Happy Halloween

(Update: I realized rereading this that I wasn’t absolutely clear that I didn’t make this monstrosity–a friend sent me the link, and I’m just linking to it.  Sorry if I wasn’t clear!)

An now for a special Halloween edition of It’s Not Easy Being Green:

Meathand meatloaf.  Recipe here. 

Onion slices for fingernails and wrist bones.  Ketchup over meatloaf and browned cheese over that. Served on a bed of mashed potatoes.

This was just too…gross and fantastic…not to share.

Happy Halloween.

Meatless Mondays–if it ticks off the beef industry, they’re doing something right.

I love this article, absolutely love it:

Meatless Mondays Draw Industry Ire

(My favorite part is when the meat industry people complain about the “lack of protein” in what the school is serving on Mondays, like grilled cheese sandwiches and black beans and rice with salsa…)

Things like this article make me want to giggle and hug myself…because it shows we’re winning. And how scared they are.

(More Meatless Mondays information can be found at meatlessmondays.com–check it out!)

Feel the Burn! (Fire Cider and Thieves’ Vinegar recipes)

Apple cider vinegar is one of those universally magical substances that’s supposed to cure practically anything, depending on what and where you read.  I personally have never had much affinity for it–I use the white stuff for cleaning, and the balsamic stuff for food, but cider vinegar has never been one of my staples. 

So it was intriguing when, in this season of Awful Flu-ness, I again came across the Legend of the Four Thieves.  It goes something like this: during the Black Plague, these four brothers made their living going into the houses of dead plague victims and relieving them of the belongings they now, being dead, would no longer need. And somehow they never got the plague themselves.  When they were finally captured, the authorities gave them their freedom in exchange for the secret to how they had managed to stay alive all that time.

The secret, apparently, was this herbal vinegar–lots of well-known antibacterial and antiviral herbs steeped in cider vinegar (or in their case, probably whatever fruit vinegar they had access to), drained, and a teaspoon or so taken every few hours.  There are lots of recipes floating around the internet, but the basic bare bones seem to be something like this:

Thieves Vinegar

Fill a quart jar lightly with  more or less equal parts of the following freh or dried herbs: lavendar, sage, rosemary, and thyme.  Some recipes add garlic, others say lemon balm or mint, but the ones purporting to be “original” only have those first basic four. (I’m assuming one would chop the herbs.) Pour cider vinegar over it all and let it steep in a fairly cool out-of-the-sun place for about six weeks, shaking every day or so.  Strain out the solids, retain the liquid, and take by the teaspoonful, or put over salad, or what-have-you.

So that’s Thieves Vinegar.  I haven’t tried making that one yet–maybe a mistake in this particular year, as my own flu is backing off and my husband and daughter are starting to sniffle…

On the other hand, the one I have made a few times and thoroughly enjoyed is FIRE CIDER!

This is another really old brew using apple cider vinegar, but to me it seems to have a little more oomph.  Like Thieves Vinegar, it’s something to take a spoonful or so of several times a day during cold and flu seasons, just to build up the immunity a little more.  And I may be crazy, but I find it absolutely delicious.

FIRE CIDER RECIPE –Supposed to cure practically everything. (Including, perhaps, the annoying flame of life, but whatever…)

• 1 quart apple cider vinegar 
• 1/4 cup grated fresh horseradish (I’ve used the stuff from a jar when I couldn’t find the fresh stuff) 
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 ginger root, chopped
• 1 head garlic  peeled & chopped
• cayenne pepper (not sure how much of this to use!–maybe half a teaspoonful or so? Depends on your tolerance.)
• 1 cup honey, to taste

Place herbs in a glass jar. Pour in enough vinegar to cover herbs by 1 to 2 inches. Seal jar tightly and let sit for 4-6 weeks.

Strain out and discard herbs and sweeten the infused cider vinegar with honey to taste. (you might need to warm the mixture gently in a saucepan to dissolve the honey…or not, it’ll eventually dissolve in the jar.)

I made this last winter and took a little slug in some apple or other juice often, as well as using it on salads and such, a few times a day.  It’s very strongly flavored, but it’s also in its own way sort of fabulous.

Pasta Fazool–the cure for what ails.

I have the flu again. I wish I knew why every time a new bug hits the neighborhood, it immediately seems to go, “Hey! Party at Jenn’s!” and comes over to trash the place with all its friends who proceed to reproduce in my bronchial tubes and sinus cavities.

I have a great spouse–he’s been amazing about taking care of the kids, keeping things moving, and giving me some peace and quiet to rest and hopefully heal.  His culinary abilities are a little limited, though, and I wanted soup. So I did seriously the absolutely easiest soup recipe I’ve ever tried, largely out of my freezer.

I love my crockpot.

Yesterday morning I found a quart of frozen turkey broth in the freezer.  (By the way, I washed my hands thoroughly before I touched anything in the kitchen.) I threw it into the crockpot.  I threw a bunch of sliced-and-quartered frozen zucchini from the summer in there, too, and four “bean muffins”–when I made beans I put them into muffin tins in half-cup portions, froze them, and then transfered them to a bigger bag so I can now pull out half a cup of beans whenever. So, about two cups of beans…half a bag of frozen bell peppers.  Two big spoonfuls of diced minced garlic (what we call “jarlic” around here, since I seldom actually dice my own real cloves and rely on the jars).  A can of diced minced tomatoes.  Moved the frozen-quart-cylinder thing of broth around so I could close the lid.  Turned it on low and forgot about it. Went to bed. Watched a lot of really bad TV.

By early evening, I threw some leftover cooked pasta in that the kids hadn’t eaten; I could as easily have tossed some dry stuff in instead, though it cooks up sort of slimy in a crockpot if you do it that way.  Half a jar of spaghetti sauce, a few teaspoonfuls of various italian spices like oregano and basil and thyme, and I always do fennel too (because it makes me think there’s sausage in there–fennel is the main Italian sausage seasoning).  Forgot about it for another hour.

Hit the spot.  This was really good soup, especially with a little Parmesan sprinkled on it.

I love my crockpot. I love my husband. Not in that order.

Alicia Silverstone and cow farts

I admit very few of my brain cells have been devoted in any way to Alicia Silverstone’s existence over the past several years (though I do enjoy Clueless in the same way I enjoy Romy and Michelle…but I digress…).  On some level I think I heard that she is a die-hard environmentalist, but honestly she just hasn’t been on my radar.

Then I read this interview over on TreeHugger…and I honestly might buy her book.   Amazon doesn’t have a “look inside” function on this one, which is unfortunate, but it looks like it’s something that sort of allows and invites non-vegans to gently test the waters and move in that direction. 

If I do get it, I’ll let you know! (And if you’re wondering where the cow farts reference came from, you’ll have to read the interview.)

–J

The 3/50 project

Thanks to Jess over at The Green Phone Booth for alerting me to this–please, anyone who reads this, spread the word!

The 3/50 project is about an effort–a manageable one, something most of us really can legitimately take part in–to support our local small businesses. 

In effect, it says this:

1. think of three small businesses you frequent that you would miss if they suddenly were gone? Choose your three, and make a point to go in regularly, share a conversation or smile with the proprietors, and maybe buy something.

2. if 75% of employed people spent $50/month in locally owned independent businesses, more than$42 billion would be generated and 68% of it would go back into the community through taxes, payroll,  etc.  (Only abotu 42% of chain businesses go back into the community.)

So check it out, spread the word!

International Day of Climate Action!

This has been a crazy week; little time for extensive writing.

But take a moment today to visit the 350.org site and sign the online petition calling for effective and binding climate change legislation, and check out what other countries are doing!

And maybe walk or bike somewhere you might otherwise have driven.  Hang out (or in) the laundry instead of using the dryer. Work up a plan for this weeks meals that includes one or two fewer meat-including meals than you would otherwise.

Small steps.  But we do what we can.

Happy Forty Something

Yesterday was my birthday. As of today, I’m officially Forty Something. (Anyone who hasn’t hit the big four-oh yet, don’t fear it. Thirty nine was scary and awful with that big milestone approaching, but forty was pretty cool–I’m not sure what was different, but it was sort of like I all of a sudden felt like I’d crossed a line somewhere that gave me permission to not take crap from anyone, know what I mean? Forty-one, by comparison, will probably be sort of a non-event.)  It was a nice day–well, it was a hugely busy and crazy day, and the only time we got to celebrate as a family was breakfast before school.  My husband and kids made pancakes, we drank local cider and ate not even remotely local fresh pineapple rings.  (Fresh pineapple is my absolute favorite fruit; I don’t know what it is about it, but it’s just so lovely…)

My gifts made me smile.  Not just because they were nice gifts, but it was just sort of cool to see how my family really does sort of “get” me on this whole green thing, and that they encourage me so much.  And how much my life and tastes have changed in the past couple of years. 

I think my 39th birthday gifts were probably something like this: the new Nora Roberts novel, a sweater from Kohls, a couple of CD’s, stuff like that. 

This year: my husband gave me two books: Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, a memoir of a woman who manages gardens and livestock in the inner city, and Barnyard in your Backyard, a guide for keeping chickens, geese, sheep, cows, whatever. That last one, especially, I could hardly believe, since he rolls his eyes whenever I talk about the laying chickens I want.  My mom had sent Preserving the Harvest, a guide to pickling, freezing, drying, canning, etc. almost any fruit or veggie you could think of. She also gave me a beautiful hand-woven sweater from the Maine Common Ground Fair.  Kids gave me handmade soap and fair trade chocolate. 

It was a very nice birthday.   I don’t expect to spend all day tomorrow canning fruits, and I’m not anticipating keeping chickens in the backyard any time in even the remotely near future, but it’s fun to be able to think about it and do what I can, and have the reference materials there for when it is the right time.  And there’s nothing like knowing a little about the unknown to make it seem not quite so unknown or intimidating.  Sort of like your forties, ya know?

Flu, flu, what to do??

Image credit: Jason Reed/Reuters/Corbis, from www.theatlantic.com

Okay, a show of hands: How many of you have not had at least one conversation about the flu, flu shots, illness, hand-washing, or something related in the past week?

That’s what I thought. (You over there, you can put your hand down.)

In mommydom, it seems to come up with not-so-startling regularity.  Catholic churches are taking the common cup away from the people, churches of all stripes are stopping handholding at whatever part of the service it might have happened, kids are being kept out of school, anti-bacterial hand goo is being used like it’s out of style (too bad it doesn’t really work anyway…)…I even had a conversation with my church choir advocating Common Sense Stuff–like, if you’re feeling like you’re coming down with something, please don’t suck it up and come to practice anyway.  If you live with someone who’s sick, even if you’re fine so far, please consider a smile and a nod at the sign of peace rather than shaking hands.  Wash hands often. Drink water and get enough sleep to keep your immunity up. All that usual stuff.

And then there’s the vaccine.  I must have been asked a dozen times in the past week, “Are you getting The Vaccine?” (You can hear the capital letters.) And its follow up question,  ”Do you usually get a flu shot?”

(No and no, by the way.)

The other day I found this article from The Atlantic–it has that certain air of non-hyped straightforwardness that I find so refreshing in the media on those rare occasions I encounter it. On the other hand…it presents some startling statistics about flu vaccines in general and the public’s reliance on them.

It’s fairly long, but worth reading all three pages of. Obviously, as I always say, pay attention, do your own research, and make your own choice–that’s all any of us can do.

And eat well. Stay hydrated.  Wash your hands a lot. Get enough sleep. Do what you can.

******

Does the Vaccine Matter?

Drive too fast along Red Lion Road, beside Philadelphia’s Northeast Airport, and you will miss the low-rise cement building where the biotech company MedImmune has been quietly pumping out swine flu vaccine at about a million doses a week. …

Vaccination is central to the government’s plan for preventing deaths from swine flu…But what if everything we think we know about fighting influenza is wrong? What if flu vaccines do not protect people from dying—particularly the elderly, who account for 90 percent of deaths from seasonal flu? And what if the expensive antiviral drugs that the government has stockpiled over the past few years also have little, if any, power to reduce the number of people who die or are hospitalized?… (click here for full article)

The Hunger Site

Does everyone know about The Hunger Site? 

Each time you click on the “free food” button, up to once a day, a cup of food is donated to the hungry.  You can just go there, or you can arrange for reminder emails to be sent each day so you don’t, like me, forget.  The food is paid for by sponsors; this is a legitimate Real Deal thing–check out their About page for more info. If you work from multiple computers, you can click on it once per computer per day.  (It doesn’t give you extra spam or messages unless you ask for them.)

What a lot of people aren’t aware of is the online store attached to the site, full of fair trade goods and just generally really nice stuff–clothes, jewelry, home goods, and stuff like that. I do a really large amount of my Christmas shopping there, and I’ve never been disappointed in a purchase. (Note: I don’t think it’s all fair trade; there’s a button to click for that.)

Take a look…

(p.s.–there are tabs across the top for other causes–breast cancer, children’s health, literacy, rainforest, and animal rescue–you can click on each tab once a day to contribute to these various organizations…)