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I Want To Make Vegan Tiny Gingerbread Houses

December 21, 2009 4

Oh my! Have you seen the tiny gingerbread houses perched on cocoa mugs at Not Martha. Are these ridiculously cute or what? I love, love, love them. Eben and I will be out of town for the remainder of the holiday season, but next year we are definitely making these cuties – vegan versions of course!

What do you think?

Green Community: West End Tavern Offers Organic Foods in Boulder, Colorado

December 7, 2009 4

While my family was in town for Thanksgiving, we spent Friday afternoon in Boulder. While we were there we had lunch at The West End Tavern. The West End Tavern serves yummy home style cuisine in a fun rooftop setting. It was a crisp day but the rooftop heaters kept us warm and toasty. It was nice to sit outside with a fabulous view of the mountains – the sun shining on our faces.

The mister ordered a Deschutes Green Lakes organic Amber and I had a glass of sustainable Next Pinot Noir. I loved the organic and sustainable choices on the menu. 

My favorite part of The West End Tavern are it’s eco practices. The West End Tavern recycles and composts nearly 100% of their discards. All of their paper products and straws are bio-degradable too.
The West End Tavern are PACE certified and 100% of their energy for the restaurant is offset with wind power and the restaurant uses natural beef, chicken and port and source cleaner ingredients that are natural local and organic. West End Tavern supports fisheries and purveyors that are environmentally conscious and that fish legally from sustainable waters. The West End Tavern also uses bio-degradable trash bags, dishwashing detergents and cleaning supplies.

Next time you visit Boulder stop in for a organic beer, sustainable wine and delicious meal at The West End Tavern.

Green Holiday Giveaway #5: Organica Deluxe’s Daily Delicious

November 30, 2009 62

Have you been looking for the perfect holiday gift? Whether you are in need of a hostess gift, a beautiful yummy treat for the grandparents or a gift for that special someone, you will love Organica Deluxe. Organica Deluxe has yummy goodies for anyone on your holiday list. Organica Deluxe also has fabulous gifts for your home, your baby or just to relax and enjoy.

When you purchase a gift from Organica Deluxe, it will come beautifully packaged and all of the packaging is Eco friendly. You can read more about why I love, love, love Organica Deluxe here. It has everything to do with their ginger cookies. Organica Deluxe’s Ginger Cookies are fabulous bites of chewiness.
Some of my other favorites items at Organica Deluxe are:

Koi Letterpress Notes $14.50

Organica Deluxe has been so lovely to offer ONE of my readers a lovely Daily Delicious. These goodies are natural, organic, sustainable, fair trade and always, always luxury.

How to Win
* You have until December 7th at 12 am EST to enter this giveaway.
* Visit Organica Deluxe and leave a comment telling me what item you love, love, love. One comment per person please.

Additional Entries
**** Please help me spread the word about Sweet Greens Giveaway Week by sharing it twitter, facebook, kirtsy, your blog or any other social website that you use. I would greatly appreciate it! Please leave a separate comment for each thing that you do.

Are you wondering what my Green Holiday Giveaway Week is, read about it here.
*UPDATE: WINNER:: #38 Maureen. Thank you for entered and congrats!

How to Make Your Own Organic Pizza Night + Recipes

November 21, 2009 5
A couple of times a month, usually Friday or Saturday night, my family has make your own organic pizza night. The mister makes the dough, prepares the toppings and helps everyone get those perfect round pizza dough shapes. He also makes me my very own homemade organic focaccia – it is amazing. Eben has a lot of fun spreading the pizza sauce and decorating his pizza with all of the different toppings. His favorite toppings are organic cheese, onions, green olives, black olives and tofu pepperoni. 
Sometimes he likes to make his look like a face which just makes me smile. It is a super fun tradition that we all look forward to and enjoy. It is so popular that whenever Eben has a friend spend the night, one of the first questions that they ask is, “Are we going to make our own pizzas tonight?” Shortly followed by, “Are we having Root Beer floats?” On family pizza night, we usually rent a family movie or watch a Nature program while enjoying our yummy homemade pizza.
Want to start your own Family Pizza Night?

What you will need:
  • pizza dough recipe (see below)
  • organic spaghetti sauce
  • cheese of choice
  • pizza toppings
  • rolling pin
  • pizza stone and pizza cutter
  • stand mixer (not necessary, but highly recommended)
  • 1 tbsp organic cornmeal (to sprinkle on the pizza stone before adding your dough)
  • cooling rack
What you will need for the pizza dough:
 

  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 package organic yeast
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 3 tsp. organic olive oil
  • 3 cups organic whole wheat flour
  • garlic salt, oregano and basil (if you are making focaccia)
Preparation:

1. If you have a pizza stone, heat it on the bottom rack in the oven at 500° for 1 hour. {If you don’t have a pizza stone, preheat the oven to 500° and cook your pizzas on a cookie sheet.}
2. To make the dough, dissolve yeast in warm water (105-115°), add salt and olive oil in a mixing bowl.
3. Let dough sit for 5 minutes then add the flour.
4. Mix the dough (we use a stand mixer, on low/medium speed with a dough hook) until it makes a firm but elastic ball. When you poke it with your finger, it should be pliable but not sticky. If too wet or too dry, add flour or water in 1 tsp. increments until you reach correct consistency.
5. Put the dough in a lightly greased and covered bowl to rise until it doubles in size. approximately 50 minutes)
6. Divide into 2 dough balls and roll flat with a rolling pin, then place on pizza wheel covered in cornmeal, add your sauce and all ingredients.
7. Bake the pizza at 500 degrees until hot and gooey (approximately 7-8 minutes)
8. Place the pizza on a cooling rack to cool.

Sweet Greens Focaccia
The above pizza dough recipe, drizzle organic extra virgin olive oil all over a pizza dough round, sprinkle with garlic salt, dried oregano and basil. Bake at 500° for approximately 7-8 minutes. 

Green Your Thanksgiving with Parducci Sustainable Wine.

November 16, 2009 2

I was delighted to receive two bottles of lovely wine from Mendocino Wine Company in the mail last week. We received a bottle of Parducci California 2008 Pinot Noir $ 12 and a bottle of 2008 Parducci Mendocini County Chardonnay $11.

I wanted to enjoy the wines with the mister, so a date night was planned. Saturday night, we put Eben to bed and the mister and I started our date night with samples of these lovely wines with a fresh baguette and local organic Gouda and brie cheeses. We then had a second glass of each when the mister served our fabulous organic hibachi dinner that he had prepared. We were immediately smitten with Parducci, again. We have loved their wines in the past but both of these wines quickly became some of our favorites.

We found the 2008 Pinot Noir to go wonderfully with the fillet, scallops and shrimp that Mr. Sweet Greens had grilled. We thought the Pinot Noir was very earthy and full. It has a lovely bouquet aroma of juicy berries. It was a wonderful way to start the tastings for the evening.

The 2008 Chardonnay was my absolute favorite. I love the crisp, clean taste and the aromas of apple and pear were fabulous. I love, love, love this wine and think that it went perfectly with the fresh baguette and local organic cheeses.

Both of these wines are very easy to drink, so be careful. Both of these wines would be a wonderful addition to your Thanksgiving dinner. You could serve the fantastic 2008 Chardonnay with appetizers and dessert and then enjoy the 2008 Pinot Noir with the main course. Your guests will be delighted and excited.

As always Parducci is locally owned and operated with all of their grapes coming from sustainable family farms. Parducci is 100% green powered (it is the 1st U.S. carbon neutral winery) and all of their wines come in Earth friendly packaging. You still have time to purchase your Parducci wine for Thanksgiving dinner and all of your other upcoming holiday needs. Parducci wine is affordable and delicious, these wines would also make fabulous holiday and hostess gifts.

Are you going to serve sustainable wine at Thanksgiving?
What are your favorite sustainable wines?
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