Hawaii Bans Sunscreens

My goal is to start to educate myself on ways to protect the Florida Waterways. The State of Florida is in a crisis and it breaks my heart as I see image after image being posted about the devastation that is occurring in my backyard.

An issue I take to heart is sunscreen/sunblock. We constantly rub it all over our bodies and then immediately dive into the water. Most of us have no idea what we are putting all over our bodies and there is very little education on what chemicals are commonly found in the sunscreens on the market. Most products you find on the shelf typically include a combination of two to six of the following active ingredients:  oxybenzone, avobenzone, octisalate, octocrylene, homosalate  and octinoxate. Mineral sunscreens use zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide.

Many of these chemicals are harmful to the environment and there have been no studies showing how these chemicals affect human health.I love the article Trouble With Sunscreen by EWG. I found this article to be very informative and to start to look deeper into the chemicals to stay away from.

With all that said, I am very thankful to Hawaii for signing the first bill in the country that will ban harmful sunscreens. Check out the article for more details.

I hope that more people read this and make knowledgeable choices on what they use for sunscreen.

If you have a favorite sunscreen that is safe for the environment, I would love to learn more about the product. You can email me or leave me a comment! Thanks.

 

Cinnamon Apple Peach Spinach Smoothie

This smoothie is like eating a pie. I love the addition of adding cinnamon to a standard smoothie, it changed the same old flavor into something new and you never taste the spinach. 

 Ingredients for a two-serving Smoothie: 

• 1 cup apple juice
• 1 peach (frozen optional)
• 1/2 cup spinach (frozen optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Falling in LOVE with COLORS

 

I loved art since I was a kid. My mom always had my sister and I working on art projects since we were old enough to hold a crayon in our hand. We designed and created purses and clothes, we puffy painted shirts and pillows as Christmas presents, we made animals out of towels, we drew, we painted and played with clay.

I loved all the arts and crafts so much that I wanted to be an artist in second grade. However, I grew up, and just like anyone else, my career path changed, and changed, and changed again.

I ended up being in the corporate world doing marketing. Which did allow for some creative processes, but not much. And due to my job, I started wearing the standard black and conforming to the standard look and losing my self expression.

I found my eye-opener. Through the journey of yoga and exploring art again! I have found I have fallen in love with color, again. I no longer have color biases, thinking pink is for girly, girls and yellow is for exuberantly, happy people. I want to be unsafe in the use of my colors. Including my drawings, my attire and my surroundings.

I recently painted my walls apple green. I cut various flowers and plants every week to create unique, colorful flower arrangements. I buy clothes that are bright and shiny, and off-the-cuff.

Right now, I am enjoying the warm, shining Florida sun and walking through neighborhoods watching the trees and shrubs bringing forth new life with various shades of green, and brilliant shades of red, pink, purple and yellow blossoms.

Why am I so happy I have fallen in love with color? I found it has open my eyes to myself. I feel free to express myself through my body, on paper and in drawing. I feel like I am more open to others artwork. I embrace those that wear bold, neon colors. Life is more fun when you can appreciate the beauty of color.

 

Vegetarian Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients for the Soup: 

• 6 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 cups of pumpkin puree
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 clove garlic
• 5 whole black peppercorns
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (stir in last)

 

 

 

 Ingredients for the Garnish: 

• 1 avocado – cut into thin slices
• sour cream
• 1/4 cup of fresh basil
• black pepper

1. Heat stock, salt, pumpkin puree, onion, thyme, garlic and peppercorns to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Puree the soup in small batches using a food processor or blender.
3. Return to pan and bring to boil again, simmer for another 30 minutes. Stir in heavy whipping cream.
4. Pour soup into bowls and garnish with sour cream, thinly sliced avocado and sprinkle with black pepper.

 Serves 4-6.

No Plastic Please

 

One of my biggest pet peeves is water being served in plastic cups, whether it is at home, at the office, in a restaurant, etc. Why do we need to drink out of disposable cups? And even worse, the amount of consumption of single serving bottled waters and sodas, and I know, I can be guilty of it too – I forget my aluminum water bottle at home and buy a plastic bottle of water because it is convenient.  But my plan is to stop the madness and reduce my intake of plastic drastically.

In the last few days it seems like I keep stumbling upon articles and movies that remind me to reduce my use of plastic. And I have been trying to, but just like everyone else I feel like I have turned a blind eye when my favorite café serves my water in a plastic cup or I forgot my spoon from home so I grabbed a plastic spoon at work to eat my oatmeal.

So, after reading an article in the Yoga Journal about the book Plastic Free: How I kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry (which I heard is an excellent read and once I have some extra money I will be sure to buy!) and watched No Impact Man by Colin Beavan, I have decided it is my turn to reduce my plastic impact on the environment.

I know it won’t be an easy journey. Already I slipped! I went to the grocery store late at night, talking on the cell phone and not even thinking about what I was doing and I grabbed the packaged salad bags and a bag of potatoes, both wrapped in plastic! Ugh!  Not off to the best start, but now I know for next time, type in my grocery list on my iphone with a note – no plastic, start spending more time at Farmers Markets and little by little, step by step, I will reduce my plastic habits.

My hope is that on this journey I will reduce my plastic intake, become more aware of how I can help the environment and inspire those around me as others have inspired me.  So, if anyone has any tips, please share, as I will post my tips as I move through my journey of reducing my plastic intake. First step – stock my car with a reusable backup mug, utensils, and reusable shopping bags!

Grapefruit, Banana & Strawberry Smoothie

My new favorite smoothie to have in the morning is a Grapefruit smoothie. I thought the citrus would be to much for my stomach but so far it has been a wonderful, refreshing treat for breakfast.

Ingredients for a single-serving Smoothie: 

• 1 cup ruby red grapefruit juice
• 1 banana
• 5 frozen strawberries
• 2 tablespoons honey (optional)

Zucchini and Tomato Raw Lasagna

 

Zucchini and Green Zebra Tomato Lasagne with basil-pistacio pesto, tomato sauce, and ricotta is one of my favorite recipes…I love the variety of flavors you get with each layer.

For the ricotta: 2 cups raw pine)nuts, soaked for 1 hour or more, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon sea salt and 6 tablespoons filtered water.

Place the pine nuts, lemon juice and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times, until thoroughly combined. Gradually add the water and process until the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Gradually add the water and process until the texture becomes fluffy, like ricotta.

For the tomato sauce: 2 cups sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for 2 hours or more; 1 small to medium tomato, diced; 1/4 small onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2 teaspoons sea salt; and pinch of hot pepper flakes.

Squeeze and drain as much of the water out of the soaked sun-dried tomatoes as you can. Add the drained tomatoes to a  blender with the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Also, depending on your blender, you might need to add more water.

For the pesto sauce: 2 cups packed basil leaves; 1/2 cup pistachios; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 1 teaspoon sea salt; pinch of freshly ground black pepper.

Place the pesto ingredients in a food processor and blend until well combined but still slightly chunky.

For the assembly: 3 medium zucchini, ends trimmed; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano; 1 tablespoon fresh thyme; pinch of sea salt; pinch of freshly ground black pepper; 2 medium  heirloom tomatoes and 1 medium yellow tomato (if it is in season); cut in half and then sliced; whole basil leaves or oregano for garnish.

How to prepare:

1 Cut the zucchini crosswise in half, or into 3-inch lengths. Using a mandoline or vegetable peeler, cut the zucchini lengthwise into very thin slices. In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini slices with the olive oil, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper.

2 Alternately, to make individual servings, place about 3 zucchini slices, slightly overlapping, in the center of each serving plate, to make a square shape. Spread tomato sauce over the zucchini, top with small dollops of “ricotta” and pesto and a few small tomato slices. Repeat twice more. Garnish with basil or oregano leaves.

Or

3 Line the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with a layer of zucchini slices, each one slightly overlapping another. Spread about 1/3 of the tomato sauce over it and top with small dollops of “ricotta” and pesto, using about 1/3 of each. Layer on about 1/3 of the tomato slices. Add another layer of zucchini slices and repeat twice more with the tomato sauce, “ricotta,” pesto, and tomato slices. Serve immediately, or cover with plastic and let sit at room temperature for a few hours.

I like the layering effect. This gives opportunity to try new cheeses in place of the pine nuts, another favorite is a macadamia nut cheese.

Makes a serving for 4 – 6.

Raw Pasta with Tomato Sauce and Ricotta

This is always my go-to recipe when I am eating raw. It’s so fast and easy that it is a great recipe to do on a busy work week.

Ingredients for the Pasta: 

• three zucchini

Ingredients for the Sauce: 

• 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomato’s
• 1 medium sized tomato
• 1/4 cup of fresh basil
• teaspoon of hot pepper seeds
• a clove of garlic
• two tablespoons of olive oil
• sea salt

Ingredients for the Cheese Sauce (this addition is optional):

• 2 cup macadamia nuts
• 1 cup pine nuts
• 1 cup water, or enough to cover to the level of the nuts
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• half a lemon

1. To make the pasta you can cut it julienne style or I use a salad shooter that I have and chop it up smaller.
2. For the sauce, soak the sun-dried tomatoes in water while you prepare the zucchini, place all the sauce ingredients in the blender and puree…add water accordingly.
3. The cheese is optional, I had it left over from a raw lasagna so I used it here, but the days I am in a hurry I stick with the sauce and I buy a raw cheese from Whole Foods and sprinkle some cheese on top. To make the cheese, it is best to let the nuts soak for a half hour then place all ingredients into the blender and puree…add water accordingly.
4. One of the most important things to eating is presentation. So I garnished with some oregano leaves. But you can add pine nuts, etc. to add more appeal.

Serves 2 -3.

365 Art Project

Started my first official art project – 365 days of art! Each day, until the end of 2012, I will draw, paint, write or take a photo of something that inspires me. Inspirations will so far have included – yoga, nature and coffee 🙂

Doves in Love