Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Organic and Chic: Delicious, Nutritious (and Pretty Pretty) Baking!

I’m LOVING Sarah Magid’s new book, Organic and Chic: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets That Taste as Good as They Look!

It is not only laid out gorgeously (inspiring me to want to bake away a weekend!) with lovely photos of most of the recipes, but it every recipe encourages use of organics, healthy alternatives (like whole grains, healthy sweeteners and natural flavors) and farmer’s market and seasonal ingredients. And the style is pure lovely; cakes don’t look ‘all natural” at all, but totally fab while referencing flowers, leaves and vines and other nature-inspired designs – and yes, there are descriptions of exactly how to reproduce Sarah’s too-pretty cakes yourself.

As any hipster eater knows, old-fashioned treats, like mac ‘n cheese and hot dogs have made a gourmet comeback in recent years, and this goes for desserts too. Sarah awesomely recreates healthier (and tastier!) versions of Ding-dongs and other bad-for-you treats that are sure to work at many a party- for kids or adult kids. I’m def going to try making some of these at my next Summer party to seriously impress my guests.

I had a few questions for Sarah about her connection to organics, her life and book, and her love of baking!

Eco Chick: What led to your interest in organic food? Do you think it tastes better?

Sarah Magid: I grew up in Southern California where we ate mostly organic food as a default living near health food stores and having lots of fruits growing in our backyard. As I grew up, I always maintained a passion for eating, and when I became pregnant with my first son, I really focused on eating organic. Now with two small children, I am conscious about what we eat and where its from since their small bodies are growing so quickly.

I do think eating organic tastes better. Anyone can tell a difference between a farmers market strawberry that is sweet and perfumed, versus one that is slightly green in a plastic box at the grocery store!

EC: What’s your local farmer’s market? Care to give them a shout-out?

SM: McCarren park! The park between Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, every Saturday morning. This year there are some fabulous new booths such as a mushroom stand and a bean stand. Fresh black beans are a revelation when you cook them! Ronnybrook Farms makes creamy yogurt drinks that my kids love, and the woman who runs it remembers my kids when they were babies.

EC: Does your whole family have a sweet tooth?

SM: My husband, son, and I love a good sweet. My daughter prefers cheese and smoked salmon to cake!

EC: Did you gain weight testing all these recipes? Seriously! If not, how?

SM: Well, lets just say that I eat mostly well balanced meals, what happens in the other hours is between me, my refrigerator, and the empty cupcake wrapper.

EC: Do your kids know they are superlucky to have a Mom who cooks such amazing desserts?

SM: My son’s desire for a Hostess Twinkie inspired me to bake organic versions of junk food. So now they think we can make anything, and I love that. I think they will realize in a few years that not every mom sculpts an organic Yoda cake for their birthday.

EC: What are your two fave recipes from the book?

SM: Goldies and Crumbly Shortbread Cookies. They alleviate my sweet tooth.

EC: What’s the easiest recipe? The most complicated (but clearly worth it)?

SM: The ‘Easiest Chocolate Cake’ is truly the most simple recipe since there are no eggs, milk, butter in the batter. Most people have the ingredients on hand, and I find that it is fast, easy, vegan-friendly, and super delicious. As for complicated, I don’t think any one recipe is hard, but some do require more preparation and prep time.

Sarah Magid, author and sweet-tooth extraordinaire!

Lets Be Clear

Canada has been dealing with some rough water issues lately, and the David Suzuki Foundation is taking note of it. Since late last week residence of Vancouver have been facing mudslides over taking their resevoirs where the city gets their water. The extremely high level of turbidity has caused an advisory for Vancouver residents to boil all of their tap water.

Water contamination is something Canada has faced in the past with over 200 different contaminations. But why? One would think that after like 80 contaminations we would be looking to the causation of this. David Boyd answers this question.

Canada’s water quality guidelines are actually voluntary. There are currently no legally enforced rules to protect our water. Mr. Boyd says the Federal government should step in and establish mandatory standards that meet or exceed those of other countries.

No really?

North Americans in so many areas have been given a horribly skewed sense of security. At a young age in geography class we’re told that 70% of the earth’s surface is covered in water, that’s a lot of water. But then we have to factor into that how much is actually drinkable. Most of it, 68.9%, is trapped up in glaciers and another 30.8% is in groundwater. That leaves us with a tiny 0.3% of our fresh water resources in lakes and rivers.

It’s only going to get worse as global warming gets worse. The Great Lakes will decline greatly and most of the water that melts from glaciers is going to go into the oceans, which isn’t drinkable. Our alternative – bottled water – isn’t so awesome either.

Health Canada’s website on bottled water reports that there’s no evidence to support this. In fact, Professor Rolf Halden of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, had this to say about water in U.S. cities. “The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water.”

Not to mention it’s really expensive. Rock on water shortages in Canada. But what can we do? The solution is the same for everything – educate people. We all know that “educate people” over simplifies to the point that it hurts. Luckily, David Suzuki is a bit more optimistic than I am and offers a few ways that we can all help out a little bit, and keep track of what water supplies.

Water conservation starts at home. Here are some things you can start doing at home right now to protect our water for the future.

* Low-flow shower heads can cut your water use in the shower by more than 30%. You can also reduce your water use by installing a, low-flow toilet that uses less water.
* Household cleaners are flushed away then go through treatment facilities, but trace elements become part of the water cycle. A lot of household cleaning can be accomplished with good old white vinegar and baking soda. (Really!) For ideas visit H2Ouse.
* Shower with a friend! It saves an average of 200 liters of water and it’s lots of fun. You’ll have a helping hand scrub those parts of the back you can’t reach on your own.

Learn more:

* This blog has links to find out what’s happening with the world’s water.
* Environment Canada’s Conserve water page.
* If you want to see how much water you’re using, and aren’t afraid of giving your e-mail address to the government, check out Environment Canada’s water use calculator.

Turns out, I use a lot of water…

Your daily average water usage: 478L

Your province’s daily average: 425L
Canadian national daily average: 335L

…next to goddessness

I’m not going to go into why using chemical- and toxin-laden products to clean your home is an oxymoron, but if you need some background you can find it here. These days even the EPA is pushing alternatives to conventional cleaning products.

Anything that has the number of poison control on the back doesn’t belong in my house. If it kills you in large doses, it’ll kill you slowly is smaller ones. Not to mention the damage it does to the environment after you’ve washed it down the drain.

Even among Eco Chicks, one of the biggest complaints about ecofriendly products is that they don’t work as well as conventional ones. Clean freaks have become addicted to all the goops, unguents, degreasers, sprays and other heavily advertised products and have grown up with them. For some of us, the smell of clean IS the smell of bleach. 

It’s time for a new smell. Here are a few that I’ve found work as well– or better than– conventional products. Your body, which has to clean out all the toxins you throw at it, and the ducks in the pond will thank you for making the change.

Nothing beats baking soda for scrubbing kitchen and bathroom sinks (in fact nothing gets my kitchen sink as shiny). It’s also good for enhancing laundry soap’s cleaning power, deodorizing cat litter boxes and fridges, and for throwing in the trash can when you don’t feel like cleaning the questionable stuff collecting in the bottom.

I use Seventh Generation’s automatic dishwasher liquid because I’ve tried a bunch of them and it works the best. It’s a little more expensive, but it’s worth it to me not to have to pre-rinse. With this detergent, I just throw the dirty dishes in and fire up the dishwasher.

I use Citra-Solv (I buy it super-concentrated) diluted with a bunch of water to clean my floors and cabinets, and throw a bunch in a spray bottle (also very diluted) to use for general cleaning of the stovetop, countertops, etc. It smells citrusy and clean.

ABC Carpet and Home’s spray cleaner smells like fresh grapefruit, and is a splurge at $12 for one bottle, but it’s like aromatherapy, and I will reuse the bottle (it has a very nifty spray device), so I bought it and use it sparingly.

I love Heather’s products, because they really, really work. And their packaging is ridiculously cute. Not pictured here (because I used it all) is a scrubbing powder that works BETTER than Comet– I use it in my bathroom tub. Their window cleaner is as good as (but smells better than) Windex.

Ecover makes the strongest dishwashing soap (not for dishwashers). It cuts grease, and works just like Palmolive does on pots and pans.

Happy (and healthy!) Spring Cleaning!