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It seems like there was about 2 weeks of spring here after our long winter and then BOOM, it was summer. This is a funky hybrid flowering crabapple we found at the nursery last spring. It was just a strange accident that a pink and white got in the same root ball, but we dug it.
And these are some gorgeous lilacs that I poached from the bushes at my doctors office. These things grow like weeds all over the valley. I want to plant some here this year.
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Got one of these?
How 'bout one of these?
Mine seem to have multiplied while I was out of town. I've been wanting to get rid of them from some time now and switch to glass and ceramics. I'm partially interested in getting rid of the plastic because I'm just sick of hearing about the stuff leaching into everything and keeping track of which plastic numbers are OK and which aren't, partially because Huck needs some bigger bowls and big boy cups right now and I just don't want to put my money behind more petroleum based plastic crap, and partially just for aesthetics.
Plus, added bonus, we will also be able to go from fridge, to oven or microwave (I can't even deal with that one yet) and we'll be ending the "Noooo, I don't want da cow bowl! I want da Paaaablo bowl! Boo hoo hoo!" drama.
These glass refrigerator containers from Anchor Hocking come in 2 cup, 5 cup and 12 cup sizes. I think Martha Stewart makes some similar ones with rubber lids.
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Check out my niece the hand model. The promise of copious amounts of guacamole, Trailer Park Strawberry Shortcake, and handing over my Netflix password are how I lured her here to change dirty diapers for a month.
I happen to make very good guacamole. I've eaten a lot of the stuff over time and, except for my husband's who makes the same recipe I do, I've never run across anything better. In my opinion, it's the best guacamole there is.
Please bow your heads. I will share it with you now.
Guacamole of the Gods! [must be said with a booming voice and arms outstretched]
4 ripe avocados
1-2 tsp minced garlic
1 Roma tomatoes, if you dare!
1 Tbsp cilantro
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tsp jalepeno juice or a few shakes of tabasco
1 tsp salt
The how to is pretty simple. Smash the avocados, toss in all the other stuff and stir. Adujst to taste--a little more salt, a little lime, etc. Some people like onion in theirs. I do not.
I want you to know that I had to pay very close attention while making this batch in order to get the measurements for you. This is one of the few things I make without a written recipe. I generally just go on feel. It's really about good avocados, the right list of fresh ingredients and then the rest is alchemy. But now it lives on the www FOREVER!
Cilantro and lime and jalepeno juice, instead of lemon and cumin give it a Tex-Mex style and flavor, as it should have. I never got the lemon instead of lime thing. It's not the same. I've even seen people-- good, intelligent people--put olive oil in their guac. That's just wrong--don't do it. If the avocados need oil, they aren't good avocados or they aren't ripe yet.
Make this stuff. It will get you laid.
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A harmonic convergence of events has led to the creation of our very own home recycling center.
See, I've been cleaning out my laundry room lately. Ever since my craft room was created (from a future basement bathroom turned storage room) the laundry room has been a wreck of things that just didn't have a home. It's taken me some time to cull through everything, ditch the unnecessary and find a new place for the stuff that needs one.
Also, our local recycling program is back up and running. Our community's recycling non-profit org finally got the county to step up and get on the recycling bandwagon...in 2008. Neanderthals. We don't have pickups like real civilization but there is now a transfer station for recycling at our local dump. I no longer have to either throw this stuff away, drive 45 miles over a mountain pass to the only place Idaho recyclers can legally recycle in Wyoming or recycle illegally in the first town just over the pass. Now, I just have to drive out to the dump. Life just got simpler. Yippee!
And in a very well-timed coincidence, I recently read this great post on Enviromom about her home recycling center. Thanks for the idea! PLUS, I took the One Can a Month Challenge. So now, it's a must. See how everything just came together?
So with the new space I uncovered, and a little environmental inspiration I decided to set up this corner in my laundry room for organizing my recycling. So much nicer than the floor of my garage.
I got the bins ages ago (before our first local recycling program had to shut down due to lack of funding and county support) but they got a good scrubbing and some nice new labels for glass, cans and plastic. I've also had the white crates for a long time. I think they served as my entertainment center in college--talk about wringing the use out of something. They even fit the decor! I've got them stacked so they are cubbies for grayboard and newspaper during the collecting phase, then I use then as totes during the recycling phase. I need one of those nifty bag tower thingys Enviromom has but until then I'm just stuffing the few bags I collect into another bag on a hook. Cardboard still goes on the floor of my garage.
The items we can recycle here are still limited at this point--no magazines or plastic bottles yet (I still have to illegally recycle those but I've got to go to Jackson once a month for prenatal appoints anyway). Part of the problem is that we're so far out in the boonies it becomes a real energy use equation as to whether it's a net positive to get the stuff to where it can be processed. So hand in hand with this attempt to get more organized is a real effort to bring less eventual trash and recyclables into the house in the first place. Hence, the One Can a Month Challenge. It's the perfect companion to this.
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I think I've written before about how much I usually get done when my husband is out of town with my evenings all to myself. Don't get me wrong I watch lot of movies and surf the net, too, but I always have a big list of things I want to finally get done while he's away. And he's really away this time. I'm only 1 week into a 3 month absence so I should have time to get quite a few projects completed. Here's the working list:
Okay, I need to stop myself there, don't you think? Yes, that's plenty.
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I've joined a new challenge. Because, you know, the challenges of pregnancy & toddler parenting in the middle of nowhere while my husband is gone for 3 months isn't quite challenging enough.
Check out the groovy new badge in my sidebar, too. It's the brainchild of EnviroMom. She writes a really wonderful blog full of ideas and musing about living an environmentally gentle lifestyle. She's pushing her readers to reduce their trash output to one curbside can per month. I think it's a great idea.
I've had my own Eco-challenge ping ponging around in my head for a while but it's not ready for the light of day yet--later this summer for sure. In the meantime, this is a great goal to strive for. Even if you don't succeed, just thinking along these lines might help you reduce some. Which is a hell of a lot better than reducing none. Maybe you can get it down to one can every other week. That's progress, too. At it's foundation, this challenge is about actually focusing a tiny bit of attention on something you usually just don't think about at all: How much trash you generate. It's about not just rolling the can down to the curb without consideration--not that I have a curb, more of a patch of dirt at the end of the gravel drive.
I talk a fair amount about Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. Reduce is definitely the red-headed stepchild of the threesome. It just doesn't feel as creative as Reuse or as outwardly satisfying as Recycle. Plus we are just such a consumer driven culture. It's hard to break that indoctrination even when you're a pretty crunchy person. I've always got a list of things I want and have several orders on the way even now. But the truth that's hard to swallow is that there's a reason Reduce is first. It's the most important.
So, take the One Can a Month Challenge and start thinking about what you put in the trash, what you buy from the store, what you choose to bring into your house. Is it really just trash waiting to happen?
And check out EnviroMom starting July 1st (now too, always cool stuff there), for tips on how to reduce your family's trash.
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This is something unusual and entertaining that Huck's been doing for about 2 months now. We call it The Crazy Man Dance. He does it on request.
Yes, I have one of those kids. Not really surprising considering I was a born actor and, from the stories I've heard, Stephen (youngest of 4) knew how to get the attention when he wanted it, too. Neither of us were demure and neither is our offspring. He's also into Silly Face Contests and doing Wacky Walks.
He keeps us laughing.
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It's plantin' time! Well, here anyway. In most of the country it's been plantin' time for quite a while now. Still, it's probably not too late to get something in the ground or in a pot.
What herbs do you use the most? We use a lot of basil (for my Arroz con Pollo and many pasta dishes), cilantro (for guacamole), and mint (for tea). I also use a fair amount of oregano, rosemary and sage.
Fresh herbs are mucho dinero at the store so I planted herbs pots.
It's kind of a no-brainer for organic on a budget but I figured I'd do one last post on this. And remind you that you don't have to plant a whole dang vegetable garden to get some change back in your pocket. Of course, you can take this tip as far as you want. I also have 3 raised beds outside but with everything that's been going on lately I might only get one planted this year, if that--and late. I'm thinking autumn veggies. But every little bit helps.
And if you don't have a lot of space, don't despair, you can do almost anything in a container. Certainly tomatoes, and peppers, but I've even seen people do lettuces, green onions, garlic and strawberries in pots. Get after it.
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So that's it. I've wrung the ORGANIC ON A BUDGET series about as much as I think I can. That's all the stuff I do to help cut down my grocery bill while still buying mainly organic products. I still end up paying more than I would if I bought all conventional foods, but not that much more and organic is important to me. Hope some of these tips have helped you out a little bit, too.
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I've been looking for a kick ass play dough recipe and I think I've found it. The original recipe is from Karen Cheung but it's similar to many others I've seen. The key is the cream of tartar. I substituted Kool-Aid for the food coloring on some of it because I wanted to see how it worked and thought it would be neato if all the colors smelled different. I also HALVED her recipe because it seemed HUGE and I wanted to do more than one color.
It's really easy and satisfying. It has an amazing consistency and will last in the fridge for 3-5 months in an airtight container. Hey! A use for all the Tupperware and Rubbermade I've been phasing out!
Great Play Dough Recipe
1 cups flour
1/4 cup salt
2 Tablespoon cream of tartar
1/2 Tablespoon oil
1 cups water
Food coloring or kool-aid packets to desired color
Mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar together in a pot. Stir in the oil, water and coloring. Turn on the heat and cook and stir constantly until it thickens up, approximately 10 minutes.
Unless you have the forearms of a professional chef, I highly recommend the kung fu grip (demonstrated above)
Don't sweat any lumps that form while it starts thickening. They smooth out eventually. And kneading after it cools is essential to smooth out the overall texture and consistency. It will seem a little too sticky at first but will firm up as it cold.
I made all mine into little balls and stored them together in one container in the fridge. Even cut in half from Karen's original recipe (which calls 2 cup of flour & 2 cups of water!) my modified recipe above made a ton of one color. Too much for us. Check out the photo below. I used this posted recipe for red with green and got FOUR dough balls for each color! When I did yellow and blue I halved the recipe above (which makes it quarter of Karen's original recipe) and got TWO dough balls for each color. I don't know what the hell that girl is doing with all that one color play dough.
You can see from the large lime, medium banana and Roma tomato how big I my dough balls were. So even the recipe above makes a lot. Great if you have an older kid who gets more creative with their creations or if you have multiple kids. A little much for one 2 year old. We put aside one who set (2 red, 2 greens, 1 yellow, 1 blue) to give to a friend.
The Kool-aid was so-so. Smells Kool but the color is pretty flat. I used it for the red and yellow but ended up adding food coloring to the yellow to get it brighter. I used food coloring alone for the blue and green.
Play dough tester approved.
2011 UPDATE: Well Karen had it right after all: Making one color is really better for toddlers and young preschoolers. If your kids are older and want to make elaborate creatures with different colors, fine. But little children have a tendency to mash the colors together and then get frustrated when they can get them apart again. And after a bunch of handling all your colors will eventually turn into a giant brown mass. I've taken to just making a big batch (Karen's full recipe now, which is double the one posted above) of just one color and I've heard no complaints.
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I for one don't think I could handle it. But apparently one day we might all have to.
Check out this NY Times article. Food for thought.
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