Milk is a much-needed donation at your local food bank!

I confess I don’t like everything about the holidays (The sweets!  The overspending!)  But one thing I do love about this time of year is the way many of us are inspired to do things to help others.  Yes, I know some people donate for tax purposes.  But whatever motivates it, when people give to help those who are less fortunate, it’s all good. 

Sadly, one in seven people in America face hunger, and many Americans rely on food banks to have enough food for their families.  And milk is one of the least donated items to food banks; in fact families who receive food from food banks get less than one gallon of milk per year.  

I’m grateful to my friend Heidi at FoodieCrush who told me recently about Santas Milk Drive, a milk donation program sponsored by The Great American Milk Drive to encourage donating milk during the holidays. If you visit the website and donate money for milk between now and December 31, every gallon of milk you finance will be matched by Feeding America.  (I just made a donation; you enter your state to be sure the milk you donate goes to food banks in your area.)  Please help by making a donation to Santa’s Milk Drive if you can.

Now here are a few more things I’ve been thinking about . . .

I’m not that into decorating for the holidays (I don’t have the crafting or decorating gene!)  But this is definitely my kind of Christmas tree!

Cookbook author Mark Bittman is pretty spot-on when he says there are really only Two Rules for a Good Diet.  (And even during this month of excess you can’t go wrong by paying a little attention to those two rules.)

I’m pretty sure this is going to be my favorite movie of 2014.  (And I just started reading the book that inspired the movie.)

If you’re using coconut oil or wondering about it, you may want to read Coconut Oil: Healthy or Hype at Oh My Veggies.  (Personally I’m convinced it’s a healthy oil and I wish The South Beach Diet would take a position on it.)

If you’re looking for gift ideas for the foodie on your list, the kitchen tool that rocked my world this year was definitely the Spiralizer.  (And it’s not just for zucchini.  Turnip noodles are on my list to try next, thanks to this recipe.)

And finally, writing this post for Slow Cooker from Scratch caused a lot of past childhood Christmas celebrations to flash in front of my eyes!

(That’s all for today, but you can use the label Things I’m Thinking About to see more round-ups like this one.)  What have you been thinking about lately?  Please share in the comments, and if you’re spotted something especially interesting online, links are welcome.

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