introducing everyday justice

This is where I want to convince you to think about the places you shop.  This is where I want to persuade you that there is a reason to pay a bit more for that icon that says “fair trade” on your bag of beans.  This is where I want to let you know that your oil consumption is probably just as great because of the plastic products you purchase as it is because of the gas you put in your car, and that that’s a problem.  This is where I want to convince you to join a CSA and to support local growers.

And I don’t quite know how you’ll respond.  When I have written in the past about some of my resolutions to try to move towards a more earth-friendly menu, or to buyslavery-free, I’ve written with the assumption that anyone reading here would understand the reasons behind those goals.

But maybe the ideas are new to you, and overwhelming.  (If they are, we should begin with this disclaimer: Don’t panic.)

Or maybe you’ve heard this before and thought, “I’m a free-market capitalist.  The market will work these things out,” or, “This is just too complex – how can we ever know what is right?” or “These things may be important, but they are not as important as the gospel.”

Here is where I want to say that this is about the gospel;  and not just the “social gospel,” because that's not really a distinction that Jesus made.

Here is where I want to say that absolutely, this is too complex, but that’s not a reason to stop trying to understand what is right.

Here is where I want to say that free-market capitalism in America is a little bit broken (and refer you to Marilynne Robinson’s fine essay “Austerity as Idealogy” for more on that).

Here is where I want to tell you that if you cried in Les Miserables, let your heart be stirred by the fact that slavery, prostitution, corrupt governments, and broken systems are running nearly unchecked in our world today too.  Part of our kingdom work is to fight them in whatever ways we can, to be on that barricade in the final scene, beating our swords into ploughshares.

But here is also where I want to confess to you that I act against my own convictions all the time.  That I bought a jacket on sale at Target this weekend that was almost certainly made by people (possibly children) who, at the very least, aren’t able to earn a living wage making it, and who more likely are caught in a corrupt system leading to inescapable debt that makes their factory work the equivalent of slave labor.  I want to confess that I drive through fast food places.  That I buy avocados and bananas shipped in from far away.

I believe that these things do matter, and to say that they don’t, or that they’re not our concern, or that they’re too complicated is to allow a syncretistic “American” version of Christianity to rule our hearts, where “free market”= Christian,  and materialism and thoughtless consumerism are “lesser” sins. 

We are blinded by our own prosperity, and even when our vision clears for a moment, we quickly forget what we’ve seen.

“Those factories that run on the labor of children, filling our world with some many attractive products that are really much cheaper than they ought to be – have they gone away? No, but our attention has wandered, and that is the next best thing from the point of view of our spiritual comfort.  From the point of view of our material comfort, it is certainly the best thing.” (Marilynne Robinson, in  “Austerity and Ideology”)

My attention is wandering all the time, so what I really wanted to say here is that this year I’m taking steps to abide in my resolutions toward seeking justice in my daily choices.  This year I’m going to abide in Julie Clawson’s beginner’s guide to Everyday Justice, and as my book group here in Upland works through the chapters on coffee, chocolate, cars, food, clothes, waste, and debt, I’m going to share about them in this space too.  I’ll summarize Clawson's ideas, share some excerpts from the book, and list practical steps that we can take towards more just decision-making.  Because

“If you get rid of unfair practices,

Quit blaming victims,

Quit gossiping about other people’s sins,

If you are generous with the hungry

And start giving yourselves to the down and out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,

Your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.”

(from Isaiah 58, The Message)

I’ll need your help – argue with me, help me find updated information (the book was published in 2009), and share what you’ve learned in each of the areas. Heck, buy the book and read it along with us! 

I’m prone to wander, and prone to get rant-y, but I want my life to glow in the darkness, and this year, this is where I’ll begin.

tex-mex comfort food

When I was growing up in San Antonio, my mom had weekly menu plans for our homeschool lunches. Something like this:

M: chicken nuggets
T: bean and cheese burritos
W: PB&J
Th: fish sticks and mac&cheese
F: (well, I can't remember the fifth one)

I'm totally over the nuggets and the PB&J, but the others remain as kind of comfort foods for me.

These days, this is how I make my bean and cheese burritos, and they are an extremely satisfying vegetarian dinner.

Homemade tortillas.

Retried beans without the refry.

Mexican rice. (use salsa instead of diced tomatoes)

Top with shredded colby jack, sour cream, and avocado slices, if you're feeling crazy.

Meatless Monday: new recipes

This week we've tried three new vegetarian entrees, each of them satisfying and hearty and delicious.

Using special Minnesota black rice, we made Wild Rice and Mushroom soup. I think next time I would cook the rice a little bit longer, and maybe use even more mushrooms. I used baby bellas along with a few shittake and oyster mushrooms, and I think next time I will keep it simpler, with all bellas or button mushrooms. (Click the images to view the recipe.)

This Tortilla and Black Bean Pie was very nice. With chips and guacamole, it's an awesome dinner. I did add spices: I upped the cumin to 1 tsp and added 1/4 tsp each of chili powder and cayenne. In all, I think I added 3/4 tsp salt ( one of my pet peeves is recipes that say "salt and pepper to taste"). I also used cooked dried beans rather than canned, and a sharp white cheddar for the cheese.

My favorite - and this could just be because of how hungry I was when I ate it - was Crispy Pan Fried Beans with Wilted Greens. We used cumin and cayenne rather than the spices listed in the recipe, though I'm not sure about the amounts, because Jack cooked this dish. It was so yummy.

Directions In Which To Lean in 2012

(My blog posting dropped off at the end of 2011 for several reasons - the external hard drive on which I had stored everything, photos included, started malfunctioning; I began teaching again very suddenly and unexpectedly; and I hosted my first family holiday, Thanksgiving. I'm still having trouble with my photos, but am going to blog anyway.)

These are my resolutions, of a sort, though none of them are the kind that require me to do something every day, like read the bible or exercise or drink more water. I always fail at those. These are more like directions I have already started traveling in, and want to continue in for 2012.

1. Eat meatless one day a week, probably two, and when eating meat, try to eat more organically, locally, happily raised animals and animal products.

2. Start composting, and somehow or another, do more vegetable gardening this year.

3. Continue gradually to replace personal health and beauty products, and household cleaning products, with more natural alternatives (eliminate SLS, dyes, fragrances, chemicals, etc). (My pinterest inspiration board is here, and I'm always looking for suggestions!)

4. Use Common Prayer daily & read large portions of the Bible (Message translation for freshness).

5. Help Rosie develop better habits regarding toothbrushing, tv watching, bible reading &memorization. Maybe try a visual schedule with her?

6. Re-work budget and be more organized in spending (in January!).

7. Continue to have 2-3 evenings a week tv-free.

8. Continue to go on a date twice a month.

Would also like to (but don't hold your breath)...
-Revive the practice of morning pages (I haven't done them since 2005!)
-Go for a walk outside every day

PS- With both my laptop and external hard drive on the fritz, I'm blogging through an iPad app which seems to cut off my pictures on some (though not all) browsers. Still working on a fix :-(

meatless monday: tuesday edition

Cauliflower gratin (from an old Bon Appetit mag, and just so-so); onion roasted sweet potatoes; french onion soup.

French onion soup always takes me back to Au Pied de Cochon, which is, I think, where we ate dinner one very late night on my first trip to Paris (do you remember, Laura? do I remember it right?), so late that the restaurant was closing, there was only us and a table of business men in suits, who were eyeing us wryly, a group of giggly American girls (and mothers)in long skirts, sipping our French onion soup. It was delicious.

meatless monday: hello, fall

Minestrone soup. Carrots, green beans, and swiss chard from our CSA.

Meatless Monday: squash and lettuce and tomato

Tonight we had a southern squash casserole, Caesar salad, sliced toms, and focaccia bread.

And then we had cheesecake with eighteen or twenty episcopalians, which was great fun.

meatless monday: more pizza

I make pizza from scratch fairly regularly, and though a while back I felt I had absolutely nailed pizza dough, lately my crusts just haven't been doing it for me.

So tonight we got serious, and broke out the Peter Reinhart (in this book, which Jack gave me for our anniversary a couple of years ago; or, in an abbreviated version, here).



Clearly, we need to practice tossing our crusts, but even in funny shapes, this was a delicious dough. We topped it with a drizzle of olive oil, fresh sliced tomato, bufalo mozzerella, parmesan, and goat cheese. With spinach salad and zinfandel, this was the best pizza we've had in quite a while.

Meatless Monday, CSA veg edition

No, we haven't forgotten meatless Mondays, either. Just recycling recipes, mostly. Tonight we had southern squash casserole, fresh sliced tomato (turns out I like it salted and peppered), fried okra, and cornbread muffins. It was a very satisfying (if very yellow) plate.

Meatless Monday: CSA frittata

meatless mondays: cold dinners, and etc.

Now that summer is here, and Jack only has to go in to school a few hours a week, I'm having a hard time remembering what day it is.

It's a lovely thing to be able to forget.

I've also been opting for the simplest of foods, mostly served cold.

I like to make a pasta salad along these lines, with orzo, cherry tomatoes, spinach, feta, and pine nuts.

Tonight we're having arugula, potato, and green bean salad, which is surprisingly delicious.

And last night we rolled sushi, with avocado and smoked salmon.

We bought a grill on Memorial Day weekend, just a simple round Weber, and grilled bulgogi on it last week. Yum. Tomorrow we'll grill some surf and turf deliciousness.

Despite the fact that the latest Bon Appetit had Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover, I've been using a lot of its recipes: crispy roast chicken thighs, watermelon granita (use less sugar than they recommend!) and strawberry/blueberry striped popsicles. And then sitting by the (inflatable kids') pool.

meatless monday: corn chowder

No pictures, but last night we had vegan corn chowder (with rice milk, not soy), cold asparagus salad, and shortcake with strawberries. I've made this corn chowder a few times now, and what I like most about it is that the broth is very peppery and garlicky. As for the salad, last summer I had a delicious asparagus salad: this one from Rachel Ray was NOT it. But I can't find the recipe. Any suggestions?

With corn, asparagus, and strawberries, it was like a spring celebration... except that it was cloudy and in the forties.

going meatless

Last night for Meatless Mondays we had this Chickpea Tomato soup that Katie made last week, along with a caesar salad and some focaccia bread. When I made the soup, I accidentally used one can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, and something about pureeing those green chiles made the soup really spicy. So, I didn't eat too much of it, because I didn't want the spice to give Owen a tummy ache. Jack liked it fine, though. I liked the chickpeas in it, and so did Rosie.

But what I want to say is that we've been going meatless at dinner once or twice a week for over five months now, and I've really noticed a change in the way I like to eat.

I do not enjoy eating large pieces of meat anymore!

I still like meat. I like a slice or two of bacon with my eggs. I like shredded chicken in my soup. I love turkey and gravy over biscuits. But last week I made some chicken wrapped in prosciutto with a sour cream sauce, and I could not finish even one chicken breast. Three fourths of the way through, I felt kind of sick. I used to be able to eat two slices of pork loin; now, one is almost too much meat. This week when I planned the meals, I planned three meatless nights and one fish night. I have almost entirely abandoned meals that have a hunk of meat as the main dish.

I hope this isn't the first step towards becoming a crazy vegetarian. Like my mother.

meatless monday: mac&cheese

Martha's macaroni and cheese, and a lovely salad.

meatless monday: postpartum edition

Well, my computer just ate the pictures that I was going to post tonight.

I had some great shots of Rosie and Mimi using the kid's gardening tools that Rosie got in the mail today from Aunt Birdie. They planted some snapdragons and nasturtiums.

And I had a picture of our dinner. Thoughtful friend Whitney brought us spinach quiche, cheese grits, fruit salad and pumpkin scones. It was delicious. And, though I hadn't even thought of it all day, it was monday and it was meatless!

the due date

Last time I went into labor on my due date. Sure, Rosie wasn't born for three more days, but in my memory it's more like one neverending day, so I don't feel like she was late.

Did you know that only 5% of babies are born on their due dates? But 80% are born within two weeks of their due dates.

Today is Owen's due date. I've had so many more aches and pains with the third trimester of this pregnancy than I did with Rosie (with Rosie, there was really nothing but swollen hands and feet) that I thought for sure Owen would be earlier than she was.

But, here I am, waiting, nothing but a few Braxton Hicks contractions going on for the past week.

Jack's mom got here on Thursday. It's so nice having someone else to help entertain Rosie, pick her up and down, and help me keep the house somewhat clean.

Thunderstorms all day today. I made deep dish brownies and went walking in the mall. I've been walking every day.

Meatless Monday was a repeat for us: spicy soba noodles. Tasty. Maybe the little bit of Korean chili paste that was in it will kick things into gear. I hope so.

(And, PS, I'm a little behind on 12 in 12. My third book is Mark Twain's Autobiography, and while it's interesting and amusing, it's not exactly compelling. Plus, it's an enormous hardback, and it's too much to curl up with comfortably.)

meatless monday: RAMPS edition

At the Winter Farmer's Market in Indy, we bought ramps, one of the the first spring vegetables to appear. Elliott pointed us to a few good recipes that I'd love to try, but tonight we kept it simple - Scrambled Eggs with Ramps, Mushrooms, and Asparagus. The scramble had a nice mild garlicky flavor from the ramps. I served it with slices of grilled homemade crusty bread, and I meant to serve it with fried potatoes too, but somehow I completely forget about them. For dessert we had (frozen) blueberries and some raw milk gouda, which we also bought at the winter market. It was a delicious meal.

i hesitate to call this spring break

We didn't go anywhere -- you can't, when your due date looms -- and there is a fifty percent chance of snow tonight. It doesn't feel like spring. (Actually, as Jack said yesterday, spring break here felt like Christmas break in the south.)

But it was a break, and that was nice.

At the beginning of the week we had some sunny and fifty degree days, and I (probably prematurely) planted lettuces and peas and carrots. I can always plant again in a week or two if they die in a frost tonight.

For meatless monday, since Jack had missed them, I reprised last week's spinach pancakes, this time with some delicious Indian rice on the side.

We went to the Indiana Museum of Art for the first time, and we ate cajun food at Yats.



We took a few longs walks, one to the park and one around the indoor track at Taylor, hoping to get Owen moving.

I saw the doctor, and she said, "Oh, by the way, I'll be on vacation with my family from April 1-8." Doesn't it seem that, since my due date is April 4, she might have mentioned that a little earlier? Especially since I chose her and her hospital because they do water births, and the doctors who will cover for her that week are NOT comfortable with water birth? Que sera sera.

I finished sewing a summer skirt for Rosie. I started it last week while Mimi was here, so that I could have hands on help with my first attempt at gathering, and it was from a tutorial that I probably bookmarked a year ago. Maybe I'll give it to Rosie when we come home from the hospital. She'll need some special attention, I'm sure.


And we must have done more than that, but I honestly can't remember. Today we went with some friends to the winter farmer's market in Indy, and then to some shops on Mass Ave and lunch at Bazbeaux. We have needed to be introduced to places like these!



Last night I think I had dreams that I was having contractions. But I wasn't, when I woke up. Jack's mom will be here on Thursday, so we might as well wait until then. Owen's due date shows up in the 10 day weather forecast now. If he waits until April, it will warm up a little for him.

meatless...

Jack left today for New Orleans and the TESOL conference, but Mimi is here to keep us company. She's vegetarian, so I decided that this week we'd try vegetarian dinners Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday instead of just Monday.

Tonight we tried these spinach pancakes that a friend pointed me to, and they were amazing. Don't let the name "spinach pancakes" detract you. These exceed expectations. I could have eaten twice as many as I cooked.

Tomorrow night we'll have a winter standby (for the last time - spring is in the air!) -- Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup with flat bread -- and Friday we'll make mushroom pizza.

meatless monday: lentil shepherd's pie

I had such high hopes for this lentil shepherd's pie, and it was fine, but it wasn't anything to write home about. In flavor it was very one-note, and I couldn't figure out what it was missing - something spicy or acidic or tangy, paprika or just more salt...

But I did like the cauliflower mashed potatoes (and I didn't mash them with veg. broth, as I wasn't trying to be vegan...I used butter and milk).