Breakfast for dinner!

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This week’s meat-free Friday recipe is Michael Symon’s Eggs in Avocado with Tomato and Basil (photo credit:  The Chew website).  I was watching The Chew (ABC) yesterday, and saw him demonstrate this recipe – it looks so tasty and easy!  Can’t wait to try it myself!

Good news for the Red Knot

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As we’ve mentioned here before, the tiny red knot is an impressive little bird threatened with extinction.  In the last week, we’ve seen from several news sources that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the red knot as “threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.  This is an important step in protecting these shorebirds (the other endangered shorebird on the eastern U.S. coast listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act is the piping plover).   For more information, or for instructions on how to comment on the proposal, check out the Wildlife Society News.  (photo credit:  Peter Gleick, scienceblogs.com)

Wild rice–cranberry soup

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Here’s a great recipe for cool Fall nights adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, A Beautiful Bowl of Soup, by Paulette Mitchell.  If you don’t have a copy of this book, you should definitely add it to your library!

Ingredients
4 tblsp butter
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 chopped onion
3 tblsp all-purpose flour
3 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 cup cooked wild rice
1/2 cup dried cranberries (I use Craisins)
1 cup milk or half-and-half

Instructions
1)  Melt butter in a large pot.  Add carrots, celery, and onion, cooking until carrot is tender.
2)  Add flour and stir until smooth.  Gradually add the vegetable broth – stir constantly to avoid clumping.  Increase heat.  Stir until soup is thickened. 
3)  Stir in rice and cranberries, reduce heat and cook until rice is cooked and cranberries are plump.  Stir in milk or half-and-half.  Enjoy!

I’m joining Cee Lo Green this Saturday!

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National Public Lands Day is this country’s biggest single-day public volunteer effort  for public lands.  It’s your chance to help out at national parks, state parks, or any other public land in your area.  Our public lands are often underfunded, so volunteers are very much appreciated – just ask anyone who works at a local park!   Just as we reported last year, my family and I will be volunteering at our favorite Virigina state park, Sky Meadows, gathering acorns to be used later in reforestation efforts throughout Virginia.  There are plenty of chances to help out near you, too – check out the National Public Lands website for an activity in your area!  And be sure to send us a message to tell us how you helped the public lands!

Why Eat Low on the Food Chain? (a re-post)

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A great environmental goal is to “eat lower on the food chain.” What exactly does this mean? Well, let’s start at the beginning. When we talk about a food chain, we’re talking about a series of plants and animals that are related to one another through predation. Food chains always start with a plant (an autotroph, in ecological terms) which converts sunlight energy into energy that can be used by plants and animals. Plants are the source of energy and nutrients for all animals. As we move up the food chain, we’re looking at animals (heterotrophs) that eat certain plants. Moving further up the food chain, we’d see animals that eat the animals that ate the plants. A sample food chain would be:

Grass ---> grasshopper ---> bird ---> hawk 

So why do we want to “eat lower on the food chain”, that is, eat more plants and less meat? The way that our food is produced in our industrialized society, much energy goes into the production of food. The higher one eats on the food chain (meat, that is), the more energy that must go into producing that meat. So, if you eat a 2,000 calorie per day diet, a diet of vegetables will require much less energy input, than a 2,000 calorie diet that contains substantial amounts of meat. Another way of thinking about it -- for the same energy input, much more plant-based food can be produced. Eating lower on the food chain can also help to reduce greenhouse gases – the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that meat production is responsible for 1/5 of global greenhouse gases! 

Unless you live in an area with a very short growing season, a plant-based diet is a realistic goal. But many folks say they can’t or don’t want to go totally vegetarian. How about 1 night per week? The Utah State University Cooperative Extension website states that if “1000 people replaced one meat meal per week with a vegetarian option, it would save 70,000 lbs of grain per year!” That amount of grain would really feed a lot of people, with much lower environmental impact. Our family eats meat-free in our home.  Outside of the house, the kids and my husband eat whatever they want. Why not give it a try? Once a week, I will post a recipe that has been a success at our house. I’ll also include meatless products that I like, because people often ask me which products I like best, but you can substitute any brand that you like. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy “Meat-free Friday!”

Learning from the neighbors

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In Vienna VA yesterday, we had a great event called the Sustainability Home and Garden Tour – an opportunity for folks in town to tour neighbors’ homes and yards to learn about green improvements.  Local residents visited various homes in which the owners had added solar-powered attic fans, energy-efficient windows, upgraded insulation and other conservation improvements, geothermal heat, and solar panels.  Several neighbors (including our family) opened their yards and gardens to demonstrate native plantings, pollinator gardens, rainbarrels, walkways and garden houses made from recycled materials, composting, and organic vegetable gardens.  Our family tried to demonstrate that eco-friendly landscaping doesn’t require a lot of time and can be done by busy families (in fact, we were shuttling kids to soccer practice during the afternoon).  And it wasn’t just the visitors who learned new information – I got several helpful gardening tips from neighbors visiting our gardens!   Local businesses also demonstrated their “green cred” and some even gave out locally grown free samples! 

Does your community have a similar event?  Please share!

Meatless Mushroom Stroganoff

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When you’re wanting something savory for dinner, there’s nothing like stroganoff.  Today’s recipe is adapted from Cooking Light, and you could make it with or without the “meat”balls.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 bag egg noodles
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
4 tsp chopped garlic
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 cup white wine
2 tblsp all-purpose flour
2 cups veggie broth
2/3 cups sour cream
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 package Quorn meatballs, defrosted and heated in microwave

Instructions

1. Cook noodles.  Drain and keep warm
2. Heat olive oil in skillet.  Saute mushrooms until almost clear.  Add mushrooms, garlic, and paprika; saute until mushrooms are soft – 5 to 10 minutes. 
3. Add wine to mushroom mixture and cook until wine is almost totally evaporated.
4. Sprinkle flour over the mushroom mixture and cook for about 1 minute.
5. Add veggie broth.  Boil and then reduce heat and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
6. Remove skillet from heat.  Add salt, pepper, sour cream, and mustard. 
7. Add meatballs to mushroom mixture.
8. Spoon mushrooms and meatballs over the noodles.

(Nope, Quorn didn't pay me for the endorsement -- I just like the product!)