Living Green: Improving Your Sustainability at Home

January 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Guest Post by: Nicole Dunham

As homeowners, we can reduce our carbon footprint and lessen our negative impact on the planet by making our homes more sustainable. Creating greener homes isn’t just collecting plastic bottles and installing energy-saving window treatments, however. Check out the following ways your family can make your home healthier and greener:

Homegrown Garden

Of course, gardening provides your family with fresh produce and saves you money, but it’s also a rewarding extra-curricular activity that brings the family together. Feasting on homegrown food is a lifestyle change that enhances the experience of cooking and eating.

Consider installing raised beds in your garden, which are easier to tend to and help create an attractive and organized appearance. You may want to begin by planting salad greens, which are usually ready to harvest in four to six weeks, especially during the spring. Rosalind Creasy Edible Landscaping recommends you order these seeds under the name “mesclun mix,” or make your own mix by combining spinach, chard, mustard, rocket and endive seeds. Once you master growing these greens, expand your gardening to include potted vegetables – just make sure to use high-quality soil and follow experts’ recommendations for that particular crop and your part of the country. Sunset.com has more information on how to fertilize and harvest homegrown vegetables, including beans, carrots, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.

Green Party Planning

Trying to think of a theme for a dinner party or your child’s birthday party? Go green for your next extravaganza, from cooking an organic meal and baking an organic dessert to using eco-friendly supplies and decor.

Children’s Birthday Party: Host your green birthday party by sending eco-friendly invitations that have been custom-made with recycled paper and natural accents, such as flower petals and colored star and heart paper-bag cutouts. Adorn your home with homemade birthday decorations that lessen your family’s impact on the environment. Eco-friendly party supplies, such as sugar cane-fiber napkins, will also green up your party. Have younger kids participate in earth-friendly arts and crafts, such as making and decorating a homemade boat out of a juice box.

Adult Dinner Party: Using the freshest ingredients(maybe from your own garden?), cook an organic, healthy meal for guests. Suggestions include organic vegetarian lasagna, smoky veggie quesadillas, a green greens and rice casserole and Portuguese kale and potato soup.  After indulging in your healthy feast, serve an organic dessert such as epicurious.com’s carrot cake with cream cheese and lemon zest frosting or double ginger cookies. Accompany dinner with eco-friendly wines such as organic, biodynamic, natural or vegan wines.

Eco-Friendly Decorating and Designing
You can remodel your home to be more energy-efficient by installing green recessed lighting and designing your home with these eco-friendly touches:

  • Bamboo hardwood flooring or recycled carpet installations
  • Bamboo sticks in floor vases
  • Soy candles and recycled glass candlesticks
  • Lamps with recycled tin or aluminum shades
  • Live plants
  • Reclaimed wood furniture
  • Organic fruit displays

Living in an eco-conscious home and maintaining a sustainable lifestyle will not only benefit the environment, but it increases the well-being of you and your family, too. Whether you’re cooking up freshly grown salads or investing in recycled designs, keep going green.

Filed Under: Food, Green Home, Home, Kids, Natural Mom, Natural Products, Organic Products Tagged With: , , ,

Organic Valley Pasture Perfect Holidays

November 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
After my recent trip to Organic Valley I have a huge supporter of this coop as I was able to understand the dynamics of organic farming and focusing on family-owned farms. For the holidays, Organic Valley launched the Organic Valley Pasture Perfect Holidays microsite is up where you can find coupons, recipes from Organic Valley farmers, an ingredient list, and amazing prizes where you can win a $12,000 kitchen makeover, $1,000 in cooking.com gift certificates, or a year of Free Organic Valley products!
 
Filed Under: Food, Kids, Natural Products, Organic Products, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

blk. Launch at Duane Reade

October 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Last week, I had the chance to learn more about a new beverage called blk. I had no idea exactly what this was until I arrived at Duane Reade near Herald Square for the celebration of this new mineral-enriched beverage. At the event I learned more about this beverage that contains fulvic trace minerals that are renowned for their role in plant life. These minerals are then added to pure water that causes a chemical reaction that naturally turns it black. This means there are no dyes or colorings used – the water is simply packed with minerals, electrolytes, and are high inPH without any carbs, calories or sugar.

At the event, I had the chance to chat with Albie (Caroline’s son from the Real Housewives of New Jersey fame) about blk. and how he got involved with the project. Albie, along with his uncle Chris Laurita, discovered blk. at a Trade Show about a year ago and were shocked by its unique health properties as well as how nothing like that was aviable on the market. At the event, Albie spoke of how he was interested in the uniqueness of blk and how it gets people talking before they event try it.

To show their support, Albie’s mom Caroline and aunt Jacqueline were also on-hand to help with the promotions of blk. and sign bottles at Duane Reade. They arrived via a black blk. van as their fans cheered on and were excited for their arrival. While I have never seen the Real Housewives of New Jersey, I was amazed at the intense fan base that came to meet the ladies. Some were crying while others were testing out blk awaiting to meet their favorite housewives.

 

Caroline and Jacequeline also chatted with the VIP bloggers about their involvement in the campaign as Jacqueline stated that she loved it from the beginning with Caroline needing more time to warm up the beverage. They have both been enjoying meeting fans and supporting their family as well as blk. As a natural beverage, I enjoyed testing it out and I was surprised by its mild taste and that isn’t loaded with sugar or colorings. This mineral-enriched formula is unlike anything on the market that can hydrate, nourish and as the company states – “changes the way you see water.”

 

For more on blk. visit blkbeverages.com.

For more pictures, check out my Google + album 

Duane Reade is also on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has
been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™.
#CBias #SocialFabric

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: , ,

Smoothies for Breakfast

September 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For weeks now, I have been hearing this broken record of “I’m not hungry” from Maya where she will eat a few bites of eggs or cereal or yogurt or a waffle or whatever other semi-exciting meal that I try to make, and then say she’s full, or again not that hungry. It drives me nuts, but after fighting, begging and pleading her to eat for weeks, I realized that I am not the best breakfast eater during the week and this must be effecting her is some way. I mainly just have coffee or something light simply because there is so much to do to get out of the house that I never feel like I have the time to eat a proper breakfast. Even with planning the night before, there is so much to do to get out of the house with two that the way I encourage the girls to eat in the morning (and really how I want to eat) is not something I am leading them by own example. Anyway, maybe that is why she says she isn’t hungry, or maybe she really isn’t it. But I do know that we both need to do better, and I recently suggested that we eat have a smoothie in the morning with a side or fruit and some yogurt. She beamed at that idea and in the face of the soggy barely eaten cereal, I felt like I struck gold!

For about a week all three of us (even baby Emma) have been enjoying a berry-rich smoothie that is packed with Greek yogurt, frozen spinach, flax seeds, honey, coconut butter, coconut water and some honey where I have been shocked at how much the girls love them, and specifically for Maya, who know sits down, drinks it and eats her breakfast sides with zero fussing. Is this a traditional breakfast option? Maybe not, but it is one that is now working for all of us and when I assess what she was eating in the morning (virtually nothing) to this vitamin-rich smoothie, I can’t imagine anything better than waking up one of these tasty and healthy drinks everyday! Enjoy!

Berry-Rich Smoothie
Approximate – 3 Servings
1 cup of mixed frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc)
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach
2 cups of coconut water
1/4 cup of Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 tablespoon of flax-seed
1 teaspoon of honey

Blend all of the ingredients together and serve chilled. Add extra water (or some juice) for a thinner smoothie.

Enjoy!
1 teaspoon of honey

Filed Under: Food, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

Recipe: Vegetable Packed Pasta

September 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Dinner is always a challenge in our house. I desperately want my kids to be open to trying new foods, and not whine, grimace or complain when a new food is presented in front of them. Well, really it is my four-year-old who fits all of the picky descriptors – although I have been noticing some verging pickiness with the baby.

Despite being a pretty healthy eater myself, I’ve come to learn that kids have a palate all their own that I have to be very patient about nurturing and encouraging new foods in the face of their picky palates. Some of this patience is (slowly) starting to pay off where I notice how my four-year-old will eat raw kale, raw peppers, or raw carrots, but won’t even try (or touch!) my seasoned vegetables. I don’t understand the thinking behind it, BUT she is eating a better form of the veggies so I try to serve a few raw veggies on the side (and trust me I am thrilled), but it is still annoying that she isn’t open to trying foods that are mixed together and that I feel like I am always preparing different foods for everyone in the family. Recently, she has been a little more open to trying cooked vegetables in a dish that I have to come to make almost every week. Maya calls it our ‘famous pasta,’ though I’m not sure why. It is really simple (fresh veggies, pesto and pasta), but it has become a favorite of mine since it lasts for at least two dinners (and even a few lunches). Even better – both girls love it and the best part: it is packed with vegetables.

On an upcoming post on the Honest Company blog, I am going to talk about organic and local food and how this recipe is inspired by my weekly trips to the farmers market where I love to stock up on delicious fruits and veggies for the week. It does involve a lot of cutting, but once it’s done you will have a healthy and hearty meal to serve the family for about two-three days! Get the kids involved, and make your own famous pasta. Here’s how:

Vegetable Packed Pasta
ingredients:
1 box of pasta of your choice (I usually use a whole-grain one)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4-5 long carrots, cut up
1 zucchini and/or squash, cut up
1 red, yellow or orange pepper, cut up
1 pint of grape tomatoes, halved
1 bunch of kale, thick stems removed and leaves torn into bite-size pieces
3-4 sprigs of fresh basil, cut up (can be dry)
3-4 sprigs of sage, cut up (can be dry)
1/2 cup fresh pesto (see recipe here)
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese, optional

Directions:
Cook pasta as directed on the box. While the pasta is cooking, start preparing the vegetable medley. Using a deep sauce pan, add in the olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and kale. Keep on a low flame as you add in the remaining vegetables (carrots, peppers, squash, zucchini), fresh herbs and pesto. Cover and let cook for about 10 minutes, turning it periodically. When the pasta is done, add it to the veggie mixture and let cook together for about 10-15 minutes. Add in the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and serve!

The beauty of this recipe is that you can add in a variety of veggies and add different spices (depending on your kids).

Filed Under: Food, Kids, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,
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