Can a product that’s eco-friendly really be good for the environment (as the term would suggest) if there’s a warning not to drink it? EnviroCitizen.org believes that if something is safe for the environment, it should be safe for you in most cases, too. For example, if you’re using a harsh chemical to clean your floors you may assume that the risks and warnings associated with that chemical do not extend beyond your floor. The fact is, once you’ve finished cleaning your floor those chemicals remain on the surface. You then walk on the floor, spreading the chemicals throughout your home. If you have a little child, they might drop something on that floor and then pick it up with their hand. Their hand now has the chemicals on it. They may even eat the item they dropped on the floor which is now coated with the chemicals!

There are many links between environmental health and your own personal health. It’s a very intuitive idea. If a chemical pesticide is meant to kill pests, like bugs and bacteria, that same chemical will likely kill other things, too. Most pesticides aren’t designed to only target one species of pest. If that were the case, farmers would need to purchase multiple chemicals. Instead, most pesticides are a universal killer. So, if the pesticide will kill another living organism like a bug, one might reason that it is capable of killing or doing harm to other organisms.

A good rule of thumb to rule out these harmful chemicals in your environment is to look at the safety of ingredients in the products that you use. Many people are now adhering to the rule that, if you can’t drink it, don’t use it. That’s not to say that you should guzzle down a  household cleaner. It’s more an idea that the products that you use in your home should be safe enough to go inside of your body, since they will end up on your body in some form. In fact, EnviroCitizen.org has found many eco-friendly, safe alternatives to conventional household cleaners and products that really are safe to drink!

For example, two classic cleaners that have been around for decades are baking soda and vinegar. Baking soda is completely edible as you add it to recipes when baking and cooking. It’s a wonderfully abrasive product, which means that it can help you get rid of tough stains or stuck-on food. For example, if you mix baking soda with enough water to form a paste, the paste effectively cleans crusty, tough grease off of your stove!

Vinegar is also completely edible, also used in many common recipes. You can clean practically anything with a diluted mixture of vinegar and water. It’s a disinfectant, so it works great to clean counters, floors and windows. To make sure that your windows have a streak-free finish, wipe them with newspaper and a vinegar mixture.

These are great examples of how you can clean (and even disinfect) your home with products that really are safe enough to consume. By doing so, EnviroCitizen.org believes you’ll have a healthy, clean home without the environmental and health risks associated with conventional cleaners and products.

EnviroCitizen.org strives to deliver everything you could possibly want that’s green along with tons of information, complemented by a strong sense of community. Always check www.EnviroCitizen.org  first when searching for anything green.

For most Hispanics in the United States, food has an emotional and cultural significance that reaches far beyond eating. Home cooked meals and celebrations centered on food and family are an extremely important part of Hispanic life and a source of pride for immigrant mothers and grandmothers.

Latin American cooking is as diverse as its people and has been perfected over hundreds of years by fusing the foods and culinary styles of the Spaniards, Indigenous Indians and African slaves and has been passed down in the oral tradition.

The majority of Latin American women learned to cook through observation and repetition, developing advanced culinary skills and recipes that exist only in their memories. Without documenting these authentic recipes, American-born Hispanics will lose our most important cultural legacy: our cuisine.

Mothers of Latin America: Recipes from the Generations features recipes passed down from generation to generation by the matriarchs of different Hispanic families in the United States. Each story, or anecdote, will be told through the woman’s recipes and through her family’s collective food memories, revealing old-world beliefs that often contrast with the modern perspective of the American-born generation.

Danielle’s Story & Abuela Eva’s Picadillo Recipe

My grandmother (abuela) immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1957. She slept on the floor of a friend’s apartment on 134th Street in New York City while she set out to find an apartment and jobs for herself and my grandfather (abuelo), who was still in Cuba. Mom arrived in 1958, at the age of fourteen with two new gold capped front teeth and pneumonia she caught on the boat from Cuba. Abuelo arrived with her and was informed that he had a new career as a butcher.

Within six years of arriving in the United States, my mother learned fluent English, got rid of the gold caps, and married “un Americano”. A few years later, she and my father started a family and moved to Norwood, a suburb in Northern New Jersey. My grandparents followed my mother to New Jersey and moved to West New York, a small city with a thriving Hispanic community.

When my older brother and I were sent to live with abuela and abuelo for a year we arrived as skinny, all-American suburban kids who ate peanut butter and drank Hawaiian punch. After a year of hearty Hispanic fare, we returned to Norwood as well-fed, hip swaying, Spanish-speaking Latino kids.

This exposure to a purely Hispanic environment was a one-time experience for me. However, my mother is Cuban and her culture courses through my life and is part of who I am. I am intensely proud of what my grandparents and mother achieved. If I could bottle their vitality, their courage, their passion, and their ability to laugh in the face of adversity, I would save it and pass it onto my sons as their legacy.

Picadillo (serves four)

1 – 1¼ lb chopped meat
1 diced tomato
4 garlic cloves
1 med size onion
1 half green
1 half red pepper
1 scallion diced
2- 4 caps of vinegar
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon ground pepper
3 tablespoons of olive oil
½ cup of tomato puree
5-6 green olives with pimentos
1 tablespoon olive juice, from the jar

Preparation:

• Put in mince in a medium sized pot or saute pan.
• Mix all the ingredients together except or puree.
• Cook over low heat for 20 minutes.
• Mix in tomato puree with a bit of water to make a thick sauce and add to the mince mixture.
• Cook a further half-hour or until mince is cooked through and most of the liquid is absorbed.
• Serve with white rice.