small steps

My three year old can undo a room in 60 seconds flat! I'm not kidding, you should see our playroom. So it wasn't any surprise to see toilet paper all over the floor after she was in there "all by myself".

This got me thinking of a tip I read on a green website about toilet paper. Double rolls. It was that simple. The idea being a double roll eliminates more of those cardboard do-dads your kids use to play pirate with. I think there will still be plenty leftover for jr's art projects. But how simple? It also saves on packaging, a bonus. Now if you have the space & inclination, you can grab a big, 20 roll pack of Marcal small steps brand in just about any local grocery store & you'll be one step closer to green utopia. It's made from 100 percent paper not trees. And are you ready for this...you could be considered locovore-ish. It is manufactured in Elmwood Park, NJ. "a small, easy step to a greener earth". Not a bad slogan. Not bad at all.

Recently at a dinner party with a very funny cast of characters, I asked if anyone knew that there are male & female cucumber plants. As you can imagine, the responses were all over the board. From sincere to downright raunchy. After the ruckus died down, I explained that I had been present for a conversation in which an experienced gardener consulted a newbie on the lack of fruit from her cucumber plants. The problem had been beautiful blossoms but no fruit. In the words of this obi-wan of all things green, you have to have male & female plants or they won't bear fruit.
Well, I am here to clear up the confusion. Yes, cucumbers have both male & female blossoms on the same vine. The male flowers develop first, grow quickly & drop without bearing fruit . The next flowers will be a combo of male & female, these are pollinated and, hopefully, will bear fruit. So while my source was technically right, she was also wrong. There was likely another problem, watering or sun, maybe. But I'm no obi-wan. Just a newbie trying to get her cucumbers to reach maturity & not talk back.

the bell un-rung

Have you ever run into a friend & gotten some news that inconveniently needed to be addressed sooner than later? How about listened to your messages & decided to put off returning calls for the time being (this excludes moms. we always call our moms right back).
In some ways this is how I feel about being green. It can, at times, feel overwhelming & time sensitive (just think Al Gore). We all make decisions every day about what is right for our families & ourselves. Is little Jimmy watching too much TV? Did I do enough for a sick friend? And the list just goes on & on. And those decisions hold enough guilt without the whole green aspect.
I am a first born AND libra. Balance is a tricky endeavor for me. Boy, do I see both sides to every story & I'd like to "please" both sides. This is where the green thing gets confusing in Tina world. My goal is to be somewhere in the middle range of green-ness. Not to give away my all my earthly possessions (I really like my creature comforts) & live off the land freegan style (an anticonsumeristic ethic to eating) or a do nothing, think of no consequences little bubble boy. Don't get me wrong though. I "get" them both. Well, sort of.
So, since the metaphorical bell cannot be un-rung, I am going to do the best I can one day at a time.

ta-da!

Well, all that can go in, is in. It ain't pretty...yet. If you squint your eyes real hard, you may be able to imagine the lush lettuce, tall brussel sprouts & the now bare trellis full of sweet peas. All of this, of course, depends on how many friends the rabbits invite over for a house party.

glad you asked

So here is the recipe for delectable cauliflower dish my kids gobbled up. I keep a copy of food network kitchens cookbook on my counter. Their version of the recipe is slightly swankier than mine but worth the effort if you have a few extra minutes. But if you are like me & just need to get the food to the table before a meltdown occurs (kids, mine or husbands), here's the abridged version.

Cauliflower with buttered bread crumbs.

you will need:
*head of cauliflower,
cut into bite size florets (cooks more evenly & a bit faster this way)
*6 tsps of unsalted butter ( if you have salted just use less salt to season)
* breadcrumbs (don't panic about the omission in amount, I'll explain)
*course salt & fresh ground pepper.

next:
* get your oven started, 425 should do it.
* melt butter.
* add bread crumbs in slowly, stopping to stir & check consistency. You want the final product to be crumby looking. You'll be better off with a fork as it goes to really muss them together. This makes a good amount of breadcrumbs, you can adjust for your families love of bread & butter. We use 'em all.
* Now toss with the cauliflower with the breadcrumbs & season with salt & pepper.
* drop the whole kitten kaboodle on a shallow roasting pan.
* Done in about 20 to 25 minutes depending on the size of the pieces.
(if you're not worried about a little extra something, something...you can add parm cheese with the breadcrumbs for some more flavor.)


Now here's their version:
Ingredients
1 medium head cauliflower (about 2 pounds), cut into bite-size florets
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs (see Know-How, below)
3 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
Lemon wedges
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Put the cauliflower on a baking sheet and scatter the garlic on top. Melt the butter in a medium skillet and toss 2 tablespoons with the cauliflower and garlic; set the rest aside in the skillet. Toss the cauliflower with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Roast until the cauliflower is quite tender and the edges are starting to brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the cauliflower to a serving bowl.

Reheat the remaining butter over medium-high heat until brown. Add the bread crumbs and cook, swirling the pan and tossing, until they are brown and crisp-this should take less than 1 minute. Pull the pan from the heat and toss the crumbs with the parsley and the remaining 14 teaspoon salt. Spoon crumbs over the cauliflower and season with pepper. Serve warm or room temperature with lemon wedges on the side.

Know-How: Sometimes it's the little things that can make the difference in a dish being spectacular or so-so-like using homemade bread crumbs versus store-bought. Crumbs made from quality bread are easy to make. Simply tear up bread, with or without the crusts, and grind it in a food processor-1 (2-ounce) slice makes about 1/2 cup of crumbs. If you want moist crumbs-as you do for this crispy topping-start with fresh, not stale, bread. Stale dry bread is better for crumbs used in stuffings or as a binder because the crumbs absorb more liquid.

speaking of

The lovely Vanna-esque shot of Elise holding my newest BPA free container in the previous post apparently wasn't good enough. While I was typing away I heard her behind me chatting away & away. Little did I know she had been busy working on her own plastic installation. Great minds.

paper or plastic

By now you are getting to know more about me. Some things you may like, others not so much. Let's see how this one goes.
You have probably heard the debate about plastics. Either from a new mom feeding her little love with a glass bottle or a crunchy, granola cousin extolling the evils of BPA (bisphenol A). This lovely chemical is purported to cause all sorts of nasty health issues, mostly to us ladies. Breast & uterine cancer are the scariest ones I read about.
This is what I have read. The plastics industry (including Saran wrap, which has reformulated to appear more environmentally friendly) & government agencies in the U.S. & abroad maintain that there is no serious health threat in using plastic products. Consumer & environmental groups disagree. They both agree on the lack of evidence but use this deficit to support their individual interests. Food safety experts recommend consumers proceed cautiously when using plastic wraps to cover food while heating in the microwave, the two shall not touch. Because here's a little note of monkey business. The FDA acknowledges that chemical compounds can leech into food at microwave temperatures from plastic.

This is what I know. I will continue to use BPA free plastic containers to store leftovers because using a plastic bag seems wasteful on a few fronts. I will try really hard to remember not to heat the suckers up in the microwave ( even when the container says microwave safe). Who knows if I can get the whole household on board with this or keeping the dirty, little recycle-ables out of the dishwasher. (Again think heat, leech, yuck!) My husband hates doing dishes only slightly less than I do.