FOR THE GLORY OF THE CLIMB

Every detail of Sir Winston Churchill’s life story pulsates with such greatness that identifying his dominant legacy seems nearly impossible. But despite being a war hero, a great historian, an accomplished painter and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom…twice…it was his words, ink to paper, that earned him the Nobel Prize in literature AND my humble vote for his writing as his most dominant legacy.

Churchill wrote, “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

It is through these words that I draw great strength about the journey we have ahead of us.  The Green Revolution, even while basking in its abundance of glory days, has not nearly reached graduation. Certainly, there are many tier one eco people out there who have pioneered the Revolution by installing solar panels, planting rooftop organic gardens and introducing their garages to a shiny new Prius.  Then, of course, there’s the second, more colonized tier of eco progressive citizens who have firmly committed themselves to their favorite magazine’s “Top Ten Ways to Go Green.”  Still, the majority…the majority…of the world’s six and a half billion inhabitants have not nearly earned themselves the green stamp of approval.

Certain members of my family (unnamed for their protection) still do not recycle. They continue to use plastic bags when they shop for groceries.  And they think organic is just a fancy word placed before the name of a vegetable to justify charging more for it.  It’s a horrendous reality for me, but truth nevertheless.  Although I live my life somewhere between tier one and tier two, I have never preached to said family members.  Instead, I offer information and hope that their choices one day mirror my own.

Feed Your Eco is a blog that honors every eco effort in celebration of change no matter how slight. No preaching.  No guilt trips. No soapbox.  The glory of this journey is in experiencing the reward of progress, and knowing there is no end to the greatness in store for our beautiful planet.

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
- Confucius

NYC Restaurant Rec for Raw Foodies and the Daring

Two birthday’s ago my twin friends sent me a gift certificate to Pure Food and Wine in Manhattan and after checking out the menu online I decided to promptly file the certificate away under hell no I’m not eating there.  Despite initially appearing to offer dishes that were right up my alley, I quickly noticed the “raw” disclaimer at the bottom of the homepage and realized that my lasagna would be served cold… and without noodles.

Two years later I’ve come a long way and recently had my mind forced wide open to raw food by my future mother-in-law, Peggy.  As a guest in her home, I was gently forced to eat, not one, but three raw meals and by dinner I had tossed my skepticism right out the window. Not only was raw food excellent for me and gentle on the tum tum, it also happened to be completely edible… we’re talkin’ delish city.

SO, I dug that shiny gift certificate out of the filing cabinet and hit up Pure Food and Wine with Justin while we were in New York last week.  The atmosphere is totally modish and relaxed. By nature of the cuisine, the clientele was mostly hippy-chic with a handful of daring first timers who could be overheard asking what the heck they just ordered.  We made small talk with a novice-meets-expert couple sitting beside us as our waitress opened a beautiful bottle of organic vino and giggled in anticipation of seeing the novice half of this duo experiencing raw for the first time.

As an appetizer, we split a “cheese” plate with pistachio chips that were so tasty that I’m ordering a dehydrator of my own.  Then, true to my initial craving, I ordered the lasagna.  Tell you what; I didn’t miss those noodles one bit.  Thinly sliced organic zucchinis did the job just fine, and the myriad of other organic veggies layered with pignoli ricotta made this lasagna near perfect.

Dessert is my thing, so despite having a three short months to fit into my wedding dress, I forced Justin to split a piece of pumpkin cheesecake with me.  SO glad I did.  The day we got home I jumped online and ordered the restaurant’s “Raw Food/Real World” cookbook entirely for that one cheesecake recipe.

I certainly could never give up hot food altogether, but there’s something to this thing called raw.

LIP SMACKING TRADITION

The commencement of the holiday season for my family goes hand in hand with our traditional trip to the Battenfeld Christmas Tree Farm.  There’s nothing quite like romping through acres and acres of Blue Spruce, Balsam Fir, Scotch Pine… racing to be the one who discovers THE tree that will stand proudly in the living room covered in twinkle lights this Christmas.  There were nine of us this year (ten if you count my cousin Brian’s ultra-fem canine “Roxy”) and after choosing our Christmas trees, we all met back in the parking lot of the farm for our hard work’s reward.

As tradition goes, post tree hunt we all indulge in bubbling hot bowls of chili and vino of the scarlet persuasion.  Being the sole vegan in the family, I am tasked with providing the meat-free chili option, which is just one of the reasons I am endlessly grateful for my mother-in-law to be.  She handed down this fabulous Kentucky style vegetarian chili recipe to me a decade ago, and I’ve been making it for the tree hunt outing ever since.  Even my carnivorous family counterparts will admit it’s scrumptious.

Vegetarian Chili (Gluten-Free Optional)
Serves 10-12

¼ cup olive oil
4-8 cloves garlic
2 large onions
½ cup chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley (or substitute regular parsley)
2 red bell peppers
4 medium zucchini
5 medium carrots
1 can white or yellow corn
2 large potatoes
4 (28 oz.) cans diced tomatoes
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 heaping tablespoon ground cumin
1 heaping tablespoon dried basil
1 heaping tablespoon dried oregano
1 heaping tablespoon dried dill
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Original Himalayan salt
1 teaspoon fennel seed
8 oz. Soba noodles (optional)
3 (16 oz.) cans beans, drained (white acre peas, black eye peas, small white beans, great northern beans, butter beans, cannelloni beans, garbanzo beans, or dark red kidney beans)
6 tablespoons lemon juice or the juice of one lemon
1 bunch green onions, sliced on the diagonal

1.) Using the “s” blade of a food processor (or chop by hand) chop garlic, onions, parsley and bell peppers.  You’ll want to leave theses veggies chunky, so only fill the processor half full at a time, and use pulse button.
2.) Heat oil over medium heat in large pot; stir in the mixture and let it begin to cook.
3.) Continue using the “s” blade of your food processor to chop zucchini, carrots and potato—again, leave chunky.  Stir the mixture into the pot as you go.
4.) Add canned tomatoes (make sure to drain completely), corn, chili powder, cumin, basil, oregano, dill, pepper, salt, and fennel seed; Mix well and bring the pot almost to a boil, stirring occasionally.
5.) Turn heat down & cook on low, uncovered, stirring often for 30 minutes.
6.) Mix in the beans and lemon juice; cook for another 15 minutes.
7.) In a separate pan, bring salted water to a boil; break up and cook spaghetti until al dente; drain & rinse with cold water.
8.) Add cooked spaghetti to the chili pot.
9.) Serve garnished with green onion, sour cream and cheese (of course, you can also substitute with vegan sour cream and cheese alternatives).

***Fun to serve with tortillas or Ritz crackers for scooping!

Gluten-Free Optional-

A recent trip to the doctor’s office confirmed my body is downright intolerant of gluten, so this year I prepared my chili with gluten-free pasta. I was a tad concerned that the consistency would be mush once I added it to the chili, but it turned out beautifully.

I used Orgran’s Spaghetti no. 5 because it was available at my regular grocery store, but if you can find Ritrovo, I would recommend using their pasta.  It’s the best brand that I’ve had when it comes to gluten-free rice pasta (Gluten-Free Girl agrees). I would recommend adding the noodles to the chili a bit undercooked (a tiny bit firmer than al dente).  They will cook the rest of the way in the chili, and you can better manage how soft they become.

ENJOY!

BURY YOUR CARD… IN THE BACKYARD

Mid-November is a proverbial time of year for me, when the panic inducing nature of the rapidly approaching gift-giving holidays is further compounded by the inevitable…holiday cards.  Since my fiancé and I melded worlds, my holiday card recipient list has more than doubled.

The custom is one that always brews up some eco guilt in my belly, and this year more than ever; The wasteful use of cardstock paper and envelopes, delivered by gas guzzling postal planes and trucks, only to be displayed briefly on the entry tables of friends and family before being shoved into the trash, OR WORSE, a wood-burning fireplace one wintery night. It’s all very dramatic. But things are looking up for me, and my fellow holiday card senders.  E-Cards have somehow broken the barrier of acceptability, true, but even better? The plantable card.

As a recent addition to the organic beauty care club, I have been as equally impressed by the new products in my bathroom cabinet as I have been with the packaging that they arrived in.  I started using Pangea Organics about a year ago, a company that not only makes ridiculously fabulous skin and bodycare products, but also packages everything in post-consumer paper boxes laced with organic seeds.  No joke!  I made homemade pesto last weekend with sweet basil that I grew by planting the box that my toner came in. For the holiday season, Pangea has a gift box filled with products that, when planted, actually grows a Christmas tree! This kind of innovation just blows me away.

It was with this innovation top of mind that I went on a search for a plantable Christmas card. Joyfully, I discovered a company called Botanical Paperworks that makes  plantable, eco-friendly, handmade paper products.  They have a whole line of holiday items including cards, gift tags and even little ornaments. The Christmas tree cards come in three different colors and are appropriately laced with spruce seeds.  Who knows… next year you could be caroling around this year’s Christmas card.  It’s a beautiful thing.

There are a few other companies that also sell plantable holiday cards, including Flower Seed Paper and  Bloomin’ Flower Cards, so there are some choices out there for anyone who decides to make this year’s holiday card a gift that grows… and keeps on giving.

Bonus: Make sure your holiday card postage echoes your consciences sentiment. Instead of opting for the seasonal holiday stamps, choose philanthropic USPS postage like the Breast Cancer Research stamps that will adorn my cards in honor of my dad.

Climate Change: The Threat to Life and a New Energy Future

There is nothing quite like New York City during the holiday season so, each December Justin and I make it a point to visit.  Our traditional agenda includes the following: 1. Watching people fall down on the ice rink in Rockefeller Center while scarfing down the outrageously yummy shrimp chop chop salad at the Rock Center Café  2. Drinking $18 martinis at The Peninsula Hotel’s Pen-Top Bar while shamelessly hoping to spot a celeb or two and  3. Visiting a new exhibit at one of our favorite NYC museums.  Typically agenda item number three involves some negotiating because my super geek fiancé votes American Museum of Natural History every damn year while I’m more of a MOMA gal myself.  Lucky for him, this year the Natural History Museum got my vote as well.

The second day of our trip, we hopped in a snazzy new hybrid taxi and headed uptown to check out the museum’s new Climate Change exhibit.  I’d read about this particular exhibit on the MSNBC website back in October and felt it was my Organic Bug blog writing duty to check it out. As a proud member of the green brigade generation, I was prepared to not learn much I didn’t already know, but three hours later I left the museum with a mind titillating with new environmental facts for my arsenal.

The exhibit takes visitors through a slew of climate related issues and is sometimes a bit preachy, but overall there is a nice balance between “here’s what we’ve done” and “here’s how we can change it.”  The interactive components of the exhibit help hit major points home on a very intimate level, and the recommended actions for change go well beyond the standard buy a Brita and convert to reusable shopping bags.

My favorite parts of the exhibit highlighted global adaptation efforts.  Throughout the exhibit, you can read about innovative ways in which communities around the world have learned to cope with climate impact.  For example, the people in Bangladesh have learned to make floating gardens to prevent loss of crops during massive floods brought on by monsoons.  And in The Netherlands, Dutch residents started building homes designed to float to avoid having to evacuate when floods waters rush through the low-lying region.

Shown in this picture is the carbon line. Right when you walk in to the exhibit hall there’s a mural on the wall with an illuminated red line over it.  As you walk from one end of the mural to the other, the line gets higher and higher demonstrating the atmospheric carbon level changes between before the Industrial Revolution and today. Pretty frightening reality.

If you’re in the city between now and summer ’09, I would say that this exhibit is certainly worth the $24!