Nourish Your Body
With Fabulous Homemade Food
Responsible Down Standard
Question from Gina Hi Debra, Hope all's well. You may know about the Responsible Down Standard. To reduce demand for down made with crowding, force-feeding and live plucking. Glad to see this issue finally being addressed!...
Amazing Pumpkin Pancakes
These pancakes are amazing because you only need TWO ingredients to make a real pancake! Just eggs and pureed pumpkin, plus pumpkin pie spices of your choice. But just the eggs and pumpkin themselves make a real pancake that looks like a pancake, tastes like a pancake, and has the texture of a pancake. Totally gluten-free. And you can make them in a minute. And this little recipe gives you a whole tall stack of pancakes!
If you add freshly grated nutmeg you don’t even need any sweetener, because the nutmeg is sweet. I just made these for breakfast and the aroma of nutmeg is wafting into my office still.
I described these pancakes the other morning on Toxic Free Talk Radio when I interviewed chef Danny Boome, host of the new season of Good Food America. He raved about the nutrition benefits and called them “autumn in a plate.” I agree.
A friend of mine made a batch and loved them.
Now you can use canned pumpkin if you must, but remember the can linings contain BPA, which is an endocrine disruptor. It’s so easy to roast your own pumpkin, please give it a try. Roasted pureed pumpkin keeps well in the refrigerator, and then you have it on hand for pancakes any morning, or to use in other pumpkin recipes (see below).
OK. Here’s the recipe!
What You Need to Know About Your HVAC and Indoor Air Quality
Today my guest is Judy Rachel, a Home Performance Professional specializing in third party, independent home energy audits, best green building practices specifications and HVAC system design. We’ll be talking about the basics of how your HVAC works, choosing correct filters, why we have indoor air quality problems and how to solve them, and how to get to know your HVAC system so you can use it properly. Judy writes and teaches building science / energy efficiency curricula for various community and city colleges, as well as for workforce training programs. She provides both classroom and hands-on trainings. She is a senior lead trainer for Efficiency First California, training contractors in the Home Performance with Energy Star curriculum. She is a lead trainer for Energy Conservation Institute’s Building Performance Institute (BPI) Certification trainings. Judy is President of the Eco-Home Network, a non-profit devoted to greening as many homes as possible. She is the field mentor for contractors participating in the Southern California Home Upgrade program. Along with being certified as a Building Analyst, Envelope Specialist, Heating Specialist and A/C and Heat Pump Professional through BPI, she is a field proctor for these certifications. As a HERS rater (Home Energy Rater) she does diagnostic testing, verifications and inspections for residential and small commercial buildings to ensure compliance with California’s Energy Code. Certified by Build It Green, she is a GreenPoint rater for new construction and a Certified Green Building Professional. Through National Comfort Institute she holds their Air Balancing and Carbon Monoxide & Combustion Certifications. Judy thinks the most amazing part of what she does is that by creating energy efficient homes she is actually able to improve the comfort, durability, indoor air quality, as well as, occupant safety within homes. www.greenachers.com
New TV Show Features Organic, Sustainable, and Healthy Restaurants
My guest today is Danny Boome, internationally-acclaimed TV personality and Chef, known to audiences for his culinary work and dynamic personality. Today we’ll be talking about his new gig as host of Good Food America season two, and what he’s learned from visiting organic, sustainable, and healthy restaurants across America. Following the success of hosting two of 2013’s hit shows: ABC Daytime’s Recipe Rehab and Food Network/The Cooking Channel’s Donut Showdown – Danny has taken to the streets to take viewers on a culinary adventure across America (think: Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, but with far less calories and a super charming English accent) in search of the nation’s best organic, sustainable and healthy restaurants. Viewers will join Danny on his gastronomic journey each Sunday night as he discovers regional gems, native ingredients and the homegrown talent that keeps locals coming back for more. This season, the series will make stops at restaurants from Maine to California, and you can come along too. In addition to hosting television shows, Danny brings his passion for food and culinary exploration to homes, schools and lecture halls across America. He shares his fresh perspective and practical, no-fuss recipes and techniques through cooking workshops, courses and private lessons. As a former European professional ice hockey player, Danny is an active sportsman. Danny’s experiences on the ice, in the kitchen and traveling the country as a self-proclaimed “gastronaut,” enabled him to further promote the benefits of healthy eating and exercise by creating the non-profit organization, Better Fed. Danny started his culinary training in 1999 as a cook in Switzerland – 
doubling up as an au pair for a local family. He later trained at the acclaimed West Wind Inn in Canada and attended the Grange Cookery School in England. Good Food America can be seen on select satellite and cable networks as well as online at ZLiving, which allows you to watch on your computer or on any mobile device. Watch at go.zliving.com/tvshows/good-food-america
Living Fresh Collection
Beautiful all-natural bed linens that enhance your sleep experience, made from sustainable fabric. FRESH in the name stands for "Fabric Redefining Environmental Standard in our Home." The fabric is Tencel-Plus, made from cotton and cellulose from eucalyptus trees,...
Improve Your Sleep Experience With Sustainable Bed Linens
My guest today is Randi Farina, the National Sales Director of Living Fresh Collection, a new direct selling organization that focuses on sustainable bed linens. We’ll be talking about how natural bed linens enhance your sleep experience and how the Living Fresh Collection fabrics are made in a sustainable way. In 2013, Randi joined Living Fresh Collection to launch a company that would not only provide linens made with Tencel+Plus™ Lyocell (fibers from the eucalyptus tree) to enhance one’s sleep, but an opportunity to empower women by giving them the tools to own and operate their own business. After receiving her Bachelor of Art at the State University of New York, Randi started her career in 1994 with The Pampered Chef. As her business grew, the importance of providing support and mentorship to women became apparent in the success of her own organization. Her values of teamwork, personal development and achievement followed her throughout her career as her work continued with the United States Olympic Committee. Working as a licensee of the USOC, she created the first national fundraiser for the Vancouver Games. The US Olympic Team Rings Wristbands wore worn by Olympic athletes as well as fans all over the country. In 2010 Randi returned her focus to working with women as an Associate Producer for Lifetime Television’s morning show. She thrived on creating direct brand messaging to consumers, while being able to motivate women to find the very delicate balancing act between work and home life. In 2011 and 2012, Randi traveled with the Show on 10 City tours throughout the country meeting thousands of women and providing brands products & support so they could achieve their work/life balance. Returning to the direct sales industry, Randi feels as if her career has come full circle. By being able to provide support to entrepreneurial women as they grow their own businesses. Randi has found her work/life balance. Randi resides in Boca Raton, Florida with her husband and four children. www.LivingFreshCollection.com
New Food Guides
From Debra Lynn Dadd I don't know if this was intentional or not, but today, two new food guides were released. The first to come into my email inbox is the 2014 Good Food Org Guide, produced by The Food Think Tank in partnership with the James Beard Foundation. It...
Whole Foods Launches “Responsibly Grown,” a New Rating System for Produce
From Debra Lynn Dadd I always love it when there are clear-cut standards for labeling. On October 15, Whole Foods introduced a whole new system to help their customers identify fruits, vegetables, and flowers as GOOD, BETTER, or BEST. Known as "Responsibly Grown," the...
dot ORGANIC
From Debra Lynn Dadd Well, this is pretty cool. Now you can get a domain name that ends in .organic! Like debra.organic. But there's a catch and a benefit. You have to qualify. The names are reserved for members of the organic community. Any organization that wants to...
Fluorescent Lights May Cause Eye Disease
From Debra Lynn Dadd Here's another reason to not use fluorescent lights. According to an article published in the American Journal of Public Health, increased us of fluorescent lighting my increase UV-related eye diseases by up to 12%. "The safe range of light to...
