When it comes to being green, I feel dumb. My younger son Justin has his degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and I tell you it does not rub off on me. Not that I haven’t tried! I bought a black, plastic composting thingy, and put it in the backyard, where it sits idle and forlorn. Justin says it’s easy to compost. I want him to come home and visit so I can get a crash course.
In the meantime, I find the Green Princess Cookbook: Sweets and Treats to Save the Planet. The title sounds completely incongruous, but I open the book. On the first page, I am taunted with the words – written in green – “It’s Easy Being Green!”
In nine pretty-pink bullet points, I learn that organic food is grown by farmers who don’t use chemical pesticides or fertilizers that are harmful to the planet. If you want to buy organic, you can — fruit, vegetables, milk, eggs and other foods. And, Barbara Beery says in her book, you should try to buy fruits and veggies grown within 100-miles of where you live – it’s easier on the planet than having the food transported by ship or plane, saves on gas, and keeps our air and water cleaner. I’m excited when I realize there will be more Farmer’s Markets cropping up, as we roll through spring into summer. And buy beef, she says, that was grass-fed, because that, too, is better for the cows, the farmers, and the planet.
Beery has cute little tips at the bottom of each recipe. That is, the design is cute, not the information. She mentions going to a berry farm. I’m New York City born, and raised in the Garden State – that’s New Jersey, in case you didn’t know. I wouldn’t have known it was the Garden State. When I was in high school, I was invited to dinner at an old rancher’s home. I was friends with his daughter, and while their home was in the NY suburbs like mine, their ranch was in Wyoming. Anyway I was sent to run into the grocery store to pick up some lettuce. I grabbed the first green ball of leaves I saw. It was cabbage.
I digress. I want to atone for that by going to a berry farm this year, and picking berries with friends. Living in Oregon, that should be a slam-dunk – if I get my timing right.
Another tip. Buy organic bananas – I am a recent convert on those. Good. What I’m learning is that green is easy if you are aware enough to walk through a Farmer’s Market instead of a grocery store, or just reading the labels. That’s a start, anyway.
The fruit recipes are colorful, but, for me, diabetic, they have way too much sugar. The cornbread in a recycled can recipe looks fun. There’s butter, jam, cookies, no-bake brownie cupcakes, smoothies and sorbets.
Enjoy this Slurp ‘N’ Slushy Organic Berry Cooler for me. You’re tossing all this into a blender until it’s smooth, and then you serve over crushed ice: ½ cup freshly squeezed organic orange juice, a cup of whole-fruit raspberry sorbet, a quarter cup fresh or frozen organic cranberries, and a quarter cup sliced fresh or frozen organic strawberries.
Seriously, let me know how you like it.
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