Raw chia pudding’s a favorite healthy snack of mine — and I’ve got both the super simple version and the complex but more delicious super-fruit version down. This month, I’ve added a new chia pudding recipe that’s still quick and easy but richer and superfoodier, thanks to raw superfood company Nutiva.

Nutiva offers organic hemp, coconut and chia to would-be superfoodies — and a simple recipe combines all three into a yummy, nutritious Chia Cereal. Here’s what it looks like:

And here’s how to make it, from the back of Nutiva’s Chia Seed package:

Nutiva Chia Cereal
2 Tbsp Nutiva Chia Seed
2 Tbsp Nutiva Hempseed
1 Tbsp Coconut Manna
6 oz. water or milk
Apple, banana, or berries
Honey or maple syrup

Make a delicious breakfast treat by soaking chia seeds for 5 minutes (I recommend soaking the seeds for at least a couple hours for a more pudding-like effect) in hot or cold liquid. Add sliced fruit, hempseed, and honey or syrup, and dig in!

Coconut Manna, by the way, is basically coconut oil pureed with coconut meat — for extra fiber, texture, and taste. Don’t be alarmed if most of the oil’s separated and floated to the top when you open the jar. That’s normal — just like it’s normal for the oil to float to the top of pure peanut butter. Stir and enjoy. I actually like to use Coconut Manna as butter on toast . It’s got a complex rich and creamy, somewhat peanut buttery taste. So simple and so delicious!

You can find Nutiva products at Whole Foods and other local natural food stores — as well as online on Nutiva’s web store.

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Hola from Costa Rica! I am writing from EARTH University where I am spending a week living as a student with a group sent by Whole Foods. EARTH is a tropical paradise with a mission: to prepare leaders with ethical values to contribute to the sustainable development of the tropics and to construct a prosperous and just society. They are reaching these ambitious goals in surprising and inspiring ways which I have been lucky enough to witness during my stay.

If EARTH University sounds familiar to you, you may have seen it on a banana label on the shelf of your neighborhood Whole Foods Market. In addition to bananas, Whole Foods supports the universities commercial enterprise by sourcing pineapples, tropical flowers, and coffee. (If you haven’t tried Costa Rican coffee, run, don’t walk to whole foods to buy some. It’s amazing!)

Profits support EARTH’s scholarship program, which is important because half of all students receive a full scholarship and an additional 30% receive a partial scholarship. The students come mostly from Latin American countries and don’t have the economic means to afford a college education. The goal is that the students return home after graduation and improve their communities with the knowledge they have gained at EARTH. It’s working because each EARTH grad creates roughly four jobs.

The curriculum is a combination of hands on learning and traditional classroom style. Each student starts and runs a business beginning in their second year, making them effective agricultural entrepreneurs. My condensed experience here has had me spending time in the banana fields, the packing plant, multiple gardens (most of the food in the cafeteria is grown on campus), and classrooms, including the soil lab, which was a crash course in the chemistry of what makes good soil.

More than just an institution of higher education, EARTH is deeply committed to the improvement of local communities. La Florita is the first carbon neutral community in Costa Rica, and possibly Latin America, because the university has committed to sharing its agricultural and environmental knowledge. Earlier today EARTH students and I helped install a bio-digester in a small farm which will help the environment by keeping pig waste from contaminating the local eco system, and also provide methane gas for the family to cook with, so they don’t have to cut down trees to use for firewood. Earth is innovating and implementing many more similar solutions that benefit the environment and communities.

Everyone here at EARTH has been exceptionally warm and welcoming. Not just the professors, staff, and students, but also the local sloth and iguana seem to say hola in their own way. The pura vida attitude is contagious. I am looking forward to my “graduation” even though it will be sad to leave this amazing place. When I return home I hope to improve my community by sharing the knowledge I have gained this week, just like a real EARTH graduate.

Photos by April Gilbert

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Can the Grammys go green? The Grammys are working on reducing their impact on the environment by implementing a series of steps to minimize energy, food and packaging waste, and to raise public awareness on the need for individuals, events, and corporations to make changes now for a healthier future. Natural Resource Defense Council‘s helping The Grammys learn ways to implement these goals -– definitely a step in the right direction.

This year the Recording Academy (the institution behind the Grammys) organized the 2nd Annual Greening Summit: The Sound Of Social Change at the Conga Room at L.A. Live. The event was sponsored by Waste Management, and featured a panel focusing on “Corporate responsibility in sustainability and how industry insiders can use their collective power to drive change in greening.”

The panel of corporate executives representing four companies working on incorporating initiatives to lessen their impact on Earth’s ecosystems, and two companies focused on sustainability consulting featured Bridgette Bell, global sustainability manager for Yum! Brands (owners of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut); William Brent, executive vice president of Weber Shandwick’s Cleantech; Jennifer Miller DuBuisson, associate manager of global sustainability for Mattel; Michael J. O’Brien, vice president of corporate and product placement at Hyundai; and Tim Sexton, co-founder of environmental policy business association Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). Greg Baldwin, executive director of Environmental Media Association, moderated the panel.

There are definitely two ways to interpret the success of this event, a la Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, due to the complexity of the issues surrounding corporate sustainability.

(more…)

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Is your raw juice cleanse getting expensive and restrictive? Here’s where to “eat out” without cheating on your juice cleanse:

>> For the best deal, get your green juice at Co-opportunity in Santa Monica. Simply pick the veggies you want on the little form — and opt for the 32-ounce jug to get the most ban for your buck.

>> M Cafe offers a Green Day juice made with cucumber, celery, and parsley. Sip slowly while your friends nosh on their macrobiotic salads.

>> Rawvolution, Planet Raw, Better Life Cuisine, Hugo’s Restaurant, and Tiato are just a few of the restaurants that won’t bat an eye if you order a green liquid lunch.

>> When in a pinch, Evolution’s Essential Greens juice — available in many stores — will do. That celery, cucumber, spinach, romaine, kale, sprouts, and wheatgrass is flash pasteurized, however, and not technically raw.

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Love Alter Eco’s fair trade organic olive oil from Palestine? That product, sadly, has been discontinued — but fair trade co-op Equal Exchange has stepped in with its own green brand. Equal Exchange Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil — made from Nabali olives from by small family farms in Palestine — is now widely available.

I even picked up my current bottle from Bob’s Market, a family-owned grocery store around the corner! It’s now my go-to dressing for quick salads.

Described as “robust and peppery with a strong fruit finish,” Equal Exchange’s olive oil comes from farming co-ops through the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, a nonprofit that helps farmers integrate eco-farming practices and compete in the export market, among other fair trade and sustainable initiatives.

Get a 500 ml bottle of your own for $15.99 at Equal Exchange’s web store or a natural food store near you.

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