Christmas Traditions: Advent Tree

In our home, we try to bring the meaning of advent into our daily lives.  My favorite tradition is our Advent Tree (aka "Presents for Jesus").  This was inspired by a lenten cross my mother would put up every lent with a bowl of stickers next to it. The idea behind this is that when one of the children does something that is kind for someone else, is helpful, or makes a sacrifice for others - these are the presents that Jesus wants.  So, when they do these things, they get to take a "present" and place it under the "tree" or put an ornament on the tree.  The goal is to have as many presents under the tree and as many ornaments on the tree as possible - inspiring and rewarding selfless acts.

I made the tree out of Kraft Paper.  I just painted it with some leftover paint I had from another project.  This was a fun project for my then 5-yo to help.  I stapled it to our CORK DISPLAY BOARD, but you could just as easily tape one to the wall.

I love that this Advent Tree not only has a significant teaching and religious aspect to it, but it also makes a high impact eco-friendly decoration for the Christmas Season.  Everything can either be recycled or saved for next year's use.

You can make your own Advent Tree.  

How about you?  Do you have any Advent traditions that you love?

The Garden My Husband Built

I often come up with lots of great ideas that create a good deal of work for my husband. Over these 16 years of togetherness, we seem to fall into these roles as a couple. I come up with some crazy plan and he makes it happen.

After a successful summer with a container herb garden on my deck, I thought we definitely needed a garden. The problem was, I am a very inconsistent "maintainer" (is that a word). I tend to have a ton of enthusiasm at the beginning of a project and then fizzle out as I get bored or discouraged. So, if this garden was going to work, it had to be pretty self-sustaining.

After a lot of research (thanks, Internet!) I decided we would need a raised bed garden with a drip irrigation system on a timer. Following much of the advice in Mel Bartholomew's book, Square Foot Gardening, we found a sunny spot in the yard and made a plan.

Cedar really would have been the best option for the beds, but it was out of our price range. We didn't want to use plain lumber because of the toxins it would leak into the ground. Although it is less than ideal, we settled on painted lumber (I LOVE the paint color - husband? not so much).



We put river rocks around the beds to keep weeds down and some flagstone for a walkway through the garden area. We put chicken wire underneath each of the beds to try to keep out digging varmits from beneath.




The drip irrigation on a timer has really been a life saver. If I go on vacation, the garden still gets watered. If I forget, the garden still gets watered. This is the number one thing that has turned my black thumb at least military green.




So, after two years of gardening, we have had some great successes (such as an abundant strawberry harvest, beautiful herbs, and lots of broccoli) and we have had many failures (2 years of failed eggplant, spinach destroyed by aphids, and deer eating all our tomato plants). But each year we learn a great deal. It brings me so much joy to tend to the plants with my children and to "pick" our dinner at night.

The Garden My Husband Built is a Finer Thing

This post is a contribution to Finer Things Friday at Amy's The Finer Things in Life.

Cre8-ing New Years Resolutions

It's that time of year. The end of another year that has past by more quickly than the last. I just looked at my last blog post and it was dated 2009! I think that the trouble is, I want to be posting about new projects every day, but it is just too much as a full-time working mom of 3 young boys. So, my first New Years Resolution is about blogging:

• Resolution 1: Blog Sometimes, and Only When I Have Something Useful to Say

As I sit and think about my goals for the upcoming year, gardening is one of the first things that comes to mind. I have had an active vegetable garden for two years now with many delightful success and many failures along the way. I am terrible at regular maintenance, so my goal is to have a gardening system in place that I cannot mess up! I feel that I am going into this year with so many lessons learned and a whole lot of inspiration to grow food in the spring, summer, and fall.

• Resolution 2: Maintain a 3 Season Garden (Spring, Summer, Fall)

I am no seamstress, but I love to "hack" together some clothes, costumes, and other sewing projects. Re-purposing a useless piece of clothing into a useful one is my favorite way to sew. Which brings me to my third resolution...

• Resolution 3: Document at Least One Re-Purposing Sewing Project

Whole foods cooking and baking has been an ongoing journey for all of us in my home. What works? What doesn't work? There are a lot of projects here I would like to get documented.

• Resolution 4: Document More Cooking and Baking Projects

I have not been successful at ridding my life of all things plastic. However, for so many reasons (see My Plastic-Free Life), I want to minimize plastic usage in my life, especially those things that are disposables. It's always a challenge to find good, reusable alternatives and it takes some Cre8-tivity to make it happen.

• Resolution 5: Use Even Less Plastic

So, I will try to keep these resolutions this year, but I will not stress myself about it. To me, it is more important to that is to keep my balance and have all priorities in place.

Pass the Weeds, Please (Episode II)

A Foraging Recipe - Weed Pesto

Here is a great pesto I like to make with some of my weeds...

Ingredients

• ¼ cup Dandelion Greens
• ¼ cup Purslane
• ¼ cup Field Garlic (grass)
• 4 bulbs Field Garlic (bulb)
• ¼ cup Olive Oil
• ¼ cup Pine Nuts
• ¼ cup Basil leaves
• ¼ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
  

Directions
Mince and lightly saute the garlic bulbs in some Olive Oil to take the edge off. In a food processor: chop up the nuts and garlic bulbs. Add all of the greens and continue to process until everything is finely chopped. Add in cheese and slowly add the olive oil slowly while processing until you reach the desired texture. Leave in the fridge for a few hours before eating. Serve as a dressing for penne pasta, use as a sandwich spread, or serve with crackers or toast.

So, what weeds do you like to eat?

Pass the Weeds, Please (Episode I)

I’ve been intrigued by foraging for food in my backyard my whole life. My neighbors and I searched for wild strawberries, ate “onion grass”, and came up with a recipe for “lemon grass” cheese sauce. At the time, it did not concern me whether or not these things were toxic. Lucky for me, they weren’t!

Now I am a suburbanite who does not want to use fertilizer or weed killer to have a lush, green bed of grass in my lawn. Instead, I like to arm my children with baskets to go collect dinner from the lawn. Backyard foraging has become a fun family activity. Here are some of the things we can find in our mid-atlantic yard:

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) – This is my absolute favorite weed. I like to just pluck off some of the succulent leave and eat them plain because they are tasty. They have a little bit of a lemony flavor to them. A sprig of purslane makes a great addition to a toss salad, an addition to a tomato sauce, or as a component of a pesto. What is unique about purslane is that the leaves are naturally high in Omega-3 fatty acids, which is rare for green vegetables. The stems are high in Vitamin C. I like to put purslane in a container garden – it doesn’t need too much tending. Most often purslane is considered a weed and people are trying to eradicate it, but if I see some growing in a friends yard, I just say “May I have your weeds?”

How to Identify Purslane

Nutrition Information for Raw Purslane


Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) – This is my second-favorite weed. Besides the fact that it is a beautiful flower and makes great bouquets, necklaces, rings, and hair accessories, it is extremely useful food and herbal remedy. Have you ever eaten that Whole Foods “Spring Greens” in a bag salad mix? You are probably eating Dandelion greens. The leaves are great in the spring for salads, pesto, or sandwich toppings. Dandelion greens are a great source of Vitamin A and C as well as fiber. The roots are great in the fall for a bitter tea or as a nutritional supplement. Dandelion roots harvested in the fall are high in inulin (soluble fiber). The flowers can be eaten raw, cooked, or dried and ground into flour.

How to Identify Dandelions

Nutrition Data for Dandelion: Greens

Wild Blackberries (Rubus allegheniensis) – We have these growing all along our fenceline as well as on our bike-riding route. What could be better than free blackberries? The brambles can be prickly, so take care when picking these. Make sure to wait until they are dark purple before picking – otherwise, they won’t taste very good. Use them just as you would blackberries: Freeze them, make a jam, add to a fruit smoothie, or best – just eat them as you pick!

How to identify Wild Blackberries

Some words of caution…

1. Don’t eat any foraged food that is from an area that may be exposed to insecticides, road salt (from snow), or any foreign chemical substances that you don’t know about.
2. Make sure to clean anything that you pluck from your yard thoroughly.
3. Make sure you can absolutely, positively identify something before you eat it. Many plants in your yard are poisonous.
4. Don’t encourage non-native invasive species to grow. Check with your state or local invasive species organization.

Resources
Properly identifying anything you forage is very important. Here are some great resources to help with that. I am a big fan of naturalist “Wildman” Steve Brill who has written a book on the subject and has a wealth of information on his website: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/. He includes tons of information on identifying plants that are edible and is working on a book for foraging with kids.

An organization called Plants for a Future (http://www.pfaf.org/index.php) has a searchable database of edible plants with all kinds of information on uses of the plants and any hazards or warnings about their usage. It is an excellent free resource.

Frugal and Fun: Backyard Foraging is a Finer Thing. (See more Finer Things at Amy’s Finer Things Fridays).

This is a series and I plan to share more foraging tips, resources, and recipes to try.

Cre8 Your Own Energy: Documenting our Solar Project

Okay, so I am not building my own solar panels or anything, but the stars aligned for us this year and we are able to get solar panels on our home. I hope to document that process here a little bit.

Step 1 - Reduce Energy Usage
Of course the process started over a year ago for us. It started with an awareness of how much energy we were using and wasting. We only have electric available in our neighborhood - and boy, were we using more than our share! In the winter, our bills $400-$500+. So, being the geeky engineer-types that we are in my household, we immediately started tracking our usage and started an aggressive campaign to reduce our electric usage. We turned down our heat, turned up our AC, got rid of our "vampires", switched to CFLs, turned the lights off, among many other little energy saving changes. The results were dramatic! I would say we save about $1700/yr over if we had not changed our behavior. This graph is what we've been using to track our usage over time.



Step 2 - Cost/Benefit Analysis
So once we reduced our usage, we looked at the costs and benefits of installing the solar panels on our home. The up-front costs are very high, approximately $60K for the size system we are getting. Luckily, this year there are many state and federal grants and rebates that end up cutting the cost in half to about $30K. We are using a local company called Standard Solar that will take care of all the paperwork and permits for us. Now, we will expect $1200 cost savings every year on our energy bill. In addition, the energy company will pay us a credit for producing clean energy (like a carbon offset price). This system should (theoretically) also increase the value of our home by about $30K. The financial Return on Investment for us (minus the increase in home value) is about 11 years assuming energy costs stay the same. Now, if energy costs rise, our ROI will come much sooner.

That is just the financial benefit. There are also benefits that are not financial. One is knowing that we are not burning through as much natural resources to create our energy. Another is emergency preparedness. If our electric service became rationed or more unreliable, we have a good solid backup. Also, it is a great learning experience for us and the kids. So, overall, it was a go for me and my husband.

Step 3 - Evaluation, Planning, Permits, and Design
Now, this was the easy part for us because the Solar Company does all this work for us. Our solar rep came out and took a bunch of measurements and pictures of the house. They tested the sun exposure and determined that we would have 89% efficiency with the panels. The panels will be mounted on the east-facing back of our roof, so you won't even see them from the street. An engineer at the company then made up a bunch of technical design drawings for us to review and approve.


Now that the design is complete and the permits are pulled and the paperwork is filed, we are ready for our installation. That is yet to happen. I'll let you know how it goes...

Re-Cre8 Your Garbage: Composting

We've had a composting bin for years, but we didn't know what we were doing with it. We had it next to the shed in the shade and we only put yard clippings in it. It wasn't doing much.

So, as our small little container gardening was going so well for us last summer, we thought we were ready for the next step of composting. We moved our bin to the sunlight. We started collecting kitchen scraps, old cardboard boxes, along with the yard waste to balance out the bin. DH religiously waters and turns the compost. At first, it was a pile of garbage (surprisingly, not too smelly). Eventually it became a beautiful pile of rich topsoil that we can use for this year's planting. Yeah.

And, we've got worms. Ours came of their own accord to feast on the glorious coffee grinds, banana peels, and junk mail. Oh, glorious day!



Composting gets two thumbs up from me. Here's my top ten list for why composting is great.

10. Lots of free pet worms!

9. A chore little kids love - adding their banana peels to the composter.

8. Makes it fun to clean out the refrigerator. The moldier the better for the compost.

7. Switch to fewer garbage pickups and save money.

6. Organic fertilizer for your landscaping.

5. Less waste has to go to waste processing facilities which saves energy.

4. Use fewer plastic trash bags.

3. Great free topsoil for the garden.

2. How often can you get excited about dirt?

1. No stinky food trash smelling up the garage.

Interested in composting? Here are some good resources:
Nature.org
HowToCompost.org
Easy Composting from Montgomery County Recycles

Cre8 Copy-Cat Fiber One Bars (Peanut-Free)

My family loves the Oats and Chocolate Chip Fiber One bars. We all love the taste and convenience. I love all the fiber and nutrients in the bars. There are a few things I don't like about the bars:

• Peanuts as an ingredient means the kids cannot take them to school in the lunch box (peanut-free school).
• The individual packaging generates a lot of non-recyclable plastic waste.
• Even buying them in bulk, they are pretty pricey ~$1/piece

So, I decided to try to make a copycat version of these bars leaving out the ingredients I don't want (Peanuts, Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, among others) and also add in some ingredients that I do want (flax meal, oat bran, etc.)

I would really like to add chicory root extract for all the soluble fiber, but I have not been able to find that commercially available. Would love a source if you have one!

This is a huge recipe - makes 30-40 bars and they last well. There are a lot of ingredients here and there is a good amount of room for improvisation. I don't think I actually make them the same way twice...

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar (melted to a syrup)
  
• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup Agave Nectar
• ¼ cup molasses
• ½ cup sunflower butter (mine is sunflowers, tahini, and canola oil)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. liquid lecithin
• 1 ½ cup barley flakes
• 2 ½ cups rolled oats
• 2 cup crisped rice
• ¼ cup toasted wheat germ
• ¼ cup oat bran
• ¼ cup white whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup lightly blended almonds
• ¼ cup flax meal
• ¼ cup dry coconut flakes
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix combine all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter with the soy lecithin (you could substitute egg yolk for this - it is the emulsifier) then add all the wet ingredients (including the sunflower butter) and whisk until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon until until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and stir until they are evenly distributed. Next, spread the batter into two greased 9x11 baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes (or until the edges are lightly browned).

Now, here's the hard part... Cover lightly and leave for 24 hours before cutting. This is a really essential step to keep the bars from falling apart. You may even place in the refrigerator for a few hours before cutting. Cut into bars (I use a pizza cutter, which works great). You can store in a glass container(s) or leave them right in the pan. These are great snacks for the lunch box, after school snacks, a lunch supplement.

Without the chicory root extract, these bars do not have the fiber content that Fiber One Bars do, but they stall have a lot! As well as a bunch of other good nutrients.

Garden Planning 2009

The blogosphere has spoken and I have listened. Now is the time to begin planning my 2009 vegetable garden. Thankfully, there are SO many great resources on the Internet for those of us who have a track record of killing plants rather than growing them. Here are two:

• Amy at "The Finer Things In Life" has a comprehensive post on advice for vegetable gardening.
  


• I also like the "10 Steps to a Successful Vegetable Garden" at About.com.

One thing I haven't been able to find is some advice about managing pests (from deers and groundhogs to unwelcome bugs) in an eco-friendly way. Anyone have good resources to offer?

Last year I had a container garden which I could conveniently keep on my back deck and the deer couldn't get to (although, a groundhog frequented my garden for a parsley meal). This year, I'm planning to expand to a full-out backyard vegetable garden. Unfortunately, none of my herbs survived the winter other than my bay laurel, so I have to start from scratch. Here's what I would like to plant (it is yet to be seen what I actually do).

• Vegetables
  
  • Peppers (Cayenne, Bell, Paprika)
  • Asparagus
  • Lettuce
  • Spinach
  • Tomatoes
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Broccoli
  • Pumpkin
  • Squash


• Herbs
  
  • Parsley
  • Cilantro
  • Basil
  • Bay Laurel
  • Thyme
  • Rosemary
  • Sage
  • Oregano
  
  
• Sunflowers (because they are just so awesome)...
  

Cre8 Green Lentils Spicy-Style

During the season of lent, many Catholics and other Christians abstain from eating meat on Fridays. Even outside of lent, we try to have at least 3 meat-free dinners a week in order to conserve energy and to lower our grocery bills. This is one of our favorite meat-free meals - and it makes great left-overs to bring to work the next day. I will say it is "inspired" by Indian Daal, in flavors.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. of butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 1/2 c. dry green lentils
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. turneric
• 4 finely chopped cardamom seeds
• 1 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1/8 to 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (depending on your heat preference)
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• ~2 c. water
  

Directions
Melt butter in skillet on med-high. Add garlic and onion. Saute until onion becomes translucent. Add the dry lentils and toss until lightly coated with butter. Add enough vegetable broth to cover the lentils. Add cumin, turmeric, cardamom, salt, and cayenne pepper. Cook until all the broth is absorbed stirring frequently. Add more broth about 1/2 cup at a time until absorbed. When all the broth is used up, continue the process using water. Cook until the lentils have reached the desired texture ~45 min. Using a wooden spoon, press some of the lentils against the bottom of the pan, "smushing them", to add thickness to the sauce. Serve over rice.

To find more green-themed ideas, head over to "The Little Green Project" hosted by HeavenlyHomemakers.com.

Carmen

ReCre8 Frosting Jar: Crayon Holder

This is a very simple project I did for my boys' birthday party. It was useful and I had to assuage my plastic guilt for buying the Betty Crocker frosting. Here's how I did it (as if directions are required):

• All I did was wash the frosting containers
• Cut a strip of card stock to fit around the container and tape it in place
• Add the crayons

At the party, I used Kraft paper as the tablecloths (like you'd find at a crab shack) and put the crayon containers in the center so the kids could just color on the tablecloth. Now I am enjoying having these on-the-go crayon containers for the car, church, or visiting a friend.


Any other uses for frosting jars?

ReCre8 Printer Paper Box Lids: Cupcake Carrier

So, I was looking at how to transport the 60 cupcakes to pre-school for my twin boys birthday. Clearly something more experienced mothers have already thought through. My husband announced the conundrum at his office and all the moms in the room immediately directed him to use lids from the office printer paper. After we were done, they could just be recycled. It worked like a charm. Now, I have to admit, I did not make these cupcakes and frosting from scratch. It was box mix and Betty Crocker this year. I find that I'm having plastic guilt, but I did find a way to re-use the frosting containers (more on that later).

Cre8 an Eco-Friendly Pre-School Birthday Party

I've been struggling this year with putting together a birthday party for my three boys that is simple, fun, and a minimal impact on the environment. This year, no cheap plastic goody bags from Oriental Traders and the like. But, I have been struggling with what to do as an alternative.

In the end, I think I'll only partially meet my goal, but I'll document the party on the blog and let you know how it goes.

In the mean time, I found a great resource over at Kiwi which provided some good ideas - some of which I think I'll use.

Does anyone else struggle with this? Any ideas to share?

Re-Cre8 Profile: TerraCycle Inc.

TerraCycle Inc. is a really cool concept for a business. The co-founders Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer, begun with the idea for a profitable yet eco-friendly and socially responsible business. Their first product turned food waste into plant food sold in re-used soda bottles. Now, they have a suite of products available at major retailers, such as Target.

The company actually pays you to send them your trash (specific trash) and uses that as the raw material for their products. You could get a cork board from waste corks, a Capri-Sun pencil case, or many others - you get the idea.

So, check it out...

Cre8: Wholesome Multigrain Bread

In pursuit of the perfect multigrain bread...

About a year ago, my husband and I made the decision that we would make all our own bread for the family. This was one part frugality, 1 part eating healthier, and 1 part that we like to make stuff. So, we pulled our bread maker out of storage, brushed off the dust, searched for recipes online, and got started. We make a whole wheat sandwich bread for the kids as well as a multigrain bread for ourselves, our kids like to call it the “grown up bread”.

I honestly had a lot of trouble finding a good whole wheat multigrain bread. Here was my criteria for the perfect bread:

• 100% whole wheat flour along with other whole grains for the health benefit.
• A little bit on the sweeter side.
• Dense and filling, but not a brick.
• Moist, not dry.
• Containing Omega-3 Fatty Acids for the Good Cholesterol Benefits.
  

These were my main concerns. We started with a base recipe I found at bigoven.com and then we tweaked it and tweaked it until we just recently got it JUST RIGHT for our tastes. So, here it goes:

Ingredients:

• 13 oz Warm Water
• 2 Tbsp Yeast Active Dry Yeast
• 1 Tbsp Canola Oil
• 3 Tbsp Honey
• 1 Tbsp Molasses
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Nonfat Dried Milk
• 2 ¾ Cups Whole Wheat Flour
• ¼ Cup Gluten
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 Tbsp Cornmeal
• 3 Tbsp Toasted Wheat Germ
• 1/3 Cup Sunflower Seeds
• 1/3 Cup Rolled Oats (Toasted)
• 1 Tbsp Flax Seeds
• 1 Tbsp Ground Flax Seeds

Directions:
We use a bread machine to make the dough, but we cook it in the oven. We’ve also made it totally in the bread machine.

• Proof the yeast in all the water according to your brand’s instructions.
• Combine ingredients in the order they are listed.
• Either use your bread machine dough setting or knead by hand accordingly.
• Let the dough rise ~ 1 hr.
• Knock the dough down, form into a loaf, and place in a 9-in. loaf pan.
• Let rise for another hour.
• Bake at 325* for ~30 min. Remove from loaf pan. If sides and bottom are still moist, return to oven for 10-15 min.
• Slice and enjoy.

To me, this bread is a meal in and of itself! Since it is so moist, I often eat a slice of it with some homemade yogurt for lunch. I also love it toasted with butter on it. The bread keeps very well for homemade bread and stays nice and moist.

Re-Cre8 Pancakes: Fruit & Cake Rolls

My family just loves pancakes. Who doesn’t? I like them too because they are so easy and fun and you can make them a little healthier just by adding in a few other ingredients (more on that another time). I always like to make a few extra pancakes because they make such great leftovers and they are very portable. Just throw them in the fridge overnight and pack them in a lunchbox the next day. But, I’m not willing to pack along syrup or honey. This is just too messy for a portable meal.

So, the other day as I was packing up an on-the-go dinner for gymnastics, I thought I could re-create these leftover pancakes into something very fun. Fruit and Cake rolls. These rolls taste a lot like Fruit Newtons, if you’ve had them (“they’re not cookies, they are fruit and cake” as the commercial goes…).

This couldn’t be easier. Here’s what you will need:

• Leftover pancakes


• Leftover pancakes


• Fruit preserves or jam of your choice


• A knife


• A cutting board


• A portable container

Here’s what you do

1. Spread the fruit preserves on one side of the pancake.



2. Gently roll up the pancake.


3. Slice it up into bite size rolls and place into the container.



4. Now enjoy!

Maybe these are not a whole meal, but a great snack or “side dish” or dessert. These can easily go into school lunches, or be taken along on picnics. And, unlike little Fruit Newton snack packs – there is no plastic involved (if you ignore my plastic transportation container, but that could just as easily be a pyrex) and nothing to go into the landfill.

ReCre8 Milk: Make Your Own Yogurt

I have tried to encourage yogurt eating in my household since my kids were on solid food. It’s a great way to get your calcium, protein, and helpful bacteria all at once. With the right additions you can get a lot of other yummy and helpful nutrients and antioxidants too. Here are some links on the health benefits of yogurt and other cultured dairy products:

• Ask Dr. Sears has an excellent informational site
• An excerpt from FDA Consumer Magazine
  
• Wikipedia always has good info
  

This year, I realized we were spending at least $10-$20 a week on yogurt. That is $500 - $1000/yr just on yogurt! I also realized how much plastic we were acquiring to support this yogurt habit. Many wonderful green and frugal blogs out there inspired me to make my own yogurt. It is super easy to make your own yogurt. It has been a big savings to our food budget and just a lot of fun.

I have researched a TON of advice out there and came up with my preferred method for making yogurt. I’ll explain it here, but I’ll also provide links to the great resources I found out there that can give lots of other ideas.

Before venturing to make your own yogurt, I highly recommend watching the Alton Brown “Good Eats” episode which gives a tutorial on making yogurt. It's called "Good Milk Gone Bad", pretty funny. It is available on YouTube unless it gets taken down. I do mine a little bit differently, but this helps you understand the process really well.

I make ½ gallon at a time, but you can easily adjust this to make any amount. The yogurt will stay good in the fridge 1-2 weeks, but it never lasts that long in my house! This is my method:

What you will need:

• 6 oz. yogurt with LIVE, ACTIVE, CULTURES (this is your “starter”.
• You can use plain or a flavored variety, but if you use flavored, your resulting yogurt will carry that flavor forward)
• ½ gallon of milk (I use 2% organic – in a GLASS bottle, but you can use skim or whole milk as well)
• ¼ c. non-fat dry milk (optional – adds protein)
• 1 2-quart thermos or thermal carafe (must be lined with stainless steel or glass – NOT plastic)
• Kitchen Thermometer (I use a candy thermometer)

Directions

I like to start in the evening, putting the milk on to heat right before we sit down for dinner. Then, by the morning, I have yogurt!

Day 1:

1. Take out 6 oz. yogurt as a starter and let it come to room temperature while you prepare the milk
2. Heat milk at medium heat in your pot to 180 degrees F, stirring regularly (this kills off any bacteria that is currently in your milk)
3. Stir in non-fat dry milk
4. Once milk reaches desired temperature, cool it down to 120 degreed F
5. While milk is cooling, sterilize and warm your thermos or carafe by adding boiling water and closing it for at least 5 minutes. Empty the water.
6. Temper your room-temperature yogurt with the 120 degrees F milk
7. Add starter yogurt to pot and stir gently until dissolved
8. Transfer milk/yogurt combination to your thermos or thermal carafe
9. Put in a warm, draft-free place and leave overnight 8-10 hours

Day 2:
At this point you have a choice. Do you like your yogurt very thick or do you like it a tiny bit runny? If you don’t mind it a little thinner, your yogurt will be done. Just transfer it into a glass container or into jelly jars and put it in the fridge. I like to have my yogurt very thick and creamy, so I always strain out the whey first. To strain your yogurt, place a mesh sieve over a glass bowl. Pour in enough yogurt to fill the sieve. Let it sit and drain. Use a flexible spatula to gently manipulate the yogurt. Don’t mess with it too much, because you don’t want to break up the curds. Once it is at the desired thickness, place it in your glass or ceramic storage vessel (I like to use 4 oz. or 8 oz. jelly jars so I have single servings ready-to-go). Once you have jarred up all your yogurt, don’t discard the whey! It is full of protein and other goodies and it is infinitely useful, as I will cover in another post. Store it in a glass jar in your fridge until you are ready to use it.

Flavoring Yogurt
Now, regarding the flavoring. You have so many options for flavoring. I used to mix up some flavors in the blender and stir them into the yogurt, but it was more work and more to clean. So, I found some super simple ways to make a variety of flavors:

• Honey-Yogurt: A favorite of my kids. Just drizzle a tablespoon of honey (or substitute Agave nectar) on the top of the yogurt and put it in the fridge. When you are ready to eat it, just stir it up.
• Raspberry Yogurt: This is my absolute favorite. Just take about 10 or so frozen raspberries and push them into the yogurt. Leave it out for a few hours until you are ready to eat (this makes it very convenient for a bag lunch – no refrigeration necessary). Once the raspberries have melted, stir the yogurt together. Add a packet of sugar or equal for sweetness. This is really a treat.
• Chocolate Yogurt: Stir in 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder into the yogurt. Put 1 tablespoon of honey or Agave Nectar on top and refrigerate for a few hours or days. When ready to eat, just stir it all up.

These are some of the favorites in my house, but really, you can stir in whatever flavors you like and sweeten it to your own taste.

Here are some sites that have some different recipes and some different approaches:

• Yogurt Maker Coffee Yogurt at Crunchy Chicken
• Fermenting Yogurt in the Oven at Hillbilly Housewife
• Cooler Fermenting Yogurt at Heavenly Homemakers
• Video Tutorial at about.com
  

In the next post, I’ll cover some other great things you can do with yogurt.

Re-Cre8 Canning Jars as a Flexible Kitchen Storage System

i HEART mason jars

The introduction of mason jars/canning jars into my kitchen has been the most wonderful transformation in storage for me. If you look in my regrigerator, any of my cabinets, or on the counter, you are sure to find all sizes of jars performing some useful function. I initially bought some jelly jars for making jam after our pick-your-own raspberries and blackberries adventure this summer. (BTW, the jam turned out great and the canning process was super easy). That is when I had an “a-ha” moment that these inexpensive glass jars will address many of my concerns in the kitchen this year.

Here are all the reasons for my new love affair with these classics:

Using less plastic - I have been trying systematically to remove my dependence on plastic - especially those kinds that cannot be recycled at all, such as zip-top bags and plastic wrap. I found that having a set of different sized canning jars lets me do just that. I can store single-size servings of leftover spaghetti - ready to go into lunch boxes or snack-size cookies and crackers. I can use them in place of plastic storage containers for just about everything I cook. They are also great in the pantries for holding beans, seeds, and flour bought in bulk.

Storing leftovers in re-heatable containers - Leftovers are important to staying frugal and eating healthy in my household. I absolutely refuse to put anything plastic in the microwave. So storing, say leftover homemade Spaghetti Sauce, in a quart size mason jar allows me to just put it directly in the microwave and voila - dinner's ready. No need to pour from a Tupperware into a another bowl and dirty some more dishes.

Reusable containers for work and school lunches - I use these in my Kindergartner's lunch and to bring my lunch to work all the time. Applesauce, yogurt, smoothies, leftover rice and beans, soup - you name it - all of these things work great in a small canning jar for a portable lunch. While glass is breakable, these are pretty durable. As long as you're not throwing your lunch box around, they're going to be alright.

Yogurt jars - These are just about the best solution for creating single-serving yogurt jars. There are 4-oz. jars and 8-oz. jars for kids-size servings as well as grown-up servings.

Standard and easy-to-replace lids -Now the lids for all my containers can be interchanged with each other. If I lose them, I don't have to throw out the whole storage container - I can just get a new lid from any grocery or hardware store.

Bulk Food Storage - I am buying more and more bulk food in the process of reducing my plastic consumption. Mason jars are so great for storing rice, beans, seeds, and flours. No need to have anything disposable involved! They also are a standard size, so it can keep your pantry nice and neat.

The list goes on and on. But, you get the idea! It is just as wonderful to reuse glass jars you may get your honey, parmesan, jams, or pickles in - especially if they have a lid that is easily reusable. Give it a try!

What to Do with Old Pants: Coloring Tote

This project involves making a bag just the size for some activity books and coloring books along with crayons out of the butt of a pair of men's chinos. These are size 36 waist pants. Anything smaller might not yield a bag that can hold coloring books, but might be fun just the same.

Here's how you do it:

1. Cut down the side seams of the pants, so you are left with just the back side.
2. Fold in half (top to bottom) and cut off any excess on the sides to make sure it will be square.
   
3. Cut across the butt allowing the height of the bag you want plus 1-inch for a seam allowance.
4. Sew across the bottom of the pockets (on the inside) so that they are at a desired length. (I like them just tall enough to hold some crayons, but so that the crayons can still pop out the top).
   
5. Fold in half side-to-side and inside-out.
6. Sew across the bottom of the bag.
7. Sew across the open side 0f the bag. The top will be very thick, so be careful there.
8. Make the strap:
   • Cut a strip from one of the legs that is ~4 in. across.
   • Fold in half long-ways and sew up the side leaving 1/4" in. seam
   • Turn the strip right side out and sew up both sides with a 1/4 in. seam to keep it nice and flat.
9. Now attach the strap to the bag by sewing at the waste-band.

Now you have a nice kid-friendly tote. Get's dirty? Just throw it in the wash with your clothes. Decorate it up however it seems interesting to you. If you try this yourself, send me some pictures or techniques.

What to Do with Old Pants: Special Bags

My boys all have to wear khaki pants as part of their school uniform. Three of my oldest son’s pants had been worn through the knees (or cut with “safety” scissors). Rather than just getting rid of them, I thought I’d alter them in to khaki shorts. No problem… just snip, snip and hem. I hated to just throw out the bottoms of the pants, but I couldn’t justify adding to my “scrap fabric for creative projects when I have the time” pile.

I got the idea to turn the pants legs into a “special bag” for each of them. Kids, especially ones with siblings with whom they must share everything, love to have something “special” made just for them. Here’s how I did it

1. Turn pant leg inside out.
2. Sew a Seem down the un-hemmed side
3. Optional: (to give it more depth) Rotate to the side and sew a line forming a triangle (do the same on the other side.


4. Flip right-side-out. Cut 2 slits in the existing hem on the inside of the bag
5. Using a yarn needle, take some scrap yarn and work it all through the hem and out the other slit. This will form your draw string
6. Tie a knot in the string and voila, you are done!

You could also finish them off by needlepointing their names on the bags – or even just writing them with a fabric marker.

These bags can be used for snack bags or storage. They are a great reusable alternative to Ziploc bags for that kind of thing. But, when we are going somewhere and the kids want to bring toys, I like to tell them “Get your special bag and you can bring whatever can fit in there.” They love to spend time choosing the toys they want to bring with them and gathering them all up. Last time we went hiking and rock climbing as a family, they brought their special bags full of dinosaurs. My 5-yo did not like to have to carry the bag, so he had the idea of getting a stick and hanging the bag on the stick while resting it on his shoulder. Of course, as soon as he had done this, his little brothers wanted in on the action. Before you know it, we had a parade of boys Tom Sawyer-style hiking up the mountain with their sacks. We got a lot of adoring looks on that hike!



USES:

• Keep Puzzle Pieces Together - Those cardboard boxes don't last long in my house. Using these little bags lets you throw multiple bags of puzzles into a drawer or a basket without getting all the pieces mixed up. Plus, it looks nice.
  
• Lunch Sack - this is a great reusable little lunch bag for bringing on hikes or to the park or even to school.
• Toy Sack - Let your little ones stuff as many toys as they can into the bag to bring with them to a friend's house or their brother's soccer game or rock climbing!
• Travel Organizer - When packing for a big trip (or even a little one), these little drawstring bags are great for putting like things together. For our annual trip to the beach this year, I packed up one bag with all the spices we would need (so I could save $$ on shopping while I was there). I put all the kids toiletries in another one.
• Gift Bag - Rather than buying a gift bag at the store, these make excellent gift bags for smaller items. And it is something that the new owner can reuse or re-purpose.
  
• There are infinite uses. Do you have some other ideas?