Go Paperless This Holiday Season With Furoshiki

Hi Folks,

Long time, no blog.  It's been really busy lately but I wanted to share this gift wrapping idea with everyone before the holidays!

 

In part of our effort to cut down on waste, I have been researching Japanese gift wrapping, called Furoshiki.  There are many complex wrappings but also some very simple ones.  You can see a few tutorials here.  Youtube is full of video tutorials as well which was extremely helpful when I attempted to wrap a wine bottle with one of the simpler methods.

 

Rather than get holiday themed fabric that we would only use once, we chose colors that we would be likely to use again for birthdays and some other holidays.   Once the gifts are given and unwrapped you can gather up the fabric and reuse it many times over, just wash and iron between gifting.

 

The bolts came in at about 44 inches wide and for the largest gift the wrap is about 44x44.  The smaller wraps are half that size and measure 22x22.  The easiest way to measure is to unfold the bolt and then fold it diagonally to make a triangle. 

 

I used pinking shears to cut down on the fabric fraying at the ends and it turned out very nicely.

 

 

 For the gifts I wrapped in this post, I used the simple box wrap.   Basically this fold is a series of two tight knots. 

 

 

 

I will put in another post for the wrapped wine bottle because I want to practice a few more times.  There were also some gifts for our dogs that I just wrapped up using the box method as well and they turned out pretty well (they are the smaller ones on the top of the biggest box).

 

Hope you enjoy this post and try to go paperless if you can!

 

Homemade Thick Cut Potato Chips

Ingredients:
2-3 medium sized red potatoes per person
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1.  Wash potatoes and cut into 1/4 in  slices.
2.  Spread out the slices and toss with olive oil.  Arrange on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
3.  I didn't preheat my oven but I cooked the potatoes at about 300"F (our oven runs 100-150* hotter for some reason) for 15 minutes on each side until golden brown.

4.  Remove from tray and allow to cool slightly.  Season with salt and pepper, then they're ready to go.

These will stay good for most of the day but I would not recommend storing them overnight, they'll likely get soggy.  Rather than run out to the store for some chemical/preservative-laced chips in wasteful packaging, make some of your own at home!

Enjoy!

NO MORE PLASTIC BAGGIES!

Here is a quick update on how to avoid using those pesky plastic bags at the produce section.  I found these cotton bags at the local bulk/natural foods store and they are awesome.  They wash easily and I just toss them into my reusable shopping bag if I'm not using them to store fruits and veggies in the fridge.  I have never needed more than three large and three small bags.  I even used one of the bags to strain almond milk when I ran out of cheesecloth.  They're all in really good shape after several months.

Here is the website for the company for reference.  They have many other products available there besides the product bags.  Note:  this company is not involved in any way in this post.

The nice thing is that even here in this southern town, the clerks at my local grocery chain were completely accepting of them at check out time.  They just peeked in the bag, made sure they were ringing up the right product and kept moving!  

I have found that two larger reusable shopping bags are the most useful.  I use one of the reusable wine totes (with the 6 divided sections) to carry around my bulk jars and the other items go into the typical nylon bag.  

Hope this was a useful post and try to go plastic-free when you can!

Homemade Cleaning Scrub

Here is a recipe for a nice alternative to those gross chemical-filled scrubs that you can use in your kitchen or bathroom.  This is the only scrub so far that has managed to nicely clean my enamel and steel post without scratching or leaving residue.   It's also a nice way to use up egg shells and save them from being thrown in the trash!

2-3 dozen dried egg shells
1/2 cup baking soda
Essential Oil (I use sweet orange)

The first step is the most tedious and time consuming but I think it's worth it than resort to some nasty green scrub that technically is toxic and irritating to your skin (I think you know which one I'm talking about).  You need to save up and wash out about 2-3 dozen egg shells.  Once you have enough and they are dried out you will need to boil them for about 10 minutes.  I usually have to do 2-3 batches even in a big pot.  Make sure the shells are submerged and use a strainer in the skin or a slotted spoon to remove because they will be scalding hot.

Next you can rinse the shells with cold water and other recipes don't necessarily suggest this but I peel the inner film off the inside of the shells.  This may be annoying for a lot of your but once you get the hang of it you can do it quickly.  

Next you have to lay the shells out to try again (maybe a day or so).  Using a coffee grinder break up the shells into smaller pieces and grind up until you have a fine powder.  I usually do this near the stove so the vent can suck up the dust that comes up when you open the lid of the coffee grinder.   Once you have ground up all the egg shells, transfer them to a glass jar and put in an equal or slightly greater amount of baking soda.  

Shake up the mixture (with the lid on of course).  Then shake in 10-15 drops of essential oil and shake it up again (lid on again, obviously).  

A little bit of this scrub goes a long way.  So far I have only had to make it about once every 4-6 weeks and there is always quite a bit some left over.  Since the shells don't dissolve you don't need much to get the job done.  The ingredients aren't toxic so it's also nice to know that you cleaning products won't be unsafe to wash down the drain.

Hope you try this out!

Asparagus and Couscous Side Dish

Here is a recipe that I make in bulk on Sundays and it usually lasts me through four weeknight dinners.  It's super easy and stores well.

1 bunch of asparagus
1 cup Israeli couscous
Garlic Powder, Onion, Powder, Salt and Pepper to taste

Trim the asparagus and saute in olive or canola oil until crispy, then season with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and set aside.   Heat up 1 1/4 cup of water to a boil.  Add couscous and cook until just the bite/consistency of paste. Once cooked, season couscous with garlic and onion powder.  Then fold in the asapargus, you can even add some Parmesan cheese at the end for some extra flavor.  You can add other seasonings if you'd like but it's a great dish as is.

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Homemade Toothpaste

Here is a recipe for some homemade toothpaste.  Just a warning that this will not taste or have the texture like the stuff out of the tube but after a while, you get used to it.  The baking soda is a bit salty and the paste will not foam up like regular toothpaste.  Both recipes below have worked well in terms of cleaning and whitening so I have to say they do just as well as most products you can buy.  The stevia powder is for taste only and some recipes have called for using essential oils but I just put some extract that I had laying around in the mix just so I didn't have to purchase a bottle of something new. 

1/3 cup baking soda
3-4 tbs stevia powder
1/4 tsp each of orange extract and vanilla extract
Filtered water (enough to make a paste)

Mix extract in with baking soda and slowly add water, tsp by tsp until you get the consistency you want.  I store ours in a glass container and store it in the fridge just in case but I don't see why it couldn't be kept in the medicine cabinet or on the counter. 

I tried tooth powder as well but it was not as popular with my husband and I didn't want to keep making two separate tooth cleaning products so here is the less popular recipe below:

1/8 cup of baking soda
2 tsp stevia powder
dash of peppermint extract

Mix well and store in a salt or sugar shaker.   The oil made this hard to actually sprinkle on but this batch made so little we just packed the powder directly onto our toothbrushes by dipping it in the container.  This was also stored in the fridge.  Ended up being too salty for my husband's taste but I honestly didn't mind it!

The paste turned out much better and it smelled exactly like a orange creamsicle!

Homemade Peanut Butter (Subtitle: Forget Freshmarket)....

Hi Folks,

In my efforts to somehow decrease waste and still be able to consume peanut butter, I just started looking up recipes to make it at home.  Below is my first try and it was a success, now I don't think I'll ever go back to store-bought because you can really make each batch of any nut butter suited to your taste.

Ingredients:
3 cups salted peanuts (bought from the local natural food store in bulk)
2-3 tbs peanut oil (recyclable glass container)
2-3 tbs agave syrup (recyclable plastic container and cap)

First put the peanuts in the food processor and blend.  Keep blending, then blend some more.  You will start to worry that this is not going to work but just keep the processor until the oils in the peanuts have a chance to get out.

Here you can see that it's starting to form into a paste.

Eventually it will all gather and swirl around processor in a clump.  Don't fret, just keep processing it.  You can take frequent breaks as needed if the motor or the container are overheating.

Eventually it will look like this...

 When you add the agave syrup, it will start to crumb up again, this is where the peanut oil comes in.  Just drizzle it in 1/2 tbs at a time until it starts to get smooth again.  Don't mind the divot in the picture below, my husband decided to taste test it before I put it into jars.

Using a small spatula, spoon into glass jars and place in the fridge for best storage.

This would make great gift for someone who love peanut butter and I'll post some updates when I move on to try some other nut butters!  Hope you enjoy this post and try to make some peanut butter at home!