CrispyQ

Beans, definitely! I hate canned beans! I have a pressure cooker -- ok, TWO pressure cookers -- & I cook my beans in it. If I soak garbanzos for 4 hours, I can have fully cooked garbanzos in about 25 minutes. Freshly cooked beans are so much better than canned, especially if you dislike salty foods as much as I do. That said, there are some tofu dishes that I have come to love. Tofu scramble comes to mind.

No. Never. If you want to see how something affects a human being, test it on a human being. The hypocricy of 'animals are like us enough to test on but not like us enough to treat humanely' makes me sick. It's one of the things I hate most about our species -- our ability to rationalize our heinous behavior with the most absurd & twisted "logic."

Very nicely stated, Crash! When I encounter the "man has dominion over the planet" I point out that "you have dominion over your children, too, but you don't eat them." Personally, I believe the true meaning of that dominion statement is stewardship. Why would anyone beleive that G-d gave humans such a beautiful & diverse planet just so we could fuck it up? How does that type of mindset fit in with the teachings of Jesus? On another note, I just finished reading Kurt Vonnegut's "A Man Without A Country." He states: " I say of Jesus, as all humanists do, "If what he said is good, and so much of it is absolutely beautiful, what does it matter if he was G-d or not?"

My medicine cabinet has Advil & Excedrin. I rarely get headaches, but I'm a real sissy when I do. I just finished a 10 day antibiotic for strep throat. I hate taking antibiotics, but in this case, it was needed. I also take bc pills, cuz although I am totally in favor of choice, that is not a choice I want to make. I realize bc pills are powerful drugs & there are probably reprecussions we are not even aware of, but I've had no problems with them & they are my bc method of choice.

I've always been sort of intimidated by greens. Last night I bought some carrots, beets & ginger for juicing. The beets had wonderful greens attached, so I decided to get over my fear of greens & whip something up. Here's what I did & it was quite delish! --approx 1/4 cup Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing --1 tablespoon tahini --beet greens --1/3 cup diced onion --handful of mushrooms, sliced --one grated carrot Remove the big stem from the center of the beet greens. Chop the greens. Pour the Newman's Own into a pan & bring to med-high heat. When it starts to bubble, add the tahini & mix into the dressing till well blended. Add the onion & saute for approx 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients & saute for approx 5 minutes, or till mushrooms are tender. Serve over brown rice. Next venture: kale. So if you have a favorite greens recipe, please share!

Hi Pete!

I must learn how to use red/colored font!

Well said! And thanks for the quote, which shows the lack of logic & hypocricy in the pro-testing argument.

I'm against animal testing - totally. I don't care if it saves human lives. We should ask people who are suffering from the disease or ailment if they want to volunteer to test a medication or process. If they don't, then how do you justify forcing an innocent animal to do it? We breed mice so they have a propensity for cancer simply so we can then test on them. And not for their betterment, but for ours! We should encourage people to eat healthier & clean up our environment. We should demand that corporations be held accountable for the harm that their chemicals cause, in an effort to rid our products of these chemicals. We make the animals suffer to provide relief for ailments that, in many cases, our life styles cause. Sadly, most people value human life over a rat or cat or dog. It is exactly that mindset, the need to place everything in a hierarchy, with ourselves at the top, that leads to the type of pervasive animal cruelty found in human societies. By turning our back on the most defenseless & vulnerable, be they human or non-human, we turn our back on our humanity. A good online friend said it best: What you do to one, you do to all.

So what happened to the camera you got for Christmas? I would have loved to seen a photo of malfunctioning potatoes!

Both clips are excellent!

What about dried blueberries?

http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/background.html We are seeking volunteers to help us to search for these tiny samples of matter from the galaxy. Volunteers are critical to the success of this project. Please help us find the first samples of contemporary Stardust ever collected. ===== http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/challenge.html ...These impacts can only be found using a high-magnification microscope with a field of view smaller than a grain of salt. ...The job is roughly equivalent to searching for 45 ants in an entire football field, ...

Welcome, cafenervosa. Love your avatar -- lol! I think we can all relate to that statement! Good luck on your continuing recovery. You'll find lots of good advice & great support here! BTW, what are the local fruits & veggies in Grand Cayman?

Holy crap, Liz, I'm impressed! You are an inspiration!

DietCoke, this is also discussed here: viewtopic.php?t=1598 The thread doesn't start out that way, but further into it the topic is discussed.

This is so cool! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4614222.stm snip... A capsule containing dust collected from a comet and stars has landed on Earth after a seven-year space mission. The US probe Stardust released the capsule as it flew past Earth after a 3 billion-mile (4.7 billion km) trip. The capsule plunged through the atmosphere and touched down in the Utah desert at 0312 (1012 GMT). Scientists believe the pristine particles snatched from a comet and interstellar space will give insights into the origins of the Solar System. It is the first time in history that a space mission has brought back such material. more... The highlight of Stardust's seven-year mission was its close encounter with Comet Wild 2 in January 2004. It swept up particles from the frozen body of ice and dust, as it flew to within 240km (149 miles). As part of its trip, the probe also captured a sprinkling of dust that would have originated in distant stars. === I love this kind of stuff!

Pumping Popcorn -- that's great! I don't think I've ever seen so many popcorn recipes. We love popcorn topped with All Season Blend from the Uncheese Cookbook. It nutritional yeast with garlic & onion granules & some spices added to it. It's really good stuff & so versatile! However, if you don't add some melted Earth Balance, alot of the yeast sifts to the bottom. We just store the siftings in a small container for the next batch of popcorn. I posted the recipe here -- you'll have to scroll down. viewtopic.php?t=680 I think watching popcorn pop is cool too.

It's hard enough to get people to have empathy for a cow, pig or chicken. Insects are so much more alien than that so I suspect they don't even think of it as being cruel. I wonder if the network gets many complaint letters regarding this? Cruelty as entertainment. Grrrr....

Welcome runner! I think the international flavor on this board is one of it's highlights.

Welcome dietcoke! Great screen name!! You've come to the right place for good advice!

This sounds delish! I've always loved dates & just recently discovered other dried fruit at my local HFS -- cherries, blueberries & even starwberries! I will probably try this with blueberries, first. I give a 2 thumbs up for your first recipe post!

Well, I just polished off 2 wonderful slices of kick butt 'za! One red 'za & one white 'za. The white 'za will be gone before the red one! Funny that MH's daughter does not like red sauce! I don't know much about kids, but I would think the red would be a more common taste than the white. Perhaps he has a little gourmet cook in the making, huh? VM, do you have the Uncheese Cookbook? There is a recipe called "All Season Blend" on page 93. That is what I add to the pizza dough. I usually add about 1/2 - 1 cup depending how much dough I'm making. I hope I don't break the rules here, but, what the heck, here is that recipe: All Season Blend 1 1/2 cups nutritional yeast flakes 3 T salt (I never add this) 1 T onion granules 1 T paprika 2 t garlic granules 1 t dried parsley flakes 1/2 t turmeric 1/4 t dried thyme leaves 1/4 t dried marjoram leaves 1/4 t ground dill seed Place all ingredients in a (DRY!) food processor & process till a fine powder. (Each time I make this, I modify it. I'm sure you will too!) Oh man, I love this stuff! It is good as a half replacer for flour in gravy. It is delish on top of baked potatoes, on top of popcorn. I also add it to soups & sauces. This stuff is so verstile! I hope you are well. You are a great cook & very inspiring in the kitchen as well as in the fitness department.

The first two are terrific! "We're in big trouble when our bombs are smarter than our president." "4 out of 5 cannibals agree: Vegetarian Taste Better" I love these, although the first one almost makes me weep. === Molly, here's how to post an image: Right click on the image. A box of options will come up. Left click on "Properties" usually at the very bottom. A new box will pop up. Somewhere in the center is a field "Address." Highlight the entire address -- it is usually 2 lines worth. Select "copy" in your brower or just keystroke "Ctrl" & "C". Come to VBB & open a response/new window. Click on the "Img" tag. This will insert an opening bracket for the image code. Next, paste your clipboard contents onto the screen, "Ctrl" & "V" & then click, "Img" again to close your tag. I'm pretty sure this is correct.

Monsanto is evil. I loathe that company. Thanks for the article, VE. I will read it this weekend. Gym hater, first, very nice pointing out to the farmers how they are exposing themselves to GMO soy by feeding it to their cows/pigs. That's a link that is frequently forgotten. Here is a very recent article that references a study regarding GMO soy. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0108-01.htm snip... Women who eat GM foods while pregnant risk endangering their unborn babies, startling new research suggests. The study - carried out by a leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences - found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed on modified soya died in the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Six times as many were also severely underweight. The research - which is being prepared for publication - is just one of a clutch of recent studies that are reviving fears that GM food damages human health. Italian research has found that modified soya affected the liver and pancreas of mice. Australia had to abandon a decade-long attempt to develop modified peas when an official study found they caused lung damage. And last May this newspaper revealed a secret report by the biotech giant Monsanto, which showed that rats fed a diet rich in GM corn had smaller kidneys and higher blood cell counts, suggesting possible damage to their immune systems, than those that ate a similar conventional one. === Obviously more studies will have to be done to show irrevocable proof that GMOs are harmful to human health & it may well be that not all GMO products are harmful, but there is a grave concern & it should be investigated. I am troubled that GMOs contaminate non-GMOs so it is getting more & more difficult to feel confident that your non-GMO foods are really non-GMO. At any rate, in this country, unless you buy organic, food manufacturers are not required to list GMO ingredients on the label -- gasp! Whether you believe they are harmful or not, you should at least know what ingredients the manufacturers are using.