What can we be doing as individuals to help our planet? Well, it starts on our plate. No, I’m not trying to “brainwash” you into becoming vegan, but I am trying to raise awareness on how our actions affect the environment (and mostly negatively, unfortunately). For instance – food waste. Over 40% of the food supply is wasted in the US alone and I am so passionate about trying to minimize this waste that I even did a TEDx Talk on it AND have the first eco-column in The Washington Post called ECOKITCHEN (it’s free to subscribe FYI!)! While we can’t all go and change sanitation systems, we CAN affect how much actually goes INTO our landfills. We as individuals can minimize waste via methods like low-waste cooking.

In this mini series for April – one of my favorite months because it’s Earth Month – I will be sharing several vegan (of course) and low-waste recipes throughout the month to showcase easy ways we can minimize waste ending up in the landfill. If we each do our part, it can and will add up for the greater good. Welcome to My Ecokitchen (this may be a fabulous book title one day ;)).

In Episode one we will be exploring the highly wasted, but nutritious and delicious Carrot Top. The beautiful green tops of your carrots that you normally discard. Giving it a good thorough wash will enable you to make anything! Like this vibrant carrot top pesto.

Carrot Top Pesto:

• 3 cups Carrot Tops – washed and leaves picked from the stems

• 1 cup fresh Basil leaves
• 1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp vegan parmigiana cheese
• 1 tbsp toasted unsalted pine nuts
• 1 tbsp vegan cream cheese
• 1 serrano or chili flakes for spice (optional)
• 1 tbsp light agave syrup
• kosher salt
• black pepper

1. Blend everything together until very smooth and vibrant green. Taste and adjust for salt and agave (the carrot tops can be slightly bitter, so I add agave and chili to balance it).

2. Store in an airtight container for 7-10 days. Spread on sandwiches/paninis, pizza, toss into pasta, spread on toast, add in pasta cooking water to make a sauce, etc!!