Dec 12, 2008 7:28 pm US/Eastern
Tips For 'Greening' Your Holiday Meal This Year
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
From appetizers to desserts, holiday parties and meals are going green. More and more hosts are planning to serve foods that are in keeping with their earth-friendly habits.
Lots of New Yorkers have gone green this year and plan to take their holiday guests with them…at least for one night.
Experts say staying the course as you plan your holiday menu is easy. Holistic Health Counselor Andrea Beaman advises her clients to use lots of seasonal fruits and vegetables for appetizers, side dishes and desserts.
"If you cut [a pumpkin] in half and take out the seeds and roast it, this gets so sweet," says Beaman. "You could make your own pumpkin pie."
She also urges people to buy local whenever possible.
"The average item in the grocery store traveled 1500 miles," says Beaman. "The amount of fossil fuel and carbon emissions that is expended from that journey, you can totally cut all that out."
Buying food from farmer's markets and coops will reduce your carbon footprint, but there are other benefits.
"The things that are grown locally that are made locally usually taste better," says celebrity event planner Marcy Blum.
Though Blum doesn't recommend locally-made champagne, she does buy beer from Brooklyn and wine from vineyards on Long Island. If you don't have access to vendors like that you still have opportunities to buy local.
"All of our produce is labeled by the state that it comes from and if it is from N.Y., N.J. or Conn., you'll also see the farm that it's actually produced on," says Michelle DiPietro, a Culinary Coordinator for Whole Foods Markets.
DiPietro says in addition to foods grown locally, buying prepared foods can also help you go green.
"Often when you make a recipe, you have to buy your raw ingredients in very specific pack sizes," she says. "You end up with a little extra of this and a little extra of that and a lot of times those little extras end up going in the trash can."
Creating waste is definitely not green. So buy or prepare only what you need for your holiday party. Encourage your guests to take food home and transform any leftovers into other meals.
So here are the basics to remember if you want to 'green' the menu for your holiday gathering.
• Buy Local
• Use lots of fruits and vegetables for appetizers, side dishes and desserts
• Use prepared sides to reduce waste. (4oz to 8oz per guest)
• Give guests leftovers to take home or turn them into new meals, just don't waste any food!
Beaman also shared some of her recipes with us:
Carrot Ginger Puree
1 tbsp. butter
2 large white onion, peeled and chopped
5 cups chicken stock
2 inches ginger, peeled and chopped
8-10 large carrots
Fresh parsley, sprig
On a medium high heat, saute onion in butter 3-5 minutes. Add stock, ginger and carrots. Cover and cook on medium heat for 10-12 minutes or until carrots are soft. With a slotted spoon, remove carrot, onions and ginger and puree in a food processor or blender. Add puree back to soup. Garnish with fresh parsley.
Roasted Acorn Squash stuffed with Quinoa and Turkey
2 acorn squash
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 leek, cleaned and diced
½ pound organic ground turkey meat
2 celery stalks, diced
1 tbsp. fresh sage
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 cup quinoa , rinsed
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
Preheat oven to 375º. Cut acorn squash in half (lengthwise). Deseed and lightly coat with olive oil. Place flesh side down in a roasting pan or casserole dish. Cover and bake 30-35 minutes. Uncover and continue baking 10-15 minutes or until soft. While squash is cooking sauté leek in olive oil until wilted. Add ground turkey meat and break up as it cooks. Add celery and sage and sauté 1-2 minutes. Add cranberries, quinoa and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and add 1 tsp. sea salt and ¼ tsp. black pepper. Cover and simmer. Fill cooked squash with quinoa and turkey and serve.
Pear Crumble
Filling:
3 pears, cored and diced
1/3 cup pear nectar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup whole grain all purpose flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup maple sugar
1 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. sea salt
3-4 tbsp. butter softened
Preheat oven to 375. Place diced pears in a 9x9 casserole dish with pear nectar and lemon juice. Combine flour, oats, maple sugar, allspice and sea salt. Work softened butter into the flour mixture until it looks like crumbs. Top pear with crumb mixture. Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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