There is nothing more traditional than baking your own holiday’s cookies. There is certain nostalgia to mixing the dough, decorating, baking and sliding them onto a cooling rack. Oh and the house smells so good!

Baking your own cookies also is an eco-thing to do. You are eliminating the expensive, wasteful packaging that come with the store bought kind. The ingredients are all fresh and you can use all the natural ingredients you want.  You can give them as gifts which is an affordable and always useful gift. Everyone loves homemade cookies and you can bake different kinds to make a nice looking array of treats. Along with baking cookies, you can make your own peanut brittle or toffee and put it on a decorative tray for a popular addition to your holiday yummies. It is a fun activity that the whole family can get involved in.

Wine into Water

 CellarThief offers a unique proposition. For every bottle of wine sold, a 100 days of water is furnished to those who need it. Unclean drinking water leads to disease, bacteria and even death. Ninety percent are children 5 years and younger. CellarThief is trying to make a difference to overcome this situation, and it is working. So far, 579,900 days of clean water has been donated by CellarThief.

One in eight people struggle without enough water to keep themselves healthy. As Cellarthief sells more, they donate more, if they run out of a particular wine, they donate even more! Follow them on FaceBook at CellarThief and on Twitter @CellarThief where they tweet their special deals. CellarThief is making a difference with their efforts and you can do your part by ordering their wine. Save money by buying more, mix-and-match 3 bottles and shipping on entire order is only $5.  So, please tell your friends about CellarThief so they can keep offering great wines at great prices and make an impact in the process.   

Cooking on Thanksgiving is a challenge, making sure everything comes out of the oven at the right time; everything is hot and not overdone. You are an eco-friendly person and want to do your part during this time but still have traditions that you like to uphold. A great idea for the Thanksgiving holiday is to order a fresh organic turkey from a local butcher or poultry farm. Cooking with a fresh turkey is so rewarding, giving you peace of mind that your family is eating the best, natural and sustainable bird without forfeiting taste. No preservatives, no additives, nothing but the best for you and your family.

In addition to your culinary endeavors, do not forget to use your turkey for delicious leftovers like turkey ala king, turkey sandwiches, turkey vegetable soup, turkey pot-pie and many, many more recipes.

There is nothing like carving a fresh pumpkin for Halloween. Scooping out the insides and sculpting a scary face to haunt your neighborhood trick or treaters. But if you would like to recycle your pumpkin and make delicious pie or pumpkin soup, paint your pumpkin and use it later for a culinary delight. You can buy paints at a local craft store, use acrylic paint as it is non-toxic. You can use a permanent magic marker to outline the face and features. Try drawing a funny face on a piece of paper or photo copy an existing image to transfer to your pumpkin. You can use a pencil or something dull pointed to transfer your image to the pumpkin. Use a small paintbrush to paint the detail and fill in larger areas with a larger brush. Spray with clear coat if you like sheen and a finished appearance. This is a project that is fun and kids will love it too! A painted pumpkin can last a long time, so not to worry about Thanksgiving.  I found this website that is all about pumpkins and gives instructions on painting and carving pumpkins. http://bit.ly/blF95g

After Halloween is over, you can use your pumpkin to make great recipes like pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cheesecake, spiced pumpkin bread, muffins, cookies and much more. Maybe you better paint more than one!

I found this recipe on Simply Recipes to make homemade Vanilla Extract. Just in time for the holidays!

Commercial vanilla extract usually has simple syrup (sugar water) added to the extract to give it a sweet aftertaste. You can do this if you want, but if you are using the vanilla for baking, there really is no need.

Ingredients

•          3 vanilla beans
•          1 cup vodka
•          glass jar with tight fitting lid

Method 

1. Use kitchen scissors or a sharp paring knife to cut lengthwise down each vanilla bean, splitting them in half, leaving an inch at the end connected.
2. Put vanilla beans in a glass jar or bottle with a tight fitting lid (mason jars work well). Cover completely with the vodka.
3. Give the bottle a good shake every once in a while. Store in a dark, cool place for 2 months or longer.

Lasts for years. You can keep topping it off with vodka once in a while as you use it, just remember to give it a good shake.

You can also make vanilla sugar by putting a split vanilla bean into a jar of white, granulated sugar. Great way to infuse the sugar with vanilla flavor for baking.

If you were one of the industrious and planted a garden (or just a few tomato plants) you may want to entertain the idea of preserving your summer vegetables for a winter bounty. Putting up fresh produce for the winter is age-old, but becoming more and more popular. The economy plays a part in this, needing to save money, but green awareness and wholesome food preparation is top-of-mind with many. There are different ways to preserve your fruits and vegetables. Canning, freezing and drying are the most popular.

When canning you must use clean jars with good seals, the ball home canning basics kit is an excellent place to start. The kinds of produce that can be preserved in this manner are tomatoes, green beans, peas, beets, carrots, sweet or white potatoes, etc…

Freezing is an easier process for putting up food. Using gallon freezer zip lock bags work very well as well as plastic containers with snap lids. Almost all vegetables are suitable for freezing but there are some that do not do well like cabbage, celery, cucumbers or potatoes.

Drying is popular with certain kinds of foods. Food dehydrators are easy, it is a small appliance with an electric element for heat, a fan and vents for circulation. Foods that can be processed in this way include herbs, beans, seeds, fruits, meats and nuts.

• Water Efficiency
• Waste Reduction and Recycling
• Sustainable Furnishings and Building Materials
• Sustainable Food
• Energy
• Disposables
• Chemical and Pollution Reduction

The GRA also rates on new builds and renovation projects and events with required minimum points to earn a certificate. The GRA website gives you several ways that you, as a consumer, can green your dining experience. You can also sign up for their newsletter to get updated information on all Green Restaurant Association news.

By Dena Fritz

Buy your products in bulk and you can help save our earth! The landfills are being loaded up with consumer packaging and we can do something to put a stop to it. Wasteful packaging, for products like toilet paper, paper towels, napkins… buy a product in bulk and it is wrapped one time compared to buying it every week and in the end, you have thrown away several wrappers. You may even pay higher prices by buying food and produce in fancy excessive packaging. They look nice but when unwrapped, the quality is not better, just prettier. Buy your meat in larger quantities and break up, place in reusable containers to freeze. That means less Styrofoam, which NEVER breaks down in a landfill.

The same goes with many products that are boxed needlessly. Deodorant now comes without fancy boxes, who needs them? They go in the trash and kill trees anyway. Look at these things when shopping and try to buy things that go package free. Many manufacturers are looking at ways to display their products without all the needless dump fillers. You can do your part by shopping smart and avoiding all the over-done packaging that are most times just marketing ploys.

During this holiday season, and all year round, make sure to let your food cool down to room temperature before putting leftovers in the refrigerator. This will actually cut down on the usage of electricity to cool your fridge down. Being green is the best gift you could give mother Earth, so enjoy your wonderful home-cooked food and your holiday season!

Most grocery stores offer money back for utilizing reusable bags. So not only are you making a greener effort in ridding our world of unnecessary plastic bags, but you are saving money as well. In just a short time the reusable bags will pay for themselves, and you will be pocketing the rest. Cha-ching!