Recipe: Very Green Avocado-Tahini Dip from Wild About Greens

 I can't wait to start cooking from July's VegCookbook, Wild About Greens by Nava Atlas. I hope you'll join us.

To get you excited about eatin' your greens, I asked Nava if I could share a recipe with you from the cookbook. She sent over her recipe for Very Green Avocado-Tahini Dip. Yum yum.

Enjoy!


Very Green Avocado-Tahini Dip
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Kind of a marriage of guacamole and hummus, and infused with a good amount of leafy greens, this rich dip makes its own unique statement. Serve with tortilla chips, fresh pita, pita chips, raw veggies, or a combination.

3 to 4 ounces baby spinach or arugula, or a combination
1 large, ripe avocado, peeled and diced
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, cilantro, or dill
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Rinse the greens and place in a large skillet or saucepan. With just the water clinging to the leaves, cook until just wilted down. Remove from the heat.

Place all the ingredients in the container of a food processor, and process until smooth. Add 1/4 water, as needed, to achieve a medium-thick consistency. Transfer to a serving bowl. Keep covered until ready to serve.

Serve at once as suggested in the headnote. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Photo by Susan Voisin.


Full disclosure: The link to Wild About Greens is attached to my Amazon Associates account. If you buy something after clicking on the link, I get a small percentage of the sale, which I'll probably use to buy more books!

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Nonprofits and Pinterest: Nonprofit Blog Carnival Round-up

Last month, I put out a call for posts about fun ways nonprofits are using Pinterest for the Nonprofit Blog Carnival.  Below are links to some examples, plus additional info and inspiration. Enjoy!

• Susan Chavez shared 4 ways she's using Pinterest with The Association of Junior Leagues International.
~ Pinterest: One Nonprofit's Story, Susan's Site

• Marc van Gurp highlighted the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Israel's "Pinsulin" campaign.
~ Pinsulin: repin for those who pin 12 times a day, osocio

• Christine Sculati created four Pinterest Boards to raise awareness about the California State Parks crisis.
~ Can Pinterest Help Nonprofits Promote Their Causes, Christine Sculati's Blog

• In her roundup of Pinterest resources, Lori Halley linked to a piece about how to organize an event with Pinterest.
~ Pinterest - What's It Good For?, Wild Apricot Blog

• Allison Fine interviewed Ian Haisley, Opportunity International's Director of Online Strategy, about how they used Pinterest to fundraise.
~  Using Pinterest to Raise Money: One Charity's Experiment, The Chronicle of Philanthropy

More examples, info, and inspiration

• 9 Pinterest Best Practices for Nonprofits, Nonprofit Tech 2.0
• 10 Strategies for Nonprofits on Pinterest, Mashable
• 12 Ways to Use Pinterest for Your Nonprofit, John Haydon
• Pinterest: A Tool to Curate Relevant Visual Content for Your Audience, Beth Kanter
• Pinterest for Nonprofits: 7 Orgs to Watch, Huffington Post
• Storify: Nonprofits on Pinterest, Beth Kanter
• Why I love Pinterest and Nonprofits Should Too, Social Velocity 

What do you like about using Pinterest?

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The July Nonprofit Blog Carnival will be hosted by the Fundraising Detective and has an Olympics theme!

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Comic and Video: Ocean Acidifiction

 

Before I started working with Upwell a couple months ago, I'd never heard of ocean acidification. You've probably never heard of it either considering that a study found that the Kardashians Get 40 Times More News Coverage Than Ocean Acidification.

Here's the skinny: burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and into the oceans.  Having all of that extra CO2 in the oceans is changing the chemistry of the water. It is becoming more acidic.  Not good.

Rosemary Mosco, a field naturalist and science communicator who loves using cartoons to express environmental issues, was nice enough to let me share her comic about ocean acidification (above) with you.  I appreciate that she explains such a disturbing  concept in a whimsical way. You can see the original illustration, and her other nature comics at birdandmoon.com. The bird are gross one really cracks me up.

 If you want to learn more about ocean acidification, watch this mini-documentary by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification, and check out the links below the video.

•  What is Ocean Acidification? on NRDC
• Ocean Acidification This Way Comes: A Wake Up Call for California on The Blog Aquatic. 
• Global Warming's Evil Twin Threatens West Coast Fishing Grounds on The Christian Science Monitor
• Acidifying Ocean Threatens California Coast on WIRED

If you'd like to get more involved in overall climate change issues, check out Philanthropedia's list of top climate change nonprofits. Note: The list was made in 2009, and they are in the process of updating it.  One org I think is missing from the list is 350.org.

Had you heard of ocean acidification before reading this post?

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Fair Trade Fashionista Discount at One Mango Tree

Isn't this One Mango Tree dress cute? Long time readers might remember One Mango Tree from my Big Vision Podcast interview with its founder, Halle Butvin, in the fall of 2011.

One Mango Tree is a clothing company that uses a fair trade model to provide income-generating opportunities for women in impoverished and conflict areas around the globe. At the moment, their work is focused in Uganda.  

Halle asked me if I'd like to share a special discount with you this month, and I said sure! Here's the scoop:

• Between June 23-June 30, 2012, Have Fun * Do Good readers will receive a 15% discount on everything in the One Mango Tree online store (including sale items!)


• To receive the discount, enter the discount code HAVEFUNDOGOOD at the very end of the check out process. There will be a prompt that says, "Have a discount code?" and a box to enter the code into.

• Each person who uses the coupon between June 23-June 30, 2012 will be entered into a drawing to win a Signature Hobo bag.

Have fun shopping!

P.S. I don't receive any compensation from One Mango Tree sales. I'm just giving them a shout out to help 'em out (:

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Do Good Movie for the Weekend: Oceans (VIDEO)

On World Oceans Day, I pledged to highlight the ocean on Water Wednesdays for the next three weeks, so today I'm sharing the trailer from the Disneynature movie, Oceans.

It's available on Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and of course, you should check and see if your local video store has it. It's rated G so *hopefully* it will be fun and appropriate for little ones too. Let me know if you watch the film, and what you think of it. 

During the trailer, you'll see oceanographer Sylvia Earle speaking. You can learn more about her work on the Sylvia Earle Alliance website.

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What's Your Big Vision for Summer 2012?

Hello Have Fun * Do Gooders!

Can you believe that we're halfway through the year, and that the first day of summer is on Wednesday? Take a look back at your Big Vision for 2012. How's it going? Do you need to change it in any way? What are your Big Visions for this summer, and this lunar month? How do they fit into your Big Vision for the year?

The hubs created another beautiful Big Vision worksheet (above) for us that you can download from Dropbox for free.  If you need help filling it out, lemme know!

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Whale Song (Video) for Water Wednesday

Last week, I pledged to highlight the ocean on "Water Wednesdays" for the next four weeks, so today I'm sharing this beautiful video of whales "singing" from The Oceania Project's YouTube Channel.

If after watching the video, you're interested in learning more about whale conservation, here are a handful of organizations to check out:

• American Cetacean Society (@CetaceanSociety)
• Pacific Whale Foundation (@PacificWhale)
• Whales Alive
  
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (@WHALES_org)
• Whalewatch

P.S. I'm not recommending these orgs over any others. I just thought their sites were worth sharing. 
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World Oceans Day (June 8) + Water Wednesdays

Hello Have Fun, Do Gooders!

As part of my work with Upwell this month, we're helping to spread the word about World Oceans Day (June 8).  One way you can help raise awareness about the importance of ocean conservation is to take a photo of yourself with a sign that says one thing you'll do to help the ocean + #worldoceansday

You can share your photo on:

• Facebook: Tag the World Oceans Day Facebook Page, or post directly on it.
• Twitter: Include #WorldOceansDay and @CelebrateOceans in your tweet.
• Flickr: Upload to their group.
• Instagram: Tag it with #WorldOceansDay.

I'm pledging to highlight the ocean on Water Wednesdays on Have Fun • Do Good for the next four weeks (June 13, 20, 27 and July 4). As a teaser, here's a  peaceful little video I've been loving by the Living Oceans Foundation of a whale shark near Wolf Island, Galapagos.

Twive and Receive: Nationwide Social Good

Guest post by Ifdy Perez. Ifdy is the community manager at Razoo, an online fundraising platform that empowers individuals and nonprofits to meet their fundraising goals through online giving campaigns. She's also editor of Inspiring Generosity, a blog that gives nonprofits helpful resources on online community management and social media tools.

It’s truly remarkable to see when communities come together to make a change for the common good. Heard of HopeMob or Twestival? In some cases, complete strangers come together to make a difference.

Next Thursday, June 14th, communities across the U.S. are coming together to make a difference in their hometown. Over 200 nonprofits have signed up to represent their city in the upcoming Twive and Receive competition (pronounced like Give and Receive). This competition pits nonprofits to see who can fundraise the most in just 24 hours. The top three organizations get an additional share of $30,000 in prizes to add to the pot they collected.

Starting at 12AM Pacific on June 14th, you can join the thousands supporting their local community by donating to your favorite cause and help them rise to the top of the leaderboards. Check out the list of participating cities and nonprofits, and show your support for this epic nationwide giving event!

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