vegilicio.us

Review: Kashi's Mayan Harvest Bake Frozen Meal

I tend not to eat frozen meals. For work, I generally grab a little container of something I myself have prepared at some previous point in time and frozen, like veggie lasagna, red beans and rice, or a hearty soup. Frozen entrees generally seem a poor value, have a measly vegan selection, and sometimes I doubt the portion is sufficient to keep a small mammal alive.

So I can't say I was all that excited when I heard Kashi had come out with a new vegan frozen meal: Mayan Harvest Bake.

But, I also couldn't help but notice how many people, people whom I had no reason to suspect of having poor judgment, were declaring it the absolute best frozen meal they'd ever eaten. I was intrigued, and as soon as I noticed it on the grocery store shelf, I bought it.

The box describes the meal as "Plantains with roasted sweet potato, black beans and kale. Spicy ancho sauce with pumpkin seed garnish served over Kashi seven whole grain polenta, plus amaranth." Certainly not your typical frozen meal. And, happily, it didn't taste like it either.

 

It's not much to look at, but it was indeed delicious. Just as described, it was a unique combination of sweetness and smoky spiciness. And, it was enough to make me feel like I'd eaten an actual meal, which is not bad considering it comes in at only 340 calories and 9 grams of fat (just 1 of which is saturated.) It also has a whopping 8 grams of fiber, and just 380 mg of sodium, which is less than many frozen products. Of Kashi's 13 frozen entrees, a respectable 5 are vegan.

One negative which I must mention, for those to whom this might matter, is that the cooking instructions are rather complex for a frozen meal. First you microwave for 5 minutes at 50% power, specifically at the outer rim of the microwave's rotating tray. Then, cook an additional 3 minutes at full power. Finally, let the meal sit in the microwave for 3 minutes to complete cooking. Does my office micro even have reduced cooking power capabilities? Yes, turns out it does, but it took me several minutes to figure it out. And, at my workplace at least, good luck trying to leave your food in the microwave for 3 minutes after it's done cooking. You will return to the kitchen to find that your entree has been moved out of someone's way, likely haphazardly set atop the water cooler.

But if you can master the tricky microwaving techniques and don't mind shelling out $4+ for a lunch served in a plastic tray, you won't be disappointed with this one.

Web Site Helps You Buy Green

Do you ever stand in a store aisle, overwhelmed by the rows and rows of products, just wishing you had a way to know which products really are safe for you and the environment? Which are the healthiest? Which companies are socially and environmentally responsible?

The Web site GoodGuide.org aims to do just that: arm you with information about the social, environmental, and health impacts of products so that you can make purchasing decisions that reflect your values. Developed by a professor at UC Berkeley, the Web site lets you search among tens of thousands of products (food, personal care, toys, household) and see expert recommendations on the best choices, as well as reviews from other users. You can even create and store your own list of favorite products.

So there are no more excuses. Get out there and stimulate the economy!

Whole Foods Shopper Outraged by Store's Inattention to Omnivores

I paid a visit to the customer service counter at my local Whole Foods today to ask where the heck is my Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu? But that's another story.

While waiting, I was perusing the comment cards that they post on the bulletin board, which feature a question or comment from a shopper and a manager's response. I was struck when I read this one:

Yes, I know, it's unreadable. But I'll give you the gist. This person is demanding that Whole Foods carry General Tso's chicken in the deli case -- NOT THE VEGAN KIND! (Caps not mine.) This shopper wants REAL General Tso's chicken. Come on, Whole Foods! Is that so much to ask!?!?

HELL YES IT IS. (Sorry Mom, it's the passion talking.) The store features at most ONE vegan meat food in the glass case at a time, out of dozens of prepared items. Yet this shopper is requesting that this SOLE offering to the vegetarian community (which is thankfully very good) be ousted for yet ANOTHER meat product.

Because, you know, meat is SO hard to come by in grocery stores. All the time I see omnis going up and down the aisles, reading label after label, asking for assistance from employees, trying to find something, anything, with meat in it. They have it rough. So I guess I can't really blame them for demanding a little accommodation, right?

Lazy Weekends + Black Eye Peas = Happiness

Anyone who knows me knows I am a dried bean evangelist. Kidney beans. Black beans. Giant butter beans. Black eye peas. Navy beans. Lentils. It doesn't matter; we are all family here.

So when I have some free time on the weekend, you can bet money there will be a big pot of beans. Today was black eye peas, which I had with leftover cornbread. I just love how versatile they are. I can eat them plain, mix them with rice, stir in some stewed tomatoes, stuff them in a pita, throw them in a wrap, top a salad, form them into a cake for a quick pan-fry. And, the leftovers freeze wonderfully, giving me delicious, comforting, homemade lunches to take to work for weeks.

And, not only are they delicious, but I must again point out that they one of the biggest bargains in the grocery store. Where else can you get 12 servings of nutrient-dense, protein-packed goodness for $.99? Not in the frozen food aisle, my friend.

I [heart] persimmons! (Who knew?!)

Persimmons are one of those foods that entered my culinary radar screen relatively recently, like say, kohlrabi or chayotes. I certainly don't have any family-favorite persimmon recipes, or heart-warming stories of picking persimmons from the tree in my backyard. To be honest, I generally mistook them for tomatoes.

But last weekend, I went with a friend to a nearby Persian market. Since I was in general paying closer attention to everything than I do when in the regular supermarket, I noticed the persimmons (and realized that they were not, in fact, orange tomatoes.) Having no idea what they tasted like, and equally no idea what to look for in selecting them, I just indiscriminately grabbed one.

I got home, and turned to Wikipedia (the source of all wisdom) to find out what the heck to do with this thing. Naturally, I quickly became overwhelmed, trying to determine if I had bought the intimidating "astringent" variety which is brutally sour if not ripe, or the much friendlier "non-astringent" variety which is sweet and delicious when still firm.

Then, I became a especially wary after noticing that the Wikipedia entry included a "Medical precaution" section. (Pretty sure kohlrabi and chayotes don't come with those.) Here's an excerpt:

"Unripened persimmons contain the soluble tannin shibuol, which, upon contact with a weak acid, polymerizes in the stomach and forms a gluey coagulum that can affix with other stomach matter.^[9]Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy notes that consumption of persimmons has been known to cause bezoars that require surgery in over 90% of cases."

Oh boy. What on earth have I gotten myself into? This is a fruit, for goodness sake! But unfortunately I had already Googled "bezoars" by this point, the image of which motivated me to just put the persimmon away for a while, until I was better prepared to deal with its mysterious dangers.

I'm not sure why, but today I woke with a confidence, a boldness, and I knew. Today would be the day I would eat the persimmon, fearlessly. I spent some time online trying to figure out how to eat it, but most instructions were for either puddings or breads, and only having one, that seemed unlikely. So I finally took the simple route and just cut it into quarters. My friends, it was worth the risk, of gluey coagulum, of bezoar surgery, of everything, because it was delicious. I can only describe it, to those who have not have one, as tasting similar to a cross between a mango and a plum: sweet, juicy, crisp.

So who knows, maybe the polymerization has already taken hold in my abdomen and I'm not long for this world. But if that's so, I have to admit, it isn't a bad way to go. Some die for country, some for glory. And I, for the humble persimmon! (But I'm still hoping not, of course.)

Obamalicious!

A coworker pointed these gems out to me, which are currently on sale in the bakery of the local Safeway here in Washington, DC.  Because what better way to celebrate the history-making inauguration of our 44th president than by eating his face on a low-grade sugar cookie? If their egg and dairy ingredients weren't enough to deter me, the $5 price tag (for six cookies) will do it.

"Safe"way? Not if you're a goose.

Sorry I have not been posting much lately. I have been suffering from PTSD after seeing this at my neighborhood grocery store:

A shocking (and presumably true) statistic, courtesy of Chrissie Hynde

In an interview last week with Rolling Stone about her new vegan restaurant in Akron, Ohio, the Pretenders' front-woman Chrissie Hynde claims that a vegetarian in a Hummer has less environmental impact than a meat-eater on a bicycle. Yowsas, Chrissie! It's hard to believe, yet also not that hard to believe at the same time.

Another interesting figure: Australia's Canberra Times cites a new study claiming that a vegetarian diet is 20% cheaper than a meat diet.

"The findings show it costs $508 a week to feed four adults on a traditional meat diet. A reduced meat diet costs $418 a week, while a vegetarian diet costs $394."

(Google's trusty currency converter says $394 Australian dollars is about $330 in U.S. dollars.)

Alright, so maybe I'm spending less money because I had dried kidney beans and brown rice for dinner instead of rack of lamb, but groceries sure don't feel like much of a bargain lately. I do try to buy almost exclusively organic, but that should be a choice that is economically and logistically possible for everyone - not a luxury.

I guess I will just have remind myself of these stats next time I feel the pain at the checkout counter and remind myself that if I was a meat-eater, it would be even worse.

At least I still get to drive my Hummer. That is a comfort.

Organic Propaganda, via YouTube

This video, a Stars Wars takeoff with a vegetable cast and a pro-organic farming message, is worthwhile if you have 6 minutes to kill. (Even if you only have 4, it's still worth it, because Darth Tater makes his entrance at 3:51.)

Sticker/art

You know those little tiny stickers that come on produce nowadays? They might say Chiquita, or Dole? Well while you tossed them into the trash or inadvertently let them slide into the garbage disposal, the industrious Rachel Perry Welty was x-acto blading the little suckers into works of art.

Makes ya feel just the teensiest bit lazy, huh?