This album will be like no other, brining together Eco-consciousness and true HIP HOP - Higher Inner Peace, Helping Other People. It will serve as a continuation of the Going Green Living Bling curriculum taught to youth and families around health, food justice and Hip Hop. This project will feature guest artists that work in the sustainability and health field, as well as feature recipes, and the six steps to community organizing and leadership. Included in the insert will be printed copies of the recipes and six steps, as well as tools on how to grow food, and how to get involved with the Going Green Living Bling project that features growing organic food, getting healthy. This album is used as a nutritional guide and lyrical cookbook of mentally edible Hip Hop. It features lyrics inspired by my community activism in holistic health education and urban agriculture and includes intergenerational Hip Hop collaborations. Four years ago my wife and I designed a curriculum called "Going Green, Living Bling: Redefining the Image of Wealth in Hip Hop Culture". This curriculum was designed to teach young people the importance of a localized food system, what it means to live in a food desert and how to sustain themselves in one. Some of the activities include hands-on healthy cooking and juicing demonstrations, film, Hip Hop Yoga, Urban Gardening, Introduction to Aquaponics and more. Since its creation it has been taught at various schools and has reached over 500 youth aged 7 to 24. This album serves to remind our students of what they've learned in this curriculum or introduce those youth who have never taken it, to new ideas. This album is also enriched with the six step Service Learning process of the Northeast Denver Youth Engagement Zone (Y.E.Z.) Collaborative About Us: GOING GREEN LIVING BLING...WE MUST CULTIVATE THE EARTH! Going Green, Living Bling: Redefining the Image of Wealth, has become an Organic Curriculum, born from the title of a panel discussion at the first year of the Brown Suga Youth Festival. This idea came from the mind of Ietef Vita as he completed his requirements as a senior at PS1. The festival has reached it’s 9th year in 2012 and the curriculum it’s fourth. Over the past three years, with his partner and wife Neambe LeadonVita, they have taught ages 7 to 24; how to consume consciously, how to grow your own food, how to prepare healthy alternative diet meals, and the unfortunate truths about our food industry that make these tools necessary. This curriculum is also infused with art, music, yoga, holistic health, herbal remedies, live juicing, cooking and gardening. Ietef and Neambe are Parents, Eco-Cultivators, Organic Farmers, and Youth and Community Advocates. Mission: To expand this work with a focus on Food, Water, Environmental and Health Awareness and Security. To decrease the generational and cultural gaps that exist in our communities and to engage our youth so that they are educated, appreciated and feel empowered to do something about the issues we are facing. To use art as the platform for some of our activities to provide for the loss of it in some of our schools. To provide youth with skills they can utilize in their future and to improve upon self and community awareness, increase self esteem, shift the definition of wealth and empower them to positively affect their everyday lives (i.e. academics, personal relationships, extra curricular involvement, diet, self image). Bullets: - Knowledge of Self Awareness - Organic Gardening and Eating - Conscious Consumption - Art, Music and Yoga - Live Cooking and Juicing O.G. Vegan HOOD Recipes from Going Green Living Bling Lentils -  1b French Green Lentils 2 onions white/yellow 1 cube vegetable bouillon 4 cloves fresh garlic granulated garlic onion powder sea salt grapeseed oil or olive oil medium sized pot Chop onions and garlic into small pieces and saute in oil for about 3 minutes Add water about 3/4 of the way bring to a boil, add vegetable bouillon, sea salt, granulated garlic and onion powder and finally lentils Allow to boil on medium until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.   Serve over rice or alone. Rice - 1b Basmati Rice (This rice is high in nutrients and cooks quickly but other rice will work) 1/2 gallon coconut milk sea salt grapeseed or olive oil medium sized pot Fill pot with water 2:1 ratio with rice so 4 cups for the full pound Bring to a boil add sea salt and a splash of oil (to prevent sticking) Add rice, allow to boil down until almost all the water is gone then add coconut milk to cover rice  Repeat the step with the coconut milk about 2 more times or until rice is tender Goes great with lentils! Potatoes - 1 bag red potatoes (you can use russet but these cook faster) 1 yellow/white onion 4 cloves garlic granulated garlic onion powder curry earth balance non dairy butter sea salt grapeseed or olive oil medium sized pot Chop potatoes into bite sized pieces Chop onions and garlic and saute in oil for about 3 minutes Add granulated garlic onion powder and sea salt saute for 1 more minute Add water to fill 3/4 of pot and bring to a boil Add potatoes, cook until tender, about 25 to 30 minutes Strain potatoes from water, keep in the chopped onions and garlic Put into a mixing bowl and add earth balance, sea salt and lots of curry (it's great for the brain!) Stir with wooden spoon and serve  Can also be mashed, add some of the boiling water and some coconut/almond milk Kale - 4 bunches kale 1 white/yellow onion 2 cloves garlic granulated garlic sea salt fresh ginger root grapeseed or olive oil medium sized pan with lid/ wok Chop onions and garlic into small pieces, cut ginger into even smaller pieces Sautee all three in oil for 3-4 minutes Chop kale into bite sized pieces, with or without the stem Add to pan, add 1 cup water, cover (if no lid use foil) and cook on medium When leaves look a little softer add sea salt and granulated garlic Cook until tender, and still bright green (the more green the more nutrients!) Cabbage - 1 head purple/green cabbage 1 white/yellow onion 2 cloves garlic granulated garlic sea salt black pepper grapeseed or olive oil medium sized pan with lid/ wok Same as Kale Recipe expect ginger is optional and a longer cook time, especially for purple cabbage Tofu & Oyster Mushrooms - 1 block extra firm tofu 1 red onion curry black pepper onion powder granulated garlic grapeseed oil Braggs amino (healthier alternative to soy sauce and iodized salt) fresh rosemary (optional) medium sized pan/ cookie sheet Cut tofu into 1/2 inch pieces makes about 8 Place tofu on cloth or paper towel to absorb some of the water Chop onion and saute in braggs, oil with all seasonings, mushrooms and fresh rosemary Add tofu, allow one side to almost brown then flip or  Still saute mushrooms separately as above Turn oven to broil - hi Place foil on a cookie sheet and cover with oil Sprinkle a layer of all seasonings on oil Place tofu on top Pour more oil on top Sprinkle another layer of seasonings on top of each piece of tofu with rosemary Place in oven, cook for about 45 minutes Vegan Lasagna For 6 to 8 - 1 - 16 oz box lasagna noodles 1 bag boca veggie "meat" crumbles 2 bags daiya non dairy mozzarella 5 cans stewed tomatoes 2 jars marinara pasta sauce 1 yellow squash 1 zucchini 2 white onions 4 cloves garlic sea salt granulated garlic onion powder 1 tub tofutti non dairy cream cheese 1 - 5 oz box baby spinach olive oil 2 large pots with lids 1 medium sized pan 1 - 15 x 9 recyclable baking pan Preheat oven to 375 Bring water to a boil in 1 pot with sea salt and chopped garlic Put in lasagna noodles, boil until somewhat tender, let stand in water In other pot saute chopped onion and garlic in oil for 3 minutes Add all 5 cans of stewed tomatoes and the 1 1/2  jars of marinara Cook on medium heat In pan saute veggie crumbles in last 1/2 of marinara sauce with sea salt  Let simmer for about 5 minutes Add crumbles to pot with sauce and tomatoes, put heat on low Cut squash in half, then chop squash into 1/2 inch half-circles Saute in oil, sea salt with chopped onion Now put first layer of lasagna noodles Next a layer of baby spinach  Then a layer of the veggie crumble sauce mix spoon in 4 scoops tofutti Followed by a layer of sauteed squash And a thick layer of mozzarella More noodles and so on until all ingredients are gone, finish with mozzarella Pour 1 1/2 cup water in the sides and sprinkle water on the top Cover loosely with foil Bake for about 25 minutes, until cheese is melted. (important to put in water and sprinkle and cover loosely, steam helps the vegan cheese to melt nicely) Fresh Salsa - 15 large tomatoes 1/2 bunches cilantro 6 white onions 6 jalapenos 3 limes sea salt cumin Chop all ingredients into large pieces and put in food processor No food processor, just dice everything  Add sea salt, cumin and lime juice Salad: Savory: 2 heads Romaine lettuce 1 large jar artichoke hearts 1 small jar green olives 5 tomatoes 4 cucumbers 3 avocados 1 jar roasted red peppers Sweet: 1 lb baby spinach 1 can cashews 1 can almonds 3 green apples Chop all ingredients and toss together with homemade matching dressings Homemade Dressings - Savory: olive oil black pepper balsamic vinegar fresh rosemary 1 lemon Sweet: Olive oil orange/tangerine juice agave sea salt In small bowl whisk all ingredients.  For the savory recipe strain out rosemary or leave it in Fresh Juices - Carrot - Apple - Ginger: 10 carrots 8 apples cut in half medium sized piece of ginger root Pineapple - Berry - Beet:  1 pineapple 2 bags frozen berries 4 small beets Cucumber - Pineapple - Wheat Grass: 6 cucumbers 1 pineapple 1 hand-full wheat grass Add 2 - 3 cups water to all juicing recipes to prevent spiking blood sugar levels. ENJOY!