Category: Green Living

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Peeps and Food Rules

I’ve always been a fan of Peeps marshmallow treats and discovered that putting a flame to it gives it a sweet caramelized coating. I’ve toasted Peeps over a Weber grill and a fire pit; the one pictured here was toasted on a skewer over the flame of the gas stove.

I have been breaking a couple of my food rules on holidays like Easter, when I give in to temptation and eat candy with artificial colors and artificial flavors (and other ingredients I ordinarily avoid). Peeps and Jelly Belly jelly beans are against the rules, but I made an exception. This year, I also had a bag of Surf Sweets jelly beans, which are made without artificial colors or flavors, and I ate more of those than the less-natural Jelly Belly beans. It’s always exciting to find a better-for-you replacement for a favorite sweet treat. I haven’t had Red Vines licorice in a year and still miss it, but I developed a love for the more-natural licorice from Paul Newman Organics. So far, I have not found a pure version of Peeps, but I have an alternate plan for next year. I use Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules” as my guiding force in making choices on what foods to consume, and one of Pollan’s rules is you can have junk food if you make it yourself. So, for next year: homemade Peeps with ingredients I choose and approve.

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My Big Green Resolution

closet_photoAt the start of 2010, I made a resolution that felt big for me. It started with my desire to make a stronger commitment to green living—making more choices that were better for the environment. But I am a collector. I have a lot of stuff. And I really like my stuff. I have a closet filled with clothing and accessories I love (yes, love) and my house is full of treasured possessions. Still, I felt the need to simplify. I felt overwhelmed by the drive to acquire. Stuff! More stuff! So I decided to give up shopping for new stuff for the year.

I would refrain from buying new things I wanted. For things I needed, such as food and toilet paper and soap, I would stick to my resolve of buying the eco-friendly choices. New jeans, a new handbag, or new silverware? No. For any non-necessities, I would buy only pre-owned items—after carefully considering whether the purchase was necessary. I would shop at thrift stores, consignment and vintage shops, yard sales, on eBay and Etsy. I would be spending money on items already produced and in circulation (and withdrawing my consumer support for new products), which would help to reduce my carbon footprint.

I expected this to be a challenge and ended up being surprised with how easy it was. (And fun—thrift shopping is like treasure-hunting.) I thought I would write about my temptations and possible slips, but exceptions I made were few and far between (new underwear, practical running shoes…) and felt permissible. Then there was the upside: saving money. When the year ended, I decided to keep going and it’s become my new normal. Just like that. And while I’m shy about suggesting how others should live their lives, I like to share my example and offer it as a challenge to anyone who might like to try. For today or a week or a month or a year….

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Hankie Friendship Bracelets

Are you ever too old for friendship bracelets? I say no. These upcycled bracelets are made from an old handkerchief; I simply braided strips of the fabric and secured the end with a few stitches. I like the slight messiness of the stray threads and ties. I also like making something new from an item that was collecting dust in a drawer or closet. I used a lavender and floral-printed hankie for this trio—for me and two friends going to see a Prince concert. (Accessorizing in purple seems necessary for the Artist Once Again Known As Prince.)

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Recipe: Vegetable Stock

I recently started making my own vegetable stock and cannot believe I went all these years without using the vegetable castoffs that usually get tossed in the garbage. This couldn’t be easier and more satisfying to make. Simply take all the ends, peels, skins, and other vegetable parts you would ordinarily throw out and save them in a securely covered bowl in the fridge. When you have at least a few cups of vegetable remains, put them in a large pot, cover with filtered water, and add a handful of peppercorns, a teaspoon of sea salt, and a bay leaf or two. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool and drain, storing the vegetable stock in glass jars.

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Better Beauty: Glowing, Golden and Good

It’s the time of year when you see magazine articles and blog posts on how to achieve glowing and golden skin, featuring products made with toxic chemicals I wouldn’t want on my face and absorbed in my body. There are so many better-for-you (and the environment) products available out there and I always consult the Skin Deep website for their ratings of products when looking to buy something new. My favorites right now:

For a subtle glow, I like Jane Iredale’s 24-Karat Gold Dust in Rose Gold. This mineral shimmer comes in powder form, but I blend it with shea butter to apply it across my cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose, and on my eyelids. I carry some of this mixture in my bag in a contact lens case. (Pictured above; the cute blue scarf it’s sitting on was a thrift store gift from my mom).

For a golden faux tan, I like RMS Beauty’s Lip 2 Cheek in Promise. It’s a creamy mineral stain in a pot and the smallest amount is needed to give cheekbones a hint of bronze. (To apply more liberally to my face, neck, and chest, I’ll blend some with shea butter or coconut oil.)

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Kitchen Sources for Beauty: Olive Oil

I saw a post on a style blog yesterday about a new product available: an anti-frizz comb infused with olive oil. Infused with olive oil! To that, I say this: Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby. There’s no need to buy a new comb or product—simply use olive oil. I keep olive oil in a vintage glass bottle in the bathroom. Usually I take a few drops and rub it between my palms and then gently run my hands through my hair, away from the scalp. When hair is very dry, I use olive oil as a deep conditioner, soaking the strands with the oil and twisting it into a ponytail knot for an hour before shampooing it out in the shower. Hair is softened and frizz-free—and I take great comfort in using a product that’s safe enough to eat (and already in the house). Photo note: I keep the olive oil away from the light to keep it fresh, but it’s photographed in the window here to catch the pretty morning light.

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Beauty Treat: New Lipstick

I thought of my grandmother when I picked up a new lipstick recently. “You could use a little lipstick” was how she often greeted me during my young adult years. She also told me often that I was sweet and smart and talented and, yes, beautiful. Like countless grandparents before and after her time, she would occasionally express befuddlement about the fashions worn by “kids these days,” and she had a habit of pushing my bangs to the side while telling me that these were the only eyes God was going to give me. But I never had any doubt that she loved me just the way I was, so I never felt bad about the lipstick line.

She was from a different era and believed that ladies ought to wear lipstick. I recall her pulling out her own tube of lipstick from her handbag and applying it—either a pinkish coral or red color—every time she left the house. She might be wearing a shapeless house dress or no-nonsense slacks with an elastic waistband and a button-down shirt, but she always finished the look with her diamonds and lipstick. My grandmother’s words sunk in and I credit her with making me the lipstick lover I am today. I don’t leave the house without a little something on my lips—tinted balm, gloss, or lipstick.

Over the years, I’ve used a lot of colors from more cosmetic lines than I can recall, but I became a wiser consumer and limited my choices upon learning about the damaging chemicals hiding inside most of those lipstick tubes. (If she were still alive, I would replace my grandmother’s lipstick with a safer version. If you’re not aware of what’s in your personal care products, please visit the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and EWG’s Skin Deep database, which evaluates products and ranks them for safety.) When I felt I could use a little pick-me-up a few weeks ago, treating myself to a new lipstick sounded like a good idea. I went with a shiny gold tube of Brett lip colour by Jane Iredale (pictured), one of the cosmetic lines I count on for making high-quality makeup without the harmful chemicals found in so many other brands. It’s creamy and the color works on me as an everyday shade. It feels like the perfect “you could use a little lipstick” choice.

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Irish Pride: Upcycled Accessories

Showing my pride on St. Patrick’s Day today with these accessories, modeled on Buttons, my childhood teddy bear. The headband is a stip of fabric from a men’s necktie with shamrocks; the Claddagh charm is hanging on a strip of fabric from a recycled T-shirt. 

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Rock On: Upcycled Fashion at the Oscars

As a dabbler in creating upcycled fashion and accessories, I love to see something shiny and like-new recreated from something unwanted and old—rescued second-hand pieces from a dusty rack that are given new life. I frequently find items of clothing at thrift shops that look promising until I find a stain across the chest, a tear near the neckline, or some other wear-and-tear defect that makes the garment undesirable in its present form. But then I think, hmmm, maybe there’s hope. While so many eyes were on Colin Firth at the Oscars (smoking hot in Tom Ford), I was particularly interested in a closer look at his lovely wife, Livia, who owns a shop that sells eco-friendly merchandise and writes a blog for Vogue UK on green fashion. Livia Firth has become a stylish ambassador for green, making it her mission this year to always wear clothing at events from designers who use organic fabrics and employ eco-friendly practices in the creation of the garments. She calls it her “green carpet challenge.” For the Oscars, Firth’s Oscar gown was upcycled, created by Gary Harvey with material from 11 vintage dresses. Great detail: the dresses came from the same era as “The King’s Speech,” the movie for which her husband won the Academy Award. Gorgeous.

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Leftover Meat Mondays: Pasta with Sausage and Baby Broccoli

Mr. MVP and I talked about being part of the “Meatless Monday” movement. We didn’t have to be convinced that going meatless at least one day a week can be good–for the environment, for your health, for your wallet. So we enjoyed a few consecutive meatless Mondays. But then we had extra chicken from a Sunday barbecue and wanted to make tacos with the leftovers on Monday. And then we had some remaining steak from another Sunday dinner and decided to make bolognese sauce the next day with the leftovers. We grill a lot on the weekends and don’t like to let leftovers go to waste, so now we’re going to try for Meatless Tuesdays or Wednesdays and we’re going to make sure we compose leftover meals that don’t feel like leftover meals–making them good enough to be prepared and enjoyed any day, even if you aren’t trying to use what you don’t want to waste.

Yesterday: 
Italian sausage on the grill, part of a mixed grill and pizza dinner

Leftovers: 
Sausage

Today’s Leftovers Meal: 
Pasta with baby broccoli and sausage

Pasta with Baby Broccoli and Sausage
While pasta of your choice is cooking, cut the leftover sausage into bite-size pieces. In a saucepan, saute several cloves of garlic in olive oil until garlic is soft but not browned. Add 1/2 cup vegetable stock and baby broccoli and cover until broccoli is tender but still firm. Remove broccoli and add sausage bites to the saucepan with a splash of some more vegetable stock and cook on medium until heated. Toss pasta with sausage, broccoli, and parmesan cheese. Enjoy.

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Closet-Cleaning: Love It or Lose It

I read about a survey in which the average English woman was said to own more than 20 pieces of clothing she never wears. You know, the neglected items that hang at the back of the closet or get pushed to the bottom of the dresser drawer. I’m betting the same would hold true for American women. I get it. I’ve purchased items that have never gone into heavy rotation—and some I’ve never worn at all. Sometimes I find myself wanting to love an item and trying to talk myself into loving it. It might be by a designer I usually love, it might have been a total steal, it might be perfect except for the way it hangs on my hips. It just doesn’t look right? It’s gone. It just doesn’t feel right? Gone. I have adopted a strict closet admittance policy: I have to love it. It has to fit right and feel right and look right. Love it or lose it, plain and simple.

I am a big thrift shopper and encounter huge bargains regularly and this has made me discriminating—even if it’s a Marc Jacobs top with a five dollar price tag, I won’t get it if it’s the wrong size or in a color I don’t like to wear. (Exception to the rule: if it looks like something I could remake or alter it by employing some simple DIY tricks with a needle and thread, then I might get it…). Because I often find items I DO love while thrifting, I truly believe that what is trash to one woman really can be a treasure to another. I live for treasures. And for the items I have that don’t pass my love-it-or-lose-it test, there’s eBay. I went through the closet last week for another sweep and put the items online for treasure-hunters. A Levi’s jacket with nothing wrong with it? I have another denim jacket I adore and this one simply sat in the closet for a year. But someone else already scooped it up. I’ve got similar stories for the Theory pants, Trina Turk jacket, Barneys New York blouses and more….

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Nature’s Inspiration: Pink Jasmine

The jasmine is blooming on the porch and I get to breathe in the rich and sweet blossoms before leaving for work in the morning and when coming home at the end of the day. I love the deep pink buds that hold the delicate white flowers. It’s like the pink of my don’t-leave-home-without-it lip gloss, Jane Iredale’s Cosmo PureGloss. So when I find myself having to refrain from gobbling up the flowers because they smell so good, I put on a little gloss and dab on some of Aftelier’s jasmine solid perfume, another makeup bag staple that comes with me wherever I go.

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Crafty: Book and T-Shirt Holiday Wreath

After crafting a recycled Christmas tree using pages from “Vogue” magazine, I decided to make a paper wreath for the front door. I used pages from an old paperback that was falling apart (“Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh), and simply taped the cut leaves to a cardboard base. The idea for this was borrowed (and I cannot locate the blog I landed on that showed a wreath like this); my own personal detail was to add a bow made from an old T-shirt. Voila.

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Breaking the Bottle: The Dangers of Perfume

Originally published on the Care2 website.

I’ve been a lover of perfume since I was a small child. I loved to examine my mom’s collection of pretty perfume bottles, neatly arranged on top of her dresser. Like the scarves in her closet, they were lovely and mysterious. When I was old enough, my mother would spritz my wrist with whatever scent she was wearing at the time. Then, like many girls of my generation, I got my very own perfume: Love’s Baby Soft. Oh, how I loved to spray myself with that sweet scent.

That was then. Today, I wouldn’t dare use any of those commercially made perfumes. You pick your poison and I’ve decided that perfume ain’t the one for me. One of the tougher lessons I’ve learned since becoming aware of the dangers of personal care products is that most perfumes contain chemical toxins I don’t want on or anywhere near my body. Worst of all: you don’t really know what those toxins are because of old laws protecting perfume-makers from revealing their trade secrets. And this applies to all products, not only perfumes. When you see the word “fragrance” on a label, you’re being hoodwinked. “Fragrance” can include numerous chemicals that are not good for you (or the environment).

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics just released a report on a study of the health risks of fragrance: “Not So Sexy: The Health Risks of Secret Chemicals in Fragrance.” Put simply: the news stinks. Perfume lovers who are unaware of what’s in their bottles will have a hard time with the findings–just as I was shocked and more than a little saddened when I consulted the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics website a few years ago to learn about what’s found in personal care products. How bad can a little perfume be, right? Wrong–unless you’re okay with using chemicals classified as hormone disruptors that can increase your risk of cancer, or harm a developing fetus, or contribute to thyroid and other problems. It’s even worse when you consider how many other products we use regularly and how many other environmental toxins we’re exposed to. It’s black and white for me: if I know it could be bad for me, I’m not gonna use it.

After my enlightenment a few years ago–feeling like I was a graduate of the beauty school of hard knocks–I was faced with my own dresser of pretty perfume bottles I had collected over the years. They had to go. But what I discovered was more delightful than I could have imagined: there are pure and safe and stunningly beautiful perfumes being made that are far superior to the ones I had used. Now, I am a lover of perfumes made from pure essential oils–nothing artificial, nothing toxic. My dresser is now filled with small bottles of non-toxic oils and perfume blends I’ve found to satisfy my love of scent without sacrificing my well-being. You can begin your own search by finding a list of safe makers of perfume and other personal care products on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics site and the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database.

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Leftovers Recipe: Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup

Dinner Saturday night included two whole can chickens. We had a small amount of meat left and all those bones–perfect for us to make a rich chicken stock for a Sunday supper of chicken ramen noodle soup. I follow the basic recipe for making chicken stock and use a crockpot. The soup could not be more simple: make noodles; heat chicken stock and simmer with chopped bok choy for a few minutes; add leftover chicken; add cooked noodles; serve; enjoy.

Yesterday:
Beer can chicken

Leftovers:
1-2 cups of chicken

Today’s Leftovers Meal:
Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup with Fresh Chicken Stock

Chicken Stock
Remains of a cooked whole chicken
2 bay leaves
Handful of whole peppercorns
3 crushed cloves of garlic
Half an onion
1 carrot
1 celery sprig
1 tbs. fresh rosemary
Filtered water (enough to cover chicken)
Sriracha hot chili sauce, to taste
Cook in crockpot on high for 2 hours. Let sit and skim fat from top with a spoon. Strain broth with a cheesecloth and serve immediately or transfer to a glass jar or bowl and refrigerate for use later in the week.

Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup
Chicken stock
Chicken
Ramen noodles
Bok choy
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook noodles and drain. Simmer chicken stock and add bok choy to blanch. Add chicken and cooked noodles. Serve. 

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Leftovers Recipe: Italian Mashed Potato Pancakes

Most people love the day after Thanksgiving for turkey sandwiches. I like the potato pancakes. Our family makes what we call Italian mashed potato pancakes, from a recipe we got from my grandmother. The pan-fried pancakes are made from leftover mashed potatoes, Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs, chopped fresh Italian parsley, an egg, grated parmesan cheese. When I was growing up, we had them whenever there were leftover mashed potatoes (never let good food go to waste!) and mom put ketchup on the plate for me and my brother so we could dip warm pancakes in the cool ketchup, much like the way we used maple syrup on breakfast pancakes—it’s still comfort food for me.

I called Mom for the recipe recently and she gave me the ingredients listed above. Measurements? I improvised. Truth is, it depends on the amount of mashed potatoes you’re starting with. What I did is approximated below; you can scale according to your own amount of leftovers.

Yesterday:
Thanksgiving dinner

Leftovers:
Mashed potatoes

Today’s Leftovers Meal:
Italian Potato Pancakes

Italian Potato Pancakes
4 cups of mashed potatoes
2 cups of Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
Olive oil for pan frying
Ketchup

Blend ingredients in a bowl. Heat olive oil in frying pan while you form pancakes. Pan fry on medium heat. Add additional oil if needed. Serve and enjoy (ketchup optional).