Green Options

A study that followed 3500 participants over five years found that subjects who at the “UK Diet” were more likely to develop depression.

With all of the attention being paid to the platforms of foodies like Jamie Oliver and Michael Pollan, you would think that Americans would cook more and rely less on fast- and processed-food.

The misperception that cooking is too time consuming turns out to be a major roadblock on our path to a sustainable national food system.

Cooking is not time consuming. Shopping for groceries, however, is.

One strategy for making cooking a part of your daily life is to maximize your cooking to shopping ratio.

Here are some tips on how to cook more and shop less:

[Creative Commons photo via galant]

Have your tomato plants been producing like crazy? Are your cucumbers and green beans blowing up? If you’re producing more than you can eat, it’s a great time to preserve some of your summer bounty for winter! Here are some home canning tips, along with a great five-part series of videos on the topic!

When I was in college I briefly dated a boy whose idea of a meal was eating cold meat chili from an open can. In retrospect, how and what he chose to feed himself provided a very telling insight into his character and values. How and what we eat shapes our lives and who were are. Nothing we do is more intimate; our meals sustain our very existence. When we choose to grow our own food, buy from local farmers markets and not eat highly processed packaged food, we are not only taking positive steps toward building and sustaining a locally based economy, but we are also lessening our collective carbon footprint upon the planet.

If you are starting to feel inspired to create some simple, affordable, tasty meals from locally available seasonal food, but are a bit clueless how to begin, Lisa Jervis‘ new book, Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating, may provide just the help that you need.

As part of the Pretty Little series, Pretty Little Potholders has step-by-step instructions and some patterns for several very different kinds of potholders.

Since I won’t be wearing any of these potholders, this crafty green book review, unlike my review of Weekend Sewing or The Crafty Chica’s Guide to Artful Sewing, doesn’t have to think about whether or not the patterns are appropriate for my body. Instead, I’ll look at whether the patterns look like something I would actually want to make for myself or for gifts.

I’m also interested, in this review, in how amenable the patterns and instructions are to the use of natural or recycled materials. Are natural or recycled materials asked for, or, even if they’re not, can I easily see places in which they could be substituted?

Here, then, is what I decided about Pretty Little Potholders.

My family loves to cook together; we all love to pretend do be chefs and put on “cooking shows.” If you drive by my house at any given time don’t be surprised to see us lying in the grass, flipping through recipe magazines or reading a cookbook. The girls have been asking me to make “Nutty Jumbles” for a while. We eat a lot of nuts in our home for snack time and this is a fun way to spice up the same-old, same-old snack. I am careful with the amount of sugar we eat as a family but I figure if I’m lucky enough to have two little kids that will eat so many healthy things, they deserve some sugar… “just an itty bit,” as my daughter would say.

For almost two years we’ve been eating vegetarian or vegan twice a week and seafood twice a week. I guess you could consider us part-time vegetarians. Eating this way keeps us from overloading our diets with too much meat or dairy and cuts down on our grocery bill. It forces us to eat more fresh produce and to shop locally so the produce actually has flavor.

It is extremely eco-friendly to eat vegetarian twice a week; eating meat takes a toll on the environment big time. The beef, poultry and pork industrial farms notoriously contribute to water pollution, use large amounts of fossil fuels and generate prodigious amounts of greenhouse gases. The United Nations has actually issued a call for citizens of the world to go vegetarian one day a week to curb global warming.

My girls love fresh veggies and fruit on their own, but I also like to puree it and add it to other meals. I’m not trying to hide it but it’s another great way to add more essential vitamins to their diet. When my girls were babies I made their baby food and always used organic ingredients. Their teeth came in quickly and they moved onto solids sooner than later, so both times I ended up with extra bags of frozen cubed baby food. I started adding the pureed butternut squash into their grilled cheese for lunch and whole grain pancakes for breakfast. During that time two cookbooks were released dedicated to adding pureed fruits and veggies to favorite recipes!

For days, the rain hasn’t stopped tumbling out of thick woolen clouds.  Slowly crawling across the monochromatic canopy, these persistent clouds wrap their heavy grey fingers tightly around the leafy crowns of the brilliant rain-soaked trees.  Even when I push back the patterned curtains as far as the window frame will allow, no light comes through the glass.  The sound of raindrops crashing against the rooftop is periodically punctuated by sharp jarring claps of thunder.

Outside, brave little seedlings are gasping for breath while new blossoms hold their eyes tightly closed against the rain.  Shoots of bright green grass struggle to keep their slim heads above water.  I see an orange cat dart across the street.  He struggles to maintain aloofness, but it is clear that the weather has taken a severe toll on his dignity.  The mail retrieved from the streetside box is soggy and lifeless, the adhesive on the envelopes succumbing to the humidity.  Even inside, newly washed clothes hang limply, moisture stubbornly clinging to the threads and fibers.

On a day like this, what better thing to do than to curl up with a book?  I just received a brand-new copy of Vegan Rustic Cooking Through the Seasons, authored by Diana White of the UK’s Vegan-Organic Network, an organization whose fascinating farming methods go a step beyond traditional organic farming.

After years of experimentation, I have come up with the perfect recipe for easy, hearty, healthy, stick-to-the-ribs tasty chili, right in the slow cooker.  And I’m going to share it with you.

But first, let’s talk about what you can do to make your chili — and all your cooking, really — more “green.”

This is my daughter’s favorite food in the entire world. I have even heard her whining, “Little Cupcakes” in her sleep. I usually make a large batch and divide them into sections to freeze for a later date. These are the perfect healthy, organic and tasty little treat to make with your children!

She helped me make these this morning, here is the recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups shredded/grated carrots
• 1/2 cup ground nuts
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup flax seed
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 1/4 cup organic whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

In her article, “The Essential Resource for Green Family Life: Healthy Child Healthy World“, Jennifer Lance mentioned the Healthy Child Healthy World’s advice on getting rid of Teflon in your kitchen.  Teflon is the DuPont brand name for polytetrafluoroethtylene, or PTFE, a type of PFC that is used as a non-stick coating for most cookware.  A PFC means that it is a chemical compound composed of fluorine and carbon atoms  If you walk down the aisle at any store that sells pots and pans, or even in your pantry at home, I am sure you have noticed those wonderful non-stick pans that make cooking and clean up a breeze.  Yes, they are wonderful because you do not need to use as much butter, oil, or whatever else you add to prevent food from sticking to the pan but have you ever wondered what happens as that nonstick coating scratched?  What exactly is it that you could be adding to your food?