No nuts? Scattered Thoughts About this Memorial Day Weekend

It seems B might be allergic to nuts.  Since the no dairy, no gluten thing we were doing lots of almond stuff:  almond milk, things made with almond flour, etc.  Last week she started noticing something weird.  She'd eat something and her lips would get puffy and her tongue would break out into bumps.  This happened several times after she'd eaten either something with almond milk or a salad that had toasted nuts on it, or one time it was definitely a larabar.  So the doctor said to refrain from eating anything that possibly could have nuts for a week, and then take a tiny taste of a particular nut and see what happens.  However, B was so freaked out from hearing horror stories of people with nut allergies that she is no longer willing to eat nuts.  This was very depressing news, though.  So some swaps we are making:

Instead of coffee with almond milk she is having English Breakfast tea with a tsp of sugar or a cup of peppermint tea with honey.  Luckily she likes both of these.

She did go to Starbucks with friends and bought some kind of fancy coffee drink with coconut milk and she said it tasted good.  (60 cents more though!).

She was having a crying fit over things, but I made her sit down and write out a list of all foods she still could eat that she liked so she could come up with enough for a week.  Now I can't find the list!  So I'll try to remember:

Breakfast:  eggs with Applegate sausages, oatmeal with fruit and maple syrup, non=dairy smoothies, banana pancakes, fruit salad with coconut yogurt.

Lunch:  hot dogs and beans, deli meat roll ups (with goat cheese inside - this is her most recent favorite lunch/snack), green salad topped with chicken, eating lunch out at CAVA, Chipotle, District Taco, 5 Guys burger bowl/lettuce wrap or occasionally Chick fil a (but lots of plastic in that and it is really junkie food).

Dinners:
Salmon patties + veggies, salad
vegetarian chili + guac
meatloaf (made with spicy sausage) + potatoes, veggies/salad
Brown rice penne with chicken and broccoli
Chicken with quinoa pilaf + salad/veggies
Hamburger hash dish with potatoes + salad/veggies
Dad grills on Sundays (chicken, hamburgers, steaks, salmon, etc)

And I'll add these in the sweets/snacky stuff department:
King Arthur gluten free brownie mix is still acceptable
Ciao Bello or other non dairy brands of sorbet or sorbetto
Popcorn
Tortilla chips with salsa or guacamole
Those Katz or MiKissick donuts that are gf, nut free, soy and dairy free!
Potato chips
Fried plantains with cinnamon sugar

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This was the weekend I was going to start KonMari.  I had planned to start Friday evening.  However, it turned out that no one was home for dinner on Friday, so R and I went out.  We had a lovely time sitting outdoors sipping wine and eating delicious food.  However, on the way home I suddenly got hit by a migraine.  I think I had eaten too much chocolate last week and there must have been MSG in the broth of my soup.  Plus there have been thunderstorms rolling in a lot.  All those things combined in some mysterious way, can trigger migraines.  It just hit me, wham, on the ride home, which literally was 10 minutes long.  I was so sick all night long.  Sicker than I've been in a long time.  Violently ill.  I was miserable.  I was so miserable that I didn't even feel better until about 5 o'clock Saturday evening, when I was finally well enough to take a shower.  So that was Saturday.  Sunday dawned bright and lovely.  Actually, I think it was cloudy and a bit rainy but I felt so wonderful after feeling so bad!  I think I might have been annoyingly cheerful for much of the day.  We went to Mass, I made breakfast, I did laundry, I cleaned the kitchen, I prepared a big dinner of roast lamb and mashed potatoes. I read a lot.

So I didn't attempt KonMari until yesterday, Memorial Day.  And then I didn't do it the way you are supposed to.  Instead I just cleaned out my dresser where I found 8 zip lock bags each with one or two baby teeth in them!  Apparently, I thought it was a good idea, back when my children were loosing their teeth, to stash said teeth in my top drawer.  I had not labeled them so I have no idea whose teeth they are actually are.  There are three possible candidates.  Anyway, I cleaned out a bunch of junk and went through my clothes and put a bunch of clothes into my give away basket.  I started on the closet too, but then got distracted, so I still need to work on that.

Agenda for today:
Clean kitchen
Finish up closet clothes and maybe go through coat closet too
Take B to math tutor
Check out Earth Fare in Fairfax for zero waste shopping (I want refills on things like olive oil, vinegar, honey, maple syrup, etc).
Figure out something for dinner
Walk?  It's supposed thunderstorm a lot again though
I think B has tool training for workcamp this evening.

V and little D come home today.  The house has been rather dull without them.

Update:  I decided to list out here what's scheduled for each day this week.  That way I have one place to come to for reference.

Tuesday 5/29
Math - 12 - 1:30
Tool Training - 7:00 or 7:30?
Finish clothes from closets

Wednesday 5/30
Holy hour 11:00 a.m. (40 hours)
voice - 2:30-3:15
AHG event - 7:00 (so can't make scripture study)
Cook chicken for Embry Rucker
Also watch D while V is in class

Thursday 7/1
Early a.m. take chicken to St. Mark
11:00 Holy Hour
Must get Aquinas grades in
CSA at Maple Market begins

Friday 7/2
Does S have early a.m. appt with Dr. H?
Do I have 350 meeting at 10:30?
Math - 12:30 - 2:00
Make Up Voice lesson - 2:30?

Saturday 7/3
Must work on KonMari - get give away clothes out of house!
Begin on books

Sunday 7/4
Mass
CSA at PVF begins
Visit Eileen

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

I'm late to the KonMari party.  I've been hearing about this book for a while now.  Everyone seems to gush over how great it is.  I was skeptical because nothing fixes my cluttery, disorganized, not quite a hoarder but just this close, tendencies.  But my life is changing.  I've only got one teen to homeschool, my other two kids are adults and even though they live here, they are off doing their own thing most of the time.  When I had a bunch of little kids around, even though the house was often trashed, and there were often whole rooms devoted to just dumping junk to get it out of view, even though there were counters that had papers and such piled on them much of the year, I still was more involved in managing and at least maintenance cleaning the house.  It was like shoveling in a snowstorm, but I did shovel and clear some pathways.  The truth is though for years we had cleaners come once every two weeks.  That was enough to try to get me to tidy knowing that a couple of ladies were going to show up and start shoving my stuff around so they could wash the floor and vacuum the bedrooms.  I have always needed external pressure to do housework, even the external pressure of someone else doing my housework!!!  Back then, I was much more in touch with the house than I am now.  I've never been a good home manager and the efforts of trying to be and failing spectacularly for decades has taken its psychological toll on me.  I am pretty detached and numb, even as my house looks more and more beautiful because of the work we had done a couple years ago. 

This summer I want to de-junk my house.  I want to turn my attention away from outside obligations as much as possible and just focus on my home.  I want to garden, cook and clean and make a cozy nest.  I know my kids are in the process of fledging, but better late than never! 

The truth is I've gotten incredibly lazy.  I look around my beautiful dining room, with its pretty wallpaper that reminds me of my mom, to the photo of my grandmother holding my father as a newborn, to the mirror that came from the dining room of the house I grew up in, to the grandfather clock R gave me when I turned 50, to the handsome glass front bookcase that holds all my grandparents and parents old books, some of these books 100 years old or more, to the breakfront that holds china painted by my grandmother and grandmother in law.  It's a room filled with things I treasure.  It also still holds a stray Easter basket that never got put away, an empty can of macaroons and the seder plate that also I never put away.  The table itself is covered with papers and books.  There's a baseball carefully tucked in the piles of junk to keep it away from the resident 2 year old who was practicing his surprisingly good pitching abilities indoors.  Why do we even have a baseball?  No one plays baseball here!   The tablecloth we used at Easter/Passover is thrown over the back of a chair.  I had so much trouble finding one I liked that fit this big table but now it's got a big grease stain on it I can't get out.  What to do with it?  Why just throw it over the back a chair!  We have a stray end table sitting awkwardly by the grandfather clock.  We got an organ from R's dad when he moved from his condo to a assisted living place.  The organ took the table's place, but I really like the table so I need to figure out where to put it.  There's also a box of electric train stuff that R has accumulated.  The train stuff is supposed to be kept up in our closet but it is too much to haul up there and back, when he likes to set it up in the living room, so it has all been shoved into another corner of the dining room.  And the dining room is one of the easier places to declutter (and I haven't even started talking about the file cabinet jammed full of old documents and photos so you can hardly shut it.)

Our study was already a dumping ground and became even more so with boxes and boxes of granddad's old stuff.  Just yesterday when I was trying to navigate the boxes to find a book in the almost obscured wall of book shelves, I found granddad's bar mitzvah certificate back when his name was Lichtman and dated 1945!  Not only the study is bad, the garage and especially the mud room and the closets are really bad.  Disgustingly bad.  Revoltingly bad.  And then there's our basement.  We actually got rid of a lot of stuff because of the big flood down there. But it is also made us critically aware of how much more junk we need to get rid of.  Did you know we have had stuff in storage since we finished that basement 12 years ago???  Yes, we pay for storage every month for stuff we can't remember and haven't used in 12 years. 

My goal this summer is to deeply and completely declutter the house to the point that we have the courage to clean out our storage unit and stop throwing money away.

One thing that makes this even more daunting a task is that I don't want to throw a lot of stuff away.  I want to figure out how to give it away or repair it.  I feel I am going to get very used to posting things on the local free cycle list. 

Back to KonMari.  This book is a strange little book.  It is an interesting glimpse into Japanese culture.  The author is very influenced by Shinto and her relationship with things is rather animistic.  She thinks things are like people and relates to them as such.  She rather psycho-analyzes herself.  In a way she is really a materialist in that material things have this spiritual 'energy' and presence in her life that she fully embraces.  But in other ways she is very practical as a result of being sensitive to the 'energy' of having too many things.  I have to admit, I found a lot of it annoying.  Even though I take pleasure in owning certain things, it is because they are antiques that tie me to my family or they are wonderfully useful.  But 'sparking joy' is not something things really do for me, usually.  Her definition of joy is kind of shallow.  I get the impression this is woman who has never had a lover or a child.  Those are what spark joy!  Things are just nice to have.

On the other hand I can't get on my high horse too much because she seems to have the key to how to systematically get rid of junk and that's what I need help with.  The book is a lot of padding around really simple ideas.  I kept wishing she would she give me a list of what to do.  I think she's trying to get us to wrap our minds around why she thinks these steps in her given order are so important for success.    For instance, she tells you to greet your house, when you come home.  This will help you keep it tidy because you'll develop a relationship with it.  But I don't really believe that.  What I do think of is the scene in It's a Wonderful Life when George Bailey has had his metanoia moment with Clarence the angel, and comes rushing back home and is so grateful for his life.  So grateful,  he says Hello old broken down, leaky old house! (or words to that effect).  He kisses the broken knob on his staircase that was forever annoying him, in gratitude for what he's got.  He isn't really grateful to the house though.  He''s grateful FOR it.  I think that's the big difference. 

But the the author comes up with some wisdom she puts in bold print: 

In essence, tidying ought to be act of restoring balance among people, their possessions, and the house they live in.

That statement I can get behind.

Anyway, I plan to try to implement the KonMari method this summer.  R isn't quite on board with it all, so I might have to modify a bit.  We'll see.  I plan to do my own clothes and books (other than antique) first.  Then I need to involve him in papers.  The KonMari order is:  clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous, sentimental.  Miscellaneous is a huge category for me - that's the whole kitchen, stuff in storage, appliances, electric cords, loose change, tools, linens, pet supplies, etc, etc.  You are supposed to gather all the things you own in one category in one central location.  So I'll have to scour the house for my own clothes, my drawers the closet, the coat closet, the laundry room, everywhere I can think my clothes might be, even a stray shirt or what have you, and then sort through them one by one.  Starting with clothes is good for me because I really don't own many.  Books are going to be much harder. 

In spite of the annoying and rather sentimental anthropomorphizing of inanimate objects, this book seems to have a simple, sound and even wise plan for putting my house in order.  So hopefully, this will be my KonMari summer. 

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

9 More Tips for Living With Less Plastic - Taking Measure Of How I'm Doing

1.  Clean your home with natural ingredients.  I stopped buying those Clorax disposable cleaning wipes I used to use all the time.  However, I don't make my own cleaning products yet.  Instead I rely almost exclusively on Bon Ami.  It is non-toxic, doesn't scratch, and comes in a cardboard and tin round container, all recyclable.  I don't see why that is more wasteful than buying boxes of baking soda and big glass bottles of vinegar which I then would have to make myself.  Since I am not much of a housewife, I still have a couple of half filled bottles of Windex for cleaning windows and mirrors (both of which I do not clean nearly enough).  So I'll finish those up before I resort to the vinegar mix, which I have actually used in the past.  I have an old bottle of Old English furniture polish that I use maybe once a year.  Ok, I'm a slob!    I do also have a big jug of Bona for our wood floors though often we just spit clean the spots on the floor with some plan water.  For my dishes, occasionally I'll break down and buy Seventh Generation dishwashing liquid, but mostly I just used Kirk's unscented Castille cake soap.  I don't even do Dr. Bronner's because it comes in plastic and he's so self-righteous lecturing you on how to live better over every tiny space on his plastic bottle!  Kirk's unscented works pretty well on dishes.  Occasionally, if they feel too greasy (which can happen especially when cooking a lot with coconut oil) I let them soak in vinegar-water which helps a lot.  The other thing I use a lot are Brillo pads (whatever brand - doesn't have to be Brillo).  These come in cardboard boxes and are compostable after the soap in them is completely used up.  For my laundry I have been using Tangie which is great and I sometimes add white vinegar as a rinse.  I did a big no no though and bought bounce dryer sheets and realized they are made from some kind of synthetic material.  So I'll go back to 7th Generation's wax paper dryer sheets.  I know I should use those wool dryer balls but I lost them and don't feel they are worth re-buying.  I can't hang my clothes on a line outside.  Rick has forbidden this!  But I could get a good indoor drying rack and use that a lot more, thus reducing my use of the dryer.  That's something I need to work on.

2.  Swap bathroom bottles for soap bars.  I have stopped buying soap in bottles and just use cake soap.  I grew up like this and never got totally on board with the bottles of hand soap anyway, so this wasn't a big deal for me.  I use Lush's shampoo now which I love and actually when I occasionally need to resort to bottled shampoo I really find it to be an inferior product.  However, R is addicted to his Head and Shoulders and J and S love their Axe or whatever it is that is an all in one body/hair shampoo.  B and V also use Lush products too though.  So I've only managed to convince the women who live here to switch.  I have been using Trader Joe's hand lotion which comes in a tin tube with a plastic cap.  I really like this lotion so I haven't switched over to something in better packaging.  I haven't kept track of the others in the house on this issue.  I know for Christmas I gave everyone Burt's Bees salve or something like that, in little tins, but I don't know if people have used them.   I also have little control over toothpaste.  I myself use Tom's and recycle the tubes at Mom's Organic Groceries.  But R insists on his Crest (this is what happens when you let your kids watch too much commercial TV in their formative years!  He is completely brainwashed on certain brand products!).  I haven't moved to the making my own toothpaste thing yet.  That kind of stuff overwhelms me for some reason.

3.  Use natural oils to clean and moisturize.  I am absolutely not here yet.  In fact, I didn't even know you could clean with natural oils.

4.  Ladies, discover the moon cup.  Well, I am past menopause so this isn't an issue for me.  I also am nervous about promoting the moon cup as I've heard it does increase your chances of contracting toxic shock syndrome.  I do try to buy sanitary napkins for those in my household who need them that are organic and natural.  Both Whole Foods and Harris Teeter carry brands like this.  The ladies could get reusable cotton ones but I haven't even broached the topic with them.  Honestly, not sure it is my place to.  Also, I think priority-wise this comes way after a ton of other frivolous stuff.  Let's deal with those first before we go whole hog on this one.

5.  Invest in a stainless steel razor - My sons and husband use electric razors.  I've been using this type of razor from before deciding to use less plastic.  I'm so old, this is how I learned to shave my legs.  I remember I was in a senior in college before I bought my first disposable razor.  But actually I don't know what B or V use in this regard.  So maybe I should check on that.  That could actually be a gift to B for her birthday.  She's pretty environmentally conscientious so she might appreciate it.

6.  Choose plastic free natural deodorant.  I've tried and tried over the years and nothing works for me but Secret (maybe the Sure brand as well?).  However, since I don't go through much deodorant, (maybe 2 or 3 sticks a year?)  I really don't see this as much of a pressing change as other items.  I even wrote Secret and asked them to make their containers in something recyclable, but got no response.  B has a very hard time with deodorant and is constantly breaking out from it.  So I guess this goes into the need to work on this category.  I tried making my own deodorant a couple different times and I broke out into a very painful and long lasting rash that I had to deal with for weeks.

7..  Brush with bamboo.  I do this now!  I got everyone bamboo toothbrushes for Christmas.  I have no idea though if they are using them or still using the plastic ones or what.  I'm bad at keeping track of other people's personal hygiene, apparently!  And I just discovered that Harris Teeter is selling bamboo toothbrushes.  I can't even find them at Mom's Organic or Whole Foods which are supposed to be groovy, environmentally friendly stores.  So shout out to Harris Teeter.  Of the all the regular mainstream grocery stores, I really do like them the best.  Now their bristles are plastic, so you have to take them out with pliers before you put the bamboo in your compost, but I think terracycle takes the bristles (if I am remembering correctly).

8.  Avoid buying synthetic clothes that shed microfibers.  I'm getting better at this.  I've been trying to buy natural fiber at thrift stores.  But I do need to figure out how to wash the microfiber clothes I do own.  I think there was a kickstarter somewhere for this.  Another area I need to work on.

9.  Buy local and request plastic free packaging.  I tried to get my CSA to not package certain things in plastic bags, like mixed greens and such.  They tried but they lost so much produce because the stuff kept falling on the floor.  Their bins are built on an angle so it just wasn't practical.  They need to build new bins or add in barriers at the front that keep the produce from falling as the person fills up their own bag or container.  Otherwise, buying local often means buying in plastic.  I can't get locally raised chicken or meat that isn't already wrapped in plastic.  I think it has to do with health regulations.  I can get local milk in glass milk bottles and eggs in cardboard cartons, but other than that, I don't even know how to get around this.  I am hoping by reducing my meat intake somewhat and buying local so that transportation issues aren't creating problems, I am somehow offsetting buying things wrapped in plastic.  Another area to improve in.

Reading Update

I finished three books!

The first one was an Agatha Christie collection of Poirot stories entitled Poirot Investigates

A great light read, easy to pick up and put down.    I think I might try to read all the Hercule Poirot books in order.  This one is #3.  I've now read the first four.

The second was The Stranger in the Woods; the Story of the Last True Hermit.   

This book is also a quick read.  I started out being very intrigued by it, but ended by just feeling kind of depressed.  I have always thought my middle son had hermit like tendencies.  He is extremely introverted.  And we worry about him because Rick has an uncle who was of similar temperament who wound up being one of those crazy guys who stockpile newspapers and guns in his little apartment.  Reading this book made realize how little we know about this particular type of anti-social behavior.  It also made me feel better about J because he has much better coping social skills than the poor guy featured in this book.  He might be introverted but he works well with others, loves his family, volunteers to help people, etc.  He just doesn't care about having much of a social life.

When Christopher Knight was 20 years old, he drove deep into the woods of central Maine, abandoned the car his brother had co-bought with him and walked into the woods.  He didn't return until 27 years later.  He struggled for a few months just for survival, but then found the perfect hidden camp site and lived off of burglarizing the local cabins and camps in the area.  He committed thousands of burglaries and became a local legend.  They nicknamed him the Hermit.  The people who owned the cabins tried all sorts of techniques to keep from being burglarized but to little avail, until the advent of new technology which the local police invested in.  Knight kept breaking into a camp for the handicapped which ran on donations.  They set up an elaborate security system and finally caught him.

Knight turned out to be a very sympathetic character.  He is highly intelligent and even though he hadn't talked to anyone in 27 years but due to all the reading he did over his years in exile, he is actually very articulate when he wants to be.  He tended to steal food, supplies like propane tanks, flashlights, sleeping bags, etc and lots of reading material; books and magazines.  For periods of time he had battery run radios and even a TV, if I am recalling correctly.

As noble as the author tries to make Knight, as a successor to Thoreau and in the tradition of great hermits of the church and the like, the truth is Knight was a pathetic figure.  For all his cleverness in surviving, and all his toughness - he never light a fire for fear of discovery, yet he survived the sub zero winters of Maine, he was essentially a parasite, stealing the goods of others.  He never did a damn thing for anybody else but himself.  But, at the same time, he is extremely judgmental about how terrible humanity is and thus his rejection of his fellow man.  He expressed affection for his family growing up but he never contacted his own mother to tell her he was okay, so she spent 27 years wondering.  His father died never knowing what had become of his son.  That's pretty callous, if you ask me.  Knight's supreme goal was to never come into human contact again.  That was his personal sacred mission.  He wanted the right to be aloof from all society but he never learned to hunt or fish or cook to sustain himself.  The author interviews several different psychiatrists and psychologists who in turn diagnose him as either schizoid (not schizophrenic but another condition that means being unable to form connections with others), or they diagnosed him with autism.  I think he sounds like he had a touch of both.

One of the interesting things I learned is that those who are socially uncomfortable and exhibit strong introverted behaviors tend to be genetically disposed to having lower than normal amounts of oxytocin produced in their hypothalamus (not sure how to pluralize that word!).  You can actually take over the counter oxytocin to help with social anxiety, it seems.  

After he was caught, the author, who was working out his own issues about solitude, befriended him.  Knight rather begrudgingly talked to him.  Knight spent 9 months awaiting trial and then he was given a very compassionate sentence.  He could have been sent to jail for the rest of his life, but instead he was sent home to live with his mother and sister.  He works for his brother's salvage business and he has to do some community service as well - I think they had him paint some buildings.

Knight is a smart and insightful guy, who is extremely limited in certain ways that made him unable to function.  However, the last time the author has contact with Knight, it does seem that Knight is becoming adjusted to his life outside his hermitage.

I appreciated the author's attempt to get into question of humans' need for community versus the desire for solitude, but I thought the analysis a tad shallow, frankly.

All in all, though, an interesting book.

*Here's another article about the link to ocytocin and anti-social behavior.  For some reason there are not a lot of up to date articles on the internet.  This one is from 2016.

I'm still working through Reflections on the Psalms slowly as a morning meditation and I still have a bit more to go to finish my re-read of Radical Homemakers.

And I just started Hannah Coulter again.  I tried reading it a while ago and simply didn't care for the style of writing.  But I am joining in on the Close Reads facebook group sponsored by the Circe Institute. They have regular podcasts of books they are reading in the book club.  Hannah Coulter is the current read and they are all a bunch of Wendell Berry enthusiasts so maybe this time I'll come to appreciate it.  I am having trouble again with the book though.  I just find it too idealized and somehow not fleshed out enough for me.  Not enough character development,and rather a didactic tone.  It's an old woman looking back on her life, her roots, her two husbands, her children, but it is colored heavily by nostalgia and no one ever seems to have done anything bad.  Even though the author can certainly write beautifully, I just find it lacking personality.  Anyway, I am giving it a try.  Perhaps later today I can listen to their podcast on the first part of the book.

Oh I almost forgot!  I also read a P.G. Wodehouse book. The Code of the Woosters, which was great fun, was the book previous to Hannah Coulter.  Highly entertaining!   Two thumbs up!

9 Tips For Living With Less Plastic

LessPlasticUK has some wonderful graphics with common sense suggestions

I joined a local group to advocate for less single use plastic in my county.  I feel a bit of a fraud as it is an offshoot of folks who fighting pipelines mightily.  We've got two pipelines being built in my state and it is not a good situation.  I think by temperament I am against pipelines.  Pipes, in my experience, always leak.  And even a small methane leak is horrendous for the environment.  But of course my husband works for an energy law firm.  He mostly does rates and economic stuff so he isn't in the thick of most of this, but still he's on the wrong side!  Hey, and that's what pays the bills and puts food in my mouth.  So I feel like a real hypocrite.  I really just want to work on the zero waste issues because I feel that is something I can change in my personal life.  And it is something I can advocate in for my community.  It is much more cut and dried for me and therefore I can let my zeal go whole hog, so to speak.  I feel really constrained on other issues because of who butters my bread!

Anyway,  I thought I'd use this graphic (and maybe others that lessplasticUK puts out) as sort of an examination of conscience on where I am in terms of these 9 suggestions.  I feel like I lapse a lot.  More than I care to admit.

#1 Bring your own reusable bag.  I would say I am about 85% on this.  However, occasionally a cashier will wrap something up in a plastic bag and put it into my cloth bag when I am distracted.  I don't notice until I get home. R and J are terrible about remembering to bring bags or ask for paper.  They are the ones that bring plastic into the house. Also I do sometimes get paper bags.  Now in my book, the paper is better than the plastic because it is made from a renewable resource and is biodegradable and fully recyclable too.  I find there are times at home when I need a couple of paper grocery bags.  I don't know how to get around that yet.  But I do know that even though paper is better, it still isn't good.  It takes a lot of trees and a lot of serious chemicals to make all the paper.  So I should try a little harder to reduce the amount I use.   I must renew my efforts to keep some extra reusable bags in the car.  And to prep the car weekly so it is fully loaded zero-waste speaking.

#2  Carry a reusable water bottle.  My lips have not touched a disposable water bottle in a long time.  There are anathema to me anymore!  I would rather go thirsty.  I am very good at keeping my water bottle with me most of the time.  I often fill up a 25 oz bottle I saved from a sparking water I bought, as extra water to keep in my car.  Even if the water gets warm, I'd rather drink that. On this subject of water, I still really want a water filter.  I drink mostly the filtered water from the fridge but not always.  But that' s more health related in my mind than zero waste related.  Now sometimes when I am out and really craving a soda, I'll get a paper cup (no Styrofoam for me - (no) thank you very much Chick fil A!) with no plastic lid or straw.  But I know the cup still goes to a landfill.  One problem with water bottles is that J and S working at the marina don't have a place to fill up water bottles.  They only have the bathroom sinks which aren't deep enough to fit a water bottle in for refilling.  This is crazy because you'd think a marina would be among the most interested in cleaning plastic debris out of the river.  My solution is to send them with full water bottles at the beginning of the day so at least they don't use as many water bottles.  Sometimes they are working all day in the hot sun and do need a lot of water.  I'm thinking though I should get them some kind of big thermos water dispenser that will give them enough water for the whole day.

#3 Bring your own cup.  I don't buy coffee out unless I've got my reusable travel mug with me.  Since I've taken to drinking black coffee or plain tea, I find I can actually bring the drink with me from home and even if it sits in the car for a while, I can still drink it later.  It doesn't go bad.  Now when I am at the co-op, occasionally I crave a cup of coffee and I've given in and used their stupid K cup thing, but put the coffee in my own reusable coffee mug. Still K cups are the spawn of the devil in terms of needless plastic waste. Sometimes though I go out to the nearby Dunkin' Donuts and get a refill from them.  But overall I'm doing well in this category.

#4  Pack your lunch in reusable containers. I am pretty good at this though I do sometimes buy zip lock bags.  I had to buy some for something at AHG for some reason.  So I do occasionally resort to using them.  What I do need to do is pack up more lunches and not resort to eating out so much.  Today is a prime example.  I had to take B to her math class.  She'd eaten eggs for breakfast but now it was lunchtime. I had to drive her directly from math to voice and she needed to eat on the way.  So I went to Panera and got her a salad, but it comes in a plastic bowl with lid.  Now I'll try to use that bowl for something, and when I'm done, I'll put it in recycling.  But recycling plastic is largely a joke so the chances are it will end up in a landfill.  I really have to work on being able to prep and plan for meals in the midst of our busy schedule.  This is an area where much of our plastic waste comes in.

#5  Say no to single use straws and cutlery.  I am pretty good on the straws now.  It is hardest when I go into a sit down restaurant, to remember to tell the waiter.  But more and more I am remembering.  The plastic cutlery is a different issue.  I know CAVA has compostable (commerically) cutlery so I do compost those.  And sometimes I remember my own little bamboo kits which I keep in the car.  The problem is that I forget to bring them in to the house to wash them.   And also I don't like the little velcro cover they come in because it doesn't close all the way.  They get dirty in my purse.  I want something that closes completely.  So this is something I do need to work on more.  Maybe I can find a solution this weekend.

#6 Skip the plastic produce bags.  I am pretty good at either not using produce bags or remembering to bring my own.  My problem with this is I often am lazy and throw the lettuce or whatever into the fridge still in the muslin bag.  But then it sits in there and the next day I wind up in a store for another kind of produce but no longer have a bag!  So I need to work on this as well.  I really need to wittle down how much shopping I do on the fly.  I have to plan meals better and be more thorough about having all the supplies and ingredients.  I should do one major shopping each week, with maybe another quick trip at some other point during the week.  As it is now, I do quick shopping trips nearly every day.  It's ridiculous.  It doesn't help that in trying to go zero waste, I have to go to different stores to get certain items.  For instance if I plan for hot dogs one meal, I know I can go to The Fresh Market and get them over the counter and bring my own container.  Everywhere else, I have to buy them in plastic.  But anyway, I am straying from the subject of plastic produce bags!

#7  Slow down and dine in.  Ugh.  This is my downfall.  I have such a hard time cooking 21 meals a week for my crew of divergent tastes and requirements.  It is hellish at times.  LOL.  I get so frickin' burned out.  Pardon my French.  I love that at Panera if you dine in, they serve you in a real bowl with real stainless steel cutlery.  You can request a real bowl at CAVA too if you are eating in, though they run out and then switch to disposable.  However, their containers are compostable.  Chipotle's bowls are also compostable and the aluminum cover is recyclable.  I bring my stuff home from Chipotle though because they do not actually recycle at the stores, even though they have a recycle bin.  When S worked there both receptacles were dumped in the trash.

#8  Use glass jars for leftovers.  I definitely am much better at storing leftovers.  I use old glass jars, or soup bowls with a saucer on top.  Or I use aluminum foil if necessary.  No plastic wrap is used pretty much ever, anymore.

#9  Share these tips with your friends.  I think I'm actively working on this one with the facebook group and getting involved at St. Mark and with 350 Fairfax.

Haymaker's Punch and Chia Chocolate Pudding

Yesterday I made this recipe of Haymaker's Punch or Switchel, as it is also called.  This is an attempt to get B some probiotics.  The only thing she'll eat with probiotics is yogurt.  And she isn't supposed to do dairy.  She's now taking some supplements, but I'm trying to get everyone in the family to start eating better as well.

I made the Punch really concentrated and bottled bottled seltzer water.  I think the sparkling water over ice will be appealing.  I also put in a bit more maple syrup and a bit more lime than the recipe called for.  Gotta get over the vinegar flavor that everybody turns up their nose at.

The chia seed pudding, hopefully will be a success.  Chia seeds have omega 3 lipids in them.  Also lots of other good stuff I can remember right now.  The pudding was super simple to make.  Only took a few minutes.

Update!  Currently, I am the only one drinking the Haymaker's Punch but at least I'm enjoying it!

I think the chia chocolate pudding is ok.  I'm getting used to it.  I will probably make it again and maybe make it a tiny bit sweeter.  But S actually ate some this morning!  Or at least I saw him take some.  I don't remember actually seeing him consume it.

Tonight I made a great one pot dish with sausage, potatoes, leeks, garlic, a yellow pepper, some mushrooms and some baby Swiss chard.:(  I thought it was delicious. Everyone ate it, though some carefully picked through so as not to eat the yellow pepper or the chard. :(

Update again!  This post is now a couple days old.  The delay occurred because I took photos on my phone but for some reason I can't get them off my phone and here in this post.  So I give up.

Scrambled Eggs with Salmon and Goat Cheese

We've been trying to eat salmon regularly.  R usually grills on Sundays and we often put a salmon steak on.  We used to just buy a bottle of teriyaki sauce and dump it over the salmon before grilling.  But that's got soy in it, so no good.  R tried to buy non soy sauces but we just didn't like them.  Last night I made a marinade I found here, which is more Italian in flavoring with the oregano and basil, lemon juice and olive oil.  It was delicious but we still had some leftover.  This is because when R grills he can never just grill one thing.  We also had shrimp and hot dogs.  So there is always something left over on Monday mornings. 

Well, I never know what to do with leftover salmon.  Sometimes I'd try to throw it onto a salad, but usually it just goes to waste (or to the compost bin - which seems like a real sin since it is very pricey).  But this a.m. I was feeling creative.  I think because I wasn't dealing with the teriyaki flavor, I felt like it made the salmon more versatile.  Anyway, I had recently been reading about kippers in scrambled eggs, so that gave me an idea.  And my idea was delicious! 

Ingredients:
Ghee (I broke down and bought ghee!  It's worth it!  I'd really missed that taste of butter!  And it actually has anti-inflammatory properties!  But none of the bad stuff! Can you tell I'm excited!)
Fresh eggs (pastured eggs are higher in omega 3's)
Leftover salmon (also high in omega 3's!)
Goat cheese

Crack your eggs and whisk (I add a touch of water to help break them up)
Melt some ghee in your pan (it seems really rich to me, so I just lightly coated the pan)
Pour in the eggs
Quick chop up your leftover salmon and sprinkle it into the eggs
Scrambled it all together until done to your liking
At the very end when the eggs are cooked and nice and hot, crumble some goat cheese over it all
Salt and pepper to your taste.

It was delicious and healthy!
And except for the plastic wrapper the goat cheese came in, and I suppose the jar the ghee is in, it is pretty much zero waste!  The salmon came wrapped in compostable butcher paper.

I wish I'd thought to take a photo.

Planning for Summer Cooking

Things have been to hectic here but this month they will begin to wind down.  The day after I finish my last class at the co-op I am going to begin My Summer Purge.  I plan to work methodically through August dejunking my house.  I am going to pretend I am a minimalist (except for books).  I am not a minimalist, but I will play one this summer, just to get all the clutter under control!

But right now I am trying to figure out menu planning, as always.  My perennial but frustrating endeavor to cook and eat better and to get the children still living at home to eat better.  This is important because of B's special diet.  But also because of R's health issues and now S.'s weaning off anti-depression meds.  This will be a good summer for this.  He will be working outside a lot.  He'll be waking up at the same time most days and hopefully going to bed at about the same time.  He'll be out in the sunshine getting lots and lots of exercise.  What he needs to do as he winds down the medicine is to start eating really well, with foods that produce serotonin. 

So we need lots of leafy greens, eating the rainbow in terms of veggies and fruits, lots of good protein, herbs and spices that promote good gut health, and also adding in probiotics.  And we need to reduce the refined carbs and sugar.    Now that J is managing the store, he is not outside doing much physical work, except sometimes when they need an extra hand.  But S as a dockhand/landscape maintenance guy will be.  J usually skips breakfast and actually S hates breakfast because he's never hungry.  But when he came home from work he said, he really needs to start eating breakfast because he gets so ravenous by lunchtime.  There is only one source of food at the marina and that's the burger joint there.  There used to be a fine dining restaurant but it wasn't making money.  Well, the burger joint isn't that good and it gets old eating there every day.  Often J will order out from the closest pizza and sub place.  This might be ok for once in a while but they both really need to eat better.  And for S. it is imperative!  So I am also working on hearty, healthy lunches that will provide S. (and J.) with good nutrition.

So first up is breakfast planning.  Did I mention I am also trying to be as zero waste as possible?

This a.m. I experimented with a 'Breakfast Stack' which was delicious.  I totally stole this idea from some Paleo website.  This is how I did it:

Applegate turkey sausage patties (no plastic packaging and the box is recyclable)
Ripe avocado(s) (package free except for the stupid sticker)
Eggs (from CSA - can reuse the egg cartons or recycle them)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Rings from the pint size canning jars

I am going to try to make this a one pan dish too because I am handwashing all my dishes nowadays.

Recipe
In a pan, heat up Applegate turkey sausages according to directions.  Once heated through, set aside.
Add a bit of oil to the pan.  Also oil the canning lid rings
Place the rings in the pan and then crack 1 egg into each.
While the eggs are cooking, mash up the avocado.

I covered the eggs to help them cook through faster.

When the eggs are cooked through, turn off flame and let them cool for a couple minutes.

To make the Breakfast Stack:

Place the sausage pattie on a plate
Scoop a generous dollop of the mashed avocado on top
Using a fork and a kitchen pot holder flip the ring over the stack, then with a fork gently loosen from the ring.  This part is tricky!  I couldn't quite do it without leaving some of the egg white on the rim of the ring, so I just scraped it off and placed on top of the stack.
Season with salt and pepper.

It's delicious!  The flavors of the egg and the avocado go together really well and the turkey sausage is good too!

I'm thinking I'll make these 2x a week (For ex. M, Th)

Then the banana pancakes* 2x a week (with fruit and maple syrup) (T, W - that way I can make enough batter on T morning and then use it up on W morning.  It will keep a day, I've discovered).

1x a week homemade granola with nuts and dried fruit with either cow or almond milk.  Topped with fresh fruit.  This might be good for Sunday morning when they have to leave really early.

Lunches
I want to plan that 3x a week they'll take leftovers to work for lunch.  I have to pay attention to portions, making sure to double stuff up.   For ex. roast chicken and leftover roast veggies.  I just saw a good recipe for Sesame Chicken that I want to try out. 

2x a week, I'm thinking of doing those salads in the big mason jars.  We'll see if they like them.  I'd put in spinach and mixed greens then things like sliced peppers, cucumbers, carrots, onions, then some kind of meat or fish (deli turkey, ham, tuna, salmon, etc) They also need something on the side, like crackers or gf bread or homemade fries or chips. 

I also saw a kind of easy looking paleo recipe for strawberry banana bars.  I think I'll try to make those next.  They might make a good snack between meals.


*Banana pancakes are super simple:  the proportions are 2 bananas to 4 eggs.  Mash and mix them all together, add a splash of vanilla, cook them up in coconut oil.  They are really good.

Anyway, these are my Saturday musings.  I'm off to plan some more!