If you’re like most folks in today’s dog-eat-dog, hustle-n-bustle world, you like to take a break every once in a while for some tasty iced cream. But you probably know that standard ice cream, while delicious, is not nutritious.

Also, you have to break the bank to get some store-bought ice cream that traveled hundreds (perchance even thousands!) of miles to get to you. So what’s the eco-savvy, cheap frugal hu-man to do when they get a craving for that frozen goodness?

I’ll tell you what. You just buck up, grab some ripe nanners, and follow this super easy recipe for homemade, organic, vegan, healthy ice creamsorbet!

Through the magic of frozen bananas, you should end up with a delectable dessert resembling this:

One-Ingredient “Ice Cream”
(AKA World’s Easiest Sorbet) Recipe

1) Chuck 4-5 ripe bananas into the freezer.
2) Once they’re frozen, throw them into a food processor (or good blender) and blend them like your life depended on it.

Makes two manly-sized servings.

That’s it! You’ll be sure to “go ape” for this! *runs off stage as crowd boos*

You may or may not know this, but I require a cup o’ joe every few hours or so. But sometimes you want some coffee rotch here, rotch now; and I ain’t talking none of that instant coffee. Bam, Dr. Drip Coffee to the rescue.

Dr. Drip is an on-the-go drip coffee system. It comes in little, single serve foil packets (not that eco-friendly), and inside are little single-cup coffee filters that you unfold. Here be a camera photo-graph to visually ‘splain what I’m talking about; please ignore the very Chinese communist mug:

This little, recyclable coffee filter sits on top of your coffee mug. Then you pour some boiling water through it. Voila, instant drip coffee!

The coffee itself is surprisingly tasty. And like all coffee grounds, you can simply compost the used coffee grounds, adding the nitrogen that plants crave.

While the foil-wrapped single-serve packets are not environmentally friendly, the fact that the rest of it can be recycled or composted helps boost its green score. So if you have a chance to taste this coffee, I suggest you give it a shot.

Veganism. No, it’s not some exotic disease. It’s more like the hardcore version of vegetarianism. But did you know it’s better for the environment than the run-of-the-mill omnivorism?

It takes a LOT of natural resources to raise meat (beef, pork, human, chicken, etc.), plus it can cause a lot of pollution from animal waste (for more on environmental reasons for vegetarianisn, por favor click this here link). The United Nations Environment Program’s (UNEP) International Panel of Sustainable Resource Management reported in 2010 that a global shift toward a vegan diet is critical to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Now, I’ve forayed into the vegetarian world before (such as when I made me some black bean burgers), but I still eat my fair share o’ meat. Recently, though, I was allowed the opportunity to sample some fine vegan products from Follow Your Heart.

I have to admit, I very much READ MORE »

Psst, hey you. Yeah, you. C’mere kid, I got a nugget o’ wisdom to share contigo. Have you ever wanted to make homemade sauerkraut (or “sourkrout”, as you might spell it) from cabbage, but you sadly thought, “Ain’t no way I can make that, it’s probably tricky as heck”?

Welp chin up, ’cause it’s really easy to make it, AND you get to experience the magic of lacto fermentation. Basically that just means the carbohydrates in the cabbage get turned into lactic acid, which breaks down food and makes it easier to digest. Eventually you end up with tasty, crisp, homemade sauerkraut that’s bursting with digestive enzymes and beneficial bacteria. Good for your digestive system and your taste buds.

Anyhoo, enough chit chat. Let’s get down to READ MORE »

Way back in the day, EcoJoes featured a captivating tale of how to turn the pumpkin scraps from carving a jack-o’-lantern into a whole mess of food.

So whilst you’re preparing for a green Halloween (or, dare I say, Hallogreen), don’t forget that you can use the pumpkin seeds and make scrumptious roasted pumpkin seeds, as well as some homemade pumpkin pie.

If you’re feeling extra adventurous, go ‘head and whip up a batch of garam masala pumpkin bread. It’s sure to transport you to exotic India!

Check out these delicious (and nutritious) roasted pumpkin seeds I just now fashioned, straight from a fresh jack-o’-lantern:

Leave me a lil’ comment if you have some other jawsome ideas on how to reuse waste from Halloween.

Hello? Is anyone here? Ugh, look at all these cobwebs on this website. It looks like it hasn’t been touched in over 3 months…

Wait, what’s that sound? Did you hear that? Hello? Hell– AAAHHH *crazed, bedraggled EcoJoe rushes up out of the darkness*

Hello there! And welcome to EcoJoes dot com! Say, do you ever get a hankering for some locally-raised, newly-ground hamburgers on fresh-baked buns? Well have I got a treat for you.

Bull City Burger and Brewery is a locally owned, independent burgershop n’ brewery located in “The City of Medicine”, Durham, NC.

Local Food

Not only is most of their food from North Carolina farms READ MORE »

As I lay starving on my cold, hard floor, wracked with hunger-induced hallucinations, the frantic sound of the doorbell jarred me to my senses.

Mustering the last dregs of my strength, I feebly opened the door and dully took in the styrofoam cooler, sent by none other than Prescott Frost, organic beef-seller extraordinaire.

This hormone-free, grass-fed beef was to be my salvation. READ MORE »