Eating Vegetables

Only things with a brain and central nervous system are capable of feeling I have been told recently by someone with whom I was discussing choices in how we eat.

Now I don’t cook animals and nor have I for a number of years, it is a privilege  of western society, a luxury that I am grateful for, that I can eat as my body sees fit and as feels ‘right’ to me. All life is sacred by my way of thinking, and so I would be grateful for everything that sustains me, plants included.

It may be my fathers influence handing me ‘The Magic of Findhorn’ to read as a teen, or a book I found later called ‘The Secret Life of Plants’, either way plant life has my absolute respect. I don’t cook animals for a number of reasons, the basic one being that I don’t ‘need’ to, but I definitely feel that I need the plant kingdom ( and the mineral kingdom !…. I do love a bit of salt! ) and I am grateful that they are so happy to share.

In the garden there are always things on offer; silverbeet and chard, kale that needs thinning (love Kale chips) and rhubarb that is happy to be cut back (and delicious stewed with apple, cinnamon, whole cloves and cardamom pods).

There are also things that have grown to their full right now; lettuce, leeks, broccoli, some onions; as long as I leave a couple to seed, then the garden seems generally content to share, and I, in thanks, care for the garden.

There is no finality here, but a happy continuum and there is something entirely delicious about that!

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Kale chips…. sceptical? So was I, but try it and you’ll see.

Make sure your Kale is clean and use only the leaves and softer stem parts.

If it is large then break it into managable pieces and place it in a baking tray.

Drizzle a little oil on it and a little salt… too little is better than too much I can assure you as the Kale decreases dramatically in size.

Cook it on a low temperatere 160-170 ( you can cook it higher if you’re in a hurry but you have to watch it)

If you’ve any left over at the end of a day ( it’s usually gone within 10 min here! ) you can throw it in a soup. Delicious!

Ps. Just in case anyone gets to thinking, ” why not do it in a dehydrator for the healthiest option?”, as we thought …. I have to warn you, it may be the healthier way to do it but it doesn’t taste any good.

by Caithlin