Eggplant Fritters

INGREDIENTS

1 medium eggplant, about 1 cup mashed
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp baking powder
Dash sea salt
Dash pepper
1 Tbsp butter, soft

DIRECTIONS

Peel, slice, and cook eggplant in salt water until tender; drain well and mash. To 1 cup mashed eggplant, add beaten egg, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and butter. Blend well.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add just enough oil to prevent the fritters from sticking. Fry until golden brown, flipping halfway through. The fritters can also be deep fried: drop into deep hot fat, about 370 degrees Fahrenheit, and fry until brown.

One Small Change - from Our Newsletter

Now that January's almost over, those New Year's resolutions that we penned and proclaimed with such optimism can start to feel very, very far away. We've all heard the tips about making successful resolutions - plan ahead, set realistic goals, be accountable - but somehow that doesn't seem to make keeping your promises to yourself any less difficult. So how about it doing the whole thing differently?

The folks over at One Small Change are putting a new spin on old resolutions - and they've been doing it successfully for over a year. What about this? Rather than loading up the pressure to change your body, your life, and the whole darn world onto one arbitrary date, try making one small change every month. One Small Change is an environmental project; in their own words, its founders challenge participants every month to "choose a change that you want to bring into your life that is going to reduce your carbon footprint." The great thing is that no change is too small - because it all adds up.

The blog for the project helps keep participants motivated by offering a forum to share the changes you're making and by raffling prizes monthly, as well by providing a ton of great ideas that will change your life and your carbon footprint. Looking to start big? How about eliminating switching from paper products to cloth, making your own cleaning products, starting a garden, downgrading to one car (or, better yet, to a bicycle). Or maybe something a little smaller? Try reducing the amount of showers you take in a month, looking for options with less packaging in the store, unplugging appliances you're not using, cooking more at home (and doubling up on oven projects), turning off the lights in empty rooms, or finally getting that reusable water bottle and really using it.

At Green Earth Organics, we're always looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint and practice sustainable business. Our big change recently has been to be more conscious about what businesses we're supporting with our business - and with that in mind, we made the switch to begin banking with Vancity.

Switching banks is never simple; some of the complications involved can make it easy to keep putting off responsible banking. But we're so glad we bothered to make the change.

Not only do we know that our business isn't supporting initiatives that we disagree with, but we actually get to support a greener model of banking, and invest in our local community simply by choosing where we're keeping our money. We like Vancity because it's a financial co-operative with a proactive commitment to take action on climate change and a strong ethical policy. Vancity has lots of great programs that help the environment, foster healthy and respectful communities, and support local arts and businesses. For personal accounts, they offer rewards for the decision to make your home more energy efficient, among other financing options. If you use the Enviro Visa, you probably know that at least 5% of Visa profits are donated to local environmental projects.

What can you do this month to make one small (or big) change? Leave a comment and let us know!

Easy Baked Bananas

INGREDIENTS

4 firm bananas
1 to 2 Tbsp melted butter
Pinch sea salt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Peel bananas and place in a well greased baking dish. Brush generously with butter and sprinkle lightly with salt. Sprinkle sugar evenly over bananas, then drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with coconut. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until bananas are tender. Serve with syrup or a dessert sauce, if desired.

Did You Know: Finding More Recipes

"Did You Know" is our new series of blog posts about Green Earth Organics: how it works, how you can do more with your account, etc.

In the last "Did You Know" post, I told you about how to find more information about our products, including links to recipes using the fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients from our website. But what if the produce changes before you look up a recipe, and your ingredient (like arugula) is no longer on the website to use the link?

All our recipes are stored on our blog. You can get to our blog in a variety of ways. The direct URL is greenearthorganics.blogspot.com. Alternatively, click on "read more" any of the articles on our home page, or click on any of the archived recipes on our recipe page, or use a link from a different ingredient (for example, the banana recipes link on the banana description page).

Once on our blog, regardless of how you got there, look at the top left-hand corner for the list called "Labels". Clicking on recipes will take you to a post where you can select your ingredient to see all the recipes we have that include that item.

When you are looking at recipes, you will see that many of the non-produce ingredients are links. For example, in the Zucchini Melt Sandwiches recipe, butter, red pepper flakes, sea salt, pepper, pasta sauce, mozzarella, and baguettes are all links back to our website, where you can add those items to your bin to help you make that recipe.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns. We can be reached at 604-708-2345 or at info@greenearthorganics.com. Happy organic eating!

Spaghetti Squash "Pasta"

INGREDIENTS

1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup crumbled feta
3 Tbsp sliced black olives
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Place spaghetti squash cut sides down on the prepared baking sheet, and bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a sharp knife can be inserted with only a little resistance. Remove squash from oven, and set aside to cool enough to be easily handled.

In the meantime, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, and cook only until tomatoes are warm. Remove from heat.

Gently scrape the tines of a kitchen fork around the edge of the spaghetti squash to shred the pulp into strands. Place this spaghetti in a medium bowl. Toss with the sauteed vegetables, feta cheese, olives, and basil. Serve warm.

Did You Know: Finding More Information About Our Products

"Did You Know" is our new series of blog posts about Green Earth Organics: how it works, how you can do more with your account, etc.

For More Information

When you are looking at items on our website, the first look is only part of the story.

If you go to our Fruits page, for example, you will see pictures of the fruits we have available and their prices (some items are sold by the count and some by the pound). You can also see where each item is grown (by province or state, or by country outside of Canada and the US). But if you click on one of the items, such as Banana, you can get even more information. On this page, you can see the name of the company that grew the fruit, a bit of information about storing or using it, and a link to Green Earth Organics' collection of recipes featuring that item.

You can get more information about our grocery items the same way. If you go to the Cookies subcategory of Snacks and click on Artisan Bake Shoppe Chocolate Chunk Cookies, you will see the number of cookies per bag, how big each cookie is (in grams), some information about the Artisan Bake Shoppe, the ingredients in the cookies, and a link to a blog post with more information about the bakery.

Some grocery items (such as Goat's Pride Chevre also contain recipe links, so if you aren't sure how to use an item, it is always worth a quick look to see if there's more information available.

We added the ingredients lists to the descriptions after we launched the website, so we may have missed updating some of the grocery items with that information. If you ever have any questions about the ingredients or about how to use something we sell, please give us a call (604-708-2345) or email (info@greenearthorganics.com) and we will do the best we can to help.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns! Happy organic eating!

Arugula Chevre Pasta

INGREDIENTS

8 oz penne (or substitute in brown rice penne)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
2 cups arugula, chopped
1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
110 g chevre
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Sea salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

Cook pasta in lightly salted water until al dente.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. Saute until the mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the arugula and cook until it is wilted, about 3 minutes. Serve this mixture over hot penne pasta and top with cherry tomatoes, chevre, and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Arugula, Tomato, and Chevre Salad

INGREDIENTS

12 ripe Roma tomatoes
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey
110 g plain chevre
1 bunch fresh arugula, washed and trimmed

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Arrange cut side up on the baking sheet. Bake for 2 hours, until semi-dry. Cool.

Place remaining olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and honey in a small bowl and whisk until well combined. Set aside.

Use a melon baller or a spoon to shape the chevre into four balls or domes.

Make sure the arugula is very dry. Divide amongst four individual plates. Top each plate of arugula with six oven-dried tomato halves and drizzle with vinaigrette. Place one ball of chevre on each salad.

Jalapeno and Mint Tofu Stir-Fry

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
About 4 cups of your favourite stir-fry vegetables (zucchini, bell pepper, carrots, broccoli, bok choy, etc.), chopped
1 block extra firm tofu, well pressed and diced
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced or grated
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (or to taste)
1 1/2 cups packed mint leaves
2 Tbsp rice vinegar

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic and sautee, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Add onion and other vegetables and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until cooked desired amount. Add tofu, toss, and remove from heat.

Remove from heat.

Place the remaining ingredients into a food processor or blender, and process until mint is finely minced.

Add sauce to the tofu and veggies and reheat until hot. Serve over rice.

Zucchini Melt Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbsp butter
2 medium zucchini, cubed
1 pinch red pepper flakes
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup tomato and basil pasta sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 French baguettes

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Fry the zucchini in butter until browned and slightly tender. Season with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and stir in the tomato and basil sauce. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is hot.

Cut the ends off the baguettes (ends can be saved to make breadcrumbs) and cut into 6-inch lengths, then split horizontally.

Spoon a generous amount of the zucchini mixture into each piece of baguette. Top with a handful of shredded mozzarella. Close the sandwiches and wrap them individually in aluminum foil.

Bake for about 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until bread is heated through and cheese is melted.

Avocado Soup

INGREDIENTS

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 medium avocado
2 tsp tamari
1 cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup of water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Sea salt
Cilantro, chopped (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion until it is translucent, then set aside.

Peel avocado and remove the pit. Combine the onion, avocado, tamari, broth, water, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor and blend well. When the mixture is smooth, pour back into the saucepan and let it come to a boil. Simmer for 2 or 3 minutes. Add salt to taste and serve immediately, garnished with cilantro if using.

Russet Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, medium dice
1 leek, halved, washed, thin sliced
4 celery spears, thin sliced
1 tsp celery seeds
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 carton vegetable broth
4 russet potatoes, large dice
2 Tbsp parsley or chives, coarse chop (optional)

DIRECTIONS

In a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, leeks, and celery and saute till the onion is translucent in color.
Add the celery seeds, crushed red pepper flakes, and black pepper and stir well.

Add 4 cups of water and the vegetable broth to the pot with the onions, leeks and celery and turn the burner on high. Add the diced potatoes. Once the pot comes to a boil, turn the burner to medium and cook till the potatoes are tender when poked with a fork.

Blend until smooth and creamy in a blender or food processor. Return to pot to reheat if needed. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste. Serve sprinkled with parsley or chives if desired.

Taste and add sea salt or black pepper to taste.

Organic Food for your Furry Friends

We've had members asking for pet food, so we're bringing in Castor & Pollox's Organix line of canned and dry cat and dog foods.

The original Organix Canine and Feline Formulas were the first pet foods made with certified organic chicken as the #1 ingredient in both the dog and cat formulas that met the USDA organic labeling regulations. Each and every ingredient in Castor & Pollux's Organix organic dog and cat foods - including ingredients that are not organic - is reviewed by the organic certifying agency.

We don't have a pet food section on our website yet, so the pet food is currently just in the "Grocery" section. The easiest way to find the flavours available is to search "Organix" or to use the link above.

We are always looking for new organic groceries to add to our website, so if we're missing your favourite brand or there's an item you would like to be able to order from us, please call us at 604-708-2345 or email info@greenearthorganics.com.