The Box, November 30, 2011
Lettuce
Celery
Swiss Chard
Escarole
Carrots
Butternut Squash
Yams
Tomatoes
Reed Avocados
Apples

Ok, as a side note…it is definitely fall, and I’m inspired. In addition to the pouring rain we experienced all weekend, I’m looking at a box that is exclusively, orange, red and green. Time for some fall harvest recipes. For full disclosure, I cheated. We have a huge persimmon tree – therefore, I swapped out the Fuyu Persimmons originally a part of this box for some gorgeous ripe tomatoes. Also, I’ll come clean – I really don’t like radishes but love Kale. Another swap.

In my wanderings, I also ran into some amazing looking spaghetti squash so have added that to the mix.

What I’m Making
Spaghetti Squash Two Ways
Swiss Chard, Mushroom & Butternut Squash Lasagna
Salads with roasted yams, shaved fennel, lentils & pepitas with pomegranate vinaigrette
Salads with carrots, tomatoes, celery, hard boiled eggs
Vegetarian Stew
Sweet Potato Escarole Hash
Autumn Flatbread
Fasolia
Baked Apples

Spaghetti Squash 2 ways

First, cut the stem end off of the spaghetti squash and then slice it down the middle.
Put one in a plastic bag in the fridge. Put the other in a shallow pan with ¼” of water and bake it for 45 minutes at 350. Cool so that you can pick it up and then take a fork and pull out the squash so that it looks like noodles. It will be crispy.

When you’re ready to eat the other half, cook it the same way.

Mediterranean Spaghetti Squash
½ of Spaghetti Squash
¼ chopped kalmata olives
1T Chopped Basil
1T Chopped Parsley
½ C Feta Cheese
1 bunch of arugula
2T Balsamic Vinagrette

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.
Serve as a fall salad.

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Fennel
½ Prepared Spaghetti Squash
1T Olive Oi
2 Cloves Garlic – Minced
1 Onion – chopped
2 Bulbs of Fennell – white part chopped
Juice of ½ Lemon
½ C Wine
1C Vegetable Broth
1/2c Chopped Basil
4 Links Vegetarian Sausage (Field Roast Italian Variety)
½ Bunch of Swiss Chard (Chopped)
8oz Cremini Mushrooms – sliced thickly

Heat Olive Oil in Pan
Sauté garlic and onion until soft – about 8 minutes
Add Fennel and sauté another 10 minutes
Add lemon juice, basil, vegetable broth
Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes
Meanwhile, cook sausage in toaster oven or on grill
After 20 minutes, crumble sausage into fennel mixture and then add in swiss chard and mushrooms
Serve over spaghetti squash with grated parmesan cheese

Swiss Chard, Mushroom & Butternut Squash Lasagna

Prep: Swiss Chard & Mushrooms

2 T Butter or non hydrogenated margarine
½ Large Sweet Onion, Chopped
½ bunch of Swiss Chard, Chopped
8oz sliced cremini mushrooms

Heat olive oil in pan and sauté onion until translucent
Add in Swiss Chard and Mushrooms and cook until water has evaporated from mushrooms
Set mixture aside

Prep: Cheese Mixture

2 Eggs
1 ½ cartons of organic, lowfat cottage cheese
1 C grated parmesan cheese
1 C grated fresh mozzarella cheese
1C grated almond based mozzarella cheese
½ T each dried sage and thyme
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix ½ of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses pus above ingredients together and set aside. Mix remaining cheese in the same bowl and set aside.

Prep: Butternut Squash

2T Butter or non hydrogenated margarine
2 Small Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and sliced into ¼” slices (cook in microwave for 2-3 mins to soften squash before peeling and chopping)
3 fresh sage leaves
2 sprigs of fresh Thyme
2 springs of fresh Rosemary
1 C vegetable broth

Melt butter and then add in butternut squash, spices and vegetable broth
Simmer until butternut squash has softened and broth is mostly absorbed / evaporated – about 10 minutes or so. Set aside.

Prep: Noodles

9 lasagna noodles – cook according to box but subtract 3 minutes from cooking time. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Assemble Lasagna

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray or oil 9 inch square pan (deep sides)
Cover bottom of pan with layer of cheese mixture
Place 3 noodles on the cottage cheese mixture
Top with 1/3 of remaining cottage cheese mixture
Top with ½ butternut squash
Top with ½ swiss chard mixture
Top with 1/3 mozzarella/parmesan mixture
Top with 3 noodles
Top with ½ remaining cottage cheese mixture
Top with remaining butternut squash
Top with remaining swiss chard mixture
Top with ½ remaining mozzarella/parmesan mixture
Top with 3 noodles
Top with remaining cottage cheese mixture
Top with remaining mozzarella/parmesan mixture

Over with foil and bake, covered for 50 minutes
Better the next day.

Vegetarian Stew
1 T Olive Oil
1 Sweet Onion – Chopped
1 Package of Vegetarian Ground “Meat”
1 Bunch of Celery Hearts – sliced
3 Large Carrots – sliced
1 ½ C Frozen French Cut Green Beans
16 oz sliced cremini mushrooms
1 small can of diced tomatoes
1 ½ C of vegetable broth
½ C red wine
3 bay leaves
salt & pepper
Add all ingredients into crock pot and cook on low for 7 hours
Add in 1 can of tomato paste and cook 1 hour more

Sweet Potato Escarole Hash
1 T Olive Oil
1 Shallot – Finely chopped
1 Yam – peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 Link of Vegetarian Sausage – sliced into 1/4s lengthwise then chopped
1 C Escarole (Chopped)

Heat olive oil in nonstick pan and add shallots. Cook for 3 minutes. Add in yams and cook for 15 minutes, stirring every few mins. Once potatos start to brown, add in vegetarian sausage. Cook for another 10 minutes. Add in escarole and sauté 2-3 mins.

Serve with poached eggs.

Butternut Squash Puree
1 C Peeled, Chopped, seeded butternut squash
1 C Chopped Onion
3 fresh sage leaves
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 Cloves Garlic – Chopped
1 T Olive Oil
1 C Vegetable Broth
½ C White Wine

Combine all ingredients in pan and cook, covered simmering over low until squash is soft – about 30 minutes.
Puree in food processor

Autumn Flatbread

Preheat oven to 425 with pizza stone in it

1 C Oatmeal – Ground in food processor or blender
1 1/3 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 t baking powder
1 ½ t salt
1 t pepper

Stir above ingredients together.

¼ C Olive Oil
2/3 C milk (almond, soy work as long as they are unsweetened)

Add the above ingredients to flour mixture and mix until a ball forms. Knead dough 10x – adding more flour if necessary.

Thinly coat pizza stone with olive oil then roll dough over stone. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

Toppings:
Butternut squash puree
1 ½ C chopped escarole
1/3 C chopped figs
1/3 c chopped roasted red peppers
1 link vegetarian sausage – sliced as thinly as possible
1 ½ C shredded Manchego cheese

Layer toppings on flatbread in the order listed above. Bake at 425 for another 18 minutes.
Let cool on pizza stone 5 minutes before eating.
.

A poster advertising “Veggie Day” shows a sailor rowing an aubergine

This is simply an amazing story.  An entire city in Belgium is now going vegetarian one day a week.  All civil servants and public officials have elected to go veg one day a week to reduce their carbon footprint.  Eventually they plan to roll this out to the schools in September.  Great job Ghent, you set the example for others to follow.  Bravo!

read the story on BBC

Thank you to our long time friend and wannaveg supporter, Cary Canning for sending us the good news.

Flash forward 4-5 months….

Step 8- This compost is almost ready.  It’s time to get the worms out of it and let the remaining worms “finish” off the job and eat whatever is left in the bin.

Step 9- To coax your worms out of the castings, push all the contents of your bin over to one side.  On the other side we’ll lay down some fresh bedding.  Follow steps 3-6 above for one side.  In about a month or so, all your worms will finish off whatever food scraps are left in the castings and move over to the other side where the fresh bedding and food is.   After that, you can remove the castings and use them to fertilize your plants or make worm “tea” for liquid fertilizer.

And it’s as simple as that.  Don’t worry about not knowing everything at first, or making mistakes.  It’s really simple to do and if you stick with it through one cycle, you’ll be a master!  You’re now on your way to the wonderful world of vermi-composting.  Congratulations!

In the third part of our series, we actually start building a bin!

Here’s a materials list of items you will need.

• 2 “Rubbermaid” type containers.  18 gallons is about the perfect size.  Larger or smaller work well also.
• A bunch of newspapers
• 2 — 2×4, cut to fit into one of the containers
• 1 pound of worms, obviously, (red wigglers are the best for this) do a quick search on the Internet for someone that sells them near you.  They run about $20-$25 for the pound and that’s all you will ever need to buy.
• About 1 pound of food scraps
• 1 drill
• 1 bucket of water

Continue Reading »

Continuing on with our Starting a Worm Bin series, here are a few commonly asked questions about vermi-composting.

Q:  What do I feed my worms?
A:  Almost any whole, uncooked, food waste.  Here are some examples:

• Apple peels and cores
• Carrot peels
• Celery
• Egg shells
• Banana peels
• Lettuce stumps
• Pepper stems
• Herbs
• Bread
• Tea bags
• Coffee grounds
• I think you get it

Q:  Ok, so what can I NOT feed my worms?
A:  This is actually a bit easier to answer.  Worms can eat a ton of stuff, but there are a few things that you should not feed them, either because they take a long time to break down or are too acidic or harmful to the worms.
These items include:

• Citrus peels or citrus fruit
• Meats, fish, tofu, beans or other proteins
• Cooked or prepared foods
• Dairy
• Onions
• Fruit rinds (watermelon, cantelope, etc)
• Anything with cooking oils on it, like salad dressings
• That’s about it!

Continue Reading »

So you want to be a worm farmer!  What’s that, no…you don’t?  Oh come on, what about all the free fertilizer and sparkling worm personalities? Kinda seriously, worms make for quiet, low maintenance and symbiotic pets.

Ok, well ‘pets’ may be stretching it, but vermi-composting (composting using worms) is a great way to reduce the amount of food waste you throw away and in return they will give you some fantastic, nutrient rich compost (castings). Did you know that food waste makes up about 12 percent of the total waste stream in the US? Now we can all take this simple step to reduce our environmental impact and our vegetables and other plants will love us for it. Plus…it’s fun!

When it comes to giving your worms a home, you have lots of options. There are all kinds of pre-fabricated bins out there and some municipalities will either give you a bin or subsidize one for you. I personally prefer to make my own bin because it’s easy and cheap to do. One other cool thing about keeping a worm bin…it doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment or a castle, there is a bin size sure to fit whatever space you have available.

Ok, I know what you’re saying. “I don’t want some stinky garbage can full of worms in my house…” and I don’t blame you! Believe it or not, your worm bin should not smell bad at all. In fact if it does smell bad, there is something wrong with it (we’ll talk about this later). The bin does have a pleasant “earthy” aroma similar to what you smell in a forest. It’s very tolerable and unobtrusive.

To recap: starting a worm bin will reduce food waste, create great fertilizer and make you the life of the party. There are no downsides to it!

Click here for Part 2…commonly asked questions

This year I wanted to do a little something different for Earth Day.  There are a bunch of great new documentaries coming out and what better time to talk about them than today?!

These come to us via IdealBite (if you don’t subscribe, I highly recommend it).

• The Cove – part whodunit, part eco-educational movie about a team of activists who set out to save fish and dolphins off the coast of Japan. Opens Jul. 31.
• Battle for Terra - stars like Danny Glover, Luke Wilson, and Evan Rachel Wood lend their voices to this animated adventure movie; plays in 3D in some areas. Opens May 1.
• Earth – the cinematographers behind the Planet Earth series bring you a beautifully shot, feature-length film about three animal families – elephants, polar bears, and humpback whales. Opens Apr. 22.
• Food Inc. – unveils the sometimes dirty politics of the food industry; features experts like Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schloseer (Fast Food Nation). Now in limited release.
• Fuel – slick docu on new energy sources, featuring interviews with eco-thinkers like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and eco-celebs like Julia Roberts. Now in limited release.
• The Age of Stupid – faux documentary-style drama about a less-than-cheery dude who in the year 2055 looks back over the past few decades of climate change. Premieres in May.

Happy Earth Day everyone!  If you check any of these out, please let me know.  I’m personally looking forward to The Age of Stupid and Food, Inc.
As always, do Mother Earth a favor and give going vegetarian one day a week a shot!

If everyone in the US went vegetarian just one day a week, the results would be staggering, according to Kathy Freston from the Huffington Post. And I couldn’t agree more. This has been the message and reason for wannaveg.com . Thanks for putting “if everyone did it” numbers together for us Kathy.

From HuffingtonPost.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:

● 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;

● 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;

● 70 million gallons of gas–enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;

● 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;

● 33 tons of antibiotics.

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

● Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France;

● 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages;

● 4.5 million tons of animal excrement;

● Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant.

Take a look at Kathy’s full article to learn more.

I have to admit I have not watched this movie (yet). But, I know it’s well done. Personally, this is a tough film for me to watch. However, I wanted to make it available for you, should you be interested in viewing it. Check out the website for more information, including a synopsis of the film. Otherwise, it’s posted on google video and linked/viewable on wannaveg.

EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called “non-human providers.” The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby .

Check out the website here earthlings.com/
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6361872964130308142

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here on wannaveg. I was having some problems with the site, but many of them seem to be fixed since I’ve upgraded to the latest version of software (I finally had time…had a few days off at work). It’s possible to play video again through the site, so this is pretty exciting. (I will post a new video shortly)

Anyway here’s an interesting viewpoint on the “Happy Meat” phenomenon that is gaining much popularity meat eaters. It’s an intriguing debate on whether it is possible for everyone to eat the same quantity of meat if the animals are raised in a sustainable manner.

You can find the article at alternet.org