Sustainable Saturday

“Sustainable Saturday” #2 Update. Not much news this time though..

As traditionally our  morning passed fast – out in the library and organic grocery shopping in local farms. Make sure to use your reusable bags

The afternoon was spent with the kids – got out some crayons and coloring books. Also worked on my t-shirt recycling/reusing project and got it going ahead quite  a bit. Hoping to add a picture of it soon to show my progress.

How did your’s go?

So here is my update for the first Sustainable Saturday. How did yours go? I would love to hear about it..

1. Eating organic.
Make sure you prepare in hand -as you need to get stocked up with some organic ingredients. Starting with breakfast we’ve had some nice home-made muffins. Here is the recipe For dinner we had a nice vegetable stew with some beans, greens & portobello mushrooms.

2. At least 1 raw meal per day
For lunch -  nice salad of fresh greens, local grape tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli and radish with a few spoons of cottage cheese. Drizzled with some lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

3. No-Power Entertainment
As promised I stayed away from the electronic – computer, TV, etc. Instead we went to the local organic farm, bought some nice fresh greens, apples, tomatoes, etc. We also took a nice walk to the library – luckily the weather was beautiful – nice and sunny with 10+ degrees. In the evening I worked on some craft projects – started on the Christmas egg ornaments and also continued my recycle-t-shirt project that I started a few weeks ago. I will be posting about it later, after I can take a nice picture of the final result.

I found my Sustanable Saturday very relaxing and actually felt a had more time for myself. Stay tuned for the next week update..

Here is a super-simple recipe for delicious organic muffins. This recipes fills 12-tin standard muffin pan exactly.

INGREDIENTS:
* 2 cups of flour (I used 1 cup of all purpose + 1 cup of whole wheat, but you can use anything you have, e.g. spelt flour)
* 2 teaspoons of baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
* 1/2 cop of raisins
* 1/4 cup of chopped nuts of your choice (e.g. walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds)
* 1/2 cup of olive oil (or canola oil)
* 1 cup of juice (apple, carrot, etc) or milk
* 1 large egg or 2 egg whites
* 4 tablespoons of honey
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* lemon rind from 1 lemon
* 1 tablespoon of cocoa (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin pan with oil and set aside. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, raisins, nuts (and cocoa if using) and stir together thoroughly using a wire whisk. In a separate bowl combine the hone, lemon rind, vanilla extract, oil and egg. Whisk until well combined. Add juice or milk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine gently. Scoop into the muffin pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. An inserted toothpick should come out clean.

TIPS:

* If you do not have baking powder in hand you can make some of your own. Baking poder consists of 1/3 of baking soda + 1/3 cream of tartar + 1/3 of starch. I have also used rice flour instead of starch and worked out very well.

* I combined cocoa to the batter after I had scooped half of the muffins into the pan – so I end up with 2 taste selections to put on the table

* to add some moisture to the muffins you can also grate some season fruit like apples or pears and mix it to the batter.

* You can experiment and add different spices to the muffins instead of lemon rind and vanilla. E.g. cinnamon & nutmeg goes well with apple muffins.

Here is a recipe for magic flu or cold tea for the Season:

• Juice one medium-large onion (you can slice it in half and juice it in citrus juicer like lemons)
• Peel two lemons & save the peels
• Juice the lemons
• Put the lemon and onion juice in pot together with lemon peels
• Add water according to how strong you prefer it and boil into delicious tea
• Sweeten with honey & enjoy hot

This tea may make you drowsy, so it the best to drink it in the evening. Safe for kids, pregnant women, etc..

Here is instructions for completely biodegradable Christmas ornaments that are fun to make. The ornaments are completely unbreakable and you can just throw them in your compost bin to degrade after you’re bored of them. You can use the same idea to make Easter egg decorations..

What you’ll need:

1. empty egg shells
2. water
3. flour
4. paper (magazines/ newspaper/ old Christmas wrapping paper, etc)
5. bits of string to hang the ornaments

Instructions:

1. Save some egg shells from cooking (try to break the shells as least as possible) and try to assemble them to original shape. You May need to use a piece of tape to hold them together. Let the shells dry at least overnight before proceeding.

2. Prepare the paper mache paste. You will need 1 part of flour and 5 parts of cold water. Put the flour and water in a pot and mix it well. Bring the mixture to boil and let it boil about 2-3 minutes. It should be smooth and have the constancy of thick glue. If necessary, you can add more water or flour-cold water mix (you cannot add flour in hot liquid otherwise it will become lumpy) in small amounts until you get the desired consistency. OPTIONAL: add a bit of salt to the mixture avoid the molding. You can also add a bit of cinnamon, vanilla or other spices of your liking to the mixture to make your final art smell delightfully.

3. PAPER MACHE EGGS: assemble the eggs and cover them with layers of papers strips dipped into the paper mache glue. Let the eggs dry after each 2-3 layers of paper, so they don’t get moldy. Usually I do 5-6 layers all together – 2-3 in first day and the rest in next day after the first layers have dried off. Before adding the final 2 layers, attached a loop of string on top of the ornament so you can hang it on a tree. Final layer can be some colorful strips of magazine paper or some strips from old wrapping paper. Optionally you can also do the final layer in white paper and paint the ornaments later.

Here some more ideas for paper mache http://www.cockeyed.com/lessons/papermache/papermache01.shtml

I’ll be posting pictures later, as this will be one of my next “Sustainable Saturday” projects

Eating vegetarian can be a challenge in the start, so you’d need to gather some ideas how to get your proteins from alternative sources. Here is a good website that features some nice videos to get you some ideas: http://www.everydaydish.tv

You can also find some great ideas just searching the net or YouTube.

A few fast tips to get started:

• tofu can be cooked as any meat recipe, just make sure to season the tofu well before cooking (if possible let it marinate in the seasoning for at least 1/2 hour)
• soy sauce is a good companion for tofu
• Kids usually cannot refuse anything that’s fried in breadcrumbs (either tofu, beans, etc)
• Use beans and nuts in your cooking to get extra proteins
• Peanut butter is a good source of protein (make sure its organic though)

In past few months our family has changed our habits quite a bit to live more healthy and sustainable. Here is a challenge we can all take 1 Day a week at the time and change a bit of our habits and show good example to our kids. I chose Saturday, as I need the computer for my work all week (unfortunately we all need to make a living – at least I don’t have to drive to work) and Saturday seemed the most suitable day for me. You can choose any other day that is more suitable for you.

Typically we spend most of the day behind a computer, TV or game console without even realizing it. Here is a challenge that is good for the earth, for the family relations and our health:

At least 1 Day a week (Saturday) I will do the following:

• I will turn off all electronic entertainment (computer, TV, VCR, Game consoles, etc)
• I will use as little power as possible (to prepare meals, heat the house, lights etc)
• I will eat only organic meals
• I will eat NO meat
• I will eat at least 1 raw meal a day (healthy and saves power)
• Avoid using the car for transportation
• Will not go shopping to the mall to buy more junk

Here is what I can do instead:

• Walk to the library
• Walk to the farmers market or take public transport to the local organic farm
• Read a book
• Play boardgames with the family
• Eat a candle-light dinner
• Do some creative crafts from reusable junk (e.g. old newspapers, magazines, old t-shirts, cardboard boxes, etc)
• Do some organic gardening
• clean the house
• Go for a walk in the park or a hike
• You can help me update the list …

To help us all achieve the goals, I’d like to gather a collection of vegetarian recipes and reusable craft ideas in this website. Your suggestions and input are very welcome.