WSDE North Park: The McGaughy Family

Connie, John and Madison always get up early. John wakes up first, makes a pot of coffee himself and ginger tea for Connie. They then wake Madison, around 7:30 on weekdays and 5:15 on Saturdays. Typically, they either have bagels or pre-made waffles for breakfast before starting their day.

Lunch either consists of mixed nuts and a half a bagel, or nothing at all. Dinner is the only time the McGaughys really have a chance to be creative with food. All of the McGaughys enjoy cooking, so they often switch who cooks when. Madison will often make Mexican food, rice, sandwiches and whatever else seems appropriate at the time. She also bakes a lot. Connie and John both make a large variety of things as well, anything from soup to homemade bread.

All of the McGaughys are vegetarian, with the exception of Madison, who is a vegan. John and Connie’s son Nathan was the one who enjoyed dairy products the most, so when he left for college the family didn’t feel the need to buy as many dairy products. The whole family is now, for the most part, vegan, but John and Connie still occasionally eat dairy products.

The McGaughys often go out to eat as well. They aren’t fans of fast food and they have eclectic tastes, so they eat at several different places. Every Thursday, Madison and John go and get a potato pancake and John and Connie often go get Italian food at their favorite family run restaurant. They all like to eat at a Thai restaurant near Madison’s school as well as several other places. Living a vegetarian and vegan lifestyle used to make going out to eat difficult for the McGaughys, but within the last few year a lot more options have been made available. Because of this, the McGaughys like to go out to eat and relax as a family as often as possible.

WSDE Photos with Captions

In this picture, John is making a white sauce for his famous vegan cream of tomato soup. Every time Madison has a rowing regatta, John makes enough soup to feed the entire team. Here, he is making the soup for the Long Beach Annual Christmas Regatta. It is a must have for any soup or vegan food lover.

I this picture, Connie is making a berry flavored smoothie. They are quick and easy to make, not to mention they are one of her favorite breakfast items. Connie used to make recipes for smoothies for her brother’s restaurant “Mama Loves” back in the seventies. In this picture, Connie is adding ground flax seeds to the smoothie.

This photo is an aerial shot of the smoothie that Connie was making in the previous picture. The smoothie has strawberry flavored soy “yogurt”, raspberries, orange juice, frozen bananas and flax seeds. Connie like to use flax seeds in a lot of her cooking because it gives the family a boost in omega-3s that they don’t get normally because they don’t eat fish. Flax is virtually undetectable in food.

WSDE Shopping List

Grains and Starchy Foods: ($18.45) Spaghetti Wheat Bread Sourdough Bread Tortillas Vans Waffles Quaker Oats	Snacks and Deserts: ($6.25) Pistachios Nuts Soy “Ice Cream”
“Dairy”: ($17.25) Soy “Milk” Rice “Milk” Soy “Yogurt” Tofutti “Cream cheese” Earth Balance “Butter”	Beverages: ($40.25) Florida’s Natural Orange Juice Coca-Cola Apple Juice Water
“Meat, Fish, and Eggs”: ($8.25) San Diego Soy Dairy Tofu Meatless “Meatballs”	Restaurants: ($12.85) Potato Pancake Yellow Curry
Condiments: ($7.85) Pickles Artichoke hearts Ortega Chilies Salsa	Miscellaneous: ($8.90) Jif Peanut Butter Honey Pinto Beans Black Beans
Fruits, Vegetables, and Nuts: (30.55) Bananas Apples Oranges Craisins Pineapple Slices Avocado Onion Garlic Tomatoes Lettuce Carrots Green Beans Sprouts

WSDE Recipe(s)

Tofu with Spinach

• 1 block of San Diego Soy Dairy Tofu
• Olive Oil
• Earth Balance “Butter”
• Mustard
• Ketchup
• Sun Dried Tomatoes
• Sliced Pineapple
• Fresh Spinach

OPTIONAL: Salt, pepper, spike, chili powder, ground ginger, cinnamon

Slice tofu into three even sections. Put tofu between two cutting boards and press excess liquid out of the tofu.

Turn the stove up all the way. Put butter and/or olive oil into a pan. Put a handful of sun-dried tomatoes in the pan. Let simmer briefly.

Cut tofu into 1” by 1” blocks and toss into the pan. Let simmer until a light brown, stirring frequently. Put a light sprinkling of your choice of seasonings on tofu. Squirt mustard and ketchup all over the top of the tofu. Stir together.

Open can of sliced pineapples. Carefully pour the pineapple and pineapple juice onto tofu. Let the pineapple brown lightly. Turn off the stove and let it cool.

Wash the spinach and put into a pot of water. Put on stove and turn all the way up. Let spinach wilt slightly. Turn off stove and drain the rest of the water. Put your choice of dressing on the spinach, (I usually use an olive oil/vinegar mix). Put tofu on top of spinach and serve.

Re-Fried Beans

• 1 can of pinto beans per person
• Earth Balance “Butter”
• Chili Powder
• Ground Ginger
• Salt
• Pepper

Open can(s) of beans. Drain juices according to how watery you want your beans to be.

Turn stove up all the way. Put pot on stove. Put one tablespoon of butter per can in the pot. Pour beans into pot.

Add your choice of seasonings, (I use salt, pepper, chili powder and ground ginger). Mash beans with potato masher. Turn off over. Let beans cool then serve.

WSDE Interview

General demographic questions:

1. How many people live in the home?

Three.

2. What are the professions of the adults in the home (ex: teacher, food service, lab technician, unemployed)?

Architectural Designer, (John) and an Art Consultant, (Connie).

3. Where does the family live (what part of San Diego)?

North Park.

Food specific questions:

1. How often does your family eat out? Where do you usually go?

Once or twice a week. We often go to Antique Thai, a Thai restaurant in Point Loma, Toronados, a Pub in North Park, or Pisano’s, a family-owned Italian restaurant in North Park.

2. Do you typically buy food based on price, health, or something else?

We typically buy whatever doesn’t have meat or dairy products in it, (everyone in our family is either vegetarian or vegan). We do try to buy whatever is on sale though.

3. Do you usually cook more from scratch or buy pre-made foods?

We try to cook from scratch as often as possible. Whatever we buy that is “pre-made” often requires quite a bit of preparation, (such as pasta etc.)

4. If time/money/etc. were not an issue, what would you change about your eating habits?

Nothing really, we would probably have slightly better portion control, but otherwise there isn’t much we would change.

5. How many meals per week does your family typically eat together? Which meal do you eat together (ie: dinner)?

We almost always eat dinner together, and occasionally breakfast. We don’t usually get to eat lunch together since Madison is at school and Connie works away from the house. So typically, we have around seven to fourteen meals together a week.

6. Do you buy any organic foods? Why or why not? Are there any other constraints or requirements for the food you buy?

We try to buy organic whenever possible. We have done a lot of research on where food comes from, so we like to try to eat as naturally as possible. The only real “constraint” for us is that we don’t eat meat products. But luckily, it has become easier and easier within recent years to be a vegetarian or vegan.

7. Does culture or ethnicity have any influence on what you eat? How? (give examples)

Not really, we like experiencing different types of food. Again, the only thing we have to think about is our vegetarianism and veganism.

8. Do you feel like you spend too much money on food?

Only occasionally. We try to buy on sale whenever possible, but with inflation and trying to buy organic we do end up spending a lot of money on food. However, we often buy our food far ahead of time, so we do get a break from shopping.

9. What food tradition do you think Americans value?

Thanksgiving is the only “tradition” that I can think of. In all honesty, so many people today are concerned about price and fast gratification, the fast food industry has completely taken off. We have stopped valuing what we eat and we no longer appreciate what “good food” tastes like.

10. Where do you buy your food?

Von's, Henry’s, Trader Joe’s, and Fresh and Easy.

11. Who shops? Who cooks?

Typically John shops, but everyone cooks. We like to switch who cooks fairly regularly so we can have a wide variety of tastes and types of cooking.

12. Does your family eat more fresh produce or processed foods?

Fresh produce, we can’t eat a lot of processes foods. We don’t feel like we are missing out at all.

Nuclear Power: Risking a Comeback

Quote:

The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates that without nuclear power playing its current role in the generation of electricity, the U.S. would spew 29 percent—190 million metric tons (209.4 million tons)—more carbon than it does now.

Question:

Where would the carbon come from and how is atomic energy safer?

Comment:

I would imagine that the carbon would come from coal and other energy creators, but is more carbon in the air less safe than having nuclear power plants everywhere? I want to know what the difference between the long term effects are. I know that if too much carbon gets into the atmosphere, then the ozone layer could deplete, but there are alternatives that we can use to avoid that. But if a nuclear power plant explodes, that could mean hundreds to thousands of years of mutations in humans and it could leave heavy toxins in the earth.

Clean Coal? New Technology Buries Greenhouse Emissions

Quote:

"A key to achieving this, Couch and other researchers say, is to capture the carbon dioxide and send it underground instead of releasing it into the atmosphere."

Question:

What problems would occur by pushing the carbon dioxide underground?

Comment:

I would assume that capturing the carbon dioxide underground would have its own problems, so is capturing it really a good idea? Food could stand the risk of getting contaminated, soil could be permanently damaged and I'm sure that there would be a whole other string of problems as well. I'm not sure if in the long run, capturing the gases underground would be more beneficial than letting it go into the air.