Okra with Kongo Peas and Rice

Rice with Kongo sauce and peas with Okra (Haitian) recipe:

Ingredients

-2 cups of Kongo peas
-2 cups of rice
-2 cups of Okra
-1 pack of water Cresson
-2 table spoon of tomato paste
-3 table spoon of olive oil
-2 leeks
-Parsley, salt, spice.
-1 onion
-2 table spoon of butter/margarine

Procedure:

Kongo sauce + peas

1. Boil the Kongo peas until cooked (it should take around 30 minutes);
2. Take half of the cooked peas and put it in a blender. Blend until it no peas are visible. Put the other half in a saucepan which contains the butter.
3. Pour the sauce into the saucepan by filtering it with a strainer. If needed, take the leftovers inside the strainer and put them back into the blender and filter it again.
4. Cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Then, salt to taste.

Rice

1. Boil 3 cups of water. Add 1 table spoon of oil and add 1 tea spoon of salt.
2. When the water boils, add 2 cups of rice.
3. When the water is almost evaporated, cover the rice and lower the heat.
4. Let the rice cool down for about 15 minutes.

Okra

1. Cut the Cresson and the onion into small bits.
2. Pour 2 table spoon of olive oil in a sauce pan.
3. Add 2 cups of Okra into the sauce pan. Cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add 2 table spoon of tomato paste, and then add the Cresson and onion bits.
5. Season to taste and whisk everything (5 minutes).

Serve hot.

Clarence

Russian Borsch Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sized beets
• Red or Green bell peppers
• 2 - 2 ½ liters of water (note: for additional taste, you may want to boil that the water is boiled into a light bouillon)
• 2-3 medium sized potatoes
• 3 small carrots
• 1-2 small onions
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 medium sized tomato
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• ½ head fresh green cabbage or 1 small fresh green cabbage
• 1 cup of red beans
• Personal choice, if you wish to add more taste to your soup, than include salt and freshly ground black pepper.

________________________________________

Step by step procedure:

1. Start boiling the water. (Or light chicken bouillon to add a little more taste).
2. Wash the beet and peel it. Cut the beet into long thin strips.
3. Add the beet into the water and cook for 15-20min.
4. While it is boiling, peel and cut the carrots into julienne.
5. After 15 min of boiling the beet, cook in medium heat the carrots for another 15 min.
6. While the soup is cooking, wash the pepper and cut into small pieces. Put it on the side for now.
7. Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut it into small pieces.
8. Cut the tomato into small pieces.
9. Now, add the pepper, the tomato, the potato, the tomato paste and the red beans into the big pot.
10. Add ¾ of teaspoon of salt.
11. Let everything cook in medium heat for 15 min.
12. Clean the cabbage and cut it into long thin strips.
13. Wash and peel the onions and cut into small pieces.
14. Fry the pieces of onions with light vegetable oil for 5min with tomato paste.
15. Add the shredded cabbage into the soup and let it boil for 5min.
16. After, add the tomato paste with onions into the soup.
17. Cut the garlic into very small pieces and add it into the big pot. Let it boil for 5 min.
18. Turn the stove off and let everything sit for at least 30 min.
19. Enjoy your Russian Vegetable soup.

Borsch is a soup that is made with beetroot and many vegetables such as tomatoes and carrots. This recipe comes from my mother’s side. It’s a Russian dish. It is very popular in many European countries and each of those countries has their own special touch of ingredients added to the soup. The soup is quite easy to prepare, however it is long a very long process. It requires a lot of work done throughout the cooking process. The longest part of the process is cutting all the vegetables into small pieces. I shared the dish with my family. They enjoyed it very much. I felt very proud but scared at the same time when preparing the dish because I am not a person who is very good at cooking. My mom helped me a lot to prepare and cook this meal. I felt very good about sharing the dish because the final result of the dish was very good. It tasted and looked very good. The ingredients that were used have a lot of vitamins, fibers and proteins in them. Vegetables such as cabbage and beets have a lot of vitamins and proteins in them. There are a lot of environmental benefits because we are not using the processed food or factory farmed meat but fresh vegetables. These ingredients are available at any grocery stores or supermarkets.

By Fahad Syed

Very Interesting!

We found this post by Siyana to be indeed one of the most shocking. “Most shocking: According to statistics from Canadian Food Inspection Agency , between two and three million farm animals are found dead each year when trucks are unloaded at Canadian abattoirs.” http://www.vancouverhumanesociety.bc.ca/issues/farm-animal-welfare/ Animals are frequently mistreated in factory farms, which is unacceptable.

However, we've determined that the Statscan website was in fact the most informative. It's reliable, an offers many intersting facts such as the estimated amount of antibiotics in our livestock, and the number of functionning farms today.http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2001/first-premier/regions/farmque-fermeqc-eng.htm

So far in class we've learned about the health and environmental effects of what we eat. We now know that most of our meat isn't farmed in a sustainable manner, and that by buying imported vegetables we are in fact contributing to lowering water tables worldwide. It's inevitable that we will apply this knowledge to our lifestyle. We may reduce meat consumption, buy locally, use reusable water bottles, or even be encouraged to plant our own gardens one day. Ultimately, it's our actions that will make the difference.

Jonathan and Sabrina

Bulgarian Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers with rice - traditional Bulgarian dish.

Recipe:
1. Mix well fine chopped onion and carrot and 1/2 cup rice.
2. Add some salt, red pepper, and 1/2 cup water. Boil 5 min.
3. Stuff the peppers, put in the baking dish, add 2 cups water and bake for 30 min.
4. Cover during the baking, the last 5-10 min remove cover.


Ingredients:
• bigger peppers ( as much as you want)
• 1-1.5dl. oil
• carrot
• 2 onions
• 150g. rice
• salt and red pepper
• lukewarm water


Stuffed peppers with rice.

It is an Eastern European dish consisting of peppers filled with rice. The recipe is influenced by the Hungarian cuisine .There are many variations of stuffed peppers across Balkan countries but here is present the basic recipe that everyone can modify by taste. It is a really easy and fish and you don’t need any specific ingredients in order to cook it. If you even work with someone else like I did it, with the help of my mother, it could be ready for about 30 minutes. It was a great experience to prepare a dish because after, when you share it with your family or with someone else, you don’t need to worry about what kind of ingredients the meal consists. Moreover, the combination of non –meat protein as pepper and onion and rice is a very healthy because it is full of nutrition. Plus, it has also environmental benefits because there aren’t any natural resources used for producing meat and in this way and there is absolutely no cost to the animal life.

Siyana Kurteva ( i didn' t succeed to create my own account)

Stir-fry On-choy with Salted Soybean Sauce recipe

Ingredients
• 1 big buddle of On-Choy (can be find in the Asian market)
• 2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• STIR FRY SAUCE: 2 tbsp of Salted Soybean Sauce
• 1 tbsp of sugar

How to make it:
1. Trim about 1 inch of stem from the bottom of the on-choy. Wash and dry On-choy, cut it into 2inch long, Separate stems from the leaves
2. Chop the garlic to a tiny piece.
3. In a frying pan, add sesame oil, heat over medium-high. When oil is hot, add the garlic and stir-fry until the garlic turn to golden brown.
4. Add in the ong-choy stems and stir-fry for about 2 minutes.
5. Add in the ong-choy leaves, and salted soybean sauce stir until the on-choy mixed with sauce.
6. Finally, place it on the plate and serve with steam rice


This recipe, Stir-fry On-choy with Salted Soybean Sauce, comes from East Asia. This recipe is very easy to prepare, the hard part of this recipe was, it’s not very easy to find On-choy in the market. For this recipe, we only need to cut the On-choy and stir it with the sauce, it takes about 10minutes to prepare. I shared this with my sister. I felt a bit nervous because I’m not good at cooking and I’m sure that she will like it too. It’s a very healthy food; as I heard from my parent that On-choy contain a lot of iron, and vitamin, and also soybean is contain more protein too. The ingredients can find in almost all the Asia grocery store.

By: Charya Mean

This is very interesting....

http://www.salon.com/food/2010/03/28/green_food_campaigns_debunked/slideshow.html

Did you know that plastic water bottles are one of the worst things you can buy?
They are horrible for the environment, and for our health because the toxins from the plastic leak into the water and then we drink it. These bottles are disposed of in landfills all around the world. "Did you know that plastics never actually 'decompose', they merely break down into smaller and smaller pieces. Being an inorganic material, it never will compost." If that wasn't enough, think about all that fossil fuel that is used to make and transport these bottles!!

BUT DON'T WORRY!!

The SOLUTION to this problem is EASY!!!

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP BUYING PLASTIC BOTTLES AND YOU WILL SAVE MONEY AND THE ENVIRONMENT!!

You can buy stainless steel water bottles, or aluminum ones that you can reuse for years. By the way, do not be fooled by all these companies claims that they are doing good for the environment. This is why I thought this website was so interesting, because I had no idea these water bottle companies were telling so many lies to get us to buy their products.

Rice and chick peas in a tomato sauce

Ingredients:
2 cups of rice
1 tomato (cut)
1 can of chick peas
½ cup water for the chick peas
2½cup water for the rice
½ tsp turmeric powder (taste)
½ tsp chilli powder (taste)
½ tsp blend garlic & ginger (taste)
25 ml of oil
Salt (taste)
Coriander

Preparation:
(Rice)
-Add 2 cups of water and 1tbs of salt in the rice and cook them without covering the saucepan.
- When there is almost no water left, add the other ½ cup of water, cover the saucepan and let it cook at low flame until no more water is left.

(Chick peas in a tomato sauce)
-Take the oil and put it in the saucepan.
-Let it heat.
-Add the cut tomato.
-Add the chick peas (washed) into the saucepan along with the spices (turmeric powder, chilli powder, blend garlic & ginger, salt. Instead of all these spices you can use chana masala found in Indian stores, but you still have to add the blend garlic and ginger.)
- Cover, and let cook about 10 min.
-Add ½ cup water for the chick peas.
- Let cook for 20-25 min.
- Add coriander for some taste after it is ready.
(Stir constantly the rice and the chick peas so it doesn’t burn)


This recipe is from south Asia more precisely from India. It wasn’t really hard to prepare because I prepared it with my mother who knows how to cook it because she did it so many times. I had a few problems with the quantities of ingredients I had to add but it was pretty fun to prepare. I shared this meal with my family which means my parents and my sister. Like I said it was really fun to prepare it and it helped me spend some time with my mother which I didn’t do for long time. This meal is good for the health because the chick peas provide us with proteins, and it doesn’t pollute like factory farming. For the spices, you can usually find them in Indian grocery stores or even at Loblaws or Maxi, but I would suggest Indian stores because you are sure to find every spice you need there.

By: Pooja Patel

Mexican rice and beans

MEXICAN RICE AND BEANS
• 1 cup uncooked medium grain white rice
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes (Petite-cut)
• water (as needed)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (or to taste, I used about 1/2 of this)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 cup fresh oregano, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Directions:
1. In a one quart saucepan, combine rice with water.
2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 20 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and let the pan stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
4. While the rice stands, drain the tomatoes, reserving the juice.
5. Add enough water to the juice to equal one cup of liquid.
6. Heat a 10-12 inch skillet over medium-high heat; add in oil, garlic, and jalapeno.
7. Cook until the garlic is browned and the jalapeno is fragrant (one minute).
8. Add the black beans, salt, cumin, and chili powder; stir gently a few times to cook the spices and get beans mixed into the rice (30 seconds).
9. Stir in the tomato juice mixture and bring to a boil.
10. Adjust the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle boil; cook and occasionally stir until the beans have absorbed much of the liquid (5-7 minutes).
11. Add the tomatoes, oregano, cilantro, and cooked rice.
12. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is warmed (1-2 minutes).

After deciding that I wanted to cook my rice and beans with a Mexican twist, I consulted Food.com. I was impressed with the website and found a few good ideas. I finally decided on the recipe outlined above and set out to buy the ingredients I was missing; oregano, cilantro and chilli powder. After buying the items at the Provigo grocery store down the street I got started.

The dish was very easy to prepare and only took me about half an hour. While the rice was cooking, I had prepared the spices, beans and tomatoes and eventually combined them all together. After completing the preparation I served the meal (with wine) to my roommate and her boyfriend. They really enjoyed it and even had seconds. They were a bit disappointed with the absence of meat, but by the end of their second helping they seemed satisfied. It’s always very rewarding to be able to cook an enjoyable meal for others.

Since the meal I prepared didn't contain meat, the fat content was very low. Unfortunately, I found it a bit salty and so next time I will make sure to add only half the salt. Overall I considered the meal to be healthy since it contained a lot of vegetables and a good source of protein.

I was able to find most of the ingredients very easily. The majority were already in my pantry and the missing ingredients were found at my local grocery store. The recipe originally contained a jalapeno pepper, which I was unable to find so I added chili peppers instead.

The hidden truths:

Interesting site:

For our group, this is the most interesting site posted on the facebook group “food fight”. This particular site, talks about the facts about bottled water that were not usually aware of. This site tackled five important and relevant reasons why not to consume bottled water. Facts like, that is not healthier than the tap water which blew our minds. This site talks more about the hidden truth about bottled water. Review this site for your own knowledge and for your own good.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mnn.com%2Ffood%2Fhealthy-eating-recipes%2Fstories%2F5-reasons-not-to-drink-bottled-water&h=b27c9

Horrifying site:

We found this site to be the most terrorizing site out there by the way Canadian farmers raised and treated the animals. Animals such as cows, chickens and pigs are deprived of everything that is natural to them. They are deprived from the sunlight, the capability of moving and are treated very poorly by the farmers.

In the past couple of weeks, we learned many useful and wicked things in the class. Things like cow farts playing an important role in the Global warming process. All of this information helped us to be more conscious about the food that we eat, also the way we pick out the right food in the supermarkets. We will try to eat more organic food and try to make meat as our secondary dish. We will start to be practical and wiser about consuming bottled water that will give a better future for our planet and for the people of the next generation.

http://www.chooseveg.ca/animal-cruelty-canada.asp





By: Roy De Leon and Fahad Syed

Lentils Soup with lemon!

Protein replacement!

Ingredients:

- 1 Chopped onion
- 1/4 cup of Olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 cups of dry lentils
- 8 cups of water
- Half a lemon ( chopped )
- 2 tablespoons of vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 2 sliced carrots
- 2 chopped celeries
- 1 can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 can of chick peas

Seasoning:

- A hint of salt
- A good amount of pepper
- A touch of paprika
- A touch of cumin
- A touch of Coriandre

Origin:

This is a recipe my grandmother used to make in Morocco, beans are typical in Moroccan cuisine.

Difficulty:

This recipe includes many ingredients, however, once you acquire them all, it is pretty simple.

Directions:

- Pre rinse and boil the lentils and chick peas. Marinate with cumin and paprika.
- In a big hot pan heat olive oil and start to simmer with garlic and onion
- Add the carrots and celery to the pan.
- Once the garlic and onion becomes golden, add the crushed tomatoes , the bay leaf and some corriandre.
- While the ingredients are warming up, add the lemon and lentils.
- Mix and heat all the ingredients together.
- Add the salt, pepper.
- The recipe is ready for you to enjoy.

Tasty Chilli!

The recipe that I have decided to make is a Mexican Chilli. This Mexican dish has been introduced to my family by some of our Mexican friends. This meal is made by the use of steamed whole grain rice, a mixture of beans, a variety of vegetables and some tomato sauce. This meal is an extremely easy and simple recipe to prepare due to the small quantity of ingredients needed. After preparing this recipe, I confidently shared the meal with my family. Gratefully, my meal turned out to be a success. While preparing this meal it made me feel like I was actually in control of everything. I felt like a responsible and mature person for cooking for my family. This being my first successful meal made me feel extremely honoured and excited to share with others. This recipe is extremely healthy since it contains only natural ingredients. It provides us with a variety of healthy homemade ingredients. As to environmental benefits this recipe does not harm our environment since the ingredients are none polluting. These ingredients grow naturally from the ground being provided with a source of water. This recipe contains extremely simple ingredients that can be found within every grocery store nearest to you. After have accomplished my first real meal and approving to it, I suggest you to try and make this recipe at home and savour this tastiness of all these ingredients combined.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole grain rice
1 can tomato sauce
1 can mixed beans
3/4 of red peppers
1/2 sliced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Parsley

Interesting pictures and shocking links

Most interesting: It is interesting because the illustration shows not only how the production of bottled water works but it also demonstrate the affects that this production has on the environment .We can see that the use of water bottle has a big impact on the waste of water resource as well as on the oil resource. We need the petroleum products to made the plastic bottles, and fuel to shipped around the global. Finally, the plastic bottle ended up with no recycling and the planet is full of plastic bottle. Moreover, we can see from the picture that half of the consumers don’t recycle all those bottles they buy .Plus, the big barrels of oil used for producing a little amount of bottles are too big compared with the size of the Earth.

Most horrifying: http://www.chooseveg.ca/animal-cruelty-canada.asp
It is horrifying because it shows the world how the animals are treated before they end up in our plates. We don’t think about the horrific conditions these poor animals go through and most of the people are not aware of the animals’ life in the factory farms. From the pictures, we get to know their state before they are slaughtered.

By: Charya Mean, Pooja Patel , Siyana Kurteva

WARNING!! NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART TRULY HORRIFYING!!

http://animalabusersspotlight.yolasite.com/factory-farm-cruelty.php

WARNING! This website has extremely graphic pictures of animals being tortured.

Whether your an animal lover or not, I am sure we can all agree that what is happening to these animals is wrong. It is unnecessary and cruel and we are supporting this cruelty by buying meat products. You're probably thinking "well I'm not the one burning these animals alive, or breaking their legs!". No you're right you're not doing it...but you're paying someone else to do it. I bet if people had to go out and kill animals themselves to have that hamburger for lunch, I'm sure their eating habits would change pretty quickly. We have to stop pretending this isn't happening and do something about it! The animals need us, we have to be their voice. I'm not trying to tell you to stop eating meat right this second, which has it's benefits by the way...Did you know vegetarians live an average of 7 years longer than meat eaters?!? These animals are fed all kinds of garbage, feces,and antibiotics , does that sound delicious to you? People are addicted to meat, and I understand it is very hard to stop eating it. The trick is to cut down slowly; if you're eating meat every day, cut down to five days a week. I promise you will start to feel a lot better physically and it will get easier every week. You will not only be saving soem animals' lives but also helping the environment.

Pasta Fagioli

I come from a mix of an Italian and Quebecois background.This very simple recipe was introduced from my father and modified by my mother. It originally comes from the real recipe for Pasta e Fagioli, and with food experiments, at my house, there were ingredients that changed. It’s very easy to make, and takes about 15- 25 minutes to cook. It’s great when you don’t feel like making a big supper. A great dish with at home ingredients, and healthy vegetables. You can find every ingredient at any grocery store, including pre-made pasta sauce, if you don’t have your own made. You can improvise with different vegetables, tofu, or spices. Also, optional, is a finishing topping of grated parmesan cheese.

Ingredients

• 5 c. water
• 1 can (540 g) of cannellini beans
• 1 16 oz can plum tomatoes chopped or ½-1 c. of pasta sauce
• 3 fresh sage leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Tubular pasta noodles
• optional- carrots, celery
  

Directions:

1. In a large pot, add water and bring to a boil.
2. Add the tubular noodles to the pot until ready (al dente).
3. When noodles are ready incorporate the can of beans, tomatoes (or pasta sauce), (carrots and celery), 2 tbsp of the olive oil, rosemary, sage, bay leaf, and whole garlic cloves.
4. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the leftover olive oil, then salt and pepper to taste.

My recipee

Rice and Beans!

I come from an Armenian cultural background. This rice recipe has been in my society for a very long time. My grandma’s mom thought it to her then my grandma thought it to my mom and now it’s my turn to learn this recipe. In Armenia we call rice ‘pilaf’. To make this, you need to have:

Recipee
¼ lbs butter
½ vermicelli pasta
2 cups rice
4 cups chicken broth
Salt

To start off, you melt the butter in a pan. While the butter is melting, you break the vermicelli into small pieces. When the butter has melted, you add it into the pan and you mix it until it gets brown. Once you see that the pasta has become golden brown, you add together the rice and you stir until it is well mixed with the butter. Once this is done, you insert the boiling broth, add salt if it needs to be seasoned. You stir this for a good 3 minutes and your rice is done.

I knew how to make this recipe for a long time because my mom use to make it as a side dish every time we had super. She showed me how to prepare it and it was a success. I shared this with a couple of my friends and they really liked it. The chicken broth gives it a little taste. If you want to add a little more color to your rice, you can add up some vegetables and not only it well taste better, it well be healthier.
In Armenia, rice has always been a side dish because it is part of our cultural beliefs.
We can’t eat a meal without having rice as a side dish.

Araz Torossian

Italian Minestrone Soup Recipe

Ingredients
-1 small onion diced
-4 cloves of garlic
-1/2 cup of sliced carrots
-1 can of cut tomatoes
-1/2 of chopped celery stalk
-1/2 of a chopped zucchini
-2 cans of white beans
- 2 cans of kidney beans
-1/2 cup of pasta
-2 tablespoons of parsley
-3 cups of spinach
-2 teaspoons of oregano (dried)
-1 teaspoon of basil (dried)
-2 teaspoons of salt
-1 teaspoon of pepper
-4 cups of broth (preferably vegetable)
-3 tablespoons of olive oil
-3 cups of hot water

Directions
1. Heat three tablespoons of olive oil
2. Cook the onion, celery, garlic, and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes
3. Add broth, and then drain the tomatoes, beans, carrot, hot water, and spices.
4. Boil soup and then let cook for 20 minutes.
5. Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook once again for another 20 minutes
6. Makes about 6 normal sized bowl servings

About the Recipe
The recipe is in fact a recipe from my grandmother on my father’s side of the family who is Italian from Bari. I actually went to her house this past weekend and she explained to me all of the procedures on how to make this healthy and delicious recipe.
The recipe was not hard to prepare, however, I am not much of a cook, which is why I needed help from my Nona in making the soup that I shared with her and the rest of my family.
I was proud of myself in making this recipe for two reasons: I realized upon myself that I am not that bad of a cook as I thought I was, and that it is possible to have a delectable meal without the use of meat.
This recipe is healthy and great for the environment because it does not cause any harm to the planet, reason that it is nothing but vegetables, broth, and pasta and evidently, it has no meat which makes it have no harm whatsoever to the planet.
Most of the ingredients can be found at a local supermarket and some of the vegetables come from my Nona’s garden. It was great timing because fall is coming along and her vegetables will start vanishing soon.

Recipe, Red Lentil Curry

Red Lentil Curry

Ingredients
• 2 cups red lentils
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry paste
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ginger root, minced
• 1 (14.25 ounce) can tomato puree
Directions
1. Wash the lentils in cold water until the water runs clear (this is very important or the lentils will get "scummy"), put the lentils in a pot with water to cover and simmer covered until lentils tender (add more water if necessary).
2. While the lentils are cooking: In a large skillet or saucepan, caramelize the onions in vegetable oil.
3. While the onions are cooking, combine the curry paste, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, salt, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a mixing bowl. Mix well. When the onions are cooked, add the curry mixture to the onions and cook over a high heat stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomato puree and reduce heat, allow the curry base to simmer until the lentils are ready.
5. When the lentils are tender drain them briefly (they should have absorbed most of the water but you don't want the curry to be too sloppy). Mix the curry base into the lentils and serve immediately.

This recipe was quite easy to make, very simple, minus the fact that I couldn't find one ingredient, ground turmeric. I found the recipe online, and my girlfriend is quite good at using lentils in her recipes. This was a saturday night supper, my girlfriend and I made together. This dish was quite easy to prepare, im usually the sou-chef and she's the cook. Most of these ingredients are fairly easy to find, a lot of raw vegetables in this recipe, which makes it healthy and quite simple at the same time. This recipe has many good health factors, for one, no processed food, we even replaced the can tomato puree with a puree we made from scratch.

This is an india based recipe, I must say I love indian food, overall the experience was great, I really enjoyed the meal but I did miss my meat content.

Rice and Beans!

Being from the European culture, a recipe that is well known and very good for you is “Minestrone”. It’s been a recipe in my family that has been passed down to many generations. I have decided to share this recipe with the class, it is very simple to make and prepare as long as you always make it with love!

Minestrone

Ingredients
• 6 cups of homemade broth
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 leek, sliced
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 celery stick, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ cup of lentils
• ½ cup barley
• 1 cup of mixed beans
• 1 stem of broccoli
• 2 cup uncooked spinach
• 3 tomatoes peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp pesto sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Directions
1- In a large saucepot, heat the broth to simmering.
2- In a saucepot heat the olive oil. Stir in the leek, onion and garlic until golden. Add carrots and celery and cook on medium heat for 6 minutes.
3- Add potatoes and cook for 2-4 minutes.
4- Pour in the hot broth and stir well. Add in the lentils, barley, mixed beans, broccoli and spinach.
5- Stir well and add tomatoes, add in bay leaf and seasons with salt and pepper and let boil for an hour and a half.
6- Grated parmesan on top and serve.

As you can see this recipe is very simple and easy to make. I enjoyed making this soup with my mom to serve for all my family. When making this dish you know that it will be a great and healthy meal with all the beans, lentils, barley etcetera that provide so many good nutrients and protein without having your meat as an ingredient. When severing this dish your happy to serve it with a smile because you know that everyone will get the satisfaction and healthy benefits they need. This minestrone has great health and environment benefits because its fresh and healthy ingredients and all come from the garden that also benefits on the environment. Many North Americans diets are very bad and by having minestrone soup at least once a week it is a great way to make your diet much better.

“Dad's fave crunchy n’ creamy pasta recipe”

I found the recipe I prepared on the following website: http://www.pasta-recipes-made-easy.com/creamy-pasta-recipe.html. The recipe is called “Dad's fave crunchy n’ creamy pasta recipe”, which is also known as 'penne alle mandorle' (penne with almonds). It caught my eye because the woman who posted this recipe said that her dad who is a meat-lover absolutely loved this recipe; so I figured that my family who also love meat might love it too. It also looked very delicious and fairly easy to make which is another reason I chose it. This recipe originally came from Sicily. The recipe was really easy to prepare, and took me about 45 minutes to make. It helped a lot that the directions were so clear on the website, and that there were pictures posted up so I could see what the food should look like at each step. I shared this recipe with my parents and my sister who all loved it. I thought it was great and I will definitely be making it again. This is a very healthy dish; the almonds and pasta are sources of protein, there are some vegetables, and healthy fats like the olive oil. This recipe benefits the environment in the sense that no animals are killed to make this dish; therefore less fossil fuel is used. It says on the website that if you buy fresh ricotta cottage cheese from a farmer’s market or an Italian delicatessen the food will taste better.

Ingredients:
- 100g/3.5oz crushed almonds
- 5dl/17 fl oz half-fat cream
- 50g/1.75oz breadcrumbs (from tub)
- 500g/17.5oz penne pasta
- 1 medium white onion
- 20 fresh basil leaves
- 250g/9oz ricotta cheese
- Extra virgin olive oil

STEP 1 - First, just a few minutes of quick preparation:
- Peel and chop onion as finely as possible.
- Grate approx. 3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese.
- Rinse and tear the basil leaves.
- Use a pestle & mortar (or rolling pin and small plastic bag) to crush almonds into smaller pieces (not too much though, they shouldn’t be fine like flour but should retain some ‘crunch’!).

STEP 2 - Pop breadcrumbs and crushed almonds into two separate oven dishes or trays.
- Toast under a maximum heat grill for 10-15 mins, shaking regularly, until nicely browned.

Important! After the first few mins of grilling, don’t take your eye off them for a second, as they turn brown real quick!

STEP 3 - Coat a frying pan with a thin layer of oil, heat through on a medium hob, then drop in the onions and basil.
- Fry until onion softens (approx 10 mins).
- With the onion softened, add the cream, 2 tablespoons of salt and 3 of grated parmesan.
- Heat through, stirring only occasionally, until cream becomes thicker and some of liquidity disappears (roughly 10-12 mins). Then take pan off heat.

STEP 4 - Boil a large pan of well-salted water and when boiling add penne pasta.
- Cook as per packet’s recommended timings.
- Just quickly, while the pasta cooks, take a large mixing bowl and stir together the almonds, ricotta and half the toasted breadcrumbs (keep remaining crumbs in a small bowl for serving at the table).
- When ready drain pasta.

Speed tip: Once you’re confident multitasking, next time you can speed things up by setting the pasta cooking and mixing the ricotta mixture while you cream sauce is bubbling away.

STEP 5 - With pasta drained, pop cream sauce back on a medium heat hob and mix in both the ricotta mixture and drained pasta.

Done!

Pasta and Beans Recipe

Recipe: Green Beans and Pasta with Cream of Mushroom

This recipe actually was made up by me. I threw in ingredients I knew my family would love such as green beans, pasta, cheese, cream of mushrooms and more mushrooms. Cooking for someone or better yet your family is nice but it can be tricky there too if you have very picky eaters. But you enjoy cooking much more when you see how you make everyone happy after a great homemade meal like this. Although I had no problem once I’d figured out that green beans are part of the legume family. Then add that with some pasta and then sauce and then some veggies which made it perfect and it just all came together very nicely. Plus, this is one of a few recipes we make that does not involve any meats, which is much more eco-friendly this way. This is because red meats always are cheap but they release piles of CH4 and CO2 during this process at the farming factories which contribute to global warming. Plus this is 100% good for you while we also know where all the ingredients come from and it is pretty cheap there still. This is a very easy recipe for anyone as long as you know how to boil water, cook pasta and veggies, by boiling them in water and heating up a can of soup as your sauce. I hope you all enjoy this! :)



Recipe: Green Beans and Pasta with Cream of Mushroom
(Serves for 4 people)

Ingredients:
-Green beans (about one pound)
-Pasta (any kind but I used Farfalle 1/2 box which is also 227 g approximately)
-1 Can of cream of mushroom soup (I made it with 1 can of milk but you also do it with water or half and half)
-1 Can of mushrooms (I used stem and pieces, but you can use whole or fresh mushrooms too)
-Some shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)

Directions:
Step 1: Gather all ingredients. Prepare your boiling water to cook your pasta and beans in. Fill you pot up with ¾ full of cold water and put on stove top on high with lid to cover it. I cooked with both the pasta and the beans in the same pot to have fewer dishes and save some water. But I’m pretty sure chefs or really good cooks would never tell you to do this. But I say why not? It worked for me.

Step 2: While water is boiling you prepare your beans by rinsing them and then removing the tips off both end of your beans. Once the water is boiling add your pasta, this is because the pasta needs a lot more time in cooking then your beans. So if you’re not ready to put your beans in then that’s fine. Reduce heat to medium-high once the water boils once again with the pasta. Your pasta needs at least 11 minutes to cook. Cook your pasta until desired tenderness. But remember to add your beans in at some point. They only need 3-5 minutes only, so add them in the last few minutes of cooking.

Step 3: Once beans start cooking then you can now start on your sauce. Take out your other pot put in 1 can of cream of mushroom and it says to either: add 1 can of milk, or 1 can of water or half and half. This is completely up to you. I made it with 1 can of milk for some protein and some richness to our sauce. You also can put in an additional can of stem and pieces mushrooms or whole mushrooms or fresh mushrooms. Whichever seems to suit you best and your appetite. Stir it all together on high until it starts steaming which means the sauce is heating up. Then once it is hot enough you can reduce the temperature to low for the sauce to stay warm.

Step 4: Grade the mozzarella cheese now or ask someone to help with that and setting up the table since you are busy with the two pots on the stove.

Step 5: Once everything is cooked and ready then just drain off the water in the pasta and beans pot or use a strainer. Get your bowls ready and serve. Start with pasta and beans then add your lovely sauce and finally add some grated mozzarella cheese on top. And Voila! This is a perfectly simple and easy recipe for you to make and enjoy at home with your family or friends.
Bonne Appetite!
*Serves for 4 people*

Factory farming in Canada!

The one that we found the most interesting was on the mistreating of animals in Canada. http://www.chooseveg.ca/animal-cruelty-canada.asp.

We found this article interesting because they show the atrocity that is happening in farms in Canada. We happened to find this link as the more horrifying as well. Before the pigs are sent to a butchery market, almost 30 million pigs suffer and are mistreated by the farmers. We were astonished and weren’t aware of such atrocities that the farmers are doing to this poor animals. These animals have the right to be well treated just like human beings. Furthermore, they happen to never see sunlight, never get fresh air they are trapped in their feces and are leaving in a dark warehouse. Some pigs have their tales cut off, teeth clipped, ears notched, and are castrated without any anaesthetic. To kill the pigs, they compress them to kill them faster.

On our part, we will try to eat organic meat from companies such as Beretta Organic Farms. These farms are for people who are concerned not only on what they eat but also about the health and well being of our planet. They use no chemicals, no genetically modified organism etc. No antibiotics are put in their foods.
Referecence: http://www.berettaorganics.com/

Julia Loubaton

Araz Torossian

Baboa Juk: Eight Treasures Congee

Baboa Juk, eight treasures congee in English, is yet another auspicious food during Chinese festival (there seems to be just about one favorable food for each day in a Chinese lunar calendar!). Nothing to do with the Chinese New year, it is instead eaten in a festival called Lar Ba Jak on Lunar December the 8th.

Ingredients:
Millet 1500g
Chinese rice 500g
Peanuts 250g
Walnuts 150g
Pinenuts 20g
Red dates 30g
Hawberries 100g
Red beans 30g
Chinese rock sugar 500g

Directions:
1.Rinse the millet and rice thoroughly under cold water.
2.Pour 5kg of water into a saucepan, add the red beans, peanuts, walnuts and pinenuts. Cook, stirring constantly, for 40 minutes.
3.Add the millet and rice, keep stirring over low heat until the mixture turns to juk-like texture (not too watery but smoothly thicky).
4.Put the Chinese rock sugar in the saucepan, stir until melt. Add the red dates and hawberries to the juk and heat for another 3 minutes.
Serve in bowls.

Tricks of the trade:
1. Leave all the nuts in cold water overnight before use.
2. If desired, add some dried longan and white wood ear fugus (leave in cold water for about 2-4 hours and cut into very fine shreds before use) to the juk (together with the red dates and hawberries).
3. Some regions in China use glutinous rice instead of the millet for this juk.

This is a traditional Chinese dessert recipe. It’s very easy to prepare it. In fact, you just cook the ingredients with water. I shared it with my family. Actually, I cook sometimes this kind of dessert to my parents, but every time I felt very warm and prove of me. This dish is makes of 8 kinds of nuts and beans. It’s very healthy and you can change the recipe easily. For example, add some salt instead of sugar, this will make the dish salty but still delicious. It’s very environmental because it’s a no meal dish. Furthermore, I use a thermo cooker that keep dish cooking without using electricity. Consequently, I don’t use a lot of energy. Some of ingredients are not very common but I think you can find all the ingredients in Chinatown or in a Muslim store. Even if you can’t find all the ingredients, you can always change the recipe.

By: Qi

Vegetarian Stew!

At first, I was going to make a dish with my mother; however I decided to do it with my grandmother. This is a dish that my great grandmother used to make for my grandmother and her siblings. My great grandmother is Grenadian. This isn’t a Grenadian dish; however she put her style of cooking into it. My great grandmother taught my grandmother who then taught my mother.
The only thing that is time consuming is chopping up the vegetables. Other than that, it only takes about an hour to make, if you know what you’re doing. It took me and my grandmother about 3 hours because she was doing a lot of explaining while teaching me how to make it.
My grandmother and I prepared the stew for my grandfather. It was something I enjoyed doing because I hardly get to spend time with my grandmother now that I school has started again and juggle work. This is a fairly simple dish to make; there is much room for error. The only thing you can possibly mess up are the onions. My grandmother says that the onions must stay white and should get burnt; browning them.
Cooking is something I enjoy doing, even though I don’t know how to cook much. I find it relaxes me and I like playing around with what you put in the food. In the sense that you can make something one way and change it up completely by simply adding or removing ingredients. Plus, it felt good accomplishing it and hearing my grandfather tell me that it takes good.
The stew is a healthy serving of food because of all the vegetables and beans in it. The beans are a great source of protein and the vegetables are a good source vitamins and fiber. I don’t believe that there are any environmental benefits because there are chemicals that are sprayed on the corn and the other vegetables that pollute our earth’s air. These ingredients are found at just about all grocery stores.

Ingredients:

1 can of chickpeas
1 can of white beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of pinto beans
2 carrots
5 potatoes
2 turnips
Dumplin [your choice on amount. We like a lot]
1 small onion
2 stalks of celery
Some parsley


How To Make It:

Get a bug pot and put 2 tbsp of oil
Chop onions and sauté until translucent [not brown because that will mean they burnt and the stew will have the taste]
Add celery and let it sauté for a while
Add stock [chicken or beef]
Add water until the pot is 3\4 fill and bring to a boil
Add chickpeas, white beans, black beans and pinto beans to pot and wait for it to boil again
Add carrots, potatoes, turnips and dumpling and wait for it to boil as well
Let it simmer until it thickens [to your liking]
Before serving add a little chopped parsley

Barley Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup uncooked wild rice
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1 cup vegetable broth or chicken broth
• 1/2 cup regular barley beans
• 1 small fennel bulb, chopped
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
• 8 large cabbage leaves
• 2 8-ounce cans low-sodium tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions:

-Rinse wild rice with cold water; drain.
-In a medium saucepan combine the 1 3/4 cups water and the broth.
-Bring to boiling.
-Stir in rice and barley beans.
-Return to boiling; reduce heat.
-Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
-Stir in fennel, carrot, and thyme.
-Simmer, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes more or until rice and barley are tender; drain.
-Meanwhile, fill a large casserole dish with water.
-Bring to boiling.
-Cut out center veins from cabbage leaves, keeping each leaf in one piece.
-Immerse leaves, 4 at a time, into the boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes or until leaves are limp.
-Drain well.
-Place about 1/2 cup of the rice mixture on each cabbage leaf; fold in sides.
-Starting from an unfolded edge, carefully roll up each leaf.
-For sauce, in a medium bowl stir together the tomato sauce and brown sugar.
-Spoon about 3/4 cup of the sauce into a 2-quart square baking dish.
-Place cabbage rolls in dish.
-Spoon remaining sauce over cabbage rolls.

This recipe comes from my mother’s side (Europe), it is a classic Ukrainian dish, which is often made for the Ukrainian holidays, whether it would be Christmas or Easter. This dish is rather time consuming and long to prepare. It requires a lot of work throughout the cooking process and if the cabbage leaves are overcooked or aren’t drained properly the recipe will not turn out well. Following the directions carefully is very important and minding the time requirements are also crucial as overcooking any food item might ruin the dish. The smell the cabbage produces is one negative aspect in this dish. The house smells for quite some time! I shared this dish for dinner with my family. I felt nervous preparing this dish because I’m not great at making meals. I’m also a person who needs to the follow the recipe step by step or else the meal will be a total disaster. As I got closer and closer to the end result I was happy that I didn’t ruin or mess up any of the steps. Once the dish was complete I was very relieved to have successfully completed this recipe. I felt good sharing the dish. When you make a meal, you are more willing to appreciate what you are eating because of all the hard work and time that you had put into it. Cabbage is an excellent source of minerals, vitamins, especially vitamin C, as well as fibre. Cabbage is also relatively inexpensive, very easy to grow and is grown in almost all countries. Although cabbage is a great green vegetable for our bodies, it isn’t so good for the environment. Insecticides are used in order to for the cabbages to grow without any problems. The toxins in these insecticides are not good to the environment, as they will and continue to pollute the air. The ingredients are easily found at any grocery store or market.

Rice and Beans Recipe: Pelau

My recipe of choice is called "Pelau" and it is a West Indian dish. My mom's side of the family is from Trinidad and this is what our rice and protein meal is.
I can't give the full recipe, because it's a secret family recipe, but here are the basics:

-Rice
-Pigeon Peas
-Flavour/seasoning: - Coconut
- Pepper Sauce
- Etc...

It's a very intricate recipe to prepare, but once you get it right, you don't even need to use a recipe book anymore. In fact, I don't believe that any of my aunts, my grandmother, or my mom actually have a recipe written down for this. I was actually very lucky to have this assignment this week because we're going to Toronto this weekend for a huge family get-together, and it's my mom's job to make the giant batch of pelau for everyone. After making it, we didn't really eat much of it since we need to save it for the weekend, but my dad and my brother (the taste-testers) said that it was delicious! I really enjoyed preparing this dish, especially with my mom teaching me because I know it's part of my roots, and I can't wait for when I'll be able to prepare this for friends and family in the future.

It is also very nutritious due to the use of pigeon peas, one of its many healthy ingredients. The pigeon pea is very high in protein, as well as different amino acids. They're able to grow in most tropical climates, so it is very beneficial for different countries to be able to get their protein through such a great tasting legume.
As for buying pigeon peas here, it's very hard to find them in grocery stores. My mom and I usually either buy them at a West Indian super market, or at Zellers. I’m not sure why, but Zellers actually sells them, for cheap too. Another ingredient (which we didn’t use this time), is pig tail. This is pretty difficult to find as well, as we can only buy it in West Indian super markets.
In all, this project was very interesting to do, as I was able to research pigeon peas. I didn’t actually know they contained tons of proteins, and this is perfect for me to know now that I've taken meat out of my diet!

Most Horrifying post

This is posted by the teacher:
Article: "Canadian Obesity High Compared to other Rich Countries"

This is shocking and horrifying because to think that even us Canadians are getting more and more obese. Don't we know how to eat healthy? As well as things we should avoid eating and get active? Apparently, some of us don't though and are now having health problems.

So this is shocking to see us Canadians cathing up to the Americans. The worst part is this, "we are losing the battle against obesity." 1 in 4 Canadians are obese and yet it is still increasing to this day and for the next ten years if we don't do something about it. We all must start eating healthy now before it's too late.

Food Fight Quebec

The most interresting thing we have learnt is the creation of the bottled water industry and how its consumed our society. It's very interresting to learn that giant soft drink corporations get to use free tap water, filter it, and then sell it as bottled water. To the corporations this seems like a steal. While they rack up the profits we are left to deal with all the left over plastic bottles and the polution that is made from creating this bottles. It also shows how the giant corporations use scare tactics in their marketing, to try and make the public scared of tap water, when their is no reason to do so, their pretty much lying to the public to benefit themselfs, not caring about the environmental damage, i guess thats what happens in a capitalist society. This video and these images explain it all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0

This video has made me change the way I use water. For one, no more bottled water, tap water is sometimes cleaner then bottled water anyways. worst case scenario buy a brita filter to further filter your tap water. This videa also gives many alternate options to bottled water, it helps our society see what changes we can make and how important it is to start making them as soon as possible. A real eye opener.

Nick MacIsaac

Alexandra D'Amore

Something New, Horrifying, & Interesting!

http://www.vegfamily.com/articles/the-meat-of-the-matter.htm

We liked this picture because of the fact that is says so much about the emission of greenhouse gases in the simplest way. Despite the seriousness of the matter, the picture provides some humour based on the issue.

http://animalabusersspotlight.yolasite.com/factory-farm-cruelty.php

This video is very explicit as it demonstrates how little chicks and ducklings are treated. It shows its viewers the cruelty and way the chicks are divided, stuffing and overcrowding them in small cages. Throughout the process, some chicks and ducklings were severely injured and/or killed.

Up to now we’ve learned that animals are mistreated. For instance, many of the same animals are cramped into such small spaces; they are injected with growth hormones as well as antibiotics causing them to grow bigger than normal and at abnormal rates. This can cause health problem because antibiotics are now in the food system.



Even healthy foods aren’t good for us anymore because they’re most often injected with preservatives, sugars and fats.

The water in water bottles, such as Naya, PureLife and Fiji, are nothing more than our own tap water. We pay ridiculous amounts of money for water that we can get for free. We make the water bottle companies filthy rich, as we continue into their scam.


Jordan McGregor, Larissa Morgan & Anthony Tanti

Our Actions : The Consequences

Siyana Kurteva : ODB Garbage Island

We found this post INTERESTING, since we do not really realize how much pollution we are doing from the trash that we throw away. It shows how much we pollute without even realizing what we are doing. It shows how much we aren’t considerate on the way we do the things we do. We throw away our garbage, mostly re-usable, without even knowing where they go, how they are going to be treated, without even a care in the world. And then the result: a sea of garbage on different areas on earth. Places where they just dump the garbage waiting for an answer on how to dispose of them. But in the meantime, these trashes pollute and do not degrade.

http://ymiblogging.org/2010/07/odb-garbage-island/



Jordan McGregor : Is the Blue-Green Algae Killing Off Sea Otters?

We found this post HORRIFYING. First, we are the ones causing the blue-green Algae; as a result, devastating consequences are occurring. For instance, this article explains that we humans are responsible for the creation of algae. Human activity is the main cause for this. Agriculture, car washes, industries, all of these human activities contributes to the proliferation of blue-green algae. It is invading slowly the local rivers and lakes. Some places, where you could swim and drink from the water, there is an interdiction to even touch the water. In fact, even the sea population is threatened. They are dying from the algae; it removes most oxygen from the water so they cannot continue to live. The Sea Otters are in the same boat. They are dying. Dying because of us. Dying because of the pollution of the human activity. We are a source of destruction. And we do not care. We keep on going with our daily activities, with our production. We know that it is happening, we ‘’try’’ to do something, but the true fact is that nothing is happening. There will be no change unless we hear the soon-coming wake up call.

http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/09/21/is-blue-green-algae-pond-scum-killing-off-sea-otters

In brief:
 
In this class we managed to learn about how the meat that we eat (such as poultry, steak, etc.) is made. We learned the truth behind the production (miserable way of living for the animals that are being fattened with corn and live in their own manure).

We also learn in this class that world is getting hungry. We are using harmful means for the environment to achieve our goal of making lots and lots of cheap food and then sell it for cheaper.
Corn is used everywhere, which is why the cost of food is cheaper. There are so many rows of corn that it is just amazing. Whether you like it or not, corn is predominant in our society.

There is also Peak Oil. We didn’t even know that the word existed, nor the concept. We didn’t know at some point in time, there will be a peak of oil. We knew that the quantity of oil was diminishing, but we didn’t know about the concept of Peak Oil.

We also learned that, sometimes, bottled water isn’t as great as we think it is. It might even be worse than tap water. 3

The descision...

After learning this, we will try to be more responsible of our actions. We will think more about the actions that we do. Per say, we will try to recycle more, try to not use water bottles and maybe try to teach some people about what we learned, such as our family. Basically, spread the message to others.



Habib Ur Rehman

Clarence Christian Fontin

Chilli! As in "by the time I'm finished cooking, it'll be chilli!

Vegetarian Chili

(Serves 6)

Ingrediants:

-10 medium sized fresh tomatos (or canned equivalent)

-1 medium sized onion

-2 garlic cloves

-1 cup of celery-1 cup of corn

-1/4 cup of olive oil

-1 tablespoon of basil

-1/2 cup of green pepper

-1/2 cup of red pepper

-1 can of red beans

-1 box of whole grain pasta

-salt (optional)

-pepper (optional

-1/2 teaspoon of hot pepper (optional)

-1 can of tomato paste (optional)

1. Peel, divide and liquify fresh tomatos. To do this, simply bring a pot of water to a boil, and submerge tomatoes until skin becomes wrinkly and begins to detach. Remove tomatoes from water and then remove the skin. Then, divide each tomato into several smaller parts, so as to be more manageable when liquifying and to remove any tough parts. Then, using a handheld blender, blend the tomatos together until they become a homogenous solution. Add the result into a large pot.

   
   

2. Dice all of the fresh vegetables, excluding corn, and add to the pot along with the basil, the spices, and the oil. Add more or less hot pepper depending on preference, then put the pot on the stove, cover it, bring it to a boil and allow it to cook for some time. Maintain boil on low heat.

3. Open can of beans and drain any water, then add the beans and corn to the pot, and allow chili to cook until ingredients are of desired tenderness. For a chunkier chili, reduce cook time, or increase it for the opposite effect. If chili is too thin, tomato paste may be added. It is difficult to estimate the exact times it will take to cook chili, as much of it relies o

   n the individuals taste, therefore it is recommended to try small samples every so often, and to change cooking tactics accordingly.

4. When chili is done, let sit for approximately 30 minutes to enhance flavouring. Durring this time, prepare pasta to be served with dish, by following the instructions on the box.

5. Serve and enjoy!

My landlady is Chilean, and while Chile ha nothing to do with chili, it was an interesting parallel nonetheless. I told her about this project, and how I needed a recipe that had some sort of vegetarian protein source, all while having grains in the dish, and this was

her recipe. I'm a very slow cook, and it took me the whole of five hours counting preparation and clean up to make it, however, it was definitely worth it! It's a fairly simple recipe, and practically impossible to burn too, it's just time consuming if you aren't used to preparing a lot of vegetables quickly. However, It's important to note that many shortcuts can be taken, such as using canned beans and tomatoes, and powdered forms of garlic, onion, and hot peppers if time is an issue. For a skilled cook, or simply after repeating the recipe several times, it might take between an hour and an hour and a half to prepare it.

Aside from preparing comes eating, and though late, it was delicious! It could have used a tad less onion, as that's a taste I'm picky about in excess, but other

than that it was perfect. Because I work in a cafe, I'm used to making food look good. Presentation is everything, it's our first impression, so I didn't spare any bells and whistles when making this meal. As a result, my landlady loved it, and although she was apprehensive at first by the sheer size of the portions, she finished it all and long before me! I felt kind of bad about constantly asking her how to make it (when you spend more than an hour in the kitchen on one dish, you really don't want to make mistakes), so it was nice to be able to return the favor. The next day I also brought two portions to school, to share with my friend Samar as I'd originally invited her over for supper, but she couldn't make it that weekend. Once again, it was a hit and she finished before I did, saying that it tastes like her mother's chili. I really enjoyed preparing a whole meal, and it really taught me to appreciate the work that goes into i

t. When you cook for yourself it's much easier, and you rarely bother with large recipes, but as you cook for more people, you're forced to elaborate a bit more. Thus, there is more variety at my home in The Eastern Townships than here in Montreal.

Eating a vegetarian meal is not something I do all the time. My lunches and breakfasts are almost always vegetarian, however most of my suppers contain meat. If not, they only consist of pasta, and are always lacking a protein source. With the vegetarian chili, there is plenty of protein in the beans, and it's a cinch to cook up some pasta or cut up some bread. What's more, with the large variety of vegetables in the mix, there's a myriad of vitam

ins present, all in a low fat, healthy calorie meal. What's more, the oil in it could probably be reduced. Eating a vegetarian meal is much greener in every sense of the word, as meat often comes from unsustainable sources. The livestock raised are pumped with hormones and antibiotics, not to mention are succumbed to horrible living conditions and fed a corn based diet. Meat has a heavy carbon footprint compared to vegetables. While some of them are probably shipped from very far away, the onions and garlic in my recipe were from Quebec, and the celery was organic. If I was back in The Townships and had access to my vegetable garden, the bulk of it would be organic.