April 7
WORLD HEALTH DAY
On World Health Day we reached, and exceeded, our target of 365 new actions to restore planetary health in a day – thanks to the extraordinary efforts of all the dedicated people who made such an effort to be part of this community groundswell demanding urgent action – action at the rate of a whole year in one day!
Council and community contributed to exploring and sharing a wide range of actions. These will now provide inspiration to many, and this uplifting effort demonstrated what we, as a community, are capable of if we set our mind to it.
The day ended with Blue Mountains City Council’s Mayor, some of the Councillors, the General Manager, the Planetary Health Advisory Committee members, as well as academics and researchers all holding up Climate Action Now signs, which they then took home to display.
My main personal action was inspired by the Timor Learning Centre which committed a large number of actions to our World Health Day campaign today. I began upcycling two old plastic Grainpro bags into a rain poncho.
This is what I’m heading for:
This is how far I got … I’ll work on the hood tomorrow!
As part of my attempts to reach a zero-waste life, I was thrilled today too when the soap I’d made a few days ago, actually set and became a truly hard soap! I took it out of the moulds and sliced it up quite roughly …. rustic is what I think you could call it!
I hope to never throw used chip oil away again!
PLANT-BASED EATING: Chocolate Zucchini Cake
A day of celebration is always better with cake and at this time of year it’s hard to go past Chocolate Zucchini Cake. It’s also a great way to get your kids to eat greens!
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups plain flour
- ½ cup natural, unsweetened cocoa
- 2 ½ tspns baking powder
- 1 ½ tspns baking soda
- 1 tspn salt
- 1 tspn cinnamon
- 3/4 cup soft butter (or vegan substitute)
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 2 tspns vanilla extract
- 2 tspns grated orange peel
- 3 cups coarsely grated zucchini (from about 3 medium zucchinis)
- ½ cup milk or vegan substitute
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans
Topping
- ⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips or grated chocolate
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Drain the shredded zucchini: Set the shredded zucchini to drain in a sieve over a bowl. If no moisture drains out and the zucchini feels dry, sprinkle some water over it and let the excess drain.
- Whisk together dry ingredients: Vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bow, and set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients: With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugars until smooth. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a wooden spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini
- Mix dry with wet ingredients to make batter: Alternately stir in the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.
- Prep pan, add batter: Spray the inside of a 10-inch bundt pan or tube pan lightly with cooking spray (or grease with butter). Wipe off the excess. Pour in the batter and use a rubber spatula to level the top of the batter.
- Bake: Bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 50-55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean (test at 45 min).
- Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.Directions for the toppingIn a small microwavable bowl add chocolate chips, honey and olive oil. Stir to coat and then microwave at 30 second intervals until melted. Spread over cake.
PRODUCE > CONSUME
I’ve been growing kale indoors in pots to protect them from the cabbage white butterfly and tonight I sowed Goldrush lettuce under each plant.
WHAT ARE OTHER PEOPLE DOING
We had over 365 people contribute to A Year in a Day … it will take time to record them all!
0 Comments