Great Green Hostess Gifts

You never want to walk in empty handed for a holiday get-together but instead of handing over yet another bottle of wine, why not give something a little different, something a little greener.

To make it really easy, we picked out 5 great, green gifts that will impress your hosts with your thoughfullness and won't crush your wallet!

Bamboo Spreaders- a set of 4 made from organically grown bamboo, they can be used to spread dips, cheeses or tapenades.

Glass Straws- a set of 4 with each having a different colored decoration makes it easy to slurp down punch, hot cider or eggnog and everyone knows which glass is theirs by their way cool straw.

Bamboo Kitchen Towels- these towels are high end, absorbent and earth friendly and come in some beautiful colors, the red is perfect for the holidays!

Soy Kitchen Candles- scented in cranberry spice, the perfect scent for the season.

Organic Kitchen Soap Bars- Your host will be able to wash up at the kitchen sink with an organic soap bar that is scented only with essenial oils.

The Wide Kanteens are In

The new "wide" kanteens have arrived and we love their new look! Of course the bottle is still 18/8 stainless steel but the new "wide" bottles even have a stainless inner cap so no plastic ever touches your beverage. The hip new bottle design has a wide mouth for easy filling and pouring and is super easy to clean. This bottle really stands out from the crowd.


Another excellent new design form klean kanteen is the Sports Cap 2.0 for the "classic kanteens". This new sports cap has an easy flow, a sleeker one piece design and no longer makes weird chirping sounds when you drink.

Ginger MoTeato- Iced White Tea with Ginger, Lime and Mint

1. Lime and mint are the delicious flavorings to the popular cocktail the Mojito. Inspired by those flavors and with the addition of fresh ginger for a little extra bite, this is one refreshing summer brew and it's healthy too. White tea is the most antioxidant rich of the tea leaves so drink up and enjoy!
   
   Ingredients:
   8 cups of cold water
   3 inch piece of fresh ginger root finely sliced
   ¼ cup packed fresh mint leaves plus more for garnish
   3 Tbsps loose leaf White Tea of 9 white tea bags
   ½ cup fresh lime juice (approximately 3 medium limes) plus a few more limes for garnish
   Agave nectar to taste

Directions:

- Place the 8 cups of cold water and ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Turn the heat off. Add the white tea and the mint. If not using tea bags we recommend a large tea ball.
- Steep the tea for 5 minutes and remove the tea ball or bags.
- Let sit for one hour to cool.
- Strain the ginger and mint from the tea and place in a pitcher in the refrigerator until ready to serve. This can be done a day or two in advance.
- To serve, fill tall glasses with ice add throw in some fresh mint leaves and lime slices, fill with the tea. Try drinking it with a glass straw!
- Let everyone sweeten to taste with agave nectar or their choice of sweetener.

Notes:
- This drink comes to life with the sweetener so don’t be afraid if you don’t care for it straight up, you’ll love it when it’s iced up and sweetened.
- A 12 ounce iced filled glass of Ginger MoTeato was sweetened with two – three teaspoons of Agave. If you would like to sweeten the whole pitcher, start with ¼ cup of sweetener and then add by the Tablespoon to get it just right.

Al Roker is Living Greener

Al Roker is one of the hosts of NBC's Today Show. Although he's on way to early for me to watch on a regular basis, I've always been a big fan. Luckily, I do get to catch a glimpse of him now and then in the neighborhood. The other day I ran into the supermarket and he was picking up a few groceries. I was happily surprised to see that he was carrying his own reuseable bag. After he was rung up, he took his few items threw them in his bag and off he went. Al Roker is living greener and setting an example for the rest of us. If a busy man like that can take the time to grab a bag before heading out the door, can't we? Thanks Al for caring about our planet.

Banboo Kitchen Towels

We've been waiting for these towels for months and they're finally here- soft bamboo towels in beautiful colors we know you'll love.

We offer other fantastic kitchen towels like the organic European hand knit hemp and the 100% organic cotton but they are only available in white and beige and sometimes you just want a little color. Now with these new bamboo kitchen towels we can offer an earth friendly option with a little more pizzaz! They come in seven delicious colors; tangerine, milk, lemon, cream, tomato, chocolate and kiwi, how could you resist? Our new bamboo towels are generously sized, super absorbent, quick drying, natural bacteria and odor fighters, machine washable and soft to the touch!

Grow Some Grass!

We've just started carrying organic wheat grass seeds! Yes, you can use them to make a juice shot of the magical elixir, sprout them to make your own super- healthy bread, or finally have a fresh plant your pets are welcome to chew but we just love decorating wih the stuff. How can a little patch of fresh grass, not make you smile? It looks absolutely adorable grown in an old vintage cheese box or vintage cup and saucer. The best part is it's so easy to grow and and in just a few days you have a beautiful green patch of grass. What are you waiting for?

To grow the grass seed, just soak the seeds for 8 hours, place them in a solid layer on top of the soil then water with a spray bottle twice a day. Once the grass is 7 inches tall you can cut it down to an inch and watch it grow again. It's simple, and fun for the whole family!

Broccoli Sprouts Fight Stomach Illness

New research shows broccoli sprouts might keep stomach illness at bay. A small study by Japanese researchers found that people who ate 2.5 ounces of baby broccoli daily over two months had increased protection from Helicobacter pylori and other gastric problems, including ulcers and stomach cancer. Broccoli sprouts contain sulforaphane, a natural biochemical that triggers production of enzymes in the gut that protect against inflammation and DNA-damaging chemicals. Reuters.

Vegighetti

Vegighetti is a simple, quick and delicious vegetable side dish. Use a julienne slicer to make the thin spaghetti like strands of the vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 medium green zucchini
1 medium yellow summer squash
1 medium carrot
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Use your julienne slicer to make thin strands of the zucchini, yellow squash and carrot. Set aside.

In a skillet over medium heat, saute garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil until you can smell the garlic, less than a minute.

Add the zucchini, summer squash and carrot and saute until just tender, about three minutes.

Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and serve.

Makes approximately 4 half cup servings.

Nutrition info: Calories 48, Carb, 4g, Fat 4g, Protein 1g, Fiber 1g, Vitamin C 21%

Vintage Cheese Boxes Rock!

Here at Green Apple Kitchen we're thrilled when we can offer a fantastic new kitchen item, especially if it's healthy and "green" but nothing gets us more excited than giving new life to a little piece of our past. One of our favorite oldies but goodies are the wooden boxes cheese used to come in. There are 2, 3 and 5 pound boxes with terrific old-fashioned type and graphics that we find utterly charming.







So what can you do with them, you ask. Well, they can be used as planters for your kitchen herbs (line them first). They can store your farmers market hall of apples.. They can keep your cabinets tidy by storing teas, and spices. They can help organize a drawer by storing your favorite kitchen gadgets in them. Why not keep the napkins and the salt and pepper you use every day in one so it looks cute on your kitchen table but quickly can be stored away in one swoop when not needed. Of course we could go on and on but you get the idea.
We try to always keep plenty on hand, you can find them under Cheese boxes in our Vintage Kitchen Collectibles section of the website.

3 New Earth Friendly Sponges from Twist

We're really excited about the new sponges from Twist. All three have a natural cellulose sponge center but are wrapped in different earth friendly, bio-degradeable wrappers. For your least yucky pile of dishes whip out the "Ravioli" scrubby made from hemp burlap. Have a bit of a sticky mess going, then it's time for the loofah scrubby made from all natural loofah. When it's time for the big guns, the adorable dish "dumpling" made from agave will blast through the toughest grime while not scratching or hurting your dishes, glasses, pots or pans. These natural fibers feel great in your hand and look rather cute hanging out at your kitchen sink!

Strawberry, Banana, Almond, Whole Food Smoothie

Give your new Glass Smoothie Straw a workout with this delicious easy to make smoothie. Just a few ingredients swirled in your blender will create a wonderful light breakfast or anytime pick me up. This smoothie also packs a nutritional punch with more than 90% of your days requirement for vitamin C, more than 20% of your days supply of manganese, vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, B6 and ribloflavin and 8% of your days supply of iron and calcium. Woohoo!

Ingredients:
¼ cup almonds
1/2 cup strawberries
1 ripe banana
½ cup cold water
½ cup ice

Instruction: Toss the almonds in the blender alone and blend a minute. Then add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and drink with your glass smoothie straw.

Nutrition Information:
Calories 266, Protein 7g, Fat 12g, Carbohydrate 36 g, Fiber 7g

GLASS STRAWS

We‘re really excited about our new line of earth- friendly glass straws. They’re super strong, they can slurp up both cold and hot drinks. they feel great in your mouth and they even make really cool sounds when you stir, especially if there’s ice in your glass!

The sipper straw is a bit shorter and has the smallest opening of the three sizes. This one requires a little suction on your part and is perfect for anything you want to sip slowly like wine and cocktails hot tea or coffee.

The drinking straw flows easily and is perfect for everyday use of your favorite beverages such as iced tea, lemonade or juices.

The smoothie straw has the largest opening, it’s big, and is best used for thick drinks like smoothies and shakes.

Our sipper set of 4 is perfect for entertaining because each straw has a different colored glass dot on it, so your company can always find their glass!