During the past year, the UN calculated that the combined climate change emissions of animals bred for their meat were about 18% of the global total – a lot more than cars, planes and all other types of transport put together. A Bangladeshi family living off rice, beans, vegetables and fruit may live on an acre of land or less, while the average American, who consumes around 270 pounds of meat yearly, needs 20 times that. Academics have calculated that if the grain fed to animals in western countries were consumed directly by people rather than animals, we could feed at least two times as many people – and possibly much more – as we do now.

Eating a steak or a chicken will point to an abnormal water consumption, that the animal has required to live and grow. Vegetarian author John Robbins calculates one pound of beef needs around 20,000lbs of water. Farming, which uses 70% of water available to humans, is already in direct competition for water with cities. Industrial scale agriculture now dominates the western livestock and poultry industries, and a single farm can now generate as much waste as a city.

Farming animals generate manure and urine which is funnelled into massive waste lagoons sometimes holding as many as 40m gallons. These cesspools often break, leak or overflow, polluting underground water supplies and rivers with nitrogen, phosphorus and nitrates. A meat diet is usually considered twice as expensive as a vegetarian one. According to the Vegetarian Society, meat eaters get increased probabilities of obesity, cancer, heart diseases and other illnesses as well as a hole in the pocket.

So what now? How can we start contribute save our world?

Here a quick and simple recipe to get a good meat substitute, the Tofu and Green Onion Veggie Hamburger. This healthy tofu based veggie burger receive an extra nutritional boost from wheat germ. This recipe is both vegetarian and vegan.

Healthy Tofu Veggie Burger

Ingredients:

• 1/2 container firm or extra firm tofu, mashed
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 green onions, diced
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 2 tbls flour
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• dash pepper
• oil for frying

Preparation:

- Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Form into patties.

- Fry patties in oil in a skillet or frying pan until brown and crisp, about 10 minutes.

Now it's all to you...

Food Contributor

Author - Martha Volz writes for the Vegetarian Supplements for Meat blog, her personal hobby blog dedicated to vegetarian healthy eating tips.

Well, I've been off the hook as I am really working on some stuff you guys will see hopefully by the end of this month. 

Summer is in the thick of it and here is roasting hot. I've got to carry a fan on my... sun is killing me. I needed to freshen up so I was thinking that a nice Summer Lemon and Cinnamon Sorbet will do good. I love to use cinnamon in my cold desserts as I love it's aroma. This recipe is an old one and it is kind of different then the sorbet with the stiff beaten egg whites and with the machine rolling up to freeze your sorbet... non of that. 

This one is quite easier than you are thinking. So for that I had to drag my never stepped in the kitchen brother to help me out with the recipe. For a first timer he did pretty good. At least he learned something useful, so I am expecting to see a Lemon Sorbet from him sooner rather than later, when this one runs out.

Enough talking... here's the recipe for you!

Summer Lemon & Cinnamon Sorbet

Ingredients

175g sugar

500ml water

1 cinnamon stick

4 whole cloves

2 lemons

1 egg white 

Method

- Bring the sugar, water and zest peel of lemons to the boil in a deep pot.

- If you do not have a sugar thermometer, you time 7-8 mins from the time the syrup boils. It should be around 18 - 20 baume (sugar thermometer read).

- Remove the pot from the heat and cool over a container containing loads of ice (this helps to speed up the syrup to cool more rapidly) while continuing mixing every now and then.

- Add the juice of the lemons and the egg white and mix thoroughly.

- Pass everything through a fine strainer into your container that is suitable for the freezer.

- After it sets, scoop out onto your fancy cups and pour a dash of campari on top and serve immediately. 

It's summer right... at least in my country which fortunate or for some unfortunate the heat waves become part of your life. It's like absorbs your energy from the inside and the motivation you had in the past season (although it is always good sunny weather here) is now gone. Well, as much as you drink water at least 3/4 litres a day surely help every one of us to non dehydrate. We also need to eat good light food that reduces sweat and temper. Leave your heavy food behind for winters and start thinking light food till summer is over. 

With the beaches bombarded with families and teens, Summer BBQ's habits are just another cultural thing that pust a smile on everybody's faces these days. From Burgers, Sausages to creative salads and some nice beverages like wine and old fellas beers, the BBQ will be a hit. When I'm in a BBQ I try to taste everything especially my mates salads as they force me to do it any ways. Some use their grandmothers salad recipes and others just create their own salads from which I like taste to judge the creation. Sometime they put me in an embarrassed situation but I have to do it.

Since I was a teen I have created this recipe that I am going to carry on doing for every BBQ I go as it has become the 'Most Wanted' recipe. I remember that once I had to do this recipe for a BBQ of 45 people and was a success... it was so fun. 

A BBQ without an Onion Relish is like a piece of bread without butter. Your burgers, meat or chicken you are grilling on the BBQ's beach will surely need this add on Onion Relish to enhance the meat. I am glad I am sharing this recipe with you guys that are a BBQ fans. You will get some good reviews if you prepare this for your next upcoming BBQ.

Gordy's Onion Relish

Ingredients

4/5 white onions, shredded

5 tbsp brown sauce

2 tbsp honey or 2tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp of water

pinch ground cinnamon

dash olive oil

salt 

pepper

Method

- Heat a sauté pan with some olive oil and add the shredded onions (root removed) on a medium heat flame.

- Mix the onions with a wooden spoon for about 3 mins. You don't need to burn the onions.

- Increase the flame and add the honey or sugar to the onions and leave to caramelize for further 2/3 mins.

- Then add the cinnamon, brown sauce, balsamic vinegar and water to the sauté pan and continue to simmer on a medium low heat for 6 mins.

- Then season with some salt & pepper as desired and leave to cool. You can use it cold but preferably heated on your BBQ in a small pot while the burgers are grilling up. 

- The Onion Relish should not be runny but in a medium consistency so you can serve it better on top of your BBQ food.

Before starting more light and summery dishes I wanted to share with you this awesome soup recipe that I've created few weeks ago for lunch. Most of you are well aware especially if you have been in U.K for soup like Pea Soup or Pea and Ham Soup. It's a classic recipe in English Cuisine that most of have tasted.

But for this recipe I use smoked leg of Gammon in Maltese known as (Perzut tal-Koxxa) which is smoked and it tastes salty but incredibly delicious in recipes and with bread. Gammon is an ingredient hardly used that often in dishes and I wanted to create something with this flavourful meat. What I did is I bought some leftovers from the whole smoked leg of Gammon from the butcher which is far more than enough to use for this recipe I am sharing with you. Many of you have the tendancy to use tinned peas those marrow-fat peas instead of fresh or frozen peas in your recipes. Well... I had a couple of tins that I used together with frozen peas that I always have stored in my freezer. You can use just peas from the tin or just frozen/fresh peas for this recipe.

To give that extra flavour I used Wild Thyme as it goes very well also with gammon dishes. Plain Yoghurt is used to light up this soup and also for decoration on top. It will look fancy & cool :)

Pea & Gammon Soup

Ingredients 

250g fresh/frozen peas 

2 tins marrow-fat peas

250g gammon meat, cut into small dice (save some for garnish)

2 onions, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped

2 wild thyme sprigs

700ml chicken stock or water

1 plain yoghurt (save some for garnish)

salt

pepper

Method

- In a deep pot heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and fry the roughly chopped onions, chopped carrots.

- Add the tinned peas and the thawed frozen peas while continue frying on a medium heat flame.

- Then add the thyme and (Gammon Bones, removed after simmering process) and pour over the chicken stock or water to the pot.

- Let the liquid boil and simmer for 10 mins.

- Then blend the soup with a hand blender or a food processor and strain through a sieve.

- Put the pot again on a low flame and add half of the finely diced chopped gammon add half of the plain yoghurt. 

- Mix together with a Wooden spoon and season with salt and pepper and taste.

- To serve pour in soup plates, sprinkle some fine diced gammon and drizzle some plain yoghurt with a teaspoon. Thyme also can be used to garnish.

People call them Eggplants or Aubergines, depend where you live. We have the luxury to call it both in here and I decided to use Eggplant in this post. 

Eggplants are widely used these days but this vegetable can be either love or hate for many. Some can have difficulties to cook it because of its bitterness that ruin their sauces and their meals. Well, eggplants can be really bitter sometimes especially when they are firm. In this case you have to deal with them simply by adding salt as when salt is added to the already cut eggplants it will melt and kills its bitterness.

This is how you do it. Cut your eggplants as the recipe is saying and then transfer them in a colander containing a bowl underneath. Add salt to the eggplants and mix together and cover with a clean cloth. You can also put the egg plants directly on a clean cloth with salt as the cloth will absorbs the bitterness liquid from the vegetable in discussion. You then have to leave it for 20-30 mins to give time for the salt to work it's magic and melts.

For the Stuffed Eggplant recipe I am sharing with you, follow the same steps as it is important to leave the eggplant stem as it will hold it together later when it is cooked. Do not be afraid as the eggplant will change colour to dark brown when salt is added, as its what happens. After this process make sure to squeeze the eggplant to remove excess liquids. 

I came up with this idea of stuffing an eggplant differently and not as always. Usually one cut it lengthwise then removes to pulp, stuff it and bang it in the oven. I made lengthwise incisions of about 1.5cm thick as I said with the stem on and after I salted the eggplant as I explained above, I rubbed the eggplant layers with halved garlic and then stuffed it. Covering with tin foil it helps to steam-roast this healthy dish and it cooks much more quicker then just roasted.

Stuffed Vegetarian Eggplant

Ingredients

1 eggplant (aubergine)

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 sprigs rosemary, chopped

3 garlic cloves, thin sliced

120g parmessan cheese, shavings

salt

pepper

dash extra virgin olive oil

couscous to serve with this dish

Method

- Wash well the eggplant and then cut lengthwise incisions of about 1.5cm (as you see in the picture above) and leave the stem intact as it will hold it together.

- Transfer the prepared egg plant in a colander with a bowl underneath and salt all the layers to remove the eggplant bitterness. Do this 20 mins prior to commencing the recipe preparation.

- Squezze the eggplant to remove excess liquids (bitter liquid) and then rub all the layers with garlic.

- Start by stuffing the eggplant layers with the tomatoes, sliced garlic, chopped rosemary, parmessan shavings and a dash of extra virgin olive oil.

- Continue this process till you have stuffed all layers.

- Transfer the stuffed eggplant to a double tin foil piece and fold neatly closing all angles and tightly (this will keep the liquids that during the cooking process will be released)

- Bake in a dish for 30 mins in a hot oven 180C.

- Careful when removing the tin foil as it will contain a lot of liquid.

- Serve it with simple curry lemony couscous.

One of my all time favourite recipes that I definitely love to do as it take minutes to prepare is the Tomato & Sage Soup. I grow my own sage in a small pot at the backyard of my house, so I find it easier to use these flavourful fresh herbs in these cold soups. With the abundance of fresh tomatoes in every market and in summer we can celebrate a Tomato feast as they kind of go everywhere especially in salads, soups & pasta dishes.

For this quick Tomato & Sage Soup I managed to combine the fresh ingredients in a way that the soup's flavours will taste devine both if you eat this hot or cold. I recommend to toast some nice bread with this one especially if you are eating this soup hot. On the other hand when you are eating this soup cold, I suggest you to eat it straight away from the fridge... it will recharge your batteries. When I prepare this Tomato & Sage soup normally I prepare quite a lot and I store it in these efficient storage containers that keeps the soup preserved for 3-4 days in the fridge.

Cold Tomato & Sage Soup

Ingredients

500g fresh tomatoes, cut in four & deseeded

2 onions root removed, roughly chopped

2 celery sticks, roughly chopped

6-8 sage leafs

1 cucumber, peeled & roughly chopped

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

8 sun dried tomatoes

water enough to cover the ingredients

salt & pepper

1 fresh chili chopped (optional) 

Method

- On a clean chopping board after you have washed and removed the seeds from the tomatoes, put them in a deep pot. 

- Together with the tomatoes add the roughly chopped onions, sage, cucumber, celery, sun dried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar & extra virgin olive oil.

- Cover the ingredients with enough water, season with salt & pepper and leave to boil on a high flame.

- When it boils switch off and by using a hand blender or a food processor blend everything together. 

- Then pass the soup through a sieve (fine strainer) and discard the vegetable pulp.

- Check the seasoning of the Tomato & Sage soup.

- Garnish with some sage on top.

- Serve cold  

I have been working on this for a while now, trying to put together traditional recipes from the 32 participant countries in this upcoming football global showpiece the World Cup 2010.

Recipes from 5 different continents that can be simply prepared wherever you are as they are that simple & easy to cook. Most of the recipes that the 'World Cup Recipes 2010' contains can be familiar to you if you have travelled to these wonderful worldwide destinations such as South Africa, Brazil, Spain and Japan. Another interesting feature in this recipe Ebook is that as a true football enthusiast I added some interesting football information concerning every country's participation in the past World Cup tournaments.

Combining together football with food which are two of my passions, I also wanted to share some of the EBook profit sales to those in need. From every EBook sold I will donate $5.00 to Charity. As this year’s World Cup is being held in African continent I chose the World Food Programme to help and to give my part to those who crave for food with hunger.

The World Food Programme is doing a great job to reduce hunger in the world and I am proud to support them with my food blog. I encourage you to do the same by buying the ‘World Cup Recipes 2010’ Ebook Today to make a little difference for these people tomorrow.

Well... it is also a bit tricky to do bread as it is a pretty long process from the start till the end. In this recipe I tried to bring together the flat bread which comes from the Asian culture and the Mediterranean flavours together. It is also a pretty easy recipe to do and very quick too. You can use it straight away after you formed the simple dough (as you see below).

For the Mediterranean flat bread I used fresh rosemary that I grow personally at my house and also some spices which will fill your kitchen with aromas while you are grilling the bread later in the process. For this recipe I have for you today, you can add more ingredients to it like sun dried tomatoes, black olives or  fresh chilies. I left it simple as I could so you can see how simple it is to make your fresh bread at home.

You can store these Mediterranean Flat breads in your freezer well wrapped. I use to store them in air tight lid storage boxes. I find them very useful to have around in my kitchen.

Mediterranean Flat Bread

Ingredients

225g self raising flour

150g natural yoghurt 

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted

2 tsp mixed spice

3 sprigs of rosemary, chopped

Method

- Place the flour in a mixing bowl together with the salt & all the spices (cumin seeds, mixed spice).

- Add the chopped rosemary and the natural yoghurt.

- Then mix well to form a soft dough

- Divide into 4-6 balls & with a rolling pin open into oval shape (5mm) thick.

- Heat up a grill pan & grill for about 3 mins on each side till golden & puffy.

- If you are using strong flour add 1 tbsp of baking powder so your flat bread will have a      bit puffiness.

- You can use a non stick pan to cook your flat bread.

- Other spices like cardamom, chilis etc... can also be used. 

- Serving suggestions with couscous or rice.