Act Kind…

Well here it is the first of April, but I am NOT an April Fool’s kind-of girl.  I have NEVER enjoyed fooling people, or being fooled, even if all in good fun.  I know I take life too seriously but no matter how I turn it around, I don’t like hurting people intentionally, even if it’s just for the moment.  That makes today’s life changing attitude suggestion really easy!  For Thursday it says:

Act kind towards others; it will remove mean spiritedness and selfishness.

This will be especially easy for me today, as I am spending the day preparing for vegan feast night, this week, extending the Passover celebration.  I will be making a couple of Tofurky roasts, roasted root vegetables (recipe to follow) and attempting, once again, to veganize my matzo ball soup.  I say attempting, because thus far, I have failed as my matzo balls have fallen apart in the broth.  I will also be making a huge salad, some other grilled veggies (asparagus and zucchini)  “haystacks” (crumbled matzo, melted chocolate and some dried fruits).    That recipe I plucked from the newspaper last week, so it will be a first.  I also ended up with some leftovers from the Seder we went to Tuesday night, vegan and non…  and for the non-vegans, there will be a turkey roast as well.   I ALWAYS RESPECT CHOICE!

Many who are not familiar with plant-based diets are immediately concerned with protein consumption.  Just last week the good doctors, Oz and Roizen answered this very question and from a reader who just isn’t a fan of meat.  Here’s what they had to say “Plenty of folks have sworn off meat and poultry (we’re getting used to avoiding both) can rattle off plant proteins as easily as they spout the alphabet.  Among them: beans, lentils, chickpeas and other legumes, tofu, edamame, nuts, and even potatoes.  These are all good sources of protein that, when eaten as part of a varied diet, supply all the amino acids you need for a day.   For a comparison: A 3-ounce chicken breast delivers 27 grams of protein, a cup of lentils, 18 grams.  The truth is, you’re better off getting your protein this way, instead of from a T-bone or turkey leg.  Vegetarians tend to be healthier than carnivores; they are thinner, have lower lousy (LDL) cholesterol, higher healthy (HDL) cholesterol, better blood pressure and are less prone to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.  You may consider a distaste for meat a problem, but actually it can really work for you.”

Let me also add, on this kind Thursday, that I truly believe a plant based diet is not only kind to the animal, and to our own physical health, but to our mental health as well.  I wont go into gory details, but there is a lot of research that supports the less we eat animals, the more at peace we are.  For me, I know firsthand, this is true.  It might behoove our public schools to serve a more plant-based diet.  Perhaps it would not only curb obesity, but perhaps SCHOOL VIOLENCE as well!!!!

Here’s the recipe I follow for the roasted root vegetables.  (I made them for Monday night’s Passover dinner.   I did not at all follow it to a T.  I just used equal parts of the veggies and also added some sweet potatoes.  I didn’t mess around with switching the trays from lower and upper racks.  I just let them bake, mixed them around a few times, then dumped them in a bigger baking tin to reheat when I was getting ready to serve.  They were delicious!  Tonight I am going to make the pieces a bit bigger as I thought they were too small once cooked so long.  My company definitely did a good job on this dish.

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 pound red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pound celery root (celeriac), peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pound rutabagas, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pound carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pound parsnips, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 leeks (white and pale green parts only), cut into 1-inch-thick rounds
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled