This week's Go Green tip comes from Seth McFarlane. Don't know who that is? Push play on this video, close your eyes and recognize the voice. Why, it's Peter Griffin from Family Guy! Seth created, writes for and voices several characters on the show and in his free time, gives out great advice about going green in your life.

Mangia Monday Recap

This week, we made fresh salsa with quesadillas, YUM! The recipe that is included here uses a can of diced tomatoes, but instead we used fresh tomatoes to liven up our salsa! Some of our chefs liked it mild, some liked it HOT! It all depends on the amount of chiles you use.


1 Large can organic diced tomatoes
1/2 large white onion
4-6 sprigs minced fresh organic oregano
3-4 grated fresh garlic cloves
sea salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
5-8 roasted green chiles, skin removed

Start by draining the tomato juice into a bowl. Place tomatoes into a food processor and pulse a few times to get the consistency you like (*again, we used fresh large tomatoes and just diced them). Add the tomatoes to reserved tomato sauce. Dice oregano finely and add to bowl. Run garlic across fine grater and add to bowl. Chop onions and green chiles and add to bowl. Mix all ingredients together then add sea salt and black pepper to taste. Taste salsa with chips to determine if any additional ingredients should be added. Allow salsa to sit for about 5 minutes to allow all of the fresh flavors to marry.

It IS Easy Being Green! Part Three

How often do you buy a bottled water? Or grab one from the fridge on your way out? Or maybe you buy in bulk so you never run out? Every day, 30 million single serve water bottles are thrown away. Crazy, right?

Our green video this week is related to Tapped: The Movie, a film about raising awareness of the World Water Crisis. Jack Johnson lends his talents to get the message across:



And check out the movie at tappedthefilm.com. Have a great Monday!

Mangia Monday Recap

Our first Mangia Monday was awesome! We started out with a snack that is pretty simple to make, cream cheese-filled strawberries. We all agreed that we LOVED them and even converted a self-proclaimed strawberry-hater into a bona fide fan! Here's the recipe we used, from the Boston Globe:

Cream Cheese-filled Strawberries
(makes 12)

12 large strawberries
12 blueberries
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon lemon juice (we used fresh lemon juice)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar

1. Gently rinse strawberries and pat them dry. With a melon baller, remove the green stems and scoop out some of the center of the berries. Cut a slice off the bottom of each strawberry so that they will sit on a plate. Rinse the blueberries and pat them dry.

2. In an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla, and honey. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Place the mixture in a plastic zipper bag. Snip a hole in one of the non-zipper ends of the bag.

3. Pipe the cream cheese into each strawberry. Sprinkle them with brown sugar and top with a blueberry.




Just two of our talented "chefs."

Some of our awesome Junior Friends helping out!

It IS Easy Being Green! Part Two

As far as Monday-Go-Green videos go, this one is coming a little bit from left field. Jimmy Fallon from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (which might be on a bit late for some of our summer readers) is seen here singing about different ways to go green. Yes, I said singing. Take a listen:



What did you think? He did give some great tips about being more eco-friendly, no?

Keep tracking your reading! This week, once you've read 100 minutes, come into the library to grab a Go Green! bookmark and a color changing pencils (I know how much you love those!) and check the calendar for all the awesome programs we have this week including Ed the Wizard on Wednesday at 6:30! Keep reading and GO GREEN!

And we're off!

Summer Reading Program has officially begun! Here at the library, we're getting things started with Pied Piper Hamelin and his pottery presentation in a few minutes and we have much more fun coming your way this week and in the weeks to come. Don't forget to sign up and track your reading! Click here to get started!

This week, once you complete your reading of at least 100 minutes, you'll be able to come into the library and claim a FREE MINI CHEESE PIZZA from EagleBrook Saloon. Let's give a HUGE shout out to EagleBrook for so generously donating coupons to our Summer Reading Program. It wouldn't be the same without them, so THANK YOU EagleBrook!

And have you been to the library lately? If you have, you will see that our raffle prize boxes are up at the Reference Desk and we have some great stuff to raffle off this year. Take a look at what we have to give away by clicking here.

I think that's all for now! You can also go ahead and click on "Programs" on the left to see what's going on at the library this week. And check back for more updates, including recipes from Mangia Monday, our "travel log" from the "Road Trip" storytime and much, much more! Keep reading and GO Green!