Adapted from @sashafitness
Ingredients
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
Portion out evenly into burger shapes.
Place burgers in an ovenproof pan and bake until burgers are golden.
Green Earth Organics Inc. is a home and office certified organic grocery and natural product delivery service. We have a wide selection of 100% Certified Organic fruit, vegetables, and other grocery products. We also carry a growing list of environmentally friendly products that make it easier for our customers to tread lighter on our planet. This blog offers exiting information on organic food and healthy eating habits.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Organic Household Tip
Love the smell of clothes straight out of the dryer?Give your entire home that fresh sent! Before you vacuum, remove the canister or bag. Insert two dryer sheets into the canister or bag. Replace them and then vacuum your carpets like normal. An awesome, easy and green way to have a fresh scented home!
Seedy Saturdays!
Winter is halfway done and it’s time to start thinking about
spring planting. Whether you have a whole garden to play in, a plot at the
local community garden, or just a small balcony herb garden – you can take
advantage of one of many local “Seed Swap” events.
Originating in 1989 in British Columbia, these
grass-roots-organized events are designed to allow gardeners of every type to
save seeds from their previous year’s plantings to exchange with each other.
This promotes open pollination and the spread of heritage crops within the
community.
Look out for your local chapter’s Seedy Saturday or Seedy
Sunday to start planning your garden!
Vancouver & Sea to Sky:
- Saturday February 22nd from 10am-4pm at VanDusen Botanical Garden
- Saturday March 1st from 1pm-3pm at North Shore Neighbourhood House – Inman Rm
- Saturday April 5th from 12pm-3pm at Stewart Farm in Surrey
Calgary:
- Saturday March 15th from 10am-3pm at Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Centre
Fraser Valley:
- Saturday March 29th from 10am-2pm at Heritage Park Secondary School
Victoria:
- Saturday February 15th from 10am-4pm at the Victoria Confrence Centre
- Saturday March 1st from 10am-2pm at Haliburton Farm
Friday, February 7, 2014
Tomato Seeds make Bitter Sauce
Many recipes call for removing the seeds from a tomato before cooking it, but few actually tell you the reason.
Tomato seeds are quite bitter, just try biting into one.
So when you cook a tomato seed, especially in a sauce which will be cooking for a long time, that bitterness goes right into your sauce!
Easy Sushi at Home
A number of years ago now, a couple of friends of mine went "WWOOFing" (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms – an organization that connects volunteers with farms all over the world in need of assistance, often in exchange for room and board) in Japan. One of the farms they stayed with introduced them to a way of preparing sushi for a large, busy family without someone having to spend hours assembling all the rolls or cones. When they came home, they introduced this technique to our group of friends:
First, get your sushi rice cooking. For how to make the sushi rice, see this recipe.
Second, prepare all the ingredients you like to have in sushi rolls. We like veggie rolls of various kinds, so we cut tofu, avocado, and cucumber into sticks and grate a bit of carrot and/or radish. We also lightly steam asparagus or broccolini/broccolette stems and bake yam sticks. You may also want to get more adventurous and add raw or cooked mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, mango, green onions, baked squash, homemade tamago, tofu (plain or marinated), or, of course, shrimp, crab, and sushi-grade fish. For condiments, in addition to soy sauce or tamari, you may want wasabi, pickled ginger, mayonnaise, cream cheese, toasted sesame seeds or gomasio. Check out the online menus of sushi restaurants for inspiration.
Third, cut your sheets of sushi nori into square quarters.
Finally, when your rice and other ingredients are cooled, lay out all the ingredients on the table. Just like having a taco night, everyone grabs some nori squares, add some rice and their favourite ingredients and condiments, roll it in their hands into a rough cone shape or just hold it like a taco, and eat!
Add in bowls of miso soup to complete the meal.
First, get your sushi rice cooking. For how to make the sushi rice, see this recipe.
 |
| Sushi ready for assembly: Steam broccolini stems, avocado, baked sweet potato sticks, cucumber sticks, and homemade tamago. |
Second, prepare all the ingredients you like to have in sushi rolls. We like veggie rolls of various kinds, so we cut tofu, avocado, and cucumber into sticks and grate a bit of carrot and/or radish. We also lightly steam asparagus or broccolini/broccolette stems and bake yam sticks. You may also want to get more adventurous and add raw or cooked mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, mango, green onions, baked squash, homemade tamago, tofu (plain or marinated), or, of course, shrimp, crab, and sushi-grade fish. For condiments, in addition to soy sauce or tamari, you may want wasabi, pickled ginger, mayonnaise, cream cheese, toasted sesame seeds or gomasio. Check out the online menus of sushi restaurants for inspiration.
Third, cut your sheets of sushi nori into square quarters.
Finally, when your rice and other ingredients are cooled, lay out all the ingredients on the table. Just like having a taco night, everyone grabs some nori squares, add some rice and their favourite ingredients and condiments, roll it in their hands into a rough cone shape or just hold it like a taco, and eat!
Add in bowls of miso soup to complete the meal.
Sushi Rice
Chef Luis Lavieri
INGREDIENTS
1 cup sushi rice
1 cup of water
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 generous tbsp of sugar
1 generous tsp of salt
Optional:
1 tbsp of mirin (rice wine)
DIRECTIONS
1 cup sushi rice
1 cup of water
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 generous tbsp of sugar
1 generous tsp of salt
Optional:
1 tbsp of mirin (rice wine)
If not using mirin, add 1 more tbsp rice vinegar
DIRECTIONS
Place the rice in a colander.
Rinse the rice under running water for about a minute.
Drain the water from the colander by placing it over an empty pot.
Allow the rice to drain for 30 minutes (summer) to one hour (winter).
If using a rice cooker: Put rice and water into cooker and set to cook.
If using a pot: Bring the water to boil, then place the rice in the water, cover it with a towel, then place the lid onto the pot, over top of the towel.
In a separate bowl mix together the rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and mirin. If not using mirin, add one extra tbsp of rice vinegar.
When the rice is cooked, remove it from the cooker/pot and place it into a bowl.
Pour the vinegar mixture overtop and mix gently, careful not to break the rice grains.
Allow to cool to body temperature, then make your sushi.
Rinse the rice under running water for about a minute.
Drain the water from the colander by placing it over an empty pot.
Allow the rice to drain for 30 minutes (summer) to one hour (winter).
If using a rice cooker: Put rice and water into cooker and set to cook.
If using a pot: Bring the water to boil, then place the rice in the water, cover it with a towel, then place the lid onto the pot, over top of the towel.
In a separate bowl mix together the rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and mirin. If not using mirin, add one extra tbsp of rice vinegar.
When the rice is cooked, remove it from the cooker/pot and place it into a bowl.
Pour the vinegar mixture overtop and mix gently, careful not to break the rice grains.
Allow to cool to body temperature, then make your sushi.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Inside Level Ground Trading
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with one of the co-founders of
Level Ground Trading, Stacey Towes, a cheerful and enthusiastic man who
has dedicated his life to making a difference. A leading advocate for
Fair Trade practices, he explains his company’s goal as “A desire for a
sustainable response to hard working, small –scale farmers who are
marginalized from the global economy. We wanted to alleviate poverty
without doing charity.”
Level Ground works to create jobs, provide education, and instill hope into more and more impoverished communities. His company carries products from all over the globe including coffee, sugar and dried fruit from South America and Africa, tea from India, and recently vanilla from Uganda and coconut oil from the Philippines.
The company began in 1997 with four families who wanted to work together and make a difference in the lives of small-scale farmers. They had little experience with coffee or fair trade, but their business partner and now company CEO, Hugo, had spent his summers growing up among the coffee farmers of Colombia. By bringing steady and reliable jobs to the table, along with health care and the promise of education for the children of the farmers they work with, Level Ground set a high standard for companies seeking to bring products into the North American market.
This continues to be the norm today, with over 5000 small-scale farming families being paid for their harvests each year. The impact of the company “…has surpassed my expectations and provided me a greater sense of fulfillment than I would have imagined.”
Level Ground’s impact isn’t just overseas; they’ve also travelled extensively throughout North America, spreading the message of sustainable farming and fair trade. “We’ve stuck with our mission since inception– trading fairly and directly with small-scale farmers in developing countries. I believe that despite the growth of Fair Trade we’ve seen over recent years, the essence of what we do neither popular nor well understood.”
Fair Trade has been around as a concept since World War II, but only really started to take root in the thoughts of North Americans in the 1960’s. Only the past two decades have people truly started making an effort to change how we do business.
“So in this way [we] still see ourselves as pioneers. Now, with the steady addition of food products beyond coffee, I believe that we are accomplishing something else unique to stretch peoples’ notion of what we’re all about.”
Level Ground has also dedicated itself to supporting their local community and the environment. Each of their employees is paid extra to allow for environmentally friendly methods of commuting each day.
“In the course of a year there are more than 100 non-profit groups which we partner with in some way. It may be something as simple as a $30 donation of product to a micro-credit or supplying all 3,000+ servings of coffee and supplies to 18 food vendors at the Saanich Fair.”
Our interview closed with a request for advice for any future entrepreneurs seeking to make their own impact on the world.
"Do what you love and stick with it. If you are passionate there is potential. Take time to build relationships and to strategize so that you have both the people resources and the system to grow and realize your dream."
Buy Level Ground products now from our Victoria location!
Level Ground works to create jobs, provide education, and instill hope into more and more impoverished communities. His company carries products from all over the globe including coffee, sugar and dried fruit from South America and Africa, tea from India, and recently vanilla from Uganda and coconut oil from the Philippines.
The company began in 1997 with four families who wanted to work together and make a difference in the lives of small-scale farmers. They had little experience with coffee or fair trade, but their business partner and now company CEO, Hugo, had spent his summers growing up among the coffee farmers of Colombia. By bringing steady and reliable jobs to the table, along with health care and the promise of education for the children of the farmers they work with, Level Ground set a high standard for companies seeking to bring products into the North American market.
This continues to be the norm today, with over 5000 small-scale farming families being paid for their harvests each year. The impact of the company “…has surpassed my expectations and provided me a greater sense of fulfillment than I would have imagined.”
Level Ground’s impact isn’t just overseas; they’ve also travelled extensively throughout North America, spreading the message of sustainable farming and fair trade. “We’ve stuck with our mission since inception– trading fairly and directly with small-scale farmers in developing countries. I believe that despite the growth of Fair Trade we’ve seen over recent years, the essence of what we do neither popular nor well understood.”
Fair Trade has been around as a concept since World War II, but only really started to take root in the thoughts of North Americans in the 1960’s. Only the past two decades have people truly started making an effort to change how we do business.
“So in this way [we] still see ourselves as pioneers. Now, with the steady addition of food products beyond coffee, I believe that we are accomplishing something else unique to stretch peoples’ notion of what we’re all about.”
Level Ground has also dedicated itself to supporting their local community and the environment. Each of their employees is paid extra to allow for environmentally friendly methods of commuting each day.
“In the course of a year there are more than 100 non-profit groups which we partner with in some way. It may be something as simple as a $30 donation of product to a micro-credit or supplying all 3,000+ servings of coffee and supplies to 18 food vendors at the Saanich Fair.”
Our interview closed with a request for advice for any future entrepreneurs seeking to make their own impact on the world.
"Do what you love and stick with it. If you are passionate there is potential. Take time to build relationships and to strategize so that you have both the people resources and the system to grow and realize your dream."
Buy Level Ground products now from our Victoria location!
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