Organic Sweet Almond Rice Cakes

These rice cakes are like no other rice cakes. They are like a healthier, tastier, and all around better rice crispy treat. Not only that but they take no real time to make.

What You Need

3/4 cups organic blanched or just thinly sliced, raw almonds work just as well

3/4 cup organic wildflower honey [I prefer organic wildflower honey, but any organic honey will do]

2 tablespoons of organic crunchy almond butter [I prefer crunchy organic almond butter to smooth, but either is fine.]

1 teaspoon pure, organic vanilla extract

Pinch or two of organic sea salt [I understand that salt cannot be “organically grown”, as it is a mineral, not a plant, but it can be “Certified Organic”. To learn more about that you can go here.]

2 cups organic puffed brown rice [I use Nature’s Path Organic Rice Puffs which I think work perfect for this recipe]

What You Need To Do

In a blender, grind the almonds to a medium-coarse texture. In a 2 quart saucepan, bring the honey to a simmer over medium heat, then simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Add ground almonds, almond butter, vanilla extract, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, add the puffed rice, then pour the syrup mixture on top and mix well. Press mixture in a lightly oiled 8-inch square baking dish. Allow it to set for 2 hours. Cut them into whatever size you want and enjoy!

I already have everything on the counter to make some tonight. Don’t be jealous.

:)

-Cara

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Reason 71 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Today’s turkeys are unable to copulate on their own, thanks to selectively bred, freakishly huge breasts in the “toms.” The industry must use artificial insemination. The job is nearly as dehumanizing for the workers–who must work rapidly for long hours and low wages–as it is deplorable for the tortured breeder birds, who are essentially raped every week for 12 to 16 months until they are sent to slaughter.

Organic Biscuits Are Delicious

These biscuits I have made a million times and never once did they not turn out. In fact, they have turned out delicious every time. You will not be disappointed.

Organic Biscuits

1/2 cup softened organic butter
2 cups all-purpose organic flour
1 tablespoon organic sugar
3 teaspoons organic baking powder
1 teaspoon organic sea salt
3/4 cup organic whole milk with 1 teaspoon vinegar added to it

Heat oven to 450F. Cut butter into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt with pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk until dough leaves side of bowl, dough will be soft and sticky. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times. Roll or pat 1 inch thick. Cut with floured 2 1/2 inch round cutter or a glass turned upside down. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet.

Eat well.

-Cara

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Reason 57 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:

Hoof-and-mouth disease is rarely fatal for livestock, but it remains a death sentence just the same. When blisters form on hooves and lips, and growth slows because of fever, economics prescribe execution and incineration. In 2001, Great Britain responded to an outbreak by destroying nearly 6 million mostly healthy cattle, sheep, and pigs at a cost of [U.S.]$9 billion to save its export trade. There were actually only 2,030 known cases of the disease. The rest were exterminated to provide buffers to contain the outbreak.

Packing A Green Lunch

OK, so right now I am more or less self-employed, but I will probably have a job at some point where I’ll be able to bring my lunch with me. This is a good thing as I love cooking and we always seem to have leftovers, so I’ll eat good food and save money!

I do make lunches most days for my significant other, like today what I did was wrap up a slice of this meatless meatloaf I made last night. Which was soooo good. I found the recipe yesterday on-line [I used organic, free-range eggs, not the vegan version, but I will try it that way as well.]. What inspired me to look was I am attempting to eat more green after writing the green calculator entry on Saturday. Which you know…not only does that mean not eating animal products, but you must also buy food from local farmers/distributors. The best I could do yesterday for jelly was to buy the one non-Italian made product, but for the produce I did alright. I realize I should make it a habit, at least once or twice a week, to go to Union Square Farmer’s Market, Greenmarket, and get my cheese, bread, produce, etc., since I am blessed to have one so conveniently located.

Back to the point, when I put together lunch-to-go today, I wrapped the meatloaf and bread in aluminum, put the mayo in a cleaned, recycled, plastic, delivery container and then put the lunch into a plastic bag that I use to put said lunch in everyday. On Global Stewards’ website they give some tips and information on how to pack a waste-free lunch. Let’s see how I did today….

Pack a Waste-Free Lunch

A waste-free lunch means that you have no packaging to throw away when you’re done – nothing other than apple cores, banana and orange peels, peach or cherry pits. The best way to reduce garbage is to not create it. (source: Environmental Forum of Marin)

Five Simple Ways to Pack a Waste-Free Lunch

YES	NO
REUSABLE carrier (cloth bag, lunch box)	NO throw-away bags
REUSABLE containers	NO plastic wrap, foil or Styrofoam
THERMOS for drinks	NO single-use cartons or cans
CLOTH NAPKIN to wash and re-use	NO paper napkins
SILVERWARE to wash and re-use	NO plastic forks and spoons

Lunch Waste Facts

ALUMINUM FOIL	More than 20 million Hershey’s kisses are wrapped with 133 square miles of foil every day
ALUMINUM AND TIN CANS	In the time it takes you to read this sentence, more than 50,000 12-oz. aluminum cans were made
BANANA AND ORANGE PEELS	Food debris in a landfill decompose only 25% in the first 15 years (try composting or vermiculture!)
JUICE BOXES	Most inorganic trash retains its weight, volume, and form for at least four decades
PAPER BAGS AND NAPKINS	It is estimated that 17 trees are cut down for every ton of non-recycled paper
PLASTIC BOTTLES, FORKS, WRAP	U.S. citizens discard 2-1/2 million plastic bottles EVERY HOUR
STYROFOAM	U.S. citizens throw away 25 billion Styrofoam cups EVERY YEAR

My big mistake was the aluminum foil! I always think about that. :) Tupperware is the solution. I realize aluminum seems much easier because you can throw it away with no clean-up, but what a waste for a few minutes of manual labor or a few seconds if you own a dishwasher. Plus for me, I just remembered I have a super-fresh lunch box I got as a gift awhile back, now all I need is a job to go to!!!

My Super-Fresh Lunch Box

Another tip I read somewhere is when you are ordering delivery make sure to tell them you don’t need any disposable utensils. No one ever uses them really and then they end up either in the garbage or in a drawer for a few months until you finally decide to clean that drawer where you keep all your unwanted plastic utensils…or is that just me?

Waste Free!!!

-Cara