Month: May 2009

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Recommended Reading

Some of our favorite books in our quest to lead lives more connected to the planet, our community and ourselves…go check them out at the library!

– Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam: about the decline and current revival/interest in organizations that help knit America together into a community
– Diet for a New America by John Robbins: a compelling mix of agribusiness facts and amazing stories of real life animals arguing the need for a plant-based diet.
– The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan: a fascinating, unbiased book that traces 4 meals back to their source.
– Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin: kind of like “THE JUNGLE” for the 21st century.

Cookbooks
– Eating in the Raw by Carol Alt: a great beginner book to eating raw
– The Mediterranean Vegan by Donna Klein: all of these recipes are naturally vegan (not vegan versions of a traditional recipe.) Fresh and flavorful this is one of my all time favorite cookbooks
– The Raw 50 by Carol Alt: great book for people interesting in learning to eat raw with recipes from the premiere raw chefs and restaurants in the world
– Skinny Bitch in the Kitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin: their falafel recipe is my favorite (although I steam/pan fry it in a cast iron skillet instead of baking it)

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Make Your Own Oil and Egg Replacer

updated: 08/05/09

Raw and Vegan Oil and Egg Replacer

I have long been a fan of a couple of oil/egg replacers that are REALLY 
hard to find in stores, so I decided to make up my own and it worked
out spectacularly!

Mix a handful of organic pitted, sun-dried prunes in a powerful blender
(Vita Mix is best) with 1 small skinned/pitted organic fuji apple. Add a
couple of tablespoons of water and blend on high speed. You may need
to add more water depending on the size of your apple.

The ideal color is “café au lait.” For pancakes, I keep the consistency
“foamy” but I sometimes thin with more water if the overall recipe could
use a more liquidy consistency.  I think the difference is when you are
using the replacer more as an egg replacer (foamy) versus an oil (liquidy.)

Use same amount of oil replacer as recipe calls for oil, and about ¼ cup
for each egg you are replacing.

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Zero Waste for the City of LA

 

City of LA has been working on a ZERO WASTE program for the last couple of years.  It will culminate with a conference on 5/30 that I’ll be speaking at Our Lady of Angels Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles.  It’s been really exciting to be a part of the Zero Waste program’s development as an LA resident, and if you are interested in learning about the possible outcomes, you should come check it out.  Info here: http://www.zerowaste.lacity.org/files/get_involved/flyers/2009MayConferenceFlyer.pdf

 

FYI: Zero Waste means that the City will process all of our waste on-site in Los Angeles rather than trucking or shipping it off elsewhere.