It’s The Year of Living Dangerously all over again.

Orangutan (Photo: Tom Theodore/Dreamstime)

On Tuesday, two journalists were arrested in Sumatra while covering a politically sensitive topic – palm oil harvesting and the ensuing decimation of Southeast Asia’s old-growth, carbon-capturing rainforests, and the subsequent release of giant CO2 pockets that lie beneath the forests and their peat swamps.

More disturbing than the reporters’ deportation, though, is how little we consumers seem to realize that, not only are we what we eat, but when it comes to palm oil, we are eating our own lifeblood. We’re ‘eating’ our oxygen, we’re ‘eating’ our fellow species. We’re consuming our own future by driving up carbon emissions much faster than we can offset them. We are the snake eating its own tail.

Mass deforestation, due to the rapid establishment of palm oil plantations backed by multinational corporations, has recently made Indonesia the third-largest carbon emitter in the world. Think of it, number three  – after vastly more populated and developed China and the United States.

Indonesia’s neighbors, Malaysia and Papaua, New Guinea, also are top producers of palm oil, making Southeast Asia a veritable carbon drain. Because of rapid rainforest loss in these sensitive areas, experts estimate that between 50 and 60 endangered orangutans perish each week, as their habits are destroyed or they are killed by workers. Roughly two football fields worth of rainforests are felled every minute by palm oil plantations, bellowing out stored carbon.

In addition, recent studies show that global deforestation creates one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions; and conversely, that tropical forests now absorb one-fifth of the world’s carbon emissions that are caused by burning fossil fuels.

“Rainforests are one of the biggest ways that carbon gets absorbed from the atmosphere, so rainforests and trees and peat swamps – the whole ecosystem – takes in a large amount of carbon and stores it,” says Margaret Swink, of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), which in the past year has stepped up its protests against companies like Cargill, which uses palm oil in many manufactured foods.

“It only releases when you destroy it – burning being the worst way. When rainforests are cut and burned, you’ve just released millennia of carbon absorption into the air, which is why rainforest destruction is such a threat. …You’ve just released all this carbon into the atmosphere, but because it’s a cycle (remember studying the carbon cycle in fourth-grade science?), you’ve also taken away the thing that was removing carbon from the atmosphere … and so when you replant a palm-oil plantation, it doesn’t absorb as much carbon that those older trees – as that whole ecosystem did” for many thousands of years.

And we, the current people generation, get a double carbon-whammy.

But until, say, two to five years ago, who knew that some of our favorite foods – holiday season or not – contain palm oil derivatives to preserve, add flavor to or fry foods to a golden crispness? Things like cocoa mix, crackers, potato chips, margarine, instant soups, cakes, chocolate bars, cookies, even certain types of granola are all formulated with palm oil.

Yet, as the holidays hover around us and we try to figure out what we’re really giving thanks for, we can take simple steps to slow rainforest destruction. We can learn about campaigns, such as RAN’s recent Call Cargill campaign and check out our pantry for products that rely on palm oil.

“Palm oil is the leading driver of deforestation in the second-largest standing rainforest, which is in Indonesia,” says Swink, who used to work for the Peace Corps in Cameroon; seeing trucks drive past her house, hauling thousand-year-old trees led her to RAN, headquartered in San Francisco.

“There are three areas of tropical rainforests still left in the world – the Amazon, Indonesia and Malaysia. Then there’s the Congo Basin. … But in Southeast Asia, we’re seeing the fastest rate of deforestation. RAN has been looking at the incredible rate of destruction, intersecting that with climate change. And Indonesia is now the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet, after the U.S. and China. But with the USA it’s fossil fuels and transportation that create the emissions. With Indonesia, it’s mostly deforestation. So when you take it all together, palm oil is a really large threat in terms of deforestation leading to climate change.”

As organizations like RAN, 350.org, Greenpeace, Rising Tide North America , World Wildlife Fund and the Rainforest Alliance amplify the clarion call, some companies are taking note. Gucci Group just declared its commitment to abandon paper products (i.e., those tony shopping bags) from Asian Pulp and Paper – and specifically from Indonesian plantations and rainforests, following Tiffany and a few other luxury brands’ leads.

And Cadbury recently announced that as a direct result of a New Zealand zookeepers’ boycott, it has vowed to dump palm oil and return to cocoa butter (but there’s a catch: that’s only in New Zealand).

Burning forest to make way for plantations in Sumatra (Photo: Mark Edwards, WWF-Canon)

These companies are responding to the dire situation that’s resulted over the past 70 years of deforestation by various industries, mainly logging and agriculture, in these Southeast Asian rainforests.

Aside from the devastating impacts on climate change, the forest destruction is taking a big toll on the biodiversity of the area. World Wildlife Fund estimates that converting natural forest to palm plantations results in the loss of 80 to 100 percent of the mammal, bird and reptile species in these normally rich ecosystems. (For a good graphic depiction of the rainforest losses, see the WWF’s report on Borneo and Sumatra and maps of the region, which show, for instance, that Sumatra has lost 85 percent of its natural forest.)

All this begs two basic questions: Why are palm oil derivatives in so many foods and emulsive products, to begin with? And what can we substitute it with?

The first answer “is easy,” says Brihannala Morgan, an activist with Rising Tide North America who lived in Indonesia for nine years and is now based in the Bay Area, where she is a graduate student in forest and climate policy at UC-Berkeley.

“Palm oil is the cheapest oil in the world, second only to soybean oil,” she says. “It’s about how much oil you can produce per hectare of land, and you can produce more palm oil per hectare than almost any other oil. So the laws of supply and demand apply. …It’s used not only in foods but in industrial lubricants, biofuels. But, in foods, it’s mostly for preserving. I’m not a food chemist, but all these things have to have some kind of oil, and they pick the cheapest, for the highest profit. In most countries besides the United States – and we’re only responsible for five percent of all palm oil consumed – but in other countries, it’s used for a frying oil – particularly in China and India, which have populations that are becoming wealthier and can afford more fried foods.”

You don’t have to wait for next Halloween to track down energy vampires in your home. Any time of the year will do.

Just follow these Alliance to Save Energy guidelines, which are fun for kids and will surely be enlightening for adults too.

First step, turn off all the lights and appliances in the house. Take a flashlight outside to see if the meter is still running. It probably will be, because you’ve got things on “stand by” all over the house — hair dryers, phones, computers, televisions, DVRs.

Now investigate. Walk around the house with the flashlight and find the little LED lights that indicate an appliance is “ready.” Even in sleep mode, it’s drawing energy and you can

KillAWatt EZ will tell you how much energy your electronics are gobbling

often tell by feeling the item or the plug-in. Is it warm? It’s drawing energy.

The solution, aside from unplugging individual appliances, is to put equipment on a power strip. Then turn the power strip off whenever possible.

The costs of “phantom energy” are real. The Department of Energy estimates that the constant energy draw of appliances and electronics that aren’t even turned on can account for 20 percent of your energy bill.

According to the Alliance To Save Energy’s worksheet (developed with Energy Star), it costs about $6.85 a year (on average) to keep a VCR on standby and $4.28 for a TV that’s plugged in. Seem like chump change? Multiply those by how many VCRs and TVs there are in the house, then add in all the other clocks, toasters, phones and computers you’ve got plugged into the wall.

If you want a more precise fix on your vampires, consider proving their harm with a KillaWatt, a device that you can plug suspicious appliances into to give you a read out of how many watts are being consumed. The KillaWatt, by P3 International, an electronics firm in New York, is sold in several versions. See the P3 website.

An emerging body of evidence suggests that the changing global climate is already affecting infectious disease transmission patterns. At a symposium today at the 58th annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Washington D.C., experts reported that such changes are expected to have a profound impact on global public health.

“There is concrete evidence that the global climate is changing, and these changes are expected to greatly impact human health as surface temperatures rise, agricultural belts shift, and extreme weather events become more commonplace,” Mary H. Hayden, Ph.D. of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., said in a statement. “Although most scientists agree that climate change is underway, the role it plays in infectious disease transmission is still in contention. The evidence presented today suggests that climate change will exacerbate the challenges of controlling infectious diseases in the developing world.”

Climate change is expected to impact global health through a variety of factors including greater heat stress, air pollution, respiratory disease exacerbation, and changes in the geographic distribution of vector-, food- and water-borne disease.

“The complexity of such influences requires that the next generation of climate and health scientists undergo training to ensure that they can address climate-related public health challenges. Such preparation will be critical as the population of at-risk individuals continues to grow,” said Dr. Hayden, who is a program coordinator of a joint NCAR/US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention postdoctoral fellowship combining public health applications and climate science.

NCAR Director Eric J. Barron, Ph.D., who discussed the potential use of available weather and climate models in health forecasting, noted that “we are moving into the age of ‘decision-making’ with regard to climate change after decades of focusing on reducing uncertainties in attribution and prediction.”

“Health has huge potential and should be first in line for greater investment to improve the decision-making process because of its clear ties to weather and climate,” Dr. Barron said in a statement. “Whereas the medical community has tended to respond in a ‘point-of-service’ manner — reacting to incoming cases with almost no discipline of forecasting — health/climate forecasting has real potential if we can design monitoring algorithms or a robust predictive capability.”

The aim of the symposium, “Changing the Climate: A Data-Driven Discussion About Climate,” was to address the use, utility, and limitations of weather and climate models toward a goal of providing data-driven evidence of the links between weather, climate, specific pathogens and ultimately, human health. The symposium included several evidence-based presentations by speakers from the US Centers Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Columbia University’s International Research Institute on the established effects of climate variability/change on specific climate-sensitive diseases such as meningitis, malaria, plague and other vector-borne bacterial pathogens.

Remember Chevy Chase’s escapades with a ladder and those strings of outdoor lights in Christmas Vacation? Apparently many Americans would have been happy to help him kick that plastic Santa to death.

A new survey commissioned by GE of 1,050 Americans found that dealing with those tangled, twisty lights appears to be one of the Christmas season’s biggest hassles.

Of the people who plan to decorate with lights (870), a majority (56 percent) cited untangling last year’s lights as the season’s “biggest hassle”.  Others noted that stringing lights on the house or in the yard (47 percent) and stringing lights on the tree (39 percent) as the season’s biggest non-joyous headache.

And the bah-humbug didn’t end there. Others said they didn’t much care for hanging ornaments and decorations (23 percent) or getting the tree to stand up in the stand (19 percent).

Spiked eggnog anyone?

Moving on to less edgy topics, the survey by Goodmind Market Research found that 24 percent of the respondents planned on decorating with LED lights this season. This led GE Consumer & Industrial, engineer of the survey, to conclude that a pre-lit LED Christmas tree could be the “hit of the season.”

Perhaps that would be about the perfect combination of convenience and energy-savings for economically stressed, celebration-weary Americans.

And surprise! A GE licensee, Santa’s Best Craft Ltd., happens to sell pre–lit trees with low voltage, cool burning GE brand Energy Smart® LED holiday light sets that use about 80 percent less energy than traditional holiday lighting. (Available in scads of stores across the country.)

Of course, the verdict’s still out on whether artificial really is greener than using a live tree that’s been chopped down at a tree farm. Some worry that all those plastic trees end up in landfills. At the same time, others (except for Christmas tree farmers) say those cut trees are a big carbon waste. This perennial argument would be an excellent debate topic for while you’re untwisting those strings of lights.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Chicago’s Greenheart Shop is declaring that Black Friday will be Green Friday this year at their store, which sells Fair Trade, eco-friendly and socially conscious gifts, food, clothes and accessories.

Greenheart, a non-profit cultural exchange and storefront (at 1911 W. Division) will be serving free Fair Trade wine, cocoa and snacks to shoppers. Visitors can also see a make-your-own gift wrap demonstration. The event, on Friday, Nov. 27, when shoppers traditionally swarm the stores keeping retails in the black, will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Those who can’t attend can still buy Greenheart products online.

The goodies sold at Greenheart benefit disadvantaged workers, coops in developing nations and support ecologically sound growing methods, like shade-grown cocoa. They include:

• 

  Clutch made of recycled saris.

  Purses and clutches made from recycled saris, such as this one made by a family of artisans near New Delhi, India, through WorldFinds, a Chicago-based organization that partners with fair trade organizations, women’s self-help groups, and small families of artisans in India, Nepal, and Indonesia.

• Beeline Honey, an all natural raw honey produced by (bees and) Sweet Beginnings, LCC, a social enterprise and transitional job program of the North Lawndale employment network in Chicago. The program helps people who face barriers to employment, particularly those with histories of criminal conviction. The Beeline enterprise helps workers establish a work history and learn productive work habits.

• Eco-friendly gift wrap that is 100 percent tree-free. Made out of recycled cotton rags, each sheet of gift wrap
  

  Wrapping paper made of recycled rags.

  offers unique colors and patterns. Customers can specify a color preference for these 22 x 32-inch sheets of wrap made by Artisans at the Eco Friendly Papers workshop in Rajasthan, India, who collect cotton waste, such as rags, and turn it into a pulp.

The shop also sells soy candles, women’s dresses, baby accessories, reusable water bottles, Fair Trade cocoa and more.

To read more about Greenheart and its work around the world, see the history on their website.

The Greenheart storefront is open  M-F 11-7; Sat 11-6; Sun 12-5; products are available online.

A host of new greener vehicles will be making their North American debuts at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show from Dec. 4 through Dec. 13 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Mercedes-Benz will show off the fuel-sipping E350 BlueTEC and the fuel-cell-powered F-Cell. The company also will showcase the just-launched ML450 Hybrid, Mercedes-Benz’s first hybrid SUV.

Essentially an electric car that makes its own power on board, the new Mercedes-Benz F-Cell  has a range of about 240 miles and, running on compressed hydrogen, boasts an equivalent fuel mileage of 86.6 city-highway combined miles per gallon. In 2010, Mercedes-Benz says 200 production F-Cell cars will be delivered to customers in the U.S. and Europe as part of a special lease program.

The car show also will include the E350 BlueTEC,  powered by a 3.0-liter V6 diesel with 210 horsepower that delivers 400 lb.-ft. of torque and approximately 30 percent better fuel economy than a comparable gasoline engine. Mercedes-Benz says the car uses “AdBlue injection” that makes diesel exhaust super-clean. The E350 BlueTEC will go on sale in all 50 states in spring 2010.

Making its West Coast debut at the L.A. Auto Show, the Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid uses a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine, two electric motors and sophisticated electronics to produce more than 46 percent better fuel economy than a comparable V8-powered ML550 model. Integrated within the modified automatic transmission, each magneto-electric motor is dedicated to a specific purpose — one for pulling away under electric power, the other specifically for acceleration. With both electric motors, the ML450 Hybrid has a total system performance of 335 horsepower and 381 pound-feet of torque.

Honda concept shows potential of ultra-compact, city-focused vehicle

Honda will present the world debut of its Personal-Neo Urban Transport (P-NUT)  at at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Dec. 2. The company also plans to demonstrate a futuristic concept for an ultra-compact, aggressively designed coupe. The Advanced Design Studio of Honda R&D Americas in Los Angeles developed the P-NUT design study model.

Mazda to Unveil All-New Small Car at 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show

The 2011 MAZDA2 will make its North American debut at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show next month. (Photo: PRNewsFoto/Mazda North American Operations)

The 2011 MAZDA2 will make its North American debut at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show as well.  The vehicle will be sold in the U.S. and Canada beginning in late 2010.

Takashi Yamanouchi, representative director, president and CEO of Mazda Motor Corporation, will debut the car to media Dec. 2. In addition to a stock MAZDA2, a selection of unique MAZDA2 vehicles will be on display to showcase the car’s creative potential and versatility, the company said.

MAZDA2 has won 48 awards and has been recognized as Car of the Year in more than 20 countries.

Chevrolet to show its green side

Chevrolet said it will affirm its commitment to fuel solutions and building refined, eco-friendly vehicles with the debut of the U.S. production version of the Cruze sedan at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Dec. 2. The Cruze, along with the much-anticipated Volt electric vehicle, will give visitors to the L.A. show a close-up view of Chevrolet’s expanding lineup of gas-friendly to gas-free products.

“With expected highway fuel economy up to 40 miles per gallon, Cruze will be extremely gas friendly while the Volt electric vehicle can be operated gas-free,” Brent Dewar, vice presidentof Chevrolet, said in a statement. “Chevrolet’s focus is on forward-looking technologies to the benefit of our customers, such as the highly efficient, small-displacement turbocharged engine in the Cruze or the Volt electric vehicle with extended range.”

The Cruze has already launched in Europe and Asia. It goes on sale in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2010 but has already logged more than 4 million miles in quality and durability testing worldwide, making it one of the most globally tested Chevrolet products prior to a U.S. launch, the company said.

Cruze is designed to achieve class-leading highway fuel economy using a new family of efficient engines that include a 1.4L turbo.

The Chevrolet Volt is an electric vehicle with extended-range capability. It is expected to drive up to 40 miles on electricity without using gasoline or producing tailpipe emissions. When the Volt’s lithium-ion battery is depleted of energy, an engine/generator seamlessly operates to extend the total driving range to more than 300 miles before refueling.

Chevrolet said it will announce plans for initial retail markets where the Volt will be sold. Production for the Volt is expected to begin in late 2010. Pricing has not been announced.

From Nov. 27-29, the Volt will be on display next to Bloomingdale’s at the Westfield Century City mall in West Los Angeles. During regular mall hours, visitors to the Chevrolet Volt display may get two free tickets each to the L.A. Auto Show, while supplies last. The L.A. Auto Show opens to the public Dec. 4.

If anything makes as big a thud on your doorstep as the Yellow Pages books, it has been the JC Penney semi-annual “Big Book.”

The 2009 Big Book - Collector's item?

But the retailer has decided that that thud has outlived its impressiveness and is taking a heavy toll on marketing costs and forests, announcing today that it will no long print the giant catalog. Instead, JC Penney will dedicate its resources to specialty catalogs and online services.

Explained the press release: “The discontinuation of “big book” catalogs aligns with JCPenney’s ongoing commitment to promote the sustainability of forests and other natural resources, and builds upon its legacy of operating in an ethical and socially responsible manner.”

The company expects to use 25 to 30 percent less paper for catalogs in 2010 – which will continue  “a four-year trend of declining paper consumption.”

JC Penney also will be using lighter weight paper in its remaining catalogs to keep down the wood fiber content.

Plano, Texas-based JC Penney is ”keeping pace with consumers’ changing media habits and continued migration to online versus catalog shopping…,” said Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, chairman and chief executive officer, in a press release.

“Big book catalogs have become less relevant, as customers have embraced shopping online,” noted Mike Boylson, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, “where they have ready access to our entire assortment at any time on jcp.com, one of the nation’s largest general merchandise sites on the Internet.”

Yellow Pages, the pressure’s on.

Could we replace baked yams topped with melty marshmallows with something natural and organic? Could we convert Mom’s canned green bean casserole into a healthier, Earth-friendly dish – complete with crunchy onion bits on top?

What if we asked some of the best-selling organic cookbook writers in the country to overhaul our Thanksgiving table?

We asked, and they answered. Our lineup of top green cooks have whipped up a great alternative menu for Thanksgiving. (OK, we did turn to one expert vegetarian cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman, for a stuffing recipe.)

Myra Goodman is a founder of Earthbound Farm

And no, we didn’t talk turkey. We’ll leave that up to you non-veggie types. Here’s what’s cooking, and who is cooking it:

THE CRANBERRY SAUCE:

Myra Goodman and her husband, Drew, started Earthbound Farm in 1984. What began as a small farm producing organic items became the first company to launch pre-washed salads for retail sale. Today, 150 farmers grow Earthbound Farm’s more than 100 varieties of organic salads, fruits and vegetables.

Myra has been creating her own recipes and cooking with their organic food since she baked and sold raspberry muffins at their first roadside stand. The Goodmans have been featured in People, The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Redbook and more. Her first book is Food to Live By. Next spring, look for her newest book, The Earthbound Cook.

Myra’s recipe for Cranberry Sauce

THE GRAVY:

Jackie Newgent is a registered dietitian, an eco-cuisine expert, chef/instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education, and author of Big Green Cookbook (Wiley, 2009) and The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook. Her Web sites are JackieNewgent.com and BigGreenCookbook.com. Follow her on Twitter @jackienewgent.

Her dish for our T-day table is a yummy alternative to heavy flour and turkey-dripping based gravy.

Jackie’s recipe for Earth-Style Sweet Potato-Butter Bean Gravy with Rosemary

THE VEGGIE DRESSING:

Thanksgiving seems to demand a dollop of bread stuffing seasoned with sage. The question is: Can we tinker with this tradition, lower the carb wallop, but still fulfill our need for comfort food? Looking for something a little lighter, but still filling, found us perusing Mark Bittman recipes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, a award-winning cookbook that rescues vegetarian cooking from the tofu/faux meat/Asian stir-fry rut. Bittman, an omnivore who recognizes the value of a mostly veg diet has been a professional food writer for 30 years, serving up recipes at Cook’s and The New York Times. He’s best known as the author of How to Cook Everything and for his “minimalist” column at The Times.

We chose Pearl Couscous Gratin with Pesto and Goat Cheese, because it’s easy, packs some punch and prepares well ahead of time.

THE ‘GREENER’ GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE:

The green team at Organic Gardening Magazine is always thinking seasonal, natural and healthy. Abigail Poulette, one of the pros there, has a fresh take on a Thanksgiving day dish that is usually anything but natural. Here is her suggestion to turn fall’s fresh, seasonal items into a healthier version of Mom’s green bean casserole.

Jesse Ziff Cool is the author of 7 books, the latest is 'Simply Organic'

Organic Gardening’s recipe for Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Shallots

THE YAM CASSEROLE, REBORN:

Jesse Ziff Cool has been dedicated to sustainable agriculture and cuisine since 1975. She is a writer, restaurateur, spokesperson and consultant for eco-conscious food service, waste management and social and corporate responsibility in the food industry. She is the author of seven cookbooks, the newest being Simply Organic. She operates three restaurants and a catering company.   She works with Stanford University education students to build a curriculum around simple, healthy food. She helps guide Stanford Hospital toward organic, healthy food for patients.

Jesse’s recipe for Ginger Yams with Mascarpone

THE REINVENTED PUMPKIN PIE:

Myra Goodman again lends a hand in our virtual green kitchen with her natural recipe for a perfect Thanksgiving Day pie – Pumpkin and Winter Squash Pie.

Myra’s recipe for the Pumpkin and Squash Pie Filling.

Choose from 2 crusts: Sweet Pie Crust or Flaky Whole-Grain Pie Crust

THE ‘GREEN’ APPLE PIE:

Anna Lappé is a bestselling author and speaker on food politics, sustainable agriculture, globalization, and social change. She was named one of Time’s “Eco” Who’s Who. Lappé has been featured in The New York Times, Gourmet, O-The Oprah Magazine and more.

The co-founder of the Small Planet Fund and Small Planet Institute, she lectures and is co-host of public TV’s The Endless Feast. Her first book, Hope’s Edge, written with her mother Frances Moore Lappé, chronicles courageous social movements around the world. (You may recall her mother’s bestselling book , Diet for a Small Planet.) Anna’s second book, Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen (Tarcher/Penguin 2006) written with chef Bryant Terry, has ideas, tools and menus for healthier lives. Her next book, slated for 2010 publication, is Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It (Bloomsbury).

Anna’s recipe for “Green” Apple Pie

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Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Shredded Brussels sprouts are the secret ingredient in this casserole makeover.

Late autumn is the best season to enjoy Brussels sprouts since they tend get sweeter after a winter frost. Buy them freshly picked, on the stem if possible. Avoid the sulfurous fumes that Brussels sprouts naysayers complain about by getting the freshest sprouts available (and avoid overcooking). — Organic Gardening Magazine’s Abigail Poulette

Use organic ingredients whenever possible.

Ingredients:

1 pound Brussels sprouts, washed and trimmed (stems and rough outer leaves)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2-3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½  cup flour
1 to 2 large shallots
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Slice the Brussels into 1/8″ ribbons, by hand, using a mandoline or a food processor. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat, and add the sprouts, stirring occasionally.

Abigail Poulette of 'Organic Gardening' Magazine reinvents the green bean casserole

While the sprouts cook, thinly slice the shallots and lightly toss in a mixture of flour and salt and pepper. Add 1 ½-2″ of vegetable oil to a medium saucepan and bring to a medium high heat. Test the oil by adding one slice of shallot. When it bubbles and cooks quickly, add the shallots in small batches, watching closely and removing when golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Once the sprouts begin to soften and get some golden crispy bits, add the lemon juice to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat, stir in the Parmesan cheese and sprinkle with the crispy shallots.

Serves 4.  Here is the recipe on Organic Gardening ’s Web site.

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Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

More Holiday Recipes:

• Top green cooks transform Thanksgiving dishes into natural wonders
• Jackie Newgent’s Earth-Style Sweet Potato-Butter Bean Gravy with Rosemary
• Mark Bittman’s Pearl Coucous Gratin with Pesto and Goat Cheese
• Jesse Ziff Cool’s Ginger Yams with Mascarpone
• Myra Goodman’s Easy Cranberry Sauce
• Anna Lappé’s ‘Green’ Apple Pie
• Myra Goodman’s Flaky Whole-Grain Pie Crust
• Myra Goodman’s Pumpkin and Winter Squash Pie
• Myra Goodman’s Sweet Pie Crust

Jackie Newgent is the author of 'Big Green Cookbook'

You’ll be using the sweet potato peel, too, which will add flecks of interest. I refer to that as “earth-style” cuisine — you use every part of a food possible. That helps to make this fall-hued recipe green. It’s extra green because you’re using my “lid cooking” technique, which significantly reduces the amount of cooking energy required.

I developed this holiday-inspired gravy to also be exceptionally simple; all you need to do is add everything to one pan, no sautéing or roux-making required. What’s more, as a multi-tasking mealtime bonus, you can savor this gravy as a soup, too! Serve it in cute espresso or teacups to start your holiday meal off with a clever little palate pleaser. — Jackie Newgent

Use organic ingredients whenever possible. Makes 15 servings: 1/3 cup each

INGREDIENTS

1 medium (9-ounce) sweet potato with skin, scrubbed, diced into 1/4-inch or smaller cubes

1 medium (7-ounce) white or yellow onion, finely diced

1 (15-ounce) can organic butter beans or cannellini beans, drained

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary, or to taste

1 bay leaf

1 (32-fluid ounces) carton low-sodium vegetable broth

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add all ingredients to a large saucepan*. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-high, cover, and cook (lightly boil) until the potato and onion are nearly softened, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat. Let the gravy “lid cook” (cook covered while the burner is off) until the potato and onion are fully softened, about 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.

2. Fully puree using a hand immersion blender, about 1 minute. (Alternatively, puree in batches in a blender, using its hot fill line as a guide.) Adjust seasoning. Serve while hot.

3. If you prefer using nonstick pans for easy cleanup, make sure it’s PFOA-free, like Scanpan CTX. PFOAs are potentially-carcinogenic chemicals which are often found in traditional nonstick cookware.

Per serving: 45 calories, 0g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 0mg cholesterol, 290mg sodium, 9g total carbohydrate, 2g dietary fiber, 3g sugars, 2g protein

Time-Saving Strategy

Prepare this gravy a day in advance. Chill overnight in the refrigerator. Fully reheat just before serving. Stir in additional vegetable broth, if necessary, for proper consistency.

Eco-Fact

Following a plant-based diet can help you shrink your carbon footprint—or “food” print. Actually, the first of my eight “Big Green Cooking Rules” in Big Green Cookbook is “Prepare plant-based meals.” This gravy is vegan! So it’s eco-friendly, health-friendly, and friendly for any of your holiday dinner guests that love their gravy on potatoes, not turkey.

Little Green Cooking Tip

Having good skills with a chef’s knife is helpful when going green. How so? The more finely you dice or slice a food item, like this gravy, the faster the cooking process. That will help use less energy. Plus, you’ll enjoy cooking more when you know the best way to use a knife. Look for a knife skills class at a culinary school near you.

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Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

More Holiday Recipes:

• Top green cooks transform Thanksgiving dishes into natural wonders
• Organic Gardening’s Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Shallots
• Mark Bittman’s Pearl Coucous Gratin with Pesto and Goat Cheese
• Jesse Ziff Cool’s Ginger Yams with Mascarpone
• Myra Goodman’s Easy Cranberry Sauce
• Anna Lappé’s ‘Green’ Apple Pie
• Myra Goodman’s Flaky Whole-Grain Pie Crust
• Myra Goodman’s Pumpkin and Winter Squash Pie
• Myra Goodman’s Sweet Pie Crust

Lots of vegetables can be substituted for either the asparagus or the mushrooms in this recipe; green beans, peas, zucchini, and artichoke hearts would all work nicely. For a more dressed-up look, serve individual portions in four 6-ounce (or six 4-oz) ramekins. The Pearl Coucous can be cooked up to 2 days ahead, making this dish even more appealing — Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Ingredients:

Coucous provides the base for a sophisticated substitute for bread stuffing (Photo: GreenRightNow.)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter, plus more for the dish
1 shallot finely chopped
1 c. chopped wild mushrooms, like morels, chanterelles or porcini (or any variety)
8 oz. asparagus, trimmed and peeled if necessary into one inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ c. cream, milk or vegetable stock
½ c. traditional Pesto
1 egg
2 ½ c. cooked pearl couscous
4 oz. goat cheese

Instructions:

1. Grease a 2-quart soufflé or gratin dish or an oblong baking pan. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Put 2 tablespoons oil or butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot or the butter is melted, addthe shallot and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, les than a minute. Add the mushrooms and cook for a minute or two, then add the asparagus and a sprinkle of salt and pepper; cook until the asparagus is just tender, another 5 minutes.
3. Whisk the cream, pesto and egg together in a small bowl until blended. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside. When the asparagus mixture is done, stire in the couscous and heat until warmed through. Turn off the heat, taste, and adjust the seasoning.
4. Spread the asparagus and couscous mixture in the bottom of the prepared dish. Driszzle the cream and pesto mixture over it all. Evenly distribute the goat cheese (small clumps are fine) on top.
5. Bake until the edges and top are browned and bubbling, 30 to 40 minutes, depending on how deep your baking dish is. Serve immediately or let rest for up to an hour and serve at room temperature.

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Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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• Organic Gardening’s Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Shallots
• Jackie Newgent’s Earth-Style Sweet Potato-Butter Bean Gravy with Rosemary
• Jesse Ziff Cool’s Ginger Yams with Mascarpone
• Myra Goodman’s Easy Cranberry Sauce
• Anna Lappé’s ‘Green’ Apple Pie
• Myra Goodman’s Flaky Whole-Grain Pie Crust
• Myra Goodman’s Pumpkin and Winter Squash Pie
• Myra Goodman’s Sweet Pie Crust