Often, when my mother (who is a nurse) works I’ll prepare food for my father. This past weekend she worked and so I thought it would nice to prepare a few meals for my father.
Initially I was unsure at what I should make? But after turning over, and rejecting various animal product possibilities, my mind drifted to the Boston butt (pork) that I’d purchased about a month before. Initially, I’d purchased it to make sausage, but that never happened and so it made its way to the frozen food animal product section of our deep freezer.
With a few ideas in my head I pulled it out of the freezer, cut up the frozen meat and put it in the pressure cooker garlic with a variety of herbs and spices that I’d ground in my mortar and pestle.
Freshly pressure cooked garbanzo beans were added to the mix, along with carrots and potatoes. The broccoli was added the last minute of cooking. The six pounds of frozen meat was tender in 1.5 hours! Got to love pressure cookers.The broth was drained and set aside in the refrigerator. Once it was chilled It was much easier to remove the fat since when chilled it turns a creamy white and rises to the top. The broth was then was reserved since I planned on making a stew the next day. All the pork was shredded with a fork, to be used in pulled pork sandwiches and the following day I made the sour pork stew.
As you can see, there are plenty of vegetables in this stew.
What made my pork stew sour?
The simple addition of freshly squeezed lemon juice and apple cider vinegar gave it just the right amount of sourness without overpowering the dish. The rich creaminess came from adding cream cheese.
Results?
How was it? Well… both my father and daughter scraped every last drop of that stew and came back for more. I guess, I’ll chalk that up to a success.
Leading by example: Showing others how to make healthier meals
While I might not eat animal products, I do think it’s important to show others a healthier approach (if they aren’t eating healthy already) to prepare their meals. That’s if they ask, I don’t randomly go about forcing my beliefs onto others. How arrogant would that be? I will say, because that I have been open to working with animal products many of my friends (who’ve regularly eating my food) eat less animal products now since they know that adding produce to the mix does not mean the food will taste bad. It won’t, if you know how to prepare food correctly.
Oooo…that looks good. The sourish taste in food will stimulate the appetite, will want to eat more. They add lemon juice in white tom yam (Thai dish) and some use vinegar instead. I think I would prefer the fragrance and taste of the lemon or lime.
suituapui recently posted..Shining like the sun…
The Chinese would tell you that not all vegetables are good. Some are “cold” – bad for those with rheumatism, some have high lead content, some would need to be cook longer and very thoroughly some have high protein content – bad for gout sufferers and some detoxify – should not be eaten by people on medication of any kind as they will flush it all away and render it ineffective…and some people may be allergic to some vegetables. Then of course, there are the pesticides and the chemical fertilizers used…unless you grow your own – same as the commercially-produced meat, all that chemical feed to fatten up the livestock faster.
Moderation is the key, I would say, and diet, like everything else, is a matter of choice. Why would anybody want to bother about how and what another person eats…unless they’re those activists concerned about some animal abuse or threat of extinction or whatever harm consuming something may cause to the environment?
suituapui recently posted..Shining like the sun…
@suituapui, I learned about that explanation in Conscious Eating. It’s a great book and it made sense to me. I think macrobiotic diet uses some of those principles too. At times, I think some people automatically assume that all produce is “good” for you. That’s not always so…
You’re right pesticides are a huge problem as is commercially produced meat. I don’t eat either since I have a garden and there are plenty of local farms around for additional produce or meat. With myself, I’ll only help someone make better food choices if they ask. Forcing my views onto others is not an option since I would not like that done to me.
Some animal rights activist puzzle me, while they show compassion to other animals they don’t show the same compassion to other humans. Thankfully, not all are like that.
Aynaria recently posted..Cold weather, warm mittens; knitting two at a time
How many miles do you live from your parents? Just curious. You’re father is a lucky man! You are such a wonderful daughter!
Jennifer recently posted..Inverness Estate Essence of Bergamot from Eden Grove
@Jennifer, Thanks, my father has done a lot for me, so it’s only natural that I’ll do things for him also.
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