I was going to post a day of eats, what I did with the eggplant and my newly organized cabinet, but my camera isn't cooperating, so we'll save that for another day. Above is a humnut pizza with bean sliders, humnut sauce, cheese and mushrooms. Yum yum!Thank you for all of the eggplant ideas! It was great, I didn't know what to pick. Finally the winners: I followed Mama Simmons idea to just broil it with olive oil, then saw Billie's baba ghanosh recipe, so I made broiled eggplant baba ghanosh. I added too much tahini, then yogurt, but it is a nice spread. Check out the ideas under the comments of my eggplant post. Billie and Michelle, send me your address, and I will send you some Amazing Grass Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein bars! Thanks everyone for your help!
The cabinets- I used tupperware and it looks soo much better. Great improvement. Thanks for the help on that too!
GREEN CLEANING
My mother in law was visiting last weekend and told me about a study she had read about autism and cleaning supplies (chemicals). I did some research and this is an old study but there have been some links. I'm thinking about dumping all my cleaning supplies and going out to get the green stuff. I think Trader Joe's has it - I'm sure whole foods does. If I'm eating organic and Nick is, then I suppose I should really be using organic/natural things around the house. What is your take on this? Do I swap the lysol for GREEN cleaner?
Popcorn
In college, we used to make a big pot of popcorn using oil on the stove, shaking it around, moving it around the burner. We don't have the kind of burner that it would work on, it would just scratch it - but I really wanted some popcorn on the stove all week so I tried it tonight. I think this popcorn was 10x worse than movie theatre popcorn because all of it didn't pop and it was saturated in oil. I have a popcorn machine like this - I'm guessing this is safe? I hear microwave popcorn releases chemicals. What is your popcorn solution?
you can see the oil on the papertowel. Yuck!
Don't have the right top on your stove? Do you have the flat/glass top? I do and we have made it just fine on there - just be care of the pot you choose - it shouldn't scratch.
ReplyDeleteI have a cleaning service and they use the green products. And I use green soaps and cleaners for inbetween their cleanings. I just feel better about it. Trader Joes has a good line but I have recently heard that SC Johnson has a new line that is out, too. You might want to check that out.
Have a good Friday!
Sounds like you made good use of your eggplant - yum yum!
ReplyDeleteMy grandma makes homemade popped popcorn! Its my FAVORITE!!! I loveee it lots!!! Sooo tasty!
ReplyDeleteI think the link between cleaning supplies and autism is another example of very poor research with inconclusive data and analysis (which is also my opinion on vaccines and autism), and you probably don't have Nick on his hands and knees bleaching the bathroom tiles, so to me, regular household cleaners of little or no risk to children.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that being said, I think there are other reasons to go to "green" cleaners, most of them environmental.
So funny you asked about the popcorn. I was just reading on a blog the other day about just taking regular popcorn into a brown lunch sack to pop! Nothing added :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.loserforlife.com/2010/03/running-without-a-groove/
I picked some up at the store last night and will try it today.
De-lurking here because you're talking about popcorn. I L-O-V-E popcorn. We have a glass top stove and it works just fine. You want to make sure you have the heat all the way up on HIGH so once the kernels start popping, it only takes an additional minute or so.
ReplyDeleteAnother tip, instead of using the lid that goes with the pot, use some tin-foil and then poke some holes in th top so the steam can escape-- it makes a world of a difference!
Yes, I think it is worth it to get some more green/less chemical cleaning products. Amazin what baking soda can do to help clean!
ReplyDeleteWe love popcorn too - thanks to you I have started using Nutritional Yeast on it. We have a Whirley Pop - one of those pans with the handle that stirs the kernals in the pot. http://www.popcornpopper.com/24000.html
They are cheap and make great popcorn!
I started using all green cleaning products and then my sis read an interesting article written by the green party or someone who was very pro green who said that while there are some green products like the baking soda(great on the hob)that are fab, many of the green products have almost as many chemicals as non green ones, only they are much diluted, so that the best thing to do is to get the very concentrated ones and use as little as possible. I thought that was quite interesting. I should prob read more on the subject so I can make a more informed decision, but know what you mean - I don't out crud on my bod so I would ideally like to use all organic beauty and cleaning products. Finances curb my efforts at time though.
ReplyDeleteTupperware rocks! 'nuff said!
Kaz.
those green cleaners are EXPENSIVE.....do it the old fashioned way and use vinegar, etc.....there are many items you already have in your home to use to clean. google is (sarah snow was on john and kate plus 8 showing them last year i think).....
ReplyDelete:)M
I'm not sure what everyone else has said...no time to read, but I have started to use some clean products. I love the smell of the Green Works bathroom cleaner. So fresh and non-chemically smelling. I want to try the new Martha Stewart line at Home Depot, though. Maybe when my GW runs out I'll buy it.
ReplyDeleteHomemade popcorn is the BEST. I grew up with it and my dad is the best popcorn maker in the world :-). Not really, but it's a tradition to have him make it. He uses (and I do now, too) the Stir Crazy machine. It's the best! Kinda stinks because it takes up space but it's fool proof and it gets the job done with very little oil.
I didn't realize I was going to possibly win anything. Yay!!!
i use regular cleaners but have thought from time to time about making my own. seems so much safer for us and the enviroment. thanks for posting this...got me thinking about it again.
ReplyDeleteI do a lot of cleaning with vinegar and water. Works great.
ReplyDelete