Peppery pasta and a rant about family and how I cannot dominate them into eating healthy good for you food!!!!

Happy Hump Day!!!
Today is a busy day. My youngest daughter is graduating the 8th grade tomorrow night and my husbands parents are coming in from Wamego, Kansas... Where is Wamego, you might ask? Out in the middle of no where...But only 30 minutes from Manhattan, Kansas. You would drive right by it if you were not looking for it. It is a sleepy little town with a beautiful park and a museum dedicated to the Wizard Of Oz... Very cool.

My husbands parents have no idea what a healthy meal entails, nor do they care. Both are ill with very destructive illness' and both are still eating things that will eventually kill them prematurely. While I may sound harsh, I am just amazed that they cannot put their health/food connection together...It saddens me to think my daughters might lose their only grandparents within the next 10 years or less.

Dad has diabetes's and it is pretty bad in my opinion, he almost lost his toes once. Chris' mother is a science project, there is so much wrong with her....
Their main food group is pork....Breakfast sausage, polish sausage, bacon, ham, pork steak....shall I continue? I have honestly tried to talk to them about their diet, but they blow me off like I am a radical hippy and that bothers me. Chris' mother has ulcers lining her esophagus, she cannot eat spicy foods and she is supposed to abstain from soda...but she drinks them and she and I got into a slightly heated (that would be my side of the discussion) discussion about greasy foods. I said they are harmful to the wall lining of the esophagus and she thinks I am nuts..
Dad likes to try to tempt me with meat....It goes something like this:

Me " Hey dad I just wanted to call and see if you and mom are ok! What are you doing???"
Dad-"Yeah, I just made some BBQ pork chops for dinner, I had me three of umm"
Me- " Oh....I bet they were good. Did you eat a vegetable?
Dad- "If you were here you coulda had one too"
Me " No dad I am a vegan, I don't eat meat, remember? Did you have a salad with it?
Dad-" I couldn't be a whatcha ma call it, unless there was meat in it." ha ha
Me " Ha ha...that never gets old, does it... What did you eat with your meat?
Dad- "I got a package of 8 chops for $5.00 at the store the other day"
Me " Oh...wow that is cheap....Did you eat a vegetable or salad dad????????
Dad- " Mom made some german potato salad with bacon!!!! It was good I had to eat me three helpings of that, she used extra bacon grease she was saving by the stove, it was tasty and good for me!"
Me ''(OMG!!!!!) Really, well mom makes good salad, speaking of plain ordinary vegetable with no lard added, salad, did you have a vegetable or salad with your meal?"
Dad- " I just told you I ate me three helpings......"
Me " exasperated sighs....."

So tomorrow and the following day, we are eating my food, my way and they can eat it or go to McDonald's, as Alicia says. I totally agree. They do not cater to me at social occasions. They serve mayonnaise laden foods with gusto and I think they enjoy me trying to dig out a carrot from the bottom of the bowl. (my nephew is very ravenous and will poke his fingers into a bowl of dip and then back into the veggies) They love bacon sour cream dip with their veggies...nice huh?

So here is my menu for tomorrow tentatively..

Peppery pasta salad, with homemade vinaigrette
Chickpea cutlets
Oven potatoes
Layered salad, just like at a meat eaters picnic, sans cheese and real bacon or mayonnaise.

I can fake the pasta and the potatoes, even the salad, maybe....but the chickpea cutlets???? I think they will be the red herring.... This is going to be interesting....

Peppery Pasta Salad

Three different colored peppers, I used green, yellow and red

3 carrots, sliced

1/2 large tomato, diced

1/2 large onion, diced

1 pkg. pasta of choice, I used whole wheat rotini, cooked, drained and chilled under cold water.

Add chopped vegetables to your pasta in a large bowl. Set aside

Vinaigrette:

1/3 cup white rice vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil

stone ground mustard, the tip of a tablespoon

1 garlic clove smashed

salt and pepper to taste

Any type of herb you like. I used parsley and basil

Whip up vinaigrette and pour over pasta salad and chill until ready to eat.

While patience is a virtue it has never been one of my strong points and people that are in my face, that are going to bring cheese and hot dogs and gelatin laden snacks for my youngest child, even though they know we do not eat that way drive me crazy...They will ply my kids with Dr. Peppers and Frito's...

They will demand on taking us out to eat even though I will have dinner on the table and expect them to eat it.

But, they will pout....Chris' mother will cry and say how mean I am....Chris' father will look at me and shake his head, Chris will pull me into the kitchen and tell me that we should make them happy, after all they are our elders. I will eventually cave and we will eat Chinese food at a non vegan restaurant again.......