Vegetarian Baked Ziti is one of my favorite dishes to make. It is a delicious and filling pasta dish that goes well with cheese and garlic biscuits. Vegetarian Baked Ziti replaces real meat with soy imitation meat and uses vegetarian cheese that contains no rennet or animal enzymes.

I use Boca ground crumbles, which can be found at most grocery stores. Whole Foods’ 365 brand cheese specifies that it is vegetarian, unlike most cheese brands, even if they contain no animal enzymes or rennet. It is a great alternative to the original, non-vegetarian version.

The ingredients needed for this recipe are:

• 1 pound of dry ziti pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound of Boca ground crumbles (or other brand of fake meat soy crumbles)
• 2 jars of spaghetti sauce (26 oz.)
• 6 oz. of sliced Provolone cheese
• 6 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 ½ cups of sour cream
• 2 tbsp. of grated Parmesan cheese

First, lightly salt a large pot of water, and bring to a boil. Pour in the ziti pasta, cook until al dente for about eight minutes, then drain. In a large skillet, mix the onion and soy crumbles together and brown over medium heat. Then, add spaghetti sauce and simmer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and butter a 9×13” baking dish. Then, layer as follows: one half of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, one half of the spaghetti sauce, the rest of the ziti, mozzarella cheese, then add the rest of the remaining spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake this dish for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Pull out of oven when done, let cool, then enjoy! The preparation time for this meal takes about 20 minutes. The cook time will take 35 minutes, and it will yield about 10 servings.

The article Vegetarian’s Choice: Baked Ziti appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

A report published this week by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, cautions that eating meat daily can contribute to obesity, heart disease and cancer.

“Although this issue has been reported on for a long time, Americans continue to have really high rates of meat consumption, particularly children,” said Kari Hamerschlag, senior analyst at EWG and author of the new report. “As a country, we’re producing and consuming 60 percent more meat per person than Europeans.”

For the study, EWG looked at the environmental impact of production, processing, transportation, cooking and waste of meat. Nearly 20 percent of edible meat ends up in landfills while millions of people go to bed hungry. The conclusion of the study is that people should eat less meat and dairy. In particular, the EWG points to lamb, beef, pork, cheese and farmed salmon as the protein-packed foods that take the largest toll on the environment.

The high rate of meat eaters in the United States is known to have significant detrimental effects on human health. Increases rates of heart disease, cancer and obesity have been linked to heavy meat eating. Eating significant amounts of meat also harm the environment, releasing greenhouse gases in the air.

“We’re not advocating that people stop eating meat and cheese, we’re just suggesting that people consider eating less,” said Hamerschlag. “Ultimately, we need better policies and stronger regulations to reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production. But personal shifting of diets is an important step.”

The report points out that minor changes can have a significant impact on the environment. If each American cut meat and cheese from their diet one day a week, it would be the equivalence to taking 7.6 million cars off the road.  “The world is better off with than without cattle,” said Gidon Eschel, a professor of climate physics at Bard College in New York, who was not involved in the new report. He explained that optimal land use includes predominantly plants — “foods that feed people directly rather than indirectly through animals.” But cattle, he added, are key for cycling the nutrients in the soil and maintaining long-term crop fertility.

Production for the feed of cattle takes up nearly 150 million acres of U.S. land. “Even if you don’t directly clear land to grow feed crops, you are using land that could otherwise go to other purposes like food or biofuels. Somewhere forest or grassland will be cleared and carbon will be released into the atmosphere,” added Simon Donner, a climate and agriculture expert at the University of British Columbia in Canada, who was not involved in the report.

Although typical carnivores hate to hear about studies and data like this, the fact is that Americans eat way too much meat. The world is unsustainable as it is and we have to change things in order to continue to exist. With so many soy-based meat alternatives, there is no reason why meat must be consumed every single day. And there are plenty of reasons why you shouldn’t eat meat every day.

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