Red, Pink, White…Green?????

Walking into your local store, it is probably pretty easy to guess what holiday is upon us. Red heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, plastic roses, stuffed animals that make cute little noises…etc. etc.

Every year it seems like they’ve added more useless stuff to the current pile of junk we will buy in the spirit of the holiday but never use.

Example - One year I received a teddy bear on a swing with a pink puff paint heart. I remember thinking, not only does this scare me, but what the heck am I going to do with this?

What about giving a gift that is not only useful (and yummy), but doesn’t add to the landfills?

This year, make your special someone or your friends (Singles Awareness Day!) an environmentally-friendly dinner.

For starters, be green by eating greens! Load up on fresh ingredients- try to use locally grown and in season fruits and veggies.

For your main course, try making a hearty one-pot dish like Vegetable Soup or Beef Stew. Use more locally grown veggies, and if you want to add meat, use local, organic grass-fed beef.

Leave the oven off tonight by making a no-bake dessert. The Energy Conservation Team’s favorite is listed below- it will taste like you baked for hours! Enjoy!

Chocolate Éclair Delight

• 1 box of graham crackers
• 1 big box of instant vanilla pudding- prepared as directions on box
• 1 container cool whip
• 1 container chocolate frosting

Arrange graham crackers on bottom of 13x9 pan covering entire bottom. Whip cool whip and prepared pudding together on top of graham crackers. Add another layer of crackers and pudding mixture and, lastly, top with graham crackers. Microwave the container of frosting for 10 seconds or so (you want to melt it until you can pour it). Pour the chocolate icing on top of your graham crackers. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve.