I have been gifted.  Not in the I’m-smarter-than-you type of gifted, but in a renegade, outlaw sort of way. Aside from providing little Valentine cards for our kids to hand out at school, we’ve never been big on celebrating this Hallmark Holiday (Humbug!) because it’s so commercial, very unlike Christmas of course, which is my favourite day of the year 🙂

Nevertheless I was taken aback when my charming family presented me with gifts.  Even moreso when I opened the bag.

Two cards, and three British-themed treats given, no doubt, to celebrate that day in British history when the Bank of England was nationalized on February 14, 1946.  A bag of Twiglets, two small Cadbury milk chocolate bars and a can of imported Heinz beans in tomato sauce!  We enjoyed them the next day for breakfast (the beans, not the chocolate) and I was inspired to make my own.

We’ve been talking about making our own proteins as part of our changing outlook on what we eat. Since we’ve been avoiding canned food the beans were a real treat so I hope mine turn out tasting exactly like the Heinz beans that I’ve grown up eating.  I’ve made them in molasses before but I’ve got an aversion to its overwhelming flavour. The beans must be tender, not mushy, and the tomato sauce must be sweet and smooth.

The navy beans are soaking as we speak.

While we’ve succeeded in eating mostly food that remembers where it came from we’we rely on processed meat protein replacements too frequently.  Most of the meat ‘analogs’ (what a word – is there a digital alternative?) are made from tempeh, tofu or wheat gluten and mimic the flavour and texture of meat.  They’re generally not overly processed, but still contain too much salt.  Our son loves the little fake ‘drumstick’ that shreds like chicken when you pull it off the bone with your teeth.   I find it strange the way he gravitates toward this kind of food since he’s never eaten a real drumstick.  Some of the meats are like little mock-beef tips, great for stirfries.  We slice ‘chicken’ breasts into our pasta and rice dishes.  We use them in our soups.  Veggie bologna and Tofurkey have become a staple in lunches and veggie dogs hold a place of honour in the ‘meat and dairy’ drawer in our fridge.

We’ve stepped back from our plates and are trying to introduce less packaged and processed food, having been encouraged for years to discard the old-fashioned notion of what dinner looks like.  The narrow western view posits that a meal should include a grain (usually potatoes) , a vegetable, and a piece of meat on a round flat plate.  The three components would be overcooked and oversalted – potatoes and vegetables boiled within an inch of their lives, and the meat overdone.  Many vegetables came from a can, flaccid and soaking in brine.  Do you remember Popeye?  He got his strength from eating spinach FROM A CAN!  No wonder we hated the stuff.  Grey and slimy it had the texture of oysters (probably, since I’ve never eaten one). How far do we need to go to fill the hole in our plate that the meat vacuum has left us with?

Let’s see what we can come up with.