A New Twist on a New Year's Favorite: Black Eyed Pea Cabbage Rolls

I dutifully purchased some black eyed peas the other day. In most African American households, these are a must eat food for New Years. I haven't been that excited about preparing them, as I was getting pretty bored with some of the traditional recipes. Though I have successfully experimented with black eyed pea salad and fritters, I think I will try out this new recipe I found on one of my favorite vegan blogs, A Profound Hatred of Meant. Check out the blog post here. A Profound Hatred of Meat: Black Eyed Pea Cabbage Rolls: Black Eyed Peas are traditional to eat at the end of the year/beginning of the new year and they happen to be one of my favorite beans so I ...


As a follow-up to this post, read another post on what to do with all of those leftover black eyed peas, here.

Summer-like Pop Up Park

Are you missing the greenery and warmth of the great outdoors already? Didn't get a chance to enjoy some of those wonderful concerts in the park your neighborhood offers? Well, if you live in NYC, you have a second chance! Openhouse Gallery is featuring an interactive exhibit called Park Here, which brings the summer indoors. Lighting, sustainability and entertainment values were given strong consideration in the pop-up park's design. There are food tastings, yoga workouts and concerts for the public to enjoy. Learn more here. Wouldn't this be a great idea in your city? We could bring the outdoors inside in areas where there are no safe green spaces. The "parks" programming could be supplemented by organized tours to actual parks, community gardens, botanical gardens and the like and employees from those venues could come to the pop-up park and give lectures, bring animals and do live demonstrations. It would be a great place for community artists and entertainers to showcase their talents. Funding could be a challenge, but not if you start small - perhaps a cozy eco-friendly room with plants, great lighting and comfy seating where one could just chill with a few friends - it's very doable. Libraries, churches and community centers would be great candidates to house something like this. Anyone tempted to give it a try in their communities?

Finally, A Raw Food Holiday Recipe Book!

I love this website, "Raw Food on $10 a Day" for so many reasons, great pics of delicious and easy to prepare raw food, budget friendly and fun to read. One more reason....I discovered that there is a cookbook for raw food holiday recipes. Check it out.

Green Gift Giving for the Holidays

Toxics Avenger | NRDC Green Gifts It's that time of the year. Every year, I become Scroogier as I listen to reports of people mauling each other over stuff at big box retailers and dred buying more stuff for people just because it is expected. I feel a little better this year, as I started volunteering at a national fair trade retailer, Ten Thousand Villages, so at least in addition to being thoughtful about what I'm giving, I'm also being thoughtful about the benefactors of my hard earned dollars - artisans from over 38 countries who really need the money and are putting it to work in their communities. Many of these gifts are also eco-friendly, women friendly and kid friendly. Apparently many of you and your parents feel the same and cited in this article about increasing demand for greener gifts and quality over quantiy. We are not alone! Yay! There are so many more options these days as retailers are getting the message, even discount retailers like TJ Maxx and Marshalls have dozens or organic and eco-friendly options for those of us shopping on a budget. I purchase some great soy and essential oil based candles from CVS and thrift stores/flea markets are awesome places to find authentic, unique, awesome and made in America gifts - especially this time of the year. If you are inclined to shop online checkout the great offerings made available by the Natural Resources Defense Council - the law firm for the earth.

These soy candles are wonderful! At $7.99 - a great gift!

This is one of NRDC's gift options - love the diversity.

Gift option from the NRDC for animal lovers. Gorgeous wolf!

Educating children - the NRDC let's you give knowledge. Nice.

Toxic Avenger - NRDC let's you give the gift of eco-justice!

US reluctantly sets deadline for final decision on bisphenol A safety

US reluctantly sets deadline for final decision on bisphenol A safety The people have spoken. France has already banned this questionable chemical, often used in canned foods, receipts, glass lid liners and plastics. Industry claims that this synthetic hormone is present in safe levels for human consumption, but more consumers are starting to say, "no thanks". So now the US has an opportunity to give the people what they want, let's see what happens.