sarah's sustainable life

inspired by recent advice and reading of several internet and magazine articles, i bring you some of my favorite ideas for reusing old stuff in a new way:

cd spindle –
*makes an interesting holder for a bagel sandwich
*sticky tac it to a short table and use old teething rings to turn it into a ring toss game

altoids case –
*keep it full of crayons in your purse to keep your kids busy out in public
*make it your emergency sewing kit that stays in your purse or car

TP tubes –
*cut uniform squares out of each end to make oversized lincoln logs
*fill halfway with dry lentils; cover each end with a square of wax paper and secure with a gum band. you’ve made a nice musical instrument for your child to play!

photographs –
*write a message on the back, laminate, and send as a postcard
*get small double prints of your favorite photos, then laminate. turn upside down and use as a memory card game for your child.

slinky –
*roll into a circle, then secure with a paper clip. sit it on your desk and you’ve got a great combination pen holder and rolodex for business cards
*rolled slinky is also good for holding photographs

Anyone else have ideas on reusing items?

it’s free recipe friday again! this week’s recipe: chinese cabbage
this recipe comes from my gramma judd. she made a batch of this for me to try when i went in to visit her in maryland this summer. she says this is the most popular dish at their family reunion in north carolina year after year. i thought it was delicious! i hope you agree.

16oz shredded cabbage & carrots (coleslaw mix)
1pkg ramen noodles, cooked & drained
1bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 cup each: sunflower seeds & sliced almonds
2Tcanola oil
DRESSING:
3T each: white vinegar & sugar
ramen seasoning packet
1/2tsp each: salt & pepper
1/2cup canola oil

Toss together veg & sunflower seeds. saute noodles & almonds in 2T canola oil; combine with veg mix. combine all ingredients for dressing and pour over. marinate well in the fridge before serving.

i’ve recently run into some great ideas for getting free stuff. some of them you may already know about, but hopefully there will be some new to you, too.

*freecycle.com:
freecycle is a social networking group where people can offer and receive unwanted used items. just sign up under your zip code to receive daily updates of folks in your area, what they are looking for, and what they need.
*http://www.totallyfreestuff.com:
unlike freecycle, this website is an online guide to freebies on the internet. arranged by category, this website keeps a detailed list of all the places on the internet where you can get free samples of your favorite products. definitely worth checking out!
*garage sale leftovers:
i’m sure you know someone who has had a garage sale this summer; ask if you can pick through the leftovers. browse through items before they go on to the thrift store. most people are happy to give away things that didn’t sell, and there is usually a treasure or two that went undetected.
*just ask!
i accidentally found out this week that our apartment development replaces air conditioning filters. that means we have been paying to replace those for 12months when we didn’t need to. if you rent, don’t be shy about asking what the owner/managers cover. it could save you lots of money!

some other ideas:
*if you have a group of friends that you trust, try sharing movies rather than renting. keep an online accessible list of your movies for friends to browse through, and have them do the same for you.
*have a swap meet – fun times! without the hassle of a garage sale, you and your friends bring all your unwanted clothing and trinkets to a common place and go crazy! (foot note: i LOVE swap meets!!)
*some people consider this cheating, but if you go super marketing on saturdays, most stores have LOTS of free samples. since saturday is my regular marketing day, we often make a lunch of it.

it’s the eternal struggle (on the supermarket level). which is healthier when it comes to fruit and vegetables, fresh or frozen? here’s my take on this dilemma:

fresh:
automatically, fresh fruit and veg come out on top when considering nutritional benefits – or do they? when buying seasonal produce from a local farmer’s market, fresh really is best. in that case, the goods have been freshly harvested and still hold most of their nutrients intact. seasonal produce is also cheaper than that which must be shipped in from afar or coaxed into existence under unnatural circumstances. if you are looking for the most nutritional produce in a supermarket, look for big sales on the fruit and veg with the least amount of packaging.

frozen:
frozen food gets a bad reputation for being second rate, but it’s actually a very good first choice, nutritionally speaking. unlike canned fruit and veg, the frozen variety can be kept on hand for months at a time for convenient use without the addition of salt, sugar, or other chemical preservatives. also, most frozen produce has been picked at the peak of season and quickly frozen. farmers and supermarkets do this because the food looks great and sells well, but the benefit to the consumer is that most of the nutrients have been locked in during the freezing process. so, the average fresh produce has been sitting in trucks or on shelves for days or weeks losing nutrients every hour while the frozen stuff has maintained its nutritional integrity. frozen veg is usually extremely inexpensive, too! for some reason, frozen fruit is out the wazoo expensive, so i recommend freezing leftover fruit just when it becomes too ripe to use – it makes great smoothies!

today’s recipe: perfect pancakes!
this recipe comes from my husband’s family, so i can’t take credit. the formula is so simple, it’s easy to half or double, and they come out perfect every single time. i know your whole family will love this one!

2cups self-rising flour
2eggs
2cups milk, buttermilk, or soymilk

stir together all the ingredients just until mixed (lumps are good). heat your griddle to pancake level (mine is just between high and medium). let the batter stand and the pan heat for about ten minutes. use a 1/3cup measuring cup to spoon the batter onto the hot griddle. when the cakes are brown around the edges and bubbly, flip over with a metal turner. cook for another minute or two on the flip side, then keep warm in the oven on a low setting. these are great for making a big batch and putting some back in the freezer. they reheat wonderfully in the toaster oven!

a recent study done by the fred hutchinson cancer research center found that average people who do yoga on a regular basis are less likely to become obese. the same study found that obese people who begin to practice yoga on a regular basis are more likely to drop down to a normal weight. this may seem surprising to anyone who has ever dabbled in yoga because it doesn’t fit our cultural vision of a weight loss program. there’s no burn, no sweating, and no heavy weight lifting involved. my most recent experience with yoga (ayurvedic, by the way) has been more like a group counseling session/lamas class for middle-aged to elderly women. how can this possibly effect weight maintenance? contrary to what we are taught in our scientific health classes in public middle school, there is more to a healthy weight than “calories in vs. calories out”. people who practice yoga are more likely to be a healthy weight because they are aware of themselves. they learn to listen to their bodies and take in what makes them feel good and happy (plenty of fruit & veg). they also know themselves well enough to determine when they are actually hungry, and when they are full. when you contrast this to the average american who spends most of the day munching on high fat snack and fast foods while keeping deadlines, driving, working on a computer, or watching tv, it’s no great mystery how yoga participants come out on top in the healthy weight category. maybe yoga is not your thing, but i promise that if you spend time becoming more in tune with yourself and with God, you will find healthy weight maintenance a much easier endeavor.

as mentioned in my introduction, i am a bit of a health nut. i try not to make my family’s life miserable, but i am quite conscientious about what goes into my mouth. my friend catherine v. (also a bit of a health nut) recently let me try a bite of her “go raw” brand spirulina super chips. WOW! they are sweet, crunchy, and delicious! to my surprise, even my omnivorous husband enjoyed the snacks. “they taste quite like banana chips; they’re good!” was his comment. given the opportunity, my son polished off the rest of the bag by himself. why does this make me giddy? well, according to “raw foodists” (which i consider myself at heart), when food is cooked past a certain temperature, it destroys essential digestive enzymes, making digestion much more difficult on the body than necessary, causing premature aging and disease. my family’s sudden addiction to the spirulina chips inspired me to get back to my “raw food” roots and get creative with snacks and treats for the summer.

try some of these ideas to get your family eating more raw foods and reaping the health benefits:
-raw almond butter on apple slices
-julienned carrots, red peppers, and green onion tossed in a little Bragg’s liquid aminos and wrapped in lettuce leaves
-shredded cabbage and carrots tossed in seasoned rice vinegar and wrapped in rice paper wrappers (summer rolls)
-puree berries and mix with unsweetened, raw applesauce; pour into small paper cups and put a plastic spoon in the middle. freeze solid, then remove the cup and eat like a slushy pop
-avocado slices with a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of sea salt wrapped in fresh corn tortillas
- homemade hummus with sweet bell pepper wedges for scooping
-homemade trail mix: raw nuts, dehydrated fruit, and carob drops
-make a fruit dip of fresh yogurt and raw, local honey
-cut a jicama into spears and eat like apple slices

anyone else have a favorite raw food snack?

if you have been in the country for the last six months or so, you have most certainly heard of the “cash for clunkers” bill sanctioned by the government. to the general public, this bill is the good news they have been waiting for – someone (the government) is willing to buy their old clunker and give them money toward a new car. newer cars, better gas emission and mileage, everybody’s happy.

but what happens to all those old clunkers?

most advertisements i have seen on television say that the old car will be “recycled”. how? the government instructs car dealerships to fill the gas tanks with a sodium solution and run the motor until it blows up. the car dealerships then sell what is left to scrap yards who make money off of whatever parts have not been destroyed. am i the only one disturbed by this? how decadent is our society that we are blowing up perfectly good, running cars in the name of “fewer gas emissions”? whatever happened to reusing as part of environmentalism? there are many other reasons to buy a new car, but until you have crunched the GREET numbers on your current vehicle as compared to a new model, i would say being environmentally conservative is probably not one of them.

some of you may be familiar with the angel food ministries, but i’ll bet many of you are not. angel food is a wonderful program run through churches and community organizations throughout the country. basically, you pay $30 once a month to get a box of food that will feed a family of four for one week. you do not have to belong to a particular faith (or any for that matter), there are no qualifying income limits (you can’t make too much or too little to receive the box), and it is unaffected by other assistance your family may be receiving (unlike most food pantries). they even offer specialty boxes that range from just fruit & veg or just meats to regional favorites and food allergy sensitive.

if you are an angel food user, good for you! i would like to recommend one of my favorite websites to help you use your purchase to it’s fullest extent: www.hillbillyhousewife.com. i’ve mentioned this website before on my page as an excellent place to find from-scratch recipes for almost anything. as a bonus, the hillbilly housewife has recently added the full year’s menu of angel food and recipe ideas for the food you will receive – how great is that?!!

check out www.angelfoodministries.org. get info for your family, your church, or someone you know who may benefit from this wonderful outreach. you may even want to be an anonymous sponsor and secretly provide a family in need with a box every month!