You've changed all of your light bulbs to those energy-saving twisty kind, you faithfully recycle your newspapers, glass and plastics, and you've even installed a low-flow toilet.
You may be feeling as green as Kermit the Frog, but there's one big area that you may have overlooked for conversion: the kitchen.
Going green in the kitchen doesn't mean turning into a vegetarian, said Jackie Newgent, a dietitian, cooking instructor and cookbook author of the newly released "Big Green Cookbook" (Wiley, 2009). Newgent, a Fairlawn, Ohio, native, said she was motivated to write the book after learning more about climate change and the negative way carbon emissions are changing the environment.
Newgent's advice is to pick just three things to try to change. "Three things that you know are realistic. . . . It's like dieting: If you try to do it all at once, you get overwhelmed," she said.
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Don't get discouraged if you find your old habits are hard to break. "Every little change adds up to a big difference in the long run, even if it is just one change," Newgent said.
Here are some suggestions for greening your cooking and kitchen:
• Limit the time the stove/ oven is used.
Never light the oven or turn on a burner when a small appliance will do the job. Microwave ovens, toaster ovens, electric griddles, panini makers and, yes, even a slow cooker all consume less energy than a traditional gas or electric stove.
Consistently using these small appliances can make a huge difference in your energy consumption, Newgent said. Even though slow cookers are typically on for hours at a time, they will burn less energy than a traditional oven to prepare the same dish, such as a roast.
Look for ways to lessen the amount of time the oven and burners are on. When cooking pasta, Newgent recommends using skinny varieties, like angel hair, that will cook more quickly. She also uses a method she dubs "lid cooking" to turn the stove off sooner.
Newgent brings a pot of water to a boil, adds her pasta and brings it up to a boil again. But then she turns the heat off, puts a lid on the pot, and lets the pasta finish cooking from the heated water.
Consider making one meal each week that doesn't require using the stove at all, such as a salad.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables, less meat.
Newgent suggests eating one meatless meal per week. It requires more energy to produce meat than vegetables and fruits. Cutting meat out of just one meal per week can lead to significant energy savings over a year, she said.
• Run an energy-efficient kitchen.
While new major kitchen appliances may not be in the budget for many homeowners, most would see an immediate savings on electric bills with the conversion.
Appliance repairman Bryan Rambler, who operates Mr. Appliance of Northern Summit County in Akron, Ohio, said newer kitchen appliances use about half the energy of ones made before the mid-1990s.
He said proper care of appliances also will keep them running on less energy.
Refrigerators should be away from sunlight and heat sources, like ovens. The warmer the environment, the harder the appliance will have to work and the more energy it will use.
Refrigerators also need breathing room — at least two or three inches of open space between the coils and the wall behind them to allow for better air circulation. Keeping refrigerator coils clean of dirt, dust and pet hair also will improve performance.
• Eat seasonally and buy locally.
When cooking, select fruits and vegetables that are in season and look for local sources for foods.
Jeannine Snyder, food chairwoman for the Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair at Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, said buying local means getting better produce.
"It doesn't travel for 1,500 miles and it's fresher," she said.
Studies have shown that foods on average travel 1,500 miles to get to our plates. And while the jury is still out on whether buying locally versus trucking foods across country actually saves fossil fuel, there is no argument that fresher foods are more nutritious.
• Be waste-conscious.
The terms "reduce, recycle and reuse" apply to food as well as traditional recyclables, Newgent said.
Recycling household waste — paper, glass, plastic and metal — is a good place to start in the kitchen. But Newgent said food scraps can also be recycled through composting.