There are starving kids all over the world - don't waste food ...

I am one who always had an aversion to leftovers, I will admit I have this fear of rotten food. I think it comes from growing up in the restaurant business and hearing all the health department requirements; which obviously are more severe then what the typical person does at home. Suffice it to say I am a little obsessive about food going bad, haha. Through this journey of taking better care of God's creation I started to really look at my leftover aversion and got over it. I also made an effort to try to make just enough food versus too large of portions. Like Mom used to say "there are starving kids all over the world don't waste food". But then I went a step or a few steps beyond just making sure to eat our leftovers and looked at what waste over buying was causing. I will tell you it wasn't pretty! I have always been a just in case buyer and a mood cooker "what if we feel like ...", well this not only makes my grocery bill higher, but causes a lot of potential food wasted.

One thing I realized also was, like most Americans, we love variety. It isn't a luxury for us, it is a requirement. But with that requirement we can waste a lot of food. I had some friends go to Africa and one thing they said that really struck me in my line of thinking on this whole issue was that "the people there eat a lot of the same thing all week", so it was challenging for them because we are spoiled with so much variety. That gave me a lot of insight as to how we needed to approach being last wasteful in regards to food. Here are a few things I am doing to make sure that what doesn't even make it to our meals doesn't end up in the compost or garbage either:

1. Planning meals appropriately - now this means more than just ok we will have this on Monday and this on Tuesday ... one thing I realized, like in other countries they have a few items to cook for the week (creative opportunity here too hehe), so I basically think ok for the week we will have e.g. rice, these veggies, this fruit, eggs. So I am selecting certain things I can make in a multitude of different types of meals while at the same token using up everything I buy.

2. More trips, less purchased - so either I walk or I drive when I am already out for some other reason ... this method I found makes it easier for doing the first step ... I plan to go to the store at least 2 times a week. One thing that happens in other countries is they go out every day buy only what they need and it is all fresh, well I am taking this to a 2 times a week event, this way I can plan for narrower plots of time and everything is so fresh. Believe it or not I am spending a lot less money.

This is the two major things I am doing to reduce the waste and I have to say it is working amazingly. What are way you are reducing your food waste outside of leftovers?

Organics Organics Organics Oh My!

Do you know why I love tuesdays? I get my delivery of organic fruits and vegetables by the company Absolute Organics, in Charlotte, NC. They are a local family run business that gives great service. A few days before delivery they email you what you are going to receive, then you have a chance to request not to receive a certain item. Absolute Organics is one way I have been saving money on our change to organic fruits and veggies. If you are in Charlotte or lucky enough to have a local service like this it is a great and less expensive way to feed your family organics foods. They also have organic free trade coffee (YUM!), organic granola and local honey. If you decide to try Absolute Organics, please let them know eG sent you! Have you ever tried a service like this? If you have a service like this is your area please post it in a comment to help others find them.

Breakfast Perfection: Pure Chocolate Brownie Bar Review

This morning after our green juice I broke out a Pure Chocolate Brownie Bar (Organic, Raw, Vegan). This is the first one I have tried since my box arrived from Amazon.com (where you can buy them in bulk YAY!). My 6 year old daughter drooled as I bite into it (she is a chocolate maniac). She squealed "I want some I want some." I broke off a piece for her and my boyfriend who also showed interest. She yelped "YUMM" as she chopped down on it. I have to agree with my precocious little one, my boyfriend followed expressing it was delicious and healthy tasting; which is the two things our family craves these days. It is a boutique of fruit, nutty and sinful chocolate goodness. The exquisite taste is light but still satisfies your belly. With my green juice it was a perfect amount of food and I left the table feeling energized and ready to start my day. I send out a WTG to Veronica for her bar perfection. I look forward to trying the other flavors (CranberryOrange, CherryCashew, ChocChip Trail Mix, AppleCinnamon, WildBlueberry, and Chocolate Brownie). Have you tried the line of Pure Bars yet?

Green Moving? Cheaper, Greener, Only Way to Move!

Moving is a recent green dilemma I had the last few week, this is one reason I have been missing in action on the blog. From the point of putting the contract in on the house, it was green strategy time. Conveniences win when we don't plan ahead, so be green and plan ahead. Aside from reusing the non-eco-friendly stuff, here are some ways I found to green up my move:

Donate It: The weeks leading up to the move we really dug through everything to sort out the things we didn't really need anymore; gave it all the Goodwill or friends. Other options for your unused stuff:

• Women's Shelter
• Goodwill or Salvation Army ... Find your local branch here
• Freecycling (online way to give stuff you don’t want to people who do)
• People from your community, church or friends could use some our items
• Have a yard sale

Pack It: If you are like me you don't have many boxes and packing materials laying around to reuse. Here are options to stay green while packing:

• Ask your moving company if they have used boxes and packing materials for you to reuse
• If you buy boxes, make sure they are made from recycled materials
• Purchase some reusable plastic containers, I got these for my fragiles for extra protection, so now I have some awesome containers I can reuse items I am storing
• Places like Sam's Club and Costco have boxes and packing materials in the front that are being recycled that you can take for your own use
• I grew up in the restaurant business, I have to say they get the best boxes ever (especially tomato boxes); ask a restaurant is you can have their boxes they are tossing anyways
• I found all of these around the house that I had to take with me anyways, might as well put them to good use:
  
• Towels
• Blankets or sheets
  
• Rags
• Clothes
  
• Reusable shopping bags
• Paper shopping bags
• Yoga or exercise mats
• Old egg cartons; I have these saved for my daughter's craft projects, but I have to say they made some great packing materials to secure certain items
• Use old newspapers instead of foam peanuts or bubble wrap (unless you have materials to reuse of course); newspapers protect even your fragile items divinely
• If you use bubble wrap, check out this article for ways to continue to reuse it: 9 Reuses for Bubble Wrap

Clean It: Whether you’re cleaning out the old place or cleaning up your new one, use green cleaners: Not only are they better for your health and the health of the planet, they‘re less expensive than conventional chemical-laden cleaners–and they work just as well or better.

All in all, like all methods of being green have saved me money, forced me to plan ahead, gave me plenty of opportunity to be creative ... all things I love! What ways have you found to be green in a move or even with shipping items?

eG Recipe: Oh-My Vegan French Toast (vegan)

One thing I have to say about going vegan is I missed french toast, but this recipe of mine has made it tolerable (giggles). This recipe is so yummy you may not even need the maple syrup.

Whole wheat bread (thick slices)
2-3 ripe Bananas
3/4 cup of Almond or Soy milk (vanilla flavored or add vanilla extract)
2 teaspoon of Cinnamon
2 teaspoon of Nutmeg
Vegan butter
Maple syrup

Put the bananas, almond milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a blender. Mix them till they are pureed. Pour into a shallow dish (e.g. pie plate). Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Dip both sides of each piece of bread as they fit in the saucepan. Brown both sides of the saturated bread. Serve with maple syrup.

© Copyright 2010 All recipes on this site are creations by Cheale of Experience Green.

Ideas to Celebrate Earth Day Giveaway ...

We are giving away a $20 Amazon.com Gift Certificate in honor of Earth Day. Here are the rules to qualify:

• All entries must be submitted by Friday April 23rd, 2010 at 10pm EST.
• Retweet or Tweet the following: @Experiencegreen Earth Day Giveaway - win a $20 Amazon.com GC, http://www.bit.ly/acgtEP #change #green #earthday
  
• You must be a follower on the experiencegreen twitter page.
• You will get an additional entry if you are a fan on our Facebook page too.
• Post below an idea to celebrate earth day (or you can post on our Facebook page.)
  
• We will pick only one winner on Friday, it will be announced on Twitter, Facebook, and our blog.

Thank you for your entries ... Reduce Reuse Recycle ... make it a habit one step at a time!

eG Recipe: Sweet Meatless Spinach Noodles (vegan)

8 Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs or any vegan meat substitute
1/2 pkg of Fettuccine Noodles
Big handful of Fresh Spinach
1/2 yellow onion
1/4 cup of dark soy sauce
1 tbs of maple syrup or honey
2 apples (peeled and cored, cut into chunks)
1 tbs of olive oil

While cooking your noodles, get your large sauce pan. At medium heat, heat up the olive oil, then add in the meatballs, onions, and the honey; drizzled it over the meatballs and onions. Continue to stir those around while your noodles are cooking about 10 minutes. Crush your meatballs in half with your spatula. Drain your pasta add it to the saucepan, in addition add the apples and the dark soy sauce. Stir and toss around for another 5 minutes. Time for the spinach, add that as your last ingredient, stir it around so it cooks down a little bit and mixes nicely with the rest of the dish. Serve immediately.

Time: 20-25 mins with prep
Serves: 2 (full meal) or 4 (side dish)


© Copyright 2010 All recipes on this site are creations by Cheale of Experience Green.

Meatless Monday Giveaway ...

Did you have a Meatless Monday? Tell me how it went for you, if you struggled or did it full on; existing vegetarians can enter too. Submit a comment on this page of how meatless monday went for you or if you picked a different day this week to go meatless, just tell us about it. Make sure to tell us your twitter and/or facebook name in your comment. We post the winner Friday April 16th, 2010 at 11pm EST. Rules below to win a $20 iTunes Gift Card:

• All entries must be submitted by Friday April 16th, 2010 at 10pm EST.
• Retweet or Tweet the following: Go Meatless for a Day: @Experiencegreen is having a Meatless Monday Giveaway - win a $20 iTunes GC, http://www.bit.ly/acgtEP #vegan #green
• You must be a follower on the experiencegreen twitter page.
• You will get an additional entry if you are a fan on our facebook page too.
• We will pick only one winner on Friday, it will be announced on Twitter, Facebook, and our blog.

Depending on how this goes more meatless monday giveaways will be coming so start planning future weeks to go veg!

Must See Movie - Food Inc ...

Food, Inc. Movie Site - Hungry For Change?

I saw this amazing and informative documentary four times now. Please tell me your thoughts on the movie ...

Move over paper towels we have dishcloths to save our planet ...

I raise my hand and say "I, Cheale, am a paper towel addict", but I had to look at my vice closely and find ways to reduce the amount I use. Continually using paper towels and those "oh so" convenient disposable cloths, that have been filling our markets for the last several years, are obviously not eco-friendly. You can switch to eco-friendly paper towels (I do keep them around for occasional use), but that will still fill our landfills. We have lovely dishcloths to replace that are very eco-friendly or you can also go with rags or sponges, but how do we insure that our dishcloths or sponges stay sanitary for our health.

To properly disinfect your dishcloths or sponges, you should toss them in your washing machine with bleach and hot water. You can dry them in your clothes dryer. However, if you want to sanitize your dishcloths even more, hang them in strong sunshine. You can do the same with your shaggy mop.

But of course you don't want to have to throw them in the washing machine with every use, that isn't being very green either. The best way to kill 99.9% of the bacteria that's present on the dish cloths is to disinfect them in your microwave oven. To do this, according to a 2007 study from the Journal of Environmental Health, dampen the cleaning tools. Then, place it in your microwave oven on "High" power for 2 minutes.

Do you have any other methods to sanitize your dishcloths or sponges?

eG Recipe: Spring Fiesta Mix Salad (raw, vegan)

2 Apples with skins, cubed (pictured is golden delicious apples)
1-1/2 cups of Papaya, cubed
1/4 cup of Raw Sesame Seeds
1 stalk of celery, diced

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Optional addition would be drizzling some raw honey or maple syrup before mixing. Serves 4.

This recipe was made entirely with organic items with exception of the papaya, which is very difficult to find organic.


© Copyright 2010 All recipes on this site are creations by Cheale of Experience Green.

Scratch the Surface: Whole vs. Processed Foods

Whole food eating is not just a health issue, its a green one. We need to get back to basics again with our food. First off the most obvious reason to eat whole foods is our health. We need to cut way back on the processed foods we take in. This is another case of convenience foods being the determent of our health and environment. Processed foods are created through manufacturing methods to transform ingredients into convenient little packages which we can cook up quickly and consume. Most are filled with artificial flavors, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, fillers and artificial sweeteners. In the end of all this processing we end up with a product that yes can taste good, but not so good for us; nutritional value has been processed out to a very low level, but they have a long shelf life. On the flipside whole foods are grown in orchards, gardens, or greenhouses. They are unprocessed, unrefined and have a shorter shelf life. These foods are richly flavorful from nature, straight from the earth like God meant them to be for us.

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. Genesis 1:11-13

God sure didnt grow a box of au gratin potatoes from the earth, did he. Whole foods are filled with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and fiber. They do require longer preparation times, for us to do the unthinkable ... cook from scratch? Isn't that what we used to consider home cooking? Loving from the oven? I have to say I am one person that even before this journey I love cooking from scratch. Food tastes better, richer, honestly I feel the time is worth spent because its a way for me to show my love for my family. Now I am even cooking more than before for the health of my family. We have almost eliminated fast food, eating out less, buying as much organic as possible and happily I am cooking more since this journey started (I will get into more details on these changes in future posts). It is truly amazing how these green methods truly reduce our waistlines.

The other reason to cut back on processed foods is waste. Look at any box of processed food, you have the box, then you have plastic wrap inside, some even have a tray insert, all of that is building up in our land fills. Packaging materials make up more than 30% of all consumer waste, according to the EPA.

Ways to Cut the Waste

• Cut back on processed foods, especially those with overdone packaging
• Be a connoisseur of packaging, watch close and be aware of all the packaging things you buy have
• Always find ways to reuse or recycle if possible
• Reuse your bags for fruits and vegetables or buy eco-friendly ones to reuse
• When buying packaged items, buy the glass or tin ones so you can easily reuse
• Buy bulk, reuse the bags when possible or buy eco-friendly ones to reuse
• Take eco-friendly shopping bags to carry all of your purchases
  

Remember, we vote at the register!

Mom, Where is the soft toilet paper?

One of those moments I love as a mother, when your child just makes you laugh. My first grocery trip with green methods in mind I decided to switch to an eco-friendly toilet paper. We were down to our last roll of the typical soft toilet paper, so it was perfect timing. My daughter's bathroom contained the last roll. The day came that she used my bathroom and used the new toilet paper. She comes out says to me, " Mom, what happened to the soft toilet paper?" ... I said, "We switched to a toilet paper that is more earth friendly" she says,"But why?" ... I responded,"They help save trees, don't you care about trees?" ... she looked up at me," But mom, the soft one feels better on my bottom! Can you buy the soft stuff again?"

Well, she didn't win, but what I did do is explain to her more about why that toilet paper was a more environmental friendly choice, so she is now pro the sacrifice. This is something I find amazing with my child, if you educate her on something versus just telling her that is just the way it is she becomes positive about the change. One thing I pray to accomplish with this blog, educating will assist change.

Next time you go to the store consider this when you buy your paper products:

• According to Greenpeace’s recent release of its first Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide, “Americans could save more than 400,000 trees if each family bought a roll of recycled toilet paper—just once.”

I will be honest with you, my daughter is right the soft kind does feel better, but is a softer tissue worth destroying our trees? As my daughter says now "Trees give us oxygen why would we want to kill them?" We have to keep in mind that these products we use and throw out immediately. Try a switch one day!

What to look for in green toilet paper:

• Chlorine free.
• Made from 80-100% recycled content.
• No added dyes or fragrances.
• Safe for low-flow toilets.