Sunday, November 27, 2011

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Green Tip

Weekly, I'll post one easy sustainability tip that I find very useful and makes a big impact.

A tip for Black holiday shopping and grocery shopping is to bring your own bags!

Three resons to bring your own bags:
1) We only use a  plastic/paper bag for only 5-12 minutes
2) It takes about 1,000 years before a plastic bag starts to decompose
3) Plastic bags are made of non-renewable resources, which hurts the planet and reduces our nautral resources

You can reuse your paper bags from previous shopping trips.




Also I have a slew of these canvas bags that I have gotten for free at events, concerts, and as a thank you for signing up for a magazine. I leave these canvas bags in my car and I grab them whenever I am going shopping.




If you think carrying around these extra bags are too bulky or not spontaneous enough for your shopping habits, you can also get this reusable bags that folds in on a small bag. This way you can always have a reusable bag on you!





Do you have any  other green shopping tips?

Warmly,
Jamie

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Peanut Butter Pie

To celebrate Ryan's birthday, I made him one of his favorite desserts Peanut Butter Pie. I only make this pie for parties because otherwise I will devour the whole thing! This pie is smooth, salty, chocolaty, and very addicting.


Peanut Butter Pie

1 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
1 chocolate graham cracker crust, store-bought

Directions:
Whip 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla until stiff peaks form.

In a separate bowl mix the cream cheese, peanut butter, and confectioners' sugar together until blended, then fold in the whip cream. Scoop into crust and chill for an hour or more.

Using a double boiler (a pot with a 1/2 inch of boiling water, then a larger glass bowl on top of the pot), place chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of cream into glass bowl. Stir until chocolate and cream are combined, then pour over peanut butter filling.

Chill pie for another two hours or more, then serve!

Enjoy,
Jamie

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Panzanella

I was craving a crisp and zesty salad last night and panzanella was the answer! The recipe reminds me of summer and can be thrown together in minutes. I think tomatoes are a must in this salad, but you can substitute in other veggies like bell peppers, artichokes, grilled zucchini, olives, pepperoncinis, Italian meats, cheeses, etc. Also, a store bought Italian or balsamic dressing would work well too!

We ate this salad on its' own last night, but it would accompany grilled chicken breasts or fish or burgers perfectly.


Panzanella
Salad:
2 1/2 cups of french baguette, cut into 1 inch cubes 
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup of cucumber, cut into cubes
1/4 cup yellow onion, small chop
4 basil leafs, torn
4 tablespoons of feta, chopped or crumbled

Vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons EVOO
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon agave/honey
salt, pepper, and thyme to taste

Directions:
If you have stale bread, please chop that into 1 inch cubes.

If you bought a fresh baguette please pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, then chop the bread into one inch cubes and toast in the oven for 5 minutes or until crisp. The bread needs to be dried out to ensure it doesn't become soggy in the salad.

Chop cucumbers into cubes, small dice the onion, chop cherry tomatoes in half or you can use whole tomatoes and chop in medium size pieces, and tear basil by hand.

Place the vegetables, bread, and feta into a salad bowl.

Stir the vinaigrette ingredients together and pour over the salad, stir until completely covered. Let sit for 10 minutes and then taste. If the salad tastes a little dry, please add more vinaigrette.

Enjoy!
Jamie

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Skin Deep

This past spring I took a sustainability workshop series through Sustainable Works and one website I now frequent is Skin Deep. Skin Deep discusses the health and safety impacts of cosmetics ranging from eye drops to sunscreen to deodorant to makeup to soap, etc. Their website is user friendly and you can search by company or product or chemical.

This image shows you some of the harmful effects of products that females use every morning.


Some of the products I had in my house were considered "high hazard" like carmex chapstick and Essie nail polish, so once they ran out, I consulted this website to find low or moderate hazard products. I do take into consideration price point and how easy it is find new products when shopping, so usually I write out a few options and see what my local store has.

One of the challenges is finding safe products that are the equivalent of the products I used to have, but usually I can find it within the first or second try! Have you used Skin Deep before?

Warmly,
Jamie

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Movember

November is here and you may have noticed some of your friends and loved ones now have moustaches (or are trying to grow one...) This is because Movember has officially started! 


November is moustache "mo" and November combined. This month long charity event helps raise awareness and funding for men's health issues and prostate cancer. Movember is an international campaign and stashes are now being grown in Australia, South Africa, Canada, and Europe to support this cause. Globally, 174 million dollars has been raised for Movember!


You can support this cause by encouraging your males friends to grow moustaches or make a donation  here.





















Photo taken at the Chelsea Market in New York during the magnificent specimen's exhibit.

Warmly,
Jamie

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Banana Pancakes

Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes definitely inspired our rainy morning and this song makes me smile whenever I hear it.


Our pancakes followed the back of the Krusteaz pancake box for two people and added 3/4 of a smashed banana.

Warmly,
Jamie

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Brussel Sprouts

My family never had brussel sprouts on the table growing up and I knew they had a reputation of tasting horrible, so I avoided them. Within the last year I have grown very fond of them and even crave them now!


Brussel sprouts are now in season and you can buy them in these large stocks at Trader Joes! They are a part of the cabbage family, but they don't taste like it.  Brussel sprouts are easy to prepare and taste nutty and earthy after roasting them--which is my go to way of cooking them, but they are great sauteed with bacon like my friend Kate makes.


Roasted Brussel Sprouts
1/2 lbs of brussel sprouts
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 lemon wedge

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and line a cooking sheet pan with tin foil.

Cut brussel sprouts in half from top to bottom and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Line halfs face down of cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until golden. Then flip them over and cook for another 12 minutes or until golden. Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.

Enjoy!
Jamie