Asparagus in Tomato Sauce

I still love Indian Food. Yes, I cheat at times and use the canned sauce...but recently have even started applying basics in one recipe to something different. Last year, I first tried Potatoes in a Tomato Sauce. Awesome, awesome, awesome! I used basically the same sauce but added cut Asparagus to it and it was amazing!





I will admit, this picture is from a few weeks ago - we've recently decided to go veggie for a while (which may be a long while). I've always had some serious meat guilt and struggle with my love of cooking and my love of animals. Using the "circle of life" justification only gets me so far...at the end of the day, I know animals are beautiful and deserve to live their own peaceful life. "But what about overpopulation?" There are always going to be meat-eaters and I'm sure I will eat meat in the future. However, we've created an industrial process that raises animals specifically for food, we raise too many of them, we spend too many natural resources to produce it, we kill and reap the harvest when they are too young, and I'm tired of being a contributor to that. It's the same thing with High Fructose Corn Syrup or other corn by-products. I don't have anything against corn or even goopy sugary syrup. I have a thing against nations, cultures, communities, and companies being dead-set reliant on one crop that's ruining the environment and is full of corrupt policies and practices/subsidies.

Wow, I needed that. I've been very trigger-shy lately about posting - this is a travelogue about our journey through food, through cultures, and through a very fun life in Texas - so let's get on with that, shall we?

I'm making good progress on planning our UK 2009 trip, which is coming this September. We'll be focused in London, Bath, and the Cotswolds, along with two days in Bristol for my BFF's wedding. I can't wait!

Tschüß!

Stuffed Porkchops and Knödel

I whipped this one up pretty quickly -- I had the pork chops for "Polynesian Pork Chops" but I didn't have onions so that was out of the picture. It was really simple, especially using the THICK cut pork chops from Whole Foods. I made the stuffing (in the microwave), put it in the pork chop and threw it in the oven. Then, made the Knödel (okay, okay I made it from a package) and then the 3-Pfeffersoße that I brought back from Siegfrieds in Utah (yeah, yeah another package) and BAM! A great meal.

Next time, I'd add some apple bits to the stuffing...it's a pretty bland stuffing anyway and I'm just trying to get rid of it. I really don't like throwing food away! It just seems sad to me. However, if it has High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in it I am glad to get rid of it -- it shouldn't be in the house to begin with!

I really only allow one form of HFCS to be in the house -- Ryan's croutons. He doesn't like other croutons and if that will help make salad eating a pleasurable experience, I am ok with it. Still, it gets to the root of my problem with the stuff...what the hell is HFCS doing in croutons anyway???!!!

Tschüß!!!!