Now here’s an Earth day (April 22nd) idea I can get behind. Celebrate the planet we live on with good food and a great picnic.
If you’re going to enjoy an Earth Day picnic, here are some suggestions to make sure it’s an earth-friendly picnic.
1.Bring only reusable plates, cups, utensils and napkins. Keep the disposables to the barest minimum.
2.Include local food in your picnic.
3.Provide a receptacle for recyclables that you will take home and make sure it gets to the right place. Don’t count on the park doing your recycling for you. Even if it has a can for recycling, many people throw both trash and recyclables in those cans, and often everything in them gets thrown in the trash.
4.Bring an assortment of Frisbees, footballs, and other things that can get you and your family up and moving after the picnic.
5.Leave your picnic spot in better shape than when you got there. Don’t just clean up your own trash. Spend a few minutes walking around the picnic spot to clean up trash that others have left behind.
Celebrate the earth, eat environmentally friendly!
What better way to honor Earth Day than to prepare a dish that's easy on the environment? Choose Earth Day recipes that feature seasonal fruits and vegetables that are less likely to contain harmful pesticides. (Peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes typically have the highest pesticide levels, according to the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C., while onions, avocados, frozen sweet corn, pineapples, mangoes, asparagus, frozen peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli and papayas have the lowest. Choosing the latter and avoiding the former - unless organic - could slash your family's pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent.) Look for spring gems like asparagus, blueberries, cabbage, cauliflower, mushrooms and peas at your nearest farmer's market. Eating local supports your economy and involves fewer miles traveled - and fewer pollutants emitted - to get dinner on your plate. Whip up some fun for the kids, too, with our "mudpie" cookies and chocolate dirt cups!
Around- the- Kitchen Earth friendly tips:
Use dishtowels and cloth napkins instead of paper products. They’re more absorbent and prettier, anyway.
Use cool water to rinse dishes as you load the dishwasher.
Let the dishes in the dishwasher air dry.
Fill a basin instead of washing directly under running water when washing dishes by hand.
Switch to non-toxic soaps and cleansers for everyday tasks—they’re better for the environment AND safer for kids. Baking soda, for instance, is helpful for removing stubborn food and stains from pots and pans.
Install a high-quality water filter instead of buying bottled water.
Install a faucet aerator—you’ll get the same cleaning power with less water. Vacuum the coils behind (or under) your refrigerator regularly.
When Preparing Meals:
Use cool water to rinse vegetables—even better, fill one side of the sink with a few inches of water and wash all the produce for your meal at once.
Choose your appliances wisely: slow-cookers, pressure cookers and your microwave all use less energy than your range.
In hotter months, avoid using the range. Opt for your microwave instead—it won’t heat up the house. Microwaves use from half to 1/5 the amount of energy as your range. Hint: for maximum efficiency, cook smaller rather than larger pieces of food. A whole meat loaf, for example, takes longer to reheat than the same weight of sliced meatloaf thanks to more surface area.
Use your toaster oven if you need to bake something in the hot summer months,. It takes a lot less energy to heat a small space than a large one.
Allow leftover food to cool completely before putting it into the refrigerator—it will take less energy for the refrigerator to maintain a cold temperature.
Enjoy this earth day recipe!
Mango & Roasted Cashew Salad This rich spring recipe combines sweet, flavorful mango and its relative, the crunchy cashew. Combined with wine, ginger and maple crystals, the pair makes a light fruit salad that’s perfect for an Earth Day meal or an anytime side dish.
Ingredients 1/2 cup organic sweet white wine, such as a Riesling 1/4 cup maple crystals, or light brown sugar 1 large mango, cut into medium-size cubes (about 1-1/2 cups) 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger 1 cup oven-roasted cashews (see Tip) Garnish: 8 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
Cooking Instructions Pour wine into medium bowl. Add maple crystals, and stir until completely dissolved.Add mango cubes and grated ginger. Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours to let the flavors mingle. Drain off excess liquid; return to bowl. Add cashews and mix well. Garnish with fresh mint.
Substitution(s) Other tropical fruits such as pineapples and papayas are good alternatives to the fresh mango in this recipe.
Tips & Tricks To make the oven-roasted cashews: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spread raw cashews on a baking sheet and toast in oven about 5-8 minutes, until cashews turn a light golden brown.
