Since the success of last year's Green Valentine Party, our family has been looking for ways to personally reduce the carbon footprint of each and every holiday. This Valentine's Day was no exception.
It started with the kids and I reaching a fun compromise for this sweet-nothing filled February 14th. It was a lesson that paired frugality with eco-friendliness. We would forego purchasing the traditional paper valentines in exhange for their choice of treats to share with classmates. We soon realized, however, that the candied treats would be missing the affectionate "to/from" messaging without the accompanying paper valentines. Scouring the house, we soon found that the paperboard packaging, from 12-pack cans of diet coke/coca-cola, when cut into colorful heart-shaped cards, was a fun, reusable and recyclable solution. The kids enjoyed personalizing each unique coca-cola paperboard heart and attaching to it a special treat. Once finished, they placed all the Valentines in their own upcycled target treat bags. (Read on for more details.)
Tell you more about the upcycled target treat bags? Being the room parent for my youngest's 1st grade class, I took on the task of creating treat bags for each of 24 students. Putting a slightly different twist on one parent's clever idea from last school year's green valentine party challenge, I fused 2 target bags together, using parchment paper and a hot (dry) iron. After trimming to size, I sewed 2 sets of the fused bags together to form a bag or pouch. The bags are complete with handles (either using ribbon or simply cutting an oblong hole in both sides of the bag). The result is a super-cute, easy, reused, upcycled bag in a red and white bullseye pattern.
Start by straightening out plastic shopping bags, and lay them flat, back to back, with patterned sides facing out. Trim off handles. Place the 2 bags between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Fusing 2 bags together gives each side of the bag enough strength. Move a hot, dry iron over one side of the parchment paper, in a back and forth motion. Flip entire stack over, and iron the other side. Remove parchment paper and you will have a fused plastic sheet. Trim plastic sheets to desired size. Stitch together 2 sheets, along 3 sides using a serger or sewing machine, leaving one side "open" as the top of the bag.
Each of the finished target treat bags, required a total of 4 reused Target plastic shopping bags. Our project, 24 finished bags, reused and upcycled 96 plastic shopping bags. If you cannot collect enough bags from friends and neighbors, Target stores have a bin where shoppers can deposit used plastic shopping bags for recycling. We used Target store bags because of the design and color. These bags are a good weight and thickness (in mils) for a fused plastic project. You can layer more than 2 bags before fusing for a thicker finished plastic, depending on the type of end product you are creating.
We took plastic shopping bags, most destined for a landfill, and upcycled them into usable treat bags. The project cost nothing more than our time and creativity (with the exception of some ribbon and thread).
One meatless dinner a week? Easy cheesy. Except, our family is seemingly more meat depedent than I thought. So early on in the game, I am finding it challenging to put together a meatfree meal that all 5 of us will enjoy. Something other than pasta, pizza and mac and cheese and something not requiring black beans.
Eatingwell.com, "where good taste meets good health", was the source for today's recipe for broccoli cheese chowder. Broccoli is a staple vegetable in our house and my children recently discovered that it is even better with cheese on top. So broccoli cheese chowder seemed like a perfect meal.
My expectations peaked when my 7-year old saw the chopped broccoli on the counter and stated that he "hopes there will be cheese with that". My response of "broccoli cheese soup has both broccoli and cheese" caused a quick look of concern to fall upon his little face. "Soup?", he said with a snarl. I knew right then that the best this meal could achieve was 4 out of 5 pleased palettes.
The side of artisan sour dough bread, toasted and lightly buttered, paired deliciously well with this soup. Score four for broccoli cheese chowder. This will definitely find it's way into the meatless meal rotation.
Yummy.
If you have placed a personal, professional or other type of ban on bottled water and you otherwise support the notion of going "back 2 tap" (see this link for a wonderful effort by our friends in NJ), tell us, is this something you would purchase?
The discord that I have is more with the act of packaging and selling WATER and with the prolific rate at which this country has become "dependent" on an over-packaged, over-priced and otherwise wasteful item and less with the idea of cartons as a form of packaging.
Aseptic packaging, or cartons, actually have a lower carbon footprint than some other types of packaging materials. Cartons are made mostly of paper (a renewable resource) and have a higher yield than other types of containers. (Yield being the amount of material that is available for recycling after processing.) The Carton Council has actually committed to developing end markets so that more recycling programs can accept cartons and be guaranteed an outlet for the material. As a result of this commitment, carton recycling is increasing throughout Michigan as well as the rest of the country.
But back to the idea of buying bottled (or cartoned) water...at what point in time did our society give up on tap water and invest so much trust, money and resources into a much less regulated industry?
I will admit that, for a very short period of time, I was enamored with the idea of bottled water. My husband kept his senses about the issue and highly discouraged any bottled water purchase I attempted. Thankfully, the notion was short lived and I quickly realized the error of my ways. Every bottled water purchase is now a skeleton in my (environmental) closet.
In case you were wondering...bottled water is considered a "food" item and is subsequently regulated by the FDA. Tap water, which is regulated by the EPA, has much more stringent standards, in terms of reporting requirements and frequency of monitoring.
Every choice has an impact...so tell us...do you tap or bottle?
Our latest meal was equally an effort to eat less meat as well as an attempt to curb my craving for something sweet. I have friends that make crepes on a regular basis but they were not something I had ever attempted myself. My sweet tooth got the better of me and some quick AOL-searching lead me to these two recipes:
caramelized apple crepes from Martha Stewart and strawberry and cheese crepes from food.com.
I used the crepe batter from the Martha Stewart recipe but was enticed by the strawberry and cream cheese crepe filling. I wouldn't have bothered with the caramelized apple but knowing my kids, they wouldn't want anything to do with the cheese filling, even though they love cream cheese.
Surprisingly, the crepes were super easy to make and pretty darn tasty. So it wasn't the healthiest meal to make, but my resolve is that it was made from scratch...no preservatives, no processed ingredients.
And the reviews: My husband and I really enjoyed them, although he thought it was weird eating something so sweet for dinner. Our 10-year old enjoyed the apple crepes. Our 9-year old wasn't feeling the love and the 7-year old was down-for-the-count with an illness.
Later that evening, I posted a comment on facebook indicating that I was becoming a little discouraged so early on in our meatless Monday efforts and a friend replied with a link to this website. Maybe simplier is the way to go. We are going to scale back our efforts and expectations for the next meatless meal. Here's hoping we'll all be pleasantly surprised and well fed.
A new twist on an old favorite...here's what you'll need: red and green pepper, onion, garlic, veggie protein crumbles or sausage style; 16 oz. sour cream, 1 can creamed soup, 2 cans green chili enchilada sauce, 1 can black beans, 1 can or 1/2 package of whole kernal corn. Salt and pepper to taste.
Chop, then sautee onion, garlic, red and green pepper in olive oil. Add veggie protein, corn and drained black beans to sauteed vegetables and continue to cook until heated through. (I forgot to show olive oil, garlic, cheese and tortillas in the pic...but included a bottle of wine just for fun.)
Prepare the enchilada sauce: in a separate bowl, mix together two cans of green enchilada sauce, 16 ounces of sour cream and one can of cream of chicken (or other creamed soup). Mix with a spoon or whisk until thoroughly blended.
Warm tortillas in microwave until warm and pliable. Place a generous portion of veggie mix in the middle of the tortilla and top with your choice of cheese. I used low-fat colby-jack slices because that's what I had on hand. Roll, enchilada style. Place stuffed, rolled enchiladas in a glass backing dish that has been sprayed with PAM.
Once all tortillas are stuffed, top with enchilada sauce mix. Bake at 350 degrees until the sauce and cheese bubble, about 30 minutes. Serve with your choice of side dishes.
How did it rate? Me: I love almost anything made with this enchilada sauce mix. Next time I would use the protein crumbles instead of the protein sausage. My hubby thought it was good but would like a little more spice next time. Two of my three children ate it but it wasn't their favorite, although they will eat other enchiladas that I make. My littlest one wasn't impressed but then again he has a texture issue with lots of foods and doesn't care for black beans.
A new year inevitably equates to new resolutions. As I was pondering what I should focus on in 2011, in terms of this blog, my family and myself, I reflected on some of the things I like best in previous years.
One of those "bestest" is cooking and feeding my family healthy, fresh foods and teaching my children about "real" food. I've not been all that great about eating seasonally, but I have enjoyed extending the season of some foods through canning and freezing.
I've canned and frozen foods over the years and it brings back many happy memories of my mom, who taught me much about this as I was growing up. My repetoire isn't extensive, but includes tomatoes, marinara, pickles, jams, frozen berries, corn and green beans and the terms Ball, canner, headspace, pectin and brine actually mean something to me.
One of my resolutions this year is actually to can and freeze more food. As I calculated just how many bushels of tomatoes I will need to meet the year's demand for stewed tomatoes, I came across this article on Slashfood about food trends for 2011.
The art of canning and freezing foods seems so "old-school", yet "old-school" is where it's at, apparently.
So for this first Trashless Thursday, I will be using more of these this year:
Both my husband and I were raised in carnivorous households and we still inlcude a variety of meats in our diet. Our decision to incorporate meatless Mondays into our week is ironically less about eating healthier and more about reducing our carbon footprint.
Meat production requires a staggering amount of natural resources: water, energy and land. Did you know that a YEAR's worth of showers requires just about the same amount of water as it does to produce just ONE POUND of beef?
So just how much water does it take...more than 5,000 gallons of water are needed to produce ONE POUND of BEEF.
That's the real reason for meatless Monday. So, please enjoy this first recipe in our new category.
Easy, Delicious Vegetarian Chili
Olive Oil, I medium chopped onion, 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons dried oregano, 2 and 1/2 teaspoons chili powder, 2 stalks chopped celery, 1 chopped red bell pepper, 1 chopped green bell pepper, 3 cloves chopped garlic, 14 ounces Gimme Lean ground sausage style veggie protein, 2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes, 1 (15 oz) can drained kidney beans, 2 (15 oz) cans drained black beans, 1 can whole kernal corn.
Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Stir and cook onion until tender. Add bay leaves, cumin, and oregano. Add celery, bell peppers and garlic. When vegetables are heated, add veggie protein. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add in tomatoes, chili powder and pepper (to taste). Stir in kidney beans and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in corn and cook 5 more minutes.
Note: I used the food processor to chop onions, bell peppers and celery. This disguises the veggies so my kids are pleasantly unaware of what makes their dinner so delicious. And yes, all 3 of my children (ages 10, 9 and 7) ate this for dinner.
Optional: garnish with sour cream and/or shredded cheese. Serve with a side of corn bread.
