Lemon Pepper and Garlic Pitas

This recipe is amazing and offers so many flavors when paired together.  When made in the crock pot it can be made a day ahead or allowed to cook all day and enjoyed when the dinner bell rings.

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 white onion

1 tbs. fresh garlic

1 tbs. lemon pepper seasoning

1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 cup of water

A pinch of oregano

A pinch of paprika

A pinch of sea salt

A pinch of black pepper

(The last four ingredients can be altered to your liking according to your taste)

Additionally you'll need:

1 cucumber

1 tomato

1/2 cup light mayo

Whole wheat pita pockets

1.  Chop the onion in bite-sized chunks and place on bottom of crock pot.  

2.  Weigh your chicken breasts and use roughly about 1.5 lbs. of chicken breast.  Cut off any fat along the edges.

3.  Add in the garlic, lemon pepper, and remaining ingredients on top of the chunks of onion.

Aren't those little stands the cutest?  All they are is a candlestick glued to a small saucer with E-6000 glue.  Find the tutorial HERE!

Be sure and save all of your scraps from any vegetable cuttings to use in your garden for compost.  

4.  After the chicken has cooked in the crock pot for about four to five hours remove it from the crock pot and shred the chicken.

I like to shred it completely then place it back into the crock pot to soak up some of the liquid from the cooking process.

5.  In a separate bowl mix the mayo and 1/2 of the juices from cooking your chicken.  

Finally, open up your pita pocket and coat the inside with the mayo mixture, add in the shredded chicken, top with tomatoes.  

Add a little sea salt and black pepper to the top and serve along side your sliced cucumbers.

ENJOY!

Eco-Tip:  Eating clean can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but the bottom line of eating clean means picking organic and natural over the other.  Making better choices for your health and eating habits can yield long term benefits in the long run.  For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

Contrast of color

Eco-Tip:  To enhance your green lifestyle consider green apps to add to your smart phone to give you the encouragement and the boost you need to keep on the right track.  Consider an app called GoodGuide.  It's an app that can help you make better choices at the grocery store.  For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth Day and it's one of my favorite times of the year.  Earth Day is a great day to start a spring cleaning of your habits that aren't good for the planet or yourself.  I like to use this time to revamp the way I think and the way I do things from the previous 12 months and make a complete overhaul of my thinking and habits for the good of the planet and myself.  

Last year I started adding green books to my book shelf and while doing that I found that most of the eco-friendly, planet-happy books were actually based on all the same thing, living better for the planet.  The last few weeks I add two more books to my shelf and in lieu of Earth Day here is my 2013 Green List of Books to add to your shelf as well.

South North South 2013 Green List of Books

1.  Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck:  Longing for a kinder, gentler world? As the old saying goes, everything begins at home, and odds are, if you live in the all-American household, the air inside is more toxic than the air outside, even if you live in the most polluted of cities. You regularly handle the filthiest object in your home -- the kitchen sponge -- and put the same chemicals on your face that are used in brake fluid and antifreeze.  Buy your copy HERE!

2.  Super Natural Home by Beth Greer:  The straightforward, solutions-based approach of Super Natural Home—complete with quizzes to help identify and correct potential toxic hot zones—speaks directly to what environment-conscious consumers really need: ultra-practical advice on what they can do right now to limit exposure to the poisons that are endangering them and their children. At a time when impeccable scientific research points to an alarming correlation between common chemical compounds and cancers, allergies, psychiatric disorders, and birth defects, among other serious health concerns, Super Natural Home gives consumers the tools to start protecting themselves and their families.  Buy our copy HERE!

3.  Green Living by Environmental Magazine (E Magazine):  With advice on everything from planet-friendly cosmetics to home-based renewable energy, and straight talk on hemp, hybrids and hair coloring, Green Living is the ideal reference for both the neophyte and the experienced environmentalist.  Buy your copy HERE!  Find out more about E Magazine HERE!

4. Complete Guide to Natural Home Remedies by National Geographic:  Peppermint, lemon juice, rosemary, and turmeric. Yoga, deep breathing, meditation, and social engagement. From herbs and foods to bodywork and lifetime habits, along with ginger, pomegranate, acupressure, and more. These are the healing ways of yesteryear, and they still work today. Now they join forces in this beautiful, practical book, packed with the power of nature and the ease of finding remedies on hand.  Buy your copy HERE!   

5.  Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening by Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara W. Ellis, and Ellen Phillips:  Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening has been the go-to resource for gardeners for more than 50 years—and the best tool novices can buy to start applying organic methods to their fruit and vegetable crops, herbs, trees and shrubs, perennials, annuals, and lawns. This thoroughly revised and updated version highlights new organic pest controls, new fertilizer products, improved gardening techniques, the latest organic soil practices, and new trends in garden design.  Buy your copy HERE!

And don't forget to plant a tree today to honor our dear Mother Earth!

To read more about what you can do to observe Earth Day read more from my Examiner.com pages at Oregon Green Living Examiner and Little Rock Green Living Examiner.   And be sure to notice the Eco-Tips at the bottom of each post here at South North South to help you go green and live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Eco-Tip:  Today is Earth Day, go green in a more subtle way by simply beginning a recycling habit within your own home.  Small changes can lead to big benefits over time.  For this and other tips on going green visit The Earth and Me Go Green.

  

Mount Angel Abbey in St. Benedictine, Oregon

Mount Angel Abbey is a community of Benedictine Monks founded in 1882 from the Abbey of Engelberg in Switzerland. We maintain a monastic tradition that has been a vital part of the Roman Catholic Church for more than 1500 years. Responding to God's call to holiness and preferring nothing whatever to Christ, we dedicate ourselves, under a Rule and an abbot to a life of prayer and work. We strive to support one another in community, to serve God, the Church, and the larger society. We do this as we celebrate the Holy Eucharist together, pray the Liturgy of the Hours five times daily in choir, and devote ourselves to reading and silence. (source)

Unfortunately we got to the Abbey when the museum was closed, but it is open every day from 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.-5 p.m.  Also during the year the abbey has other tourist events such as the Arts and Wine Festival and the Bach Festival too.  Information about them can be found on their site or by clicking the links below.

7th Annual Festival of Arts and Wine .... and Beer!

Saturday, June 29, 2013 1-5 PM

42nd Annual Abbey Bach Festival

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, July 24, 25 and 26, 2013

While we were out and about in Mount Angel we took advantage of the town's other sites too.  

The Glockenspiel Restaurant in Mount Angel.

The decorative Mount Angel Police Department.

The shaped trees at the Mount Angel Sausage Company.

The main fountain in city center.

The lone tree.

Eco-Tip:  Be sure and turn your computer off at night when not in use.  Powering down your laptop and desktop at night can save you about 40 watts of power.  For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.