Eating foods according to the season

May is here!! Woohoo!! That means I can go back to eating tomatoes!

My pretty little basket of May produce from my favorite organic food store

And then you might ask me - wait, why weren't you eating tomatoes?

Answer: Depending on where you are, you may notice that the vegetables in your market change from season to season. I say "may" because if you're living in the Southern Hemisphere, or close to the Equator, chances are there is no change. But here in the Northern Hemisphere, the produce you will find at the market changes radically from one season to another-from one month to another, even. Tomatoes aren't available in winter because tomato plants don't produce tomatoes during winter in France. Hence the lack of tomatoes.

Normally.

But what you can find are tomatoes that come from Italy, Spain, warmer countries, or even French greenhouse-produced tomatoes available in supermarkets during winter. But it's not as tasty, and the carbon-footprint on these babies are HUGE in winter. Instead of buying produce like leeks, beets, and potatoes that come from only 50 km away, when you choose to buy tomatoes in winter, you're paying for produce that came from thousands of kilometers away, meaning more gasoline and CO2 went into the delivery of winter tomatoes.

So if you're even a little eco-friendly, you abstain from buying tomatoes in winter.

And if you're a lot eco-friendly, you try to buy produce that corresponds to each season and cook accordingly. Here in Veggie Friends, I try to apply to this principle, by posting recipes using fruits and vegetables that are in season.

Here are some examples of what you can find in May in the Northern Hemisphere:

• Strawberries
• Tomatoes
• Bell peppers
• Zucchini
• Cucumbers
• Beets
• Carrots
• Rhubarb
• Lemons
• Oranges

Ideal dishes would be Ratatouille, Strawberry Pie, Cucumber salad, etc.

So have fun, unleash your creativity with fruits and vegetables that are in season, and don't forget to look at where the product came from to keep your carbon footprint down!

Real American Apple Pie

Mmm, made from scratch apple pie. You're not an American if you haven't baked or eaten apple pie at least once in your life. And if you haven't ever thrown a pie/shoved someone's face in it/accidentally dropped a pie on a sidewalk on the way to a neighbor's pool party, you haven't had a childhood, either.

So back to the real, good, made-from-scratch apple pie. You're going to need pie crust (recipe here) along with a couple other ingredients, namely, eight apples.

They can be apples of any color/variety. I've done Granny Smith before and this one uses Golden apples, which were the only ones available in French springtime. This is a great recipe to use for Thanksgiving, but why not make it for Easter as well?

Ingredients:

8 apples
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons flour
Pie crust

#1. Do the pie crust. It takes a while. When you're done, separate the dough in two (a slightly bigger dough for the crust, and a smaller one for the lattice work on top).

#2. Peel, core, and slice the apples thinly.

#3. Melt the butter in a saucepan, and add the flour. Stir until combined, and add the water.

#4. Add the sugar a little bit at a time, and bring to a boil. Then, reduce the heat and let simmer. The sauce needs to be slightly liquid.

#5. Arrange the sliced apples inside the pie crust in neat circles, packing the slices together.

#6. Preheat the oven, then cover the pie with a lattice work. If you don't know how to do it, watch the friendly video below.


#7. Pour the sauce on top for a crunchy sugary touch.

#8. Bake for 40 minutes at 180°C. Enjoy!

Vegan pot pie

Now, what does one do when there are fresh zucchini, asperagus, and carrots in the refrigerator?

Vegan pot pie, of course!

I came upon this recipe by chance and adapted it to whatever I had in my refrigerator. I used these vegetables right here :)

Ingredients for the filling:

One large zucchini
A carrot
A can of corn
Half of a leek
Chickpeas (quantity is up to you)
Three asparagii
1 onion
2 cups vegetable broth
Bay leaf
1/4 cup flour
1/4 non-dairy milk
1 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. Thym
2 tablespoon vegan butter


And you'll also need pie crust. Check out the recipe for pie crust here.

Steps
1. Make the vegetable broth and let the bay leaf simmer in it for about 5 minutes.
1. In a seperate pot, sauté the onion in the butter for 10 minutes, until soft.
2. Add paprika, thym, and flour. Stir until combined, and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add milk.
4. Add the vegetable broth and take the bay leaf out. Add remaining ingredients, except for the asparagi (I added them on top of the pie,  at the end).
5. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, and cook for 10 minutes. It should look bubbly and sort of creamy. Pre heat your oven for 15 minutes at 180°C.
6. Place inside pie crust and decorate with asparagi.

Almost done. . .now it just needs to bake!

7. Cover the pie crust and make a few holes in the top with a knife. Bake for 20 minutes.

A slice of vegan pot pie when it's finished:

Pie crust

So, you're wondering how to make amazing flaky pie crusts, hmm??

A word of wisdom: Never buy pie crusts in the supermarket. Always make them from scratch. It makes the entire difference.

All you need is:

• 2 cups flour
•  4 tablespoons vegan margarine
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Enough water to combine everything.

You probably have the ingredients at home already. All you have to do then is : 

1. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.

2. Mix in butter and make crumbly dough.

3. Mix in enough water so that the dough does not fall apart in your hands.
5. Refrigerate for at least half an hour before use.

All done! Enjoy! 

Meat-less Monday - oriental lunch!

In preparation for Meat-less Monday, I've been cooking up oriental vegan dishes. This is what my lunch looks like: couscous, spiced leek & turnip, lentils, and dolmas on the side (my favorite). Recipes coming soon!

Veggie Friends now has a Facebook page!

That's right, you can 'like' Veggie Friends on Facebook, and receive updates about articles and other useful tips!

Here's the link .

Happy Meat-less Monday everyone :)

Vegan potato salad

Potato salad. . .a delicious side dish, easy to make, and like my favorite dishes, you can put virtually anything into it.

So why are my potato salads different? Because of one, essential ingredient, that I believe every good potato salad should have.

An apple!!

Yes, that's right - an apple gives the right crunch and sweet touch to potato salad. To be fair, this isn't even my idea. It was passed down to me by my Mom, who learned it with my best friend's Mom (who is czech, by the way, and has the most awesome recipes). Since I was five, all of my potato salads have had an apple in them.

So, go ahead, get creative! Here are some ideas of what to put in your potato salad:

• Homemade mayonnaise (that's a tricky one, and something I've never done. But in honour to my mom and my best friend who both know how to make it, I'll leave it written down).
• Corn
• Peas
• 4 boiled large potatoes
• A chopped apple
• Chopped celery (more crunch)
• Chopped spinach
• Chopped raw or cooked carrots

Mix it all up, chill, and enjoy! 

Vegan pizza n°2

This is just an idea of the wondrous ingredients you can add to a hearty vegan pizza. And this is also the third pizza I make this past two weeks- it's becoming my favorite dinner to whip up at the last moment.

The beautiful place mat is made by my mom. She sells them in Brazil.

This delicious pizza has:

• Purple cabbage
• Swiss chard
• Dried tomatoes
• Black olives
• Corn
• Soft tofu
• Olive oil & herbes de Provence :)
• Tomato sauce.

Basically, spread the tomato sauce onto the dough, and top with everything else. 

Here's the recipe for the pizza dough.  I substituted the white flour with whole wheat flour and it turned out beautiful. Enjoy!

Vegan chili

Hello and welcome, winter!

Let's celebrate winter with hearty recipes :)

Below is an adaptation of a vegan chili: simple to make and delicious! It's great as a main meal served with rice. Since it's a recipe that relies mainly on beans, it's also an excellent source of iron and protein.

Ingredients:

-Red beans, black beans, chickpeas, or all of them together. Pre-cook beans before! This can be done with a pressure-cooker.
-A can of peeled tomatoes
-Corn
-Chopped celery
-Chopped carrot
-Chopped bell pepper
-Chopped chili pepper or chili powder
-1 small onion
-1 clove of garlic
-Salt and oregano

All you have to do really is heat oil in a large pot, lightly combine the onion, garlic, pepper, carrot, celery until they're coated with oil, and then add the corn, tomatoes, and beans. Add salt, chili pepper, and oregano. Stir until thick. Enjoy!

Vegan pizza with mushroom topping!

A couple weeks ago, I showed you guys how to cheat by making pizzas in 3 minutes. 

Here's the real thing. You can top your vegan pizza in many, many ways. I chose to start off simple, with only three ingredients: onions, mushrooms, and broccoli stem. You can also use spinach instead of broccoli stem, or chopped bell pepper. As there's no sauce involved, this pizza topping makes a dry pizza- it's good for a light snack.

To start with, you'll need pizza dough. Click here for instructions. Once that's done,

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.
2. Chop the broccoli in thin strips, dice your onion, and cut your mushroom in thin slices. They should look like this:

3. Heat oil in a skillet. Grill the broccoli stems, then add the other ingredients until mushrooms are browned and onions are transparent. Let cool for a little bit.

4. Spread your pizza dough on a pizza pan, oil it, and spread your topping over it.

Before going in the oven. . .

5. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes.

How to make pizza dough

Here are simple instructions on how to make a basic pizza dough. You'll need:

-A packet of yeast
-1 cup warm water (it needs to be warm to activate the yeast. Ideal temperature is when it's warm enough to touch but not hot enough to burn)
-1 teaspoon sugar
-3 cups flour
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water and add the sugar. Mix gently and let rest for 5 minutes.
2. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a hole in the middle of the flour, and add yeast mixture and oil in the hole.
3. Gently mix the flour in the water, mixing so that there are no clumps. Mix until it is homogeneous.
4. Knead your dough for 10 minutes on a surface with flour, until dough is elastic and soft.
5. Oil a bowl and put your dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen cloth, then let rest for 1-2 hours.

Dough after 1 hour

All done! You can refrigerate any unused dough for up to 3 days.

Questions I get asked: What if you were stranded on an island and you had to eat meat to survive?

So what if you were stranded on an island and you had to eat meat to survive?

Well, let me explain. There are limits, and then there is stupidity.

It is reasonable to boycott meat in a society where vegetable protein is largely available and can suit everybody’s needs. Killing animals is not justified when you can get your protein from perfectly peaceful sources.

It is not reasonable, however, to boycott meat when you are stranded on an island and your only chance of survival is by eating crab meat. If this ever happens to you, then, by all means, eat crab meat.

It is not reasonable either to refuse meat when you are on a peace mission in a Native American tribe in Bolivia and they offer you llama meat. Take it. It’s not worth a clan war to explain why you prefer to eat vegetables.

It is not reasonable to refuse meat when you’re a journalist sent to cover a story in Nigeria and a family offers to house you and feed you with meat, when there’s scarcely enough to go around. Don’t try explaining why you, rich person, would prefer not to eat meat. They won’t understand.

If I’m ever caught in one of these situations, I would probably eat meat.

But so far, I’ve never been in one of these situations. I live in the part of the world where food is aplenty. I can choose what I eat, and I choose not to kill for my food.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking: don’t you kill lettuce when you eat it?

Aha, got you covered. Check out my answer to this question. 

Questions I get asked: Don’t you kill lettuce when you eat it?

Answer: Yes, lettuce dies when we pluck it from the soil and stuff ourselves with it.

But what shocks you more? The death of a lettuce head or the death of a mother cow?

I won’t post the videos here – YouTube has plenty of them. Let’s get back to the point: killing lettuce.

I personally believe that lettuce is a living being, but much less evolved being than a cow. I prefer to kill lettuce than to kill cows based on that belief. I believe there is a huge difference between the two of them. Namely, cows are capable of walking, mooing, licking their babies, dancing-

Yes, dancing. Check out this video. It’s friendly, I promise.

But lettuce is a simpler organism, biologically speaking. So that is why I prefer to kill lettuces than cows. It’s my choice to kill who or what I want. In fact, in my mind, cow is a ‘who’ and lettuce is a ‘what’.

If you think there isn’t a difference between the two, I suggest you go to a petting zoo and meet some baby cows up front. 

Video on how to make popcorn

Hey guys! Here is my very first video log, inspired by a neighbor who asked me to show how to make popcorn after I'd written about it.

So check it out! The popcorn made was amazing by the way :)


Click here to watch video on youtube.

Hearty winter soup with 3 vegetables

Hey folks! So winter's on it's way and we all love soup in the winter. Especially if we're at home with a case of the sniffles.

So here's a basic, hearty recipe that will keep you on your toes throughout winter.

The three ingredients are:

1. Potatoes

Keep the skin for extra vitamins and taste.

2. Pumpkin, or other types of squash:

Puts the 'heart' in 'hearty'

3. Leeks:

Gives the soup a unique taste and complements the potatoes.

In addition to the three basic ingredients, you'll have to add salt/pepper for taste or a cube of vegetable broth. I added a handful of rice and since I ran out of vegetable broth, I added a packet of miso soup.


If you're feeling particulary inventive, you might want to add celery, onions, garlic, turnip, beans, corn. . . the list goes on!

For one person, you'll need:
-1 chopped potato
-About the same amount in chopped pumpkin
-Half a leek, chopped
-A handful of rice
-A cube of vegetable broth
-Olive oil


The how to:

#1. Heat olive oil in a pot. Gently sauté all the vegetables together for a minute. Then, add enough water so that all the vegetables are covered.

#2. Add vegetable broth, or salt and pepper. If you're going to add a packet of miso soup, wait until the vegetables are completely cooked.
#3. If you're adding rice, wait 10 minutes, and then add rice.
#4. Cook until the pumpkin and potatoes are starting to dissolve.

This is what miso soup looks like, in case you were wondering. You can find packets like these in oriental-food stores. The packets are a mixture of fermented soja, rice, and algae. They're pretty salty on their own, so if you use one of these, don't add extra salt.

Happy winter!

How to make tasty broccoli that you will love

Recently I was discussing broccoli with a friend. She mentioned that she had hated broccoli as a kid, but now as a grown-up, she learned to eat it. But she still wasn't in love with it. I exclaimed: But how can you not love it? She then answered that it was its watery, slimy taste that she didn't like.

Then I understood. Yes, even I'm not partial to broccoli when it’s simply boiled. It loses its taste and crunchiness. So here’s a sure-fire way to cook and enjoy broccoli.

1^st step: Wash the broccoli. If you buy super fresh broccoli, there might be little critters in it. So soaking the entire head of broccoli in water with vinegar is the best way to go.

2^nd step: Cut the broccoli in little florets, or ‘trees’ as I once explained to a little kid. I keep the stem and chop it also because I don’t like food going to waste.

3^rd step: Cook the broccoli by vapor. If you don’t have one of these, you might want to invest in one. They’re cheap and cooking vegetables this way is the best way to conserve their vitamins. And plus, they keep their crunchiness, different from boiling them.

What you do is you place a little water in a pot, place this metal collector on top with the broccoli inside, cover with a lid and boil the water. The water vapor will rise and cook the broccoli without immerging the broccoli in water.

The broccoli will be done when it’s dark green and soft.

4th step:  Sauté the broccolis with your favorite condiments! I like heating olive oil in a skillet and adding chopped garlic. In the picture, I added grated ginger root to give an extra flavor. You can also experiment with herbes de provence, chopped onion & soy sauce, tomato sauce, etc.

Chopped garlic and ginger

Note: It is possible to skip step 3 and directly sauté the broccoli. It will take longer, the broccoli will be crispier, and it will need more oil. The extra heat also takes away some of the precious vitamins. In the end, the florets may be more to your taste but it’s generally a less healthy option. I recommend doing the main cooking by vapor instead of frying.

All done! Now here are some quick facts about broccoli and why I love them so much:

-It has lots of iron, like other dark-green vegetables.

-It also has important quantities of beta-carotene.

-It’s high in Vitamin C

All in all, broccoli is a cheap super food. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving special: sweet potatoes!

Back on track for the Thanksgiving and Christmas specials. Here's a very easy dish that can be served on the side: sweet potatoes!

Sweet potatoes look like this:

All you do is peel it. . .

Chop it . . .

Boil it, and that's it. No salt, folks. Potatoes are done when you can spear them easily with a fork.

It's easy, full of vitamins, and gives a little sweetness to your meal.

Questions I get asked- Isn't being vegetarian more expensive?

Today I'm going to answer this one as briefly as possible.

If you adopt a vegetarian lifestyle, the answer is NO. You will basically substitute meat protein for beans/lentils protein. As beans/lentils are cheaper than meat, you will find out that being a vegetarian means a cheaper lifestyle. Just go ask the people in India.

If you adopt a vegan lifestyle, the answer is YES. You'll end up substituting the calcium found in milk and cheese with vegan products such as soy milk, almond milk, nuts, dried fruit. These are more expensive than animal products.

But the difference isn't that much - see how much fish and red meat cost these days.

And also, I find that buying almonds, dried figs and humus makes me happier than buying ham and cheese. Maybe that's just me. But they sure are good :)

Gâteau américain à la banane et aux noix

Je vous présent l'une de mes recettes américaines préférées: le gâteau à la banane!

En fait, son nom en anglais est 'banana nut bread'. Comme son nom l'indique, il s'agit d'un pain- un pain sucré qu'on a pas besoin de pétrir.

Penser à ajouter des noix, mais il est délicieux juste avec les bananes!

Cette recette est bien végétalienne, c'est-à-dire qu'elle n'ajoute pas d’œufs.

Pour le faire, vous aurez besoin de:

-4 ou 5 bananes très mûres, voire même noircies.
-2 verres de farine de blé
-1/2 verre de cassonade (choisir une cassonade qui est vraiment brune)
-3/4 verre de sucre
-3/4 cuillère à café de bicarbonate de sodium
-3/4 cuillère à café de cannelle
-3/4 cuillère à café de sel
-1/2 verre de lait végétal au choix (j'ai utilisé du lait d'avoine, mon préféré)
-1 cuillère à café de vinaigre de cidre
-1/4 verre d'huile (j'ai utilisé huile de colza)
-1 cuillère à café d’essence de vanille
-Des noix en morceaux

Instructions:

1. Mélangez bien les ingrédients secs. Préchauffez le four à 180°C.
2. Écrasez les bananes avec une fourchette dans un saladier séparé.  Ajoutez le lait, le vinaigre, l'huile et l'essence de vanille.
3. Mélangez les ingrédients secs avec la mixture de bananes. Mais pas trop! Il faut que ça soit homogène, mais pas trop mélangé. Il faut qu'il y ait encore de morceaux de bananes.
4. Ajoutez les noix.
5. Mettez la pâte dans une moule à pain. Enfournez pour environ 40 minutes. Le gâteau sera prêt avec le test de fourchette!

Vegan Thanksgiving : Spaghetti Squash!

Hey guys! :)

I grew up celebrating Thanksgiving with my family in the United States. As I grew up, though, I started to question my turkey-beliefs and eventually I gave up Turkey-day all together. Mostly because celebrating Thanksgiving doesn't feel right when you know it's about how the pilgrims invaded North America and killed off the natives. But today, Thanksgiving is about gathering the entire family together for a good meal, being thankful for everything in your life. For that, I still hang on to some Thanksgiving values.

Minus the turkey, of course.

This year I made three vegan Thanksgiving recipes. Check them out!

Spaghetti Squash with tomato sauce

You will need:

A spaghetti squash
Tomato sauce, or make your own with a couple of tomatoes, garlic, onion, and basil!
A friend to help scoop the seeds out and to share your meal with

#1. Preheat your oven to 220°C. While your oven is heating, make several large cuts in your squash. This is IMPORTANT. The squash might explode if you don't do this. Even if you make a lot of cuts, there might be a time when the squash starts to hiss like a pressure cooker. Don't worry. It's the air escaping.

#2. Cut the squash in half length-wise and scoop the seeds out. Save the seeds to bake for a tasty salty snack later, or throw them out.

#3. Take a fork and shred the squash with it. You'll start to see the spaghetti strands. Scoop that out into a bowl.

#4. When you're done, top with tomato sauce!



 Enjoy the wintery goodness for squash.