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

Haley Chats with Lauren Conrad: Sustainable Resolutions, What’s Blue Avocado, and More

I love Lauren Conrad, so I was thrilled to have the chance to interview her a second time! Most known for her chic fashion line, Paper Crown, as well as famed books Style, LA Candy and Sugar and Spice, Conrad recently collaborated with BlueAvocado on an eco accessories line that’s due out this summer. You can follow Conrad @LaurenConrad and keep up to date on laurenconrad.com. Below she dishes all about her new eco accessories line and how she lives a sustainable life.

Haley Sherif:  It’s such a treat to be interviewing you again! How were your holidays? Did you get some time for well-deserved rest and relaxation?

Lauren Conrad: Thank you! This holiday my family did something fun and went on a cruise. We try, every holiday season to spend time as a family. My mom, dad, brother, sister and I all get together and just spent quality time. It is the best.

Haley Sherif: Tell me about your “green” resolutions.

Lauren Conrad: For me it is about starting small and inspiring others to do the same. I think that people should find resolutions that are right for them. It isn’t about changing your entire life in one day, but taking steps daily to make better choices.

HS:  I love Blue Avocado. It looks adorable. When did this collaboration come about?

LC: I was first introduced to them last Spring when I went down to Texas to meet the founders. For me, the partnership represents a synergy of all the things I love to do—design great products and do something cause related.  I just loved BlueAvocado’s mission of inspiring a reusable lifestyle where looking good and doing good can co-exist. I was also really inspired by the company as a whole. It is founded by women and it has always been important to me to teach young girls that as females we can come together and live out our dreams.

HS: What’s your favorite thing about your new eco line?

LC: In general, I love the idea that the entire collection is made from reclaimed plastic bottles, so we are keeping them out of landfills and oceans. I am also excited about some of the beauty carrier products, which is an entirely new line I helped inspire. Each of the products will include an impact label so people can see the carbon footprint of the product, how many plastic bottles were upcycled, and the waste avoided with each use.  It is the ultimate in reuse and recycle. Plus the bags are super cute!

HS:  Why did you decide to do a green accessories line? What inspired you?

LC: Growing up in California, I grew up with an appreciation for the natural beauty of our beaches, which were my playground. It is heartbreaking to learn about how the build up of garbage in oceans is compromising marine animals and their habitats. I really wanted to make it easy for people to do something without sacrificing style or function and understanding the impact of conscious design. Taking just the smallest first step can create a ripple of awareness where greater change can take place. I think that lifestyle accessories are a great way to take that first step.

HS: How does this line differ from Paper Crown?

LC: This line is accessories and mainly bags. Paper Crown is clothing.

HS: How do you live a healthy green life? 

LC: I start by first and foremost being aware of the environment. Recycling is a first step that really is easy. I also use recyclable materials such as reusable bags rather than plastic.

HS: Do you have any favorite eco lines?

LC: I think it is still such a new space that I am learning about, but I am fascinated by all the innovative options available.

 HS: Any other green collaborations or projects on the horizon?

LC: We definitely have some great new collaborations in the works. I am learning so much from my collaboration with BlueAvocado regarding everything from sustainable fabrics, to micro-enterprise, to the importance of social impact businesses and entrepreneurs. I am just excited to launch our first collaborative line this summer!

Thanks Lauren! For more dishes check out the fashion dish!

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Two Beautifully Useful Whole Foods Cookbooks

See, I’m putting in serious effort at learning to cook!

My love of food comes from three main sources; one primal, one inculcated, the third learned as an adult. First, my natural appetite for delicious, healthy meals and snacks is fairly well-known (I think I can count on one hand the times in my life when I wasn’t hungry!), and I can eat absolutely anything, with no known food allergies or sensitivities.

Second, my grandma raised me on garden-fresh produce and a combo of Lebanese (hummous, tabouli and pilaf being staples), Armenian that she learned from her mother-in-law as a young wife (green bean and local beef stews, lentil dishes, chee kufta), Jewish (picked up through osmosis as she grew up in NYC- she made a killer matzoh ball soup for an Episcopalian!) and American food from the Joy of Cooking and the Settlement Cookbook (written in 1901 and hilariously subtitled “The Way to a Man’s Heart”). Grams was a legendary cook, and I was lucky to grow up in a home where 90% of what I ate was made from scratch (we even had our own apiary for the freshest of honey, and eggs from the chickens that roamed the woods between our house and our neighbors’. And homemade bread!).

Third, for three years, I wrote about food for The Fairfield County Weekly, a job that gave me a culinary education in my twenties I couldn’t have paid for. (Actually, I paid for it as I gained about 15 pounds during my tenure at that job! But honestly, it was kinda worth it.) I got to eat at pretty much every restaurant in Fairfield County, which is in Connecticut just north of New York City, and has a very rich combination of predominantly Italian and Greek cuisines, which has been supplemented more recently by excellent Indian and Asian, and in the last 5-7 years wonderful raw, vegetarian and health foods.

But truth be told, I’m not the world’s most accomplished cook, though I can put together a beautifully-sourced, complementary tableaux of appetizers. But when it comes to cooking a ‘real’ meal, my only saving grace is those great ingredients and some talent with baking pies and cookies (so at least I end on a good note!). The last few years, however, I’ve made a slow and determined march forward in teaching myself to cook, and recently have been enjoying the books below. While I’ve been vegetarian for 17 years, both these books are great for veg and non-veg alike (I use them regularly without problem, but there are plenty of meaty dishes in each too). What unites the two tomes is that they focus on local, healthy, seasonal, whole foods cooking, which I am naturally drawn to as it’s what I was raised on.

In the Green Kitchen, by Alice Waters

This is not a traditional cookbook, though it does contain plenty of recipes. But instead of simply a compendium of delicious food combinations, this book focuses on what kitchen pioneer Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse restaurant and Edible Schoolyard fame) has realized was missing from the aspiring conscious chef’s shelf: A technique-driven, full-of-instructions volume that includes how to’s from the prosaic to the intimidating.
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