Growers and Grocers

Punk Rock Cabinet de la Meridienne, Alison Nelson’s Chocolate Bar – located on the third floor atrium of Bendel’s – is the perfect respite for fair trade organic tea and single origin fair trade truffles.
After an exhibit at MoMA, a visit to the polar bears at the Central Park Zoo, or window shopping at Tiffany’s, […]

I’m pretty new to this whole…”green living”…thing. I’ve lived most of my life in a very sheltered little bubble where Abbey did what Abbey wanted to do. But, I guess I’ve grown up recently, because now I suddenly see the world in a while new light.
As I’ve begun my own personal journey into making our […]

My daughter is just beginning to eat baby food. So far, it’s Earth’s Best Organic Rice Cereal and First Apples. But ultimately, I would rather be making her baby food with fresh produce.
Therein lies the dilemma: Is it better to make fresh baby food with grocery store produce, since the growing season in the northeast […]

 
Since I am not the primary consumer of ketchup in my household (that distinction belongs to my kids), I decided to enlist the whole family in taste-testing this product. We sampled Wholemato’s Organic Agave Ketchup on roasted potatoes, which were otherwise flavored only with sea salt, black pepper, and a little bit of olive oil.
Upon […]

Organic “fun snax” have come a long way since the soy-nut-and-dried-papaya gorp of my youth. We now can send our kids off to school with a FruitaBü Organic Smoooshed Fruit Flat in their lunch bag, content in the knowledge that (a) it’s organic, (b) it’s half a serving of real fruit, and (c) they’ll probably […]

As I pine for spring, it’s only fitting that my first post for Growers and Grocers is about a series of salsas available from the award-winning supermarket Wegmans. I love the store, but my only complaint about Wegmans is that because the company regularly introduces its own branded products, this process limits shelf space and […]

My kids like toaster pastries for the same reasons I almost never buy them: they’re ultrasweet, smeared (and sometimes filled) with sugary frosting, and although they don’t remotely resemble anything like an actual “pastry,” they’re weirdly addictive. Most trips to the grocery store include a pass through the seemingly ever-expanding toaster-pastry aisle and a brief, […]

In addition to trying to break the paper plate habit (or at least curb it), I’m also working on cutting my paper towel usage, but it ain’t easy. 
Enter Peaceful Company.  They have come up with a biodegradable cleaning cloth that, no joke, does the work of a stack of paper towels.  The sponge is dishwasher-safe, made […]

Author Michael Pollan did a full two years of research in writing his latest book, In Defense of Health.  Throughout the nutrition and health tome, he offers this bottom line, “Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.”  Sounds simple enough.
In a recent issue of People magazine, he gave a few of his specific tips:
Shop the periphery […]

Unfortunately, when it comes to “going green,” the cost is sometimes prohibitive.  Let’s face it - it usually costs more out-of-pocket to be environmentally conscious, whether it’s buying organic produce or a green cleaning product.  That’s why I’m particularly interested in trying out Clorox’s new Green Works line of cleaners. 
Made with 99% natural biodegradable ingredients […]