Category Archives: Beverage

Beverage, Dessert, Eggs, Holidays, Less than 5

Crema Fina Egg Nog

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Egg nog is a classic holiday beverage, with many possible origins for its name and recipe. Whether you love it or hate it, spike it or drink it virgin, pasteurize or leave out the eggs completely, it is irrevocably linked to the winter holidays and Christmas.

The thought of drinking raw egg throws off most people, unless you’re already a body builder or someone who drinks them daily already. But not all eggnog includes egg. Some are basically just a thinned down pudding or a boozy milkshake.

This recipe does call for actual eggs, and is for adults only. You can definitely make alcohol free eggnog, but since the base ingredient here is wine, clearly, this is not the recipe for you!

This is super simple to scale up as needed, you can make yourself just one glass or a whole pitcher for a party. And if you don’t happen to have Crema Fina (so sorry) you can easily create a similar flavor with milk, creamer, and rum or even brandy.

Ingredients (per serving):

  • 1 cup crema fina hazelnut wine (or, 1/4 c hazelnut creamer, 1/2 c milk, and 1/4 cup dark rum)
  • 1 raw egg, room temperature
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp powdered sugar

Simply combine all the ingredients in a blender, and whip it up for at least a minute or two. The longer you blend, the frothier it becomes. You can also use a hand mixer or a whisk.

Cheers!

 

 

Beverage, Breakfast, Comfort food, Finances, Healthy, Main Dishes, Meal Plans, Soups, Vegetarian

Weekly Eating – 10/22/18

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Hey y’all! Welcome to the series Weekly Eating.

Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.

Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!

 

Wow, weddings always go by in a flash don’t they?! The weekend in Chicago was a ton of fun, food, and fast paced sightseeing. The boy had never been, so of course we had to hit Millennium Park to see the Bean, the Chicago River, the Magnificent Mile, and Navy Pier.

Chicago downtown Millennium Park

The town was lovely, as was the church and the wedding itself. The reception was at a cool glassblowing studio, where they had some live demonstrations going on! The food was divine, as expected, and we danced the night away. No joke, I had 24K+ steps Saturday! Of course, I’m sure I negated that with the obligatory deep dish pizza.

Chicago deep dish pizza

In the airport, we ate at a cafe that had a brilliant device: you press the button to order, or get a check. I think that is just the smartest thing. No more getting interrupted every two seconds when you don’t want anything, and waiting around trying to flag someone down when you do.

restaurant button

Also of note, I’ve got baby beets, radishes, collards, and wheat popping up all over! Fingers crossed I actually get something edible before Jan/Feb freezes it all.

seedlings sprouting

Monday:

Breakfast – Berry oatmeal with chia and walnuts

berry oatmeal

Lunch – Leftover bayou chicken pasta I’d pulled from the freezer

Dinner – pasta, because when you’re exhausted from traveling and the fridge is empty, you don’t want to go to a store. And a box of pasta plus a jar of sauce is as easy as comfort food gets.

desperation pasta

Tuesday:

Breakfast – berry & kefir smoothie

berry smoothie

Lunch – leftover defrosted veggie burgers with hummus, sauerkraut and avocado

veggie burgers

Dinner – the Butternut Squash Risotto that lit up Twitter. Yes, it really is as delicious as it looks, and you should go make some. Now.

Butternut Squash Risotto with Crispy Sage

Wednesday:

Breakfast – ham egg and cheese breakfast bagel sandwich; I found these bagel thins in the freezer too. Can you sense a theme? Oncoming winter always prompts a drive for freezer clean out for some reason.

bagel sandwich

Lunch – Leftover Thai sweet potato and carrot soup over rice, with a small chunk of leftover brisket

leftover mishmash

Dinner – Thawed pork chops with cranberry sauce, sweet potato and carrot casserole, and green beans. Basically Thanksgiving prep for taste buds. Eaten by a fire, as all fall meals should be.

Thanksgiving dinner practice by the fire

Second dinner – So uh, we went out to meet up with a friend for a beer. And we chatted and had a great time catching up. Then as we were about to leave we got on the topic of sushi (which, you should know by now, I freaking LOVE). And of course I perked up like, we can has sushi now?!? And the boy. said. yes. !!! I don’t care that I had dinner and it’s 8:40pm and they close soon. We goin! And, we went. And it was glorious. #sorrynotsorry

second dinner sushi

Thursday:

Breakfast – PBJ toast, which, I ended up not eating until the way home from work later bc I was still kinda full… weird…

Lunch – leftover risotto! and homemade soda.

butternut squash risotto

Dinner – Burritos! Always satisfying.

burritos

Friday:

Breakfast – sad bowl of cocoa puffs…

Lunch – I forgot to pack a lunch, so I dipped into my emergency food drawer at work for canned soup.

emergency work lunch drawer

Dinner – “Make Room In The Fridge Dal”, that gives the Angry Leftovers Man heart palpitations. It was super good though.

leftovers dal

The Weekend

Saturday is the big Halloween party! I haven’t thrown a good holiday party in a long time, and I finally know enough people in NC to pack the house, so I’m pretty excited about it. Been decorating, cleaning, planning, and cooking all week.

Halloween decoration

There will be a bonfire outside, lights all around the porch, games set up inside and outside, and creepy music on YouTube. I’m making a couple dips and a veggie tray, and people are bringing all kinds of goodies too. But the real highlight will be the Trick or Treat shots!

trick or treat shots

Food Total: $64.43 + 28.05 = $92.48

Weekly Produce Box and a trip to ALDI for last minute party foods. We were also down to our last container of coffee, which is a good reason for all out panic. I picked up some cute fall scented candles as well, because we will have a housewarming to go to soon!

Crescent roll dough was on sale, which if I get motivated and have enough time Saturday morning, I’ll turn into cute dough ‘fingers’ with marinara ‘blood’ dipping sauce. I also picked up tortillas in anticipation of a taco night next (next) weekend.

Dairy $9.24 Staples $22.89 Fruit/Veg $11.23 Extras $21.07
cream cheese 2.37 Coffee 4.79 vine ripe tomatoes 1.89 cake mix – for work party 1.7
berry kefir 3 6.87 Cooking spray 2 2.98 romaine 1.99 Graham crackers 1.25
crescent roll dough 1.78 celery 0.89 Marshmallows (s’mores) 0.89
Dipper chips 0.89 3pk bell peppers 1.99 Fancy choc bars 2 3.98
tortillas x2 3.28 butternut squash 1.57 Jello (shots…) 0.7
100% fruit juice x2 5.18 seedless cucumber 0.99 Mason jar candles 2 9.98
Red blend wine 3.99 pineapple 0.99 taco mix seasoning 0.29
bananas 0.92
Tax 2.28

 

And then my Harvest Box contained: Avocado XL green (1), Apple Cider (1), Green Beans, Fall Glo Tangerines (4), Garden Cucumber (1), Red New Potatoes, White Sweet Corn (3), Sweet Onion (1), Fuji Apples (4).

the Produce Box Harvest Box

So we are very well stocked up, and if I can contain myself and stay away from stores, I shouldn’t have to grocery shop at all next week!

Lessons Learned

Guyyyyyys. Avoiding plastic is SO hard. Especially when throwing a party, with many people you barely know. On the one hand, most of the things I already had (forks, plates, water bottles) and will do my best not to purchase more of in the future. I want to overall move more towards smaller dinner party style, with real plates and cups and silverware.

But plastic food packaging too. My beloved ALDI, the purveyor of low prices, why must you use so much plastic? I feel like we could get an additional savings if you just sold me peppers naked, as nature grows them.

Another lesson? A stocked freezer is so amazing. Especially when you get back from a trip and do not have the energy to go to the store for food. But also, you should look in there routinely and make sure to actually eat the stuff. I think it’s time for a big purge, a la my January pantry and freezer challenge.

 

How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?

Beverage, Finances, Informative

One Small Thing: Coffee Filters

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In this series I am highlighting one small change you can make to your daily routine or one small thing you can do to make the world a little less wasteful. Don’t miss the previous posts about cloth napkins, handkerchiefs, water bottles, straws, and travel mugs.

Today we are continuing the caffeine chat with: Coffee Filters

This includes regular-sized coffee pot filters, as well as Keurig-style pod cups.

one small thingone small thing

A Brief History of Coffee Filters

As the story goes, all coffee used to be brewed the same way as Turkish coffee insists on being brewed: hot and dark and with the grounds still in the finished drink. This often led to an unpleasant taste and gritty texture.

One day, a housewife decided she was tired of chewing her morning drink. She tried a few different items around the house and found that her son’s blotting paper and a copper pot with holes put in it were the perfect combination for getting the black gold liquid without the gross solids.

And thus, the filter was born.

Through the years we have improved and refined filters based on material type, thickness, and adding ruffles. Those variegated sides help the liquid flow better, and the thickness and grade of paper determines how finely it can filter.

There are even filters made from a far wider array of materials than wood pulp, such as metal, bamboo, even gold.

What Are Coffee Filters Made Of?

Let’s imagine that at least one of those 2.7 cups of coffee per day consumed by 150 million Americans is made at home. That means at least 150 million coffee filters are used per day. And probably at least 149.9 million of those are tossed into the trash, destined for the landfill.

Every day.

coffee filter

Enter the Keurig

Coffee was chugging along, enjoying a slow but steady rise in popularity, when along came an invention that shot it to meteoric fame in homes and offices alike.

Yes, the Keurig.

Originally founded in 1992, Keurig launched its office brewers and line of products in 1998. As the single-serve brewer gained popularity among our instant gratification, everyone-is-unique culture, the Keurig became a household name and expanded for home use in 2004.

Green Mountain Coffee bought the Keurig company and brand in 2006, and business boomed for both through that partnership.

Several more acquisitions and mergers later and they are now part of the Keurig Doctor Pepper brand, and is now “a publicly traded conglomerate which is the third largest beverage company in North America.[”

And of course, I must step up onto my soap box for a moment to lambast the Keurig k-cup, or pod, or whatever you want to call this insidious piece of single use plastic crap.

An estimated one in three homes has a Keurig brewer, and the company is on pace to sell over three billion cups per year.

That’s a sh*t-ton of plastic.

Even the inventor of the K-cup says he sort of regrets it… and he doesn’t even own a Keurig machine, saying “They’re kind of expensive to use”.

There’s been much backlash against the waste produced, even to the point of a YouTube video entitled “Kill the K-Cup” which dramatizes the damage it is doing and ends with “Kill the K-Cup before it kills our planet”.

<iframe src=”https://player.vimeo.com/video/116606409″ width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

When the patents expired, tons of knockoff brewers and cups flooded the market, many of which are better choices based on being recyclable, compostable, or reusable.

Though thank goodness, they are finally trying to change the composition of the cup such that the material is more attractive to recyclers and thus can be diverted for re-use rather than sent to landfills worldwide.

 

How Can You Do Better?

If you use a paper/bamboo filter, compost it

The first point is that most coffee filters are totally compostable! Yes, most are made of paper, and you can toss them into a compost pile or bin, coffee grounds included. The coffee grounds will provide a great source of nitrogen to your plants, while the filter itself will provide some great carbon.

 

Consider re-usable filters

Next, consider a re-useable coffee filter. I bought myself this one, and use it every day. Each night I dump the spent grounds into my compost bin, give it a quick rinse, and restock with fresh grounds for the next day. Easy peasy. I will probably never have to buy another filter in my life! How awesome is that.

We also have 2 sets of these reusable Keurig cups, which hubs uses in his home office, and I took one to work as well. They fit in most Keurig-style coffee makers, but make sure you read the full list in the product description to make sure yours is one with which it is compatible.

 

Another Option: the French Press

A French Press is a (usully) glass container into which you pour raw grounds and hot water to let it steep. It has a filter attached to a pump / handle that you simply press down, and it filters out the grounds. You then pour out your hot coffee, leaving the solids behind. A quick rinse of the press, and you’re good to go.

If it’s just you, try a small 1L size press, or if you have a big thirst or multiple java fiends try the larger 12 cup version. The press is reusable for many many years, and some say even makes a better tasting, less bitter brew, since it doesn’t soak in any oils from the grounds the way a paper filter does.

Can’t Forget My Tea Drinkers!

Oh yes, don’t think just because you don’t get your caffeine from coffee that I’ve forgotten about you. If you morning caffeine hit comes from a nice hot cuppa Earl Grey or a London Fog, this still applies to you.

If you already use only loose-leaf tea with a filter of some sort, then thank you, and feel free to tune out.

Filters and french presses can definitely be used for tea just as easily as coffee grounds. And they can be just as impactful on the environment. In fact, individual tea bags are responsible for several thousands of tons of non-biodegradable waste.

Though like filters, most are made from paper, least 20-30 percent are made from non-recyclable and non-compostable materials. And even the paper kind rarely gets put into a compost pile, most just end up tossed in the trash bin.

Then there are the foil or plastic or plastic-lined packets that some individual bags are further wrapped in, the boxes that are plastic wrapped, the little metal staple that holds the tag on the bag… you get the picture.

Step 1: If you must have individual tea bags, then at least read up on your favorite companies about their production line. Learn which companies have better or worse practices, and maybe switch. Choose tagless, natural sourced bags with minimal packaging.

Step 2: When you use tea bags, compost them! If you don’t have a pile and don’t want to start one, see if there are any local gardens, community gardens, or schools that will take them. Most gardeners won’t turn down extra, free compost materials.

Step 3: Graduate to loose leaf! The bonus is that it is usually far cheaper per pound versus bagged since you don’t have to pay the “processing fee” of bagging and packaging them. You can also get creative a make your own mixes. Go ahead and put a teaspoon each of green tea, spearmint, and chamomile in a cup, you crazy lady you. And then use a filter, steeper, or French press. And compost the leaves, too!

 

Reasons you should consider reusable filters:
  • Saves you money
  • Saves you time – never shop for filters again
  • Saves you hassle – no more forgetting to pick up a new pack of filters at the store and having to buy to-go coffee or -gasp- go without
  • Saves the planet – keep hundreds of pounds of plastic waste out of the landfills

And now that you have your delicious, hot cup of low-waste coffee, don’t forget to put it in your own to-go mug!

 

 

How do you get your caffeine fix?

Beverage, Casseroles, Finances, Fish, Healthy, Main Dishes, Meal Plans, Snacks

Weekly Eating – 9/24/18

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Hey y’all! Welcome to the series Weekly Eating.

Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.

Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!

The weekend was a good mix of relaxing and productivity and fun. I spent some time on Saturday whipping up a batch of hot sauce in green and red, along with some pumpkin cookies for this month’s food swap. I ended up with enough hot sauce that I kept plenty for us and also a bottle of each to swap.

so many peppers

I also finally got around to pulling up all the dead and dying summer plants from the garden. The tomatoes had been sadly neglected, as evidenced by several (at least 4) enormous hornworms I found. Like, these suckers were the size of my ring finger for sure. It was fascinating and terrifying and gross.

amazing photo of a giant hornworm on a tomato plant

And did you know they are a favorite host for parasitic wasps? Yeah… Nature, you creepy.

hornworn covered in wasp cocoons

In better news, we also attended the Eleventh Annual Pepper Fest! Held in Briar Chapel, between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro, it is a wonderful day filled with music, dancing, acrobatics, and all the pepper flavored culinary delights.

NC Pepper Fest 2018

Hosting everything from cayenne popcorn to ghost chili honey to pepper steeped beers and sodas, this festival will light up your taste bud and set your face on fire. If you want it to. The extra-hot stuff is clearly marked!

NC Pepper Fest 2018

From their website:

We are still tallying up things, but here’s where things stand so far:
* Approximately 3000 folks were in attendance
* More vendors than ever…89 booths!
* Local farmers were paid $3400 for 570 lbs of peppers of 45 different varieties!
*125 Volunteers helped put on the event.
*Kids Village was over the top! 250+ happy children
*Compost sorted by Kassandra & hauled off by Brooks Composting
Culinary Winners:
The Savory Stunner (Best Savory Dish): Little River Eco Farm
My Sweet Heat (Best Sweet Dish): Big Spoon Roasters
The Double Take (Most Creative Dish): Fusion Fish
The Platinum Pepper (Best in Show):  The Food Fairy
The Staff Sweetheart (Most Local):  Angelina’s Kitchen

NC Pepper Fest 2018

Monday:

Breakfast – Peach oatmeal. I need ALL the peaches before the season is over. way too soon, as always.

Lunch – I made a triple batch again of this cauliflower barley bowl, it is so dang good.

cauliflower barley cashew bowl

Dinner – Tonight’s dinner got muy fan-say. I had king oysters and enoki left over from a stop at my favorite asian grocery, so I made King Oyster scallops with rice noodles & enoki base, and a vegan cashew cream sauce. Too legit to quit, the boy even said it was awesome. I could charge $60 a plate for this ish.

king oyster mushroom scallops

I also had several passion fruits from a vine I found, and tried my hand at a coulis, which turned out divine when mixed with soda water. Homemade soda this week homies!

passion fruit passion fruit syrup

Tuesday:

Breakfast – more oatmeal!

Lunch – more Cauliflower Barley Bowls!

cauliflower barley cashew bowl

Dinner – This was the Food Swap, so I mostly nibbled on samples.

bull city food swap

But when I got home the boy let me have a half a burrito he hadn’t eaten with his dinner 🙂

Wednesday:

Breakfast – Cocoa puffs lol at least I used homemade cashew milk…

Lunch – red lentil dal with rice, hot sauce, crème fraîche, and a garlic curry sauce from the swap. YUM.

red lentil dal with garlic curry

And passionfruit soda!

passionfruit soda

Dinner –Baked cod with red potatoes and asparagus. Super simple, healthy, and tasty a.f. Also the writer of the recipe is freaking hilarious and I’m now a confirmed follower of her blog.

baked cod, potatoes, and asparagus

Thursday:

Breakfast – Smoothie. I got a cherry berry mix from the store, and it has cocoa nibs… I hate that. They are chalky and crunchy and I don’t want to chew my drink thank you very much. Now I know.

cherry cocoa smoothie

Lunch – Cauli Cashew bowl! Last one.

cauliflower barley cashew bowl

Dinner – Thursday Night Co-op! Today was BBQ pulled pork with slaw and chips, and dang was it good!

bbq pulled pork co-op dinner

Friday:

Breakfast – breakfast burrito w peppers, onions, mushrooms, and tomato + hot sauce. nom. nom.

breakfast burrito

Lunch – Leftover mushroom scallops & last of the seaweed salad

mushroom pasta and seaweed salad

Dinner – well, this turned into one of the most frustrating days of all time when my car smelled like smoke and just stopped running… and after the third tow didn’t show up I said forget it I’m just dealing with this later, and the hubs was sweet enough to take me to dinner, where I could drown my sorrows in a fishbowl margarita! The day got much better after that…

fishbowl margarita

Also the tacos al pastor were DELISH. I was in pain for hours afterwards because I was so full, but, #worth.

tacos al pastor

The Weekend

I’ll spend a big part of the weekend trying hard to stay off Twitter due to all the things I’m missing by not being at FinCon!

But there is plenty to keep me busy. Like planting all my remaining cold weather goodies like broccoli, cabbage, kale, beets, and radish.

fall garden vegetable planting

And pulling weeds. And planting oodles of bulbs now so our yard is a riot of color in the spring. And some garlic. And cleaning, which never ends. And turning this bumper crop of Carolina Reapers into delicious, face-melting salsa.

carolina reaper peppers

 

Food Total: $28.61 + 10.81 + 31.57 = $70.99

Not bad overall. One trip to the co-op for bulk barley and more canned pumpkin, one trip to Harris Teeter for cheese and other stuff, and a Produce Box delivery.

Lessons Learned

I enjoy eating the same meals over and over (see, 3 days of cauliflower and barley!) but I also really enjoy trying new recipes (mushrooms as pasta and scallops in the same dish? why not). Both of these things help me save money in the long run, as it keeps cooking at home interesting.

But, going out sometimes is ok too. The experience, not having to do dishes, and eating foods you probably wouldn’t take the time to make yourself all make it worth it. As an occasional treat though, not a daily ritual.

Also gardening is an immensely  satisfying hobby. Even when nothing grows. Even when the only thing you’re feeding is the bugs this year. Even when it rains too much, or not at all. The feeling of kneeling in soft dirt, smelling like compost and rain and Earth, digging holes and tenderly laying baby plantlings in there with the hopes and dreams of their leafy future… there is nothing else like it.

 

How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?

 

 

Administrative, Beverage, Finances, Informative

One Small Thing: Travel Mugs

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In this series I am trying to highlight changes or swaps you can make in your day to day living to decrease your waste production and/or use of plastics. These things are not difficult, nor time consuming, nor expensive (nay in most cases they will save you money).

Just try One Small Thing at a time and see if it works for you.

And then try something else. And something else, and it becomes your new normal. And before you know it you can live low waste, stop contributing to landfills and polluting the ocean, and save oodles of cash year after year.

Today we will talk about an easy one: Travel Mugs.

one small thing: reusable coffee mugs

In today’s consumerist go-go-go culture, it seems our collective lifeblood is at least 90% caffeine.

The average U.S. coffee drinker consumes 2.7 cups of coffee per day, with the average size of a coffee cup measuring 9 ounces.

In total, approximately 150 million Americans drink 400 million cups of coffee per day — or more than 140 billion cups per year — making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world.

And though coffee makes up 3/4 of all caffeinated beverage consumption, we indulge in our fair share of tea and hot cocoa as well (source1 & source2).

one small thing: reusable coffee mugs

That’s a lotta joe!

And there is growing demand in developing nations as well, as China, India, and more attempt to lead increasingly Westernized lifestyles.

The biggest suppliers are Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and Ethiopia (source 4). I know at least a few of those surprised me. Worldwide, we devour more than 121.5 million bags (60kg each, that 7.2 billion kg!) of coffee (source 5) and about 3 million tons of tea every year (source 6), with consumption of both rising.

This is in no way saying we should drink less caffeine!

I’m as addicted as anyone else, nearly nonfunctional without at least one cup of coffee by 10 am. I’ve even gotten to the point where I drink it black.

I’m so metal.

Just kidding, I avoid cream and also I’m cheap frugal. 🙂

one small thing: reusable coffee mugs

The problem is not the coffee.

The problem is not the tea.

The problem is the plastic-lined paper cups.

Literal mountains of them.

We throw away literally Billions of paper cups per year. Yes, most are made from recycled paper, which is great, and many companies even use that in their marketing.

But what they neglect to shout about is the fact that those recycled paper cups would totally leak burning hot liquid onto customers, without the dirty little secret inside.

“Though they are made largely of paper, disposable coffee cups are lined with plastic polyethylene, which is tightly bonded to the paper making the cups waterproof and therefore able to contain liquid.

In addition, the difficulty of recycling coffee cups is increased by the fact they are contaminated with drink. This means cups cannot be recycled at standard recycling plants, and must instead be taken to special facilities” (source 7).

In fact, less than 1% of all paper drink cups actually end up recycled.

Why is it so hard to give up this white cylinder of java?

Why You’re Still Not Bringing a Reusable Mug for Your Daily Coffee

To summarize the above article:

  1. Convenience – no one wants to have to remember a mug and carry it around all day
  2. Social status – carrying that white cup tells the world “I’m important and busy so I need coffee, and only the best and only the most convenient will do”
  3. 10 cents back for bringing your own doesn’t work – “Consumers are much more motivated to avoid a fine than to take advantage of a reimbursement, according to numerous behavioral economics studies (like this one). ” (source 8)

Walking around with a white mug can be just a simple way to get your java fix on the go, but it also has become a big part of our culture. The local coffee shop is a place to meet with friends, to catch up, for business meetings, or for focusing & working remotely.

The to-go mug signals that you are a part of the “busy professional” part of society. Even if you think that social cues don’t affect you, trust me, they do.

one small thing: reusable coffee mugs

So what’s a conscious consumer to do?

I’m definitely on board with bringing your own, obviously. That goes for water bottles and napkins and utensils too. Preparation is step one to success.

Just find yourself a mug, preferably insulated, that has a lid. Toss that into your purse, car, or gym bag. And then when you need some hot tea or coffee, you’re all set!

They are re-usable over and over and over, and usually just require a quick rinse between uses. Run them through a dishwasher every now and then too.

Mugs / tumblers come in tons of cute colors, patterns, materials, with reusable straws, and in different sizes to suit any need.

You can even use a mason jar! No kidding. Maybe get iced coffee though, since heat will transfer through the glass.

Oh, and you’ll probably also get a small discount! 

But, I’m definitely guilty of forgetting things.

Like, daily.

So another idea that has been proposed, and I think is a fantastic one, is a well-established mug exchange program, with branded, eye-catching tumblers.

This could be just among one chain, a local joint, or many coffee shops all throughout a campus or a city.

It would require a small ‘membership fee’ to get the first mug. Then you can drink it there, or take it to go. There would have to be a simple way to maintain membership status signaling, perhaps through a reusable lid you keep between cups.

Then the mugs can be returned to be washed at any other participating location.

Imagine how many paper cups could be saved!

This would also solve the problem of inconsistent mug sizes. If the menu only has prices for 10, 12, or 16 ounces but your mug is 9 or 24 ounces, how is the barista to ring you up? If the mugs were standard, that is no longer a problem.

You still get the convenience of having it to-go, if it is the tall, insulated ceramic type of mug.

And you still have the convenience of multiple locations.

Over time, as this became more accepted and became the social norm, this concept of reusable mugs would become the top social class, and reuse would be something to be proud of, to get all your friends on board with, and to brag about.

 

Want to learn about more Small Things you can do? Read up on cloth napkins, handkerchiefs, no more straws, and water bottles.

 

 

Are you on board the reusable cup train? Or do you find it annoying, inconvenient, or other thoughts?

Beverage, Comfort food, Dessert, Main Dishes, Meal Plans

Weekly Eating – Wedding & Hurricane Edition

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Hey y’all! Welcome to the series Weekly Eating.

Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.

Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!

 

Whoa buddy, what a crazy few weeks! Just as we were recovering from the hurricane of Brofest, where 6 grown men lived in my 3 bedroom house for a week and I fed them all, actual hurricane Florence blew into town, on the eve of my brother’s wedding!

On Sunday, we finally had a quiet, empty house. We did I don’t remember how many loads of laundry, and not much else. The plan was to spend Monday and Tuesday figuring out a cleaning service to deep clean, before flying to Ohio on Friday for the wedding. Well, turned out we spent Monday and Tuesday totally rearranging our plans, and driving to Ohio!

We got the travel alerts on Tuesday morning saying flights were very likely to be cancelled, and there were no penalties for rescheduling or cancelling flights if we did so now. So we talked it out quickly over email and a phone chat, and decided to take advantage of that deal.

I was quite proud of myself over the weekend for making a really nice travel lunch for myself, since Tuesday’s are crazy days at work now. I also re-used the plastic packaging from the Starbuck’s I ended up buying last Tuesday due to craziness, which eases my guilt just a little bit.

weekly eating hurricane edition

Then we also had our planned puppy sitter back out at the last minute, which worked because we were now forced to drive rather than fly. Now the pups could come with! So we were resigned to doing the drive we swore we’d never do again. In looking ahead at the weather, and the fact that many things were already closing or preparing to close by Wednesday, we made the call to just get the F outta dodge.

I’m very lucky my workplace was supportive of anyone who wanted to ‘evacuate’ and we could choose to work from home. Hubs already works remotely, so as long as we had internet we could still get things done and get a paycheck.

This was my first experience firsthand of how people react to impending disaster. I kid you not when I say that I had to go to three gas stations on Tuesday before I found one that still had gas. And it was completely out of regular, I had to buy premium at $2.99/gallon at that. After waiting in line for like 15 minutes.

weekly eating hurricane edition

There were lines to get into the ABC store parking lot (the only places in the state to buy liquor. People have their priorities straight…).

A friend I called said they had already gone to 4 grocery stores in the area and no one had any water left. The storm was planned to hit on Friday night. This was Tuesday at 4pm.

I got home to a madhouse of activity. Washer, dryer, and dish washer are going. There are still piles of random things all over the house, the refrigetrator needed gone through to freeze or toss anything perishable, and on top of it all we are now frantically packing to run away from a hurricane and into a wedding weekend that just got unexpectedly doubled in length.

We threw a bunch of things in bags, hustled it all out to the car, and hit the road by 7.

The drive was fine at first but we started getting a little worn out by 10. We had on and off rain, with a good hour of intense downpour on a windy country road, and plenty of traffic. By 11, we decided that stopping around midnight to rest might be a good call, and finish the drive early in the a.m. in time to log in to work.

First hotel we call: sorry no rooms.

Second: all booked. Third: no rooms.

No rooms at the inns.

Any of them.

All the way through West Virginia, and Virginia, and by the time we got to the Ohio border we only had 2 more hours left to go, it was 1 am, and we said screw it let’s just get there.

People are crazy, y’all.

Anywho, then we were finally in Ohio and beyond exhausted. I got almost 4 hours of sleep. I tried.

Luckily we stayed with my sister who is wonderful beyond belief. We both managed to get actual work done, but didn’t really get off the couch all day. I did buy some groceries to fill her pantry and cooked a nice dinner of Bayou Chicken Pasta for them to say thank you.

weekly eating hurricane edition weekly eating hurricane edition

Thursday we were a little more refreshed after a full night’s sleep. We decided to finish the 3-more-hours drive to my parent’s place where we were staying for wedding weekend because we had taken Friday off. I wanted to show hubs a little of my hometown, and it would be nice to sleep in and already be there to start the day.

Before we left, I cooked a 100% vegan meal to balance out the dairy and carb heavy dinner from yesterday 🙂

weekly eating hurricane editionweekly eating hurricane edition

Friday I took the boy to Mill Creek Park, a gem in the middle of Youngstown. It was approved in 1891, and covers over 4400 acres of hiking and biking trails, ponds and streams and waterfalls, and gorgeous greenery.

weekly eating hurricane edition weekly eating hurricane edition

We had lunch at Fellows Riverside Garden cafe, overlooking the lake. It was lovely, and their bagel & lox was divine.

weekly eating hurricane edition

My parents took us out Friday to a vegetarian place that they have repeatedly raved about called the Courthouse Inn & Restaurant. It’s by a couple who live (lived?) in NYC and have a very… unique sense of style. I can’t say I didn’t like it though. And the food was divine. The cauliflower legit tasted like wings, they had the best red wine I’ve ever tasted, and the sweet and spice sauce was delish. The stir fry over forbidden black rice was everything I wanted. And the carrot cake for dessert! Oh mama.

weekly eating hurricane edition

We also got to try a flight of wine at a local winery Sundog Cellars.

weekly eating hurricane edition

At my parent’s, it was pretty much just scavenge and find things to eat. But among the many meals that were “on the house”, so to speak, were the amazing rehearsal dinner that included a 16 oz ribeye steak and the cutest dirt cake of all time (the theme was fishing, because deep sea fishing is the couple’s favorite thing to do)

weekly eating hurricane edition weekly eating hurricane edition

and the wedding buffet itself was BBQ put on by Barry Dyngles, “Authentic Southern BBQ” lol. It was all good, but the brisket! Outta this world. I wish I’d had thirds.

weekly eating hurricane edition

And of course, it just wouldn’t be a Youngstown wedding without a cookie table. Cookie buffet really. Like, over the top a lot of cookies.

weekly eating hurricane edition

On the road, I had snagged a few sandwiches from a platter that were left over, so we just snacked and drank coffee. It was worrisome seeing all the signs reporting roads closed and to “limit travel in North Carolina”. Evidently there was a tornado and also flash flooding Monday morning!

But it was all fine, and we made it home safely. The boy and I had very different ideas of what qualifies as “comfort food” when we got home haha: Supreme frozen pizza, vs all the veggies stir fry.

weekly eating hurricane edition

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur, with oatmeal frequently the breakfast of choice since it’s easy and I had some peaches to use up in the refrigerator.

weekly eating hurricane edition

Wednesday the boy wanted to get creative and cook together, so we decided to have a make-your-own-sushi night. He got the rice started and thawed some seaweed salad, salmon & shrimp and when I got home I pulled out the nori sheets and we had fun mixing and matching and rolling.

weekly eating hurricane edition weekly eating hurricane edition

It provided about 10 rolls total, which was plenty for dinner and lunch the next day for me too.

weekly eating hurricane edition

Since I was on an Asian food kick, I also whipped up some quick  soup for lunch the next day with miso, veg broth, cilantro, hot red peppers, and enoki mushrooms. I ate that with the rest of the seaweed salad.

weekly eating hurricane edition

And of course on Thursday I went to the Durham Co-op dinner, which was sausage and peppers and onions. I met up with some friends, and met some new ones. I also got some cans of pumpkin pie filling on sale for an idea I have for next week’s Food Swap items…

weekly eating hurricane edition

And finally we ran out of almond milk, so I soaked some almonds overnight and made my first batch of homemade almond milk! So easy and so delicious. I think I’m going to try making my own more often so I can stop buying the plastic lined boxes. Plus you can customize the taste a little too, with salt, sugar, or vanilla. I need to find something to bake with the pulp now.

weekly eating hurricane edition

 

Food Total: uhhh, way too much

I usually keep travel and “entertainment” and groceries separate, but this trip kind of smushed everything together. We had some meals at my parents house (which obviously we didn’t pay for) and a lot of meals out provided (for rehearsal dinner and the actual wedding) but we also went out a few times, and I bought groceries twice for my sister to thank her for letting us stay with them.

Plus there’s the several coffees and sports drinks along the way to keep us awake and happy for ~20 hours in a car that I consider worth the cost in exchange for not dying or fighting.

Lessons Learned

Sometimes life can throw you curves. No matter how much you plan or think you’re ready, you just never know. We had to totally overhaul our plans and roll with it when the hurricane came to town. Luckily we were refunded for the flights, or this would be a very expensive surprise. As it stands, we did the best we could with limited time. Much of what was in the fridge could be frozen, so we didn’t waste too much. And yes we spent more than we likely would have otherwise, but life happens.

 

 

How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?

Administrative, Beverage, Finances, Healthy, Informative

One Small Thing: Plastic Straws

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In this series I am highlighting one small thing you can do in your life that will make a difference in our collective waste production and move us towards a plastic free world. Don’t forget to read back through why you should consider making the switch to cloth napkins, handkerchiefs, and anything other than plastic bottles.

Today, I am breaking the news: Plastic straw are out.

You may have heard.

There are literal laws against them now in places like Seattle and California, and massive international companies like Starbucks and Disney are on board.

budget epicurean one small thing plastic straws

And thank goodness for that, because Americans use about 500 million straws per day!*

*Though the oft-cited 500 million straws per day number might not be accurate, the point is the number is really high, and no matter what the number is, we can and should work towards lowering it.

According to Time.com:

“Some scientists estimate there are 7.5 million plastic straws polluting U.S. shorelines, and anywhere from 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws on shorelines around the world. And plastic straws are just a small percentage of the more than 8 million metric tons of plastic that end up in the ocean each year.”

So whether the number is 5 thousand or 5 million, we need it to become closer to zero.

Some may argue the fact that straws are plastic and recyclable. To which I ask: when is the last time you actually recycled a straw?

We are really bad at recycling straws.

They are small, and so ubiquitous as to be an afterthought.

And even if we tried to recycle them, the machinery we have is built for dealing with cans and bottles and laundry detergent jugs, it cannot sort things in the tiny size range of straws.

Here’s a quick primer to answer: “can I recycle this”.

Recycling Mystery: Plastic Straws

Now, I want to be clear: this is not a political issue for me.

This is not a liberals versus conservatives thing.

I don’t give a good goddamn if you have a closet full of rifles or voted for Obama, twice.

I’m not advocating for #StopSucking or #StrawGate.

All I’m saying is, maybe this is the wake-up call that consumers and beverage providers need. The humble straw can be a “gateway plastic” of sorts. Maybe this will get people thinking about all the other single use plastics in our lives.

Maybe we can start asking why.

And how.

And what can I do to stop it.

budget epicurean one small thing plastic straws

We go through our days on autopilot, just throwing things away.

Where is “away”?

Where do you really think your trash goes?

Because literally every piece of plastic anything, ever made, is still here, on this planet. It may have broken down into microplastics, some may have been melted and turned into some other plastic thing, but it is all still here. And we just keep piling it on.

There is a lot of good to this movement, but also some bad.

Why People With Disabilities Are Sick of Hearing, “You Can/I Just.” And I Am Too.

There are people who, due to muscular, nerve, or other disorders, can only drink a beverage safely through a straw. And I don’t have all the answers.

What I’m hoping is that this inspires more of a cultural shift.

A change in perspective. A gentle jolt out of our complacent first world lives where we don’t know or care what is happening outside the boundaries of our social media feed.

 

Some ideas for alternatives to plastic straws:

Other straw materials

To choose the right alternative straw for you, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

What is your price point? How often do you use a straw? Hot or cold drinks? Thick or thin liquids? (i.e. milkshakes and smoothies vs iced coffee, water, and tea)

The good news is there is a plethora of options, with more becoming available all the time.

Paper:

Paper Straws are made from… paper.

The good news is that means they are compostable at the end of their life span and can be returned to the earth. They do have their own pitfalls as well though.

budget epicurean one small thing plastic straws

PROS
o Can be printed with food safe vegetable inks
o Vintage appearance, vibrant and colourful
o Completely biodegradable & compostable
o Great for use with children
o Trees can be a renewable resource if harvested responsibly

CONS
o Will go soggy after a short period of time
o Not suited for thick smoothies and milkshakes
o Some may still be coated in a thin layer of plastic

Sugar cane or Corn starch:

PLA STRAWS – PLA, short for ‘Polylactic Acid’ is made from a renewable resources, such as corn starch & sugar cane.

PROS
o Has the appearance of plastic
o Completely Biodegradable & compostable
o Made from renewable sources
o Can make it flexible like bendy straws
o Easily transportable

CONS
o Can only be composted at commercial composting facility, not at home
o Looks like plastic, so consumers may mistake it for plastic
o Not yet cost effective to a large restaurant/supplier

Glass:

Glass straws are of course made from glass. Most are decently thick such that you shouldn’t have to treat them too delicately, but they are still, well, made of glass.

PROS
o Very smooth, like sipping right from the glass
o Clear, you can see that it’s clean (hopefully)
o Doesn’t really conduct heat, so you can drink hot or cold drinks

CONS
o Easily breakable if dropped or banged against anything
o Slightly heavier than paper or PLA straws

Steel

Stainless steel straws are the most durable option. Made from stainless steel, they should last forever, and not rust.

PROS
o Lasts a LONG time, very cost effective
o Sleek and smooth like the glass kind

CONS
o May hurt if you hit yourself in the teeth with it
o Conducts heat well, so a hot drink might be a problem
o May occasionally get a metallic taste using it

budget epicurean one small thing plastic straws

Reusable sturdy plastic

When all else fails, a reusable plastic straw can at least be washed and drunk from many many times.

I’ll admit I have a handful of plastic straws that I bought on sale at Target several years ago. While they are plastic, they are also a sunk cost for me. They have already been manufactured, packaged, shipped, and bought.

They are a thicker, heavier plastic, and they are dishwasher safe. I use these straws to get myself to drink more water throughout the day, in my morning smoothies, iced coffees, and in many other ways, at home and out and about.

Since I wash them over and over, I’m certain these 5 or 6 straws have already been used dozens of times, and have several more years of life left in them.

 

Bring your own, duh

To go along with the points above about using your own straw that can be used over and over, it is also a good idea to bring one with you at all times if you are a frequent straw user.

There are legitimate arguments from some corners to keep at least the option of straws at restaurants, mainly for folks who, because of a disability, literally cannot drink without straws for one reason or another.

To that I say, why not have places that sell beverages be stocked with reusable straws that they can also sell? (See above)

Have it be a low enough price point that it is affordable, maybe $1.

Yes, everyone is human and if this is your situation you likely carry a straw regularly. But forget enough times and it will become very ingrained, and/or you will eventually have a straw in every car, bag, purse, and coat pocket.

Just drink from the damn glass

This is the simplest option of all: just don’t.

Like the opposite of Nike.

Just don’t use a straw.

Drink from the glass like humans have done for millennia.

budget epicurean one small thing plastic straws

Whether hot or cold, at home or on the go, you can always just drink from the vessel into which you put your liquid. And then of course either wash and reuse it, or properly recycle the container.

 

Want to figure out which straw you should use?
Take the Going Zero Waste quiz and find out!

 

 

What do you think about these plastic straw bans? About time, or too little too late? How do you avoid plastic straws?
Appetizers, Beverage, Breakfast, Casseroles, Crock pot, Finances, Healthy, Less than 5, Main Dishes, Meal Plans, Side dishes, Snacks

Weekly Eating – 8/27/18

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Hey y’all! Welcome to the series Weekly Eating.

Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.

Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!

 

 

Well, Saturday ended up being MUCH more productive than I expected! I took that 20 pounds of peaches and turned it into 10 jars of peach jam (4 of which are destined for the food swap) and 6 jars of quartered canned peaches in the pantry! The pantry is slowly coming along as I edge out plastics with glass jars and canned items.

budget epicurean pantry

At the thrift store I also found some nice baskets for pantry items and a ton of excellent glassware. I also spent some time hanging up pants I bought at the thrift store for $4 each to dry, and ironing a batch of freshly laundered handkerchiefs. Oh, and had my first taste of a fresh fig! They are seriously amazing.

budget epicurean ironing handkerchiefs

Also, that ridiculously expensive spirulina? Yeah, turns out it turns all smoothies a really unappetizing brown/black color… The boy and I are both not impressed. Chalk that up to a costly lesson. No photos here… you’re welcome.

And I almost forgot, Sunday I hosted another tea party! I had a few girlfriends over for a few hours, to snack and chat and drink tea (of course). It’s always nice to have time to relax and catch up on each others’ lives. And also the food. I love making it, and I love sharing it, and I love eating it!

budget epicurean appetizers
Local tomato bruschetta and goat cheese stuffed dates and figs with sage and balsamic drizzle

Monday:

Breakfast – smoothie with banana, frozen mixed berries, and spirulina

Lunch – I had a later than usual breakfast, and an earlier than usual dinner, so no lunch today

Dinner – Tonight was Food Swap night! I inhaled some leftover quinoa with veggies before running out the door.

Hosted at Bull City Ciderworks, we had a good turnout, and lots of new faces. I made some new connections, and came home with a pretty great variety of stuff. My first time making biscotti turned out great, thank goodness, and the pistachio cardamom was a hit.

budget epicurean pistachio cardamom biscotti

Tuesday:

Breakfast – smoothie with frozen cherries and blueberries and fresh peaches. Yes that is a plastic straw but it is the heavier reusable kind.

budget epicurean breakfast smoothie

Lunch – I prepped two big kale and chickpea salads over the weekend to have for grab and go lunches. It couldn’t be simpler: 3-4 handfuls of kale, rub with olive oil and lemon juice. Split a drained can of chickpeas between 2 salads, sprinkle on garlic salt, pepper, and grated parmesan cheese if desired.

budgetepicurean kale and chickpea salad

Dinner – leftover chicken and rice soup

Wednesday:

Breakfast – smoothie with frozen tropical mix, fresh peaches, cherry juice, and amla powder. I love this mix of fruit, but I hate that they put coconut chunks in it. Just why?

budget epicurean breakfast smoothie

Lunch – thawed homemade ravioli from a previous food swap with thawed pesto made from my own basil 🙂

budget epicurean ravioli with pesto

Snack – fresh heirloom tomato pico de gallo and blue corn chips

Dinner – I had a bunch of random odds and ends to use up: some pinto beans, a tiny bit of pico de gallo, a couple wet bruschetta. So I figured, why not make a Mexican strata? I layered the bruschetta in a pan, topped with pinto beans and pico, and poured on a few eggs. Baked at 350 for 40 minutes, and top with cheese and avocado.

budget epicurean breakfast strata for dinner

YUM! And now the fridge has more space! #nomorefoodwaste

Thursday:

Breakfast – Leftover pancakes with coffee. Whenever I make more pancakes than we can eat, I pop the rest in a bag in the fridge. Then all it takes is a quick reheat in the toaster, and good as new.

budget epicurean pancakes

Lunch – the other kale and chickpea salad, with grape tomatoes and an apple

more kale

Snack – I had myself a lovely tea time in the afternoon with green tea, my own biscotti, and a johnnycake from a previous food swap

budget epicurean tea and biscotti

Dinner – Thursday $3 Co-op dinner! Tonight was biscuits and gravy. None of us were brave enough to try the vegan biscuit, but the vegan gravy was okay. Not my favorite meal ever, but 8 of us all got together, there was much laughter, and live music. I’d eat cardboard and be happy in that situation. There’s nothing I love more than chill and cheap hangout with friends time!

budget epicurean co-op dinner

Friday:

Breakfast – a sad bowl of cocoa puffs. It was so tasty though!

Lunch – the rest of the leftover Turkish red lentil stew & some more grape tomatoes

budgetepicurean red lentil stew and tomatoes

Dinner – I started a crock pot full of chili this morning, and cannot wait to come home to that delicious smell! It also used up tons of odds and ends: field peas from the last produce box, rest of baked pinto beans, several heirloom tomatoes that needed used up.

The Weekend

Well, this weekend kids off Brofest at our house. Hub’s closest friends from childhood through college are all turning 30 this year, so they decided to do one big reunion /get together / celebration. At our house. For a full week. I have several friends with spare bedrooms on standby and a bag packed if I need a quick escape.

I kid. I’ve met all these dudes, and love them to pieces.

Anyone who is vetted by the boy and remained that closely in touch for two decades or so is clearly a good person. This week of relaxation, bonding, video games, and beer could not be more needed at a stressful point in his career, and I could not be more excited to have a houseful of hungry boys to cook for!

Though that does lead to the next point…

 

Food Total: $366.76

Ouch. Feeding a half dozen grown men for a full week is not a cheap ambition, let me tell you. But I am up for the task. We are now stocked for sandwiches, cereal,oatmeal, grilled cheeses, pizza, and more burritos than I would know what to do with.

There isn’t a spare inch of unused freezer space at this point. And I bet it will be nearly cleaned out by next Sunday. (HOW do parents with multiple boys in their teens at the same time stay solvent??)

But you know what?

Worth it.

Lessons Learned

As Mrs. FAF just pointed out, leftovers are a beautiful thing! I am so thankful both of us not only tolerate but actually enjoy eating leftovers. And I quote often even cook twice or three times as much food on purpose, to save us time later in the week. This is definitely one of my top tips for eating well on a budget.

 

 

How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?

 

 

Administrative, Beverage, Finances, Healthy, Informative

One Small Thing – Water Bottles

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In this series, I am highlighting one small thing you can change in your daily life and habits that add up to a plastic free world. Don’t forget to read up on cloth handkerchiefs and cloth napkins too. We as a species have a long way to go, but each tiny step in the right direction brings us closer to the goal.

Today, we are beating this dead horse: Water Bottles.

Unless you live under a rock, you know all about this. You’ve heard it a million times, seen it a million times.

Plastic is everywhere.

And none is moreso ubiquitous than plastic water bottles.

By the way, when I say water bottle, I also mean any other single use plastic bottled beverage. Sodas, lemonade, iced tea, sports drinks. They all come in plastic, and they are all part of the problem.

The numbers are pretty dire.

“Annual consumption of plastic bottles is set to top half a trillion by 2021, far outstripping recycling efforts and jeopardising oceans, coastlines and other environments” (Source: the Guardian)

plastic water bottles on a table

Think about everywhere you may have been offered or used a plastic water bottle.

  • Your office or work place
  • At a conference
  • A kids sports event
  • At a play or musical
  • Moving day
  • Lecture halls
  • On vacation
  • On a hike
  • At a lake
  • Camping
  • Potlucks
  • Barbeques
  • Office meetings
  • Retirement party
  • Birthday party
  • Wedding shower
  • Baby shower
  • On a plane
  • In an airport
  • At an amusement park
  • An aquarium
  • At the zoo
  • Skating rink
  • Soccer stadium
  • Baseball stadium
  • Football stadium
  • Hockey rink (you get the point)
  • Family holidays
  • At a friends’ house
  • At your house?!?

With the exception of times when local municipal water is honestly not safe to drink, there is absolutely no excuse to drink bottled water rather than tap water in your own home.

If this is your situation, then by all means drink from bottles. Water is hella important to the staying alive thing, and I’d far prefer that you drink water than not.

As the daughter of a chemist and director of seven water management facilities, I can tell you that 99% of tap water is perfectly safe to drink. I grew up my whole life drinking tap water.

Is it a taste thing?

Do you not like that water has no flavor? Does your tap water have too much chlorine or other flavor you don’t like?

Get a filter. Add cucumber slices or frozen berries. Squirt in some lemon juice. Invest in a SodaStream to make it fizzy. Hell, buy a few Mios and squirt some in.

No excuses.

And when you are out and about, there is a 90% chance that you can find a tap to refill a bottle, IF you have one. That’s a big if. Just like stocking every bag and car with a reusable cloth bag, why not start putting a reusable bottle there too?

If you have your own bottle, guess what?

That refill is free!

Yes, you can save yourself anywhere from $1 to $5 (depending on the location) by not buying a drink.

And, not use another plastic bottle!

AND, water is WAY healthier for you than any other sweetened, flavored beverage you might buy.

Win win win!

Any plastic, glass, or stainless steel bottle will do. Many colleges, businesses, or sports teams give them out for free. Thrift stores are bursting with reusable bottles for mere dimes. Get yo self a bottle and USE IT.

For the health of it. For the planet. For the financial savings.

SO, repeat this out loud please: I will stop using plastic single-use bottles.

Why?

  • It is 1,000 times cheaper to drink tap water! (Infinity times really because dividing by zero. #maththings)
  • Remembering my own bottle is easy, and will become a new habit.
  • I care about the future of our planet, forests, animals, and oceans!

 

Did I miss any water bottle locations or excuses? Just kidding, pretty sure literally anywhere could go on that list. How do you avoid single use plastic bottles?
Beverage, Informative, Less than 5

Tamarind Margarita

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Tamarind is one of the up and coming ingredients right now, being “discovered” by chefs and home cooks alike. And for good reason! Tamarind is sour, tart, slightly sweet, sticky, and a great “secret ingredient” in sauces, stews, drinks, and chutneys. Along with the culinary uses, it also has a whole host of health benefits.

But, what is it? A fruit, a nut, a spice?

Tamarind is the fruit of a tree, but is actually technically a legume. It grows as a long pod, sort of similar looking to a peanut. Inside the pod are the seeds, surrounded by the sticky sour pulp. This pulp can be used fresh, but most often it is dried and turned into a paste, which makes it even more potent. The trees grow best in tropical areas, meaning it can be found as widely dispersed as Thailand, India, Mexico, Africa, and the Mediterranean.

When I found a bag of tamarind paste at my favorite Indian spice store, I just had to have it. I don’t yet know what other tasty creations I will make, but I knew as soon as I saw a Tamarind Margarita recipe that would be my first experiment!

Y’all know I love me a margarita, whether mixed with fruit, hot and spicy, or as a two-for-one lower calorie fizzy drink.

tamarind margarita

Given that all the hype about tamarind is that it is sweet yet sour, a margarita seems like a natural pairing. I could use tamarind paste rather than the usual “sour mix”, which to be honest I have less than no idea what the ingredients are! I love swaps where I can use real food items that I can see and pronounce over a bottled chemical alternative. Even when the end purpose is not super healthy… but I digress.

We all have our vices, no? 😉

I did learn one important lesson about tamarind paste: this stuff is thick! It is very viscous, and not easy to dissolve in ice cold water. So after I made the first one, where I put ice in the shaker, and had to shake for what felt like half an hour, I learned my lesson.

On the second one I did not add ice, until after it had already been shaken and poured. So take note, ice cold water = paste staying paste and not dissolving!

This makes one pretty strong 4-ounce margarita, and is easy to double or triple. I used bacon rim salt because the internet said smoky flavors pair well with tamarind, and I truly agree! The boy, however, hated it and said he preferred just the drink alone. He wiped off all the salt. So, you do you, you’ve been warned.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 ounces silver or gold tequila
  • 1 ounce lime juice (or lemon if you don’t have lime)
  • 1 generous teaspoon tamarind paste
  • 1 tablespoon agave nectar
  • Optional: rim salt or sugar, ice to fill your glass

tamarind margarita

Step 1: Mix all ingredients in a shaker, and shake well. You can also pour it right into a glass and mix it with a spoon, but using the shaker makes me feel like a bartender. Plus mine has cute recipes on the side.

tamarind margarita

Step 2: If using rim salt (or sugar!), put some lemon or lime juice on a shallow dish. Rub the glass in the liquid, then dip into your salt or sugar, and gently shake off the excess. Fill with ice, and pour the margarita over.

tamarind margarita

Step 3: Enjoy (responsibly, please!)

tamarind margarita

If you don’t have agave, or are trying to cut out sugar, feel free to leave it out, or substitute brown sugar or stevia. But it will be quite sour and tart if you use no sweetener. You could also omit the lime juice, if the tamarind is strong enough of a flavor. It does make the drink an odd brown color but I promise it is worth the taste!