Organic Thanksgiving leftover ideas… (note, remember you can switch out conventional ingredients for organic on any recipe you like)

• Turkey and Roasted Vegetable Quiche
• Garlicky Mashed Potato Pie & Hotcakes
• Sweet potato pancakes
• Organic turkey noodle soup
• Sweet potato cornbread
• Turkey pasta toss
• Turkey with Sweet Potato Dumplings
• Pumpkin pie muffins – for excess non-sweetened pie filling
• Organic turkey pot pie
• Leftover Pumpkin Pie Brulee
• Morning-After Cranberry Sauce Muffins
• 7 great ways to use leftover corn
• Turkey chili
• Stuffing Frittata

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Happy Thanksgiving & Organic Leftovers

There is still quite a bit of low cost produce in September, and this time of year the price isn’t really much different whether you purchase conventionally grown produce, or organically grown, both are low cost when they’re in season and local.

I try my best to use organic, and local produce. I search for fruits and vegetables that are in season and local, or in my garden through the spring, summer, and fall. I’m not perfect about it, but I definitely make an attempt to support organic growers in our area.

Here are a few reasons why it’s good to buy organic when you can.

• It helps protect land fertility.
• Helps to reduce the use of toxic chemicals.
• My favorite reason? In many cases you’re supporting small local family farms (especially when you purchase your produce direct from the source)
• The flavor is usually better, because most small growers plant for flavor, not so their produce can be shipped in huge quantities and stay fresh for several days in transit. They grow produce with great flavors so their customers will come back for more.

Image (c) L Gerlach

Post from: Blisstree

September Is National Organic Harvest Month

I like the idea, because not only are the Dirty Dozen list items more pesticide ridden, but if you buy them in stores in the organic form, it’ll cost you. Some organics are far more expensive than others, and so growing them yourself is one great way around both pesticides and all that money you’d spend at the store.

Basics:

Container Gardening for Health offers complete guide to growing the twelve fruits and vegetables with the most pesticide residues according to USDA testing. The list items include, Peaches, Apples, Sweet Bell Peppers, Celery, Nectarines, Strawberries,Cherries, Lettuce, Grapes (imported), Pears, Spinach, and Potatoes. There is info on how to grow these and organic gardening methods. This is one gardening book I’m adding to my must read list, so hopefully I’ll get a review up later (if I can find it at my local library).

Have you read this book? What did you think – a good read or no?

Post from: Blisstree

Growing the Dirty Dozen

When the 2008 Environmental Lawn and Garden Survey asked U.S. households, “In your opinion, how important is it that residential, commercial, and municipal lawns and landscapes be maintained in an environmentally friendly way?” 89% of said households responded that they felt eco-friendliness in the garden is important, and the majority noted that eco-friendly gardens are “extremely important” or “very important.”

The NGA also asked folks why natural gardening matters to them. Most households (73%) feel natural gardening is better because they want to be environmentally responsible and also talked about keeping it natural due to concerns about health and well being. Other reasons included a drive for a reduction of chemical exposure, reducing water pollution, way of life, and the ability to grow safe and fresh produce.

The 2008 Environmental Lawn and Garden Survey also estimates that the number of households using all-natural methods in the future could grow by 42 percent to 17 million households or more in the near future.

Do you use natural gardening methods or not? How come? Do your reasons match up with the reasons notes above? For me it’s an eco issue; I don’t like to see gardening methods that harm the planet if you can help it. I guess it’s probably also a health/chemical issue related to my son. I don’t buy conventional carrots at the store for my son, so why would I grow non-organic carrots for him to eat?

Post from: Blisstree

How popular is organic gardening?

Organic is more expensive, to be sure. While I understand not buying milk with certain chemical or hormones in it, for example, I have to agree with this study when it comes to things like “organic vegetables.” Vegetables are vegetables for the most part. They aren’t healthier necessarily if you buy them at a health food store.

I know this study will cause some ripples in the health food movement, however. So what do you think? Will you still buy food that is marketed as “organic”?

Image: sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

Does Organic Mean Healthier?

I agreed with most of the Q&A style piece and found it really educational. I especially liked Nestle’s take on the cost of organics in which she noted, “don’t blame organic producers for the high prices. Until the latest farm bill, which has a small provision for promotion of organic agriculture, organic farmers received not one break from the federal government. In contrast, the producers of corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton continue to get $20 billion or so a year in farm subsidies.” That’s interesting, and something I for one will be researching more, because I was under the impression that organic farmers were at least getting a little something. She then urged readers to look to encouraging government if we want organics at an affordable cost, saying, “Let’s work to remove the corruption from election campaign contributions. If Congress were less beholden to corporations, we might be able to create a system that paid farmers and farm workers decently and sold organic foods at prices that everyone could afford.” A statement I actually do agree with.

All in all a fine read about organics, without fluff. Read the whole piece: Certified Organic’ may not be 100%.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Are organics elitist & other O questions

• Local food supports local economy and smaller markets who produce sustainable foods.
• Local food can cost less. When you buy products close to home, you knock off obnoxious shipping costs that are factored into food prices. This is especially important when you purchase organic foods which are already more costly to begin with in most cases.
• Local food uses less energy to ship. If you buy apples from Washington state and you live across the country that apple costs you some emissions due to all the shipping by plane, truck or boat. See the video below for a visual on the energy used up by food production – even not counting shipping it’s pretty bleak so you may as well cut out the middle man (shipping).

The best places to find local food items include the following:

• Local Farmer’s Markets.
• Local u-pick food farms.
• Local farm stands.
• Organic grocers and grocery co-ops.
• Community supported agriculture (CSA) – a CSA is a farm that you pay to belong to and in return you get a farm fresh produce box.
• Some local art fairs and community markets – for example in Portland, Oregon we have what’s called Saturday Market. You can find art and other handmade goods along with locally made food items sometimes like honey or tea. Check around in your area for events like this.

Don’t forget, it’s not just the food you buy either. If you eat at a restaurant, make sure they use local foods when possible.

Bonus link – Take the Eat Local Challenge.

Post from: Blisstree

Why eat locally grown food?

I had plantains, bananas, and pineapples, as well as bananas with cinnamon, and I loved them all.  So did my DH, and he is particularly picky about his banana chips, being a fan from way back 

Anyway, the snack bags are called Gallop-A-Loozas, and there are no added sweeteners or artificial anything added.  And they don’t need it!  When you start with quality fruit, extras just aren’t necessary.

Gallop-A-Loozas consist of 100% pure fruit that is grown via sustainable farming practices. The proprietary puffing process that is used to make these puffed fruit snacks adds extra crunch and infuses them with flavor. The six adventurous varieties Gallop-A-Loozas come in include organic cinnamon-infused banana and pineapple as well as regular plantain, pineapple, banana and pineapple-banana. These latter two offerings are particularly good news for lovers of the world’s best-selling fruit, the banana.

With no added sweeteners, a bag of Gallop-A-Loozas contains under 100 calories per serving. And because they are made from real fruit, Gallop-A-Loozas provide the genuine nutritional value their grocery store 100-calorie snack pack competitors are lacking. The convenient way in which the puffed fruit snacks are packaged also makes Gallop-A-Loozas easy to carry for healthy on-the-go hunger busting.

Post from: Blisstree

Explorer’s Bounty’s new 100% organic snacks

Coupons.com – The offerings on this site change daily and while you’ll see a full compliment of sugary cereals and such, this week’s offers also included good discounts on salad mix bags and bags of sliced apples.

Smart Source – Similar to Coupons.com, their offerings change frequently, so check often.

Kashi - The maker of healthy cereals, frozen foods, and other organic products often offers coupons that are printable directly from their Web site.

Horizon – The makers of organic milk and other dairy products frequently offer coupons on their site.

Earthbound Farms – Another organic food producer with frequent coupon offers.

(photo credit: Bright Star/cc license)

Post from: Blisstree

Where to Get Healthy Coupons

Earthbound Farms is offering a free, reuseable tote bag to the first 10,000 people to take Earthbound Farm’s “Sustain Yourself, Sustain the Planet Pledge.” Some of the pledges include breaking the disposable bottled water habit, bringing your own bags when shopping, composting food scraps, choosing reusable or recycled instead of disposable products, and eating more plants and less meat. To take the pledge, visit Earthbound Farm’s Web site.

(photo credit: Earthbound Farms)

Post from: Blisstree

Free Reuseable Tote from Earthbound Farms