Hi Living With Harmony Community! JP and Andrea, the co-founders of Living With Harmony invite you to explore our latest PLANET-Based Times for more life affirming and life saving PLANET-Based actions. Enjoy!
In this issue of PLANET-Based Times:
>> Keep Wildlife Wild with Plants, not Feeders or Trash Cans.
>> Kitchen Sink and Dish Water to the Rescue for the Trees and Bees. All it takes is a bucket.
>> Sunflower Seeds: A Sunsational Choice for the Planet
>>Plastic-Free and PLANET-Based Yards and Gardens. Is there such a thing?
Keep Wildlife Wild with Plants, not Feeders or Trash Cans
Want to help wildlife thrive, not just survive? Live in harmony with wildlife by creating a suitable environment for them. Let’s make some habitat by planting more native shrubs and trees, leaving some leaves, and adding some logs and twigs so critters have places to chill, find food and raise their young. Then they’ll be less likely to homestead under your home.
Keeping wildlife wild means not feeding them extra food that may draw them to your home — seeds, peanuts, corn or other human foods — so they keep their foraging skills. Additionally, eating nutrient dense “fast” human foods will make them less hungry for naturally foraged foods and malnutrition can result.
Read more about what happens when people feed wildlife.
Compost food waste, so animals don’t dig in your trash cans to find easy food. A wild animal that loses their fear of humans may seem adorable until they approach the wrong person, get too aggressive or are considered a nuisance.
When animals eat food from a trashcan, they may eat the plastic bags and wrappers too. Eating plastic can cause intestinal blockages and starvation. Composting food waste keeps the trash clean with no need for plastic trash liners too.
Let’s talk water. This summer’s record heat and drought have been hard on the critters and us humans. In Colorado, some of the animals don’t have enough water due to the mild winter and not enough snow, so their creeks, lakes and reservoirs are dry.
Help wildlife stay close and use less energy to look for water by providing dishes of water for them. Change it often to help reduce the spread of disease and algae growth. This also helps during dry winters or when the weather is extremely cold.
Kitchen Sink and Dish Water to the Rescue for the Trees and Bees
All it takes is a bucket to save water from the sink, dishes, shower and bath to save some trees, bushes and the grass.
Giving that used kitchen and bath water to the plants is a sweet thing you can do every day to keep those priceless plants alive and healthy so they can provide food and habitat for wildlife.
Your watering will also protect that precious shade and help sequester carbon so we can keep this planet cooler and the oceans less acidic.
We have lost habitat and trees for wildlife because of the lack of winter water and no support watering. When you water trees and plants near your home you are helping wildlife by repairing that habitat and their trees.
PLANET-Based Eco Challenge: To love your rivers, lakes & aquifers, give used kitchen and bath water to the garden.
Put a bucket under the faucet while the water heats up to save gallons of clean water a day. For hero level gather a bucket or two of bath water before emptying the tub to water those plants, or to flush the toilet. Just pour the water into the bowl and the toilet will flush without the use of fresh water from the tank.
If helping wildlife is not your thing, how about more time on the weekends due to less yard work?
Add more low maintenance native plants and swap out plants that need lots of attention. Choose plants and grasses that are adapted to your area that require less energy, water, fertilizer and time to maintain. Check with your local Horticulture Extension office.
PLANET-Based Eco Challenge: Inspire & show others how to jive, revive & thrive with a PLANET-Based Life.
Corn Season is the Perfect Reason to Try this Recipe by Chef Mark Reinfeld
Corn grows out of our ears in late summer. Time to try a yummy and creamy corn chowder.
Summer fruit and veggies taste best when they are in-season and not grown in an energy-intensive hot house or shipped from another country out-of-season. Locally grown food is generally more nutritious and more available at this time of year and uses less packaging.
This recipe uses canned tomatoes and optional frozen corn — great alternatives to using fresh ingredients when they are not in season. Creamy Corn Chowder with Fire Roasted Tomatoes and Dill.
Mark Reinfeld also presented the “7 Culinary Keys to Creating Plant-Based Cuisine That Tastes Amazing” at our PLANET-Based Party on September 7th. In case you missed it, the notes are below.
Click here for Mark’s talk notes.
7 Culinary Keys to Creating Plant-Based Cuisine That Tastes Amazing
by Chef Mark Reinfeld
After my 25+ years of experience in the plant-based culinary world, I am often asked how to create vegan food that tastes amazing. Many people tell me they cannot cook or feel lost when they step into the kitchen. I believe that each of us has a creative chef within, and with practice, patience, and the right guidance, that inner chef can be awakened. Over the years, I have condensed my approach into seven simple culinary principles that can help you develop greater confidence, creativity, and joy in the kitchen. These foundational keys have guided my work as a chef, educator, and author, and they continue to inspire students around the world. Together, they provide a practical roadmap for creating delicious, nourishing plant-based meals that you and your loved ones will enjoy for a lifetime.
1. Palate Development
I believe that developing your palate is one of the most important skills you can cultivate as a chef. Over time, I encourage you to slow down and discover the subtle flavors, textures, aromas, and qualities of different ingredients. As your palate evolves, you’ll find yourself naturally creating more balanced, flavorful, and satisfying meals.
2. Template Recipes
Rather than memorizing hundreds of recipes, I teach students to recognize the underlying structure behind their favorite dishes. Template recipes provide a framework that allows you to create endless variations using seasonal produce and whatever ingredients you have on hand. Once you understand the principles behind soups, sauces, bowls, curries, and baked goods, you’ll gain a new level of confidence and freedom in the kitchen.
3. Global Spice Blends
One of my favorite ways to bring excitement and diversity to plant-based cooking is through the use of spices. I recommend stocking your pantry with global spice blends inspired by Indian, Italian, Mexican, Cajun, Moroccan, and other culinary traditions. With just a few jars on your shelf, you can transform simple ingredients into vibrant dishes from around the world.
4. World Sauces
Over the years, I’ve discovered that sauces are often the secret ingredient that elevates a meal from good to unforgettable. Whether homemade or high-quality store-bought, sauces such as BBQ, Thai peanut, pesto, sweet and sour, teriyaki, and hoisin can add richness, complexity, and excitement to your cooking. I encourage every home chef to keep a few favorite sauces on hand to effortlessly take their creations to the next level.
5. Veganizing
One of the most rewarding aspects of my work has been helping people recreate the foods they love in a plant-based way. Veganizing is the art of transforming traditional recipes by using delicious alternatives to dairy, eggs, poultry, seafood, and meat. Once you understand a few simple substitutions, you’ll realize that nearly every favorite dish can be enjoyed with compassion and exceptional flavor.
6. Superfood Nutrition
I have always believed that food should be both delicious and deeply nourishing. By incorporating nutrient-dense superfoods, colorful vegetables, herbs, sprouts, seeds, fermented foods, and raw ingredients, you can maximize the vitality of every meal. Plant-based cuisine offers an incredible opportunity to create dishes that support your health while delighting your senses.
7. Experimentation
After more than 25 years as a chef, I can tell you that learning never stops. The greatest growth happens when you’re willing to experiment with new ingredients, techniques, and flavor combinations. I encourage you to practice often, stay curious, and remember that every meal you prepare is another opportunity to develop your skills and express your creativity.
The journey to becoming a confident plant-based chef begins with curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to experiment. These seven culinary keys provide the foundation for creating food that nourishes the body, delights the senses, and inspires a lifetime of culinary exploration.
If these seven culinary keys resonate with you, I invite you to take the next step in your plant-based journey. Beginning September 28, I’ll be leading my live, interactive 4-Week Plant-Based Culinary Immersion, where we’ll explore these principles in depth through hands-on cooking classes, culinary demonstrations, and personalized guidance. As a special invitation, I’m extending a 30% discount for a limited time, making this an ideal opportunity to deepen your skills, connect with a vibrant community of like-minded food lovers, and discover just how creative and confident you can become in the kitchen.
Chef Mark Reinfeld is an award-winning plant-based chef, restaurant and hospitality consultant, and founder of Vegan Fusion with more than 25 years of experience helping restaurants, resorts, and culinary organizations create innovative plant-based concepts and elevate their operations. As founding chef of The Blossoming Lotus Restaurant on Kaua‘i, honored as “Best Restaurant on Kaua‘i,” Mark developed a deep expertise in menu development, kitchen systems, and guest experience. His consulting work has supported organizations including Google, Whole Foods Market, and The Humane Society, while his culinary leadership continues as Executive Chef for the North American Vegetarian Society’s Summerfest.
Mark is the author of eight books, including Vegan Fusion World Cuisine, recognized as the “Best Vegetarian Cookbook in the USA” with a foreword by Dr. Jane Goodall, and has been inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame and honored with the Platinum Carrot Award.
Through Vegan Fusion, he offers restaurant consulting, culinary trainings, and educational programs that inspire chefs, hospitality teams, and food entrepreneurs to harness the power of plant-based cuisine for health, sustainability, and a more compassionate world. Learn more at www.veganfusion.com
Sunflower Seeds: A Sunsational Choice for the Planet
In the kitchen swap out some of the more resource intensive nuts — such as almonds and cashews — with sunflower seeds. Grow them in your garden. Grow yummy microgreens from the seeds.
Sunflower seeds are full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants and grow just about anywhere, even in the cracks in sidewalks. They are a planet-friendly seed since they support pollinators, are drought tolerant and have a lower carbon and water footprint than many nuts and seeds.
PLANET-Based Eco Challenge: Dis non-organic, out-of-season & air freighted food so jaguars can coo and woo.
Sunflower seeds reduce deforestation as they can be grown on degraded soils and can be a rotation crop on farmland that is being used for other crops. They can grow in the USA and thus reduce shipping miles and CO2 emissions. Locally grown food means less shipping collisions with wildlife —think sea turtles, whales and wiggle worms.
Sunflowers break up compacted soil with their deep roots, help sequester carbon, and the hulls can be used to make a biofuel.
Sunflowers add color and beauty while also providing food for birds, butterflies and pollinators as well. This makes them a win-win and a more sustainable option to some nuts and seeds that are imported, that require lots of land or that use lots of water for irrigation.
PLANET-Based Eco Challenge: Support organic farmers & CSAs for carbon rich, wormy & rollie pollie soil.
Buy seeds that are grown in the USA and are organic to get the most eco benefits.
Help Wildlife by Not Trapping Them or Moving Them from their Homes
Sneaky Squirrel in your attic? A rambunctious raccoon or shy skunk under your porch? More animals are coming into neighborhoods to find water, food and shelter — especially when they lose homes to fires, floods or development.
Bears and wild animals know they need to put on fat or get strong to survive the winter. They get desperate when there’s a drought or fire that means less wild food. So, they risk crossing roads, grouchy dogs, fences, power lines and other danger to find food.
Most of us can go to a grocery store and get food whenever we want. Is it so strange that animals might want to shop too?
People may reach for the humane traps or hire wildlife removal services thinking they are helping save these animals by moving them elsewhere. But when wildlife is trapped and moved away, where is away?
Trapping info by Sonflower Ranch Wildlife Rehabiliation Center in Brighton, CO. Full PDF here. Join their mailing list for more wildlife tips.
Many don’t realize that once trapped, animals may not be able to be released by law or may have babies left behind. If they are released into an unknown area, with unknown food sources, and other animals that defend their territory, their survival rate is low.
Let’s embrace the wild critters as much as possible. Live and let live — they have their stories and love life too.
If you absolutely have to remove wildlife make sure access areas are blocked off to encourage them to find a home elsewhere. Please don’t block access or move animals during nesting season, so babies don’t get abandoned when parents don’t come back.
Urban Wildlife Rescue is a Denver area service and resource that can help you with urban wildlife conflicts — such as blocking off entry points. They’re animal advocates and can assist with all sorts of wild critter solutions.
Solutions for Wildlife Conflicts by Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center is another good resource.
Special Treat Made from Zucchini that is Beyond Bread
Imagine a decadent chocolate mousse made from some of that zucchini that has ended up taking over the garden.
This lovely chocolate mousse is rich, creamy and super easy to make. Get your nutrition and fiber in with the zucchini, sweet potato and chia seed base.
Ingredients:
+ 1 medium zucchini (unpeeled), yellow squash or even broccoli (2 cups raw, chopped or sliced and steamed)
1 small sweet potato (or 1 medium to large carrot, or 1 small beet, sliced, steamed or cooked)
+ 2-4 dates (sweeten to taste)
+ 1/2-3/4 cup soy milk (or oat milk), plus more to thin out texture if desired. I prefer a creamier milk for this recipe.
+ 2 tablespoons chia seeds
+ 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter (or 2 tablespoons if no chocolate chips or chia seeds are used). Try omitting the peanut butter when chia seeds are used for a lower fat and darker chocolate flavor.
+ 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder (or more to taste)
+ 2 tablespoons semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolate chips
+1 tablespoon vanilla extract
+ Stevia, Monk Fruit and/or Maple Syrup (start with a teaspoon for more sweetness and to help cover up a veggie taste for the kiddos)
1. Soak the chia seeds, liquid sweetener and dates in the plant milk for about an hour (less if you don’t mind date chunks). Stir the chia seeds so they don’t stick to the bottom.
2. Add the peanut butter, chocolate chips, cacao powder and steamed veggies of choice (not too hot, slightly cooled) to help melt the chocolate chips a little. I like to steam the veggies without too much water and make sure there is a tiny bit left. This helps the mixture blend better.
3. Blend all together and put in the fridge for a few hours. I like it really cold so the chocolate sets and it has a denser texture.
4. Refrigerate for a few hours to set. If it is too liquidy, add more veggies or sweet potato, without water. Use less liquid next time.
Makes 2 heaping one cup servings. Enjoy!
Sharing the Living With Harmony and PLANET-Based Message
JP and Andrea have different booth styles, but they are both spreading the PLANET-Based Living/PLANET-Based Life message at events to remind peeps that there is no PLANET B.
Check out our schedule and come see us.
JP is jazzed that Living With Harmony is now part of the Ridwell Community Builder Program. Along with other community builders, we will be showing people how Ridwell helps them recycle more of their household waste and keep it out of landfills.
Ridwell is so convenient. They offer doorstep pickup in certain areas for the items traditional recycling won’t take, like plastic film (grocery bags) and multi-layer plastic (chip bags). Anyone in the US can divert waste from the landfill too by using the Ridwell Mail-in option.
Ridwell Tip #1: Ever wonder what to do with all of those loose plastic bottle caps and supplement scoops you have been saving? Ridwell is the answer. Get a fee month of PIckups or Get 20% off Mail-In.
We had a PLANET-Based Party on Labor Day
Denver-area peeps partied with Living With Harmony as we celebrated our awesome community and the planet at our PLANET-Based Party in Glendale, CO (outside of Denver). We had almost 70 guests and had a blast connecting with the community.
This event was held at Native Foods in Glendale, CO (outside of Denver) and was created to support the owner, Michael Olivas, and his restaurant so he can continue to provide innovative, tasty and nutritious plant-based cuisine.
Check out NativeFoods.com/Glendale and their menu. They have something fun for everyone.
The lectures were FREE. There was plenty of party space to socialize, check out the Living With Harmony booth and to meet Andrea Rose and JP, the co-founders.
Living With Harmony supports Native Foods because they use reusable dinnerware, flatware and cups. People came hungry and brought their own containers to bring home extra food or leftovers.
More info about the party at livingwithharmony.org/planetbasedparty.
Plastic-Free and PLANET-Based Yards and Gardens Using Chipped Wood, Cardboard, Straw and Paper
Are plastic-free yards or gardens a thing? Yes, and they can happen anywhere. It’s fantastic to see that people are swapping out their thirsty, high maintenance, chemical dependent lawns and landscaping, for native and low water plants that conserve resources.
Imagine walking outside to see this tree brought down by the wind. The cause of death was desiccation of the roots caused, in part, by the plastic weed barrier around it that contributed to the soil impaction and lack of air.
Rock gardens may be lower maintenance, but they don’t build soil. Use cardboard and mulch, straw or wood chips instead. It’s an ingenious way to compost soiled cardboard or newspapers — so they don’t go to the landfill — where they can rot and make methane. Chipped wood is a reclaimed resource made from tree removal and pruning — way betta than bagged mulch.
Newspaper under mulch. This is how we make sure that the papers used to line the Living With Harmony bird living areas are not put in the landfill.
Cardboard under mulch. The cardboard breaks down and feeds the insects and organisms in the soil. Along with the wood chips or mulch, cardboard is a great soil builder that breaks down slowly, unless it is kept moist. Wahoo to the neighbor that had mulch delivered and used cardboard underneath. Read all about it.
Natural reclaimed mulch and chipped wood are used to help keep moisture in the ground, build the soil structure, and to help suppress some weeds. They still may pop up but are easier to manage if the roots can’t go through the cardboard underneath. More layers are better than one.
Plastic weed barrier, or landscape fabric, blocks weeds, but also blocks bugs and organisms from traveling in and out, and can block water and air from getting to the tree roots. And, landscape fabric and plastic mulch degrade over time, releasing chemicals and contributing to microplastics into the soil and the water. Boo hoo for roots, shoots and shrews.
The end of life for plastic weed barrier is the landfill. Roots eventually grow into it, or it breaks into smaller pieces over time and then creates more junk for the landfill since in most cases it cannot be recycled.
Ask your landscaping company to use natural chipped wood or mulch, or fill up your own at the source with your own upcycled bags or a tarp. Have it delivered in bulk to share with friends, neighbors and landscapers too.
A Kinder World for All Life
The Times is crafted from the heart. Proudly written without AI.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Listen to our Podcasts too.
Donate to Living With Harmony so we can continue our PLANET-Based mission.
To our reoccurring donors, a big big thanks! Your love and faith in us keep us going! We love our volunteers too and can’t do this without you.
Send the Times to friends so they can check it out too. Previous editions of the PLANET-Based Times are on our home page.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.