Compost dreams do come true!

Hubby built us a two-seater compost bin...how sweet it is!

Since building this, I have run across an article by our County Extension Agent in which she stated that compost bins should be at least 3 feet deep in order for the compost to reach the proper temperature to "cook." Our bin is 30 by 30, six inches shy of the ideal. Hope 30 inches is enough!

Where there's a will, there's a way

We have an umbrella stand for hanging laundry outside by the deck, but in winter that task is too cold for my blood. We do have a nice clothes rod in the mudroom/laundry room, but that room, which faces northeast, gathers too much moisture in the wintertime. So, I asked my hubby to come up with a way to hang clothes in our attached garage. I don't drive the car every day, and besides, I never warm it up, just get in and go, so fumes stinking up our clothes is not really an issue. He came up with the perfect solution this morning, and I'm quite proud to show that we're already using it. That strange looking beige thing on the right is my clothespin bag. Fashioned out of a coat hanger and some scrap material, we've been using it since shortly after we married 20+ years ago.

Thought I'd also show off a sample of what I did yesterday: ironed tissue paper saved from gift bags! Determined to save a tree in every little way. I'm especially mindful of trees these days, as we use a wood burner to supplement our heat so I'm very conscious of that natural resource.

Saving by increments...

Some days I save big; other days only miniscule amounts, but surely it all adds up in the end. My kitchen scale is one of my favorite ways to be a conscientious consumer. When the recipe calls for 1/4 cup of butter, I can measure precisely 2 ounces of butter. Sometimes I think, 'Oh, a little extra butter won't hurt,' and it wouldn't; however, using exactly the amount called for leaves more butter for another day, another recipe. Further, buying butter packaged by the pound instead of the stick is another way to cut down on packaging waste.

Another way I try to be conscientous is by not throwing compostable organic waste into the trash. While I'm cooking, I keep a container nearby to fill up with the scraps. Coffee grounds and the filter and eggs also get tossed in. We don't have a compost bin (YET), so for now the scraps get thrown onto the garden. Our dog licks out the eggs, so there's no worry about the eggs attracting other critters. I look forward to the day when hubby will make me some barrel composters. Can't wait!

Make over: Leftover spaghetti magic

Feeling a little proud of myself! I transformed leftover vegetarian spaghetti into vegetable soup for lunch and then a veggie lasagna for dinner. VEGETABLE SOUP: For the soup, I cooked some diced onion and potato, then added leftovers from a restaurant veggie plate: butternut squash and spinach, plus roasted long green beans, and finally, added some of my leftover spaghetti. Seasoned the whole by adding red pepper, white pepper, basil, cumin, sherry vinegar, chicken base seasoning & freshly ground pepper. VEGGIE LASAGNA: Inspired by a vegetarian lasagna recipe found on http://www.saveur.com/, I mixed an egg into the remaining 3 cups or so of my leftover marina spaghetti, then layered this with a bechamel (white) sauce chunky with cooked diced onion and green pepper, about 6 sundried tomatoes (oil packed) and a little bit of cottage cheese. Placed some fresh mozzerella on top and baked it 'til bubbly. We both really liked it, but I wished I had left the sundried tomatoes a little bigger, as they were the most interesting surprise ingredient.

Scratch cooking: Pizza sauce

I found a pizza sauce recipe that I'm making:

1/2 an onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 (15oz) cans of diced tomatoes

1 (6oz) can of tomato paste
2 tsp Italian herbs, a store blend

a pinch of salt

Saute onion & garlic in a bit of olive oil until soft. Add remaining ingredients; cook simmering on low for an hour, stirring peridiocally & breaking up the tomatoes. (Found on http://www.cheapcooking.com/)

I didn't have a store blend of Italian herbs, so I used 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp dried basil and 1/2 tsp dried thyme, plus a little sprinkling of dried rosemary leaves. Didn't mean to use that much thyme, but I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. Anxious to see how it turns out.

Sadly, I broke my garlic press while putting the recipe together. I had used the press frequently, as it is so much quicker than mincing garlic (how lazy is that!). Hoping Hubby can fix this for me, but if not, I will be doing without. Sooo much want to become less of a consumer. The less I buy, the less will end up in a landfill, right? 

Make over: Sausage apple strata

Okay, it doesn't get any better than finding and adapting a recipe to fit your foods on hand. For tonight, I made a strata, which was layered into a 1 1/2 quart baking dish as follows:

• 2 large pieces of stale country bread, cubed
• 1 cooked smoked sausage patty, cut into small pieces, scattered evenly over the bread cubes
• 1/2 peeled, cored apple, cut into cubes, scattered evenly over sausage and bread
• several cubes of cheese leftover from a party (had on hand cubes of havarti with dill & gruyere), scatter evenly over above ingredients
• 3 eggs, beaten, 1/2 cup cream, 1/4 cup milk, big pinch of dried sage, salt to taste...once mixed, poured over the above items, then sprinkle with freshly ground pepper

bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until set.

Craving hot cocoa?

No more wasted packaging and money buying individually packaged cocoa mixes: just make your own. In a large microwaveable mug, put 1 & 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa (I use Hershey's Special Dark) and a pinch of salt. Stir together then add a tablespoon or so of milk and stir to mix...slowly add more milk, about 6-8oz. or so, until your cocoa is the color you like. Nuke in microwave for 1 minute on high, then add large marshmellows and nuke up to 20 seconds, being careful to watch so it doesn't overflow. Then drink!! Adjust the amounts to suit your own preference.

Waste not, want not

Came across a site that posed the question "what does your refrigerator's contents say about you?" That gave me the idea to take a picture of my own refrigerator's contents and set the picture as my wallpaper. I now try to do this every couple of days. Helps tremendously in figuring out what to fix for dinner, what might be going to waste. No more standing in front of open refrigerator doors. gotta love it! The dark covered pan is a bean casserole cooked in my SunOven yesterday. Always a feeling of accomplishment when the sun oven powers my baking.

Making a visible difference daily

Striving to make sure that I do at least one thing daily that gives me a sense of accomplishment AND is visible to others. Today I made a blackberry pie. In fact, it's in the oven now, and the house smells fragrant throughout. The blackberries were in our freezer, so I pulled them out as part of my latest pledge: to use up freezer foods before buying new groceries. Of course, I will buy supplemental groceries, but hopefully will be able to "shop" my freezer for the main stuff. Buzzer's going off now...can't wait to take that pie out of the oven.

Managing time

Have joined the ranks of the unemployed--by choice. Anxious to craft a life full of meaning. Need to review the Ben Franklin tenets & go from there. Today, however, has become the launch of a new objective to cram pack each day with exercise. After all, healthy body, healthy mind, right?? UPDATE: 11/2/10: Unfortunately, I've spent more time online than on the ellyptical over the last few months. A post over at "Living. Minimal." recently gave me a needed kick in the pants when it comes to wasting my time on the computer. Check out this thought-provoking post by Martijn: Reduce your digital footprint in 5 steps.

Rediscovering the crockpot

oh, boy, I think I've hit the motherlode! How could I ever have neglected my crockpot...especially when it comes to saving time and money? These days I've been making a soup of the week...and ladling it hot into jars that often "can" themselves. Kept in the fridge (since I don't go to the trouble of sterilizing the clean jars), I take a jar to work every day of the week. Quick and easy lunches. Empty Bonne Maman jelly jars provide just the right size for my appetite, but since I'm trying not to buy imported products any more, I'll have to try to collect some similar-sized jars that once housed local products. Anyway, I'm in love with a crockpot again--especially after buying one with a lift-out crock that can go into the dishwasher. woohoo!

Reducing Waste

Maybe you already knew this, but I just found out that you can get a reusable coffee filter for 10-12 cup coffemakers. Imagine not having to use those little paper filters in every coffeepot across the nation. And the ones Mr. Coffee makes are top shelf dishwasher safe. Trouble is...I just bought Hubby a 4-cup pot, since he only drinks about 3cups/day, and there is no reusable filter for the 4-cup pot yet. 

Budget crunch

If you knew that you were going to lose your job in the next month...even six months, what could you do without in order to save some $$ between now and then? I'm guessing that if most took a good hard look at every expenditure, there would be plenty of room for extra savings. I'm going to look into a cheaper cell phone plan. Use an antenna with converter box already, so no savings to be found be ditching cable. Cook most meals from scratch, but I could be better about not accidentally letting food go to waste. Hmnnn...surely there are other areas where we could save. Will think on that for sure.

Constant Struggle

It's a constant struggle to stay focused on simple living, on consuming less while enjoying life's simpler pleasures more. I vow to renew my commitment to simple living beginning today. Therefore, instead of stopping on the way home to buy more groceries, I resolve to make do with what is on hand--just for today. I hope to make the same pledge for tomorrow. We need bread, so I'll have to go home and bake something...maybe the 90-minute dinner roll recipe, or a simple beer bread (3 cups self-rising flour, very scant 1/4 cup sugar, 1 can room temp beer mixed then placed in bread pan, with 3 tbs. melted butter on top and adding 4 tbs. melted butter partway through baking in 350 degree oven.) yes, that's the ticket!

Quick & easy supper ideas

1. From Sunday's appetizer to another night's meal, I filled leftover baked potato skins with bacon/cream cheese/horseradish dip for a great new dish that we both loved. 
2. Also discovered recently that we are very keen on summer squash pizza: sliced yellow squash sauteed in a little olive oil and then put atop a pizza crust (either homemade from a quick mix or a french bread loaf) with ranch dip as the sauce & a little mozzerella or assorted italian cheeses on top. Made the last squash pizza on Panera foccacia bread (which we slice in half), and used ranch dip with salsa (1 pkg. ranch dressing mix, 16oz sour cream, 1/2 cup salsa -- won't need whole recipe for a pizza).

Shower Challenge

I accepted the challenge of http://www.dothegreenthing.com/ to take shorter showers, which has become sort of a test of my mettle. Can I wet my hair with the frigid waters that pour down while waiting for the hot water? yes, it seems I can. In fact, doing so reminds me of camping. Turn off the water once the body's wet to do all the lathering up. Turn on water to rinse off soap & shampoo...turn off water while putting on conditioner & using body scrubber...turn on for final rinse & DONE! Then using the squeegee to wipe water from walls reduces chance for mildew, reduces cleanup. Saving water, less cleaners. :)

Another good reason to buy less

Less consumption - less waste. Better for my wallet BUT ALSO better for our planet. For yet another reason to buy less, read "Spending More, Enjoying Less" by George Loewenstein: http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/yourmoney/money_for_life_sb4.html

My plan for spending less today is to go home and "reinvent" some of the leftovers in the fridge. Leftover turkey will become mock chicken salad for dinner. Chop cooked turkey, add one part Marzetti's Coleslaw Dressing to one part mayo or salad dressing; stir in toasted pecans. yum!

Every little thing counts

The less we can spend on the things that are of no lasting value, the more money we have to spend on things that are important to us. What would you rather spend your money on: bottled water, toilet paper and toothpaste, or your home, travel or even clothes? Squeezing the last bit of paste out of the tube has become a challenge for me. Others may find that ridiculous, but I am not out to subsidize a fine lifestyle for the makers of Colgate, I'm trying to fund a rich life for me. A few extra squeezes of toothpaste do matter in the long run, when those savings are added to all the other little savings. When I was a teenager, I just filled the soap scoop to the top when it came to laundry soap; now I realize it takes much less to get my clothes clean. And it's not even good for the clothes to use more soap than is needed! Then there's the environment to consider...if I squeeze the most out of every packaged product, less empty packages will go to the landfill, right?

Make do; Make over; Do without

In the book Microtrends, author Mark Penn contends that it would take only 1 percent of people committed to a single idea to change the world. Here's hoping there are at least 1 percent of the people out there with a growing awareness of the need for ecological stewardship. Unnecessary, rampant consumerism leads to bigger bills, bigger debt, more marital dissatisfaction, more anxiety and deep-seated insecurities. Small steps lead us back to a healthier financial outlook. Think SMALL; think LESS. For instance, for my daughter's 1st Christmas, she got a wooden puzzle and a little wooden rocking chair. Two gifts but she was so excited! The bounty of her 2nd Christmas consisted of a small child's table and two chairs (scavenged from the trash pile in front of a neighbor's yard, then cleaned and new contact paper applied to the surface) and a little tea set. Again, two gifts but she was thrilled! As a stay-at-home mom, it worked for my budget too, but the point is that SHE did not need more to have a happy Christmas. Parents are usually buying for themselves somehow, don't you think?

Share the surplus

The last green peppers and tomatoes from the garden filled two large grocery sacks. After keeping a few for our use, I took the lot to my folks, who took what they wanted. What was left I took to the local Centro Latino (outreach center for immigrants/migrants), along with the last of the jalapeños picked before the frost. This was such a little thing too do, very little effort on my part (especially because my husband culled the garden), but I feel really good about having helped someone else. Christianity would grow faster if people shared their surplus as willingly as they share their beliefs.