Happy WW! May the luck of the Irish be with YOU~

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Captain Charles Moore on David Letterman 3/15/10

I was not able to watch this last night (fell asleep) but woke up this morning and found it on You Tube.

I wanted to share it with you all.

Captain, Charles Moore, was the first to navigate through the plastic mess in the Pacific Gyre (Plastic Garbage Patch).

Listen in as he talks about how plastic is affecting our oceans, soil,  and sea life.

Sorry it ended where it did… “plastic is a lubricant of globalization….”

anyway…

I enjoyed watching most of the interview. Hope you did too!

If you watched last night and know how Captian, Charles Moore summed up his interview…

do tell! 

Update!

Catch the full version here!!!! ( thanks, Beth!)

Remember…

refuse plastic!

{Meatless Monday} Bean Burritos!

Happy Meatless Monday, friends!

Hope you have all had a groovy weekend. Sorry for the late post.

A couple weeks ago, I made a two separate pots of beans. One was filled with black beans and the other pinto. I like to have quick go to meals that are easy and enjoyable week after week.

Bean burritos seem to be a winner around here. The eco tot enjoys them and I’m sure Baby C will too. They’re great for breakfast lunch or dinner. If we have them for breakfast, I usually serve them with fresh eggs and a homemade organic salsa.

I like a mix of both black and pinto beans. It’s really up to you though!

Here’s how I cook my beans.

RECIPE

Beans

Soak 1 cup of beans overnight for 8-12 hrs.
(optional)

Rinse and drain.

Add to a pot with approx. 6 cups of water.

Bring to a boil;

this is where I begin to add all the wonderful spices!

1 tbsp of EVOO

3-4 cloves of garlic;

1 /2 tbsp of crushed oregano

a couple dashes of cumin

a little salt and lot’s of pepper

Put the lid on and allow for flavors to meld and beans to soften (approx. 3-4 hrs. depending)

Once beans are cooked and ready to come off the burner or the out of the crock pot… whichever applies…

mash them in a sauce pan with a little more EVOO (about 1/2 tbsp) and you’ve got ready to use re fried beans.

Now it’s time to spoon up some of those yummy lard free and dairy free re fried beans onto an organic  or homemade tortilla and roll it up.

You can add in cheese & veggies too!

I just did cheese this time around… but I’ve done corn or broccoli in the past.

You can also make tostada’s by spreading the mashed beans around a warmed tortilla. A lot of times, I spread the beans onto a tortilla and place into our toaster oven and it will heat up the creation like a tostada. I’m sure an oven will work too (375 degrees).

I made almost 20 burritos with my two pots of beans… 18 to be exact!

But, as you can see they’re only 4 left … and just for the record… I typically like to wrap these up in bleach free parchment paper but we were out. Recycled aluminum works fine too!

We’ve been mainly enjoying our homemade bean burritos for lunch but I didn’t feel like cooking tonight so they quickly became din-din.  Sweet!

They get gobbled up pretty darn fast. Fast enough, that I didn’t get a picture of the ooey goey burrito goodness sliced in half; after cooking in the toaster oven. They have  a crisp chimichanga texture sans the meat!

Yum!

CSA Goods: Our First Crate Full!

Hiya peeps!

Today was our first CSA pickup from Abundant Harvest Organics and were feeling so pumped about our decision to eat more local and in season.  We’ve been talking about it for over a year now after I did a write up for the local paper. We didn’t have the opportunity to make the leap until now.

Finally we’ve done so and now were committed each Saturday to pick up a large crate at 10AM.

We happened to be early birds today and from this we gained that “extras” were available for our taking.

Score!

We are not sure whether this will happen every week but it sure was a nice start!!

Here is the glorious bounty …

Doesn’t look like much but we did the tally and …

the contents contained…

1 bunch of  chard

1 bunch of spring onion

1 bunch of carrots

1 bunch of beets

3 cabbages (2 green + 1 red)

4 potatoes

5 baby artichokes

29 brussels sprouts

10 tangelos

9 lemons (eureka & meyer)

2 rutabagas

2 leeks

extras

2 green heads of cabbage

4 tangelos

4 potatoes

A pretty nice pickup of  organic fruits and veggies, don’t ya think?

We initially thought we’d be sharing a crate but we’ll easily eat up every ounce of healthy goodness a large crate contains.

Mmm!

If you have a CSA pickup in your area, check into it.

Support your local farmers- eat local, seasonal, organic foods..

all while helping to protect the planet for future generations to enjoy!

Yesterday, as I walked into the kitchen, I spotted our Italian herb sprouts popping up in their container.

They all sprouted but one and it took them exactly one week to say hello! 

Today, has been great the weather not so much! It’s windy and nasty out.

But, that didn’t stop us from taking a drive out to our local conservation district to check out what native plants, shrubs, trees and flowers we will be planting in our front yard.

We are hoping to dig out the lawn and plant edible flowers and pretty much have a water wise front  yard.

I did take some video footage but I don’t have much time to upload it…

to say the least, we came home with a California native elderberry bush!!!

super stoked.

Elderberry syrup and wine here we come!

yum. yum.

There are so many benefits to supporting local businesses and growing plants, trees and flowers  that thrive well in your area.

It puts a lot of things into perspective.

Were connecting ourselves with nature and community.

It’s magical.

I’m grateful for our CSA pickup and can’t wait for din-din because we also get to enjoy our homemade sauerkraut ( 6 days old)

YAY! 

Hope you’ve had a lovely Saturday!

Oh!  if you have a rutabaga recipe you’d like to share… feel free! 

Refuse Plastic! Get Hip with Glass Dharma Drinking Straws

* Attention: Giveaway at the end of this post!

Hi everyone.  Hope you enjoyed my interview with Beth.

Since were on the topic of plastic this week… did you know an Atlantic Garbage Patch was found recently (other than the Pacific Garbage Patch) ??!!

One more reason we should cut back on our use of sythentics; simply because plastic is forever, plastic does not biodegrade, and plastic is pesky (toxic)!

One of my biggest goals in this eco journey is attempting to live life with less plastic as Beth Terry does daily. Eliminating plastic from our lives can be challenging but also rewarding.

WHY

When you make the decision to REFUSE plastic, oceans are saved, wildlife and the planet IS spared;  nature is protected.

When you think of everyday conveniences like water bottles, plastic bags, plastic utensils & cups, razors, diapers etc. What do you picture? A bunch of waste, right? We’re littering our landfills with these disposable conveniences and sometimes forget to think about their consequences and… sometimes it’s the small things that go unnoticed …

One of the most common plastic items getting tossed into the wastebasket are plastic straws. Since straws are made from polypropylene they happen to be toxic for the environment and to our health (AND as you all know, plastic is not biodegradable!!).

Tell Me More

You wouldn’t think plastic straws are a big deal until you consider this..

“As of March 2008, McDonald’s serves an average of 52 million meals PER DAY!”

and that’s just Mickey D’s… !!

Well, don’t cry your little eco heart out over it…because there happens to be a solution.

Glass Dharma is a Northern California based company who creates and designs hand blown glass drinking straws.

Cool, huh?

Now, I know what you’re thinking … glass straw? What if it breaks?

Don’t worry, because Glass Dharma has a lifetime guarantee against breakage.

This does NOT mean Glass Dharma straws are unbreakable!

It means if you happen to break your lovely glass straw, Glass Dharma will either replace or repair it (whichever applies).

To find out more about what they’re made from and learn more specifics, click here.

Glass is GROOVY

Glass Dharma sent us three eco friendly straws to review and I must say; it sure has made sippin’ beverages more fun (ie: green smoothies in our home!).

Here’s what they sent me…

Simple Elegance

Beautiful Bends

& a lil sipper with decorative dots…

unfortunately though, I allowed my son (2.5 yrs) to ting tang with the straw a bit to long and boom, bang… right to the floor it went. I’m talking within minutes of opening up the packages. I was so devastated. I contacted Glass Dharma right away to let them what happened and they kindly agreed to send me a new one (since the straw was for review purposes only I’m not planning to have them replace it).

Moral

You certainly want to keep an eye on you’re tater tots (children) while drinking from these straws. As with any curious child, they’ll want to tinker and these straws are after all made from GLASS so they will break… especially against our unforgiving tile!

Does this mean I’m against drinking from glass straws or will no longer allow my tots to drink from them?

Heck no! It means accidents happen; beware. 

I LOVE, LOVE  our Glass Dharma drinking straws and LOVE that it saves millions of straws from being tossed into a landfill.

We sip green smoothies on the daily around here and I’m always eager to add my new glass straw into my cup. Bend or no bend … they sip fantastically and are very easy to clean.  Water rinses through them with no problems. You can stick them in the dishwasher and call it good.

Be sure to check the accessories available for your glass straw drinking needs.

I’ve been trying to be good about taking it with me everywhere by putting it back into the box it came in…

I just place it into my purse and go. You never know when a take-out situation might occur. lol!

Oh, and be sure to check out this handy tutorial on how to reuse the boxes, as your glass straw case. Genius.

{ GIVEAWAY TIME }

Glass Dharma is kindly offering a $25.00 gift certificate to one lucky reader!!!

You know you want one.

Comment to win!

That easy.

Extra Entries:

1.  Leave a comment here telling me what accessory you’d like to have;

2. Share this giveaway on Facebook;

3. Tweet about this giveaway;

You must leave an additional comment for any extra entries!

Giveaway ends March 19th, 2010. Winner will be announced on the 20th!

GOOD LUCK

&

Happy weekend to you!

An Interview with Beth Terry: Live life with less plastic.

Beth Terry, is someone I consider to be an eco pioneer in attempting to rid your life of pesky plastic. She is the woman behind the Take Back the Filter campaign (urged Brita to take back their filters and succeeded) and is a motivator and  inspiration when it comes to living  life with LESS plastic. If you haven’t yet visited her site, Fake Plastic Fish, be sure to do so; it’s filled with tons of knowledge regarding the perils of plastic and helpful tips on living a plastic free lifestyle.

Beth was kind enough to take some time away from her busy schedule to do a little Q & A …

La Mama Naturale asked:

What motivated you to start collecting plastic?

{Happy WW} Tot Fun: Planting an Herb Garden

{Meatless Monday} Curious About Kelp Noodles…

Hola, dear readers!! Hope you all had a marvelous weekend. 

We had a nice one but it went WAY TOO FAST. We added three more chicks to our brood and finally put them into the coop with the hens but separated them until they get bigger (more on that later).

It’s time to share another meatless meal with everyone …

On our last monthly trip to the Whole Foods market, I decided on buying some kelp noodles. I’ve been curious about kelp noodles after reading several posts throughout raw foodie blogosphere. I figured I’d give them a go, so in the basket they went.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to think of the translucent yet rubbery feeling noodles.. but once you rinse them off they feel just like pasta noodles. Really! If you have more time you can soak them in water and little lemon juice to bring more life into them and get rid of the packaged flavor.

They have a neutral taste so they take on whatever flavor you mesh them with just like with tofu. The noodles weren’t part of my menu plan so the purchase and the sauce we made for it was definitely on a whim…we ended up making a sauce from the uncook book “Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen” called Garlic Cashew Aioli.

It was really yummy and satisfying. The sauce was creamy like and alfredo and sooo flavorful. I definitely enjoyed the kelp noodle experience and think it’s a wonderful alternative to starchy pasta.  Since the noodles don’t require any heating and the sauce was a simple blend of under 10 ingredients… it was an easy peasy meal to put together.

We served it with cooked asparagus from the dehydrator (2 hrs),  and a yummy green salad  My husband whipped up a quick  vinaigrette dressing that consisted of EVOO, S&P, Balsamic & ACV mix, with Italian spice seasoning for the salad and it was good. Organic raw vegan goodness all around.

I’ve fallen in love with eating uncooked goods off the dehydrator… the asparagus was so perfectly enhanced I’ve been uncooking it that way ever since (including other veggies as well). Who would have thought that I’d be using my Mr. Foods dehydrator so often and lovin’ it.  It was only used twice before I took it out of the dungeon garage just last July.  Experimenting with it and making fun treats has been super fun.  Soon, I’d like to upgrade to one of these babies!

Kelp Garlic Aioli + dehydrated asparagus & yummy green salad = happy honey, tots  and mama!

The only downside to this lovely sea vegetable (kelp) is the fact, it’s packaged in plastic that cannot be recycled.

Other than that…my curiosity filled my starchy needs…AND I’d like to try these variations

Kelp Kraut Noodles

Kelp Noodles in Peanut Sauce

Thai Kelp Noodle Bowl

Creamy Miso Noodle Soup

Mmmm!

What are you cooking or uncooking the kitch this week?

Food Revolution: Shocking!

One of the reasons, we decided on plotting out a garden and growing our own veggies was so we could also enjoy it with our boys (this thought was pre-kids, ftr!;). After conceiving the eco tot the message of growing our own food became more clear; having a garden would also serve as an educational tool. It would allow the boys to learn where our food comes from and appreciate it more.

Enjoying moments, like opening seed packets, breaking new ground, allowing the exploration time as seeds are placed into the earth, watching the garden grow, watering/ maintenance, and the best part the harvest are all ways to learn.

I know this isn’t the case for everyone.  Which is why I encourage signing up for your local CSA , visiting farmer’s markets and local farms to familiarize your children with where food comes from. When they see foods outside of the grocery store it will prompt questions and make for an interesting conversation which is another perfect opportunity for learning. Especially, when they see yellow broccoli or purple kale. Even something as small as an herb garden or compost pile will spark your child’s interest!

I definitely don’t want my kids to be part of a nation where they believe food comes from a box or from golden arches. It’s sad to think we’re allowing convenience to take care of our children rather than teaching them nutritional values and options and better yet… basic fruit & vegetable identification.  I’m not perfect by any means. I don’t always feel like making dinner but in my opinion it starts at the kitchen table.

Did you know March is National Nutritonal Month?

How do you teach your children about fruits and  vegetables?

What did you think?

Reusing a Strawberry Basket

Hello there!

Happy Hump Day! 

Lately, I’ve been in a crazy reuse mood so everything I see gets dissected and often times is recreated into something new. Last week, we bought a 2 flats of organic strawberries. I can hear you now, big deal.  It is a big deal in a sense because those flats come packed with individual plastic containers to keep the strawberries contained. The ONLY part I hate about purchasing strawberries is the pesky plastic green containers. They’re so nostalgic to me, actually. I can remember my grandma handing them to us to forage for the strawberries that grew in her yard and not to mention, all the strawberry shortcakes I’ve eaten … just something about them.

I did happen to notice the recycling symbol on the bottom of them now.Quite honestly, I don’t remember that always being the case. So, big green eco thumbs up!

After eating up all the delicious “super sweet” strawberries the plastic baskets began to pile up on  my kitchen counter top which became somewhat of an eye sore. Yes, I could just toss them into the recycle bin and be done with it; wipe my hands and walk away but lately I’ve been trying REALLY, REALLY hard to reuse things. I have always been good about it but I’m trying to take good to the next level.

Over the weekend, I was preparing a dish and cutting away at some veggies for din-din (and staring at the little green baskets),  … I instantly thought…”garbage bowl” after I scooped up some scraps and needed to find a place for them. They rescued the veggie scraps instantly and it made me a happy camper.

For those of you who watch Rachel Ray, you may be a fan of the “garbage bowl” already… for those of you who do not… well, simply put the “garbage bowl” is for all the food scraps to sit in while you prepare your meal. Granted, her kitchen bowl is twice the size of a strawberry basket but size doesn’t matter here, people. LOL!

It has seriously come in handy for all my kitchen scraps. Especially since most of the kitchen scraps go to the chickens & worms. The green baskets make it convenient to toss in all the waste as you go rather then tossing it into the garbage each time. I’ve been surprised at how much kitchen waste one little basket can fit and remain inside.Even garlic peels stayed inside

Granted, I won’t need that many “garbage bowls” but at least a couple will serve a purpose for awhile. The others are going back to the stand at the farmer’s market so they can be reused. I also have one in use for garlic bulbs! And… I’ve even used one as an Easter Basket (can’t find post with it pictured) for Tristan’s first Easter and will more than likely be doing it again for both this year!!! Just add reused paper stuffing or raffia to fill it up with and it’s ready for eggs or whatever you wish. Oh! and if you notice in the picture above there’s the agave bottle I’ve been waiting on (and the garlic bulbs are in the pic too- swear!).

Next time you get some strawberries reuse the green little basket as a kitchen scrap bowl, you’ll be happy you did!

Here are just a few other things I’m reusing:

* Piece of cotton from prenatal vitamin bottle; will be reused for crafts.

* 2 ice cream sticks; reused for crafts.

* Plastic case a necklace came in; keep my bobby pins inside.

* Very old Malt O Meal box; cut top open and poured baking soda inside for easy pour and no ‘poo regime.

* Plastic shoe case; have several of these in use for misc. crap objects.

* Jar tops; have several of these also for many uses… change holder, picture magnet frame and great for crafts.

Reusing is Rad!

What have you been reusing lately?

{Happy WW!} My Little Kale Chippers!