Recycle, Reduce, Wrap

In an effort to immerse myself deeper into the holiday spirit I’ve been trying many different tricks. One of my go-to’s, White Christmas; Bing Crosby’s crooning voice always seems to ignite a little holiday cheer. My other recent trick has been to eat Christmas cookies for breakfast, if it helps Santa with his Ho Ho Ho maybe it will get me caroling around town.

But I’ve found my newest holiday tradition of being crafty seems to add the needed cheer to the jingle of bells and wishes for snow. There is just something about the holidays screams home made. Last years craft project was stringing popcornand cranberries for festive garland to trim the tree. This year’s project is wrapping paper. It’s very easy to do and that is with my perfectionist seal of approval. Ask my mom; there were many Easter egg decorating days that ended in tears because of my need for the perfect creation.

This craft project is a great way to be environmentally friendly, as well as something to keep the kids busy during that long holiday vacation. Not to mention once the wrapping is strewn across the floor Christmas day you can recycle it all!

All you need is a couple rubber stamps and ink found at any craft store as well as all of the left over brown paper bags you have from your grocery shopping.

Step one: cut off the handles and the bottom of the grocery bag. Remember taking bags and wrapping your texts books in them back in the day, this is the same technique.

Step two: once you have your rectangle of paper stamp away. Easy and creative! 

 

Here is some motivation for you to get you stamping and recycling… did you know that American’s generate 25 million tons of trash between Thanksgiving and New Years¹. To give you some visual perspective a Humpback whale weighs between 25 and 51 tons, therefore we generate about 660,000 Humpback whales worth of garbage in an eight-week period.

So not to add more to that endless list that seems to get longer as the days get darker, but a little perspective for the next time you aim for the trash can.

 

Happy Holidays from your Green Santa!

 

 

 

 

 

 

¹ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Happy Holiday Blues

There is holiday tune that has the line “I wish it could be this time of year all year long.” When I first heard that a screaming voice in my head yelled, “HELL NO.” So Happy holiday season! Is anyone else not feeling the joy and blessing of this time of year? I’m always so excited to celebrate, deck my home, bake my cookies and daze off in the twinkle of white lights. This year I feel like I’m missing the holiday spirit and I don’t know why. It could possibly be the fact that global warming is making for some manic weather here in Chicago, and of course each different weather mood consists of no snow. Or maybe just walking out my door and into the streets has me swarmed with over crowded everything, shops, buses, restaurants. It makes me want to hide away.

I had a realization during Thanksgiving, while cooking, and baking and bustling about, I was thinking, why, why do all of this for just one day? And then I started to prep my Bompa’s Cranberry Pie, a recipe so near and dear to my heart I make sure there is extra so I can eat it for post holiday breakfasts for the days to come. Every time I look at the recipe I think of Bompa and the wonderful memories I have of our time together. This is the greatest part of celebrating the holidays with friends and family, we never really remember the pain in our bellies from being filled to the max, or the taste of the meal months later. What we remember is the time in the kitchen learning mom’s tricks to making the moistest turkey or the conversations and laughs around the dinner table. All of my memories of these days are so vivid and so diverse and I need to remember those faces and stories when I’m stressed with kitchen duties, grocery lines and hours of preparation.

So that is my motivation for this time of year, making new memories and keeping with old traditions. The newest tradition that has been in place for the past four years is my annual cookie exchange. What started as a simple bring cookies to exchange party has turned into a battle of baking giants as well as a side splitting white elephant gift exchange and this year was one of the best. Yes while I exhaustively prepped food for days the laughter and newest baking creations made every moment of preparation worth it.

If you are like me and you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed and fearful that the holidays are losing their true meaning, in your moment of stress close your eyes and remember one holiday memory. Then take a deep breath and keep going and if all else fails there are only about 17 days left!

 

The 2012 winner of the Pooping Reindeer Trophy and Best Cookie was Scott Randel for his Peppermint Oreo Balls

Cranberry Kale Salad

Tree trimmed, check, house decorated, check…. oh great that’s where my list ends and when I saw a count down clock with the number 14 next to it I began to panic. Cookies need to be made, shopping needs to be done, gifts need to be wrapped and I need to breathe. Remembering my resolution to slow down and enjoy the season brings me back to my holiday place of nirvana. 

On top of trying to slow down and breathe, I feel as if I have been over indulging in all things sugary and sweet. My body is starting to feel a little off balance. Therefore this next recipe is the perfect cure for holiday sugar shock. I know what you may be thinking Kale, gross, or as my sister would say “Kale Sucks” but Kale gets a bad wrap, and because it is full of vitamins and nutrition we should be a little nicer to the poor vegetable. Kale also helps detoxify your body, which is probably needed if you are hitting the Soy Egg Nog pretty hard this season. Try it out, I promise you this salad of citrus balanced with the sweetness of the cranberries and the smooth silky flavor of the olive oil will have your taste buds praising Kale.

Cranberry Kale Salad

serves 4

         – 1 bunch Kale

         – 1 juiced Lemon

         – 2 tablespoons Olive Oil

         – ½ teaspoon Salt

         – ¼ cup Dried Cranberries

         – 2 tablespoons Pine Nuts

– ¼ Red Bell Pepper

 1. Prepare the Kale by cutting out the stalk (center) of the Kale. Once you have the pile of Kale leaves, roll them up and thinly slice the roles giving you long strips of the kale leaves.

 

2. Add Kale, Lemon juice, Salt and Olive Oil in a bowl. Message the liquid into the Kale and set aside. This will break down the toughness of the Kale.

3. While the Kale is marinating thinly slice a quarter of a Red Bell Pepper.

4. After about 15 to 30 minutes add Cranberries, Pine Nuts and Red Bell Pepper to the Kale salad and toss together.

5. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate and enjoy for 1 to 3 days.

Next on the list of to-dos is my oh so famous Linzer Tort cookies for my annual cookie exchange party. Stay tuned, I’ll be posting tips for baking delicious vegan treats and I have a great pasta meal that will have all eaters alike asking for more.

Here are a couple of the holiday projects I started to get me into the spirit. 

Popcorn and Cranberries strung together with care. Cinnamon Cloved Oranges and Apples making the house smell festive and warm.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

I dropped my first Thanksgiving Turkey on the floor. It was a very dramatic drop, the turkey and all the brining liquid exploded from the bottom of trash bag they were in as I was trying to move it from the sink to the refrigerator. The crashing flood of brining liquids and turkey had me yelling at my roommate for help as she stood over me laughing. It was my very first Thanksgiving away from home and my sister and cousin were coming to join in the festivities. I wanted everything to be perfect and in my first cooking act the turkey was on the floor. This years cooking blunders where not as dramatic but included trying to make vegan pastry dough and although my creation looked nothing like the picture, I’ve learned in the kitchen you can’t control it all and you have to go with the flow.

Going with the flow is my holiday wish. As you may know I try to be a perfectionist in the kitchen and in every other way during the holiday season, my tree, my treats even my wrapping leaves for sleepless nights and ultimately I realize too late that I didn’t sit back and enjoy the season. I think it is hard for everyone to find balance this time of year. I always hear people complain that they eat too much, drink too much and exercise too little; this ultimately leads to the inevitable New Years wish of dieting, which crashes and burns by the 5^th of January. Rather than eating your way through the next five weeks, why don’t you find some balance between the sweetly festive treats and this delicious, healthy, but I promise, tasty soup. Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple soup has an explosion of flavor that will make your tongue smile. The hint of garlic mixed with the slightly sweet tone from the apple and the smooth creaminess of the butternut squash will only make you want more and you can indulge as much as you like.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Serves 6-8

          1 Butternut Squash

         2 ½ Honey Crisp or Red type Apples

         1 Yellow Onion

         4 ½ cups Vegetable Broth

         1 teaspoon Salt

         1 tablespoon Cinnamon

         2 cloves Garlic

         1 15 ounce can Cannellini Beans

         ½ cup Organic Apple Juice

         1 teaspoon Curry Powder

         ¼ teaspoon Garam Marsala

1. Preheat oven at 400 degrees

2. Cut off the skin of the Butternut Squash and cut into cubes
 (Butternut Squash can be difficult to cut into. I reccomend peeling the squash first and then cut the squash in half and scoop the seeds out of the bottom of the squash before you start to cut squash into cubes)

3. Peal and core Apple and cut up into cubes


4. Roughly chop Onion
 

5. Place Butternut Squash, Apple and Onion in glass

Pyrex dish and add 1/2 cup Vegetable Broth, Cinnamon and Salt

6. Roast Veggies and Apple covered under foil for 30 minutes, after 30 minutes remove foil and cook for another 10 to 20 minutes or until soft

7. In a food processor combine can of Cannellini Beans drained and rinsed, two cloves of Garlic and Apple Juice, mix until smooth

8. Add in scoops of the roasted Veggie mix in batches and mix until smooth

9. Once everything is mixed move to a pot and add in 3 to 4 cups of Vegetable Broth, adjust broth depending on how thick you like the soup, heat and serve

10. Add cranberries or pumpkin seeds as a garnish to the soup for more flavor

Now I am going to set up my tree and then sit back and enjoy the twinkle of the white lights and the comforting smell of pine coming from the candle rather than my fake tree, the lights come pre-strung, see I am already starting to let go!