Sustainable Saturday

2 cups of potatoes (1/2″ cubes)
2 cups of butternut squash (1/2″ cubes)
1 onion sliced
2 garlic gloves crushed
2 cups of cooked pearl barley
small bunch of spinach
200gr diced canned tomatoes
chopped parsley and cilantro
2 tbsp olive oil

Mix the onion, potatoes ans squash in the oven proof dish with crushed garlic, salt and olive oil. Roast in the oven at 400F for about 15 minutes until half prepared. Mix in pearl barley, spinach, tomatoes, cilantro and parsley. Add more salt to taste. Cook in oven covered with foil about another 15 minutes until all ingredients are soft. Serve hot.

Last 2 months our household used 73% of energy less compared to the last year, and approximately 20% less compared to the summer months. How did we do that?

Most of these savings came from the space heating:

1. We did not turn on the heat unless it was below 0 degrees (and the winter in BC so far has been very warm – we needed to turn on the heat just for a few days)
2. If we turned on the heat, we did it only in the living room during the day (where all the family would be) and in the bedrooms during the night.
3. Close all the doors to all the rooms, specially the ones we do not use or use very little and never turn on the heat in those rooms
4. We kept the temperature in the rooms no higher than 18C
5. Get everybody dressed up with sweaters
6. Buy some thermal undergarments (those the skiers use)
7. Buy a nice thick blanket
8. During the summer we added extra insulation to the attic.
9. In September we weatherstripped all windows and doors
10. Use the heat from cooking to heat up the house – e.g. bake a bread or some muffins in the morning to start the day with a warm house

The rest (20%) of the energy savings came from simple things:

1. turning off and unplugging all the appliances when not in use
2. Turning off all the computers for the night or when not needed longer than 1 hour
3. Replacing the old computers with new energy efficient iMacs
4. Making sure all lights were turned off when leaving the room (kids do forget often, so you need to train them quite a while)
5. Makings sure everybody turns off the TV when they are not  watching it
6. Sustainable Saturday – keeping off all entertainment electronics at least 1 day per week

You can do it too !

According to BC Hydro, most of the energy is generated from hydro – so it’s clean. Approximately 12-15% is imported from Alberta – dirty coal energy – so all we need to do is decrease our energy usage at least 15% and we’ll be using clean energy only. And if we use even less, maybe we’ll start exporting clean energy to Alberta instead !?

Makes about 20-24 nice big buns

Sweet Dough:
4tsp of honey
6.5-7 cups of flour
3 cups of water (about 45C warm)
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 tsp of active-dry yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of cardamom
vanilla

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In a bowl mix water, yeast and honey. Cover with a towel and let it proof until its foamy (approx 7-10 minutes).

Add salt, vanilla extract and olive oil. Mix.

Add all the flour and cardamom and knead the dough until its smooth and elastic (10-15 minutes in low-medium speed). Let it raise for 20-30 minutes.

MAKE THE BUNS

Roll the dough about 1/2″ thick rectangle, spread honey and cinnamon on it. Roll it into a log and cut into slices of about 2″ wide. Place on the pan. Let it raise for another 10 minutes before baking.

Bake in the oven at 180C/350F degrees for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top.

This recipe uses no white sugar, no milk, no eggs, no butter..

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground black pepper (optional) – I like it spicy
2 tsp cocoa powder
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of ginger powder
1/2 tsp of cardamom
1/3 cup of honey
1/3 cup of maple syrup
1/3 cup blue agave syrup
1 cup water
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp baking powder

Glazing:
Powdered Sugar
Egg white
lemon juice

Mix all spices with flours until well combined. Add olive oil, honey, syrups & water. Mix into hard sticky dough with paddle attachment. Refrigerate at least overnight for the spice flavors to combine..

Roll thin and cut shapes of your liking. For fast cutting into squares or diamonds I use pizza slicer. Bake at 350F/180C about 10-12 minutes.

For glazing mix up powdered sugar, lemon juice and egg white. Add enough powdered sugar to make a thick paste that holds it shape and does not run. Scoop into a pastry bag (or a zip-lock bag with one small corner cut off). Decorate cookies immediately after taking them out of the oven so the heat from the cookies settles the glazing fast.

Ingredients for 3-4 portions:

• 2-3 leaves of Tuscan kale
• about 1/8 of cabbage
• 2 carrots
• 2 medium apple or 1 extra-large apple
• 2 celery stems
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• salt

Slice the Tuscan kale and cabbage into thin slices. Chop the celery. Grate the apple and carrots. Mix all together with some salt, lemon juice and olive oil.

Enjoy with dinner or a meal of its own (as its quite filling). Optionally you can add some nuts on top for extra protein..

Another successful Sustainable Saturday. Apart form the regular organic grocery shopping and visit to the local library we

• put up a  puppet show with the kids
• made a princess costume with crown & magic wand for my “princess” (with some cardboard & golden Christmas wrapping paper)
• did lot of coloring & drawings
• organize the kids playroom & found some boardgames for next week
• read books
• Start the bread dough to bake on Sunday morning

Season for tomatoes and cucumbers is over and time to invent something new. This is a salad from some local organic vegetables which I was able to source. 3-4 portions.

• slice of pumpkin
• 2 medium apples
• approx 1/8 of cabbage
• 1 small broccoli
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt

Grate the pumpkin and apple. Slice cabbage into thing slices. Cut the broccoli into small pieces. If your broccoli has a long stem, peel it so the hard part is off and cut the middle part into thin slices. Add some lemon juice according to your taste, olive oil and salt. Mix all ingredients.

Nice and filling salad.

The Sustainable Saturday #3 was a very sleepy day. I guess the rainy weather got us all. Kids took a nap in the afternoon and not much was done.. Except the usual organic grocery shopping & regular trip to the local library..

Recipe for our family favorite bread (makes 2 big loaves):

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
4 cups all-purpose four
3 cups warm water (41-43 C)
3/4 teaspoons of salt
1/4 cup of olive oil + a bit extra for greasing the bowl
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp honey
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In a bowl mix water, yeast and honey. Cover with a towel and let it proof until its foamy (approx 7-10 minutes).

Add salt and olive oil. Mix.

Add 2 cups of whole-wheat flour and 2 cups of all-purpose flour. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until well combined. It should have thickness of something like pancake batter or a bit thicker. Cover again with a towel and let it rise for 15 minutes.

Add rest of the flour and knead the dough until its smooth and elastic (10-15 minutes in low-medium speed).

Grease a bowl with a little bit of olive oil and transfer dough into it.

METHOD #1 – FAST RAISE

Cover with towel and let it raise in room temperature for 45 minutes until its double.

Fold the dough gently and let it raise another 30 minutes. Then fold it, divide into 2 and form the breads on the pan. Let it raise another 20-30 minutes.

Score the bread and bake in the oven at 180C/350F degrees for 40 minutes until golden brown on top. Turn the heat off and leave the bread in the over for another 10-15 minutes. Cool down on a rack.

METHOD #2 – SLOW RAISE

Cover with towel and let it raise in the fridge overnight. In the morning take out the dough, fold it, divide into 2 and form the breads on the pan. Let the breads raise about 40-60 minutes so the dough warms up.

Score the bread and bake in the oven at 180C/350F degrees for 50 minutes until golden brown on top. Turn the heat off and leave the bread in the over for another 10-15 minutes. Cool down on a rack.

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TIPS:

Enjoy hot with butter and honey

I do not pre-heat the oven to create a thicker crust on the bread. If you pre-heat the oven, you will need to reduce the cooking time about 10-15 minutes.