One (of many) reasons to stick with veggies

Here is an article from the Washington Post that I love. It covers a few of the big environmental reasons to become vegetarian concisely and, personally, I like his attitude...

Buying Organic

I'm back! After a few weeks of unexpected traveling I am very happy to return to the food blogging universe. I am still longing to get back to my own kitchen though. I'll post a new recipe when I do, next week. For now I wanted to quickly share a link I came across today, and love. 

I think that by now most of us understand the need to grow, buy, and eat organic - for the environment, our own health, and the quality and taste of the food we cook. And as demand increases for organic food, the price is dropping noticeably. But when you are standing there in the grocery aisle and know you only have so much cash in your pocket sometimes you have to make some tough choices. Personally, I have never been able to remember, at that moment, which fruits and veggies are the "so important to buy organic" ones, ie. the ones that are grown with the greatest amount of pesticides. Well, foodnews.org has made an iphone app that lists their "dirty dozen" and "clean 15" for just such times. I love it. You can check out a full list of fruits and veggies in order of greatest to least pesticides on their website as well. 

The Dirty Dozen:

Peaches, apples, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, imported grapes, pears, bell peppers, celery, kale, lettuce, and carrots.

 

The Clean 15:

Avocados, pineapples, mangoes, kiwi, papayas, watermelon, onions, sweet corn, asparagus, sweet peas, cabbage, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes.

  

All That Paper

How many rolls of paper towels and, god forbid, paper napkins does your kitchen go through in a month? I have to admit I still use paper towels from time to time (though they are not at all necessary when you think about it, and really should be a bit more antiquated by now). Anyway, I'm on a mission to divorce the convenient little suckers entirely. (And, for that matter, to work my way towards a plastic free kitchen... but that is a subject for another time.)

For those of us who have not yet parted with paper towels, and of course all of us who buy all those boxes of tissues and rolls of toilet paper every week, Greenpeace has come out with another one of their handy little booklets, letting us know which brands are earth friendly. So don't let a picture of some green leaves on the packaging fool you. Be a savvy shopper. And then go hug a tree.