Summer Arugula Pasta

INGREDIENTS

8 oz dried penne (or substitute in brown rice penne)
1 bunch arugula, rinsed, patted dry, and trimmed
1 package chevre, at room temperature
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 to 2 tsp finely minced garlic
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Cook the penne in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, coarsely chop the arugula, including the stems (there should be about 2 cups total). Transfer to a large bowl and add the chevre, chopped tomato, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, mixing to combine. Drain the pasta and immediately toss with the goat cheese mixture, stirring until evenly distributed. Divide among individual bowls and serve warm.

For a less garlicky version, try using a couple of cloves of roasted garlic instead of fresh, or take out the garlic completely and try sundried tomato chevre or garlic and herb chevre instead of plain.

Why Purple Beans Turn Green

When purple beans are cooked, they turn green. Purple beans are purple due to a pigment known as anthocyanins, responsible for that purple, reddish range of colours. When cooking, a chemical change takes place. What happens is that the heat from the cooking breaks apart the molecules on the surface of the bean and exposes
the chlorophyll, which is green. Nature plays similar tricks with leaves in the fall. As the weather changes due to cooler nights and shorter days, the sugars stop providing nutrients to their leaves and the different pigments that lay under the green show up.

To take full advantage of the beauty of the purple beans, we suggest cutting them into a salad raw with a vinaigrette - beautiful and delicious.

Chocolate & Pumpkin Seed Butter Squares

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup agave
1 cup pumpkin seed butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups crispy rice cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup raisins or pumpkin seeds (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Combine agave, pumpkin seed butter, and vanilla in a large saucepan. Stir constantly on medium heat until smooth. Remove from heat, then add cereal, chocolate chips, and seeds or raisins. Continue stirring until well mixed. Press into a greased 8" x 9" pan and chill for 1 hour. When solid, cut into bars and serve.

Jalapeno Hummus

INGREDIENTS

2 14 oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeds removed
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

Process all ingredients except the cilantro in a food processor or blender until smooth, adding more or less liquid as needed in order to get the proper consistency. Hummus should be smooth and creamy. Stir in cilantro.

Serve with slices of French baguette, with crackers, with a veggie plate, or spread on sandwiches.

Healthy Bagels

The staff at Green Earth Organics is thrilled to be purchasing bagels from a brand-new local bagel company: The West Cost Healthy Bagel. They launched their bagels at the Vancouver Folk Festival on July 17th to 19th, and now we've got them in stock!

This isn't your ordinary bagel: This is a West-Coast Style Bagel. Developed in with the help of a nutritionist, this is the healthiest bagel you can get. It is a high source of fiber, a great source of Omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids, low in sodium, and it contains no preservatives or trans-fat. The bagels come pre-sliced in a freezer-friendly paper bag (lined with a biodegradable poly liner) - this Richmond, BC, company has thought of everything!

The bagels are packaged in 5 packs (or, as the company puts it, 10 healthy halves) and we pop them in the Green Earth Organics deep-freeze as soon as they arrive, for maximum freshness.

Try them toasted with cream cheese or chevre; with your favourite nut or seed butter; with jam or a fruit spread; or pile on the cheese and sliced veggies for an open-faced sandwich.

Ingredients: Organic whole wheat flour, filtered water, organic wheat flour, ground flax seed, sunflower seed, hulled hemp seed, vital wheat gluten, demerara sugar, yeast, sea salt.

If you fall in love with these new bagels, or any of our other delicious grocery items, don't forget that you can put them on standing order to come automatically with every delivery. Never again run out of a staple item because you missed your order deadline, and you will save 5% off the website price too! You can add items to your standing order yourself by logging in and going to the "Standing Orders" page, or just call or email us with your request.

Green Drinks International

Green Drinks' Picnic
Tuesday, July 28th
6 PM - 9 PM
Jericho Park
Eastern pond picnic area

ABOUT GREEN DRINKS INTERNATIONAL

Every month people who work in the environmental field meet up at informal sessions known as Green Drinks.

At such events, invariably there is a lively mixture of people from non-government organizations (NGOs), academia, government and businesses. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say "Are you green?" and they will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there's always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organizing network.

These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals, and had moments of serendipity. It's a force for the good and it would be great to help it spread to other cities. Contact your local node to get the latest info about coming along.

Green Drinks website

ABOUT THE PICNIC

This is a BYOE (Bring Your Own Everything) event.
There will be no cooking or washing facilities at the site, so please plan for a basic cold food picnic. The theme of this mission, should you choose to accept it, is local and sustainable food, so bring something appropriate if you can; enough to share if you're willing... and, hey, there might be a contest. Details forthcoming.

Basics to bring:
• Yourself and any interested friends or family.
• Your own food, drink, and necessary dining implements: plates, cutlery, etc.
• Willingness to pick up all of your refuse when you leave.

Other items they'd love someone to bring:
• Games or sports equipment (volleyball & net, badminton, bocce, etc).
• A BBQ that you are willing to share – please get in touch with Green Drinks if you can bring this for sure.
• Non-amplified musical instruments and your singing voice.

What not to bring:
• Glass drink containers.
• Alcohol – parks officers don't want to see that.
• Amplified music or public address systems.
• Advertising.
• Electricity.
• Structures, fences, poles, tents, stages, etc.
These are Vancouver Parks restrictions so please see their website for further details.

How to get to the Green Drinks picnic site:
They'll be in the same place as previous years, which is not far from where the back of the main stage at the Folk Festival will have been the week before. See the Vancouver Parks website for details & map of "Jericho Pond".

Here are the transit options:
• Bus 4 – get off 1 or 2 stops west of Alma along 4th Ave.
• Buses 7, 44, or 84 – get off at Alma & 4th and walk a few minutes westward.
• Buses 9, 17 or 99 B-line – get off at Alma & Broadway and walk north to 4th and then west to Jericho.

Of course, there is plenty of space to park your bike or kayak!

Lotsa Beans Salad

INGREDIENTS

1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut diagonally in thirds
2 cans mixed beans, rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, diced
5 green onions, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 tsp sea salt
Black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Steam beans, covered, in steamer basket over boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Rinse under cold water and drain well.

Combine green beans, canned mixed beans, tomatoes, and green onions in a large bowl.

Whisk remaining ingredients together in a small bowl. Pour over salad and mix gently.

Serves 4 to 6.

Summer Beet Salads

To retain the flavour, nutrients, and cancer-fighting benefits of beets, do not overcook them. Don't peel them first, and leave the root and an inch or so of stem to keep them from turning everything bright red. To boil, cook for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender After cooking, run them under cold water, then peel and slice. To roast them, place beets in a roasting pan and add a little water for steam. Roast in a covered pan at 425 degrees F for 30 to 45 minutes or until the beets are easily pierced with a knife, then trim and slip off the skins under running water and slice or dice.

If you're mixing beets with other vegetables (in a salad, for instance), cook and dress the beets separately and add them last. Their vivid colour will seep into everything else otherwise.

Cooked beets can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or two, and in the freezer for longer than that, all without damage to their taste or nutritional value, so if you cook a big batch on a cool day, you’ll be all set for delicious beets salads during the next heat wave.

Spinach, Goat Feta, & Beet Salad

An easy and sophisticated salad can be made with leftover beets, spinach, and goat feta. Wash the spinach carefully and remove the stems. Chop your cooked beets into cubes or slice them 1cm thick. The goat cheese can be served in slices or crumbled over the salad. Dress with a vinaigrette or a splash of balsamic vinegar and some extra virgin olive oil. Delicious variations on this salad include adding walnuts, green apples, pears, and/or avocado.

Avocado, Beet, & Honeydew Salad

Chop your leftover beets into slices or chunks. Do the same with a ripe (but not overripe) avocado and a similarly ripe honeydew melon. Mix together and squeeze lime juice over the whole thing. Serve chilled. This dish works because each of the three main ingredients is mildly sweet in a different way, and the lime unites the flavours and adds some bite. Throw in some fresh berries for a sweeter, fruitier salad. This is good for breakfast, a snack, or dessert.

Organic Deli Meat?

I get a fair number of inquiries about organic meat, so I've been looking into the options. We do hope to offer organic frozen meat at some point, but we need to be sure that we can deliver it safely, so that's still in the works. In the meantime, I've been talking to an organic deli meat company, Mclean Organic Foods. Since their products are cooked, they could be delivered with just our cold packs, the same way we deliver Avalon organic milk.

Their products look good, so now I just want to find out what our members would like to buy. Here's a link to their organic offerings. I have put a poll on our blog (just to the right of this post) for the items they say are most popular. If you are interested in buying organic deli meat from us, please comment or respond to the poll before July 25th.

I am always looking for new product suggestions, so please let me know if there are any other organic products you would like to see us offer!

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs fingerling potatoes
5 cloves garlic, crushed and finely minced
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried leaf thyme
Sea salt and black pepper
Cajun seasoning, optional

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a large shallow baking dish.

Scrub potatoes and cut large ones in half. Pat dry. In a large bowl, combine the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, salt, pepper, and seasoning if using. Toss potatoes with the garlic and oil mixture. Arrange the coated potatoes in a single layer in the prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.