In my forthcoming book, Eat Less Water, I list the top five action steps to initiate in your kitchen to save water. Cooking meals at home as much as possible is one of them. When you cook meals, you control the source of your ingredients. Only then can you ensure the food you eat is water sustainable.
Water sustainable food minimally diverts water from its natural course. For example, dry farmed or rain-fed agriculture is grown with natural rain, green water, using no water from the ground or rivers and lakes. Since 7 out of every 10 gallons of water is used to grow food, we need to support farming methods that grow food with less water like dry farming, biodynamic farming, and rotational grazing.
Water sustainable food reduces pollution, with the elimination of chemical fertilizers, and pesticides. And it minimizes nutrient runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus, the largest contributor of dead zones in our oceans.
To bring in the fall season, my girls baked a pumpkin pie. It wasn’t made from scratch. We swapped fresh pumpkins for canned organic pumpkin puree, and the organic crust was pre-made, but the pie was homemade. The eggs came from a small local farm, Harvest Gathering Farm. No xanthan gum (derived from corn or soy the two largest GMO crops), palm oil, corn syrup or a dozen more additives, and preservatives were in our pie.
The fall season is a great time to usher in a practice of cooking more homemade food. Rivers, underground aquifers, and oceans need us in our kitchens. Take control of the ingredients in your food.
Simple Organic Homemade Pumpkin Pie
- 1 (15 ounce) can organic pumpkin pie puree
- 1 (14 ounce) can organic evaporated milk
- 2 large organic pasture-raised eggs
- 1 teaspoon ground organic cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon organic nutmeg (unnecessary if the puree is spiced)
- pinch of salt
- 1 (9 inch) unbaked organic pie crust
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool and serve with homemade whipped cream. I use heavy whipping cream from Organic Valley Farms, sold nationwide. Or serve with homemade ice cream. Click here for recipe.
There is power in the collective.
Eat less water at the kitchen table!
Be well,
Florencia
I’ve never thought about cooking with “less water”. It’s hard to keep up with all the food politics these days without feeling guilty about what you eat or buy. I appreciate your blog and will keep an open mind while reading it. And I love pumpkin pie!
I like the idea you present here. It sounds to me that by following your basic principle of water preservation we would autmatically be healthier all around. Truly brilliant.
Thank you for your feedback. While the book I wrote, is not a “health” book, I’ve come to learn that if something is not good for a river, it’s not good for us either. We are each a drop of water.
Be well,
Florencia