My vegetarian sister-in-law will be in town this week for Thanksgiving. I am excited to see her (it has been a couple of months since she was here). I am also excited about trying a new vegetarian stuffing, which I won’t be cooking in the turkey, so she can enjoy it too.

I have two issues to deal with: In order for Laura to eat the stuffing, I can’t use turkey or any turkey drippings, and I cannot stand celery, so this omnipresent stuffing vegetable won’t be part of my ingredient list. My solution is to use vegetable stock to moisten the bread stuffing and to skip the celery altogether, although leeks would probably be a nice substitution as they too add a nice crunch and color. 

Photo By meganpru/Courtesy flickr
Fennel, also known as anise, has a licorice taste. 

With this in mind, I find myself, again, making my own recipe, which I am never afraid to do. I found a recipe for a mushroom stuffing that calls for crimini mushrooms, fennel and ham. It is simple enough, so I am getting rid of the ham and adding garlic so the stuffing is more flavorful.

To make my stuffing a little greener I am thinking of tossing some arugula, also known as rocket, at the very end. When I was in Rome years ago, I had a very simple margherita pizza topped with an arugula salad. It gave the pizza a great flavor, and I think it will do the same to my stuffing.

This is the recipe I have come up with. I don’t have pictures of the finished product, but I will post some next week.

-10-12 cups of cubed, dried French bread
-8 ounces of crimini or button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
-1 bulb of fennel, sliced thin
-1 onion, peeled, sliced thin
-3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 cup of vegetable stock
-2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
-1 tablespoon of salt
-1 tablespoon of pepper
-Olive oil

If you want to use the arugula, you can start with a couple of handfuls. This is the first time for me to do this, so I don’t really have an amount for you. Use your instincts and keep in mind that arugula has a strong flavor, so you don’t want to overpower the rest of the stuffing.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

In a large skillet sauté the garlic and onion in a little bit of oil over medium heat. When they are translucent and getting soft, add the fennel, then the mushrooms, salt, pepper and thyme. You want the onions to be soft and the fennel tender, but not slimy; the mushrooms should be soft. 

Place the bread cubes in a large bowl. Add the vegetable mixture and the stock and mix well. Pour into a medium baking dish and cook for 30 minutes until it is brown at the top and warm throughout.

Toss the arugula and serve warm.

This recipe is simple and so flavorful that I don’t think anyone will miss the turkey sausage and apricot stuffing I made last year, which was similar to this apple sausage one. Best of all, my sister-in-law won’t have to skip the stuffing this year.

How do you accommodate family members with food allergies or other special requests during the holidays?

I’ve always been jealous of those states listed on glass bottles. People in those states receive a nickel or a dime for recycling their glass containers. Kansas, to my dismay, does not offer a deposit-refund system for recycling glass. I know I shouldn’t need a monetary incentive to recycle glass (considering it’s 100 percent recyclable), but according to recent news from the Glass Packaging Institute, a nickel and dime goes a lot way.  

The only states that offer a refund for recycling glass are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Vermont. About 28 percent of glass containers were recycled in the U.S. in 2007, a far cry from the 67 percent of glass that was recycled in 2007 in California (a state that has had a beverage recycling program since 1987). 

With a national recycling rate of 33.4 percent in 2007 for all materials, it’s a wonder why more refund programs are not in place for other recyclable materials. In several states, such as Nevada, laws have been passed to ensure automobile battery recycling, which may explain the 99 percent recycling rate for automobile batteries. 

It’s difficult to rely on people’s good will to influence them to recycle. So, should money be offered as an incentive, or even jail time as a motivation, for proper disposal? 

The answer is in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where a law requires restaurants and bars to recycle glass and aluminum cans. Because of the law, the city provided 20-yard, 4 to 5 tons containers for the materials. According to some of the restaurant owners, it’s easier and less problematic to recycle with the provided containers, and less excess trash is on the ground. 

The new law may have forced the restaurants and bars to recycle, but the containers provided by the city made it easy. 

I’m predicting that in the future, some form of mandated recycling will happen in the U.S. Until then, it’s a voluntary aspect of life for a lot of states. 

It’s easy for me to recycle at my school. I just look for a blue container and place my bottle, can, paper or newspaper in the appropriate hole or slot. At home, though, because of space limitation, I find it difficult to hoard and separate all my recyclable trash and manage to pack it up to take to a recycling center. Some of it ends up in the trash because of frustration and laziness. It’s not the most difficult task to recycle, but it’s not the easiest part of my day, either. 

If my city were to offer separate containers for me to properly dispose of my trash and pick up these containers, I would make a reasonable, conscious effort to recycle all my trash. And my neighbors, friends, professors and coworkers would, too. Not only because it’s the green and right thing to do, but because it’s easy.

Shopping at Whole Foods Market is fun for me. I enjoy the colors and scents of its fresh produce, I like the gourmet-style prepared food section and I love its organic meats and wild fish counters. I am a food lover, yes, but my parents have also owned health food stores for more than 20 years; health food stores are part of my life.

I was not surprised that my favorite big grocery store ranked number one on Health magazine's healthiest grocery store list, and I also am happy that mainstream chains are making an effort to offer better food choices. Since I moved to Kansas a year ago, I have noticed how difficult it is to shop for healthy foods at chain grocers, especially if you don’t know what healthy foods really are. This list from CNN, courtesy Health magazine, is promising.

Living far away from a Whole Foods Market has forced me to look for an organic CSA (community supported agriculture), which next spring will provide me with organic, locally grown produce and poultry; I still need to go to the grocery story for grains, fruits and the occasional packaged cookie, however.

There is a health food store near where I live with a good amount of good-for-you foods, but its prices are high, probably because as a small co-op they don’t have purchasing power. This, I believe, is one of the reasons many people shun healthy foods—because they think it is more expensive. Most days I end up going to Dillon’s, where I go from the produce section, with its limited variety of organic veggies, to the natural foods section, which has organic staples, like pasta and grains, canned and packaged foods, and juices and sweets.

When I don’t find what I am looking for in this section, I go aisle to aisle looking for what I need. This is where I have the most problems because I feel that I have to check every single label for high fructose corn syrup and monosodium glutamate (MSG), as well as artificial colors and preservatives. I have found these unhealthy additives in all kinds of items, including so-called natural breads and sausages. Somehow they are able to hide in the ingredients list of foods with the word "natural" on their labels.

Lately, there are more organic and 100 percent natural products at Dillon’s at very good prices under the company's private label, Naturally Preferred; they also carry organic chicken and 100 percent natural beef. Looking at Health magazine's list, I am happy to see that this is a national trend—not just because it will be easier for me to shop, but because by offering natural and organic foods at good prices, it may help consumers choose better foods.

How do you make sure that the food you eat is healthy? Are there any ingredients that you won’t allow in the products you buy?  

Olivia Blanco Mullins is a journalist and has been eating healthy most of her life, as her parents have owned health food stores for more than 20 years. Currently she lives in Manhattan, Kansas, where her husband owns an  Italian restaurant . 

Like most kids today, when I was younger, all I wanted to eat was a Happy Meal. They seemed irresistible at the time—the box, the toy and the food were a dream come true. My parents, though, used the excuse of the expense of eating out. Most of my meals were home-cooked, which was better for my health and my parents’ wallet.

My parents’ 15-year-old theory doesn’t seem to hold up today, though. Even though the U.S. is in a reported financial crisis (check the front page of any semi-major newspaper), McDonald's sales in the U.S. were up 5.3 percent. Figures were also in the blue in Europe with 9.8 percent and the Asia/Pacific regions, Middle East and Africa with 11.5 percent.

A part of me doesn’t blame people for opting to eat fast food over making their own meals at home. It’s that dollar menu that seduces customers. Even I am hypnotized by how much it seems I get for just a dollar at McDonald's. And the variety, too: everything from a chicken sandwich to a hamburger to a soft drink to a hot fudge sundae—all just a dollar each! And let’s not forget the McRib, which makes a timely comeback every year just in time for those winter pounds.

There are many homemade meals that are much unhealthier and more expensive than what you can find on McDonalds’ menu, or any fast food menu. But it is so easy to get used to eating so cheaply and quickly that the unhealthy aspect of the food becomes an afterthought.

So, as the economy continues to tumble (for the time being) and the weather gets colder, I’ll be taking a second look at the wonderful world of leftovers. A homemade and healthier meal that costs $6 is worth the trouble to save for another meal.

When I was young, I can remember when leftover meal day at my house was the worst meal of the week. Now I can appreciate my parents controlling my fast food consumption and teaching me that a dollar goes a lot further than the line at McDonald's.

I already have my Thanksgiving turkey. I have it in my freezer, and it has been there since October 31. It may seem a little early to have it, and for a moment I thought it may have been better to buy a fresh turkey at the grocery store. But this turkey is what farmer John Crisp calls “beyond organic.”

Buy an organic turkey for your feast this Thanksgiving. Photo By xybermatthew/Courtesy Flickr

My turkey was raised in a small Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in Americus, Kansas, about two hours from my home. It was fed fresh grass, bugs, organic grain and kelp daily, and was raised in a 90 square foot field pen with 10 other turkeys. With plenty of space to roam, the pens were moved at least twice daily by John Crisp, owner of Sheppard’s Valley farm, to ensure fresh grass and a clean floor in a practice known as pastured poultry.

With this system John and Ramona Crisp make sure that their investment is safe (coyotes, bobcats and other predators are always happy to feed on birds); at the same time they know they are raising poultry in one of the most sustainable and healthy ways.

“There is no manure ‘buildup’ at all—which practically eliminates any sanitation or disease issues. Mortalities are very low, to almost non-existent,” says John, who explains that it takes him between eight to 12 weeks to get the pens to their original position, plenty of time for manure to compost and fresh grass to grow. Because the pens are always clean, “there is no need for antibiotics to be fed to the birds, in contrast to the standard industry model that feeds antibiotics daily. The birds are happy, healthy, calm and gentle, and have received no vaccinations, no medications, and are given no synthetic chemical inputs.”

Sheppard’s Valley doesn’t have a USDA organic certification, but I know what he tells me is true. I have visited his farm before, and I saw beautiful fields, clean barns and pens and very happy animals. Everything I have eaten from their farm has been amazingly flavorful. I also got to know John and Ramona personally, something almost unthinkable when you buy your foods from a big grocer.

By supporting their farm and their practices, I know I am helping my community and our environment—not just contributing to mass-produced food. And when I sit at the table on Thanksgiving, I will enjoy a great tasting Broad Breasted Bronze turkey.

If you need some help figuring out what kind of turkey you are getting, check out this helpful glossary on Ecologue.

Olivia Blanco Mullins is a journalist and has been eating healthy most of her life, as her parents have owned health food stores for more than 20 years. Currently she lives in Manhattan, Kansas, where her husband owns an  Italian restaurant . 

In our society, Thanksgiving is a time for turkey feasts and get-togethers with family. It’s a time when elementary school children come home with a nest of colorful feathers or a pilgrim hat on their head. It’s a time for the Macy’s day parade and football games to captivate our television sets. 

Regardless of the relationship between American Indians and pilgrims, the day was treated as a celebration of a successful first harvest and survival in the new world. Both cultures dedicated the time to giving thanks for their material and spiritual accomplishments. The first Thanksgiving feast was not prepared with top of the line mixers and conventional ovens that work wonders and strain electricity bills; rather it was a modest feast and a labor of love.  

Although they were probably not considering their ecological footprint, the first feast was environmentally friendly, as all crops were grown local and animals were either raised or wild.  

We have much to learn from the first green Thanksgiving. In the kitchen, try reducing electricity consumption by hand mixing the mashed potatoes (plus you won’t have to go to the gym!). Rather than buying stuffing, use any stale, old bread, add onions, celery, mushrooms and any other complementing foods. 

If you dried fruit this past season, or are interested in a stuffing alternative, substitute the celery and mushrooms for dried fruit such as cranberries and apricots. If you have not found a stuffing recipe, try this one:

2-4 Italian sausage links
1 cup chopped celery
1 onion
4 corn muffins
1/2 cup chicken stock
3 eggs
1/2 cup cranberries
salt, pepper and rosemary seasoned to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a pan sauté the Italian sausage links in extra virgin olive oil while breaking them into smaller pieces. This should take five minutes. Season the sausage with salt, pepper and rosemary just before you take them out of the pan. Let the sausage cool. In another pan on medium heat, mix the chopped celery and the onions together for about five to 10 minutes or until soft. Crumble the corn muffins in a large bowl and add the sausage, vegetables and cranberries together. Next, add the eggs and the chicken stock in and mix with your hands. Put the stuffing into a baking pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour depending on how you like your stuffing. 

If a turkey is a mandatory part of Thanksgiving, keep in mind that, like everything else, organic is always a better choice. According to the National Turkey Federation, about 46 million turkeys are eaten during Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving had much more than just a turkey; try something different, like deer, geese, lobster, boar or even tofu.  

What are you tips for a green Thanksgiving?

Using reusable bags gave me a powerful feeling. OK, so maybe powerful is a tad eccentric, but I don’t own a hybrid car, consistently eat organic food, or wear organic clothing, so I thought by decreasing my carbon footprint with the bags, I could boost my eco-ego just a tad.

I guesstimate that I buy about two to three reusable bags worth of groceries and items a week, which equal to about eight to 10 plastic bags. That comes to about 470 plastic bags saved a year, a miniscule dent in the 100 billion plastic bags Americans throw away every year, according to the Worldwatch Institute.

I occasionally forget the bags when running quick errands to the store, though. Remembering the bags is like another imminent check on a to-do list. It really is simpler to just stuff the plastic bags under the sink when returning from the store and only having to remember my wallet and grocery list when I go to the store.

Still, I thought I was doing the right thing, even if I remembered to use them most of the time. I then discovered a New York Times article that delved into how green reusable bags really are.

It is obvious to me that the reusable bags would sit in landfills longer than disposable bags. The reusable bags should be usable anywhere from two to five years, but many people don’t use the bags in an effective manner and the bags just end up sitting in pantries, closets and trunks.

A number of reusable bags, such bags as ones from big box store are made from non-woven polypropylene, which is a byproduct of oil refining. Bags made of non-organic cotton or canvas aren’t much better because they can require large amounts of water and energy to produce and may contain harsh chemical dyes. Paper bags also require the destruction of trees and are made in factories that contribute to air and water pollution.

I attempt to figure out why more people don’t use the bags. If students in my 26,000-student college used the bags for one year, it would save about 12.2 million bags a year (using my 470-per-year plastic bag use). If everyone in my home state of Kansas (population: 2.8 million) used them, it would save about 1.3 billion plastic bags a year. I know that not every student and citizen of Kansas shops like me, but 1.3 billion is much closer number to 100 billion—and to making a difference.

If the reusable bags were actually reused, that would far outweigh the effect the reusable bags could have in a landfill after a couple of years of use.

Plastic bags won’t disappear from my life for a while. I would go broke if I didn’t have them to line my smaller trashcans and had to buy small plastic bags. I’ve realized that being environmentally doesn’t end at just buying reusable bags. It begins with using those bags every time I shop.

I have always considered myself a morning person, one of those people who eat and enjoy breakfast every day, but since I started working at Natural Home magazine, I’ve had to set my alarm clock to 5:30 a.m., and breakfast time has been elusive.

For a while I ate the granola bars I buy for my husband despite his lack of interest in breakfast. I always buy the whole grain kind, but they are not for me; I don’t love the flavors they offer, they have too much sodium and are too expensive.

I started looking for recipes in books and online to make my own, and to my surprise I ran into this article from MSNBC about the high calorie and sugar content of granola bars. My suspicions about the store-bought bars are now confirmed, but at the same time I think it is unfair to treat all granola as unhealthy; especially considering that many people have donuts or a processed breakfast sandwich every morning.

One of the problems with granola bars, though, is that in order to hold the ingredients together you need a considerable amount of butter and either honey, sugar or syrup—this adds calories and sugar. I decided that for me, loose granola is probably a better option, even if it is not as easy to transport, because it doesn’t need to be bound by all that sticky sugar.

This is the very simple recipe I have come up with after lots of substitutions from different recipes. I have substituted agave nectar for honey, as it has a very low glycemic index. This and the fact that I used canola oil instead of butter also make the base of this granola vegan. This granola is not very sweet, except for the chocolate that I add at the end, but this is for my own sweet tooth. You can substitute the chocolate for any combination of dried fruit, such as dry bananas or raisins.

I have calculated the nutritional values for this granola through the tool on SparkPeople. Each serving of this granola is 228 calories and 12 grams of fat. It is an estimate because it did not give me the option of adding agave nectar in the amount that I used it, so I used maple syrup as a guide. Each serving is a couple of handfuls, for the estimation I said the total would be 20 servings. This is plenty to keep me going while sitting at my desk, but may not be for those who have active jobs. I eat it dry, and because of the whole almonds it forces you to chew. I am sure it is good with cold rice milk or organic goat milk yogurt, too.

Olivia’s 6 a.m. Granola  

3 cups rolled oats

1 ½ cups whole raw almonds

¼ cup canola oil

¼ cup agave nectar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup dark chocolate chips

Adjust the oven rack to the middle low position, and preheat to 300 degrees.  

Mix all the ingredients, except the chocolate, in a bowl. Fold with a wood spoon or rubber spatula until combined.

Spread evenly onto a baking sheet and put in the oven for about 1 hour, or until dark golden brown, stirring with a wood spoon or rubber spatula every 15 minutes for even browning.

Cool in the pan and transfer to a bowl, then mix in the chocolate chips. If you mix the chocolate in while it is still warm it will form clumps with the oats, which I find delicious. Store in an air- tight container. Enjoy!

Olivia Blanco Mullins is a journalist and has been eating healthy most of her life, as her parents have owned health food stores for more than 20 years. Currently she lives in Manhattan, Kansas, where her husband owns an  Italian restaurant .