Hippie Girl

Bye Bye Seasonal Produce

2008-10-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

With the exception of the produce that I've frozen away in my freezer I will be saying goodbye to the following produce until its next season:

Lettuce......after eating a salad each night this past summer it won't be hard to go without this one for the next couple of months. However I am usually guilty of buying organic romaine once in awhile during the winter months.

Strawberries.......this isn't hard because the containers that are shipped in from California during the winter months don't even SMELL like real strawberrries.....they are tasteless. A waste of money in my opinion. If I crave strawberries for my daily smoothie, I will buy the odd bag of frozen strawberries. They are a bit better then the fresh ones....but not much better.

Tomatoes......you know, I can not remember the last time I bought a tomato in the grocery store? It has to be years! I get mine all summer long from the farmers markets and we just do without throughout the winter. I guess we get our fix of tomato cravings from tomato sauce.

Grapes.....once the stores stop selling the USA grapes and start selling the south american ones, I quit buying grapes until next summer.

Watermelon.......I don't recall ever seeing a watermelon for sale in the middle of February in my city anyways.

Peaches, nectarines, plums, pears......we buy and eat large quantities of these fruit while in season so we don't miss them during the winter.

Besides the obvious distance out of season produce has to travel to get to us we stopped buying the above produce during the winter because the stuff just doesn't taste good! When you get spoiled by eating it fresh and at its juiciest - why settle for anything less???!!

Fall Harvest

2008-10-07T08:28:00.001-07:00

Well, hello!! I don't expect anyone to be reading this blog since I've become so delinquent in my posts. The kids were out of school for the summer so spending time with them outdoors has been my top priority. But, they are back in school full time now and I've been busy with doing some fall food storage.

I took a bunch of pictures to post here - some of my freezer and storage closet full of food, some canning pictures, etc etc. but for some reason I can not upload them today. This computer just isn't cooperating. So, you'll have to settle for a pictureless post. Sorry :(

So, what have I been up to???

1. I put together an 'emergency tote' with enough supplies for 72 hours - supplies that would be needed in case we are without power and/or water. I followed the guidelines as set out at http://getprepared.gc.ca/_fl/guide/national_e.pdf . I purchased a practical kit from http://www.redcross.ca/ that has first aid supplies, wind up radio, etc etc. to go in my tote of food, water, blankets, etc.
2. I've been filling our freezer with food from our weekly CSA box. (which sadly came to an end last Saturday) (sniff, sniff) Any food we didn't eat up each week got put in the freezer for the winter months. For example, we always got a ton of spinach and swiss chard. And even though I eat some of that every day in my daily green smoothie there was always plenty left each week. So I froze the leftovers. Volia - I've got enough spinach and swiss chard for at least 6 months worth of smoothies.
3. Other items in my freezer for the winter months include: beets (i peeled and cut into chunks for the smoothies), kale (from my container garden), blueberries (locally picked), green peppers (that I've already diced up), green beans, broccoli (which I didn't get enough of and will be finished in about 2 months) and strawberries. Actually, I finished the last bag of strawberries last week. Sadly we only picked 6 3 litre baskets and never got back to the field to pick anymore . So those baskets only lasted from July-October. Note to self: PICK MORE STRAWBERRIES. I completely missed out on raspberries this year.
4. I stocked up a small broom closet with enough food for about 3 months. As sales arise I will try to build up an even bigger food supply. Some of the items in this closet are: tomato sauces, noodles, bags of rice, dried beans, locally made saurkraut, local honey, a big bag of flour and enough potatoes to get us through to Christmas - maybe even longer. If they don't sprout on me.
5. I canned chili sauce and my hubbie canned pickles. That is the only canning I did this year.
6. I dried the herbs from my container garden in my bedroom closet - on trays. (oregano, dill, and sage) Then I crushed the herbs and put into glass jars.
7. Along with a 3 month supply of food, I also stocked up on personal care items: toliet paper, soaps (locally made), razors, shampoos, etc. I cleared off a shelf in our linen closet and made room for all these items.
8. I made the switch to reusuable menstral pads and am loving them. I got a kit from www.lunapads.com. You can get any info you like from that website.

I am pleased with the amount of food I accumulated thoughout the summer. We did better then last year so it's an improvement. Obviously if I had gotten enough to last us till May that would be even better....but baby steps. I focused on getting the things we eat the most of. Like the spinach as I can not get that organic here in the winter months. I can never find saurkraut that is fresh either - the stuff at the grocery store is full of sulfites. So having a few big jars in the closet is great for us.
With all the scary talk on the news about rising food costs, food shortages, food storage it got me to thinking that I had better get my family prepared. So I took the steps this past summer to build up a food supply - it may not be huge, but its a start. As we go along we are learning!

Happy Belated Canada Day!!

2008-07-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post! shheeeze......but in my own defence we've been hanging outside for the most part.

One of these days I will take some photos of the CSA box we've been getting each week. I've been practically giddy each time picking it up. ha ha For the past three weeks we've enjoyed - all organic - spinach, swiss chard, green onions, rhubarb, garlic scapes, and salad greens. We don't always get through all the spinach each week so i've been putting some in the freezer for our winter green smoothies. The kale in my 'container' garden has been growing up nicely - we've already enjoyed some - I ended up planting some more in hopes of keeping it going into the winter - but we'll see how that goes.

Yesterday we spent some of the day picking strawberries. We picked 6 3litre baskets....to start us off. I've set aside one of the baskets to eat over the next couple of days and the rest are going in the freezer for the winter months. I love popping them into smoothies or having on breakfast cereal. I imagine I'll have to go back this coming wknd and pick some more. Last year in our experimental stage of food storage I realized that I did not freeze enough berries. We eat our freezer supply by Christmas. Soooooo, I'm making sure I put enough away this year. I decided to 'hoard' the foods that I can not get here in the winter. For example, I have not once seen organic kale in our grocery stores here. So I've been growing it in hopes to have enough to get us through the winter. Same thing with the strawberries - the ones you get here all winter long are shipped in from California (which if you do the math from California to Ontario, Canada is quite the trek for a container of strawberries). They do not taste like a strawberry at all and they are completely white in the centre of them....making them devoid of any nutrition in my mind. Hence the strawberry picking yesterday for our freezer storage so we get ripe, juicy strawberries all year long.

Another thing I've been doing (instead of blogging lately) is yoga. I signed up for a two week intensive yoga class that is each morning from 6:30 am to 7:30 am OUTSIDE! If you have never practiced yoga outside please do so! It is exhilirating! I love it. I also do a weekly yoga class indoors too.

I'll try my best to keep up a regular blog but its so much fun outdoors right now...... please do not hate me if another month goes by before you hear from me again!

My new juicer!!

2008-05-20T06:25:00.001-07:00

I finally replaced my juicer! I've mentioned in the past that my present juicer is garbage - I wasn't getting a whole lot of juice out of the fruits/veggies. It was a cheap Wallmart variety that I actually got for free a few years ago because I cashed in some Airmiles for it. Anywho, this new baby is an Omega 8005 model. It will even juice wheatgrass! I can make nut butters with it - ice creams - nut milks - and use it as a food processor. After using it a few times this past wknd I realize I definately got my moneys worth! It is super quiet (unlike my old one), easy to clean and assemble. I have only juiced with it - I have not tried out its other functions yet.

Another thing I snagged this wknd were two Raw cookbooks; Rawvolution by Matt Amsdsen and Raw Food/Real World by Matthew Kenney. I've already read both books cover to cover and look forward to trying out some of the recipes this week. I think I will start with a dessert.......:)

A raw food dinner.

2008-05-15T09:38:00.001-07:00

Let me start by saying that I have NO photography skills whatsoever. ha ha But I figure a post is alot better with some pictures - even if they aren't so skillfully taken.

Now I don't have a picture of the actual dinner served on our plates (forgot -sorry!) but what I have here are the leftovers in different bowls to show you.

For dinner last night I made Spicy Thai Wraps (actual wrap not shown), with a sweet mango dipping sauce, (the yellow stuff in the small bowl) a side of "rice" (in bowl beside mango sauce) and sweet avocado chocolate pudding (not shown here - see previous post for pic).

The thai wraps consisted of a filling (upper right hand corner) made from almond butter, napa cabbage, amongst other ingredients. The recipe said to wrap the filling in chard leaves, but I chose romaine leaves instead. I did not find them spicy at all - my kids found them sour (I can't imagine how).

The mango sauce for dipping was awesome. The recipes for the thai filling, the "rice" and the mango sauce is here. I will definately make them again. It was very simple to whip up.

The 'rice' was cauliflower and cashews whized around in the FP. (food processor) It actually had the consistency of a sticky white rice - but obviously not the flavour. The kids eat ALOT of it. Once again - it was simple to make - I just had to remember to soak the cashews for the day.

I mentioned in my previous post loving the sweet avocado chocolate pudding - so I made another batch. It is very rich, so we added a few raspberries to our servings - and kept the serving very small.

What made me giddy about sitting down to this meal was its presentation. The green leaves stuffed with a sauce, a yellow dipping sauce on the side and a ball of "sticky rice". I felt like we were eating gourmet for the night. The raw meal had lots of colour and we weren't left feeling uncomfortably full afterwards. (as some carb loaded vegan meals tend to do) And the meal left us satisfied for 3 hours....then it was time for a bedtime snack. There was no more preparation in this particular meal then any cooked vegan meal I make.

I made a couple of other things for tonight's dinner. Pictured in the upper left corner is some Moist Chocolate Brownies. I also whipped up some salsa to go with a Walnut "Meat" taco salad. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I will have to keep experimenting with different raw meals in hopes of finding a weeks worth that the kids love. The kids are always good sports and will try everything and eat most of it even if they don't prefer it. I eventually found vegan (cooked) meals that the kids liked and we tend to rotate that stuff. The hubbie however, has never liked ANY vegan meal. He likes his meat, cheese and dairy and no amount of recipe testing has ever changed that in 8 years of marriage. He did not like last night's meal - and I didn't expect him too. Like usual, he ate the entire plate's worth of food but grimaced and gagged the whole time. Like WTF!! He never complains or makes comments - so I appreciate that I suppose. Anyways, we have found a happy balance because he eats breakfast and lunch in restaurants 5 days a week for work (thankfully not on our tab) so he is kept happy eating what he wants at those meals.

Off of food and onto organic cotton. Pictured here is my new organic cotton duvet cover!! I found it at a store in Oakville, Ontario. Shipping was free and it arrived promptly. I have a wool blanket that my parents had for years and did not want anymore - so I put that inside the duvet cover and it works beautifully!

So now I have a complete bed of organic cotton sheets and blankets. Once the pillows are groddy they will be replaced with organic ones AND I hope to have an organic mattress someday - but this bed is only 6 years old - so that won't be anytime soon!

Tree planting is where I have been.

2008-05-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted since April. Geeze. We've been tree planting around here! Here are my sons and I getting dirty.

I've been dabbling in the world of Raw eats. Trying out some recipes. Seeing if I would consider converting from vegan to Raw vegan. Well, it's soooo tempting. There are alot of good raw treats out there. The only pic I've taken so far is this chocolate pudding. The recipe is at The Raw Goddess's blog. I was skeptical about making it as the main ingredient is avocado....but AWESOME! It was rich, and thick, and just plain yummy. The pic does not do it justice. I thought of taking the pic after I had dug in. ha ha

As well as eating raw goodies, we've been doing a bit of gardening. I've got our herbs in pots so far. We've still had a bit of frost some mornings, so I haven't put anything (except the kale and beets) outside yet. The kale and beets we started from seeds. The herbs I bought already started.

For mother's day the kids and I made some fruit bouquets. I got the idea from Rawdorable's blog as she got a bouquet of fruit for her birthday. It was not hard to make and we'll definately do that again!

11th Hour DVD

2008-04-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

We just finished watching the 11th Hour. It is produced and narrated by Leonardo Dicaprio. I loved it!! You can watch the trailer for it at http://wip.warnerbros.com/11thhour/ and see for yourself why it's a must see. Also, you can visit http://11thhouraction.com/ for more solutions on what you can do as an individual or as a community to help save our precious planet.

Happy Belated Earth Day!

2008-04-25T09:25:00.001-07:00

We have been participating in a 'Screen Free' week so I didn't post anything on Earth Day. But we did observe that day. My kids and I planted some kale, beats, and rainbow chard seeds indoors and will transplant them outside in a month or so. We are quite limited in what we grow outside because of our small space - everything is going in planter boxes.

When friends ask me why I care so much about the planet and working towards a sustainable lifestyle, I always have a hard time condensing SOOO much information into a short and practical explanation. Nobody wants to be lectured but I find they are always a bit curious. My grandmother gave me her book The Canadian Green Consumer Guide - How You Can Help - Responsbile shopping that won't cost the earth. The preface in this book was written by Margaret Atwood. I would LOVE to give copies of this preface to everyone I know because it is written in a way that is easy to understand and gets right to the point in a short period of time. The next time someone wants to know why I care so much about the planet I will give them the info from this preface:

----------------Taken from The Canadian Green Consumer Guide-----------------

By now, most people know we're in danger. We've heard about the thinning ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, acid rain, the destruction of the world's forests, arable lands, and drinkable water. The danger we're in is enormous:

if we don't do something about it, its results could be as devasting as those of a world-wide nuclear catastrophe. We have finally realized that we cannot continue to dump wide toxic chemicals and garbage into the water, air, and earth of this planet without eventually killng both it and ourselves - because everything we eat, drink, and grow has its ultimate source in the natural world.

However, most people don't know what to do. In the face of such an enormous global problem, they feel helpless. But altogether the problem is global, the solutions must be local. Unless we begin somewhere, we will never begin at all. An absence of small beginnings will spell the end.

During the depression and the war, conservation was a way of life. It wasn't called that. It was called saving, or salvaging, or rationing. People saved things and reused them because materials were expensive or scarce. They saved string, rubber bands, bacon fat, newspapers, tin cans and glass bottles, old clothes. They made new things out of old things; they darned socks, turned shirt collars. They grew Victory Gardens. "Waste not, want not" was their motto.

Then came the end of the war, a new affluence, and the Disposable Society. We were encouraged to spend and waste; it was supposed to be good for the economy. Throwing things out became a luxury. We indulged.

We can no longer afford our wasteful habits. It's Back to the Basics, time for a return to the Three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse, too, to buy polluting products and to rethink your behaviour. For instance, use less energy; cut your overhead and increase profits, and stave off a tax hike. Dry your clothes on a rack: humidify your home and lower your hydro bill. Leave excess packaging at the store: let them dispose of it. Manufacturers will get the message pretty quick, not just from you but from disgruntled retailers. Start a compost heap. Vote for politicians with the best environmental platforms. Choose non-disposables: razors with real blades instead of the plastic chuck-it-out kind, fountain pens rather then toss-outs. Shop for organic veggies; di it using a shopping basket so you won't have to cart home all those annoying plastic bags that pile up under the sink. Lobby for country-of-origin labels on all food, so you know you aren't eating destroyed Amazonian rainforest with every hamburger bite.

Pollution control, like charity, must begin at home. It's true that industries are major polluters, but industries, in the final analysis, are market - and therefore consumer-driven. If enough of us refuse to buy polluting products, the manufacturers will go out of business. Even a small percentage swing in buying patterns can mean the difference between profit and loss.

This is wartime. Right now we're losing; but it's a war we can still win, with some good luck, a lot of good will, and a great many intelligent choices. Although they are about familiar, harmless-looking, everyday objects, they are, in the final analysis, life-or-death choices.

And the choice is yours.

Margaret Atwood

Screen Free Week

2008-04-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

Our family will be participating in the upcoming Screen Free week. I'm chuckling at the challenge because it will not be a challenge for us at all. We do not subscribe to cable or satellite.....we simply have rabbit ears on our TV and get 6 stations. My husband and I watch an hour of TV each night and the kids watch even less then that. There are a couple of cartoons on in the mornings that they sometimes watch. They do like to watch movies on weekends. So, as a family, we are not screen free......but we do watch very little and the kids aren't subjected to all the commericals that others kids are. Which makes life easier for us. HA

Soooooooo, because the next week is screen free - I won't be posting anything.

Before I sign off, I'd like you to watch this cool video from a writeup in the New York Times green edition. It's about the Dervaes family of Pasadena California. I hope someday our family can live this self sufficient.

I'm it!

2008-04-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by So what does a vegetarian eat anyways? to list 5 things about myself that others may not know. So here they are:

1. My main interest in life right now is learning everything I can about living a healthy lifestyle that is good to our bodies as well as the earth. I'm interested in vegan recipes, chemical free beauty products, finding organic cotton/bamboo clothing/sheets/towels/etc., alternative treatments to everyday ailments, disease prevention, organic gardening practices, etc etc. This is no big secret to the people around me. ha ha.

2. My choices of favourite things in life come and go like yesterdays news. If you ask me today what my favourite colour is, sure as hell it will be something different tomorrow. I always hated those questionnaires that asked me my likes and dislikes; What's my favourite colour, movie, TV show, shampoo, city, blah blah blah. Basically I have NONE! I love and hate lots of things - don't get me wrong, but nothing has EVER gotten into the FAVOURITE category in my books. I guess I'm still on that search.....which brings me to my next one....

3. I thrive on change. For example, I never buy the same shampoo twice. I'll try another brand when the bottle is empty. I am constantly changing the furniture around in our living room, bedrooms, etc. We have lived in 13 residences in the past 13 years. (which is something that will stop once we buy a home) I guess it looks like I've got committment issues. HA

4. I LOVE trading/borrowing etc household items. Examples of this are: This past week I wanted to sweep the driveway and my corn broom just wasn't going to get the job done effectively, so I called up my Dad and borrowed his broom. When my boys outgrow their clothes, we give them to my nephew. When my mother gets new bedding for her bed, she will ask me if I want her current ones. A girlfriend and I used to get together with clothes we no longer wanted and would trade with one another. I have always loved this circle of events....it gave me more pleasure then buying something new.

5. I am the klutziest person you will ever meet. I break more drinking glasses then my 2 and 5 year old do. ha A day doesn't go by where I don't break something or spill something or trip over something. Just before I started writing this post I was walking through the doorway to my home office and cracked my hand on the doorway and now there is a purple welt on my hand. never fails with me.....

Another find....and gardening

2008-04-16T05:34:00.001-07:00

I had often heard of G.T.'s Kombucha drinks but have never seen them anywhere in our area. We went down into Michigan this past weekend and when I went into a natural food coop Grain Train I found them so I just had to try them. I bought this Synergy one that has ingredients listed as: 95% G.T.'s organic raw kombucha, raspberry juice, lemon juice and freshed pressed ginger juice, and 100% pure love!!! Neat eh? The other kind I bought was the Organic Raw Green drink (not shown here). Kombucha (pronounced kom-BOO-cha) is a handmade Chinese tea that is delicately cultured for 30 days. During this time, essential nutrients form like: Active Enzymes, Viable Probiotics, Amino Acids, Antioxidants, and Polyphenols. All of these combine to create an elixir that immediately works with the body to restore balance and vitality.

I really like the glass bottles the drinks come in - I will definately be reusing them - this smoothie pictured here is my breakfast most days and when I'm in a rush, I can put it into the Synergy bottle and take it to-go. Unfortnately the drinks taste like apple cider vinegar - the two I tried did anyways. And I'm not a huge fan of vinegar - so I ended up using the three bottles I bought in my morning smoothies because I just couldn't drink them alone. I'm disappointed my taste buds didn't like them! You win some, you lose some I suppose.

Onto an unrelated topic - gardening! On Earth Day I usually sit down with the kids and we plant seeds and plan out our garden for the upcoming growing season - in celebration of the earth and all her beauties. This summer I would like to be a bit more organized in what I plant. We have only spent one summer in this house and last one was a bit of an experiment in what I can grow and where. Unfortnately i can not dig up any ground (we are renting) and there isn't much back yard space. I utilized planters last summer and will be doing so again. This is what I plan on growing again this summer: herbs (oregano, basil, parsley, mint, camomile) and plum tomatoes. We didn't have much luck with pumpkins, peas, and squash last summer. I would like to try growing kale, collards, and beet greens. Does anyone have growing tips on these things?

Jumping on the Dr. Bronner's Bandwagon

2008-04-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

I just purchased my first bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps - I bought the Hemp Lavender Pure-Castile Soap. I'm very excited - who knew soap would get me this way. ha ha I'm excited because of the many uses this bottle can have. For starters I added a few squirts of it into my homemade mulit-purpose spray cleaners (see this post)........I used it as a body wash in the shower this morning......and I plan on putting it into a reusable bottle to use as hand soap in the bathroom. That is a good start I think. What do the rest of you use yours for????

Rubbers

2008-04-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

My son needed new rubber boots this spring. Last spring I was able to get him gently used ones but that wasn't the case this year. However, I was able to get him these rubber boots made in CANADA (woot woot) from first quality recyclable materials. To further make a difference with these boots, we can return them to Rallye Footwear for recycling when we no longer can use them. Cool eh??

On a different note, we are in need of some bedspreads and I would like to find some that are 100% organic cotton, or hemp, or bamboo etc. I've been surfing the web all day trying to find one we like - most are colourless. I've had luck in the past with finding bamboo sheets at Zellers (however they are no longer carrying them here) but finding a bedspread/quilt with some colour isn't easy. If anyone has some websites PLEASE let me know!

Beet Martinis

2008-04-03T12:48:00.001-07:00

Okay seriously, there isn't any alcohol in my beet martini - but its always an option. ha ha Along with incorporating more smoothies into our diets, I have also dug out the juicer, dusted it off and put it to work. Remember the other day I mentioned that we are 'on again, off again' kind of folks in regards to smoothie making? Well, same thing with juicing. I bought my first juicer about ten years ago - ran it for a year - and the damn thing just died one day - literally - it coughed, puffed out smoke, and that was it. It was a cheap K-Mart special. Then a couple years after that I bought another cheap, Walmart special, and it is still with us to this day. Maybe one of these birthdays or Christmas I will ask for a good one. Anywho, back to my beet martini. I only call it a martini because I drink all my juice in a martini glass. Makes me feel like a classy kind of gal I suppose. This particular drink I juiced two carrots, half a beet, one celery stalk, and one apple. All organic of course! Isn't it a lovely colour? (my poor photography skills don't do it justice) It was fairly tasty. It was even better after I threw in a splash of my lemon water. (I juice one lemon every day and put it into a big jug of water into the fridge....and sip throughout the day) I've been juicing just about anything I've got in the fridge for produce. Except my greens - my cheap ass juicer doesn't juice those too well. So I save the greens for my smoothies.

Anyways, moral of this post - is go juice something will ya????

Green Smoothies

2008-04-01T07:13:00.001-07:00

It's amazing how many blogs have dedicated a post to their green smoothie creations. I started experimenting with green smoothies a couple years ago when I came across Victoria Boutenko's website and books. Now it seems it is all the rage out there. But like everything with me I went full force making green smoothies everyday, then stopped.....then started again.....then stopped. And now I'm back into making myself one each morning. This time I'm trying out different types of greens. In the past I've pretty much stuck with kale and parsley. This week I've tried arugula and parsley. (turns out I am NOT an arugula fan) Maybe next week I'll try swiss chard and beet greens.....who knows. Pictured here is one of my morning green smoothies. This combo has: raspberries, blueberries, a banana, an apple, 2 big handfuls of argula, 1 big handful of parsley, spirulina powder and Vega smoothie infusion. That mighty glass has 7 servings of fruits and veggies in it!! My boys became intrigued with my morning drink and asked to help one day - so we made a bigger batch and they each had a glass with a twisty straw and LOVED it! YAY! Obviously the old saying 'monkey see, monkey do' is correct.

Also pictured is my sprouter - inside are two trays of alfafa sprouts - these sweet babies will be going into the green smoothies once they are ready.

If you haven't already jumped onto to the green smoothie wagon, check out Green Smoothie Girl and watch her YouTube video on making one.

Does maple syrup REALLY come out of our taps here in Canada????

2008-03-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

In the springtime we probably could rig it up somehow to have the syrup coming out of our taps - I'm sure anything is possible in todays age. ha ha We've got several places we can buy local maple syrup from.

For breakfast on Saturday we went to what we call the 'sugar bush'. A local family has been tapping trees on their land for 80 years and selling the syrup. They also run a pancake establishment there that is open for 4-6 weeks each spring while the syrup is running. So each spring we go for some pancakes and pick up a BIG jug of syrup. (In hindsight I should have taken pictures of the area for you) You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you we go thru TWO of these 4 litre jugs each year. We just don't use it for pancakes though. Dreena Burton's cookbooks use maple syrup to replace most of the refined sugar.....so most of my syrup is used in my baking. Another use I have for maple syrup is in my morning java. Instead of refined white sugar I put a big ol' heaping spoonful of maple syrup into my mug. (hint hint chile chews) A pretty good local alternative I must say.

Another treat I came home with from the sugar bush was some lip balm - in, of course, maple flavour - all natural - good for my lips and senses!

Soooooo we may not be able to grow bananas or mangoes up here in Canada - but we sure do have backdoor access to the best maple syrup on the planet!!

I'm baaaaaack!!!!

2008-03-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

While on vacation I managed to read these two items: the latest issue of Vegetarian times and In Defense of Food. I'm always disappointed with vegetarian times but this issue was surprisingly good. I liked the article "Earth Day Special: How to eat for a healthier Planet." I just LOVED In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Of course one gets more out of this book by reading Omnivore's Dilemna first, but the book was an easy read - I finished it in less than a day. It has sure lit a fire under me to eat more whole foods. We've always been good around here to eat meals prepared by moi instead of out of a package - but I totally disregarded some of our everyday items. Take my Soy Creamer for example; it has over 13 ingredients in it!! This book suggest not eating anything with more than 5 ingredients. Not only that, the soy creamer has some ingredients I can't even pronounce ( carrageenan - which is suscipiously always linked with MSG) Another everyday item in our household is bread. I was on a kick for a couple months where I made all our loaves in my breadmaker - but I put that on a back burner for awhile - well let me tell you - I will be getting that breadmaker back out! A typical loaf of whole wheat bread that I buy in our grocery store has over 12 ingredients in it! I don't even know what mono and diglycerides are??!! I'm guessing preservatives?? You know, the more I find out, the more FREAKED out I get! Ignorance is bliss sometimes? ha ha Anywho, for the days I don't make my bread from scratch I'm buying Ezekiel 4:9 bread. It is made from sprouted grains (no flour...wooohoo), has only sprouted grains, yeast, water and sea salt - nothing suspicious. But enough of that rant.

Also while on vacation I found this makeup by Physicians Formula - it is their newest line of organic makeup. I saw it here in Canada at our drugstore awhile back but it was way too expensive so I always passed it up. But while away I managed to snag it for 40% off! So these three items shown here cost me less than just one of them would have here in Canada. But the price isn't what convinced me to buy the products. Proponents against mineral makeup argue that it can dry the skin and look chalky. (And I agree.) Physician’s Formula has prevented this possibility by including moisturizing jojoba, olive and safflower oils--none of which are comedogenic--in the formulations, which give a creamy look. Eco factor: The Organic Wear™ line contains 100% ECOCERT® ingredients with no parabens, harsh chemicals or synthetic fragrance and dyes. They come in biodegradable packaging and weren't tested on animals. Those are the reason I bought them! I bought the loose powder, powder bronzer, and blush.....stuff I was out of. Bottom Line: I'm happy to have found worthy replacements that are good for my skin AND the environment without breaking the bank!

Diet Sweenteners can cause Obesity, Depression, Brain Damage

2008-03-12T09:50:00.001-07:00

Okay, so we haven't left yet for our vacation! But soon - so very soon - YAY! In the meantime I've been reading about the scary realities of MSG and Aspartame! Crazy, scary shit I tell you! I am HORRIFIED to learn that that DAMN MSG is in just about every thing! Even the freakin' ketchup my kids consume!

This news can't be startling to anyone can it??? I think everyone has always known that anything artifical isn't good for us, and sooner or later, its going to creep up on us. Take me for example, now every time I drink a diet pop I break out in rash. It took approx. 15 years for that crap to accumulate in my system and tell me it's time to say bye-bye to it!

Read for yourselves the dangers of MSG and Aspartame:

http://www.naturalnews.com/022785.html

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/

Read Healthy Cookie's views on MSG too.

Happy researching!

Hiatus

2008-03-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

We're heading off to the sunny south for some SUNSHINE and WARM temperatures. All this white shit on the ground here in Canada is starting to depress me. It was great for awhile - tobagganing, downhill skiing, ice skating......it's all fun and games for the first few months - then after that - I'd like to ask that white crap to "Get the f*&^ outta here already"! ha ha

Because we're flying I offsetted our carbon emissions at http://www.terrapass.com/.

"A carbon offset is a certificate representing the reduction of one metric ton (2,205 lbs) of carbon dioxide emissions, the principal cause of global warming. Although complex in practice, carbon offsets are fairly simple in theory. If you develop a project that reduces carbon dioxide emissions, every ton of emissions reduced results in the creation of one carbon offset. Project developers can then sell these offsets to finance their projects. There are hundreds of different types of carbon reduction projects. For example, a wind farm generates clean energy, which reduces carbon emissions from coal-burning power plants. In order to finance its operations, a wind farm can sell these reductions in the form of carbon offsets."

Next time you travel, visit this website and consider buying one of the certificates - we did! Talk to you when we get back!

photo courtesy of flickr.com

Make Mine a Mocha

2008-02-26T05:22:00.000-08:00

At our library I recently checked out "Vegan Planet" by Robin Robertson. Of course I went through it cover to cover and earmarked all the recipes I wanted to try out. At the top of my list was "Make mine a mocha". This is a blended coffee drink. In the past I've tried cold coffee drinks and wasn't a huge fan - the only time I was a fan was when these drinks turned into ice cream shakes! I could easily drink one of these every day. The only thing is it calls for strong coffee cold - so there is something you have to do ahead of time for this recipe. To accompany by mocha I made Carob Chip muffins from The Everyday Vegan.

I got to thinking that maybe we consume too many flour products around here. I try to vary the type of flours used in baking, i.e. spelt, oat, whole wheat, etc. Clif Bars and Lara Bars are great snacks for those wishing to avoid flours but they can get quite costly when consuming every day, so I set out looking for homemade recipes to make such treats. I got out my copy of "The Thrive Diet" by Brendan Brazier.....and it had several bar recipes. I made the Blueberry chocolate bars - but I rolled them into balls - for easier handling for the kids. Now, for those of you used to eating Lara Bars and such, eating these will be easy. They are quite good. BUT, for someone like my husband who hasn't eaten any such thing, the experience won't be so good. LOL He couldn't get past the first bite. They aren't supposed to be sugary sweet honey - I tell him. ha ha Then I took my search to the web and stumbled upon this blog: Frans House of Ayurveda. I'm happy to have found it. She had a recipe for nut balls and I made a batch of those - they were alot better then the blueberry chocolate ones. WARNING - the picture you are about to see is quite DISGUSTING!! Chocolate nut balls do not present well! ha ha But they are soooo worth making - healthy - and gives the body a break from flour products.

Discovering Ayurveda

2008-02-25T11:25:00.000-08:00

I just discovered the whole world of Ayurveda and I am quite intrigued! The cornerstone of Ayurvedic healing is the concept of the 'dosha', a Sanskrit word that refers to your mind-body constitution. Everyone is a unique blend of the three doshas - kapha, vata, and pitta - with one or two more dominant from birth. Turns out I am a pitta - you can find out which one you are by taking the quiz at http://www.whatsyourdosha.com/. There is also a 6 week mini e-course you take for FREE at this website. It will teach you all about the Ayurvedic practices.....I signed up for that and will let you know how it turns out.

Yoga

2008-02-22T07:32:00.001-08:00

My lifestyle includes yoga, which I practice a couple times a week. That story began 6 years ago when I was pregnant with our first child. A friend and I decided to try a couple prenatal yoga classes as the yoga studios offered free trial sessions. After two classes I decided yoga wasn't for me. I left the classes dizzy, my wrists ached, and my legs were shaky. I couldn't understand what the popularity was all about. However, my curiousity for the practice was still there a few years later. The gym I belonged to at the time started offering a 'Body Flow' class several times a week so I decided to see what it was all about. Well, let me tell you, after one class I was hooked! I experienced a 'yoga high' for 3 days afterwards. I had often heard about this high that people get from practicing yoga - and I now knew what they were talking about. The class started out with some Tai Chi movements and then moved into yoga poses followed by some pilates exercises and finished off with 10 minutes of meditation. My body seemed to need about 2-3 sessions a week. Sadly, my schedule changed and I couldn't fit any of the classes into it. That was last September.......I went Sept-Jan without any formal yoga classes and I suffered for it. I noticed a huge difference in how my body handled stress etc. Sure I tried to do some of the yoga poses I learned but it wasn't the same and they didn't have the same effect. The yoga studios here in our city don't offer classes that can fit my schedule so I decided to find some DVD's so I could practice in the comfort of our home on my own time. At first I went to all the movie stores to see if I could rent some so I could figure out which ones I liked and didn't like. No movie stores here rented any. Then I tried the library and they didn't have any! So I ended up buying two: 1. A.M & P.M YOGA This turned out to be a good tape. It is 20 minutes in length with two sessions - either you can do the am one or the pm one. I choose to do the pm one a couple times a week. It is for beginners so it isn't strenous or complicated. I find its good primarily for working out the body's kinks and de-stressing. 2. Yoga Zone: Yoga Sculpting: I'm not a fan of this one. It makes me slightly dizzy and hurts my wrists.
This is the down side of just buying any ol' DVD....it doesn't mean I will like everything I buy. But boy, does it feel good to be back into Yoga once again. Sooooo, I'd like to find another DVD to do in conjunction with the PM Yoga one. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. AND, if there are any bloggers out there that do like the Yoga Zone tapes, let me know and I will glady mail you my copy.
Namaste.

Re-using rather then throwing away

2008-02-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

My Dad is the king of reusing materials for household projects. Just recently he reused some old panelling to fix things up under their kitchen sink. The other day he came over and brought these pink plastic containers with him. (I think the containers were veggie trays from the supermarket) He was grinning ear to ear and told me he just couldn't throw these out thinking I might have some use for them. Cheaky guy!! So to show him I found some good use for them. We used them to contain the kids markers. I reused some tin cans (instead of recycling them) and we put all the markers into these cans and then placed the cans into the circle slots. Perfecto! Now whenever the kids want to do some crafts or colouring, I just pull out the 'flower' container and they have all these markers at their disposal. The second 'flower' container we used to make ice sculptures. We filled each 'petal' with water and food colouring and left it outside to freeze. Once frozen we popped out the sections and left our 'flower' sculptures on the front step for decoration.

2008-02-16T17:10:00.000-08:00

Wow!! It is super cool that Theresa over at Pondering the Myriad of Things has awarded me with an Excellent Blogging Award.....along with some other fellow bloggers. I'm very thrilled that my blog has made an impression. I've only been blogging a few months and its great to see how fast words can spread throughout the blogging community. Its an awesome way to educate and share ideas with one another. Like for instance, I just learned from Meg that Burt's Bees was bought out by Clorox Corp. Its amazing the things I learn from fellow bloggers.
The description of this award is as follows:

-------Now according to the information I was given - the person who started it all said:
“I love being a part of the blogging community and part of all the friendships that I’ve formed, so I wanted to give a blog award for all of you out there that have Excellent Blogs.”
Of course, there is a catch…
By accepting this Excellent blog award, I have to award it to at least ten more people whose blogs I find Excellent.
So, if you’re listed blow, please, consider yourself “Excellent” and thus worthy of this honor which I bestow upon you. And, if you have not yet visited these sites, I invite you to do so and experience some Excellent Blogging.------

Soooooo, here is a list of 10 bloggers that I considere 'Excellent':

1. Sara at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly: I think its awesome what she and her family are doing with the Live Lightly Tour
2. Kris at Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Cancer: Her work is very inspirational.
3. Meghan at The Healthy Cookie
4. Catherine at Food Snob: I love what she cooks up in the kitchen as well as seeing her try to 'green' her lifestyle.
5. Loving Green: she is very creative!
6. Simply Green Living: love the green topics she touches on.
7. No Impact Man
8. Aprovechar - Taking the full measure
9. So what do vegetarians eat anyways: a fellow canadian
10. Hedge Happenings

I read sooo many blogs and I find them all very interesting......I could list more than 10, but those are a start.....so go check them out!!
And thanks again Theresa for awarding me!

Just say "NO" to Roses this Valentine's Day!

2008-02-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

I had access to flowers all summer long from my grandmothers garden.....starting with lilacs, then chives, then peonys, then roses, etc. It was nice to have some pretty colours in my house at all times. Why would I get flowers from a florist when I had that kind of access? Unfortnately winters are long here in Canada and there isn't too much growing under the layers and layers of SNOW! So its always been exciting to get an embarassing display of flowers for Valentines Day. However, I had NO clue that florists got their flowers from countries such as Ecuador and Columbia with questionable practices at best. So I am saying NO to flowers this V-Day unless they are organic and/or locally grown.

Read this article to see why: http://http://green.msn.com/galleries/photos/photos.aspx?gid=171&GT1=10931

Have you read your body lotion label lately?

2008-02-10T09:50:00.001-08:00

I love Burt's Bees new campaign line: "How do you get all the soft without the suspicious?" They go on to describe a comparison of the ingredients Milk & Honey VS DMDM Hydantoin. Maybe spelling all this out to consumers in a flashy (half naked woman) ad will wake people up to the fact that the mainstream drugstore products are just chemicals in pretty bottles. And that maybe everyone should be reading the ingredients on them before buying.....just like we do at the grocery stores.
Six years ago when I became pregnant with our first child I started reading about the cosmetic and beauty industry and what goes into all the products we use. It is scary! What woke me up was learning that our skin is our body's biggest organ and 60% of what we put on our skin is absorbed back into our blood stream. So the theory is if you wouldn't eat it, you shouldn't wear it. And that is when I started buying organic, natural products from the health food store. And boy, have I gone through a lot over the years! ha ha Like drugstore products, the natural products all work differently, and it has taken me awhile to settle on products that work best for us. You also have to beware of some of the so-called 'natural' products. Just because a company puts 'natural' on their bottle doesn't make it natural. For a list of ingredients you should avoid in products you can visit http://www.searchforthecause.org/documents/dirty_dozen.pdf
You can see posts from previous months on the beauty products my kids and I are currently using. And finally I have converted over the hubbie!! Pictured here are 3 brands of men's products.....products that I found here in our city. I'm sure there are a million on the web to try....but my husband is new to this stream of products, so I didn't want to overwhelm the guy.
Herban Cowboy: He loved this line of products the best - mostly because of the scent. I got him the 'Wild' and 'Dusk' scents in shave cream, aftershave balm, and soap. He has no opinion on the efficiency of the product vs the others...go figure...he based his preference entirely on smell. All are organic and vegan.
Burt's Bees - this company just launched a men's line late last year. I prefer the smell of this line to the Herban Cowboy because it is a lot more subtle in smell. I have been using the body wash on him! ha And lastly is the Weleda after shave lotion. My husband found the scent too floral and the consistency too greasy.
Some health food stores will give out samples if asked - so don't be shy to explain that you are looking at finding more natural products for your family and don't know where to start.

Some Winter Reading

2008-02-09T05:05:00.000-08:00

What's a girl to do when it's -20 outside? Snuggle up with some good books and yummy treats! Pictured here is what I'm working on reading this month.
The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature by fellow Canadian David Suzuki. My mother lent it to me and I'm half way through it. The heart of this book is the scientifically supported fact that each of us is quite literally created by air, water, soil and sunlight, and what cleanses and renews these fundamental elements of life is the web of living things on the planet. I'll let you know how the second half of the book does.
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle. Of course, anything Oprah Winfrey recommends reading most of us run out and buy. ha ha I have yet to start this book but will let you know how it is.
VegNews - the latest issue - this magazine never disappoints me.

To satisfy my sweet tooth I made Wheatless Chocolate Chip Cookies from Veganomican. I've made these three times already! The first batch I followed the recipe exactly - using oat flour. I was pleasantly surprised as I haven't had much luck with oat flour in the past. The second batch I did not have enough oat flour for, so I substituted in half spelt flour. This version was fantastic - best vegan choc chip cookie I've had. The third batch I made with all spelt flour and they were just too dense. Soooo, the verdict on these cookies is to use half oat flour and half spelt flour.
For my birthday my sis-in-law gave me her espresso machine that she never uses. woooohooo - I have been frothing up soy lattes all week!! I have found that Silk Soy is the best for frothing - it makes for a very creamy latte. And of course Silk is organic AND the company is powered by clean, renewable wind energy! How great is that? The fact that a serving of vanilla Silk comes in at a mere 100 calories isn't too shabby either.

Zen Habits

2008-01-29T10:13:00.000-08:00

I love this website http://zenhabits.net/. I can sooooo relate to his post on "The Minimalists Guide to Simple Housework". I too can only thrive in an uncluttered, clean house......and loved the tips - which I pretty much have already incorporated into our lives anyways. So hop on over and check out her 'zen habits'. We could all use a little zen.....

There is more to life than increasing its speed. - Gandhi

Carrot Cookies

2008-01-27T08:25:00.000-08:00

These drop cookies have an old-fashioned taste. The difference between these and sugar cookies is the carrots, which give the cookies colourful eye appeal and vitamin A. Its another good way to add extra veggies into a child's diet. Which seems to be the craze right now - disguising veggies into foods. I'm all for pureeing veggies into soups/sauces/cookies etc. as an extra punch to a child's diet. But I'm not for doing this exclusively. I think children need to learn to eat their vegetables and discover which veggies they like and don't like. Us mommies won't always be around them to 'disguise' vegetables into their foods. They need to learn to eat them!!
Here is a recipe that I veganized. It is adapted from the cookbook "Better Baby Food" by Daina Kalnins and Joanne Saab. It is a Canadian Cookbook made for The Hospital For Sick Children. I've sent a batch of these now and again to my son's kindergarden class. The teacher mentions how these 'carrot' cookies always raise a stir amongst his peers. ha ha But the end result is they always get eaten!
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
egg substitute to equal one egg. (I use flax meal)
1 cup shredded carrots (about 2 medium)
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. With an electric mixer, cream together marg with sugar until light and fluffy. beat in egg substitute and carrots. In another bowl, combine flours , spices, and baking powder. Gradually stir into creamed mixture, blending well after each addition. Drop cookies onto baking sheets, press down with fork. Bake for 15 minutes.

Soy yarn

2008-01-21T07:38:00.001-08:00

A yarn made from soy? You betcha. Think about it. Cotton, linen, and flax are vegetable fibers, and they work beautifully in knitted fabrics. So why not try it with an even more abundant crop, soy?
Although it sounds new and revolutionary, the concept of turning soy fiber into wearable clothing has been with us for years. In fact, on South West Trading Company's Web site you'll find a picture of Henry Ford wearing a Soy Silk suit as far back as the 1940s.
Soy Silk is an environmentally friendly fiber made from tofu manufacturing waste. Soy protein is liquefied and then extruded into long, continuous fibers that are then cut and processed like any other spinning fiber.
Soy Silk Phoenix yarn has a knitted tube composition that lies flat like a piece of linguini. It is available in undyed form, which is a supersoft shade of ivory, as well as several dyed forms, all of which have a somewhat rougher hand as a result of the dying process.

When my mother was shopping for yarn she came across some soy yarn and couldn't help but think of me and decided to knit the hat above for my birthday! I'm very pleased with the softness of this hat and the colours! Thank you mommy dearest!

Vegan Cooking/Lifestyle Class

2008-01-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

I attended my first cooking class! And it was vegan to boot! I was shocked to see such a class offered here in our city so I took advantage of it. This city doesn't even have one vegetarian restaurant sadly enough. This class was offered at an Independent Grocer - they have a variety of classes offered throughout the year.
I was too shy to take any photos during the evening - but here is the menu we eat that night:

Appetizer - bean dip and black olive tapenade with tofu chips. I've never had any of these items before - very good!

Lentil soup - I've made various lentil soups over the years - but this one will replace all of those! You know what the secret ingredient is??? Minced apricots! It gave the soup a sweetness that made it delicious.

Mixed bean salad over greens - this was your run of the mill type bean salad. Loved it!

Entree - Mango & "Cream Cheese" Quesadillas: These were very good too. I've never considered putting mango into quesadillas but I will definately try it again. Also, I've never tried a soy cream cheese and it was surprisingly good.

Dessert: Chocolate banana mousse: I'm not a fan of banana anything - so I would probably leave out the banana another time. But I loved the consistency of this mousse. Some puddings with tofu taste gritty and/or too much like the soy. This one had none of those problems.

So, all in all, I had a very nice evening! I've never attended any sort of vegan function like this before so I hope to see more of them offered in this city. If anyone would like the recipes for the above mentioned courses, I'd be happy to post them for you.

Clutter Control

2008-01-16T11:55:00.001-08:00

I've been busying downsizing our household things - things that we don't use - stuff that could probably make someone else happy. I've sent bags of stuff to various charitable organizations. It feels empowering getting rid of stuff. The saying 'less is more' is definately true!

For next Christmas I'm definately putting a cap on things we buy our kids. It is only mid January and alot of their christmas presents have been forgotten about already. So you know what I did - I packed up what I could and returned a few things to the stores. They didn't play with a couple of presents and I still had the original box/receipts - so why wouldn't I return them? I'm hanging on to the money until I decide what they really might need/want. I'm slowly learning that the less things that these kids have, the more enthusiastic they are about them. When they are given too many choices in what to play with - they end up playing with none of the stuff. OR, everything gets tossed around the room for us mommies to clean up. LOL

I'm really enjoying the 'minimalistic' look/feel to our house now. What do the rest of you do to keep the clutter at bay in your homes?

My first Vegan wallet!!!

2008-01-08T06:55:00.000-08:00

For Christmas - my hubbie gave me this Matt & Nat wallet!! It's awesome! My last wallet was falling apart and as things disengrate I am replacing them with more earth friendly/animal friendly items. In a local store downtown they were selling vegan wallets made by Matt and Nat. http://www.mattandnat.com/ which is based in Montreal Quebec.

I should have taken this photo the other way - but if you look at the top right hand corner you will see an inscription. It states:

"choose life choose positivity

choose the golden rule

choose to be at peace with

yourself choos salvation

scegliete di fate una differenza

choose to make a difference

choisissez de faire une difference

choose to be different choose to

be a rebel choose to be funky

choose to be yourself choose

to create a fashion statement"

Gotta love products like this one! Thank you hubbie!

New Year - Fresh Start

2008-01-05T06:43:00.001-08:00

Hey - hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! We did - I'll be posting another day on some of the eco gifts I received!

Every year over the holidays I 'spring clean' my house. Obviously it is no where near spring here in Northern Ontario but I like to start out every year in an organized & clean house. So far we've been living in small quarters so it has never been a huge ordeal - about one or two days worth. I clean out closets, drawers - you name it. The basement is always the biggest task. Most stuff goes to goodwill but some does end up in the landfill. For the CLEAN part I use good ol' fashioned vinegar and baking soda. What you see above is my staples. The spray bottle is half vinegar/half water with a few drops of tea tree oil. I use that as my all purpose cleaner. Currently for dishes I am using Ecover - it is nice but in the past I have used a canadian brand Nature Clean that I will likely go back to using when the Ecover is finished. For my floors I use hot water with a big douse of vinegar and lavender essential oil. Baking soda with a bit of Ecover is used to scour my sinks and tub.

For our bathroom I use Nature Clean Toliet cleaner. It seems to work well enough but with any all natural cleaner it seems I have to clean the toliet more often then not. I was using Method as my all purpose bathroom cleaner but when it was finished I just filled up the bottle with the half vinegar/half water with essential oil concoction. The tub gets cleaned with the above mentioned baking soda/dish soap paste.

There you have it - a clean house with no toxic chemicals or fumes lingering around! This keeps our indoor air quality clean and most importantly I am not flushing down toxic waste into our precious waterways!

Free Rice

2007-12-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Go play this game at http://freerice.com/index.php. For each word you get right, they donate rice through United Nations to help end world hunger. Its a fun game and actually kinda addicting......plus it give you a broader vocabulary - all while helping a worthy cause!

How many Canadians does it take to change a lightbulb???

2007-12-22T09:54:00.001-08:00

ONE! If every household in Canada replaced just one incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light (CFL) like this one pictured, the reduction in pollution would be like taking 66,000 cars off Canadian roads.
A CFL bulb uses up to 75% less energy than old-fashioned bulbs. Save up to $50 in energy costs! Every bulb changed means less coal has to be burned to produce power. That means cleaner air, less childhood asthma, and lower health care costs.
This porchlight was left in my mailbox.
To learn more about this project visit http://www.projectporchlight.com/. "

Look what just arrived!

2007-12-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm way behind the 8-ball with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. But like I've said before, better late then never. And I'm very excited to read it. I've been following the book club at Crunchy Chickens blog - and now I actually get to read it!

I've been himmmmming and hawwwwwwing over buying "Ecoholic" for awhile now. So I just bit the bullet and got it - as a Christmas gift to myself. LOL Its geared to the Canadian market so that's great. I'll let you know how that one is once I'm finished. I love the fact that both books are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper!

Vegan Christmas Cookies

2007-12-21T07:33:00.001-08:00

I only made three kinds of cookies this year. (gasp!!) Time is valuable to me and besides, I find that as the month goes on everyone loses interest in goodies anyways. People tend to overinduldge at holiday gatherings and eventually the blahs start to set in from too many sweets. Sooooo, I thought I would keep it simple. What you see here is a reusuable christmas tin filled to the brim with all three kinds: starting from the left - Vive le Vegan's Carob-Coconut-Pecan Cookies. I used walnuts instead of pecans and these are my favourite out of the three. Next, Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan's Jam Print Cookies - I used walnuts instead of hemp nut seeds, strawberry jam (made by yours truly) instead of raspberry and refined white flour instead of barley flour. Lastly, ED&BV's Tickled Pink Vanilla Sprinkle Cookies - I used a green sprinkle and omitted the beet powder. All three have a 'festive' taste/look to them.

I made up several of these christmas tins and will bring one as a hostess gift to each of the holiday parties we are attending Christmas Eve through New Years. As well, we are having company over a few nights so will keep a tin for us too!

Spaghetti and Bean Balls - Oh My!!!

2007-12-20T04:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything about vegan num nums in awhile. We're suckers for eating the same 10 meals over and over and over again. We like what we like....what can I say. But once in awhile I dare to try something new. Last night I made, for the second time, Spaghetti and Bean Balls from Veganomican. That first time I made them the kids thought they were too sour due to the lemon juice in them, so this time I omitted the lemon juice and they were fine to eat them. Although I thought they were 'missing something'. (obviously the lemon juice). ha Tonight with the leftover balls, I'm going to bake some homemade buns and do Beanball Subs!!

Wind Energy - Powering Canada's Future Naturally

2007-12-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

My city - Sault Ste. Marie is the home to the Prince Wind Farm - Canada's largest wind installation. The McGuinty Government has worked to help create new sources of energy in Ontario which are more environmentally friendly. The renewable energy strategy developed by the province has made it possible for Brookfield Power to make a massive investment in the development of 126 wind turbines. In return, the Ontario government has agreed to purchase power from Brookfield and agreed to allow a portion of the wind farm on 50 hectares of Crown land. Brookfield Power is helping to make Ontario more self-sufficient and less reliant on fossil fuels. The new wind farm created hundreds of construction jobs and generates enough power for 40,000 homes. This is a huge positive for this community - but we still have those who wish to complain about the 'unsightliness' of the turbines along with the noise. When I hear people complain about such things, my blood boils!!

In addition to this wind farm we are poised to become the location of Canada's largest solar farm, thanks to the latest contracts signed under the McGuinty government’s Standard Offer Program. This builds on the McGuinty government’s solar power strategy which includes: Setting a target of installing 100,000 solar roofs across the province Launching “Go Solar” – a one stop information shop for Ontarians interested in installing solar energy systems to heat water or generate electricity. Extending the retail sales tax rebate on qualifying solar equipment, as well as wind, micro-hydro, and geothermal systems, to January 1, 2010. These are great incentives for all of us to put on solar roofs in the coming years!!

Why soy candles make scents!!.

2007-12-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

Some facts about soy candles:

1. Soy candles produce about 90% less soot than paraffin wax candles and have no known carcinogens, thus help to maintain air quality and are less likely to trigger allergies. Paraffin candles emit 11 known toxins while burning.

2. They last up to 50% longer than most paraffin candles. They burn evenly all the way to the bottom so there isn't any unused wax left when finished.

3. Soy wax lowers the melting point of the candle, which translates into cooler burning candles and faster scent dispersion.

4. Soy wax spills can easily be cleaned up with hot soapy water unlike paraffin wax.

I can buy soy candles locally here in SSM due to a couple women who make them in their home. I won't ever buy a paraffin wax candle again!

Organic Christmas Tree

2007-12-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

We managed to get an organic christmas tree this year!! We bought it from Mockingbird Hill Farm. The Farm depicts a typical horse-drawn homestead farm with the pioneer's menagerie of animals - a few pigs, sheep, goats, cows, chickens, ducks, turkeys, cats and dogs. The Farm is open year round to the public. Farmer Bob sells christmas trees in the winter and we got this scraggly looking one for a mere $20! Can't beat that since some tree farms sell them for $50+. All our lights are LED and all our ornaments are hand-me-downs - which means I saved them from spending eternity in the landfill.
Talking about stuff like this just makes me giddy!

Tea Totalin'

2007-12-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

Tea anyone??? I've got 7 kinds of tea on top of my stove right now. Sometimes I have more, sometimes I have less. What you see here are my favourite kinds and I always keep these flavours in the house at all times. I'll try a new variety here and there too though.

Starting from the left:

1. Tetley Organic Green Tea: Usually I buy a flavoured green tea as green tea by itself doesn't do it for me. But when I bought this Tetley tea it was on sale and didn't have any flavoured ones. Most days I cut up lots of ginger root and put it in my tea pot. That makes it flavoured AND gives me a boost in immunity.
2. MC Peppermint: I like peppermint tea and its good for late afternoons and evenings when I don't want any caffeine. Also, I keep it in the house for my daddy when he comes to visit.

3. Stash Organic chai black & green tea: love the combo of black and green tea here. Because the green tea is mixed in there I don't have to add milk and sugar like I would if it was just a black chai tea. I love chai tea with a cookie or muffin or something sweet.4. Black Tea: I don't drink black tea by itself. My mom gave me this tin because they didn't like it. My hubbie will drink black tea and his family does when they come over.
5. Camomile Tea: love this in the evenings or if I'm having a particular stressful day.

6. Stash Organic Merry Mint: I just bought this one and I LOVE it! It is a green tea with peppermint, ginger, lemongrass, and spearmint. It has a very mild spearmint flavour (reminds me of gum). It is a nice change from regular peppermint tea. It is a holiday tea made by Stash so I won't be able to get it any other time of the year so I'm going back to buy lots more! ha ha

7. Choice organic rooibos tea: I have to admit it took me a long time to get used to rooibos tea. At first I didn't like it at all. And the varieties that make vanilla rooibos teas are gross. If rooibos wasn't so damn good for us, I probably wouldn't bother to make it. But, it is good for me, so I do drink it most days. Because it doesn't have any caffeine in it, I usually drink it in the afternoons or evenings.

Reflexology

2007-12-12T06:28:00.000-08:00

According to the Wikipedia, Reflexology, or zone therapy, is the practice of massaging, squeezing, or pushing on parts of the feet, or sometimes the hands and ears, with the goal of encouraging a beneficial effect on other parts of the body, or to improve general health.

I was mentioning in my previous post about rubbing Olba Salve on our feet when we have a cold. I target certain areas of our feet in accordance with this chart. I will rub the areas corresponding to the lungs, throat, nose, and sinuses. It probaby doesn't hurt to rub the areas for the brain either. ha

Whether or not this works is up for debate. The fact of the matter is when my kids are feeling icky, a foot rub is soothing for them - and if that is the only thing that makes them feel better - I'm sold on the idea of Reflexology!

Product Reviews: Baby Products

2007-12-11T12:17:00.001-08:00

Pictured here are a few products my kids use.

1. Green Beaver Winter Lotion: i've posted about this product before - it's great. Pros: No sulfates or parabens in it, made in Canada, and no fragrances. No Cons people!

2. Tom's of Maine children's toothpaste: Pros: the flavour we bought is Silly Strawberry - is a cute name that make the boys giggle everytime they use it. Is fluoride-free. Tastes good enough to make the kids want to brush their teeth. Does not contain artifical sweetners. Cons: has Sodium lauryl sulfate in it! GRRRRR. I missed that ingredient when purchasing it - otherwise wouldn't have bought it. And isn't Tom's of Maine getting bought out by Colgate-Palmolive Co.??? This means that Tom's of Maine, which currently stands at an impressive 16 out of 20 in Ethical Consumer's unique "ethiscore" rating system, would see its score cut to just 5 out of 20, if the takeover goes through. Tom's of Maine has, up to now, been applauded by ethical consumers and has received Ethical Consumer's highest rating for its environmental reporting, animal testing policy and for its paraben-free products. Parabens are hormone mimicking chemicals that have been linked to breast and testicular cancer. Colgate's current score of 5 out of 20 is attributable to its receiving Ethical Consumer's worst rating for environmental reporting and its animal testing policy. Soooo, Colgate isn't a company I would like to support. So once this toothpaste is done we won't be buying any more.

3. Badger Sleep balm: Pros: has organic natural ingredients; organic extra virgin olive oil, essential oils of bergamot, ginger, rosemary and lavender. So it smells great. I rub it onto their temples, face and neck before bed. www.badgerbalm.com Cons: none

4. Preserve Toothbrushes: Pros: the handle is made from the highest quality post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled plastics. Once we no longer have use for the toothbrush they encourage users to return them to Recycline, were they will grind it to make material for recycled plastic lumber. Included was a postage-paid return envelope to encourage us to do so. All of its packaging is made from recyclable materials, and the reusable brush canister provides a sanitary holder to keep the brush clean and portable when travelling. http://www.recycline.com/products/preserve.html

5. Aromaforce Lavender Essential Oil: if the kids have had a particular stressful or busy day i will put a few drops of this into their bath. I find this is far healthier then some of those 'bubble baths' that are out there - full of sulfates.

6. Olbas Salve: I rub a little of the salve under their noses and on their chests when they have a cold. Also, I've been putting it on the bottom of their feet (according to reflexology charts) to help with coughs and colds. I'll post another day about reflexology. Pros: smells like vicks (which we like that menthol smell) without the toxic ingredients. Cons: none

7. baby Derma Med Therapeutic Shampoo: pros: has organic ingredients, made in canada, no sodium lauryl or laureth sulfates. This shampoo works well for now as the kids are still young. As they get older and oiler, we'll likely have to look for something a bit stronger. Cons: no smell, which the kids seem to like smells associated in their bath.

World Wildlife Federation

2007-12-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

Wildlife adoptions are unique and meaningful gifts for any occasion, and for friends and family of all ages. Give the gift that makes a difference by symbolically adopting a threatened species for someone you love, and help support World Wildlife Fund’s conservation efforts to save wildlife at risk and their habitats.

We have supported this for the past few years - at Christmas time we adopt an animal in each of our children's name. I also have adopted animals in the names of other family members and given as gifts. Pictured here is what you get when you make the adoption. Everything comes in a reusuable cloth bag - a stuffed animal in what you adopted; in this case I adopted a Sea turtle and an Orangutan - and an adoption certificate.

I am Ecofabulous!!

2007-12-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

I was at the Bulk Barn - Canada's Largest Bulk Food Retailer (http://www.bulkbarn.ca/) the other night and I realized I forgot my cloth bags. grrrrrr. So I had to resort to using their plastic bag to take all my goodies home with me. When I got home and took a look at the bag I saw that it is 100% degradable!!! wooohoo! They are OXO Biodegradable bags. The plastic used in the bag will convert to water, carbon dioxide and biomass in the presence of soil, moisture and oxygen. Like a fallen leaf, it will disappear over time. HOW COOL!! So I googled the company OXO to get more info about them and from there stumbled across http://www.cafepress.com/justfabulous. This guy is selling shirts, bags, mugs, etc with the slogan Ecofabulous. So anyways, I liked the slogan, the biodegrable bags and thought I would share the info with you. I might even be asking for one of these hoodies - made in the usa - for christmas. wink wink.

Scentsational!!

2007-12-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

I just received this in the mail -an essential oil made by Essential 3. It is called Courage and I LOVE it! Its such a coincidence but it sorta smells 'christmas-y' - very appropriate for this time of year. This is the blend in it:

Spruce -antimicrobial, antiseptic, expectorant, anti-infectious, anti-inflammatory, astringent, warming

Rosewood -antiviral, anti-depressant, stimulant, bactericide, aid nervous depression, increase energy, uplifting

Blue Tansy - anti-inflammatory, antihistamine, analgesic, nervine, hypotensive, relaxing, sedative

Frankincense - antidepressant, immunostimulant, expectorant, sedative, antibacterial

I read Kris Carr's blog (Crazy Sexy Cancer) and she mentioned this company and particular blend. So of course I just had to try it! I mixed a few drops of it in a carrier oil (almond oil as that is what I have on hand here) and I put this on my neck, arms, legs.....anywhere. It sorta smells like a christmas tree! ha ha

I don't wear traditional fragrances - we all know how cacka they are. I usually buy Kate & Allie's Sweet Scents which are made locally here in Sault Ste. Marie. Two I have bought are Dirty Hippy and Boho Bliss. They are made from organic jojoba oil and essential oils. Dirty Hippy obviously has patchouli (i know...sooo stereotypical) and an orange blend. I'm not sure what essential oils are in Boho Bliss but it has a very soft and 'powder' like smell to it.

Anyone looking to make their own signature blend of essential oils can learn quite easily. There are lots of internet sites out there to show you how to get started. Then all you have to do is go to the health food store and start sniffing all the essential oils to find the ones you like the best!

Product Reviews: Makeup

2007-11-30T07:54:00.000-08:00

Makeup is a girl's bestfriend! It is mine anyways. I wish I was a natural beauty and could head out with nothing on.....but, I guess that will never happen - no matter how i wash my skin or how many veggies I eat. It just never seems to happen. I've managed to keep the number of products I use to a bare minimum - afterall, they do say less is more. Pictured here is what I put on before starting my day.
1. Kiss My face Liquid Rock: Pros: nice smell & long lasting odour protection. Cons: goes on wet and takes awhile to dry.
I've tried many natural deodorants and this is the only one that I found to keep me smelling pretty throughout the day.
2. Suncoat Natural Eye Shadow: Pros: Made in Canada - YAY!, Herbicide Free, GMO Free, Talc Free, Paraben-Free. Lasts the whole day without fading away. Cons: it is a roll on so it can be tricky to get on evenly. I found putting on my eye cream first helped.
3. AnneMarie Borlind Mascara: Pros: doesn't have any 'junk' in it. It doesn't clump. Cons: the wand is rather small so I find it takes longer to coat the lashes with it. It only comes in a 0.25 fl.oz size so it tends to go quickly.
4. Suncoat Organic Cream Blusher: Pros: once again, made in canada using organic ingredients. Cons: cream blush can be tricky to put on. The blush is fairly hard so I've had to dig below the surface to get the creamy stuff. Not sure if its too old or if this is how it's made.
5. Not shown here, but since I took this picture I bought another mascara: A Suncoat one. I will definately continue to buy this brand of mascara over the AnneMarie Borlind one. BECAUSE, the wand is longer so applying is easier AND its made in Canada. (annemare Borlind cosmetics come from germany).

I'd like to hear what natural cosmetics everyone else uses and why!

Tis the season

2007-11-27T07:53:00.000-08:00

I pretty much have finished my christmas shopping this year! Now I can spend the month of December enjoying the season. I do not want to have to visit the malls or box stores in December - talk about frantic people. ALSO, I find all the stores just suck you right in - with their cheery music, flashy displays, and ohhhh, the bargains. How can anyone resist??? It makes you want to BUY, BUY, BUY!!! Well, let me tell you - I RESISTED!! It was freakishly hard at the time though. ha ha But the satsifaction that I get from using this resistance is all worth it. I just had to ask myself "do I really need another holiday tablecloth, or a new set of glasses (afterall, our mason jars and recycled olive jars work just fine) or more gift bags when I've got recycled ones left from last years gifts"???? Mmmmmm, no I do not. Christmas time generates a lot of waste and each year it gets worse. Not to mention what sort of expectations our kids have with each year that passes. Where do we draw the line?
These are some of steps we took when doing our shopping this year:
1. Gift Wrap/Bags/Tags etc. - I saved all the gift bags from last years gifts and will be reusing them again this year. I also kept boxes and will reuse them. We have wrapped a few gifts in brown paper bags and then the kids have decorated them with markers, stickers, etc. I kept last years christmas cards we received and will cut them into gift tags.
2. Second hand and thrift stores: I shopped at these places first and got what I could before heading to find something new at the mall.
3. Hand me downs: my kids have some seriously nice toys and clothing in excellent shape that could be passed off as brand new if they had the appropriate box and packaging. (of course I would not be that deceptive) These toys/clothing are not being used here anymore so I will be giving these items away as gifts.
4. If it ain't broke then don't fix (replace) it. I did not make any new purchases when it came to household items, i.e. tablecloths, platters, tree decorations, lights, etc. We have plenty from previous years and nothing needs replacing.
5. Christmas cards: I will be buying the same cards I do every year - 'tree free' cards that come in a reusable tin container.

There are a million little steps we can all take to reduce our impact on the environment this christmas. It just takes a little consideration.

Monday morning spent in the kitchen

2007-11-26T09:33:00.001-08:00

Each Monday morning I get myself all comfortable in the kitchen and set out to prepare some meals for the upcoming week. I also do some baking - a loaf of bread and usually a muffin or loaf of some sort. Plus some cookies. Sadly enough, I usually have to repeat the process by Wednesday as everything is eaten up. ha ha

These are some baked beans cooking away in my slow cooker. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone I took the lid off the croakpot to take this picture. The recipe came out of 'Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker'. We usually eat baked beans with some garlic bread and a big salad.

On the stove is a pot of Leslie's Tofu Noodle soup. We've been eating this soup several times a month for over a year now! We just LOVE it. And where is Leslie anyways? There has been nothing posted on her blog Eat Peace Please since May. I miss her posts!

And lastly, here is a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread and a carrot loaf. The carrot loaf recipe is from How it all Vegan - it is listed as a carrot cake. But I use whole wheat flour, less sugar and bake it in a loaf pan.

I've got the bread in a plastic ziploc bag. (I reuse ziplocs over and over and over again) But I was wondering if there was a way to keep my bread fresh without resorting to plastic. Any suggestions? Also, the plastic container beside it is the only survivor left from my plastics collection. I've been slowly replacing all plastic with glass containers.

I'm waiting for a cup of pumpkin to thaw so that I can bake some pumpkin oatmeal cookies. You'll have to wait to see those!

What's in my pantry??

2007-11-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

Fellow bloggers seem to be posting pictures about what's in their pantrys. So I thought I would do the same thing - however, be prepared to be disappointed. For one, I do not have a pantry - we live in a small home. Second of all, I desiginate one cupboard to food and two exterior shelves - that's it. We shop and eat by the week around here which means in an emergency we will be fubar'd. I need to start stocking up. We don't have a COSTCO here so buying in bulk that way isn't possible. I try to shop the sales but......I just don't have any excuses. Sooooo, what you see here on the top shelf are my jars of beans, lentils, rice, popcorn and arrowroot powder. Bottom shelf is canola, coconut, and olive oils; sprouting seeds, pastas, and cooking stuff. i.e. raisins. Putting my dried beans, lentils, pastas etc into jars has been a terrific way to recycle glass jars. I've used applesauce jars, pasta sauce jars, olive jars etc. Some you see are mason jars we've bought for preserving too. Using jars is so much easier than having a million bags scattered all over the shelves. And this particular shelf is above the stove so it's a pain in the a$$ when trying to retrieve stuff out of it. I'm 5'7 and I still need a stool to reach the stuff on the top shelf.

We put these two shelves up because of the lack of cupboards in our kitchen. They come from IKEA. On the first shelf is my Cuisinart blender/processer combination, and canned goods/milks etc. Second shelf are my cookbooks and some more jars with sugar, oatmeal, pasta, and homemade cereal (posted that cereal recipe a few weeks back).

Sorry to disappoint you all - not much to see in this house regarding food. ha ha

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions AND Spiced Pita Crisps

2007-11-23T06:00:00.001-08:00

This picture doesn't do the dish justice. It was excellent! I have never made caramelized onions before and they will now be a favourite around here. The rice/lentil combo was waaaaay better then most I have tried. I was skeptical about the cinnamon and allspice in it - as we don't tend to like sweet dinner dishes, but the kids loved it. I'm happy I cut the recipe in half as it made lots for the 4 of us - with leftovers for tonight. You can also see the Spiced Pita Crisps - they were a nice addition to the meal. What you don't see here is the steamed kale - it was still on the stove. The lentil/rice dish has to be served warm or at room temperature so I let it sit while I made the pitas and kale.

This meal is definately a keeper around here!

Veganomican Baby!!

2007-11-22T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm just giddy right now - I got my copy of Veganomican. I know, i know, I'm the last vegan to get one. But better late then never I say. After going thru it from cover to cover I thought I would get my feet wet by starting with Chickpea cutlets. It seems like alot of others in the blogosphere have started with that same recipe. ha ha They were easy to make - had simple ingredients - and tasted good. My kids and I like the recipe so much we had it again the next night. I paired it with lemon roasted potatoes and broccoli. The second night was the same thing but with cauliflower. I even used the leftover broccoli and cauliflower to make a creamy potatoe soup for lunch the third day. (sorry no picture)

And tonight from Veganomican I am in the process of making the Lentils and Rice with caramlized onions and spiced pita crisps. I will post about that tomorrow.

"How does your body sort all of that out"?

2007-11-17T15:09:00.001-08:00

That is what my dad likes to know of anyone taking this many supplements. ha ha And I'm not sure how to answer that. All I know is that each of these are vital to me. Or I like to think so. I'm always looking for new ones to take. So I'm open to suggestions. I find that I take more supplements in the winter months to keep a strong immune system. And so far, so good - no sniffles yet. Now we all know since I made this statement something will hit me tomorrow morning! ha ha Sorry for the blurry photo. But starting from the left:
Ester-C: I take these in the winter months.
Super Enzymes: I take one a day at dinner time but it says to take with each meal.
Spriulina: I put a tbl in my morning smoothie - gives me extra energy and 'green' goodness.
Vega Wholle Food Smoothie Infusion: I put a scoop in my morning smoothie. It has yellow pea protein, organic hemp protein, organic sprouted flax seeds, organic brown rice protein, organic green food blend (spirulina, organic wheat grass, organic alfalfa grass, organic barley grass, organic spinach, organic sprouted broccoli, organic kale, organic kelp, organic dulse), inulin (from chicory root), natural flavors, xanthan gum.
Organic Flax Meal: I use this is if I'm out of the Vega stuff or just want a change.
Aloe Vera Juice: I take a few 'shot glasses' worth when I take all these vitamins. It's supposed to help the body absorb the vitamins better.
Probiotics: I take with my main meal - but there again - it's supposed to be taken with each meal.
B12: us veg heads need this one daily.
Zinc: I take during cold and flu season.
Nu-Greens Profile: It is a green supplement. I take 15ml each morning on an empty stomach. I love that I only have to take a whiskey shot glass worth each day. LOL No pounding back a glass full of yucky green powdery stuff. I've tried them all and couldn't find one I liked.
Vitamin D: I take during the winter months due to the fact that Northern Ontario, Canada doesn't profide adequate amounts of sunshine from Nov-April. ....sigh....

Pucker Up Baby - lipbalm review

2007-11-16T13:18:00.001-08:00

A girl needs lots of lip balms for those smooooooocy moments in her life. I personally keep one in my purse, my car, my bathroom, and of course, my bedroom. From the left:

Eco Lips in berry flavour. Love the consistency of this one.....the taste.....everything.

Badger Lip Balm. Another one with a good smooth consistency.....good orangey flavour.

Peacemaker Eco balm - good consistency, terrible, terrible flavour. It tastes like rancid oil. It is a mint one.

Alba lip balm......love the flavours I've tried so far...coconut, pineapple quench etc. However, the consistency isn't the greatest. It causes my lips to flake.

And lastly for those cold sore issues: a traditional herbal medicine - Korners Cold Sore Remedy.

VeganMoFo: Lemon Garlic Pasta & Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns - YUM YUM

2007-11-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

This came from ED&BV. I have never made it before. I LOVED it - the rest of the family did not. They all thought it was too sour. So for next time I'll have to adjust the amount of lemon juice in it. It was even better as my lunch today.

This morning I made a batch of Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns. YUMMY! They were so moist.

As you can see I couldn't wait to dive into them.....one is missing. ha ha

I don't usually work on Fridays so my wknds are longer then most. So I won't be posting about food till next week. I'll post a few product reviews over the wknd. Have a good one!

VeganMoFo: Veggie Potpie

2007-11-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

VeganMoFo: So, I made the pot pie in 'Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker' for the first time. It was good. The kids and I enjoyed it, but the hubbie did not. He doesn't like anything with chickpeas, so I will definately use another bean in it next time. But he said it wasn't the chickpeas - it was the whole thing he didn't like. I don't have a pic because it wasn't picture worthy at any stage. I find stuff in the croakpot is 'messy' looking. ha It'll probably be a long time before I try it again. you win some, you lose some.
I made another batch of Tomato Macaroni Soup from 'Kitchen ramblings from a fairly odd tofu mom's blog. My oldest likes to take soups to school. I have been using macaroni in fun shapes for it. It's a big hit around here.
And I can't wait - this morning I'm going to make the Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls recipe I got off of "Don't eat off the sidewalks" blog. So i gotta run, i'll post back on how they turned out! Yum yum.

Product Reviews and some baking

2007-11-12T12:48:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the shady picture. I'm still getting the hang of my camera. At least I have pics on here now. LOL

These are some of the products that I am 'currently' using. I say currently because I have never been too faithful to any one product. Meaning - I don't tend to buy the same thing twice. I guess I figure there's always something better out there to try. Starting from the left you will see my toothbrusth and toothpaste.

The toothbrush is a Radius one. I love the fact that all i have to do is replace the head - it pops right off. The handle is made from recycled yogurt containers.

The toothpaste is made by The Green Beaver. When we lived in Eastern Ontario this company was local to us. But now that we are on the opposite end of Ontario - that be it Northern Ontario - it isn't local. But, I love their products. No sulfates or fluoride in it.

Next to that is another Green Beaver product - their winter lotion. It is soooo thick - its great for winter chapped skin. I can't say that I like the smell though - it doesn't really have one. Then comes the Burts Bees facial scrub and face cleanser. I love the smell of both and they work great EXCEPT they have caused my ezcema to flair up. Soooo, both have to go bye bye. I'm currently using some samples from the Health Food store to figure out what to buy next. Next in line are the shampoo/conditioner made by Desert Essence. It is the italian grape one. Wonderful!!! I can't say enough good about them. They smell like grape bubblegum and are free from sulfates, parabens, etc not too mention they are organic. I've always had a love/hate relationship with so called natural shampoos. Its hard finding one that doesn't have some sneaky junk in them and that actually work. Case in point: next to them are two shampoos that are just about empty. The first one is made by Avalon Organics - it just did nothing for my hair - left it dry. But it smells great. The second one is by Pureology. I saw them on http://www.dhlovelife.com/. They were promoting their products on one episode of her web show. So I went out and bought the shampoo and conditioner. We loved them - they smelled great and made our hair feel great. However, the price was a bit much AND they do have some parabens in them. But they are vegan and are promoted as being zerosulfate.

That shower curtain you see is the hemp one I bought last spring. Also next to the shampoo is the hemp face cloth that came with some hemp soap I bought. All this stuff I got online at http://www.rawganique.com/. The hemp soap isn't pictured because we used it all up. Lately I've been buying our soap from a local family that makes it.

Another day I will post about my makeup and kids products.

Now onto food: This morning I made a few things to get us through the week. I made a homemade bread, a pumpkin loaf, and three jars of La Dolce Vegan's Creamy Tomato Basil soup.

Tomorrow I plan on getting out the slow cooker and making a pot pie from 'Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker'. So check back later to see how it turned out!

A weekend meal

2007-11-10T10:53:00.001-08:00

Weekends around here can be both hectic with errands and lazy at the same time.....no agenda and no meal planning. On week days I make every meal from scratch with whole ingredients. Soooo, on wknds I like to take a break and keep it simple. An example of a simple meal is burgers. I have tried them all! And as most of you will know, some meatless burgers are cacka, some are so-so, and some are fantastic. In my tastebuds opinion Amy's are the best of the bunch. To accompany this burger I usually make some potatoe spuds and a large salad. I put every topping imaginable on my burgers.....condiments, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado, and sprouts to name a few. And speaking of sprouts, in a previous post I mentioned how I was sprouting. Since then I've read online somewhere that growing wheatgrass indoors makes it susceptible to mold. I've never seen any on mine, but it still makes me leery. Soooo, I'm continuing to grow sprouts, just NOT wheatgrass. I'll leave my wheatgrass on our table top as a decoration. Until its spring and I can grow wheatgrass outside, I'll stick to buying frozen wheatgrass juice as pictured below.

The endless & thankless task of LAUNDRY!!

2007-11-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhh, the subject of laundry. It is one of those tasks that never goes away. When we get through 3 loads, the next day there is 2 more. It is thankless and endless. Now I say this, but I actually don't mind doing laundry. Never have. Even when we lived in apartments for 5 years and I had to lug it all the way down into a dank, dark basement and pop change into a machine, I didn't seem to mind.

Ever since having kids I've used detergents that were 'free' of all scents. This was for their benefit and I figured the less junk in it, the better for the environment. Then a few months back I got the idea from walk slowly, live wildly's blog to make my own detergent. She had a link to a website http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/. After reading through several websites they all seemed to have the same 'recipe' for a homemade laundry detergent. It is as follows:

1/2 cup Borax

1/2 cup Washing Soda

1 cup grated soap of your choice (as you can see from the pic, I use Ivory...that may change)

Mix all together. Use 1 tbl for a regular load and 2 tbl for a large load

I grated the soap with a cheese grater (that I obviously never use for cheese) and mixed it all up and put it into an old blueberry container. When doing a load of laundry, I put 2 tbl of the mixture into the smaller container shown and add some hot water to dissolve it before adding it to the machine. Apparently washing soda doesn't dissolve too well in cold water washes. And I wash everything except towels in cold water around here.

What I have learned from this experience: make a couple of batches worth. Despite the fact that you only use 2 tbl per load, it seems to go quick. It doesn't take too long to put it all together - but still - more work means less enthusiasm. I've questioned how 'natural' and 'green' this concoction is. It is obviously better all around then Tide or Sunlight for example, but I've recently read that even Borax is quite toxic. As well, I'd like to find a more natural soap to grate too. The biggest advantage of this task (other than personal satisfaction for one's green effort) is the $$$$ savings. The ingredients above cost me $10 and that was 3 months ago. And laundrying a family of four costs far more than that for 3 months. I wish I had tracked the number of loads I've been doing - that would give me a more accurate amount. I'm not even half way through those two boxes either! So it's definately a money saver.

Now for drying our clothes. I don't use dryer sheets - never have. We don't seem to get static cling or any of that hassle so i've never had to deal with that. From May thru September I hung all our loads (except towels) on a homemade clothes line outside. Some may find this task labourious, but I l.o.v.e.d hanging my clothes on the line. It seemed meditative for me. Sorry I do not have a picture of it. It is November and in Northern Ontario hanging laundry outside from October thru April is not possible. Soooooo, I hange a few things on an inside contraption shown here:

The only problem hanging things indoors offers is the stiffness and the extended drying time. But hey, it's all worth it!!

A cold, wet, & blustery day

2007-11-07T04:32:00.000-08:00

Somehow this title puts me in mind of an episode of Winnie the Pooh. It was just the type of day where you want to stay inside under some warm thick blankets....and we did just that. AND, to keep in mind that we're participating in VeganMoFo here is what we had for the day:
We started our day with some warm thick porridge. I always sprinkle our hot cereals with ground flax and sesame seeds (ground by yours truly) and a dollop of almond butter.
For lunch I made the Spicy Tomato Peanut & Kale Pasta out of La Dolce Vegan. It sounds like an oddball combination but it was decent and the kids enjoyed it. I was skeptical that they would. Maybe it was the penguin and snowflake shaped pasta I used. I saw this pasta over the wknd and bought it with the upcoming holidays in mind. But I just couldn't resist and ended up tearing into it already! Ha Since we had such a hearty lunch I thought a bowl of soup with a homemade bread for dinner would be appropriate. I made a 'hearty seed bread' in my bread machine - which was ready just in time for dinner - nothing beats a slice of warm homemade bread. I made the Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup from LDV. I left out the curry paste as the kids were eating it. I LOVE this soup - I've made it often. Someday I'll have to try it with the curry paste - when the kids won't be eating it.
To end this comfortable day inside I made Dreena's Jamprint Cookies from her latest ED&BV. We ate them with a big hot mug of Yogi Bedtime tea.
ahhhhh, comfort food.......

Vegan Month of Food

2007-11-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

I'll be participating in this! And to start off please read my last post! I'm starting off with the first meal of the day - Breakfast!

Breakfast cereal anyone??

2007-11-06T07:29:00.001-08:00

Do you ever walk down the cereal aisle at the grocery store and feel very overwhelmed? Whoa! I'm an ingredient label reader so having to go through box upon box of cereal to see which one is appropriate for us takes too much time. Even the organic health section has got its fair share of cereals. I want a tasty cereal with low sugar and low sodium. When I find a low sugar one - it has lots of sodium - and vice versa. Soooo, I started making my own. And I'm not just talking porridge or rice pudding - those are great - but lots of times we just want a quick cold cereal. I tried making a few granola recipes and "I" quite enjoyed them - but the kids weren't too fussy on them. Then my grandmother turned me onto puffed rice cereal. My grandfather has Celiac Disease - and finding an inexpensive boxed cold cereal for him wasn't easy. So she started making her own with puffed rice. So I snagged the recipe, made a small batch and voila, the kids loved it! It has no sodium and is fairly low in sugar. But weight watchers beware, it does have some hefty oil in it.
I'll share the recipe with you:

9 cups of puffed rice (is usually sold in bags)
1 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of sesame seeds (you can get creative and replace with other seeds/nuts)
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
Mix all together.
1/2 cup of oil (i use canola oil)
1/2 cup of honey alternative (i use agave nectar - adjust the amount to suit your taste)
1/2 tbl vanilla
Mix together and add to the dry ingredients.
Bake at 300 degrees for a half hour and stir at 15 minutes.
Once cooled stir in a 1/2 cup of raisions OR dates OR any other dried fruit.
Store in a sealed container.

Don't forget to use organic ingredients people!!

Sprouting

2007-11-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

A few years back when I was in our local health food store I came across a section for sprouting. It had seeds, soils, cannisters, books, you name it. There was a pamphlet style book there called "The Wonders of Sprouting" by Lucie Desjarlais. I picked it up in hopes of learning how to grow my own sprouts. However, at that time in my life it seemed too complicated and I just never ended up trying it. That changed a few months back when I visited my new neighbourhood's health food store. The owner there is soooo helpful and full of information. She was telling me how she was doing it in mason jars at home. For some reason just hearing this gave me the confidence to try it out. I bought a bag of seeds from her and off I went. I dug out the pamphlet from a box of books in our basement and proceeded to learn how to sprout. I started out using mason jars with nylons & an elastic covering the opening. This worked well and within a few days had some awesome looking sprouts! Just like the ones we pay $2 for in the grocery store. My son puts them on his sandwiches. He even mentioned how they gather a lot of questions from his peers at his school. ha ha Since then, I've gone out and bought the biosta sprouter. (it's made in canada - who knew!!!) This sprouter has made life easier. No more handling rubber bands and mason jars upside down. I've also moved on to growing wheat grass on my sushi plates (looks cute - i'll post a pic someday). I'm still experimenting with sprouting different beans/grains and trying to find a favourite. I wish I could juice my wheat grass. Apparently you need a special kind of juicer to juice grasses. That will be a purchase for another time.

Slow Cookin'!!

2007-10-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Awhile back when in a bookstore I came across "Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker". I have a slow cooker that collects dust in the cupboard because I rarely cook any meat. Once in awhile my meat eatin' hubbie will buy a roast or something and he'll dig it out to cook with. Other than that - it isn't used. But I LOVE the idea of a slow cooker - soooooo, when I saw this book I thought "wow, this will be handy". So far I've made some veggie stock, homestyle applesauce (from the apples at our cottage) and vegetarian hoppin' john. This last one I made the other night. I didn't have any black-eyed peas, so I used a can of aduzki beans that had been sitting on my shelf for awhile. The kids licked this dish up. I must admit to not caring for rice in general so I can't really rave about the dish. But since the kids enjoyed it I will be making it again.
I made the Carob Chip Muffins from Vive le Vegan and boy were they a hit! I substituted spelt flour for the barley flour and they were so cakey and moist. We ate 12 of them in 2 days. Some did go out to the neighbours kids that were here playing that day.
Not too long ago I was inspired by vegtriathelete's blog to dig out my juicer. Juicing has been something I've been doing off and on for about 7 years. I've gone through 2 juicers in that time - each about $40 in value. I think when this current juicer 'blows up' I'll try to purchase a more expensive one. I sometimes wonder if I'm getting the most out of my veggies using the cheap juicers. At crazy sexy cancer's blog she advocates green juices so that's what I've been making - concoctions with celery, kale, cucumber, and sprouts. I'll blog another day about my new found talent on sprouting. My kids are even enjoying them - however, they aren't big smoothie and juice drinkers so they usually just take sips of mine - but still - they're getting some of the nutrients.
Ta ta for now.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies and some Eco Purchases

2007-10-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, another pumpkin dessert. I promise to let go of the pumpkin stuff soon enough. I found this recipe on the Post Punk Kitchen website. Instead of white flour I subsituted with spelt flour. They were great except that it called for 2 tbl of molasses and with that in it, the pumpkin flavour sorta disappeared. But whatever, they were scrumdillyumpscious.

Over this past summer I made a few 'green' purchases that were worth mentioning. First when my shower curtain got icky (we've had it for four years) I decided to get another one. I browsed a few sites and decided on a hemp one at rawganique.com. It was rather pricey but since I can get a few years out of mine I thought what the heck. It was delivered in no time! I am disappointed to say that after only several months it has mold on it in places. Now, before you say anything, I do want it to be known, that I ALWAYS leave the curtain spread out so that it can dry properly AND I wash it monthly to prevent mold buildup. Even after washing it the mold colour has stained the fabric. But whatever, it doesn't ick me out....I know it's only a stain. The part that was disappointing was the fact that I thought hemp was resistant to mold....if treated with care...such as I did. Anywho, my next purchase was a pair of Splaff flip flops. I needed a black pair of flip flops and wanted to buy an eco friendly pair. I found them at vegan essentials.com. They are made from recycled tires and tubes. They sure made for some interesting conversations this past summer. I'm happy with them - but a word to the wise - do not wear them for extended periods of time. They aren't the most comfortable flip flops. Lastly, a set of my bedsheets got so badly frayed that it was time to be replaced. I replaced them with a set of Bamboo sheets. And let me tell you - bamboo fabric feels glorious in bed!! I bought them at Zellers (of all places) and they were 30% off that week. So i got them for a real bargain. Zellers was also selling bamboo covered pillows at a discount so I bought a set of those too. I'm very impressed with the bamboo fabric and will definately buy more of it when other sheets get worn out.

Pumpkin Muffins

2007-10-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

I just love anything pumpkin. So when the pumpkins are ready in the patch I get just plain giddy. We snagged three from a friend who had the most amazing patch this year. He tried covering the ground with plastic and letting the vines grow through holes he cut in the plastic. Anyways, after roasting them, I pureed the pulp and froze 1 cup portions. Most of the recipes I use call for 1 cuppers. So far I've tried Sarah's (Two vegan sisters blog) Pumpkin Scones - they were fantastic! And I pulled a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin recipe off the internet (can't remember which site at the moment) and I veganized it. I used ground flaxseed as an egg substitute and I added in more spices then what it called for. They turned out great - except for the fact that they stick to the paper liners. I bought some halloween themed liners that have smiling pumpkins on them - so I thought it appropriate to put some pumpkin muffins into them. :)
It was a rather blustery fall day so I thought a good soup would do nicely. I'm totally into Catherine's (Food snob blog) soup month thing. So I made the Veggie Peanut Soup from La Dolce Vegan. I've never had a peanutty soup before and it was quite nice. Definately a keeper!

Morrocan Chickpea Patties & Leftovers

2007-10-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

I made the patties straight out of Dreena's cookbook several times now and every single time they have not disappointed me. I have never made them with fennel either. It might be interesting to try them with fennel now. I have been eating them each night for dinner with a side of baby romaine. Not all that exciting to blog about - but I've enjoyed them. It's been taking me a few days to finish the leftover pot of Mellow Sniffle Lentil soup I made awhile ago. I have been the only one in the house eating it, so it's taking awhile to finish it.
The other morning I tried the Acai Antioxidant Smoothie out of ED&BV and it is sooooooo good!! It has a chocolately flavour to it. I could even whip one of these up to satisfy a midnight craving in front of the boob toob. Anyways, I've had three now and ran out of the frozen pkgs of Acai so I ran to the health food store this morning and got some more - along with some more bananas. I also snagged some organic juice boxes that were on sale for the kids, some boxes of veggie bouillon cubes also on sale, and another bag of Spelt flour. I wish this store was within walking distance - I would be there daily if it was. Or is that a good thing?? ha ha
I'm still working on the whole attaching picture thing.....

Cookies and Soup

2007-10-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

You'll see lots of cookies around this place. We have a household of 4 people - 3 of which are male - so we go through LOTS of cookies. I usually make a batch every day or every other day. My cookies tend to be big and I'm sooooo guilty of eating too much cookie dough so I don't get too many out of any batch. HA Yesterday I made the Oatmeal cookies out of Dreena's newest cookbook Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. They were the best darn oatmeal cookies I've made to date!!! And I ate the whole batch myself. My kids just don't seem to care for oatmeal cookies. They love porrige in the mornings but that is as far as their oatmeal lovin' goes. The recipe did say it was for a small batch.....
Today I made the Almond & Apricot Tea Cookies from Sarah Kramer's cookbook La Dolce Vegan. They were decent. I had a couple with some Island Mango White Tea. I'am lovin that tea right now.....that along with a Raspberry White tea. I didn't think my kids would go for the tea cookies because of the oatmeal in them and the lack of 'sweetness' but alas, the 2 year old ate one with a big glass of strawberry soy milk. I finally finished off the big bottle of artifical vanilla flavouring I had. Now I can go buy some 'real' vanilla.

Now for soup - yesterday I made the Spicy Tomato soup out of La Dolce Vegan. It was okay. Too many chunkies of onions/garlic.....but the dill in it is quite interesting. In comparison, her Tomato and Basil Soup from How it all Vegan is far better! When I made it a couple of weeks ago, I did what Catherine did and froze a couple batches minus the soy milk in the freezer for later. I will never have to buy another can of tomato soup again! The Tomato Basil recipe is far superior and so convenient when pulled from the freezer!
Today I made the Mellow 'Sniffle Lentil' soup from ED&BV. I didn't have any curry powder so I made it without. I'm not sure how much of an impact that makes on the soup, but I enjoyed it. I'm still waiting to see if it gets rid of my sniffles or not. ha ha

Well, until I get the hang of attaching pictures etc. you'll have to suffer through without them.
Ciao.

Blog Action Day - Our contribution to the environment

2007-10-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is a day late - but here it is. Our households contribution to the environment is as follows:

Kitchen - we are vegetarians / aspiring vegans. We do consume eggs and cheese on an occasional basis and someday hope to kick their butts to the curb entirely. But for now it is baby steps in that department. I try to buy as many organic foods as possible, with an emphasis on locally grown items. However, we do live in northern ontario so are quite restricted in the winter months. This past September i attempted to freeze and preserve as many local vegetables/fruits as possible so that they would last us into the winter. Now, being that this was my first attempt at this I wasn't sure how much to do - and alas all those items will likely be gone by Christmas. ha ha I just didn't buy/freeze enough. Next year I know to DO MORE! I did have a small garden in my back yard - the postage stamp size of a back yard. I grew tomatoes, herbs and peas. My grandmother had a fair size garden and she was very generous to us. The rest of the stuff we bought at the farmers market all summer long.
I cook most of our meals from scratch. This reduces the amount of pkging that comes into our house. AS well, we tend to buy in bulk - further reducing the amount of pkging we see. We use our blue and yellow bins faithfully and I compost as much kitchen waste as possible.

Bathroom - All of our personal care items are organic and as natural as possible. We have preserve toothbrushes and a hemp shower curtain.

Bedroom - when a set of our bedsheets was frayed and time to go bye bye, I replaced them with bamboo sheets. Whoa, wonderful fabric let me tell you! This is the only new purchase in that department. The rest of our replacements have come from hand-me-downs from my mother. She is always good to 'pass on' her sheets and towels to us. Any of our clothes we no longer wear have gone to charity or to other family members. We have two kids so the youngest gets the hand me downs. We have also bought the odd thing at a second hand store.

Household - All of our cleaning supplies are homemade - mostly consisting of vingegar, water, and essential oils. Our laundry detergent is also made by yours truly. The clothes get hung outside in the spring thru fall. The cold weather up here in winter time wouldn't be ideal for a clothes line. ha ha All of our lightbulbs are energy efficient ones; our monthly average power consumption is 300 kWh. (the average households kWh is 700); I turned down our thermostat on the hot water tank quite considerably.

Transportation - prior to moving to northern ontario I used the public transportation system to go to work and run errands most of the time. We also walked or biked to most places. However, since moving up here, that has been reduced quite considerably. I still manage to bike when i can or walk when I can.

There you have it - our contribution in a nutshell. It is a work in progress - we can still do a lot more to reduce our footprint on the earth. I am open to suggestions at any time on other changes that we can make.