laceyvail, you are absolutely right about feeding corn and other grains to cattle. It's a practice that was promoted by the government sometime in the late 40s or early 50s to use up a big surplus of grain. It's bad for cattle, they aren't designed to eat that way, the low fiber diet is bad for their ruminant digestion. In addition, it's environmentally unsound and a very inefficient feeding practice in addition to the health issues (both for people and animals). From Cornell University: EIGHT MEATY FACTS ABOUT ANIMAL FOOD >From "Livestock Production: Energy Inputs and the Environment" -- WHERE'S THE GRAIN? The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the entire American population. -- HERBIVORES ON THE HOOF. Each year an estimated 41 million tons of plant protein is fed to U.S. livestock to produce an estimated 7 million tons of animal protein for human consumption. About 26 million tons of the livestock feed comes from grains and 15 million tons from forage crops. For every kilogram of high-quality animal protein produced, livestock are fed nearly 6 kg of plant protein. -- FOSSIL FUEL TO FOOD FUEL. On average, animal protein production in the U.S. requires 28 kilocalories (kcal) for every kcal of protein produced for human consumption. Beef and lamb are the most costly, in terms of fossil fuel energy input to protein output at 54:1 and 50:1, respectively. Turkey and chicken meat production are the most efficient (13:1 and 4:1, respectively). Grain production, on average, requires 3.3 kcal of fossil fuel for every kcal of protein produced. The U.S. now imports about 54 percent of its oil; by the year 2015, that import figure is expected to rise to 100 percent. -- THIRSTY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. U.S. agriculture accounts for 87 percent of all the fresh water consumed each year. Livestock directly use only 1.3 percent of that water. But when the water required for forage and grain production is included, livestock's water usage rises dramatically. Every kilogram of beef produced takes 100,000 liters of water. Some 900 liters of water go into producing a kilogram of wheat. Potatoes are even less "thirsty," at 500 liters per kilogram. -- HOME ON THE RANGE. More than 302 million hectares of land are devoted to producing feed for the U.S. livestock population -- about 272 million hectares in pasture and about 30 million hectares for cultivated feed grains. -- DISAPPEARING SOIL. About 90 percent of U.S. cropland is losing soil -- to wind and water erosion -- at 13 times above the sustainable rate. Soil loss is most severe in some of the richest farming areas; Iowa loses topsoil at 30 times the rate of soil formation. Iowa has lost one-half its topsoil in only 150 years of farming -- soil that took thousands of years to form. -- PLENTY OF PROTEIN: Nearly 7 million tons (metric) of animal protein is produced annually in the U.S. -- enough to supply every American man, woman and child with 75 grams of animal protein a day. With the addition of 34 grams of available plant protein, a total of 109 grams of protein is available per capita. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) per adult per day is 56 grams of protein for a mixed diet. Annie

My gyne insists that adults do not need milk products at all. She says that calcium should be coming from green leafy vegetables -- kale, spinach, chard etc and of course, sardines. Almond milk, if you can tolerate it, is also high in calcium and a good source. I drink about 1-1/2 to 2 cups of milk a day in coffee. That's it. I've given up yogurt and most cheese. I do have some kefir in the morning occasionally (good for the gut) with fruit. I agree, it's really difficult with the coffee. I've never found a replacement for coffee and it wouldn't be half&half or cream because of the cholesterol and fat in those. Some can drink lactose-free milk as someone suggested. Fermented soy ie. tempeh is good (again for the gut). But anyone who starts to read labels conscientiously will realize that there are gigantic amounts of soy in many food products. It's used as a cheap additive. Bread, english muffins, many baked goods -- check it out. Our grandson had a soy allergy so I started reading labels before they visited each time. I was rocked by the number of unexpected foods that contain soy high up in the ingredient list. I haven't read about health benefits to adding any more. Most important though, is exercise. As vigorous as can be managed for 30 to 40 minutes a day, at least 3 times a week. Walking is good. But anything that makes you sweat is best.

Batch #2 in progress. I tried using my juicer to separate the milk from the puree. Sort of worked. I also tried using the big hand press shown above. That worked about as well. Neither was a particularly streamlined process, though both were better than twisting the puree in cheesecloth. As for the experimentation, I decided to try adding stuff that I'd typically cook tofu with. So I made a mix of garlic, ginger, scallions, salt, a little white pepper, a little cayenne, sake, water, cooked that until the garlic was starting to brown, and mixed this into the curd before loading the tofu press. We'll see how it turns out.

I made the North African stew for supper tonight and Elery and I both liked it very much. It was very filling, with all those beans and lentils and surprisingly, not very spicy, in spite of the homemade baharat I made to season it with. I didn't have barley that the recipe calls for, so I used a mixture of quinoa, millet and flax and a handful of brown rice. It makes a LOT, though, I'd make half a batch next time, I have a large container in the refrigerator. Elery will make omelettes stuffed with it, I'm sure, and I don't mind leftovers. I'd definitely make it again. Elery was lamenting that his kimchi is just started today, he thought they would go well together. Ahem. I understand that kimchi is very healthy and full of probiotics and all that, but I just can't eat it, it's too spicy. Annie