

1/2 cup chickpeas with husks on the right.

Does it have GMOs or Not?

Here's a useful on-line Non-GMO Shopping List from the Institute for Responsible Technology. So if you're wondering if your favorite strawberry jam contains GMO fruit, this list can help!

And here's a helpful explanation from cpr.com concerning how to identify conventional, GMO, and organic foods in the grocery store.

Tulsi Tea

Here's an informative article on tulsi tea (sometimes called "tulasi", too) which is starting to make appearance in store shelves in the U.S. I've been drinking a tulsi + green tea mix from Organic India, which I like as an occasional option to pure green tea, because the mix is less bitter. You may want to try it, too; pay attention to the interaction warnings in the article, though.

Rethinking the Corn System

Here are a couple of thought-provoking articles about America's Corn System and how it will likely have to adapt ahead. Some diversification is already being seen from local farmers who have gone organic, remained independent, and have moved forward to producing specialty crops such as pulses and legacy grains (although the total acreage involved is just the tip of the iceberg). One thing to note is the flawed approach of Big Ag's proposal to use GMOs to increase yield. Yield is not the problem; it's how the crop is used that's the issue. It's more efficient to send calories to feeding people than to feeding animals and cars.

• Scientific American, It's Time to Rethink America's Corn System
• Sustainable Table, Animal Feed

Toothpaste

It's a really mundane topic, but have you ever read the ingredients on the box? It's typically a chemical hodgepodge, and frankly, that makes me nervous! Not to mention there's ongoing arguments over the safety of triclosan, an antibacterial additive that fell out of favor in the 1990s only to reappear in the last few years and sodium lauryl sulfate, too.

My thought is, "Use something that's efficacious yet as simple and natural as possible". But reading the ingredient list on the plethora of toothpaste options in the typical store is disturbing, as nearly all contain a long list of multi-syllable chemical compounds. Disappointingly, even Tom's of Maine is filled with complex ingredients.

In my ad-hoc and unscientific search for toothpaste options, I've opted to go with Arm & Hammer Truly Radiant. Yes, it has sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium saccharine, and sodium fluoride, but there's no ideal "all natural" option on the shelves that I've found, unless you want to use pure baking soda only. Anyway, here's a shot of the A&H if you want to check it out. Tip: Click on the pictures to zoom in; then click on the "X" at the top right-hand corner to close the zoom window.

Vegetarian but not clueless

A site caveat: In 2010 I switched to a vegetarian diet and most of the content here reflects that. It didn't happen over night, I was gravitating that way for a year or two. In my case, it's completely by choice, but for six years now it's been a choice that I've been happy and pleased with :-)

My point in writing this is that I understand most people are omnivores - and that's great! If you enjoy fish and meat as protein sources, there's as many good reasons for that as an all veggie diet. I'm not here to argue one way or the other, other than "Eat and enjoy what works for you!" That said, if you're open to looking at nutritional veggie-based eating options, then that's part of the adventure I'm documenting here, and I hope you'll find some useful and actionable information in the process :-)