Roasted Beets, Toasted Pecans, and Greens ... Oh My!

Tonight I had roasted sliced beets, pan toasted pecans, my "holy trinity": onions,

mushrooms, and garlic cooked in Spanish olive oil. Then the greens from the 

beets, and torn bite sized sheets of red leaf lettuce all in a pan - oh, and one 

date. YUMMY and o-so-healthy! Now who's gonna clean the kitchen?

Why Cats SHOULDN'T be Vegan

As I mentioned here in my first blog post, I loved Alicia Silverstone's book, The Kind Diet.  HOWEVER, I do disagree with one (rather big) thing: CATS SHOULD NEVER BE FED A VEGAN DIET!!!


ALL cats are "obligate carnivores", which is a fancy term that means MEAT-EATER. That's the final word. Why some cat food company doesn't come out with the proper and natural cat food and sell it to us, I don't know. If I owned a cat food company, I'd make food out of whole birds and mice. (Gasp, animal cruelty!). I don't want to feed myself those things, but I'm not a cat.


What cats DON'T need are exactly what you will find in ALL brands of kibble: grains, starches, flours, vegetables and fruits, and unknown things we'd rather keep that way. The fillers used to make kibble couldn't be worse for your feline friends - even the "gourmet" brands with prices to match. Cats need to get water from the food they eat - more specifically from the muscle tissue. If you see your cat drinking out of the water bowl frequently, check for kidney or thyroid problems.  


DO cats get berries in the wild? Yes, if they eat the whole bird; and whatever mice and small rodents eat. But you will never see an outdoor cat nibbling on a corn husk!


So what SHOULD we feed our house cats (in lieu of Vita-Mixing birds and mice)? From what I've read (I can get sources later, if you need them), preferably ORGANIC, CANNED food, with whole sources of meat, not by-products.  The brands I have found so far at my local Whole Foods or Co-op are "Organix", "Newman's Own", "Pet Guard", "Evangers", and online at PetFoodDirect.com. I'm not too thrilled that most, if not all of these contain brown rice, but I guess if you're trying to pick the best that you can most of the time, a little brown rice is far better than the other options.


I also will supplement my cat's diet with real chicken. Did a ton of research on that, too, and found two suppliers that are mainstream and produce healthy, happy chicken on farms where they get to live happy chicken lives before being as humanely murdered as one can.  "Smart Chicken" is found at Meijer, and "Bell and Evans" is at Whole Foods. 


With a little thought and care, our pets can eat as well as we can, but within their species requirements.

The Blog Begins

Hello. I'm "SpaNancy", owner of Vanities Spa in Lexington, Kentucky, and a confirmed FOODIE!   I am starting this blog as a way of archiving my recipes so I can remember when I've brought together really tasty ingredients; and to keep it open so others can share in the journey, too!


In America, we have the blessing of having TOO MUCH. We get to ponder HOW to eat, not "if" we'll eat. So along my American food path, I have dabbled in most every diet that has come down the street. I've eaten, "right for my blood type", I've been in "The Zone", and was pals with Jenny Craig for a while. None of these choices have done much for my health, my mood, or my body.  


One day I found myself bored with food, trying to decipher what to eat for dinner (again), and I decided to have a look at Alicia Silverstone's book, "The Kind Diet" to get some new inspiration. I'm a former left-coast L.A. girl, and have been aware of PETA since high school. I love animals and have a big heart, so her book was, for me, a nice and pleasant welcoming into her Vegan world. I revisited some information that I had let slip to the recesses of my mind (as we do), and picked up some new food combinations that sounded delicious. This was an exciting NEW adventure!


Being "nearly vegetarian" already, the changes weren't too tough. I needed a milk replacement for my morning coffee and found Silk Almond Milk to work just fine (the unsweetened version) ~ and the one from Whole Food's "365" is also delicious. My "find healthier food path" had already led me to grass-fed cows milk, and I remember the "Eat Right for Your Type" book had recommended Type A's eliminate milk in favor of soy, so this adjustment wasn't totally foreign.


Before reading The Kind Diet, I thought I had found the healthiest milk - since I knew what they did to the average milk (added hormones, antibiotics, etc.). I first chose organic low fat milk and thought I was doing a good thing. Then I read that cows need to be fed grass, not grain, so I searched for a grass-fed cows milk and found one at Meijer. After reading her book she taught me one more thing. The protein in milk, casein, isn't so good for us humans. THIS could very well be the cause of my now year-long runny nose. So I found my milk replacement, and found some delicious (but in no way low-cal) ice creams that are dairy-free. One is called "Purely Decadent" and it IS! Rice Dream is also very good, as is the one made with almonds. Watch the sugar in those, though.  


Dairy Covered.  Almost.


CHEESE. Uh-oh, next to sweets and ice cream in particular, how am I going to give up CHEESE??? Of course, Alicia, has some solutions for us. She has already done the homework and found several Vegan cheeses. "Vegan cheese?  Sounds disgusting." WELL, it's not French Brie, that's for sure. But, you know what? It's not that bad. In fact, now that I'm not having brie every week (or day!), I don't miss it. I even made a Vegan pizza WITHOUT cheese! (Recipe to follow on this blog!) I have also used the Vegan cheeses for sandwiches, and pizza, and they work fine. No, even the 'melty' ones don't really melt all that well.  But it will do. I will find my pleasures in other foods, like KALE!  


So this is the beginning of my new "mostly vegan" path. Try to eat as close to the source as possible most of the time. Organic. Local. Cruelty-Free.  


I had to laugh at my Mother, who was raised on a farm, but won't buy organic milk because she thinks it's weird. "Mom, organic milk is what you grew up on!" LONG before the industrialization of the American food chain, organic was all there was!  


I won't go into what 'we' have done to the food that we eat (save that for later), but WOW, 'we' have made a MESS and everyone's health is suffering because of it. Teenage girls are getting breasts and periods WAY too early (thank you hormones in milk and meat - and McDonald's, don't get me started!), and illness is affecting all age groups, not just the elderly. It's truly a shame.  


On a happier note, the wave of shopping from your local, organic farmer is on the rise. Mega-Markets are stocking organic foods as if it were mainstream now (getting close) and more and more people are seeing the connection between what we eat and how we feel (and LOOK!).  


Join me in this new food adventure, won't you!


Bring on the KALE!!!


SpaNancy.
Lexington, Kentucky
November 26, 2011