With autumn in the air I’m feeling the good vibes of change. With the leaves turning color I feel like I need a new and refreshed feel. As I watched the sunrise this morning I thought back on my Green Visions for the year. I thought I would reflect on them and take a look at my progress. What has been successful and what hasn’t  &  surprise you with a challenge!

- Eco Driving: I’ve been very conscience of my driving habits and have noticed a major difference in gas savings. When applying Eco Driving methods you definitely save gas! We live in a hilly area so it’s fun to coast down the street and see how far the truck goes before I need to give it gas. Usually it will slow to about 15 mph but when you’re coasting that seems SUPER slow. At least it does for me! My hub on the other hand is still working on his skills. He commutes daily so he can easily forget Eco Driving when traffic is horrible. I still say NO EXCUSES! LOL!

- Green Up Our Cooking: I can honestly say that we have not used our microwave more than 5x this year!! This one I’m proud of. Since my parents bought us a toaster oven we use it to warm up any food. I don’t mind waiting and just try to time things so that we’re not waiting. It works out nicely most of the time. We’ve even considered getting rid of our microwave to use the space for something else. Our kitchen is really small and we could use the space. We already use it as storage.

- Eat Less Meat (maybe even become vegetarian): I haven’t exactly gone veggie but we been considering a raw foods diet. We’ve always tried to go meatless on Monday’s so that’s been normal around here. I’ve been incorporating more raw meals and we definitely keep up with green smoothies daily. We’re still learning so it’s not exclusive. I’m also going to start Baby C out raw! As I mentioned before, I’m skipping the rice cereal this time around and going right into veggies. His first one will be butternut squash just like T had except C will be raw.  We’ve also included more salads without the junky dressings and have stuck with the ones from The Raw Transformation and others that I’ve picked up from a few sights. With the cooler weather coming I’m excited for raw soups. Oh! and I purchased the Sun-Sational Raw Baby food book yesterday!!  More to come.

- Get Involved Locally: Still working on this one! I write for the paper but as I mentioned in my vision post I wanted to have a couple Eco-Mom meetings… that has not happened. Who know’s when it will. It’s always on my mind but it’s just not the right time. Eco-Mom recently sent me some Seventh Generation samples to try out and host a party- I’m hoping that I can at least one in before the end of the year. Even if it’s just with my closet girlfriends. I have a few ideas in mind. I’m headed to my local green coffee shop this weekend to find out if they’d be interested in putting up the 350.org campaign poster.  If they go for the poster, I’m happy!

- Become a Freegan: I haven’t had the opportunity to look into the laws about this. My husband is completely against the idea in every way shape or form. Unless it’s something other than food. He’s okay with salvaging a dresser or clothes but he draws the line at food. I can understand. One of these nights I’m going to get sneakie with a friend and go dumpster diving. Enquiring minds want to know!

- Save $$Green$$- Stop Impulse Buying: Honestly, this one has been easy only because we’ve been broke. I’ve not purchase anything new for me and the only new has been for necessities or food. I’ve even tried my best to buy second hand for clothes. This year has been our toughest year financially. Even though my husband has been working his tail off – this past week- it seems there may be some light at the end of the tunnel!!

Overall, I’m happy how things are going. Some days are better than others as with anything. It’s definitely a journey and I’m having a lot of fun learning ways to live without the “convenient comfort system” as I like to call it or in other words live sustainably. In these economic times it’s proved to be worth it!!  I still pick up trash on our walks and we’ve been great about no paper towels! We always have plenty of dish towels on hand and I use my Skoy clothes often. We even have plenty of wash clothes around for dirty hands and messy faces- basically quick wipes. At first the transition was hard. We just toss our soaked rags from a spill right into the washer. It’s been a huge money saver!

While I’m talking about convenience items- I’d like to tell you about the Ditch the Disposables challenge the Crunchy Domestic Goddess is hosting! Before paper towels I was able to give up dryer sheets! We haven’t used dryer sheets in 4 years! We use dryer balls. They work great. Even if we forget to toss them in I don’t get a lot of static cling in my clothes. Must be the eco friendly detergent. I haven’t joined YET this year because I’m not quite ready to give up toilet paper. It’s been discussed and could be on next years green vision’s list! We’re already cloth wiping with the boys- so why not, right?! We’ll see!!

I am considering the Diva cup though. I’ve already began menstruation again and need an alternative to organic tampons. Looking into  my options. I thought about giving up my contacts for a month but I buy a year supply. One day, I’ll get lasery surgery and get rid of contacts for good. For now, I’m not ready to give up disposable contact lenses. Actually, I might consider it once I run out and find a pair of frames I like. Last time, I went in for frames I had a new insurance so I went to a new Dr. and he wanted to dilate my eyes. After doing so, he sent me out into the exam room to look for glasses while I waited for my eyes to dilate. I could hardly see a thing! I was so pissed when I picked up my glasses because it wasn’t what I thought I’d saw in the mirror the day of my appt. Whatever. I do like the fancy and snazzy frames they have on the market these days. With no insurance I don’t think that I’ll be getting frames anytime soon. Costco always has a great deal on frames so maybe next year I’ll look into it (no pun intended). Anyone know of an eco-friendly frame  option???? LMK.

A few disposable items I can think of  that were still using are razors, ziploc bags, trash bags, and shampoo. We’re slowing getting rid of our Costco collection of Ziplocs,  trash bags,and shampoo. After that we’ll probably buy recycled trash bags and use cloth instead of the baggies and I’m going to try the “no-poo” method very soon.  Right now we’re out of razors… I’m still hoping to figure out an eco friendly option soon- so with that- I join Amy’s (Crunchy Domestic Goddess) challenge and will give up disposable razors and try my hand at waxing- and look into threading as Deborah from Pure Mother’s suggested. Wish me luck, this could get really hairy!!! ;D

Remember, this is a journey and I do slip up! That’s why I have confessed my eco sins before! Join us!

As you might know, I’ve been delving into the world of the raw foods diet. The more and more I read the more and more I’m eager to try out new recipes and go to the raw side of the moon. LOL! Most of the recipes are simple and easy. I don’t want to get discouraged so we do quick, easy and of course tasty meals. I’m finding that all raw meals are tasty and look amazing when put together.

Going raw is very beneficial for the planet. By only consuming a plant based diet you are leaving all the methane gas that cows produce (and plenty of more things) at the door. Not only that, but you’re supporting local farmers by eating more organic and local fresh fruits and veggies. It’s no secret that we need more greens in our diet as well as nature’s candy- fruit!

I love raw food dishes because they’re colorful and the fresh herbs add depth to dishes. It gives you a whole new perspective on texture and taste. They say variety is the spice of life!! In the raw foods diet you’re getting a variety of fresh fruits and veggies everyday for each meal. There are numerous health benefits that it’s great for: Weight loss, Diabetes, Eczema, body odor and plenty more.  I want to glow and smell like strawberries!!!

Meat dishes can be substituted into faux meat dishes using nuts and different spices. You can even create nut pates that can serve as cheese, bread, eggs…etc. You can also use nuts to get a good beneficial milk with lots of nutrients.  Amazing. Or Rawmazing…shall I say!!

This weeks menu includes many meatless nights and we’re including more raw into our diet than norm. We wanna be Rawkstars! What about you?

So here’s the scoop. I pick up a magazine called Delicious Living at my natural health foods store in town. The month of July has a section in it called Classy Raw Cuisine.…by Ani Phyo!

So far we’ve made Fresh Taco Wraps and the Cobbler Crumble Topping just from her article that includes 4 other recipes we’re likely to try. Rawsagne anyone?

I even made raw meatballs over the weekend- using pine nuts and almonds for the meat. They are yummy and look and smell just like meatballs.  Plus, the meatball mixture keeps for a week in the fridge.

Last week, I made a raw pasta with marinara sauce after coming across a video from Youtube. Since we have zucchini and tomatoes growing in our garden I figured it was the perfect dish. It turned out fantastic. We ate it all up. We plan to use the meatballs this week when we make raw pasta  but this time it’ll be a traditional raw spaghetti sauce. ;p

Perfect summer dishes for sure! You’ll also find that a lot of the recipes last a few days in the fridge and don’t spoil as quickly as cooked foods. More raw foods are definitely in the forecast for my family.

P.S. After I made the raw pasta with marinara sauce dish, I tweeted about it’s goodness on twitter… Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess saw the twitpic of our raw pasta dish and wanted the recipe. She mentioned she was going to a local slow foods potluck in her community and thought it would be a good dish to bring!

” I was happy to hear that everyone liked it, even those who were skeptical at first. Even my husband who’s not a big zucchini or tomato fan thought it was really good. (I’m holding him to that and planning on making it again!) What I found really interesting is that the pasta, which is just thinly sliced zucchini (I used my vegetable peeler to make ribbons), tastes so much like “real” pasta when you have a flavorful marinara all over it. “

If you want to see a few pictures of some of the raw recipes I’ve made recently click here!

If you’re a raw foodie or interested in going raw and have a recipe you want to share- email me: lamamanaturale@gmail.com

I might just try it and feature it here. Yum! 

Happy Meatless Monday!