[Guy N'wah]

Costin Moroianu said:

Well considering how many people are still poor in China I find it somewhat difficult to believe that the entire population is now eating a lot of meat.

The middle class that has arisen in China, sure I can believe that. Then again maybe I am wrong. In India it's mixed up in religion so they aren't fans of eating beef of pork. ›››

Since there are many Chinese, it takes only a small change in their eating habits (on the average) to cause a large change in worldwide demand.

In an economic system without surpluses, seemingly small changes in production or consumption of key goods can result in much greater consequences that are usually both unforeseen and undesirable.

Drought in the US Midwest, as we had this year and may have next year, cuts hard into the worldwide supply of maize and soybeans, leading to first lower prices for meat as farmers cull herds to the number they can profitably feed, then to higher prices for both meat and dairy from the now-reduced herds.

It also leads to starvation and open rebellion in Mexico, as the market price for maize prices tortillas out of the reach of the poor. It would not be unfair to say that the US ethanol industry is paid for by the misery of the poor in Mexico.

[Corylea]

Dragon said:

Not a problem in NZ. All our farms just let the animals run free in the countryside. We don't even have barns or other such facilities because of NZ's always good weather. A farm in NZ is a large section of land surrounded by a picket fence. This low cost to entry and maintenance is why dairy/meat is NZ's major export, and why our meat is so good!

New Zealand is SO gorgeous! Sadly, there isn't enough room in the Shire for all of us to live there.

Dragon said:

My problem is with the way the animals are treated up to the point when they are killed. Locking them in tiny cages, restricting them from simply standing up, is torture. I am against the disgusting practices of the meat industry, not against it's existence.

It is for this reason that I buy only free-range eggs and organic milk; the cruelty of factory farming is truly astounding.

Dragon said:

I am trying to make it work, but I have to sacrifice so much. All the time I have to waste cooking meals,

If only vegetarians would get more creative with their foods and use some of the above instead of smothering everything with soy. ›››

I don't see soy on everything over here; I wonder if it's a New Zealand thing or what.

Lots of people discover cooking when they go vegetarian, so many vegetarian cookbooks are about how to make really good food with lots of loving care. That's fine, for those who want it, but for people who just want fuel, there are other ways of cooking.

Here are a couple of my guaranteed-FAST recipes. These aren't haute cuisine. They're the foods I make when I'm too tired to cook, but we have to eat anyway. They're the kind of thing that most people just come up with on their own, but if you're new to vegetarian cooking, they might not be obvious to you.

Poor Man's Lasagne

Takes around 20 minutes to make, including time to boil the water

6 ounces whole wheat macaroni or penne pasta
1.5 cups low-fat cottage or ricotta cheese (or full-fat if you need the calories, which some young men do)
2 cups meat-free spaghetti sauce from a jar (I use Classico tomato and basil)

In a large saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add pasta and stir. Boil for 10 minutes.

Pour the pasta sauce into a pan and heat it or pour it into a bowl and microwave it.

When the pasta has cooked, pour it into a strainer and shake, to get all the water off. Put the drained pasta back into the empty pot.

Add the cottage/ricotta cheese and stir until the cheese is evenly distributed through the pasta.

Add the warmed spaghetti sauce and stir well. Makes 1 - 4 servings, depending on your appetite. It would be 3 servings for my husband and me, but for a young man, it might be just one.

Serve with a salad or steamed broccoli or cooked baby peas (or the vegetable of your choice, but these all pair well with it).

This is nowhere near as good as real lasagne, so don't let the name get your hopes up too high. But it's very fast, fairly cheap, and quite nutritious.


Black Bean & Corn Burritos

1 15-oz can black beans
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp cumin
1 bag frozen yellow corn kernels
salsa -- mild, moderate, or hot, to taste
shredded Monterey Jack cheese
whole wheat flour tortillas
oil or butter

In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp oil or butter. Add the minced garlic and sauté for one minute. Add the chili powder and cumin, sauté for an additional minute.

Add the can of black beans (with the liquid). Stir. Cover the pot, reduce heat to simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes.

While that's cooking, warm up the corn. You can steam it on the stove or nuke it, whichever you like.

Put a whole wheat tortilla on a microwave-safe plate. Put a tablespoon of salsa on the tortilla and spread it thinly over the entire tortilla, just enough to moisten the whole thing.

Put 1/3 cup shredded mild cheese in a line down the center of the tortilla, reaching from top to bottom and about 4 centimeters wide.

When the beans have had their 10 minutes, pour the contents of the pot into a fine mesh strainer (we want to strain out the water but not the minced garlic). Put the drained beans back into the empty pot.

Add 1.5 cups of hot corn kernels to the pot and stir until combined.

Take ½ to ¾ cup (depending on the size of your tortilla) of the bean-corn mixture and put it in a line down the center of the tortilla, on top of the cheese.

Fold in the sides of the tortilla to make a long tube and flip it over so that it's seam-side down.

Put a couple of tablespoons of salsa on top of the burrito and spread it up and down so that the entire top of the burrito is covered.

Put the plate in the microwave and nuke for a short time. If you have an old, low-power microwave, nuke it for 1.5 minutes. If you have a new, high-power microwave, nuke it for one minute.

Put one or two beans and one or two corn kernels on top of the burrito, in the center, for garnish.

Serve with lettuce and tomato or with guacamole. We drink carrot juice with these.

The bean mixture will be enough for around 4 burritos. It freezes well, if you don't want to have burritos four nights in a row.

Whole wheat tortillas freeze well, and if you take out one or two at a time, they defrost by themselves in the time that it takes the beans to simmer.

These take about 15 minutes to make.

See? Vegetarian food is EASY. And it doesn't have to contain any soy.

[slimgrin]

We should have a thread designated to cooking. Lots of chefs on this site.

[.Volsung.]

An usually overlooked yet delicious vegetarian meal: Neapolitan pizza. You can make the dough if you have the time and/or energy, or buy premade or frozen dough, or even make mini pizzas with pita bread.

Some usual ingredients:

- fresh tomatoes
- tomato paste
- garlic
- green olives
- oregano
- basil (preferably fresh)
- mozzarella cheese
- parmiggiano cheese (it adds a nice extra touch of flavor). Provolone and gorgonzola might also work well.

What I do is:

- In a small pot, add some olive oil and minced garlic and let it simmer.
- Prepare your dough/crust, either make it or take it out of the bag. Either way, put it on a baking rack.
- Using a spoon, cover the top of the crust with the oil and pieces of garlic. Let it absorb for a bit. Then spread tomato paste as thick as you prefer.
- Over the tomato paste, sprinkle some oregano, and then cover with shredded mozzarella.
- Thinly slice the tomatoes, and cover the top of the pizza with the slices. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the tomato slices to bring out the flavor.
- Slice the green olives and spread them all over the pizza.
- Cut the basil and, again, decorate the pizza.
- Cut little thin sticks of parmiggiano, and put them on every little crevice your find.

Preheat the oven at around 395º F or 200º C. Then bake for around 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the pizza and how crunchy you want it. This is a really delicious meal that is actually very practical and easy to make. Accompany with wine or beer, and salad if you want.

I used to make this with pita bread all the time, and it would be ready to eat after 12 to 14 minutes at around 355º F - 180º C.

[Dragon'sDream]

Quote

I don't see soy on everything over here; I wonder if it's a New Zealand thing or what.

It is a NZ thing. A large proportion of our population are immigrants, and many of these immigrants are Asian. Asians love their soy and soy sauce, so our restaurants try to incorporate it whenever they can. I have walked into restaurants wanting to eat meat and have had to walk out because everything they served contained soy.

Living in a country heavily influenced by Asian cultures doesn't do people like me any favors.


After thinking about it for a long time, I have decided to hold off on switching to a completely vegetarian diet. The sacrifices and health risks are just too much, and living with a family that wants to continue to eat meat doesn't help either. I may try again in the future when circumstances change.

At the very least, I am glad that I tried it. I am not ashamed to admit defeat to a medical condition I have no control over. One near death experience is enough for me.

You didn't waste your time typing those recipes, Cory. Remember that I hate working with raw meat, and mostly cook vegetarian meals myself. I am sure I can put them to use. Also, thanks in general for being supportive throughout this whole ordeal.

Quote

I can eat wheat, but my wife can't and we end up preparing most or all our meals at home. We barely eat out (only on certain occasions and at carefully selected restaurants). Heck, she is also allergic to hops. So much for drinking beer!

Forgot to comment on this last time - good on you for being understanding and supportive of her. Certainly speaks highly of your character.

[dragonbird]

Corylea said:

1 15-oz can black beans
›››

Just one word of warning, DD, if you're trying the recipes, which sound delicious.
These are American black beans, not the ones that you'll usually see in the shops in NZ, which are fermented soy beans. I'm not sure if the American ones are available in NZ, but you can probably substitute if necessary.

I'm going to try that burrito recipe. You just can't get decent Mexican/Tex-Mex food here, and I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Chain of thought, was it Wichat who was talking about almond milk a while ago? I found it in the supermarket a couple of weeks later and got completely addicted to it. It is truly amazing!

[Dragon'sDream]

dragonbird said:

Just one word of warning, DD, if you're trying the recipes, which sound delicious.
These are American black beans, not the ones that you'll usually see in the shops in NZ, which are fermented soy beans. I'm not sure if the American ones are available in NZ, but you can probably substitute if necessary. ›››

This is the type of thing I was talking about when I said health risks. Me going vegetarian at this stage in my life is making a death wish.

[dragonbird]

I must admit, I'd never heard of soy allergy until you mentioned it, but when I looked it up, it seems to be pretty common. I wonder why it doesn't get the same amount of awareness as gluten and peanut allergies? It seems to be one hell of a difficult ingredient to avoid nowadays.

[Pangaea]

One dish I love that would also qualify as vegetarian (unless people have issues with eggs and/or milk) is pancakes. It takes a while to make unfortunately, but it's fantastically good. Many fry bacon with it too, but that's no needed of course. I know over the pond people tend to use maple leaf sirup and such, but I prefer blueberry jam instead. I have been making this since I was about 7 years old and saw it in a textbook, and I still love it.

Mouth getting all watery here now, so maybe I should make this today

Since I've been making this since I was a wee lad the recipe is quite simple, but you can add in a little spice or whatever else you fancy.

3-4 eggs
about a litre of milk
teaspoon of sugar and a little salt
flour until the mixture feels right, I prefer it fairly thin so the pancakes become thin

That's all you need really. Very, very simple and easy, but the kicker is the time it takes to cook/fry it. This will be enough for a small family, so cut down if you are only 1-2 persons.

[Guy N'wah]

dragonbird said:

I must admit, I'd never heard of soy allergy until you mentioned it, but when I looked it up, it seems to be pretty common. I wonder why it doesn't get the same amount of awareness as gluten and peanut allergies? It seems to be one hell of a difficult ingredient to avoid nowadays. ›››

Allergy specialists all have it on their list of top allergens, but you're right; it doesn't get the publicity. Probably because it takes a larger dose to trigger reactions, and few of those reactions are severe. So it doesn't make headlines like it does when a kid in school goes into anaphylactic shock after sharing a bite of another kid's peanut butter sandwich.

And yes, it's very difficult to avoid. You can pretty well assume that any manufactured foods, and most prepared foods in restaurants, contain some soy or have been exposed to soy. And you can't count on most grocers or waiters to give you accurate information about it.

I always make pancakes with a yeast batter. You have to start it an hour or so ahead of time, but the texture and the little bit of tartness from the fermentation are just sublime. This recipe makes a fairly thick batter and substantial cakes.

4 cups flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter

If you are uncertain of your yeast (if you get those little foil packets of yeast from the grocery, you should be uncertain of it), double the amount. If you have good yeast, for Melitele's sake don't double it.



Scald the milk and set it aside to cool. Sift the dry ingredients together. Melt the butter. Beat the eggs, and gradually add the butter to the eggs while beating.

When the milk has cooled to about 110F (43C), stir the milk and the butter and eggs gradually into the dry ingredients. Don't overmix; lumps will work themselves out as it ferments.

Let it rise until it starts to look like The Blob. Stir it down, and let it rise again.

Dip to a hot buttered griddle, turning once when the batter looks like it's just starting to set on top. If you can't serve immediately, hold finished cakes in a warm (about 170F, 77C) oven.

[Pham]

For pancakes, you can fill them with jam, melted chocolate, berries, honey or even ice cream, then just roll them like a burrito and you have a great meal.

[.Volsung.]

So changing the subject, what antivirus program do you guys use?
I normally use Linux for everything except Windows games, but I've been trying to not bring work home so my computer stays in game mode, a.k.a Windows, for longer, and I even browse and do online banking with it.
I tried Kaspersky and liked it, and have used it for 3 years. Now I have to renew and I'm not really sure if payed antivirus is worth it. Kaspersky is pretty good and memory efficient, I've had no compatibility issues with any games or software whatsoever, but maybe I can get the same basic coverage with a free alternative? Maybe one that doesn't use up resources unnecessarily? Maybe I'm wrong but I'm under the impression software like AVG is not very good on memory usage.
Since my wife uses Win on her laptop, I can renew my subscription and get one for 3 PC's - 2 years, for 70 bucks, what do you think?

[slimgrin]

I use AVG. No annoying Pop-ups like Norton which seemed to become a virus itself. But I have one major issue: my PC won't update properly. After the update process, it says I needs to update again. I update again...and it says I need to update. WTF? Not sure what causes this.

[Pham]

I'm using Avast at the moment. Its free, updates every day and works pretty well.

In other news, a guy just combined League of Legends and Katawa Shoujo into a masterpiece of a one shot fiction. I think that man deserves a medal.

[gregski]

I use Avira. The only anti-virus program that helped me to get rid of a nasty thing my PC caught called Sality (back in the day). So it stayed with me.

[freakie1one]

I used to use Avast for a few years until I had an issue with it and then I switched to Microsoft Security Essentials. I usually avoid Microsoft products whenever possible but it actually uses very few resources and works as well as many paid scanners (and it's free, which is a bonus). I've had no virus for the 2.5 years I've been using it.

EDIT: I decided to look and see what people say was one of the better options for a commercial scanner and people seem to give high ratings to Kaspersky. Here's a page that tested it out with 100 different viruses and it stopped all 100. Only 1 out of the 100 managed to actually start to install before the scanner neutralized it.

Kaspersky Review

[Guy N'wah]

slimgrin said:

I use AVG. No annoying Pop-ups like Norton which seemed to become a virus itself. But I have one major issue: my PC won't update properly. After the update process, it says I needs to update again. I update again...and it says I need to update. WTF? Not sure what causes this. ›››

I also use AVG. It has saved me a few "nuke the disk and reinstall" nights because my son does not seem to comprehend safe surfing. But I have not encountered the problem with the update repeating. I don't know why: I'm not complaining, but neither can I be of much help.

Kaspersky is the best; we use Kaspersky in our products. But AVG is, well, free, and well-featured for a free AV engine.

[Dragon'sDream]

I use MS security essentials. The way I figure it - Microsoft has a vested interest in making sure that their anti-virus both protects their Windows platform and integrates with it seamlessly.

From experience, it's done both, and I very much enjoy all the options I have to play around with.

[dragonbird]

Add me to the MSE fanlist. It's unobtrusive, small footprint, just quietly does its job. And, unlike Kasperky, AVG and Avast, it's managed to run for several years without screwing something up in my system.

I'd only go for something with more features for the reasons Guy gave - if someone who doesn't understand safe surfing was also using my system.

[Pangaea]

I'm using Avast and have had no problems with that. In the tests I've seen they do very well too, often 100/100 and better than other free alternatives, and even paid alternatives. Had a round with some computer-savvy friends, and they said Avast was the best free option, with good nods for MSE too.