Our Greener Life

Have you ever thought about the fuel it takes to get food to the grocery store? Produce from large farms is harvested using gas-powered machinery. It is then transported – often hundreds or even thousands of miles – by airplane or truck to your local store. That’s a lot of fossil fuel for a head of lettuce!

Another consideration is the safety and nutrients in food. The longer food sits, the more chance there is that it will be exposed to dangerous bacteria such as salmonella. If food has been processed and shipped for long distances, it is usually sprayed with preservatives to keep it “fresh” during the long journey. Fresh fruits and vegetables are often coated with wax to prevent them from drying out during transport. In the meantime, nutrients are lost as the foods sit for long periods.

If you’d like to cut down on your food mileage, here are some ideas that can help.

Grow your own food
This is not necessarily the enormous task it may seem like at first. You don’t need vast amounts of sunny acreage to make a fruitful garden. If you do have a moderately-sized or large yard, however, consider sectioning off part of it for a garden.

If not, try container gardening. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and strawberries are particularly suited for pots or containers. Get creative; you don’t need to spend a lot of money on commercial flower pots. Use flower boxes for lettuces, old pots or buckets for strawberries or tomatoes, and hanging baskets for cucumbers. Many herbs and even vegetables can be grown indoors in sunny windows.

Forego the imports where you can
Tropical fruit is, of course, grown in the tropics, and unless you live there, the tropics are a long way from home. This includes canned and dried tropical fruits as well.

Buy locally grown food
Not only will you get seasonal vegetables that are well suited to your body’s needs, but you’ll support your local community. And, of course, you’ll reduce your food miles. In fact, if there is a farm nearby where you can pick your own produce, that’s even better. Carpool with friends and gather your own produce by hand – no need for gas-guzzling harvesters.

Speaking of seasonal produce, buying food when it’s in season reduces food miles. If you live in New York, for example, and you want strawberries in mid-January, you will have to buy berries that have been shipped from somewhere much warmer (and farther away). A better option is to stock up and freeze or can your own summer strawberries and use those to assuage your January berry craving! You’ll save money buying produce in season, too.

Thanksgiving is nearly here, bringing with it lots of time spent in the kitchen cooking. Why not make your cooking more eco-friendly this year? “Green” cooking refers to more than the color of your foods. Truly green cooking covers your choice of foods and how they are prepared. Here are some ideas for greening your culinary efforts.

Cookware

1. Choose long-lasting materials to reduce waste, such as cast iron.

2. Buy used cookware at your local antique store, yard sale, or second-hand shop. Make sure, however, that pots and pans are not warped, as this can effect heat conduction.

3. Make sure you use a pot on the right-sized stove eye. Using too small a pot on a large burner (or vise versa) wastes heat and energy.

4. Choose utensils that are made from sustainable materials, like bamboo. Avoid plastic. Utensils and flatware are also plentiful at antique shops and yard sales.

5. Choose cookware made from metals that conduct heat well: copper, cast iron, aluminum (use anodized aluminum if you have health concerns).

6. Avoid Teflon and non-stick coated pans; toxic chemicals known as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are used in the coating.

7. Buy cookware with an eco-friendly, non-stick finish, such as enamelware, anodized aluminum, or by a new process known as nanotechnology. Also, seasoning your cast iron and cleaning it properly (no soap) will create a natural, non-stick finish.

8. Stainless steel is not a very good conductor of heat, but it is recyclable.

Energy Use

1. If possible, upgrade to a convection oven, which cooks food far faster than a conventional oven.

2. Use a pressure cooker to cut down on cooking time. Whole grains can be cooked in half the time, and meats can be cooked with the “all day tender” flavor and texture in under an hour.

3. Use a slow cooker on low for long-term cooking. It uses less energy than baking something in an oven for hours.

4. Cook outside. And while you are out there cooking, turn off the heat or air conditioning in the house!

5. Use residual heat. This works especially well for cooking greens and steaming vegetables. Cover the pot tightly, bring the water to a boil and then turn off the burner, leaving the pot on the burner. The vegetables will continue to cook with the residual heat.

6. Cover your pots and pans to lessen cooking time. This is especially true when boiling water.

Food

1. Buy local food. It takes less gas to get local food to the market, and such produce is not likely to be sprayed with preservatives or other chemicals applied for long transport.

2. Cut and chop foods into small pieces before cooking; they’ll cook a lot faster.

3. Cook foods simultaneously to cut down on the total time you are using your stove.

4. Limit the trips to the fridge. Think through what you need to get out of the refrigerator and get it in one trip. It’s worth it to hold the refrigerator a few minutes longer to get all that you need to prevent opening and closing the refrigerator door dozens of times.

5. Buy organic foods, which are better for the environment for so many reasons. Not only are organic foods free of synthetic agrichemicals, they are also a component of sustainable agriculture, assuring productive farms for the future.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Before you buy a can, carton or bottle of commercial vegetable juice, consider making your own. There is no great mystique to making vegetable juices, and you don’t need an expensive juicer. The following recipes can be made in your blender.

Here are two basic vegetable juice recipes. Think of them as springboards for your own vegetable combinations. Depending on the season and what is available, you can make a healthy vegetable juice any time of year.

Tomato-based Vegetable Juice
Ingredients:
-3 cups chopped, fresh tomatoes
-1/2 cup chopped green cabbage
-1 stalk celery, chopped
-1/4 cup chopped onion
-1 clove minced garlic
-1 small cucumber
-1 teaspoon lemon juice
-1 tablespoon chopped, fresh parsley
-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
-Red pepper, cayenne, or chili sauce to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon)
Optional: 1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and turn blender to high speed (liquefy). If you need to add some liquid, add water a tablespoon at a time.

Green Vegetable Juice
This is a slightly sweeter juice that you can also freeze into popsicles.

Ingredients:
-2 large leaves of kale, chopped (middle stalk removed)
-1 cup fresh spinach leaves, chopped
-2 medium apples, chopped
-1/2 cup chopped broccoli
-unsweetened, natural apple juice

Place all ingredients in the blender except the apple juice. Add apple juice to cover the ingredients and blend on high speed until liquefied. Add stevia or raw honey if you prefer it sweeter. This juice is also good with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Normally, the vegetable dishes at an Easter feast are the sidelights. Make them the main attraction in your vegetarian Easter meal with these recipe ideas.

1. Braided Greek Easter Bread (makes 2 loaves).

Ingredients:
* 2 packages active dry yeast
* 9 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 8 tablespoons melted, cooled butter
* 5 eggs
* 1 egg lightly beaten
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon orange zest
* 1 tablespoon lemon zest
* 2 hardboiled eggs, dyed red
* 2 tablespoons black cumin seeds or poppy seeds
* 2 cups warm milk

Stir yeast and warm milk together in a large bowl until yeast is dissolved. Add 1 cup flour and 1 1/2 cup sugar, stir, cover, and set aside for 1 hour. Then, stir in 1/2 cup water and add the butter and 5 eggs. Stir thoroughly. Combine the remaining 8 cups of flour and salt, and sift into the dough. Add the zests, working them in with a wooden spoon.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed. Then let dough rise in a covered, oiled bowl until doubled in bulk (about 2 hours). Then, divide dough into 6 parts of uniform size and roll into ropes about 15 inches long.

Braid 3 strips together, turning the ends under when finished. Repeat with the other 3 strips. At the end of each braid, press one of the dyed eggs. Lay braids on a greased cookie sheet, cover, and let rise again for about an hour. Brush each loaf with beaten egg and sprinkle with cumin or poppy seeds. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

2. Meatless Meatballs

Serve these tangy, savory vegetarian “meat”-balls in the middle of your meal as a main course.

Mix the following in a bowl:
* 3/4 cup ground walnuts
* 1 1/4 cup crushed soda crackers
* 4 eggs
* 3 1/2 cups grated cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack)
* 1 small onion, minced
* 1 1/2 teaspoons sage
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons fresh parsley flakes, or 1 1/2 tablespoons dried
* 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Form into 1″ balls and place in a single layer in a baking dish.

Sauce:

In a saucepan, combine:
* 3/4 cup apricot jam
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 1/4 cup oil (such as safflower, canola or olive)
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* 2 tablespoons grated onion
* 2 tablespoons oregano
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Bring to a boil and pour over “meat”-balls. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour.

3. Beans and Greens

Your meal has to have something green! Here is a recipe for greens that is nutritious and quick.

Ingredients:
* Olive oil
* 2 minced garlic cloves
* 2 bunches of greens such as kale, chard, and/or turnip greens
* 2 bunches of broccolini
* 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
* 1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare greens by removing the stems and tearing into pieces. Trim the florets from the broccolini. Heat oil in a large skillet and add the garlic. Sauté for a minute or so, then add the greens, broccolini and red pepper flakes. Add salt to taste, then remove mixture from the skillet and keep warm.

Add some more olive oil to the skillet and sauté the tomatoes about 5 minutes, or until the skins brown and split. Stir in the beans and heat through. Serve the bean mixture over the greens, topping with the cheese.