how to buy really green

How do you know if what you're buying is really green or not? My favorite eco-friendly consumer advocate, Debra Lynn Dadd, has written a new book that answers exactly that question. Really Green covers easy green principles that anyone can learn, to help each of us understand the kinds of things that really DO help health and the environment.

It contains all the information you need to be able to tell the difference between products with real environmental and health benefits and those with misleading green hype. In this book, you will learn:

* What "green" really means
* The true foundation for defining green products
* The life cycle of green products
* The eighteen basic principles that define what's green
* The five basic types of green products
* All about green packaging
* Various shades of green products
* The cost of green goods
* How to spot misleading "greenwashing"
* How to change your buying habits to be green

Click on this link to find out more and buy the book today!

cookbooks

Michelle's top ten favorite cookbooks

I have a recipe-sharing group on Facebook (Share your recipes (vegetarian and vegan friendly)), and a friend recently posted a Wall comment recommending the Moosewood series of cookbooks. At one point in time I had the entire Moosewood series, and I highly recommend them. But I've been downsizing over the last year, and in an attempt to free up some space on my bookshelves I got rid of all but one shelf of my cookbooks.

I used to be a cookbook junkie. (I used to be a book junkie, period.) I read cookbooks as though they were novels - just for fun - and I used to have about 75 of them. I've cut that number by two-thirds. I mean, I rarely USE cookbooks. I rarely use recipes. Most of what I cook I make up as I go along, based on past experience. But here are the 10 favorite cookbooks that I still own:

1. Unplugged Kitchen by Viana La Place. I am in love with the way this woman - an Italian-American - describes food. Her book is full of descriptions from her childhood, and is also an "unplugged" manifesto; she encourages readers to eschew modern kitchen appliances like food processors in favour of time-honoured tools such as the food mill. (I own a food processor. I don't own a food mill. But I can appreciate her approach all the same.) Favorite recipe: Damiana's Purslane Salad. (La Place's description of purslane piqued my interest, and I was delighted to discover that it grew as a plentiful weed in my father's vegetable patch. I ate a lot of purslane that summer.)



2. The New Laurel's Kitchen by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders and Brian Ruppenthal. A vegetarian classic, this cookbook is also an invaluable vegetarian resource, with tables of calorie counts and nutrients for all the recipes and most of the common vegetarian foods, guidance on how to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet, and tips for special populations (children, pregnant women). A must-have for any new vegetarian. Also by this author: Laurel's Kitchen Caring: Recipes for Everyday Home Caregiving, a cookbook of comfort food to feed loved ones who are challenged by illnesses such as cancer and AIDS.



3. The Greens Cook Book by Deborah Madison with Edward Espe Brown. By the celebrated first chef of the famous San Francisco vegetarian restaurant, Greens, this book is a classic of fine vegetarian cuisine. I was encouraged to try making homemade pasta after first reading this book years ago. Highlight: Lots (LOTS) of recipes for salads, soups and homemade pastas.



4. Raw: The Uncook Book by Juliano. I was raw (eating only raw food) for over eight months several years ago, and Raw was a wonderful inspiration for me (although, as with most raw "cooking," the recipes are quite time-consuming). Highlight: The photos! This book is absolutely gorgeous, and it makes you want to go raw if only for the visual pleasure of the experience.



5. The Old World Kitchen: The Rich Tradition of European Peasant Cooking by Elisabeth Luard. This book isn't vegetarian, but because it's about peasant food there are plenty of vegetarian (i.e. inexpensive!) dishes. I like simple things. Peasant food fits the bill. And the descriptions of peasant food from the different regions are fascinating. (Plus there's a whole chapter on potato dishes. Need I say more?) Favorite recipe: Colcannon (an Irish potato/kale dish).



6. Tassajara Cooking by Edward Espe Brown. Tassajara is the location of the Zen Mountain Center, a Zen Buddhist practice centre founded in 1967. This cookbook is not just about recipes, but a "zen and the art of cooking" treatise. A joy to read. Favorite recipe: Carrot Salad: carrot, salt, lemon. (Did I mention I like simple things?)



7. James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking by James Beard. Again - not vegetarian, but very, VERY useful. Beard, the one-time dean of American cooking, describes in great detail the reasons behind any and every cooking technique you could ever want to use in Western cooking.



8. The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. Another fantastic cooking resource; I rarely use it, but keep it around in case I'm ever inspired to make classic favorites like homemade lemonade or apple crisp. Favorite recipe: Lemonade.



9. Wholesome Harvest: Cooking with the New Four Food Groups - Grains, Beans, Fruits and Vegetables by Carol Gelles. Want a bunch of hearty, basic vegetarian recipes that are inherently nutritious? This is the cookbook to have. I got rid of Diet for a Small Planet years ago in favour of keeping this book, which is much more useful. Favorite recipe: Lentil Apple Soup.



10. Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook by Joetta Handrich Schlabach. Written in the spirit of the Mennonite More with Less books by Doris Janzen Longacre, this book is an extravagant feast of recipes (again - not vegetarian) from around the world. The combinations of foods and spices from different countries are what I love about this book. Favorite feature: Descriptions of day-to-day life in third world countries. Very humbling and inspiring.

On top of the above cookbooks, I also have three books I'd love to own, but don't:

1. Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver. Actually, I would probably take any of Oliver's books. But this is the one I know. I first saw this book in a client's home, and I used to take it down off the bookshelf in her kitchen every time I dusted - just for the pleasure of flipping through the pages. I've never seen one of Oliver's shows, but I love his enthusiasm for good, fresh food. Favorite recipe: Fresh mint crushed with sugar in a mortar and pestle, which makes an unbelievably beautiful green garnish for ice cream.



2. Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe, by Mollie Katzen. Katzen was a member of the original Mooswood collective, and the author of several other vegetarian cookbooks. Breakfast recipes to serve all day. Favorite recipe: Hash browns with diced beets. Don't knock it until you've tried it!



3. In Tuscany by Frances Mayes. Not strictly a cookbook - travel writer Mayes is well-known for her Under the Tuscan Sun memoir - this is a coffee-table visual extravaganza of the Tuscany region with, yes, recipes interspersed throughout the book. Favorite page: The description of "bacci," or Italian kisses. (As in real kisses. Not food.)

what i'm doing with thanksgiving leftovers

I've tagged this post with the label "gratitude," because this (and every) Thanksgiving I'm very grateful for... leftovers!

Mom sent me home with lots of goodies, including leftover peas, rutabaga (turnip) and mashed potatoes from last night's family celebration.

I defrosted and heated up a serving of my ginger squash soup, adding some of the cooked peas and turnip to the saucepan. Yuuummm...

1 serving ginger squash soup
1/2 cup cooked green peas
1/4 cup cooked, mashed rutabaga
dash of salt

A friend of mine once told me that she loves leftovers because it means you don't have to cook that night. Amen.

If you like leftovers too, there's a really great cookbook that gives all sorts of recipes to make with leftovers. The book includes master recipes for the first-time-around foods, too!

Leftovers by Kathie Gunst.

it's called a breakup because it's broken

I bought this book yesterday. It's a good book—and a funny book (thank goodness!)—but it's also a hard book to read.

I'm finally coming to terms with the fact (which has been obvious to my long-suffering friends and sister for several months now) that I'm still pining for my ex-boyfriend. In fact, I wish he and I were still together.

(And if he came to me right now and said he'd made a horrible mistake—that I was the woman of his dreams, and he'd be lost if I didn't take him back RIGHT THIS INSTANT—the only thing I'd say before jumping into his (not-so-)ever-loving arms is: "What took you so long?")

Correction.

Would have said.

I am reformed(ing). If you've been dumped, read the book. It will show you how crazy you are.

(Or in my case, were.)

It's Called a Breakup Because it's Broken by Greg Behrendt and Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt.

per • spec' • tive

It's been an interesting week. I just lost a new friend due to a misunderstanding, and I'm really, really, REALLY beginning to realize just how much my ex-boyfriend doesn't want to have any kind of friendship with me, either.

(Note to self: don't add ex-boyfriends to your Facebook friends list. It's too painful seeing what they're up to in the long stretches between your infrequent telephone conversations.)

So this morning when I was out doing the car shuffle I was in a kind of pensive mood. Then I noticed one of the trees I was passing as I walked the block back to my apartment. It was a chestnut tree, much taller than the others around it. I immediately wondered how high it was.

I thought about a book I had pulled off my shelves yesterday; I browsed through it before napping. It's called Meetings with Remarkable Trees by Thomas Pakenham, and is full of the most amazing photographs and descriptions of noteworthy trees in Great Britain.

There is a woods in my hometown of London, Ontario where there is an oak tree that is estimated to be at least 700 years old. (That's a picture of it, above.)

700 years.

Suddenly my week doesn't seem so important...*

*Although I just remembered – my ex and I spent one of our first days together as a couple underneath that oak tree. Crap! Back to thinking about him again…