Debra Lynn Dadd

Debra's Green Gifts
For Valentines

Gifts of Love

In our consumer world, there is a lot of attention on the giving of material gifts. But Valentine's Day is about LOVE, so what better gift to give than a gift that is an expression of love? A love letter or poem, a drawing expressing your feelings, doing something the other wants to do (even if you don't want to do it!), preparing a favorite meal, even something that seems insignificant but is very very important--simply spending time together.

Rather than buy a valentine card for my husband, I've been making my own, either on the computer or with cutouts of Valentine pictures from magazines. Sometimes I'll make a little drawing. You can buy red paper by the sheet at every copy store or copy department at discount office supply stores, and discount craft stores are full of interesting things for Valentines. Look around your home to see what you can creatively re-use to make a Valentine.

Of the three best valentine gifts my husband ever gave me, one was a valentine "card" he made himself. Read about his valentine gifts to me. You'll love them!

The three best Valentine gifts my husband ever gave me...

Organic Flowers--A Perfect Gift for Valentine's Day

My husband knows he can always give me flowers and I will always be delighted!

In Nature, the flower as a single function: to attract the bees to pollinate the plant, which is necessary for the plant to reproduce. Plants produce the most beautiful flowers simply to call the bees to come to them. Flowers are inherently symbols of attraction.

Organic flowers help restore the fertility of the land with sustainable growing practices. They are completely renewable and biodegradable, in addition to being one of the loveliest of Nature's gifts.

There's still time to order...

Where to purchase organic flowers
Why Buying Organic Flowers is Important
Caring for Cut Flowers Without Chemcials

Natural Sweets for Your Valentine

The most popular sweet for Valentine's Day is chocolate. Most chocolates contain a lot of refined white sugar, but there are ways to eat your chocolate and have natural sweeteners too!

First, read my article on Choosing Healthy Chocolate. It will tell you how to read chocolate labels and choose the healthiest chocolates on the market.

Next, visit the Chocolate page of Debra's List. There you will find brand name natural chocolates made with evaporated cane juice instead of refined white sugar.

And you can also make your own decadent chocolate desserts. See this recipe for easy-to-make Chocolate Truffles sweetened with xylitol, and an elegant Wheat-Free Flourless French Chocolate Cake that you can serve with a puree of fresh raspberries and whipped cream.

For something completely different and low-carb, make Couer a la Creme, a creamy French dessert that is made in the shape of a heart, served in a pool of red sauce made of strawberries and/or raspberries. It's my husband's favorite dessert and can be made with no-calorie, no-carbohydrate stevia and other natural sweeteners of your choice.

Another red dessert my husband loves is Raspberry Jam Tarts. This version has a bit of lemon zest in the crust and is made with all-fruit raspberry jam.

And to make heart-shaped cookies, use
* Chocolate Cookies for Cut-Outs
* "Sugar" Cookies for Cut-Outs
* butter walnut Linzer Cookies (sandwich these together with raspberry jam).

More chocolate recipes using natural sweeteners...

A Bottle of Organic Wine for that Romantic Night

If you want to enjoy a bottle of wine with your Valentine dinner, choose one made from organically-grown grapes. The Wine page on Debra's List has many brands you can pick up right in your local natural food store.

Need Help Finding Just the Right Gift?

Visit the Gifts page of Debra's List. Here you'll find gift-giving services as well as websites that are gift-oriented. They will be happy to help you choose a gift and send it to your loved one.

And if you're planning a wedding...

A wedding is one of life's major rites of passage. It is certainly something to celebrate! Today, wedding books and magazines in our consumer culture promote large weddings so that more and more wedding products can be sold. Wedding expenditures run into many thousands of dollars. And after this major outlay of money, most of what is purchased is never used again.

On the Spring Equinox 2004, my ex-husband Larry and I "recycled" our marriage and got married again. We had been together for almost seventeen years at that time and had divorced several years prior when our relationship problems seemed impossible to resolve. But we still loved each other (and Larry wouldn't give up!), so we figured out what to do to make things better and are now happier than ever. [Larry says we have a permanent marriage, and had a "temporary divorce." :-)]

In planning our wedding, we wanted to keep it simple, sustainable, and full of meaning. You are invited to visit our on-line wedding album and see how we expressed our love not only for each other, but also for the Earth.

Debra + Larry's Green Wedding Album

Debra's List Wedding Page

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