The ingredient lists on most cookie mixes don't read like any grocery list we've ever written. Unpronounceable ingredients, food dyes... suddenly your semi-homemade goodies contain everything we tell you to avoid here at The Daily Green. But, it's not as though we don't understand the need for boxed cookie mixes; we've seen our fair share of last minute bake sales, office birthday celebrations and the like that require a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies.

In addition to less-than-desirable ingredients, these cookies don't always fit with everyone's dietary needs. Unless you're planning on buying all of the cookies you've made at the bake sale yourself or wishing your gluten-sensitive friend a happy birthday with the sweet smell of fresh baked chocolate chips, these days you have to think about who can eat what. Purely Elizabeth cookie mixes are a pleasant surprise, not only do they have many organic ingredients on their short, sweet and pronounceable ingredient lists, but they are also gluten-free and vegan. Holistic nutrition counselor Elizabeth Stein founded Purely Elizabeth. (The company also makes muffin and pancake mixes, and granola). Stein's nutritional studies, as well as her love for homemade baked goods, certainly guided her ingredients: the cookies contain no refined sugar (they're sweetened by organic coconut sugar) and use millet, almond and garbanzo fava bean flour.

I recently made a batch of the oatmeal cherry chocolate chip cookies ($9 at purelyelizabeth.com. I was pleasantly surprised at how simple to make they were, although the ingredients you'll need to add to the mix are a little different than traditional cookie mixes; you'll need 1/2 cup oil (I like Tropical Traditions organic coconut oil, $16 at amazon.com), 1/4 cup applesauce and 1 tbsp vanilla extract.

These cookies were the perfect treat to bring to a post-soccer-game birthday celebration for a friend who has celiac disease, and they were a hit with the rest of the team as well.

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Follow Gloria on Twitter: @gloriadawson.

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Last year Brooks broke into the green running shoe scene with their Green Silence, a sleek, light-weight, running shoe with tons of eco-friendly materials. This year Brooks is hitting the trails with the Cascadia 6, an eco-friendly trail running shoe. Brooks sent me a pair to test out, and although my running routine usually has me hitting the pavement, not the trails, I was curious to see how they would hold up in the wilds of New York City.

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So you've purchased your gifts, or maybe even made them yourself. The thoughtfulness doesn't have to end there. Part of the fun of a gift is the surprise and that excited moment when the present is opened. What's not fun about the holidays is the tons of wasted wrapping paper. In my family we are notorious for last minute present wrapping, and there is never enough wrapping paper to go around (forget finding a pair of scissors on Christmas Eve, it's impossible). So, I've learned to be crafty.

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You're never too old to proudly say, "I made this myself."

Do-It-Yourself gifts sometimes get a bad rap. Think about how many macaroni necklaces and popsicle stick frames you made for your parents as a child. But, DIY gifts can be the most thoughtful and personal of presents. They can also be quick and inexpensive --not that popsicle sticks aren't cheap, but you may want to give something you can be proud of now that you're all grown up.

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Some ad campaigns can be brilliant virally successful works of art – a recent example: the Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" videos. Using humor to sell deodorant –– very funny. Using grassroots campaign methods to drum up support for a billion dollar industry –– well, that's a different story.

Some ad campaigns can be brilliant virally successful works of art – a recent example: the Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign. Others can feel false, be downright strange and thus fall flat.

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How much impact does cleaning off oiled birds and other volunteer efforts really have on the devastation that is the BP Gulf Oil Spill? Are we cleaning a few birds so we drive off guilt-free in our SUVs? Does volunteering wash away our responsibilities to the environment?

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