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October 26, 2005
Tootsie Rolls, Vegans, Fritattas
Hello bloggiefriends... I am way too busy with work now to write in much detail... yesterday I didn't stop running around from the time I left the house at 7:30 am until I got home at 7 pm (just in time to find MR making my brewers yeast and vegetable soup -- very nice to come home to!). By the time I finished a bunch of work phone calls after dinner, did the dishes and made dinner for tonight, it was late and time to go to bed.
Just a few quick notes: yesterday I had to make a very quick trip to Harrisburg, about two hours away, and thought I'd be back in time for lunch but didn't even get there till 1 (my normal lunchish time is 12) so needless to say I was very hungry. I ate two little Tootsie Rolls from the candy jar on the front desk of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Then my co-worker and I grabbed Subway (thank heaven for Subway!) on the way back and ate it in the car while flying down the PA Turnpike to get back in time for my afternoon meeting with nurses. When I got home I looked at the Tootsie Roll website to find the calories, but they only have info on the big, 40 g Tootsie Roll. Does anyone out there (hint, Little MR!) have the nutrition info on a small Tootsie Roll?
In other news, I received a long and well-thought out comment from "Vegan." I will definitely answer it, as his or her many points happen to be things I've thought about a great deal. I'm sure that doesn't surprise those of you who've been reading for a long time and know that I was vegan for five years, vegetarian for ten, and a card-carrying member of PETA for at least three of those years. So it's not like I've never thought about animal cruelty or animal rights. I want to share my reflections and the reasoning behind my current decisions in more detail, but I just don't have time now. Please keep reading, Vegan, I promise I'll get to you soon! I'll even throw in some nice vegan recipes in the meantime. I was a vegan cook long before I ever started CR... I am probably one of the only people in the world who has actually made those recipes in John McDougall's books. The green pea guacamole is actually quite delicious, and the grape nuts and apple juice pie crust is good if you can get it to stay together. But I digress... more on that topic soon.
In the meantime, I've learned that throwing a bunch of vegetables into a pyrex dish with eggwhites and baking them in the oven makes for a delicious dinner. Last night I stirred in some Trader Joe's marinara along with broccoli for a pink and green fritatta. All ready for MR to put in the oven for dinner.
Here's an old vegan favorite to tide you over till I can write in more detail about why I am not currently a vegan:
Pumpkin Soup Made Vegan
A can of pumpkin
A cup of unflavored soy milk
a fresh lemon
fresh sage leaves, chopped
clove or more of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste (use half salt if you care about sodium intake)
cube of veggie boullion (Rapunzel Vegan Vegetable Broth is my favorite) in one cup boiling water
Make the broth. Boil the garlic in the broth for about two mins. Pour in the pumpkin, stir till evenly mixed. Turn off the heat, stir in the soy milk and sage leaves. Add the juice of the lemon (Must use fresh lemon! Do not use bottled lemon juice!) Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
You can make this without sage if you don't have fresh sage, or you can use dried. Fresh is very strong.
You can also add curry instead of sage.
Do not attempt this recipe with vanilla soy milk. It will be gross.
Posted by april at October 26, 2005 8:56 AM
Comments
I noticed that you use hazelnut oil in many of your recipes. What type of hazelnut oil do you use and where do you purchase it?
Posted by: Connie at October 26, 2005 12:13 PM
Hi April,
Froogle tells me that really small Tootsie rolls are 3g each. The Tootsie Roll website tells me the Nutrition Facts for 40g. The rest is math. See table below.
HTH,
-Dan
TOOTSIE ROLL NUTRITION FACTS
Large Small
Wt. (g) 40 3.0
Calories 140 10.5
Calories from Fat 30 2.3
Total Fat (g) 3 0.2
Sat. Fat (g) 0.5 0
Trans Fat 0 0
Cholesterol (mg) 0 0
Sodium (mg) 15 1.1
Total Carb. (g) 28 2.1
Dietary Fiber (g) 0 0
Sugars (g) 20 1.5
Protein (g) 1 0.1
Vitamin A 0% 0%
Vitamin C 0% 0%
Calcium 2% 0%
Iron 4% 0%
Posted by: Dan at October 26, 2005 4:47 PM
Regarding Vegan's comment, I agree that a lot of "factory farm" practices are really unnecessarily cruel to the animals and often harmful to the humans who eat their products. I honestly hope this changes, and I do try to buy "organic" or "free range" products (although, as Vegan said, these labels may be meaningless).
I can't, however, agree that it's ethically wrong for us to eat animal products. Vegans often ask the question, If you don't think it's right to kill and eat another human, then why do you think it's right to do the same thing to an animal?
My answer is that I simply don't value the lives of animals the same way as human beings. This may be inconsistent, but preferences often are. Is it wrong to like strawberries dipped in dark-chocolate better than licorice? It is wrong to care more about your pet cat than a termite that's eating your house? If not, then why is it wrong for me to feel more emphathy for humans than animals?
I've also noticed that I simply feel more energetic when I get my protein from things like egg whites and dairy products. I've gone through phases where I've tried to gradually build up to eating a lot of legumes (like black beans, soy, etc.), but it seems like my body just doesn't digest these foods as well. So, while vegans love to say that people "have the option not to eat animal products," it may be a rather unpleasant one.
-Dan
Posted by: Dan at October 26, 2005 5:25 PM
"My answer is that I simply don't value the lives of animals the same way as human beings."
wow. talk about faulty logic. respecting animal rights doesnt require valuing animals as being equivalent to humans. theres nothing wrong with valuing your friend over a stranger; no one (but the most hard-line utilitarian) would say that makes you a bad person.
it's not an all-or-nothing proposition. the salient argument is that animals deserve respect. making a counter argument to the proposition that they deserve 'the same respect' as humans is creating a straw man to get you off the hook.
just because something is unpleasant doesnt mean it's not still a moral obligation. not speeding is unpleasant. not punching that guy in the movies next to me who's chomping his popcorn too loudly is unpleasant. not eating animals is, yes, unpleasant. suck it up, biyatch.
Posted by: Josh H. Pille at October 28, 2005 12:20 PM
Thanks, Dan - for the Tootsie Roll info. As you can see, it's really mostly a little sugar pill. When they started appearing on the counter at work, I assumed they had hydrogenated fat in them, but no, really just high-fructose corn syrup. Overall, there are a lot of things that are worse to eat than 20 calories of Tootsie Rolls.
Posted by: Little MR at October 28, 2005 1:59 PM
According to nutritiondata.com, there are 6 Tootsie Rolls in a 40 gram serving, which they have as 155 calories.
Posted by: Erin at October 30, 2005 5:43 PM
i was wondering.. do tootsie rolls have milk in them? well i need to noe ASAP!
Posted by: Kelsey at October 25, 2006 7:59 PM
Tootsie Rolls are not vegan, they contain skim milk and whey.
Posted by: nick at November 7, 2006 10:50 AM