As I have been experimenting with recipes and ingredients, I tried using some TVP, textured vegetable protein, better known as Soya mince. I have not used it for years but I wanted to remind myself of the possibilities of using it. Like so many vegetarian ingredients that are designed to mimic meat products it can be quite bland. So I have been experimenting to see how to make meals that were as tasty as I used to be able to. While not everything I tried was brilliant, I did produce some interesting meals. However what was encouraging was just how cheap they were. It is something that I have said for years, that being a vegetarian is cheaper than being a meat eater.
That said, I am still sure that my experiments with cooking and looking to develop budget meals will help vegetarians and meat eaters alike. However, my experiments for today has been postponed as the shoulder of pork that I planned to cook today I forgot to get out of the freezer last night. I had even opened the freezer but when the cat turned up, I decided to give her the tablets she has to take. As she is getting wise to my intentions I have to grab any opportunity to get her to take them. Therefore, I gave her her antibiotics. I therefore forgot to go back and get the joint out of the freezer. So I am now letting it defrost and will have to wait until tomorrow to cook it. If I had a brain I would be dangerous.
I am starting to film the cooking for the cooking podcast that I have been planning. I have no idea when I will be able to post them yet, as I still need to sort out the computer to edit them. However, I did get a call telling me that my new hard drive has arrived. I would have collected it today but I had to deal with another problem. As I got two letters from the water company as well as my new bill for this year. What confused me was the two letters were demanding two different amounts totalling over six hundred pounds. Yet the bill showed my account was clear. Now knowing that when a mistake like this occurs it takes ages to sort out.
You start off calling an automated system where you are given different options; Press one for new accounts, press two to pay your bill, press three to be placed on hold for half an hour then get cut of for no apparent reason, press four to talk to some very sympathetic but totally unable to help. Now what makes you think I am cynical! Anyway, it looks as though, at least part of the debt is from my previous cottage but from before I moved in. The other part from after, I left there. So it looks like the debt is my former landladies. It took me nearly three hours to get to that stage. Well if only the Water Company had been willing to accept that they could have made a mistake then the matter would have been resolved sooner. It’s a good job that I have a receding hairline or I would have been pulling my hair out.
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Please be aware, Wood Mouse, that your soya protein might be imported from China or from Brazil, where the Amazon rain forest is being decimated to grow this crop. It may be more ecologically correct for you to eat that shoulder of British or Irish pork. I had my eyes opened when I stayed at a communal farm that made soy products...it is a HIGHLY processed food that takes immense amounts of energy and water to make!
The best way to eat low on the ecological hog is to use a 'hundred mile' diet, and keep imports to a minimum. That said, vegetarian diets are much healthier in the long run than carnivore.
But I found that a grass fed cow or chicken raised on that farm was a better choice ecologically than the imported, processed soybean products.
You might try adding more lentils and barley to your diet. Lentils have more protein than soy, are not processed, and are easy to cook. They are also delicious. I can send some simple recipes if you would like them.
Buy from local farmers. They won't be feeding soy to their animals. Farmers' markets are the best places to shop...you may pay the same prices, but the quality is better and you benefit your neighbours. I realize it's a little early for them, but they will come in time.
And oh, you lucky thing, getting Seville Oranges by the pound, for a pound! They make the best juice, if you don't fancy all that marmalade.
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