Dabbling in Vegetarianism (& other alt-food fun!)

[Aggie]

Speaking of alliums, chives are very nice bloomers (garlic chives, too!).

There are many nice ornamental versions of basil out there, and sage is lovely on it's own, in terms of herbs.  For veggies, carrot tops would make a nice border; does anyone know if ornamental kale (the purple one) is edible? 

For edible flowers, I'm a big fan of daylilies and have heard that shoots and tubers are also edible - check your species though, as I'm not sure all are edible.  And nasturtiums are always a favorite.

[Sibling Chatty]

Rosemary is a very pretty bordering shrub, plus it's a good natural pesticide for the other crops.

Ornamental kale is edible, but it's pretty tough. (I am not a big fan of kale anyway...I would grow bok choy instead, or a red-tip leaf lettuce.)

Good article on edible bloomers...
http://www.gardenguides.com/how-to/tipstechniques/planning/edible.asp

And a caveat: There is a high incidence of allergies in first time daylily eaters. Start slow!!

[anthrobabe]

I got an "address not found" on that, AB. Please post again.

Recently many of our chain grocery stores have been offering organic and vegetarian lines at generic prices and that's very encouraging to a lazy cook such as myself.

Recently we have been thinking of ways to grow food instead of lawn. We have just created a series of four small slightly raised beds in our back yard where we want to try veg-and-flower combos in the spring. Now I have to bother my horsey pals for some aged manure to supplement them. The beds are just large enough to attempt some basic salad plants without making too much work.

try kalamala.com and see it it comes up-----  http://www.kalamala.com/    sorry for the broken link

I've eaten the dandelion greens (both frozen and canned) they are quite tasty- but the neighbors will murder you if you grow them- of course they are best harvested before they get big and bloom/seed-- so if kept in check (maybe a raised dedicated bed?) they'd be good- they are very nutritious. the blooms are edible as well- I've seen pancake recipies using them- need to try it.

Rosemary can be clipped into nice topiary shapes or bush like Chatty said- and it smells so good.

I like kale-- not large amounts but in salad I do like it. I did not know the ornamental was edible - but that does make sense.

many flowers are edible-- roses, nasturtiums, etc-but like someone said- no chemicals!

does anyone do bugs/insects--- I've always heard of ants and fried locusts(also dried and ground as a sort of 'flour' --- and of course grubs of all sorts--- as an anthropologist I need to try some, but haven't yet.

[Opsa]

Ahh, that linked worked AB. Thank you.

And thanks, Chatty, for the edible garden link. Looks good.

I have sage and rosemary in my front garden, where it's drier and more like their native habitat. My back (where the new beds are) gets pretty soggy, which is why we made raised beds. I like the nasturtiums idea, as they would look pretty draping over the edges.

[Aggie]

does anyone do bugs/insects--- I've always heard of ants and fried locusts(also dried and ground as a sort of 'flour' --- and of course grubs of all sorts--- as an anthropologist I need to try some, but haven't yet.

Only accidentally.   It my biggest food taboo, in my head I'm sure, but can't get my head around eating something that is more innards than muscle (and a face, since I do eat shellfish).  It's the thought of eating insect abdomens that bugs me out... 

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

I personally won't touch anything that didn't have an endo-skeleton when it was alive. Anything else--if it was humanely killed and I didn't know it's name, then I eat it.

I've had an rather icky foray into vegetarianism. My aunt can't cook and we were staying with her. Corn does not belong in lasagna.

Nasturtiums have a really nice peppery flavor and compliment salads really nicely. I will have to try them in more things when they bloom again.

I live in an (large) farming community and we have nearly everything within a hundred miles, unless it's a tropical fruit. So we often go to roadside farms for strawberries and string beans and such. Most of them are pretty good about pesticides.

[Sibling Chatty]

Since I have become unable to digest most peppers (black pepper in any quantity, bell peppers, Asian reds, chipotle, etc--although I can still do some cayenne and a bit of anejos and other Mexicas/South American peppers) it's been a bit difficult to properly season foods that I will be sharing.

A Phillipina friend was fixing a stir-fry that was to be served to 5 of us, and I was concerned because she was leaving out the peppers just for me. She got the dish within a few moments of being done and tossed in 5 nasturtium blossoms, then very shortly served my plate, then added 6 or 7 more, cooked them for a few seconds, and served everyone else. The taste was wonderful, and did not upset my touchy digestive system!

All the alliums--garlic and onions--were also home grown, as was her bok choy.

Yum

[Aggie]

I've had an rather icky foray into vegetarianism. My aunt can't cook and we were staying with her. Corn does not belong in lasagna.

My second-biggest pet peeve about 'vegetarian cooking', right after fake meat.  Just because you are leaving out ONE ingredient doesn't mean you need to throw every veggie in the house at the dish to compensate!  I've had similar suspect 'lasagna' as a kid.  My favorite meated version is heavy on the grilled veg anyways and would be just as good without the quadruped (mmm, lasagna... wrong thread to mention that I picked up some striploin at 'cheap enough to grind' prices? ).

[anthrobabe]

I've had an rather icky foray into vegetarianism. My aunt can't cook and we were staying with her. Corn does not belong in lasagna.

My second-biggest pet peeve about 'vegetarian cooking', right after fake meat.  Just because you are leaving out ONE ingredient doesn't mean you need to throw every veggie in the house at the dish to compensate!  I've had similar suspect 'lasagna' as a kid.  My favorite meated version is heavy on the grilled veg anyways and would be just as good without the quadruped (mmm, lasagna... wrong thread to mention that I picked up some striploin at 'cheap enough to grind' prices? ).

go grind your striploin somewhere else Aggie   

[Sibling Chatty]

Sorry, vegefolk...striploin?? Yum.

AS I sit here on my damnable day2 of liquid diet...tomorrow being CLEAR LIQUID ONLY!!

[Opsa]

I hope you survived!

[Sibling Chatty]

Survived, but back to my constant post-procedure problem.

If i stop eating long enough to do these things, I really lose all interest in food--again. By the end of the second day of liquids only, I lose interest in food, then I don't get it back, so I don't eat, and then I get anemic, and then I get sick. ARRGHHH...

I have figured out, however that an apple and a generic Pop-Tart aren't sufficient nutrition for any given 24 hour period. (I think Dan's telling me to eat or get dragged to the ER was my clue.) So, I'm able to manage about 3/4 cup total food volume now. (Sorry vege folks, but it is, of necessity, mostly meat.) The bruising is always a clue.

I'm certain that there's eventually going to be a loooong discussion with the endocrine doc and the oncologist about all this, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to make it work better. 

[anthrobabe]

no- you have to eat what you can eat and all--- so eat, I know nothing is worse that making yourself eat when you have no desire to eat-sometimes you just have to. Can you/will you drink milk shakes- not those canned nutrition ones but good old with milk and ice cream and fruit and such? Buy some protein powder at the GNC and mix it in, or mix in the canned nutrition ones with extra stuff.

I do the same thing when I get depressed- depression is a good diet- but not good over all.

[Sibling Chatty]

Protein powder

Let the fun begin!!

OK, rule out 3/4 of them because I am allergic to eggs, and egg protein is the easiest source for these things. Then you take out the ones that are soy. More than a small amount of soy is detrimental to neuro-endocrine cancer folks, especially carcinoid ones. That leaves whey protein powders. They're out there, the job is finding one that's not loaded with a lot of other stuff I can't have. The GNC guy just gave up, but Mr. Smoothie King is sending off for one that he THINKS I can tolerate.

Mr. Smoothie King has a small fit every time I come in their door. I can't have bananas...I can't have most of his products, I can't use anything with the chemical artificial sweeteners, and he has nothing with stevia...so he HAS to use honey, but it has to be processed, not the wild honey they usually use. (He's vehemently against sugar...or any foodstuff that's processed by anyone other than a health food company.)

He finally quit adding things to my smoothies without consulting me. The third time he had to say "But I didn't know people could be allergic to..." the paramedics told him they'd be billing HIM, not my insurance, if he EVER did it again. (Anaphylactic shock in people that cannot tolerate epinephrine is difficult to deal with. Hospitals HATE that...so do paramedics.)

But, there is ice cream...that's gotta be better for me than generic Pop-Tarts, in limited amounts. (There's egg in ice cream, ya know, so I gotta be careful.) Gotta get some frozen yogurt again.

Appetite better. Ate some Cheetos with an apple about 5 AM because my stomach acid was about to destroy me. Arrrgh. Food is just too much trouble.

[Aggie]

Hmmm...  the brand of whey I was using is AFAIK just concentrated whey protein.  I tried another brand and got pretty  trying to keep it down, but the first was fine.

Trouble is, it's a local product and I'm not sure how shippable to the US it is in the current packaging (just double-bagged with a label slipped in between the two bags... remind me to look for the bag at home if I haven't used it all. Otherwise I'll try to find it again at the market and get some contact info for you.