What's on My Plate?

I have been super busy this season with work.  I feel like I need to set up camp at the Vatican so I can get a few more zzzz's in every night.  I have, however, managed to make time for my favorite activity, cooking.  I can tell you what is not on my plate:  decomposing flesh and animal secretions.  What is on my plate:  veganized healthy meals, zucchini from my garden, and lots of summer fruit.

 Four different types of zucchini (from my garden). From the left: Battered fried zucchini, spelt stuffed zucchini(spelt made with sun dried tomatoes, green olives, zucchini, mint, basil, and olive oil), grilled zucchini marinated overnight with olive oil, garlic, calabrian red peppers, and raw apple cider vinegar, and Zucchine agrodolce-sweet and sour zucchini with mint, garlic and olive oil. I am loving the bounty from my garden. Thanks to the awesome 

ladies for coming up!!

 Fresh Strawberries with 25 yr old Balsamic vinegar from Modena.  I broke the bottle yesterday.  A true crime against food.

 Some Zucchini from our garden.  We can't eat them fast enough.

My latest masterpice based on a wonderful dish I used to eat at Nemi.  Risotto alle Fragole-Strawberry Risotto.  This is a great dish that is not a dessert.  It is a savory risotto with a twist.  

     Recipes will soon follow.  I am sorry that I haven't had a minute to catch up my recipe writing with my cooking.  Stay tuned, and enjoy summer!

Swimming in Zucchini

2011 has been a fruitful year so far in terms of our garden.   The zucchini are the most productive vegetable of the entire garden.  Yesterday I harvested over 3 kilos of zucchini, and that was after I had harvested the zucchini patch two days prior.  They grow so fast I can't keep up with them.  Planting, caring for and then harvesting these vegetables has been very gratifying work.  I have long hot days in Rome and I look forward to digging in the earth, tending to the garden and being able to harvest fresh vegetables for the dinner table.  I love knowing where my food is coming from.  I also enjoy being a guest at a friend's house and instead of bringing a store bought bottle of wine, I bring vegetables I have produced.  All of my local friends can look forward to receiving lots of zucchini as there is no way we will eat them as fast as they are growing.
     On some days I will pick zucchini in the morning and go back in the late afternoon before sunset and there are already more to be picked.  I plan to leave a few on the plants so I can have larger ones for stuffing.  There are so many great vegan recipes that use zucchini, and I imagine I will have to use as many as I can so that I do not get bored with eating these lovely vegetables that are an excellent source of fiber, potassium. vitamin A, and magnesium.  
     I am looking forward to summer pasta salads with zucchini, zucchini bread, pickled zucchini, blending them into a smoothie for added nutrition in my diet, eating them raw with hummus, and more.  What are your favorite zucchini dishes?

This is one of my own favorite recipes for zucchini.  

Insatiable appetites for meat and milk may ultimately cost us the planet

GLOBAL WARMING
The United Nations FAO report,
Livestock’s Long Shadow, states
that: “The livestock sector is a major
player, responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2
equivalent.  This is a higher share than
transport.” (Transport causes 13.5%).
LAND
25% of the world’s land surface is
given over to grazing more than 1.25
billion cattle. Grazing is often said to be
the only use for such land but, in many
cases, a more efficient and sustainable
use would be to grow trees for timber,
fuel and food – such as nuts and fruits.
More than 1/3 of the world's agricultural
land suffers desertification through:
clearing forests for grazing; overgrazing; overcultivating croplands to feed
farm animals as well as people; using
poor irrigation techniques.  A vegan –
who eats only plant foods and products
based on them – requires just 1/4 of
the land needed to feed a meat-eater.
ENERGY
Farm animals convert only a fraction of
their food into meat, eggs, or milk. The
fossil energy input to produce a day’s
food for a vegan is only one-third that
for a meat-eater and half that for a
vegetarian.  Much of the land now
wasted in feeding farm animals could be
used to grow ‘industrial crops’ – for
example, to make renewable fuels and
fibre (hemp, flax, etc)
WATER
Farm animals are voracious consumers
of water. A day’s food for a meat-eater
requires over 5,000 litres (enough to take
100 baths) – compared with 2,600 for a
vegetarian and a mere 1,900 for a
vegan.
WASTE
Farm animals produce large quantities
of urine and excrement – 23 kilograms
per day for each cow.  The ammonia
and nitrates from this waste leach into
the ground and surface water, polluting
wells and rivers.  Such pollution causes
algal blooms, removes oxygen from the
water and kills fish.  Ammonia from
farm waste also contributes to
atmospheric pollution.
HUNGER
Nearly one billion people are undernourished or starving, despite the world
producing enough food to feed twice its
human population of 6 billion.  Yet 1/3
of the grain we grow is fed to farm animals.  Nobody seriously suggests that
animal products (eg meat, eggs and
milk) are essential for health.
Animal farming represents a
squanderous misuse of scarce natural
resources and is a major contributor to
environmental destruction.  Vegan diets
use less land, water and fuel and are
gentler on the planet.

Source:  The Vegan Society