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When you think of formaldehyde, it may conjure up images of frogs floating in jars from your high school biology classroom. The truth is, however, that many of your personal care products contain formaldehyde or formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, and you may not even know it. And believe me, that is creepy!

Lacto-fermentation is one of history’s most traditional ways of preserving food. Using naturally-occuring bacteria that are present in every living thing, this method of pickling things is also one of the healthiest. Made without added sugars, vinegars, or additives, just sea salt and water are all you need to get started. In this seasonal late winter recipe, I’ve fermented watermelon radishes. See how it’s done!

Meyer Lemons get their name from the agricultural explorer Frank N. Meyer who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the early 1900s and brought this citrus hybrid back from China. After short-lived success, much to their (and our!) misfortune, the Meyer Lemon tree was banned in the 1940s to protect against a spreading virus. A turn of luck, however, and a new virus-free version was created in the early '70s. Meyer lemons have a thin skin and are less tart than the ubiquitous Lisbon and Eureka. Their flesh is a light orange-yellow color with juice sweeter than that of most lemons - a perfect culinary blend of a lemon and a mandarin.

Every self-respecting cook has one or two... or more. Secret ingredients don't need to be fancy; in my kitchen it's usually Worcestershire, sour cream or black pepper. Each adds a little depth and unexpected flavor to a dish, without overpowering it. Hence, you can use some pretty basic items to spice up even the classiest meals. Here are a few ingredients you probably have in your pantry right now, and plenty of ideas to experiment with.

Whether you are a full-on cloth-diapering, organic-onesie eco mom, or more of a super busy, no-drama mama watching your bottom line, making your own baby food can be a lot simpler—and less expensive—than you might think.

You don't need to fill your Valentine's Day with diamonds (every woman will get the same style and design this year -- how unique is that?), chocolate or with an overpriced and remarkably underwhelming, fatty Valentine's Day dinner. Your Valentine will continue to hold a candle for you no matter how you express your love, even if it's with a free Valentine's gift. With a little planning and a lot of heart, you can express your love for your sweetheart through actions.

We are SO passionate about our food choices! But why is that? Nothing, except perhaps religion and politics, evokes as much heated emotion as debates over whether or not we should be eating meat or GMOs or if high fructose corn syrup and junk food are really all that bad for us. And then there's the issue of straight up preferences—the gross factor of foods that make us feel like gagging just when we think about them (please, nobody say "asparagus").

We've all heard the saying, “what’s mine is yours.” That cute, quip of a saying is now a significant movement called collaborative consumption! People are trading, bartering, renting and swapping goods, services and skills like never before. While our elders engaged in traditional collaborative consumption and communal sharing in local townships years ago, modern-day collaborators reach each other via, what else, technology.

Over the last few years, a faulty tip has persisted on the Internet. Can PLU codes – those four- or five-digit numbers on produce stickers – really indicate whether a food is genetically modified? Not really. There are other surefire ways to avoid GMOs, and a big effort underway to put a real red flag on genetically modified produce and packaged foods.

The pressed salad represents everything traditional Japanese: minimalistic but stylized, simple but complex, easy but precise. And that fact should be no surprise, as the iconic dish has roots in Macrobiotic cuisine. Read on to learn what this beautiful salad is, and how to perfect it at home.

I don't know about you, but after all the overindulgence that generally characterizes the all-American Super Bowl Sunday, well, I'm feeling like some detox fare come Monday. So, today's Meatless Monday is dedicated to getting you back on track and replacing nachos and pepperoni with some much-needed nutritionally-dense dishes. Here are some inspired recipes from our healthiest blogger friends.

As we continue our close-up on local cheese makers, we move west. The Pacific Northwest is home to a large variety of goat cheese producers, big and small. Many work with all-natural products and time-honored methods to produce the best in fresh cheese... but are they organic? Not necessarily... but that's not always a bad thing. Once we learn to look beyond the labels, we sometimes find small, local farmers that are just as concentrated on what's important in quality cheesemaking-- if not more so -- than certified organic farmers.

Did you know that babies can benefit from superfoods, too? Just as full-grown adults can stay healthy and vibrant from eating a colorful, fresh food diet, our young infants and toddlers can reap the same rewards. Start your youngin’ off on the right foot in life with a superfood diet full of wholesome, natural ingredients. It doesn’t take any fancy equipment, expensive ingredients or specialty brand names to do it—just real fruits and vegetables and a strong hand to mash foods down. That’s it!

A win for sustainable food lovers! FarmPlate, an online directory, helps sustainable foodies find establishments, markets and businesses that buy and sell thier kind of food, that is, the sustainable stuff.

Do not underestimate the promise that lies within a good paint job. Whether your second bedroom is in desperate need of a spruce up or you're helping your daughter put her personal stamp on a new room to call her own, paint can provide a relatively cheap, noticeable spark to any space. But in all the fun that is choosing colors, don't skip over one extremely important, but simple, step: Checking to see if the paint is non-toxic.