Damek.

While I don’t intend to go vegan, the cooking possibilities are exciting. In fact, cooking in general is exciting lately, although cleanup is a pain. But I digress. The point is, I need to watch this show, and, I think, get some new cookbooks as well as reacquaint myself with my old ones. And live in the kitchen a bit more. And pick up those seeds from Sarah next week.

(Brought to you by…)

In fact, it might be just about time for a complete renovation roundabout these parts. 2010 reinvention anyone?

…I’m still not aware of any studies showing better health outcomes for organic consumers. Maybe they’re yet to be conducted. Maybe Philpott’s circumstantial cases around nitrates and pesticides will prove true. But maybe not. As of now, they don’t show up in any observational or experimental data we have. From a public health perspective, I’m much more concerned with whether people consume fruits and vegetables than whether they consume organic fruits and vegetables.

That said, the evidence that organics are good for the environment, and the soil in particular, is very compelling. And the first part of Philpott’s post is a very elegant explanation of why.

“water is not the cook’s best friend when it comes to preparing vegetables”

I would like to see a healthy-cooking comparison for other foods as well. But then the question is also, does food cooked primarily in a microwave taste as good? Because, for example, baked veggies taste different from stir-fried veggies. The choice of method has to do with the dish you’re making, not just pure health. Obviously.

consolidation and aquisition, it’s the nature of the beast.

Nevertheless, this is pretty depressing, and so is this.

Luckily there’s a gimongous world beyond that …and this and their free tacos on Tuesdays is but the tip of the tip of the iceberg!

So, you only have about 5-6 oz of tomato sauce, half a pack of fake beef and a few oz of frozen chopped spinach on hand? And you want to make some pasta? Well I hope you have a few other of these ingredients cuz this is taaaasty!

Take a couple oz of olive oil and fry yourself up a couple tablespoons of onion and 3-4 cloves of garlic, with a few shakes of pepper if you like. Add a couple oz of red wine vinegar, the fake beef, the tomato sauce, some italian seasoning, garlic salt, and some more pepper. let that just sit and simmer for a while.

Start up your pasta, enough for two people. When it’s got a few minutes left, add the frozen spinach to the sauce. When the pasta’s done, serve and pour the sauce over it. Add parmesan cheese as desired.

Yum!