Girl, You So Well Spoken!

So after watching the harrowing Food, Inc documentary (see previous post), I set about researching what I need to get in anticipation of the educated eating I'll be doing once this cleanse is over. Or maybe I just wanted to look at pictures of food. 

Anyway, the point is that I found 7 cool and healthy veggie recipes that will a) ease me nicely out of my cleanse, and b) be fun kitchen projects! I figured I would share them with you so that we can eat well together! And also because I don't want you to get the impression that you hoes will be invited over for dinner! "Check out these recipes!" is code for "your hands ain't broke so make your own!" 

And I say that with love :)

1. Tomato Curry Lentil Stew - make sure to use farmers market tomatoes and stay away from the canned sh!t. Here's an alternate recipe for the same dish, but with a couple of different ingredients. I like combining recipes and adding my own extras to make a personal and unique dish. Added bonus: you only need one pot to make this stew and it takes about 45 minutes!
2. Mushroom Barley Soup - I'm giving the soy sauce in this recipe the side-eye (again, see previous post), so if you can't buy organic soy sauce then maybe avoid this one. Or make your own. Oh, and this is a crock-pot recipe, so 6 to 8 hours of simmering are in order.
   
   
3. Spiced and Sour Mushroom Soup - the ingredients in this Asian-style soup are a little more unique, so be prepared to go on a hunt for them OR to take some risks in substituting for veggies your local farmers market will definitely have (see bottom of this post for link to ingredient substitutes). And maybe substitute the miso paste with a vegetable stock. 
   
   
4. Red-Wine-Braised Lentils with Bacon and Kale - I don't eat bacon, organic or not, so in this situation I would substitute the bacon for Lightlife Organic Smoky Tempeh Strips. Again, I give all soy products the side-eye after finding out that even soy labeled non-GMO (non-genetically modified) could still be contaminated with GMO seeds, so you are taking a small risk. Generally speaking, if you're going to go soy, do so in moderation! And you can always just try this recipe without the "bacon"! Feel free to substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock :)
   
   
5. Mushroom and Barley Ragout - this recipe is for the penny pincher in ya (a.k.a. my kind of recipe!). They say that the ingredients are super-cheap, and the recipe makes a lot, so you can eat this for a week if you're cooking for one and at least a couple of days if you're cooking for a family. But as a warning: it may take up to two hours just to cook the barley before proceeding with the rest of the recipe, so settle yourself in for a three-hour cooking fest. 
   
   
6. Braised White Beans with Chard - this meal is both nutritious and low cost... but I'd advise you to step away from the canned cannellini beans and buy and cook them yourself! 
   
   
7. White Beans with Rosemary - another white bean recipe, but this one is meant for the crock pot (6-10 hours!). All veggie, all delicious, and very simple!

And as promised, here's a list of ingredient substitutions for future reference, in case you ever find yourself wanting to transform a recipe into one that is meatless, vegan, low-fat, allergen-free, ethnic, or alcohol-free!

Word to the wise: it probably isn't the best idea in the world to watch a documentary on food when you're three days into the master cleanse and so delirious with hunger that just about everything seems appetizing to you. But bearing that in mind, I settled in to watch a documentary I'd been hearing about for months: Food, Inc. 

Hungry or not, I was completely appalled by the things I saw in that film.  

We live in a society where demand drives supply, yet we are too ignorant about the quality and origins of our food to make better demands about what is being supplied. We don't know where that steak comes from, who makes that peanut butter, or what state that plump and juicy piece of chicken breast we are munching on was in before it landed in our grocery store. And we don't seem to care to know, because ignorance is bliss right?

Bliss... Until your two year old son dies from eating an E. coli infected hamburger that you were unaware was about to be recalled by a notoriously contaminated meat plant...

Did you know that the majority of the beef you eat is, if not organic and farm raised, corn-fed and living ankle deep in its own manure and the manure of the tons of other cows its crammed together to live with? And did you know that cows are not meant to have corn diets, and since their bodies do not properly digest it, they are prone to E. coli infection?

Why are we so complacent with eating genetically modified foods? Chickens are mass-produced-- grown in half the time but at twice the normal size. We have moved from thousands of slaughterhouses in the 70's to only THIRTEEN slaughterhouses today, because all of our meat is originating from the same corporate giants, whether you are eating a McDonalds hamburger or a piece of steak bought from Ralph's. 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes, and in minority communities that ratio is 1 in 2. There is a monopoly on soybeans, forcing farmers to buy GMO seeds at risk of being sued for not complying. Seed recycling is against the law and certified soybeans are slowly being depleted and contaminated as genetically modified seeds take over. 

You're probably being bombarded with fearful facts right now, I know. That isn't the point of this post. Yes, I do want to raise awareness about what is going on in the food industry, but like the film states in it's conclusion, we have the power to change the terrible things going on. And if you're thinking about how expensive organic and farm fresh is versus big corporate and fastfoods, consider this: while we now only spend a very low 9% of our income on food, we've consequently also increased from spending 5% to spending 18% of our income on medicine. Pardon my redundancy, but we live in a Supply-and-Demand society. If we demand healthier, organic, non-genetically modified, humanely raised food stuffs, they will be supplied. Furthermore, our demand for better food whose origins we are aware of and comfortable with will drive the prices of those foods down. 

So shop smarter. Cook at home. Support locally grown food. Plant a garden (both frugal in the long-term and environmentally sound). Be wary of the soybean (that's for all you vegans/vegetarians who think this doesn't apply to you). And sidestep that meat selling for $0.99/lb. It's not worth the risk.

Oh, and you should definitely check out the documentary.

... And by "afropunk" we mean more about the sartorial choices than the choice of hairstyle...

If you need me to spell it out for you, I'm posting this because I'm absolutely enthralled by the Casely-Hayford Spring/Summer 2010 lookbook!

Yes, it's different. But it's got the kind of cool that only a true fashion envelope-pusher could appreciate. English Wedgewood style and tailoring meets Turkish Ottoman prints and African stilo...! A true testament to the transcultural nature of the London road the collection is named for--Kingsland.

Culture fusion is the future, boys. Get into it. 

spotted over at hypebeast and style salvage

The edges of my journal are tattered and frayed. Oftentimes, the lint, fuzz, and/or tobacco dust that accumulates at the bottom of whichever of my Mary Poppins bags I've decided to carry that day is stuck to the pages. Why? Because my journal comes with me everywhere I go! Inspiration can strike anywhere and I have to be ready, pen and paper in hand at all times!

There is, however, one place that my journal (regretfully) cannot go... the shower. But now, thanks to AquaNotes, I can keep the creative juices flowing even when I'm washing my fanny!

The AquaNotes ($TBA) is a waterproof notepad that allows you to write down all ideas while in the shower. "Water simply beads up and rolls off its waterproof paper. AquaNotes is so durable, you can even write underwater. Each pencil is made from 100% natural cedar that is water resistant."

Epic.

[spotted over at LikeCool]

I'm loving the new Givenchy Spring 2010 ad campaign! It's edgy, it's trippy, it's futuristic while still being a little mod... And these patterns are to die for, non?

But on another, marginally related note, this coming year I will be one of the faces in an ad like this. Riccardo Tisci and his peers don't know that yet, but it's only because we've yet to become acquainted.

via hypebeast