Breakfast Lunch Dinner Cake - Green Office · Meatless Monday campaign. To inspire you to a Meatless Christmas, the team has assembled some vegetarian and vegan breakfast, lunch and

Breakfast

Dessert

Lunch Dinner

Cake

3

Colofon

Editor in Chief:Ankie Petersen

Design by Rianne Hulshof // graphic design

Contributing Editors:Dimpel PabbiFilip Zofakis Linette Inderbiethen Philip Ladiges Matt Fordyce Frederiek van Lieshout

Disclaimer:With this guide we (members and volun-teers of the Green Office VU) wish to inspire people to a green and meat-free Christmas. Most of the recipes in this book are self-made. Recipes not created by the editors have the source mentioned in the article. We do not claim to own the rights to these recipes or the pictures.

Powered by Green Office VU Amsterdam

Preface 5(By Dimpel Pabbi)

How to Have a Green Christmas 7(By Filip Zofakis)

Breakfast 10(By Linette Inderbiethen)

Lunch 12(By Philip Ladiges)

Dinner 16(By Matt Fordyce)

Dessert 20(By Frederiek van Lieshout)

Cake 24(By Ankie Petersen)

Contents

5

Dear all,

Stress, freaking out, working hard, no sleep, we may now forget all these things of upcoming time because... the holiday season has started! December is one of my favorite months – and all the food, fun, parties and spending time with the family is what makes this month so special.

To help you out with the preparations for and celebrations of this festive season, our Team Media has put together a Green Guide to a Merry Veggie Christmas. As you all may know, 2015 has been the year in which we’ve started our Meatless Monday campaign. To inspire you to a Meatless Christmas, the team has assembled some vegetarian and vegan breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes for you. Furthermore they have collected some ideas on how to decorate and celebrate the holidays sustainably.

We hope you’ll love the recipes and ideas and that you’ll enjoy these with your loved ones. Make sure to try them out and post it on social media with the tag #GOholidays! If you have any recipe or idea yourself, please let us know by emailing to [email protected] and we might publish your great idea(s) on our social media!

On behalf of the whole Green Office VU team, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Cheerful greetings,

Dimpel Pabbi

Offline Community CoordinatorGreen Office VU Amsterdam

Preface

7

By Filip A. Zofakis

Christmas can sometimes be white, but it is usually not green at all. All the en-ergy used to light up big trees and houses, the fuel spent traveling and shipping presents, and the one-time-use wrapping paper and packaging can all take a toll on the environment. It has been observed that the volume of trash from house-holds rises by 25% during the holiday season.

So what can be done to celebrate Christmas and maintain the festive spirit, but in a more eco-friendly way?

The thing to begin with is certainly the christmas tree. Artificial trees do last longer, but they are not necessarily greener. They are made from plastic, so are not recycleable or from a renewable source and have probably been shipped along great distances. Additional question marks include where they are made and the labour used. On the other hand, real trees help to remove carbon from the atmos-phere while they are growing. The important issue to take into account is where and how they have been grown. There are sustainable options, whose trees are grown according to strict guidelines - for example by using sustainable seeds and cultivation. Trees can also be certified by relevant organizations as organic, mean-ing that no pesticides have been used during their growth. Finally, another option would be to choose a tree with roots, so that it can eventually be replanted, or even grow your own with a eco-kit. All these ideas provide opportunities to avoid wasting trees and sending them into a landfill after their use, as is the case now with 90% of christmas trees.

Many people send christmas wish cards, however they do not stop to consider that you can purchase recycled or charity cards. Every family sends around 17 cards on average, according to statistics. An alternative could be to send e-cards. As far as gifts are concerned, a lot of them contain batteries, which are harmful for the environment, due to their toxicity. Rechargeable batteries or even technologies like USB-recharging could offer more environmentally friendly solutions.

Christmas is usually associated with candle lights. Most candles are made from paraffin, which is petroleum residue and, thus, bad for both our health and the environment. Green options include candles made from soy, beewax or vegetable-based material, which are biodegradeable and smoke-free.

How to have a Green

Christmas

9

Old clothes can be donated to charity, in accordance with the spirit of giving, instead of just thrown away. Eco-bags can be used for our christmas shopping in place of plastic ones, for example bags made from cotton. As far as decorations are concerned, recycled or even home-made ones are “green” options, but in any case products that are fairly traded and ethically sourced should be preferred.

Regarding the Christmas dinner, an easy tip is to buy an organic turkey. Buying local produce both supports the local community and minimizes the carbon foot-print. Paper or plastic cups should be avoided. Food peelings can be composted. Finally, the statistics relating to how much food we throw away are horrifying. All that food waste should be minimized as much as possible.

Christmas lights left on all the time lead to the production of a lot of carbon diox-ide. LED lights, solar-powered ones or energy-efficient light bulbs can be installed to offset the energy usage. Furthermore, keeping the curtains closed can lead to more heat staying in, thus saving both energy and money. Turning off the appli-cances, when not in use, instead of just leaving them on standby, can also save huge amounts of carbon. Even turning down the thermostat by 1C can help.

To conclude, wrapping is one of the biggest Christmas wastes. Thousands of trees could be saved if we switched to even a little more recycled paper. WWF for exam-ple offers brown recycled paper gift wrap. Recycled foil or newspaper and using string or raffia to tie the present up are also sustainable alternatives.So that’s about the practical part of the Holidays. If you read on, you’ll discover how to make your entire Christmas, from breakfast to desserts and cakes, as eco-friendly as possible by treating everyone to vegan and vegetarian meals!

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Vegan Christmas Scones

This is a perfect – and really easy – recipe for my favorite vegan scones! In order to give them ‘a Christmas touch’ simply add a tablespoon of cinnamon! Enjoy!

P.S. They taste best when they are still warm with a bit of jam.

Ingredients1 ½ cups flour3 Tablespoons sugar2 Teaspoons baking powder½ teaspoons salt1 cup raisins¾ coconut milk1 Teaspoon cinnamon ¼ cup shredded coconut

Instructions1. Preheat the oven to 200°C2. Gently bring together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and shredded coconut3. Slowly add the milk until the dough is sticky4. Form the dough on a floured surface into 6 pieces and brush the top with a bit of milk5. Bake it for 10-15 minutes until they are gold brown 6. Enjoy!

Goat yoghurt with Chia Seeds

This is one my favorite breakfasts. It is very simple and perfect if you still feel bloated from the Christmas Dinner the night before.

Ingredients200g Creamy Goat Yoghurt 1 ½ Teaspoons Chia Seeds 2 Tablespoon Water3 Tablespoons of your favorite Flacks and Nuts (e.g. Oat flacks)1 Teaspoon Agave Syrup

Instruction 1. Mix the chia seeds and the water until they are swollen up (10-15 minutes)2. Bake the flacks and nuts together with the agave syrup in a pan until it is gold brown3. Add the chia seeds and the flacks to the goat yoghurt 4. Add additional agave syrup to sweeten it5. Enjoy!

Vegan Christmas Scones

Goat yoghurt with Chia Seeds

Breakfastby Linette

Inderbiethen

13

Mushroom WellingtonWith the Christmas holidays coming up, and the exams behind you, I’m sure a lot of you will finally be able to spend some quality time with your family and your loved ones! These cold Christmas days call for long Christmas lunches, such as this vegetarian version of an old classic. The Mushroom Wellington!

This version of the classic Wellington will take about forty minutes, and it serves four.

Ingredients4 large portabello mushrooms, cleaned, dried and with the stalks trimmed3 onions, peeled and chopped300g baby spinach4 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked1 sheet frozen puff pastry, partially thawed1 egg, beaten1 tbs dijon mustard2 tbs olive oil2 tbs butter salt and pepper

Instructions1. Place a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil followed by onion and reduce heat to low. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the onions are golden brown.

2. Remove the onions from the pan, add the baby spinach and cook until wilted. Remove the baby spinach from the pan and leave to cool.3. Increase the heat to medium and return the pan to the heat. Add butter, and when the butter has melted and started to froth, place the mushrooms, top side down. Cook until lightly golden before turning over and cooking for a further 5 minutes or until golden. Remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper. Leave the mushrooms to drain on paper towel to absorb any excess moisture.4. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. When the mushrooms, spinach and onions are cooled, place a sheet of baking paper on the baking tray and then place the puff pastry sheet on top. Spread the caramelised onions over the middle third of the pastry, making sure to leave a 2cm border at the edge of the pastry. Top with half of the cooled baby spinach. Spread the dijon mustard over the mushrooms and place the mushrooms on top of the spinach. Top the mushrooms with thyme and the remaining baby spinach.5. Very carefully roll the pastry over the top of the mushroom mixture until you have a log. Press down to seal the edges. Roll over the log so that the seam is facing the bottom.6. Cut 2 holes in the middle of the pastry to allow steam to escape and very lightly coat with the egg wash. Place the pastry in the freezer for 10 minutes before repeating with another layer of egg wash and freezing the pastry for a further 10 minutes.7. Place the pastry back on the baking sheet and tray and place in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden and flakey.

There you go! Your mushroom Welling-ton is all done. Enjoy!

Mushroom Wellington

Lunchby Philip Ladiges

15

Vegan wraps with hummus, cucumber and avocadoYou don’t need much for this deli-cious, easy to make lunch wrap. You can make this tasty vegan dish both for lunch and for dinner, either way it’s done in minutes!

IngredientsSoft whole-grain wrap or wraps (works with lavash bread as well) Hummus — take your favorite kindThinly sliced cucumbers tomatoes peeled avocadoThinly shredded romaine lettuce, baby spinach, baby arugula, or a combination of the greens you have.

InstructionsPlace a wrap on a plate or cutting board. Spread generously with hum-mus. Arrange a row of cucumber, to-matoes, and avocado down the center. Cover with a big handful of the salad of your choice. Then fold the two opposite sides of the wrap over the center, and roll them up, making sure the ends stay tucked in.

Vegetarian club sandwich

For this healthy version of the tradi-tional sandwich you won’t need layers of meat, and buckets of mayonnaise! You can create a club sandwich that is just as delicious with a mix of hummus, tomato, watercress, and carrots.

Ingredients3 slices of dark bread1 large handful of watercress1 carrot (peeled and grated)1 Avocado, peeled and slicedA squeeze of lemon juice1 tbsp olive oil Hummus2 tomatoes (thickly sliced)

InstructionsFirst you toast the bread. In the mean-time, mix the watercress, carrot, lemon juice and olive oil together. Spread the hummus over each slice of toast. Top the first slice with the watercress and carrot salad, and put another slice of toast on top. Put the tomato and the avocado on this slice, and lay the final slice of bread on top of it. Then press down and eat as is or cut the sandwich into quarters.

Vegan Wraps

Vegetarian club sandwich

Lunchby Philip Ladiges

17

Behold below two quick, easy, delicious and wholesome meals. That’ll help you on your way to defeating Christmas this year!

Vegan Nachos (serves four)

Christmas can be a stressful time for any avoiding the conventional meat and dairy based treats in which many indulge; so it certainly helps to have a good recipe or two in your arsenal! Impress your friends and family (and yourself) with a big serving of nachos.

Ingredients1 onion 2 cloves garlic Handful of mushrooms ( of your choice)2 medium sized potatoes 1 can chili beans 2 cubes/Tbsp vegetable stock 1 avocado1 tomato Salt and pepper Nacho chips

Instructions1. Dice potatoes and place in a pot of boiling water.2. Heat up a skillet with some vegetable oil and saute diced onions, mushrooms and garlic. Once browned, mix the vegetable stock with half a cup of water and add to the pan.

3. Add chilli beans and salt and pepper (to your tasting) and leave on a low heat. 4. Once the potatoes are al dente add these also to the pan and fold into the mixture. 5. Spread nachos across the serving dishes and top with the mixture, followed by avocado, tomato and cracked pepper.

And now you have a quick, easy, deli-cious and wholesome meal to share with those you love.

Hint:Don’t always follow the recipe. It’s fun to create!

Vegan Nachos

Dinnerby Matt Fordyce

19

Thai Green Curry(serves four)

Ingredients1 onion 2 cloves garlicTbsp crushed ginger1 big carrot½ head broccoli ½ jar red/green curry paste 1 can (500ml) coconut cream 1 cup rice

Instructions1. Add three cups of water to the cup of rice in a pot and bring to the boil, then reduce to a low heat and place a lid on the pot. 2. Heat a pan and saute in olive oil diced garlic, mushrooms, and onion. 3. Add crushed ginger and curry paste and stir through. Fry for two minutes to release the flavors. 4. Add can of coconut milk and stir together.5. Add thinly sliced carrot and bite sized chunks of broccoli and simmer for 5 minutes until the vegetables soak up the flavor. You want to keep the vegetables quite firm. 6. Check if the rice is soft enough to eat, if so, remove from heat and let sit for ten minutes to finish absorbing water.

7. Ladle equal portions of rice and curry into serving dishes en jij bent klaar!

Hint:To make the dish a look a little prettier, compact rice servings into ramekins before inverting on the serving dishes. Ladle the curry beside the rice tower.

If you want the dish to be a little christ-massy, make both the red and green curry, a decorative dish

Thai Green Curry

Dinnerby Matt Fordyce

21

Delicious Christmas BrowniesThis delicious recipe is the living proof that dessert decorations don’t have to be made out of an enormous amount of sugar and butter and still taste great! You can dazzle all your friends and family members this Christmas by pre-senting them these delicious brownies made out of only healthy ingredients. Curious much?

We are so kind to provide you with some background information on the healthiness of this desert, so you sound like a real pro around the Christmas table. The walnuts are a good source of plantbase omega-3 fat and antioxi-dants, pecan nuts will provide you with vitamine-E and a complex of B-vitamins and don’t get me even started on the dates; they are a source of lots of vita-mins and minerals! Furthermore, even the raw cacao powder and cinnamon can’t harm either since these too are full of antioxidants and B-vitamins. To top it off; the coconut oil is a source of good fats and has anti-inflammatory properties, same counts for the surpris-ing toping ingredient; sweet potatoes!

Ingredients Brownie Squares1 cup pecan nuts1 cup walnuts2 cups medjool dates

3 tbsp raw cacao powder½ tbsp ground cinnamon

Topping2 sweet potatoes (medium sized)2 tbsp melted coconut oil

InstructionsPeel the sweet potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Steam them until they’re totally soft, and let them cool down. Process the nuts in your food processor (or cut really small) and blend in the cacao and cinnamon. Pit the dates, add them all to the food pro-cessor, and process until it all sticks to-gether. Line a baking tin or tupperware with baking paper and evenly press the mixture into the form. Put in the fridge.

Clean your food processor. Then put in the sweet potatoes and melted coco-nut oil and process until it is smooth. It doesn’t have to be cold, but make sure it isn’t very warm either. Then put the topping into a piping bag with an open star-shaped decorating tip (I used the Wilton 1M). Cut the brownies into squares and make sweet potato swirls on each of them. Be creative!

Source: http://imonlyvegan.blogspot.nl

Delicious Christmas Brownies

Dessertby Frederiek van Lieshout

23

Cookies for every Christmas moment!‘Oh, Oh, Oh!’ Christmas is the time to come together with friends and fam-ily to enjoy each other company. But it is for many of us also the time for extreme stress; What to serve your guests?! It involves hours of planning, several sounds of supermarket-shop-ping’s and an overload of preparations in the kitchen. Luckily this recipe is easy to make and the best part is; you can make them in advance, they will taste even greater and it makes your time in the kitchen a little less! So you can use your time efficiently on Christ-mas Eve to serve the amuses, drinks, extra bread, soup and so forth………

Besides the time you gain by making the dough three days in advance, the use of fair trade coffee in this recipe will help coffee farmers to get a fair price and to keep your grandma awake the whole evening. You can serve the cookies all day long, desirable for every moment, or you can wrap them up as a delicious Christmas present!

Ingredients for 18-20 cookies1 cup all purpose flour (You can use gluten-free flour!)½ cup walnut halves6 tablespoons raw cane sugar1/8 teaspoon salt1 heaping teaspoon freshly ground coffee beans

¾ teaspoon vanilla extract¾ stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled

Instructions1. Combine the flour, walnuts, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until the walnuts are finely ground. Next, add the ground coffee and pulse until blended into the mixture.2. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is damp and crumbly. Add the vanilla extract and pulse until the dough begins to clump up around the blade. If the dough is still too crumbly, drizzle in a little cold water until it sticks together but is not wet.3. Remove the dough and press it into a ball with your hands. Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper and roll it out until it is two inches in diameter. Press the ends of the roll to square them off, then tightly wrap the rolled dough in the parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for at least two hours to chill.4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the dough from the fridge. Slice into 1/4-inch rounds. If the dough crumbles as you slice, just let it sit for a minute or two to soften slightly. Place the rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spaced about an inch apart. Press a whole coffee bean into the center of each cookie.5. Bake for 14-16 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half way through so the cookies brown evenly. When the cookies are golden brown, remove from the oven and let cool on the sheet for about 1 minute. Remove them from the sheet and allow them to finish cooling on a wire rack.6. Serve them for dessert or all-day- long!

Source: http://www.mnn.com/food/recipes/stories/coffee-walnut-cookies

Cookies for every Christmas moment

Dessertby Frederiek van Lieshout

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Vegan Oreo Dirt CakeI have been exploring the wonder-ful world of vegan cakes and treats for quite a while now, and I can say with confidence that this cake was the FREAKING BEST CAKE I’ve had this year! Why? Because Oreo’s, because chocolate, and because of a minimum amount of processed ingredients in-side! And there’s more good news: the recipe is fast and easy, so it is perfect for your Christmas dinner as desert, or just to eat all Christmas long (and what the heck, New Year’s as well perhaps?). Enjoy!

Dirt cake has several essential com-ponents: chocolate pudding, whipped cream and Oreo’s. You’ll be needing a 9-inch round cake pan and cut our 4 strips to lay across the pan to simplify the removing of the pieces.

IngredientsCrust24 Oreo cookies4 tbsp vegan butter, melted

Chocolate Pudding8 ounces silken tofu¼ cup cocoa powder1/8 tsp sea salt¼ cup cane sugar½ cup melted dark chocolate

Coconut Whipped Cream¾ cup coconut cream, chilled¼ cup powdered sugar

Topping Oreo cookies, crumbled

Instructions1. Preheat oven to 350. Place the bowl and mixer you’ll use to whip the cream in the freezer to chill.2. Grease the 9-inch round cake pan..3. Place 24 oreos in a food processor and process until fine crumbs form. Pour in the melted vegan butter.4. Press the cookie crumbs into the prepared pan, pushing it into the bottom and up the sides.5. Bake for 7 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the fridge.6. Rinse out your food processor, and then fill with the tofu, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and sea salt. Process until smooth.7. Meanwhile, bring a small pan of water to a simmer. Place a glass bowl on top with the chocolate, and melt by stirring occasionally.8. Pour the melted chocolate into the tofu mixture, and pulse until smooth. Place the mixture in the refrigerator while you make the coconut whipped cream.9. Pour the coconut cream into a mixing bowl and whip on high until soft peaks begin to form, and then add the remaining ¼ cup powdered sugar. Whip again until incorporated and you see soft peaks.10. Fold together the coconut whipped cream and the chocolate mixture, careful not to overmix. Spoon the mixture into the cooled pie crust, and use the back of a spoon to spread evenly. Freeze for 20 minutes to simplify cutting/ serving, or place in the refrigerator until ready to eat.11. Cut the pie into 12 slices, using the strips of parchment paper to gently lift the pieces out of the pan, and a spatula to transfer to a plate. They will be a little fragile, so work carefully.12. Crumble the remaining oreos on top after slicing (it’s more difficult to slice the pie with the oreos on top). Store covered in the fridge.

Source: http://veggieandthebeastfeast.com/2015/01/07/vegan-dirt-cake-pie/

Vegan Oreo Dirt Cake

Cakeby Ankie Petersen