Happy Valentine's Day to You and the Planet!

While some may view it as strictly a commercial holiday, Valentine's Day is a great excuse to do something nice for someone you love. Unfortunately, a lot of the traditional V-day gifts aren't so great for the planet, or the people on it. Thankfully, there are plenty of options that are better for the environment and don't exploit workers!

Flowers

About 78% of all cut flowers purchased in the U.S. actually come from Ecuador and Columbia. Workers, including children, earn minuscule wages, sometimes working 80 hours per week, while being exposed to harsh chemicals. Those chemicals are used to grow the flowers and to keep them looking good while they're transported to the U.S. They're extremely hazardous both to the workers and to the planet!  Organic Bouquet has flowers that are grown organically, without the the use of any harsh chemicals. They provide their farmers with healthy working conditions and fair wages. And their arrangements are beautiful! Both FTD Go Green and 1-800-FLOWERS also offer a range of fair trade certified bouquet options.

Organic Bouquet offers flowers that are fair trade and organic!

Chocolates

The candy industry is another big offender of crimes against the environment and human rights. More than 75% of the world's cocoa is grown in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Like the cut flower farmers, workers on cocoa farms have to endure dangerous working conditions and are paid next to nothing for their labor. The only way to protect both workers (including children) and the planet is to purchase only chocolate that is labeled fair trade and organic. That doesn't mean your options are limited! There are loads of ethical chocolates on the market. Some of my favorites include Taza Chocolate,  Endangered Species Chocolate, and Dagoba. For more brands, check out this list of ethical chocolate manufacturers.


If you've already got the basics covered, but you're still looking for an eco-friendly gift for your Valentine, here are some really great ideas:

Ms. Betty's Original Bad-Ass Soy Candles - These candles come in glass containers featuring messages like "Be Mine (For the Night)" and "Blow Me (A Big Fat Kiss.)" They're made with soy and the heavy glass containers are reusable. You can choose from scents such as citrus and chili pepper or spearmint and eucalyptus. So cheeky!

Ms. Betty's Original Bad-Ass Soy Candles

A Subscription of Paris Letters - There's no city more romantic than Paris. If you can't be there, you can still get a lovely hand-painted letter from Paris every month! A subscription makes a totally unique and wonderfully romantic gift for your Valentine. (Or check out Paris Letters, the book!)

DaDa Underwear Subscription - This is a really fun gift idea for the man in your life. A membership in the DaDa Quarterly Underwear Club will get your dude a new pair of skivvies every three months. These aren't just your run-of-the-mill undies either. They're luxury underwear made from eco-friendly fabrics like bamboo, seaweed, or organic cotton. Choose from a variety of styles and fabrics when you order.

Do Amore - If you're planning to pop the question this V-day, make sure you do it with a conflict-free diamond! Your engagement ring should be a symbol of love, not war. Do Amore takes that concept one step further. Not only are their diamonds conflict-free, the company also guarantees that each ring is made using at least 80% recycled precious metals. Every purchase of a Do Amore ring provides a lifetime of clean water for two people, by funding wells. Celebrating the love of two people while giving a better life to two more? Now THAT'S romantic!

If you're single this Valentine's Day, there are even some planet-happy ways to treat yourself. Take another look at my post about recycling unwanted adult toys, and finding greener toys to have fun with!

Looking for a few more ways to be earth friendly this holiday? Here's a look at my Eco-Friendly Valentine's Day Pinterest board! It's loaded with ethical Valentine ideas like vegan dessert recipes, jewelry that gives back, and eco-friendly lingerie. There are great romantic gift and date suggestions for Valentine's Day, and every day of the year. Enjoy!


Follow Rachel Gottlieb's board Valentines Day - Earth-friendly romance! on Pinterest.



p.s. Need a soundtrack for your special day? Here's a playlist of some of my favorite love songs!

Magazines Worth Subscribing To

I don't like most popular print magazines. They promote a culture of celebrity gossip, fast fashion, and fad diets. Not to mention they are a waste of paper, and produce tons of garbage every year. I usually try to prevent printed items from arriving in my mailbox. There are, however, a few exceptions. I have found some really well written, beautifully photographed publications that are fun to receive in the mail, and really enjoyable to read. Most of them are produced responsibly and are void of advertisements. If you want to eliminate the junky content of mainstream fashion, celebrity, and lifestyle magazines from your home, but you still look forward to getting something in your mailbox, here are a few publications you may want to consider subscribing to.

Blindfold Magazine
Blindfold is a quarterly lifestyle magazine focusing on social causes. It is a photojournalism publication, so the photography is very well done. The focus of most of the content is an admirable one: making the world better. A one-year subscription is $33.80 and a single issue goes for $11.99.

Chick Pea 
I was lucky enough to meet the makers of Chick Pea Magazine at the Buffalo Small Press Book Fair this spring. I was able to look through a few issues of their publication and it is absolutely beautiful. Chick Pea is a quarterly magazine that features vegan lifestyle content from around the web. The photography is wonderful and the design and layout are crisp and clean and gorgeous. You'll want to keep these issues on your bookshelves or coffee table so you can look at them again and again. A full year subscription is $70, or you can order a single issue for $19.

Good Magazine 
Good Magazine is the print version of one my favorite websites, good.is. The online version is a constant source of inspiration for me, helping me find small ways to make changes and help others every day. I'm confident that the content of the print version will be similarly wonderful. An annual subscription is only $25, and includes a complimentary membership to the GOOD society.

Laika Magazine 
Laika is a new quarterly vegan lifestyle magazine. They're only now on their second issue. I haven't had a chance to look at a copy, but I have read some glowing reviews of the publication. It reads more like a popular lifestyle magazine than a hippy-dippy vegan mag, but with better content and a better purpose. An annual subscription to the print version is only $36. You can order single issues for $11 each.

Pure Green Magazine

Pure Green Magazine 
This is a quarterly publication about sustainable living. The photography is gorgeous and they seem to have some really great content. The magazine itself is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable based inks in Canada. A subscription costs $82 for U.S. residents or $72 for Canadian residents. If you just want to check out one issue, you can do that for only $18. If you want to explore some of their content before you order, you can check out the Pure Green Mag Blog.

Don't throw your old issues away!

Most of these publications are really quite lovely, so it's unlikely that you'll want to get rid of them any time soon. But when you are ready to get rid of these, or any other unwanted magazines, you should not toss them in the garbage, or even your recycling bin! Most local libraries will accept unwanted magazines. Just be sure to call ahead and make sure your library will accept them before you drop them off. You can also donate the issues to nursing and retirement homes, women shelters, or even hospital waiting rooms. Schools or daycare centers may even be able to use them for crafts.

You Can Recycle That: Erotic Toys

I'll admit to being a little shocked myself when I came across this service. Adult toys and novelties are one of those topics that you only discuss with your closest friends, right? So let's just skip all the taboos and get to the point. If you have old toys that you don't use or want anymore, you probably want to get rid of them quickly and discreetly. Luckily, they don't have to wind up in a landfill.

While it may seem like a total joke, there is actually a real company that offers sex toy recycling services. Scarlet Girl is an online erotic toy store based in Oregon. When you send in your old sex toy for recycling, they give you $10 credit towards a new one! All you have to do is clean it, package it up, and ship it to them! Check out the details on their sex toy recycling page.

Scarlet Girl Recycles

Before you start shopping for some new toys to replace the ones you recycled, remember there are green options available! Check these out.

Leaf by Swan - This is a totally "green" line of adult toys. They're even endorsed by eco-celebrity, Alicia Silverstone!

Good Clean Love - An eco-friendly personal lubricant brand. All of their products are free of parabens, glycerin, silicon, and petrochemicals. They're 100% organic and cruelty-free, and because they're vegan, they're also edible!

Glyde - Certified ethical, vegan, and fair trade condoms.

Earth Erotics - Your one-stop-shop for earth-friendly erotic supplies.

And I'll be keeping my eyes out for GӒSM, the eco-friendly vibe that started out as an April Fools joke from Swedish sex toy brand, Lelo. The joke was so popular that the toy-makers are supposedly planning to come out with the real thing!

Further Reading

http://www.ecohearth.com/eco-blogs/clean-and-green-everyday/1376-safe-sex-not-if-your-sex-toys-arent-green-.html


This post was shared on Thank Your Body Thursday.

Recipe: Vegan Quinoa Sushi Salad

Like all of the best ones, this recipe came about completely by accident. It has since become one of my go-to recipes for weekday lunches. It's chock-full of protein, omega fats, and vitamin B12 - all that good stuff that vegans love!

Over the summer, I made these vegan sushi rolls for a friend's birthday picnic. It took a few practice rolls to get the process right. I tossed those practice rolls into a container and later had it as a snack. Turned out those sloppy, falling-apart rolls became an awesome salad. I decided to play around with the ingredients a little and came up with this recipe.

For my salad, I used a Florida avocado instead of the more common California avocado. Florida avocados are bigger and are sometimes labeled as "Lite" avocados or "Slimcados." They have fewer calories and fat per ounce than a California or Hass avocado. They're not as creamy, but the flavor of the Florida avocado is perfect and delicious in this salad.

There are a variety of packaged seaweed products available, but I found that the sushi-style nori sheets tasted best for this recipe. It really made the salad taste more like sushi. Seaweed is one of the few vegetarian sources of vitamin B12, which is often lacking in vegan and vegetarian diets.

The ingredient that really put this recipe over the top was the vegan "caviar." I'd been wanting to try it for a while so when I saw the Carviart on sale on Vegan Cuts, I was all over it! I had tried making my own vegan caviar or "roe" in the past using amaranth seed and beet juice (recipe here.) It lacked the salty flavor of the real thing. The Caviart comes a lot closer to the real deal.

You can sign up for a Vegan Cuts account if you want to try some for yourself. For more information about Caviart, check out this page.

Vegan Quinoa Sushi Salad

Quinoa Sushi Salad

Dressing:

• 4 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce

- Combine ingredients at set aside.

Salad:

• 1 cup of quinoa - rinsed well
• 2 cups water
• 1 Florida avocado, sliced
• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2 sheets of nori sushi, broken/chopped into 1" pieces
• vegan caviar

1. Cook the quinoa by combining it with the water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until quinoa is translucent. About 15 minutes. Allow to cool.
2. Add dressing to quinoa along with seaweed, and sesame seeds. Toss to combine.
3. Top with avocado, cucumber, and caviar.

Further reading
http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/difference-between-california-and-florida-avocados.aspx
http://www.livestrong.com/article/18578-health-benefits-eating-seaweed/
http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/plant#seaweeds
http://thebroccolihut.com/florida-vs-california-battle-of-the-avocado/

Recipe: Macaroni with Creamy Turnip & Leek Sauce

While my CSA share has kept me eating fresh local produce all season, it sometimes throws me for a loop. Occasionally I'll get a vegetable that I've never actually cooked with. That's when I have to get creative!

This week, it was turnips. They seem like a common enough vegetable. I've worked with potatoes and even parsnips, and I adore beets. But turnips were not yet a part of my cooking repertoire. Luckily, I love culinary experimentation! So I took a quick inventory of what I had on hand and came up with a game plan.

I had a box of whole wheat pasta, some veggie broth from a soup I'd made earlier in the week, and the turnips, leeks, and broccoli left from this week's CSA bag. I was out of almond milk, but I'd like to try this recipe with a non-dairy milk in place of the broth to make the sauce a little creamier. I discovered that the leeks were really what made the difference in this recipe, and I almost wish there'd been more of them. They were really what gave the sauce the depth of flavor I was hoping for. I used broccoli because that was what I had, and because it's super easy to cook with pasta, but I think any kind of veggies would be great in this dish.

Creamy leek sauce in the food processor

Macaroni with creamy turnip and leek sauce.

Macaroni with Creamy Turnip & Leek Sauce

• 6 medium sized turnips, peeled and quartered
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 leeks, chopped (white and light green parts)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 lb pasta (I used whole wheat elbows)

1. Cook the pasta according to directions. Add the broccoli to cook with the pasta for the last 2 minutes of cook time. Strain pasta and broccoli, and set aside.
2. Boil a large pot of water (I started boiling while I peeled & cut the turnips)
3. Add turnips to boiling water, cook for 25 minutes (until soft)
4. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add leeks and cook to soften.
5. Add turnips and leeks to food processor (or blender) along with thyme, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. Add a few tablespoons of broth, and blend until smooth, adding more broth as needed to desired consistency.
6. Toss pasta and broccoli with the turnip leek sauce and serve.
7. YUM!

Deals For Me, Deals for the Planet

Like just about everyone else, I love a good deal. When daily deal sites started to become popular, I ate it up. I bought deals for things I never would have considered buying before. Of course I eventually realized that buying deals for things I wouldn't use wasn't helping me, and it certainly wasn't helping local businesses.

What took me a little longer was stopping my habit for fashion deals online. I received emails from sites like Gilt Group and Ideeli for daily fashion sales. My conscience (and my bank account) eventually got me to cancel those accounts and the tempting emails.

But I still miss the deals.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that there is a plethora of more responsible deal sites! Sure, I'm trying to curb my shopping. I know people don't need most of the things we purchase. But it's fun to let ourselves splurge on something a little indulgent every once in a while. Especially when that indulgence is a more responsible or sustainable one.

So here's a list of sites you can use to find great deals for yourselves.
I hope you'll cancel your regular daily deal and fashion sale emails and accounts, and stick to these more planet-friendly alternatives.

• BlissMo feaures daily sales on a range of ethical products. They also offer the BlissmoBox, which is a subscription service that offers a monthly surprise box of personal and food products.
• borganics will feature sales on organic and eco-friendly products, but does not appear to have sales live on the site yet. (as of 10/21/2012)
• DealGooder donates 50% of profits from each daily deal to a featured charity. They feature primarily businesses that operate out of Orange County, CA.
• ethicalDeal offers daily deals in various cities across Canada and the U.S.
• Ethical Ocean is one of my favorite new shopping sites. They feature reduced prices on all kinds of awesome stuff like clothes, gadgets, beauty products, food, and more.
• GreenDeals.org is known as the "Groupon for Greenies." It features deals from responsible companies and is run by Green America.
• Green Box Top currently only has local deals in San Francisco, but you can subscribe to receive information about national deals. Hopefully they'll expand soon!
• JP Selects offers daily sales, most featuring eco-friendly fashion.
• Loving Eco features greener brands and products, and gives 3% of net proceeds to a social or environmental cause.
• Pure Citizen is an online marketplace featuring ethical and sustainable brands. There are daily sales on clothing, wellness brands, food, gifts, and more.
• Strawberry Earth is based in Amsterdam, and features one ethical sale every week on things ranging from jewelry, to travel, to bicycles.
• The Ultimate Green Store touts itself as "The ultimate web-based destination for eco-conscious shoppers." It also features sales and a green deal of the day.
• Vegan Cuts has a daily offer, but also features a marketplace chock full of responsible products including fashion, food, beauty, and more.
• WinWin features deals in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Beet Risotto Stuffed Squash

Now that fall is here, I've got more squash than I know what to do with, courtesy of my fabulous CSA share from Porter Farms. My kitchen is overflowing with spaghetti squash, butternut squash, and acorn squash. I can't eat it fast enough!

This week when I found out (via Porter Farms' Facebook page) that we'd be getting beets and acorn squash, I immediately came up with a plan of action. I'd come across this recipe for beet risotto on Pinterest, and knew right away that it would be perfect stuffed into a squash. Good news: I was right!

I'm lucky to have a local goat cheese producer here in Western New York. I visited the First Light Farm & Creamery stand at the Elmwood-Bidwell farmers market here in Buffalo this weekend, and decided that the honey-chipotle chevre would be a good match for the recipe. If they hadn't been out of the garlic-thyme, I may have chosen that flavor instead, but this was perfect! Of course if you aren't lucky enough to have fresh, local goat cheese available to you, a good chevre from your grocery store would be fine. And if you prefer to keep the recipe vegan, you can just leave the goat cheese out entirely.

Beet Risotto Stuffed Squash with Honey Chipotle Goat Cheese

Ingredients

• 3 small acorn squash (or other small squash)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 beets, chopped
• 1 small sweet onion, chopped
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• ½ cups chevre goat cheese

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds and pulp. Place the squash cut side up on a baking sheet, bake about 30 minutes until squash is tender. (You can rub the squash with oil before baking, but I didn't and it turned out fine.)

While the squash is baking -
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the beets and onion, cook until soft (about 10 minutes.) Add the rice and toss to coat. Add broth and vinegar and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to simmer, add thyme, and cover.
Simmer, stirring occasionally, until rice is cooked and risotto is creamy (15-20 minutes.)
Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Remove the squash from the oven, stuff with risotto, and sprinkle with the goat cheese.
Enjoy!


Yield: 6 servings


Nutritional Analysis of one squash half stuffed with the risotto including the goat cheese:
Calories per serving: 349 Calories from fat: 102 Total Fat: 11.4g Saturated Fat: 4.8g Cholesterol: 10mg Sodium: 237mg Total Carbohydrates: 56.7g Dietary Fiber: 6.1g Sugars: 5.6g Protein: 9.4g

A Love Letter to my CSA

You don't have to shop at farmers' markets or eat a vegan diet to appreciate the benefits of a CSA share. Sure, you'll get a bounty of delicious, organic, locally-grown produce, but you'll also save a boatload of money doing it, and who doesn't love that?!

CSA stands for Community-Supported Agriculture. CSAs operate on a business model that benefits both the farmers and the customers. Members purchase shares before the growing season starts so farmers get capital at the beginning of the season to pay for most of their costs. Customers receive a weekly box (or bag) of fresh local produce all season long.

Cha-Ching!

This is my first year with a CSA membership and I only wish I'd done this sooner. I researched some of the Buffalo area CSAs and chose Porter Farms. I have not been disappointed! I actually split my share with a friend, which has worked out perfectly. I would never have been able to eat that much food myself, but half of it is perfect for one vegetarian to eat in a week. I can't believe how much money I've saved on groceries since the season started in the spring. I paid half of the cost of a $310 share which, when divided by 23 weeks, comes to about $7 a week. Considering the amount of food I receive each week, and the fact that it's all organic, I estimate that the same food would have cost me at least $50 at a grocery store. That's a savings of about $43 every week. (For 23 weeks that's $989!)

Breathe Easy

Not only has the CSA membership done great things for my wallet and my diet, I love knowing that it does great things for the planet too. According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, most produce travels between 1300 and 2000 miles to get to the consumer. That's a lot of fuel to burn for a salad. Buying local produce cuts down on air pollution, and buying organic produce means that less chemicals are dumped into the ground.

Want to Join a CSA?

If you're in the Buffalo area, you can try Porter Farms out for yourself. They even offer a sample bag. You can get a week's worth of organic produce for free before you commit to join.

I chose my CSA based on pickup location and produce offerings. There are other farms in the area that offer different produce, free-range beef, orchards offering fruit shares, and more. You may want to do some research to decide which CSA is right for you or your family.

Here are some additional sites and tools to help you locate a CSA here and around the country.

• Local Harvest has a great farm finder tool right on their home page.
• The Rodale Institute also offers a pretty handy Farm Locator.
• The AgMap is a map of agriculture businesses in the U.S.
• EatWell Guide lets you search for local, sustainable, and organic food by key word, zip code, or city.

Vegan Kugel for Yom Kippur

G'mar Hatimah Tovah!

Today is Yom Kippur. It is a day of self-reflection, and the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Though I don't consider myself Jewish, my father was raised Jewish and our family celebrates the High Holidays by having dinner together. My favorite Jewish dish has always been the noodle kugel that my aunt makes on Yom Kippur. I may not be fasting, but I'm still very much looking forward to indulging in that meal tonight! I've experimented with a few vegan versions of noodle kugel and though this one doesn't taste exactly like the real thing, it's pretty good!


Vegan Lokshen Kugel

• 1 pound wide noodles **
• 1/3 cup vegan "butter" such as Earth Balance
• 1 (6 ounce) container of plain nondairy yogurt
• 1 (8 ounce) tub of vegan cream cheese such as Tofutti
• 1 (12 ounce) tub of vegan sour cream such as Tofutti
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of cinnamon

** I've always used the Manischewitz brand of wide egg noodles, but they are of course not vegan. There are some vegan kosher noodles available, such as the Gefen brand. If you can't find them you can certainly use regular old linguine or fettucini.

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
2. Grease a 9x12 casserole dish
3. Cook pasta according to package directions, and drain.
4. In a large bowl, toss the hot pasta with the butter, yogurt, sour cream, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla until combined.
5. Pour noodle mixture into prepared casserole dish.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Strawberry Sauce

• 1 pint of fresh strawberries
• 1/3 cup sugar

1. Combine the strawberries with the sugar and simmer until mixture thickens and reduces by about 1/3.
2. Pour the strawberries over the slices of kugel and enjoy!!!

 Yield: 12 servings


Remember, vegan doesn't mean good for you! Here is a nutritional analysis of the kugel without the strawberry sauce.
Calories per serving: 440 Calories from fat: 227 Total Fat: 25.2g Saturated Fat: 8g Cholesterol: 43mg Sodium: 385mg Total Carbohydrates: 44.9g Dietary Fiber: 1.5g Sugars: 10.2g Protein: 7.4g

Small Ones Surround Us Every Day

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day."  -Sally Koch

Welcome to Small Ones Surround Us. I'm here to share small steps I'm taking, and steps I hope readers will take, to make every day a little bit better for people, animals, and the planet. That means seeking out responsible fashion, buying and cooking food that's better for us and the planet, and teaching others about how they can make small changes of their own.

Sometimes small changes locally can have an impact on big changes globally, so occasionally my posts will be specific to my hometown of Buffalo, but everything I share is about making small changes that affect the big picture. I'm slowly making adjustments to my lifestyle that I hope are making every day better for our planet, our fellow man, and our animal friends.