Chocolate Chip Bars

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup organic sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 1/3 cup tofu
• 2 T water
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F

Cream together brown sugar, white sugar and oil. In a blender, blend the tofu, water and vanilla, and add to the sugar and oil.

In a bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix with the wet ingredients, and fold in the chocolate chips.

Press into a 9 x 13 inch pan and bake 10-12 minutes (I had to bake them for much longer). Cool and cut into 24 bars.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Resolution: Be Green in 2008

By Jana Ballinger
Care2 Green Living Copy Editor and Producer

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/resolution-be-green-in-2008.html

With the holiday festivities pretty much behind us, it's time to
start thinking about some New Year's resolutions. Self improvement
seems to top the list for most—lose 10 pounds, get that promotion—but
how about also resolving to do something good for the planet? You'll
get something out of it too: Going green often means doing stuff
that's healthier for the environment and healthier for you. And being
a do-gooder feels good!

So here are some ideas for resolutions for a greener new year:

Be Naturally Beautiful.
I hate to break it to you but that gook you put on your face and in
your hair might be doing a lot more than making you feel pretty. It
could make you feel sick.
Take this quiz and check your products for dangerous chemicals such
as phthalates or sodium laurel sulfate.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/are-your-beauty-products-safe-quiz.html
Many everyday products such as shampoos, soaps, lotions and lipsticks
contain them. Opt for organic products made of natural ingredients
and thank Mother Nature for that radiant glow.

Wake Up and Smell the Perfume.
Don't let the pretty smell fool you: Most fragrances are just chock
full of hazardous chemicals. But there are alternatives that will
leave you smelling sweet as a rose.
Get the scoop here.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/good-scents-natural-perfume.html

Eat Organic.
No two ways about it, buying organic produce is tastier and also
healthier, but it is more expensive because it's a lot cheaper to
dump chemicals on a crop. If you can't afford to buy all organic,
here's a list of the top 10 fruits and vegetables to eat organic.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-top-10-foods-to-eat-organically.html

Buy Local.
Common sense says that the farther away your food is grown, the more
fossil fuels are required to get it to you. So look for local produce
at your grocery store and make it a point to visit your community
farmers market whenever possible.
Defining local.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-do-we-define-local-for-produce.html

Be a Bag Lady.
Even if you're just bringing back all the paper and plastic bags
stuffed in that bottom drawer of your kitchen, always BYOB.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/easy-greening-shopping-bags.html
If you don't want to spend money on reusable grocery bags—although
there are lots of really cute options out there—look around the house
for old totes, beach bags, twine-handled fancy shopping bags or even
large baskets. Keep lots in your trunk (and don't forget to put them
back in the trunk after unloading your groceries!), plus one compact
bag folded up in your purse so you're never without it.

Clean Green.
You don't even want to know all the gross chemicals that are in
commercially made products. Not only are you breathing those
chemicals, but then you end up pouring them down the drain.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-pollutants-going-down-your-drain.html
Not good for you, or the Earth.
So what's the answer? Make your own non-toxic cleaning kit.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html

Change a Light Bulb.
If just one light bulb in every home in America were switched out for
a compact fluorescent—aka CFLs—it would save enough energy to light
more than 3 million homes for a year. CFLs are everywhere now, there
are tons of different kinds to choose from and it's such an easy fix.
Learn more.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/love-your-light-bulbs-easy-greening.html

Sip, Don't Guzzle.
Even if you don't plan to buy a hybrid, there are ways to make the
car you have get the best possible gas mileage. A properly tuned
engine will get between 6 and 20 percent higher mpg, for example.
Here's a list of 12 things you can do to stretch a tank of gas.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/stretch-tank-of-gas-12-tips.html

Be a Peddle Pusher.
Sometimes a car is necessary, but just running errands around town?
Ride your bike to the post office, the grocery store, the dentist,
etc., and experience the true joy of being car-free for a while.
Bonus: Hello, exercise!
More benefits of biking here.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/benefits-of-biking.html

Be an Online Activist.
Did you know you can help stop global warming, save the rainforest
and keep pollutants out of our oceans with a single click? You can.
You can also sign petitions to let the people in power know you care
and want to make a difference.
Try it today.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/

Voluntary Simplicity

We are the most successful people the world has ever
known.
It's a great time to be riding this wave. Our
enormously productive economy affords us luxuries
beyond the wildest dreams of previous generations and
far beyond the reach of most of the almost 7 billion
Homo sapiens inhabiting & modifying this tiny planet.
A planet on which over 1/3 do not have electricity,
many starving, 99% without computers and
enviro-degradation everywhere. It's an exciting, fun
time for most of us in America. I call it the final
glow of the "Golden Age of Man".

Many today long for a simpler society, a simpler life,
a life- style more in tune with the natural world - a
sustainable way of life. We comprise only 5% of the
world's people we consume over 35% of the world's
resources. People of third world countries watch TV
and aspire to our consumerism. We are the lucky ones;
at least for a little while longer.

Voluntary Simplicity is a movement reducing
consumption and spending, creating less debt, using
less resources, recycling more, living WITH the
natural world. Many in the VS movement take delight in
exercising imagination and creativity consuming less
and recycling more.

On Thanksgiving Day I picked up the morning paper. It
was over 90% advertizing. How many times a day are we
told to buy "stuff"? A local example of VS is Eric
Greening who hasn't owned a car for decades but gets
around by bus, walking and hitching rides; he is
always at the SLO Board of Supervisors educating the
rest of us - a role model for all to emulate.

Defining simplicity is a very individual matter that
covers a wide potential range. A few things for me:

1. reducing trash from 2 barrels per week to one
barrel per month - 3 decades ago,
2. planting acorns of native oaks everywhere I think
they might grow
3. bicycling more - I bike 1K--2K miles each year - 3
decades
4. connected the shower, laundry and sink so that
waste water flows to plants outside - 3 decades
5. hanging laundry on a line in the sun - always
6. deciding to get a vasectomy to prevent "accidents"
- 3 decades ago
7. having a garden - 4 decades

Voluntary Simplicity is a unique trend but one whose
time has come as our resources become depleted. Some
suggestions on things
you might do:

1. AVOID YOUR CAR: Walk, ride your bike,carpool, take
the bus but don't drive your polluter. Walk on the
beach rather than drive as at Oceano & listen to the
waves.
2. AVOID SHOPPING: Why do we get over 1000
messages/day to buy more?
The average credit card debt is over $9,200. Before
you buy anything, ask yourself if you really need the
item.
3. GET RID OF YOUR LAWN: Make a bio-intensive garden
as I have done - great food. Grow native bushes and
increase biodiversity - birds & butterflies love it.
We use over 202 million pounds of pesticides/yr. for
lawns in the US plus all that polluting
lawn-machinery.
4. TURN OFF THE TV: Corporations spend over $7 Billion
each year telling us to consume. It is OK to watch
"Democracy Now" by Amy Goodman as there are no
commercials & my main source of the news.
5. STOP ACCIDENTS: Sixty percent of all pregnancies in
the US are unintended (accidents). I urge vasectomies
for males, emergency contraception for gals and condom
vending machines in all restrooms.
6. HANG YOUR LAUNDRY: We have the wonderful warm sun
so much on the Central Coast.
7. READ (then recycle it) HOPEDANCE: This free
publication is dedicated to voluntary simplicity - the
hope for a future.

Bill Denneen

The Supreme Machine

How much value would you put on a machine that is so special that there are no others like it, no spare parts and yet it must run continuously without stopping for up to 100 years?

The machine, of course, is your body. The value assigned to it is up to you. But before you decide how much your body is worth, you should appreciate a few things about it. You ask it to do some phenomenal things, including process huge amounts of information, both input and output, on a daily basis; interface with others on many different levels; produce another human machine for continuity of the species; and under certain circumstances, perform feats of strength and courage.

Those things your body does because you tell it to; but what about all those things your body does every day, day after day, year after year, with little or no thought or decision on your part? Consider this for a moment - if you are an adult of about average weight, here's what you do in 24 hours:

Your heart beats 103,689 times.
Your hair grows .01714 inches.
You breathe 23,040 times.
You eat 3 pounds of food.
You perspire 1.43 pints of liquid.
You speak 4,800 words.
You turn 25 to 35 times in your sleep.
You lose 7.8 pounds of waste weight.
Your blood travels 168,000 miles.
Your nails grow .000046 inches.
You inhale 438 cubic feet of air.
You drink 2.9 pounds of liquid.
You move 750 major muscles.

It pays to take care of this fantastic, one-of-a-kind machine, since there are no spare parts!

Now that you have some idea of what this superb creation does, do you properly take care of it? It relentlessly performs its daily functions and asks only periodic attention, proper fuel, some rest, exercise, and an occasional checkup. Now that you know a little bit about what your body does and its minimum requirements, what is it worth? Of course, it is priceless, so be sure to maintain it with the basic requirements of proper nutrition, sleep and daily exercise.

--- Source: Vitality Labs Newsletter

Great Quotes to open your mind :)

Genesis 1:29 "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."
-God

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
–Albert Einstein

“To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.”
-Buddha

"If man wants freedom why keep birds and animals in cages? Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places! I have since an early age abjured the use of meat."
-Leonardo Da Vinci

"As we talked of freedom and justice one day for all, we sat down to steaks. I am eating misery, I thought, as I took the first bite. And spit it out."
-Alice Walker

"The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion."
-Socrates

"I am conscious that meat eating is not in accordance with the finer feelings, and I abstain from it whenever I can."
-Dr. Albert Schweitzer -1952 Nobel Peace Prize recipient

“If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you could do. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty.”
-Sir Paul McCartney

"There will never be any peace in the world as long as we eat animals."
-Isaac Bashevis Singer

“Many things made me become a vegetarian, among them, the higher food yield as a solution to world hunger.”
-John Denver

“I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals…”
-Henry David Thoreau

“Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you anymore.”
-Franz Kafka while looking at a fish.

“The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, rather, can they suffer?
-Jeremy Bentham

"I have been a vegetarian for a few years. Fred Dryer of the Rams has been one for ten years. It shows you don't need meat to play football."
-Joe Namath, Legendary NFL Quarterback

“To consider yourself an environmentalist and still eat meat is like saying you're a philanthropist who doesn't give to charity”
-Howard Lyman, Ex-cattle rancher, and author of Mad Cowboy

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
-Pythagoras

"If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals."
-Albert Einstein

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian. We feel better about ourselves and better about the animals, knowing we're not contributing to their pain."
-Paul and Linda McCartney

"If you visit the killing floor of a slaughterhouse, it will brand your soul for life."
-Howard Lyman, Ex-cattle rancher, feedlot operator, author of Mad Cowboy

"It has just stopped me cold from eating another hamburger."
-Oprah Winfrey, interviewing Howard Lyman

"I know, in my soul, that to eat a creature who is raised to be eaten, and who never has a chance to be a real being, is unhealthy. It's like...you're just eating misery. You're eating a bitter life."
-Alice Walker

"It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."
-Albert Einstein

The Evolution of Medicine

Complaint: "Doctor, I have an earache..."

Response:
2000 BC Here, eat this root.
100 AD That root is heathen; say this prayer.
1850 AD That Prayer is superstition; drink this potion.
1940 AD That potion is snake oil; swallow this pill.
1980 AD That pill is ineffective; take this antibiotic.
2000 AD That antibiotic is artificial; Here, eat this root and say this prayer!