by guest blogger Holly Walck. Yoga teaches us that we have the freedom to choose the thoughts we think and, therefore, our responses to the “highs and lows” of life. It is winter, and spring is still weeks away. Now, I could bemoan this fact or accept it as truth and empower myself by practicing yoga poses designed to offer all of the gifts of a sunny spring day. What follows is a sequence that will stretch and strengthen a cold, winter body and uplift a dull mind.
Inspiration
Vegetarian Borscht
There is a cleanness and purity to vegetarian borscht that feeds my slightly Eastern European soul. What’s also perfect is that it’s hard to get it wrong. You can play with this ingredients list and change quantities and the soup will still feed your soul and your need for beets. It’s a rather healthy way to get through a winter day.
BPA’s New Status: Reproductive Toxin
By guest blogger Alex Formuzis. Study after study by scientists from around the globe has connected BPA with more than a dozen serious health problems, including reproductive system abnormalities, cancer, behavioral disorders, and diabetes. The list of states and localities across the U.S. that have 86ed baby bottles and sippy cups containing the substance has grown. Now California, the most populous state in the country, is poised to declare BPA toxic to the human reproductive system.
So God Made an Organic Farmer
And on the Eighth day, after she had rested,
God remembered to make someone
To truly care for her creation.
So God made an organic farmer…
A Valentine: No Boxes or Ribbons Required
by guest blogger Renee James. Skip the expensive dinner, the jewelry, and the chick flicks, flowers, and chocolates. Read on for a story about a surprisingly romantic gift you may choose to share this Valentine’s Day.
Tips on Icing a Cake, Sort Of…
I have always been a horrible cake icer. Horrible. My kids have said my cakes look like a dog vomited on them (although they eat them with glee and joy). The other week when I was making my own damn birthday banana cake, it happened to be the Monday of Martin Luther King Day, so my babysitter and cleaning lady in the house. They waited until I was done icing my cake, and then started giving me advice. In that few minutes of advice, I learned more about icing a cake than I had learned in a lifetime.
How to Make Your Own Sauerkraut
by guest blogger Robyn Jasko. If you’ve never had fresh fermented sauerkraut, you are really missing out. Unlike the cooked sauerkraut you get at the grocery store, which is soft and mushy, raw fermented sauerkraut has a crunchy bite that tastes delicious and is filled with probiotics, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and digestive enzymes that work to break down your food, supporting the absorption of vitamins and minerals.
Light and Fluffy Banana Cake
I’ve been making banana muffins for years (aka “happy cakes”) but have been craving a good banana cake that is light and slathered in butter cream icing (NOT cream cheese icing! There is a time and place for that, but it is way overdone, if you ask me—kind of like balsamic vinegar). And since it was my birthday recently, I thought I would make it myself. And it was so good!
Scratch
Raised on America’s first organic farm, Scratch author Maria Rodale learned how to make everyday favorites from, yes, scratch — the way you remember them; the way they turn out best.
Order NowOrganic Manifesto
Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment.
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