Will you be marking the Fourth of July holiday with a classic summertime cookout?
Or will you be going vegetarian, vegan or even gluten-free at your BBQ? If that’s the case, here are some pointers for July 4 and throughout the summer.
If you feel the holiday just won’t be complete without firing up the grill, but you don’t want to down burgers and dogs, then check out One Green Planet’s 30 epic vegan-friendly grilling ideas, from grilled artichoke and quinoa lettuce wraps to red lentil burgers with kale pesto (which you can follow up with 30 vegan desserts, from grilled fruit kebabs to cardamom rose cupcakes (who doesn’t love cardamom?)).
Not sure that anything coming off the grill could taste as good as a cheeseburger? Read this recipe for grilled avocado with salsa and see if your mouth doesn’t water.
Ok, say you want a more traditional cookout, but you want to skip a lot of the fat, cholesterol and salt that accompanies burgers, chips, potato salad and other BBQ offerings. Take traditional picnic foods and put a healthy twist on it, such as swapping out a mayo-based macaroni salad with a Greek pasta salad with red wine vinaigrette, and deviled eggs with avocado stuffed eggs.
Here are some tips for a healthier traditional cookout from the Cleveland Clinic:
Choose a Lean Entrée
Instead of high-fat hamburgers and hot dogs, choose lower-fat proteins. It’ll be a great change-up from traditional cookout foods, and your guests will be delighted. Here are some tasty entrée ideas:
Fresh fish can be grilled whole, in steaks or filets, or on a kebob. Salmon, grouper, shrimp and tuna are great grilling options.
Whole chicken or chicken breasts can be made in a variety of ways, like marinating with chipotle seasoning, vinaigrettes, barbecue sauce, jerk sauce or Cajun seasoning. If using chicken with skin, remove the skin before eating.
Lean pork or beef tenderloin, trimmed of fat.
Vegetable-based burgers. Portobello, black bean, roasted vegetable or burgers made with textured vegetable protein are flavorful options.
Grilled vegetables make for a great entrée themselves, especially veggies with hearty flavors like portobello mushrooms, squash, onions and peppers.
Turkey or chicken burgers made with all-white-meat ground turkey or chicken.
Lighten up the Salad
Liven up pasta and potato salad with these ideas to limit saturated fat:
Add grilled, raw or roasted vegetables. They’ll help bulk up the salad while lowering the calorie count.
Use a flavorful vinaigrette dressing instead of a creamy dressing. Try a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, an acid (such as lemon juice, red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar) and fresh herbs and spices.
If you just can’t do without the creamy potato salad, substitute full-fat mayonnaise with light mayo or light sour cream. Use small amounts of creamy toppings and add flavor with pickle juice, lemon juice or fresh herbs.
Try using spicy arugula pesto or traditional basil pesto sauce in your pasta salad for a refreshing, healthy change.
Choose whole wheat farfalle (bowtie), penne (tubular) or fusilli (spiral) pasta instead of enriched pasta. Or, make the salad using half enriched pasta and half whole wheat pasta.
Dijon mustard is a great addition to vinaigrettes, as are rice wine, balsamic and champagne vinegars. To give a southwestern pasta salad some kick, add some adobo sauce or chopped chipotle peppers.
Add a Healthy Side Dish
Instead of high-fat potato chips and other unhealthy snacks, try some of these ideas:
Fresh fruit kebobs. Put fresh strawberries, melon, grapes and pineapple on skewers, or toss it all into a big bowl and enjoy!
Mozzarella, cherry tomato and basil kebobs are delicious! You can also layer the ingredients on a tray and sprinkle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a refreshing side dish.
Instead of fried chips, try serving veggie chips, but not the bagged kinds! Thinly slice jicama, carrot coins, zucchini and cucumber and serve with hummus.
Zesty corn and black bean salad.
Serve baked tortilla chips with fresh salsa or guacamole.
Make a beautiful array of grilled vegetables and serve warm or at room temperature.
Serve corn on the cob with a variety of toppings like lime juice and grated parmesan cheese.
Prepare a tricolor salad made with radicchio, endive and arugula. Toss with a red wine vinaigrette dressing.
Offer fresh whole wheat pita with olives, tabbouleh salad and hummus.
Go Light on the Drinks
Instead of high-calorie, sugary drinks, try offering these refreshing choices:
Ice water with cucumber and lemon slices.
Sparkling water “spiked” with a dash of 100 percent fruit juice.
Fresh squeezed lemonade with a small amount of sugar.
Black or green unsweetened tea.
What are some of your favorite healthy cookout dishes?
"Now that we are spending more time at home, we are noticing the large number of delivery vans and lorries driving through cities," said Netherlands environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven, announcing plans to ban all but zero-emission deliveries in 14 cities.
"The agreements we are setting down will ensure that it will be a matter of course that within a few years, supermarket shelves will be stocked, waste will be collected, and packages will arrive on time, yet without any exhaust fumes and CO2 emissions," she added.
She expects 30 cities to announce zero emission urban logistics by this summer. City councils must give four years' notice before imposing bans as part of government plans for emission-free road traffic by 2050. The city bans aim to save 1 megaton of CO2 each year by 2030.
Help to Change
To encourage transport organizations to go carbon-free, the government is offering grants of more than US$5,900 to help businesses buy or lease electric vehicles. There will be additional measures to help small businesses make the change.
The Netherlands claims it is the first country in the world to give its cities the freedom to implement zero-emission zones. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht already have "milieuzones" where some types of vehicles are banned.
Tilburg, one of the first wave of cities imposing the Dutch ban, will not allow fossil-fuelled vehicles on streets within its outer ring road and plans to roll out a network of city-wide electric vehicle charging stations before the ban comes into effect in 2025.
"Such initiatives are imperative to improve air quality. The transport of the future must be emission-free, sustainable, and clean," said Tilburg city alderman Oscar Dusschooten.
Europe Takes Action
Research by Renault shows that many other European cities are heading in the same direction as the Netherlands, starting with Low Emission Zones of which Germany's "Umweltzone" were pioneers. More than 100 communes in Italy have introduced "Zonas a traffico limitato."
Madrid's "zona de baja emisión" bans diesel vehicles built before 2006 and petrol vehicles from before 2000 from central areas of the city. Barcelona has similar restrictions and the law will require all towns of more than 50,000 inhabitants to follow suit.
Perhaps the most stringent restrictions apply in London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges trucks and large vehicles up to US$137 a day to enter the central area if they do not comply with Euro 6 emissions standards. From October, the ULEZ is being expanded.
Cities are responsible for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global final energy use, according to the green thinktank REN21 - and much of these come from transport. Globally, transport accounts for 24% of world CO2 emissions.
The Rise of Online Shopping
Part of the reason for traffic in urban areas is the increase in delivery vehicles, as online shopping continues to grow. Retailer ecommerce sales are expected to pass $5billion in 2022, according to eMarketer.
The World Economic Forum's report The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem, published in January 2020, estimates that e-commerce will increase the number of delivery vehicles on the roads of the world's 100 largest cities by 36% by 2030.
If all those vehicles burn fossil fuels, the report says emissions will increase by 32%. But switching to all-electric delivery vehicles would cut emissions by 30% from current levels as well as reducing costs by 25%, the report says.
Other solutions explored in the report include introducing goods trams to handle deliveries alongside their passenger-carrying counterparts and increased use of parcel lockers to reduce the number of doorstep deliveries.
Reposted with permission from the World Economic Forum.