• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 cup hazelnuts

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and add the eggs.

Mix the eggs into the flour mixture along with the melted butter.

Chop the hazelnuts. Add the hazelnuts to the dough, turn out onto a floured surface and separate into three pieces.

Roll each piece into a 12 – 14 inch log.

Put the logs on a baking sheet and flatten with your palm.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 325 degrees. You want the dough logs to be firm and a little browned. You’ll probably want to use two cookie sheets to bake them, seeing what happened to mine:

Let the logs cool for 15 minutes on the tray. Put them on a cutting board, and using a serrated knife, cut into slices.

Put the slices on baking sheets and bake for ten minutes.

Flip the slices and bake for ten more minutes, or until golden, crispy and dry.

Now go get a latte, dip biscotti in it and enjoy. If I had any homemade nutella right now, I would spread some of that on them too.

• 1 cup dried coconut (I used unsweetened flakes that I bought in bulk)
• 4 cups water

Put the dried coconut and the water in a blender. Blend for a couple minutes on high. Strain and put in a container in the fridge. I used an old pasta sauce jar.

See? Easy! It’s even easier to make than almond milk, and that’s pretty easy too. It tastes good on its own, but you want a dairy free version of chocolate milk, try adding some chocolate syrup to it. Enjoy!

1. Use reusable shopping bags when you buy your ingredients. Use reusable produce bags too. You can buy these online (Etsy is a good source) or make them yourself.

2. Instead of buying pre-made pastry shells packaged in plastic for your pies, make your own pastry using plastic-free ingredients. Use parchment paper to chill it instead of plastic wrap. I have a recipe that calls for lard and a recipe that uses butter instead of lard.

3. I’m Canadian. I always eat tourtière (French-Canadian meat pie) at Christmas. This is the recipe I use. Bring a reusable container to buy the meat.

4. If you don’t eat meat, nutloaf is a good vegetarian option for Christmas dinner. I haven’t tried it, but if you want a vegetarian toutière you could try using nutloaf instead of meat to fill the pastry. This is the recipe I use for nutloaf.

5. Instead of cranberry sauce (unless you find a source of plastic-free cranberries), try this recipe for pear raisin chutney. It can easily be made plastic-free and it tastes great. It tastes awesome with tourtière (even better than cranberry sauce in my opinion).

6. Try one of my plastic-free pie recipes for dessert. If you make pumpkin pie, cook a whole pumpkin instead of buying canned pumpkin. I have recipes for rhubarb pie, pumpkin pie and walnut tart.

7. If you’re making stuffing,  make the bread for it yourself. Try throwing some chopped fresh herbs into the bread dough. I did this for Thanksgiving and it was really good.

8. Plastic-free Christmas cookies! I don’t have a lot of cookie recipes on here, but I do have one for sugar cookies. I didn’t put icing on them, but if you can find powdered sugar in bulk you can easily make plastic-free icing. You can also find food coloring in glass bottles at natural food stores if you want colored icing. I usually use silver dragées to decorate cookies but they’re banned in California. I buy them in Canada at Bulk Barn. I haven’t found plastic-free sprinkles (yet).

9. If you’re drinking on Christmas, try to find wines without plastic corks. Corkwatch is a database you can search to find wines with natural corks.

10. Store Christmas dinner leftovers in glass containers. Check out this list of things to use instead of plastic wrap for storing your leftovers.

I hope these tips help. Merry Christmas!

• 2 cups hazelnuts (bulk)
• 1 cup powdered sugar (bulk)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (bulk)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp vanilla (glass bottle)
• 3-5 tablespoons melted coconut oil (more or less depending on how thick or thin you want the spread to be)

Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking sheet. Roast at 400 degrees for ten minutes.

Rub the skins off. You can use a towel or you can use your hands.

If you don’t get every piece of skin off, it doesn’t matter. Sometimes the skins are really stubborn and they won’t come off. Put the hazelnuts in a food processor and process until you have hazelnut butter. This will take a couple minutes. A word on my food processor: I am aware that it’s plastic! It’s really old and I’m just using it until it breaks. I’m going to see if I can find a glass one once the one I have is totally shot.

Add all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Store in a glass jar in your fridge. It will solidify a bit when you refrigerate it, so don’t be worried if it seems too thin before you do that.

Enjoy with homemade graham crackers. Or eat several spoonfuls plain. I went with the second option.

1. Use reusable shopping bags when you buy your ingredients. Use reusable produce bags too. You can buy these online (Etsy is a good source) or make them yourself.

2. Instead of buying pre-made pastry shells packaged in plastic for your pies, make your own pastry using plastic-free ingredients. Use parchment paper to chill it instead of plastic wrap. I have a recipe that calls for lard and a recipe that uses butter instead of lard.

3. Instead of cranberry sauce (unless you find a source of plastic-free cranberries), try this recipe for pear raisin chutney. It can easily be made plastic free and it tastes great.

4. If you buy meat, bring your own container to do it. I make tourtière at Thanksgiving and I bought the beef for it in my own container this year. I use Lunchbots.

5. Don’t buy canned pumpkin this year. Food cans are lined with plastic that contains bisphenol-A (BPA), a toxic chemical. Instead, make puree from a whole pumpkin. Click here for the how to.

6. Plastic-free pie recipes? I have them. Pumpkin pie (no canned milk or canned pumpkin), walnut tart (no corn syrup) and rhubarb pie. This pecan pie recipe can be made plastic-free pretty easily as well.

7. Make your own stuffing instead of using the instant stuff. Avoid using bread in plastic bags for the stuffing. Go for bread in paper bags or, better yet, make your own.

8. If you’re drinking on Thanksgiving, try to find wines without plastic corks. Corkwatch is a database you can search to find wines with natural corks.

9. Store Thanksgiving leftovers in glass containers. Check out this list of things to use instead of plastic wrap for storing your Thanksgiving leftovers.

I hope these tips help you out. Have a great Thanksgiving!

• 3 lbs d’anjou pears
• 2 cups packed brown sugar (I bought it in bulk)
• 2 cups apple cider vinegar (I bought it in a glass bottle, but it unfortunately has a plastic lid. I’m going to reuse the bottle.)
• 1 onion (I don’t know what kind I used. It was some kind of heirloom onion I found at the farmers market. A yellow or white onion will work.)
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup raisins (I bought them in bulk)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (This is in a little plastic container. My family bought it years ago and I’m using it up. I’ll buy it in bulk when I run out.)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I bought it in bulk)
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves (Same story as the cayenne pepper)
• 2 tsp yellow mustard seed (Same story as the cayenne pepper and ground cloves)

Core and dice the pears, but don’t peel them.

Chop the onion. Mince the garlic and ginger.

Combine brown sugar and apple cider vinegar in a medium pot. Bring to a boil.

Add pears, onions, ginger, garlic, raisins, cayenne pepper, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves and mustard seed.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour to and hour and a half, or until thick and greatly reduced. Mine looked like this.

I ate some with lentil cauliflower dal for dinner tonight. It would also be good with nutloaf, tourtière and of course Thanksgiving turkey. Enjoy!

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 3 tbsp sugar (I used sucanat.)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder (I usually make homemade baking powder but I found some store-bought stuff in my cupboard so I decided to use it up.)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup melted butter (Or melted coconut oil if you want to make it coconuttier. That is probably not a word.)
• 1 cup milk (Or coconut milk if you want it coconuttier.)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I got it in a little glass bottle.)
• 1/2 tsp almond extract (Same as the vanilla – little glass bottle.)

Combine coconut flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, butter, milk, vanilla extract and almond extract.

Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Let sit for five to ten minutes. Coconut flour is very absorbent, and needs this time to soak up more liquid.

Melt some butter, coconut oil or some other kind of fat in a skillet over medium heat. I like to use cast iron skillets for pancakes, but my cast iron skillet can only accommodate one pancake at a time. So I use a stainless steel one for pancakes. Fry the pancakes for about two minutes on each side. Serve with maple syrup and butter, powdered sugar and lemon juice or jam. I used maple syrup and butter.

Enjoy! Check out my other plastic-free breakfast options for more breakfast ideas.

• Cauliflower (For lentil dal)
• Cabbage (For homemade sauerkraut)
• Bell pepper (For bell pepper leek quiche)
• Figs
• Italian heirloom onions
• Persimmons
• Broccolini
• Yellow zucchini (For ratatouille)
• Avocados
• Heirloom cucumbers
• Basil (For homemade pesto)
• Garlic
• Watermelon
• Apples
• Heirloom tomatoes
• Thompson grapes

What about you? Do you go to your local farmer’s market (if you have one)? If you want to find a farmer’s market near you, check out this website.

This recipe wasn’t intended to be part of my Mexican Food series. I just happened to make it. And about the arsenic in rice thing: I use locally grown California rice, and the rice that has the most arsenic is grown in the South where cotton farms used to be. These cotton farms used arsenical pesticides. Arsenic from these pesticides is still lingering in the soil there, and it contaminates the rice. Although California rice doesn’t have as much arsenic, it is still present. If you rinse your rice really well before you cook it (or use it for horchata), you can get rid of a lot of the arsenic. Cooking rice in lots of water and then draining extra water is supposed to help to. Here’s more information.

I love horchata. This recipe uses brown rice. I haven’t tried making regular horchata with white rice, but the best version I’ve had is one that my friend made for me with the one canned food I miss: sweetened condensed milk. If you’re a regular reader, you probably already know that I don’t eat canned food because most cans have a plastic lining that contains BPA (a toxic hormone-mimicking plastics chemical), and even if the label says “BPA-free” it’s still likely to contain some kind of hormone mimicking substance in the lining.  Anyway, my recipe uses cream top whole milk from a glass bottle. You don’t have to use whole milk, but I like to because it tastes awesome. Using this recipe, you can either make rice milk or horchata. Here’s are the ingredients you need for the recipe. (If you’re planning on just making plain rice milk, all you need is brown rice and water.)

• 1 cup rinsed brown rice (Short or long grain. I bought the rice in bulk.)
• 4 cups water (plus water to soak rice in overnight)
• 2 tsp cinnamon plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I bought this in bulk and put it in an old spice jar)
• 1 cup whole milk (I used milk in a glass bottle, which unfortunately has a plastic lid. This is the most plastic-free version I’ve found.)

Put rice and two teaspoons of cinnamon in a bowl. Add enough water to cover by about 1/2 an inch. Let sit overnight. I use plates or towels to cover things that I have soaking instead of plastic wrap. (If you’re just making plain rice milk, omit the cinnamon.)

The next day, drain the rice but don’t rinse it. Put it in a blender with the four cups of water. Blend for about three minutes on high.

Pour through a tea-towel lined strainer. Squeeze the towel to get out as much liquid as possible. You can save the rice puree and cook it to make porridge like this. If you just want to make plain rice milk, you’re done! Refrigerate and enjoy. To continue making horchata, put the rice milk back into your blender (make sure your blender doesn’t have chunks of rice puree in it).

Add honey, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and milk. Blend until well mixed. Serve with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Enjoy!

• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup lard (I’m a lard enthusiast. But you can use butter instead. Tenderflake lard is Canadian, so you won’t be able to find it in the US.)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 cup water

Combine flour and salt.

Add the lard and coconut oil. Using a pastry blender, cut the fat into the flour until the mixture resemble coarse crumbs.

Add the water. Mix until incorporate into a ball. Knead a few times.

Place the dough on a floured surface and divide into 12 pieces. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Roll out each piece of dough to about 1/16 inch thickness.

Put a skillet over medium heat. Cook each side for about 30 seconds.

Serve hot with refried beans, Spanish rice, guacamole, salsa, sour cream and cheese.