Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Strange Days Indeed

I was walking with Parker to school this morning, during winter, in central Illinois, in the morning and we just needed jackets no gloves/hats. What.is.up.with.this.weather?! I'm not complaining, really. I mean this is the easiest car-free winter we've had, but Parker is totally freaked. He is a worrier about global warming anyway and this weather doesn't help. I tried to make him feel better telling him that we planted a tree in January twelve years ago right before he was born. This didn't help. I reminded him about the Science Tech assignment he finished a couple weeks ago for school. He had to fill out a questionnaire to figure out how many Earths we would need if everyone lived like he does. They actually mentioned veganism (they do on several of his homework assignments in this class...woot!) and when he filled it all out the results were 1/4 of an Earth. This totally surprised me because we are Americans and while we do what we do, there is always room for improvement. This whole thing didn't make him feel better either because his teacher said it didn't matter what individuals do, everyone has to do it.
While Parker is fretting, Josie is just soaking up the sun. This is her walking/dancing to the library in December. She's been riding her bike a lot and going without a coat.
Here she is walking to ballet, the shirt was off soon after this picture so we did hours of errands outside with her ballet dress and jeans. Crazy weather!

Tempeh with Mellow Mustard Sauce and Penne with Artichokes, Walnuts, and Olives from Quick-Fix Vegan
I've been trying to make a conscience effort to use tempeh, especially since I bought a twelve package case a month ago. Josie gets excited each time I open a package of tempeh, but to be honest we are really more of a tofu family. The Tempeh with Mellow Mustard Sauce reminded me of my mom's Swiss steak while I was making it. I don't remember what mom's dish really tasted like because I'm sure I turned my nose up at it with the sauce and everything, but I have fond memories of her cooking it. I could eat the mustard sauce on anything, seitan would work well too, but I thought it was great with tempeh. Quinoa would work great with the tempeh and sauce, but I forgot to make some and everyone was hungry. The whole wheat gobetti had artichokes, walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives, so what is not to like? Frozen cherries were Josie's suggestion and they were quite delicious too.

2 comments:

"Meat-free" Mike said...

Hmmm...10-20 degrees higher in winter months = 30-50 degree temps. 10-20 degrees higher in summer months = 90-110 degree temps? If the consistency carries through and this is not just a "warm winter," could be a shake and bake "summer?"

VeganLinda said...

Hoping it doesn't mean the summer will be warmer. It doesn't always work that way. Of course I'm worried about global warming too, I just don't think my 12 year old needs to be depressed about it. :-)