#72 Homemade Granola

Breakfast time! I don't know of anyone who doesn't like cereal, and I can't think of a worse or more convenient breakfast than cold cereal. Granola is a great option, as it is nutritious, filling, and easy to make. And awesome with our homemade yogurt, by the way.
Here is my recipe:

4 C Rolled Oats

3/4 C Sliced Almonds

1/2 C Pecans (coarsely chopped)

1/2 C Flax Seed

1/3 C Sunflower Kernels

1/2 C Coconut

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Salt

In a medium saucepan combine:

1/4 C Honey

1/8 C Molasses

1/4 c Oil (coconut oil would be the best.)

2 tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour liquid over oat mixture and stir to coat. Spread granola on a cookie sheet and bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely on a rack, stir in dried fruit if desired, and store in an air-tight container.

Pros: Easy, yummy, saves a lot of wasted packaging-- as convenient as cereal without all the additives and junk. You can make a large batch, as it stores very well.

Cons: The nuts and dried fruit can be expensive (but are optional!)

#71 Beat cooking blues with a big batch!

This post is hereby dedicated to Kim, the person who has made me not give up on this blog. Thanks for being a faithful follower!

You're tired, your family is hungry, and it's 30 minutes to dinner time. What do you do? Pull out a dinner from the freezer because you made extra last week! I'm really not a good planner when it comes to freezer meals, but since I do cook nearly every day, there are some meals that it's just as easy to make extra and freeze what we don't eat! There really is little extra time spent to double your ingredients. Then cooking time is about the same, also. Then when you need a meal, it's like getting served a fabulous meal with little to no effort. Currently I have in my freezer: borsht, perogies, chili, and stuffed pepper with polenta. This can certainly also apply to baked items, like muffins.

Pros: Save money (and waste) by avoiding fast food or unhealthy "convenience" meals. Use the same amount of electricity or gas as you would normally use to cook one meal (except for reheating.)

Cons: Requires freezer space and extra cookware. Also requires time to thaw-- so if it is a casserole of something, more time will be needed to warm it (try to plan ahead on a crazy day.) Not all meals freeze well.

#70 Homemade Yogurt

This is a BIG one. Particularly since in my area they will not recycle yogurt containers. And yogurt is pretty expensive, considering what you get. Making your own takes some getting used to, but is certainly worth it. Here is a recipe that we started with, which now we have modified. But I'll leave the modifications up to you. Oh, and if you have a wonder box, it is much easier than using the oven. Then you don't have to wrap it, just warm it up and stick it in there!

Here is an approximate recipe:

3 c. water

1 1/2 c. dry milk

1/2 can evaporated milk

2 T. yogurt with live cultures

Optional: heavy whipping cream (helps it with creaminess)

Optional: honey or sugar (can also be added afterwards)

Blend together, put in stainless steel bowl or canning jars, and wrap with an old towel. Heat oven to 275, put the yogurt in the oven and turn it off. Check in 8 hours, and if it is not set, repeat the process. (This is where a wonder box is really useful as we don't ever have to repeat.) Be sure to save a little of your yogurt to start your next batch with!

Pros: No little plastic cups to dispose of, and very inexpensive to make. The taste is better, too, once you get used to it (much less sugar!)

Cons: Certainly it is not as convenient or as portable. It takes some practice to figure out what works to get it heated to the right temp.

#69 Homemade bread beats all!

I am one lucky lucky woman because I have a husband who will not eat store bought bread. Why does that make me lucky? Because he makes all the bread! And does a marvelous job at it. I can make bread in a pinch, but it never turns out as good as his. What's his secret? Practice, I suppose. He's been doing it for years, and never uses a recipe. So I'm not going to post a recipe. There are enough great bread recipes out there for you to find one. I just want to inspire you to try. We have a grinder that we use to fresh grind our wheat, groats, rye, millet, flax seed, and whatever else we want to put in the bread. It is sooooooo good. And what else is great about it? None of those annoying and unneccessary bread bags.

Once a week makes us three loaves. One for Sunday dinner usually, and two for the rest of the week (one or two go in the freezer.)

Pros: More nutritious, fresh, tastier, no preservatives, no plastic involved

Cons: homemade bread doesn't last as long as store-bought. It also takes time, effort, or a baking husband

#68 Pop your popcorn

Happy Earth Day!! What kind of earth-friendly blogger would I be if I didn't post on Earth day? I am getting ready for a series of posts on how to green your cooking and kitchen. In most homes, most of the consumption and waste occurs in the kitchen. There are many things you can do to cut back on the waste.

So, I'm going to start with a very simple one, and one that I've actually practiced for my whole life (well, my dad did it when I was little.) That is, pop your own popcorn! Popcorn does not require a premade bag full of fat and salt and some nasty chemicals. It requires a pot with a lid, a few kernals of popcorn, some oil of your choice (I use olive oil,) and a bit of heat from the stove. Put just enough kernals to cover the bottom of the pot, and enough oil to barely coat the kernals. If I crank up my stove on high, it literally takes the same amount of time that it would take to pop a bag of microwave popcorn. When popped, put it in a bowl and sprinkle with salt, and there you have a good, healthy snack, with total control over what goes into it. Buying popcorn in bulk is best, as that will cost less than .10 per batch popped.

As a side note: Did you know that if you burn a bag of microwave popcorn in the same room as a bird, the bird will die from the fumes??

Pros: Healthier, cheaper, and a whole bunch less waste. You can make it the way you want, and add butter (if desired) instead of butter flavored chemicals. And no dead birds.

Cons: It takes a little practice to get the proportions right, and it doesn't have that movie-popcorn smell that is for some reason so appetizing (it's the chemicals that make it smell so good.)

#67 Use your local library

As a big lover of books and reading, one of my favorite places is our public library. What better way is there to get all the books you want at no charge? And then return them so they don't clutter up your house? Not that I don't like to own books, and my kids especially have quite a few. But the library is the greenest way I know to do a lot of reading. Then I can know after I've read a book if it's one that I potentially want to have a copy to keep.

Pros: Free, reuses books therefore less trees used to make new books. Many libraries also have great kid programs, and movies.

Cons: Fines for not returning things on time. High demand books are sometimes hard to come by.

#66 the Wonder of the Wonder Box

What in the world is a wonder box? I asked the same question when it was announced we would be making them for a church activity. Okay, I'm always up for making adventurous new things. I just didn't realize how wonderful and useful the wonder box would be! I even ended up making 2 more for my sisters-in-law for Christmas. There is some great information and instructions here. Which is also where I got the pics (I'm feeling too lazy to go take pics of my own.)

You just have to heat whatever you're cooking through, then you can turn off the heat and stick it in the box. It will stay hot and continue cooking your food! Like I said, wonder-ful! The things I use it for most often are yogurt (a post about this coming soon) and rice. It can also be used to keep food cold-- like if you want to take ice cream to a picnic!

Pros: Decrease the amount of energy you use in cooking. Versatile, easy to make

Cons: Bulky to store, and the food you cook pretty much must be in liquid form. (So although I've heard there is a way you can bake bread in it, not sure how that would work.)

#65 Rechargable batts

I love my digital camera. But it eats battery power like crazy. I purchased a Duracell mini charger, and it's perfect for those devices that use so many batteries. I've actually had mine for a while, and I think I may have gotten it nearly free with rebate and coupons. The batteries charge fairly quickly, and I have been satisfied with how long the charge lasts. I just picked up a few more to put into some toys and into my wall clocks. Pros: Less wasted batteries, and batteries should not be thrown in the trash after use- so these save you the trouble of proper disposal-- at least not nearly as often. It saves money in the long run.

Cons: The batteries cost more initially than traditional batteries. Their one-charge life may be less than a traditional battery. When they need to be disposed of, it has to be in a proper way. (I actually haven't had to dispose of any yet-- but I saw that Lowe's had a recepticle for rechargeable batteries.)

#64 Paint cup

One of the frustrating things about my local recycling center is that they only recycle #1 and #2 plastics, and that means that all my containers for sour cream and cottage cheese have to go into the trash. I just can't do it-- so I save them to use for "tupperware" or freezer containers or whatever comes up that I need a simple container for. Whenever there is a use for something that is normally thrown away, I'm all over it. But even so, I still end up with more than I need (I guess I really love my sour cream!) So with all the painting I've been doing, I find they make great paint containers for the "cutting in" brush. If I need to stop before it's empty, I can snap the lid on and save it for later, and if I'm done I can toss it without having to wash it.

Pros: They are free. (I don't have to purchase a paint cup.) It puts plastic at least to multiple uses before being thrown away.

Cons: Doesn't have a handle like the store purchased cups. It still is plastic going into the trash.

#63 drop cloths, and my new year's goal

I have not forgotten this blog, or my resolve to get to those 100 things. I have not even run out of things to write about-- I just have been too busy! But my goal is to finish by July. Then I will see where I will go with my posts.

Anyway, Yes, I am still posting about painting things. Although I finished the painting project I was working on at the time that I posted those, I am about to start another. A couple more things had occured to me at the time and I just never posted them.
So-- about 3 years ago I bought new mattresses. And what did they come in? A huge plastic wrapping. A double plastic wrapping, in fact. I could not bear to just toss all that plastic into the trash, so I wadded it up and put it in a trash bag and stuck it into the storage room. Then when I started a year or so later on some painting projects, I pulled them out and used them as my drop cloths! Perfect! Big, square, thick plastic. It has now made it through many paint projects, and each time when I'm done it gets stashed the same way (except for the one my cat peed on-- I made an exception and threw that one out!)
I don't think that everyone is really going to have mattress wrappings lying around, but the next time you come across a big sheet of plastic (and yes, they are very common,) think about your next painting project and if it could be of use.

Pros: Free, and it's putting some trash to good use.

Cons: Bulky plastic can be hard to store. And occasionally your cat might pee on it.

Just in case.....

Just in case anyone is actually reading this blog (I don't pay any attention to reader counts or anything,) I've signed up as a partner at letsgogreen, and now anyone who uses my coupon code, MMR20 can get 20% off any purchase at their site! Great green products such as biodegradable trash bags and recycled paper products. See the banner on the side as well. You have to enter the code to get the discount, so make sure you do that at checkout.
Thanks!

#62 A use for the old holies.

Honestly I have never darned a sock in my life, but that doesn't mean that my old holey socks are going in the trash! I have done a huge amount of wood refinishing this year, and I love to use gel stains, even though they can be really messy. I've found that the best application tool is a sponge brush, and the best "wipe-off" tool is an old sock. It's better than wasting a rag that you would then have to throw away. This vanity is one of my recent projects. The picture isn't great-- but when we bought it it was a natural wood color with not much of a finish on it. Pros: A great use for an item that is trash. Cheap, and at my house, plentiful.

Cons: You still have to throw them away, and I try to do it in an empty stain can with the lid shut.

p.s. I've also used old socks for wax buffing my countertops.

#61 What to do with your brushes and rollers in-between coats.

What do you do with your roller and your cut-in brush in between paint coats? Wash them? If so, you are wasting a whole lot of water! I wrap mine up in a plastic bag and put it in the refridgerator. It will keep several days that way (if you're like me, and with the kids around sometimes I just don't get around to finishing it when I want to.) Then you can take out your brush and/or roller and continue painting! I'm honestly not sure if this is a "normal" practice for a lot of people. But if you do any painting, you should try it! When your done with your roller, wrap it back up in the bag and toss it! Of course, you should wash your brushes.

Pros: Saves a LOT of water and paint from going down the drain. It also saves time and energy.

Cons: It requires the use of a disposable plastic bag. Requires some fridge space.

#60 What to put that paint in!

I discovered another wonderful thing while working on my painting, and now I can't do without it! It's a non-stick paint tray. You don't wash it, you just let it sit and dry. Then you can peel the paint off and, voila! It's ready to use again.

Pros: NO water used to wash your paint tray, and you are also saving all that paint from going into the water treatment plant. No plastic liner needed.

Cons: It doesn't exactly peel off so nicely like in the picture, but it does come off pretty easily. A bit more expensive than your average paint tray-- but it will pay off in the end.

#59 Recycled Paint!

Where has the month gone? I really have been so busy with canning and remodeling projects that it has been very hard to find time for blogging. But I have in the meantime found some more ways to do green remodeling. When I was in Seattle for weekend in July I went shopping at a place called Second Use. They have a line (called MetroPaint) of recycled paint! Available in different colors! It really made my choice much easier by limiting it. There are so many paint colors that it is usually really hard to choose. I couldn't find a great picture of the walls, and can't take one right now because that would mean I'd have to clean up first (still remodeling!) But here is one with my daughter in front of it:

You can find more information on it here

Pros: 100% recycled paint, and you can choose your color! Now that's using materials wisely! It painted on so easily and seems to be very high-quality. Well under EPA's limits for VOC's. Oh, and did I mention it only cost $16 a gallon??

**UPDATE: I found out that Miller Paint stores in Washington and Oregon sell Metropaint for about $10/gallon!!

Cons: Limited colors and finishes (or this could be a pro!) Limited availability-- I have to go to Portland or Seattle to get it.

#58 Don't waste the v-bag

Vaccuum bag, that is. I was vacuuming the other day and realized that my vacuum was not working very well. hmmm, maybe that was because it was completely full and filling up the hose part! Yikes! Being a usually prepared but somewhat forgetful mother of 3, I realized I had no extra bags. Oh no! What to do? The Frugal Zealot came to the rescue. I had read her books a while ago (the Tightwad Gazettes) and remembered a tip that I thought at the time that I would probably never bother with. She cuts the bottom off of her vacuum bags and empties them that way and then tapes them back up for reuse. Well I was stuck so I guess I had to give it a try. Guess what? Easy, little mess, and much money saved! Yea! So until I can afford a good bagless, the old reuse-a-bag will have to do.

Pros: Saves time and energy, and saved me a trip to the store. Less waste.

Cons: After a couple of cuts the bag will be too short to use. It's a little messier than just being able to throw out the whole bag.

#57 Cookin' Solar

We had a serious heat wave a week or so ago. There were several days that were over 100 degrees. Doesn't sound too bad if you're in Arizona, but in the northwest that is unheard of. We have no air conditioning, and normally little need for it. But it was hot. And we had guests coming for dinner. We came up with a dinner that we could make completely outside using the grill, crockpot, and this lovely solar oven. We made brownies in it-- and they were almost cooked after a couple of hours (we needed to get them in an hour sooner!) My second attempt at using the solar oven was much more successful with making cookies. A great way to make use of all that heat! I'll have to get adventurous and try some new things in it.

Pros: Cheap materials (cardboard, aluminum foil,

and glass.) Doesn't take any electricity or fuel. No heating up the kitchen!

Cons: It has to be sunny. It takes some real planning ahead because the cooking time for most things is very long.

#56 This mower is REELY great.

This summer I decided I was fed up with my big old clunky smelly gas mower. It was really heavy, really noisy, and not in the greatest condition. It used to be that mowing was the man's job around here, but well, I guess I've just kept my hubby a bit too busy with other things (ie remodel) and it's fallen into my lap.

I went for a cheap ($20 on CL--woohoo!) no frills reel mower. I don't have a huge lawn and this little mower really isn't hard to use at all. The main difference is that instead of using muscle to push a big heavy mower I am having to move super fast to keep the blade spinning and cutting well. I never realized how much pollution an old gas mower could create until I read this article by the EPA. It makes sense.

Pros: Easy to use, no pollution, no noise, low maintenance. I can mow with my kids in the yard and not worry about flying debris, and my 7-year-old can even use it (and thinks it's fun.)

Cons: It doesn't cut grass that has gone to seed very well. I haven't yet figured out how to sharpen the blades. Little pieces of stuff sometimes get stuck in the blades and bind them up.

#55 Don't pay for hot water you're not using!

Wow! It's been a month since I last posted! It has been a very busy month and I've been gone for a lot of it.

Sometime back in March (I remember because I had just gotten back from somewhere) I read a suggestion to turn off your water heater when you are gone from your house for an extended time. What a great idea! But of course I couldn't post about it until I put it into practice. It's simple, just flip the electrical circuit for the water heater before you leave on vacation, and you won't be using electricity or paying for hot water that will just sit there. I don't know for sure, but I'd estimate that you need to be gone for at least 2 days for this to be an effective money-saving method since it takes quite a bit of energy to heat up the entire water tank once it's all cold.

Pros: Simple, effective, money-saving

Cons: You have to remember to do it before you leave. You will have to wait an hour or so after you get home (after you remember to turn it back on) before you have hot water.

#54 Oxi-clean saves the day!

I know I finished posting about laundry already, but just recently I had an "oh, duh" moment that has saved me a lot of money and plastic waste. I mentioned that with my homemade laundry soap I have to be extra diligent about stain removal. Well, I was going through spray bottles of Oxi-clean like crazy, and at $3.50 a bottle, the cost was adding up. Although some of the bottles got reused, most were going into the recycle bin. Anyway, last time I went to buy some the price had skipped up to $7!! This made me stop and think if there was another way. Right there next to the spray bottles was a tub of oxi-clean powder. I looked at the label, and lo and behold, I can mix about 1/4 cup in a spray bottle with water to make the same thing I had been paying so much for. The best part is that the price on the other one was a mis-mark and the $7 was actually the price of the tub. Thanks WinCo! Yea!! I just bought about 20 bottles worth for only the cost of 2 bottles. And I can reuse the same spray bottle that I already have for all of those. I feel so silly for not realizing this before. I can also use the powder to add to a whole load that needs extra stain-lifting power.

I haven't found anything better for gettng poop stains off of diapers.

Pros: Much cheaper, and much less plastic waste. Stain removal power is just as good.

Cons: None.