After the egg recall hit home for me recently and we purged all the eggs, I was faced with a list of family meals for the week that lacked an important ingredient: eggs. Cornbread? Can't make it. I couldn't pack hard-boiled eggs for lunch, either, or cook scrambled eggs with cheese and tortillas for dinner (a family staple on deadline-heavy weeks - dinner in ten minutes!).
Since we don't each much meat, I couldn't turn to steaks and burgers to replace recipes with eggs in them. Instead, we drifted in the other direction, toward vegetarian and vegan meals.
A few months ago, I tried to eat vegan food once a week, after I read an article that suggested that avoiding animal protein might decrease inflammation. Even if this isn't true, I thought, it can't hurt to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains for a day. But I'm no vegan. I had trouble making it through the vegan days, as I craved dairy products too much in all their glorious forms (and craved their protein as well, no doubt).
Out of eggless necessity, though, I went back to my handful of vegan recipes and served an old dinner favorite, a vegan pasta with cauliflower recipe.
That took care of one night.
Then, while I was staring into my refrigerator, I realized that I could buy locally-grown eggs at the Farmer's Market. Eureka! I brought the kids to the market with one mission: find the egg stand. I steered them past the kettle corn and corn on the cob, past the peaches and strawberries, to get in line for the organic brown eggs. Once I had two dozen eggs in my bag, I relaxed. At last.
The spinach pie I made with the eggs later that night had a strong, almost gamey flavor, as I've become used to the more anemic eggs that I buy in the store. But I'll keep going back to the Farmer's Market for eggs, until I'm certain the recall is officially over.
Showing posts with label vegetarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetarian. Show all posts
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Monday, September 29, 2008
Two Good Ideas for a Bad Economy
Deductibles and health insurance premiums are going up rapidly, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefits survey, especially among small businesses. About two-thirds of small businesses offer health insurance plans to their employees, and of those about one-third of the plans have a yearly deductible of $1,000 or more, according to the survey. Average health care premiums paid by employees have risen five percent since last year, and roughly doubled since 1999.
In response to this trend, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has partnered with state governments in Oklahoma and Arizona to develop a health care premium subsidy program for small businesses with 50 or fewer employees, CQ HealthBeat News reported recently. Close to 20% of the population in both states is uninsured, according to the article. Over half of the employees who signed up for the Oklahoma program (called Insure Oklahoma), had been uninsured previously. Advocates of the partnership hope that these subsidies will decrease or eliminate the number of uninsured people in these states, CQ HealthBeat News reported.
Another good idea in today's economy: vegetarianism. A NewScientist.com article in July cited a Cornell University study that showed that if all Americans ate a vegetarian diet (unlikely, I know, but possible), they could reduce the amount of fossil fuel used to produce food by one-third. Producing animal products consumes far more energy than producing plant products for human consumption. Plants such as feed corn must be grown and transported to animals in another field in order for the animals to grow large enough to eat. Then the animals or their dairy products must be processed and transported to the grocery store. Corn meant for human consumption only takes one field and, once harvested and processed, is transported directly to the grocery store.
The health benefits of eating a plant-based or plant-biased diet are well documented. Eating less meat and dairy and more fruits, vegetables, and grains can save money on both energy costs and health expenses. Eating more plant products might not be a radical idea, but it could directly impact the troubled economy.
In response to this trend, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has partnered with state governments in Oklahoma and Arizona to develop a health care premium subsidy program for small businesses with 50 or fewer employees, CQ HealthBeat News reported recently. Close to 20% of the population in both states is uninsured, according to the article. Over half of the employees who signed up for the Oklahoma program (called Insure Oklahoma), had been uninsured previously. Advocates of the partnership hope that these subsidies will decrease or eliminate the number of uninsured people in these states, CQ HealthBeat News reported.
Another good idea in today's economy: vegetarianism. A NewScientist.com article in July cited a Cornell University study that showed that if all Americans ate a vegetarian diet (unlikely, I know, but possible), they could reduce the amount of fossil fuel used to produce food by one-third. Producing animal products consumes far more energy than producing plant products for human consumption. Plants such as feed corn must be grown and transported to animals in another field in order for the animals to grow large enough to eat. Then the animals or their dairy products must be processed and transported to the grocery store. Corn meant for human consumption only takes one field and, once harvested and processed, is transported directly to the grocery store.
The health benefits of eating a plant-based or plant-biased diet are well documented. Eating less meat and dairy and more fruits, vegetables, and grains can save money on both energy costs and health expenses. Eating more plant products might not be a radical idea, but it could directly impact the troubled economy.
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