I cringed when the lunch lady demanded Jamie supply her with documentation British school children use forks and knives. My blood boiled at that hostile dj's protest that they're not all going to sit around and eat lettuce. But the Edwards family stuck with me the most. I'll be rooting for them to turn things around.
I cannot imagine a life without fresh fruits and vegetables. I visit a local, organic farm, Old Hook Farm, every week. I rarely have a plan, I just go and get inspired. The breakdown this week:
For snacking: blood oranges and pears. Celery with peanut butter for a protein boost is a snack I learned about in the third grade. I'm still eating it.
For roasted cauliflower soup: cauliflower, a potato and shallot. I'll add vegetable stock, herbs and nutmeg.
For a classic French bistro-inspired salad: radicchio and endive. Just add walnuts and grapes or walnuts and vinaigrette. Serve with bread (I love the rosemary focaccia from Trader Joe's).
My sweetheart's mother was in town visiting. In honor of her birthday and upcoming trip to Spain, he made paella. While everyone else had seafood and chicken, my own Jamie Oliver chef made me a very special vegan one, complete with shitake mushrooms, navy beans and peas. Vegetarian paella is so comforting. Make some sangria if you'd like to make it festive.
To start: a spinach salad. I topped mine with yellow peppers, roasted red peppers and tomatoes. He made a lemony vinaigrette with fresh thyme.
Making your own dressing is so easy. Check out Tyler Florence's Arugala Salad and Ultimate Vinaigrette. Leave off the honey if you want to veganize.
Jamie Oliver's Everyday Green Chopped Salad is on my recipe "to do" list.
Spanish clementines for snacking.
Okay, it wasn't all healthy! For dessert, warm sweet bread drizzled with honey. Very similar to French toast, but with no cinnamon. I admit it: I had a slice. Delicious.
The next episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is Friday, April 2nd at 9 EST.
I can't bring myself to watch it after viewing his TED talk. He's jumped on the fat folk as a commodity bandwagon. Spews b.s. as fact (although all the obesity hype folks do that, to be fair). The sanctimonious shrill of "it's for the children!" the...oh god. I just can't. I wish Michael Moore would get into this issue and take on the Farm Bill and Monsanto so that we just don’t have the “personal responsibility” bootstraps mantra being beaten all the way to the bank. Le sigh.
ReplyDeleteAnd again, I’ve visited your blog when hungry. Must stop doing that! But I will admit that you have completely vanquished my absurd notion that vegan foods can’t be tasty. There is life beyond butter!
I don't think Jamie's intentions are malicious. Certainly there are legions of unhealthy thin people. But regardless of weight, a generation of parents digging an early grave for their children is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteThe child in the video was on a certain road to diabetes and Jamie is trying to prevent that. That is a good thing. His parents couldn't even remember when they saw a doctor.
We need someone shaking things up. Television has the power to reach millions without anyone having to slap down $10+ for a movie ticket. Even with a Monsanto film, I think most Americans are just too disengaged to care.
On a lighter note, thank you for the food compliment. Olive oil is certainly my best friend alternative to butter. And food is a great passion of my life.
You make a really good point about his intentions not being malicious. I just always see such things as exploitative and therefore malicious. (Not a good knee-jerk reaction.) I need to realize that some folks operate under the belief that they're trying to help and intentions do matter.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yeah, you're right. The truth about the Farm Bill, etc., is out there and people are totally apathetic. But they'll spend hours in front of the TV watching "The Biggest Loser" and other such crap. Ug. I think I need a drink!
Now, if they let ME take this thing on, we'd have public works converting streets into sidewalks and bike paths, a 25 hr work week, farm to school networks, every town with a "local" shop that...oh, wait. I don't run anything. :P