Spaghetti and "Meatballs"

Serves 4

• Tempeh, grated
• 1 onion, grated
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of water
• your favourite pasta sauce
• half a packet of spaghetti
• grated cheese of your liking

1. Cook spaghetti according to packet directions
2. Meanwhile, combine grated onion, grated tempeh, breadcrumbs, water in a bowl and mix well.
3. Form the "meatball mix" into balls.
4. Cook "meatballs" in a frypan with oil, turning the balls to brown them.
5. Once meatballs are browned, heat pasta sauce in the same pan.
6. Serve meatballs and sauce over spaghetti, topped with grated cheese.

Kofta balls in tomato sauce

Serves 4

These are basically a vegetarian meatball that are very cheap to make and taste delicious.

Ingredients

Koftas

• 2 cups cauliflower (grated)
• 2 cups cabbage (grated)
• 1 1/2 cups chick pea flour or potato flour (can use other types of flour if need be)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 pinch cayenne
• oil or ghee (for deep frying)

Sauce (or use your favourite pasta sauce)

• Tomato puree (1 - 2 cans)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• some finely chopped basil leaves if you have them
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 bay leaves if you have them

Method

1. Combine sauce ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes, keep warm.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large saucepan.
3. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Roll 24 balls, 2 cm in diameter.
4. Place as many balls in the oil as possible, leaving enough room for them to float comfortably; fry over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the kofta is rich golden brown.
5. Drain in colander.
6. Place the kofta in the warm sauce for 5 minutes before serving.
7. If after sitting the kofta soaks up most of the sauce, add a little water to produce more liquid.
8. You can serve with cooked spaghetti, or on their own, drizzled with remaining sauce.

There are also other variations of kofta meals such as baked spinach koftas and curry kofta meals. Google image search for kofta will show what I mean.

The true cost of eating meat

Rajenda Pachauri, the Nobel laureate and head of the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change, has stated that changing what's on your plate is a more important issue than reducing car journeys. And his colleague Yvo de Boer, head of the UN agency that hosts international talks on climate change, has said that one of the best solutions to the planet's most burning problem would be "for us all to become vegetarians".

The pair have authoritative studies on their side. In 2006, another UN body, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, stated that 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions stemmed from livestock rearing. Not only does meat production contribute more than transport to climate change, the methane released by flatulent cows has 23 times more potential impact on the earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the FAO estimated.

Jeremy Rifkin, the American economist and an adviser to several EU institutions, has given a similarly compelling reason why meat consumption must be cut. "People go hungry because much of arable land is used to grow grain for animals instead of food for people," he has said, pointing out that during its 1984 famine, Ethiopia was growing linseed cake and rapeseed meal for European livestock while its own people were dying of hunger.

Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/apr/30/swine-flu-meat

Asparagus Frittata

Adapted from http://elise.com/recipes/archives/002019asparagus_frittata.php

Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp salt

2 bunches of asparagus, tough ends snapped off, spears cut diagonally into 2cm lengths

6 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup shredded cheese

Method

1. Heat oil into a 25 cm oven-proof frying pan over medium high heat. Add onions and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 3 minutes.
2. Add asparagus, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, covered, until the asparagus are barely tender, 6 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn.
   
3. Pour in eggs and cook until almost set, but still runny on top, about 2 minutes.
   
4. Sprinkle cheese over eggs and put in under oven griller until cheese is melted and browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from oven and cut into 4 wedges.
   

Shopping List

(assuming you have cheese, salt)

Green grocer

half a dozen eggs $4.00

1 onion $0.50

2 bunches asparagus $7.00

Total: $12.50

Price per serve: $3.13

Spinach and Ricotta Balls in Curry Sauce

Adapted from http://www.edgell.com.au/recipe-balls-in-sauce.asp

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 pkt frozen spinach
1 onion, finely chopped chopped
can 5 bean mix, drained
tub of ricotta cheese
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp ground coriander
2 cups rice or pasta
oil

Sauce:
1 onion, finely diced
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons vinegar
2 cups water
1 can diced tomato, drained
1 tablespoons tomato paste no added salt

Method

1. Put rice or pasta on to cook according to packet directions.
2. Defrost spinach for 2 minutes in a microwave (or boiling water) and then add to a medium-hot pan with oil or butter to cook.
3. Place cooked spinach, onion, bean mix, 2 tbsp water, ricotta, breadcrumbs, egg and ground coriander into a food processor and process until combined (or mash with a potato masher).
4. Form mixture into 20 balls.
5. In a non-stick pan with oil on medium heat, add onion, curry powder, brown sugar, vinegar and ¼ of the water, cook for 1 minute.
6. Add remaining water, tomato, tomato paste and simmer for 4 minutes.
7. Add a batch of ricotta balls, pouring the curry sauce over them for 3-4 minutes. Repeat with remaining batches of ricotta balls.
8. Serve with a side of rice or pasta.
   

Shopping list

(assuming you already have oil, rice, ground coriander, bread crumbs, eggs, curry powder, sugar, vinegar, tomato paste)

Aldi

tub of ricotta cheese $2.99

1 pkt of frozen spinach $1.29

1 can five bean mix $0.89

1 can diced tomato $0.75

Total: $5.92

Green grocer

1 onion

Approx 50c

Total: $6.42

Price per serving: $1.61

*giggle*

Zucchini and Bean Bake

Adapted from http://www.edgell.com.au/recipe-zucchini-bake.asp

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 zucchini, thinly sliced
jar of pasta bake sauce
can of 4 bean mix

200g spiral or penne pasta
1 cup grated cheese

Method

Cook pasta according to the instructions on packet.

Preheat over to 190°C
Heat oil in frypan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add zucchini slices. Cook for a further 2 minutes.
Stir in pasta sauce, drained beans and pasta.

Spoon into a 1 litre ovenproof dish.

Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Shopping list

(assuming you have oil, cheese, garlic)

Aldi

can of 5-bean mix $0.99

spiral pasta $0.59

pasta bake sauce $1.99

$3.57

Green grocer

2 zucchini

1 onion

Approx $2

Total: $5.57

Price per serving: $1.40

Food, Diet, and Sustainability

This video can also be downloaded in MP4 format from here.

Eating the Earth - Food Diet and Sustainability

How should we eat to ensure a sustainable future?

Part of the 2009 UTSpeaks lecture series.

Introduced by Professor Stuart White of Institute of Sustainable Futures (UTS). 

The Institute of Sustainable Futures was created to undertake contract research, to create change towards sustainable futures, working across disciplines and with a solutions orientation.

The talks was given on the 18th February 2009 at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

Speakers: 

Rosemary Stanton

Dana Cornell

Dr Rosemary Stanton is a nutritionist and author of numerous books on the topic of healthy eating. She is also a member of the NSW Health Department's Food Advisory Committee.

Dana Cordell is a senior researcher and doctoral student at the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is also co-founder of the Global Phosphorus Research Initiative.

Impact and inputs of diet and food choices.

How closely it lies with the study of systems: where things come from and where things go to.

What a major impact diet has on carbon footprint and global ecological sustainability.

It takes approximately 5 kg of cereals to produce 1 kg of meat.

Managed grazing lands now occupy 25% of the global land surface area.

34% of cropland is used to feed livestock.

Nearly 20% of Australians are obese. Nearly 50% overweight. 

This costs Australia in health terms about 21 billion per year in terms of dealing with 'overnurishment'. 

Meat consumption has doubled in the last 15 years in China and it's up 70% in Brazil.

Dana talks about the serious impacts of phosphorus use.

'Embodied oil'.

Terms of trade.

'Embodied cruelty' and factory farming.

50% of our food is lost between the farm and the fork regardless of where it occurs in the food chain. Systemic inefficiency or actual inefficiency.

Global food crisis (the other GFC).

Probably the sustainability issue most amenable to personal choice and behaviour.

Fair trade sales up up.

Think globally, act locally notion.

The balanced diet: 'food literary' triangle made up of nutrition and health, environmental sustainability, and taste (how to cook it)

Issues to address

• overconsumption = wastage and 'waistage'
  
• ethics of using resources - animal foods, modified foods, 'functional' foods - for the overfed while others starve
  

Environmental issues

• greenhouse gases
• water / irrigation
• soil fertility
• fertiliser use
• reduced biodiversity
• high production of animal foods
• processing, packaging, storage and transport
• ethanol production (cars competing with humans for energy)

Each of these issues are addressed with its issues, and actions required to address

Greenhouse gases and food

• agriculture produces 16% of green house gases
• 70% agricultural green house gases from livestock
• methane particularly problematic - odourless, cattle and sheep burps
• feed improvements -> minor decrease in methane

Actions

• avoid waste
• favour plant foods
• fewer animal foods and avoid lot-fed beef (40-80% of beef)
• choose minimally processed foods
• choose minimally packaged foods
• cut exports: beef, lamb and dairy

water and food production - water is our most vital issue

- production of animal foods uses more water than required for most plant foods

litres of water for 1 kg food

• potatoes 500 l / kg
• wheat 900 l / kg
• maize 1400 l / kg
• rice 1910 l / kg
• soy 2000 l / kg
• chickens 3500 l / kg
• beef, broad acre 50,000 l / kg (CSIRO figure)
• beef (lot-fed) 100,000 l / kg (USA figure)

action

• favour plant foods
• fewer animal foods
• restrict production of animal foods to areas with enough natural rainfall, less chance of erosion and appropriate native grasses or pasture; may mean changing the animals we are prepared to eat

soils and food production

• Aust. soils very low in phosphorus
• over-reliance on chemical fertilisers
• little research into organic production
• town planning

action

• need increased recovery of phosphorus
• change to diet with more plant foods
• favour smaller animals (less phosphorus use than animals fed grain or enhanced pasture)
• favour locally-grown organic produce

modern food production emphasises

• animal foods
• processed foods
• packaged foods
• foods for export
• imports

animal production

• 40% of world grain fed to animals
• 20-50 kg of feed produces 1 kg meat
• issues include - land clearning, farm imputs and transport, waste (450kg steer -> 20 kg wet waste / day)

action

- government action

• reduce animal numbers and lot feeding
• reduce meat exports
• reclaim phosphorus from animal manure

- personal action

• reduced consumption of meat - Rosemary Stanton is not convinced we should have no meat (simply because you can't win the hearts and minds of Australians to have no meat; you can design a nutritious diet around no meat)
• favour chicken, pigs, meat from animals that graze and kangaroo
• keep chooks at home if appropriate (eat scraps, produce eggs, when they get old you can eat them if you're able to kill them)

processed foods - need to consider the energy inputs

• production
• processing
• packaging and disposal of
• distribution

kilojoules to process 1 kg of food

• flour 2100 kJ/kg
• canned fruit/veges 2500 kJ/kg
• bottled water 3000 kJ/kg
• ice cream 3800 kJ/kg
• soft drink 5900 kJ/kg
• low-kJ soft drink 25000 kJ/kg (ironic)
• chocolate 77700 kJ/kg (sorry)
• instant coffee 79000 kJ/kg

This is just a snippet from Rosemary Stanton's lecture. The full slides and audio available from this link.

Fried Eggplant with Mexican beans on cous cous

This is just a recipe I made up using ingredients I had in the cupboard. It was a delicious creation.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 large eggplant, cut into 1 cm thick slices

1 cup plain flour

1 tbsp cayenne pepper or chilli powder

1 can 4 bean mix

1 packet taco flavour mix

1 cup cous cous

1/2 cup grated cheese

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

1/2 cup frozen peas

Method

Fry onion in oil over medium heat in a large pan. Once onion is soft add garlic and fry for 1 minute. Add half a cup of water and taco flavour mix powder, mixing well. Add drained can of 4 bean mix and frozen peas, and cook for several minutes, stirring regularly, until most of the moisture is gone.

Meanwhile, mix flour and hot spice together. Roll eggplant slices one at a time in the mix to coat.

Fry the coated eggplant slices in oil in a skillet, about 2 mintues each side.

At the same time, in a medium pot make "2 servings" of the cous cous following packet directions. Add cheese at the last stage so it melts into the cous cous.

Serve fried eggplant slices on a plate with cous cous on the side topped with beans.

Shopping List

You can buy taco flavour mix for 75c from Safeway in the mexican food section.

Cous cous is around $2 or $3 for 500g packet from Safeway (found near the pasta sauce)

4 bean mix costs 99c from Aldi

Creamy tuna pasta

Another dish with seafood.

Adapted from http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/4912/creamy+tuna+pasta

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 350g fettuccine or spaghetti
  
• 2 tbs olive oil
  
• 1/2 onion, chopped
  
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  
• 1 cup (250ml) cream
  
• 2 tbs tomato paste
  
• 425g can tuna, drained
  
• 1 cup frozen peas
  
• 1 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley or mixed italian herbs
  
• 100g semi-dried tomatoes, optional
  
• 2 tsp capers, rinsed, drained or stuffed green olives, sliced
  

Method

1. Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and toss with half the oil.
   
2. Heat remaining oil in a large frypan over medium heat, add onion and cook 2-3 minutes or until softened.
3. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
4. Stir in cream and paste, add tuna and peas. Heat gently for 1-2 minutes.
5. Stir in herbs with the tomatoes and capers, add pasta and season. Stir until just heated through. Serve.

Shopping list

(assuming you have oil, garlic, tomato paste, frozen peas, herbs)

Aldi

Fettucine $0.99

Double cream $3.69

Stuffed green olives $1.59

can Tuna in spring water $1.89

$8.16

Green grocer

onion

semi-dried tomatoes

$3

Total: $11.16

Per serve: $2.79

Sausage and mushroom risotto

Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 packet of Vegie Delights vegetarian sausages

1 litre of Massel chicken flavour (all vegetable) stock from cube

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

100 g swiss brown mushrooms, sliced

1 and 3/4 cups (350g) arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup grated parmesan

45g butter

Method

1. Cut sausages into chunks. Bring chicken stock and two cups of water to a simmer in a saucepan on medium heat.

2. Heat oil in a large heavy-based saucepan on medium. Cook onion for 5 minutes, stirring until soft. Add sausage and cook three minutes, stirring. Add mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring. Stir in rice and cook for another minute.

3. Stir in wine. When absorbed, add a ladle of simmering stock. Cook on medium heat, stirring utnil stock is absorbed. Add remaining stock one ladle at a time to absorb, stirring constantly. This will take about 20 minutes. Add peas with the last ladle of stock. Remove pan from heat, cover and set aside for 5 minutes to allow any remaining liquid to be absorbed.

4. Fold in parmesan and butter. Season to taste and serve.

Shopping List

(assuming you already have chicken stock cubes, olive oil, arborio rice, dry white wine, frozen peas, parmesan and butter)

Fruit shop

1 small onion

100 g mushrooms

Approx $2

Safeway

Vegie delights sausages $5.09

Total: $7.09

Approx $1.20 per serve

"Fish" and "Chips"

I'm going to try to make something this week that I haven't tried to make before.... tofu fried "fish".

So this meal is fried crumbed "fish" (where the fish is actually tofu), and instead of "chips" I'm actually making wedges.

Fried "fish"

I'm just making this for two people (as the rest are meat eaters), so you might need more tofu for more people.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
  
• 1 egg, whisked
  
• breadcrumbs
  
• a good sprinkling of paprika
  
• a pinch of salt and pepper
  
• 300g firm tofu
  
• oil for frying
  
• malt vinegar
  

Method

1. The day before, drain and squeeze the tofu of its liquid and marinate overnight in the fridge in a marinade of malt vinegar.
2. Pat the tofu dry. Mix spices with breadcrumbs. Slice tofu lengthwise into "fillets". Coat each tofu fillet with flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. (You could instead try a beer batter by mixing equal amounts flour and beer with the paprika/salt/pepper).
3. Fry "fish" a deep pan or wok (with two inches deep oil) on hot stove burner with the oil hot before you place the "fish" in. You may need to cook the fillets one by one. Deep fry until they turn golden brown, making sure they don't stick together. Fish them out and place them on some more paper towels. Serve right away!

Shopping List

(assuming you already have flour, oil, malt vinegar, paprika, breadcrumbs)

300g firm tofu 1.29 from Aldi

Spicy potato wedges with sour cream

recipe from here

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 tbs ground cumin
  
• 1 tbs ground coriander
  
• 1 tbs paprika
  
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  
• 1/4 cup light olive oil
  
• 1kg medium potatoes, scrubbed
  
• salt
  
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
  
• 1 tbs chopped coriander
  
• Sour cream and sweet chilli sauce, to serve
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line base of a large baking dish with non-stick baking paper. Combine spices in a large bowl. Add oil and mix well.
   
2. Cut each potato into 6 wedges, add to bowl and toss to coat with spices.
   
3. Arrange potato wedges in a single layer in a large baking dish. Sprinkle generously with sea salt. Bake for 45 minutes until tender and crisp. Transfer to a large serving bowl.
   
4. Top with combined shallots and coriander and serve with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.
   

Shopping List

(assuming you alreadu have spices, oil, salt, coriander, sweet chilli sauce)

sour cream $0.99 from aldi

green grocer

1kg potatoes

shallots

approx $4

total for meal: $6.28