Tracey Allen's Blog, page 11

Pancakes - Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Lent Friendly

Same story, different meal - Orthodox fast for Christmas means no dairy or meat and then being celiac means gluten-free.  We had a pancake lunch at Church and since I can't have the regular ones, I brought my own stuff and cooked my own batch...even people who aren't celiac liked this recipe so I thought I should share it. 

Servings: 4 nice size pancakes



Dry Ingredients:
1 cup GF Flour (I use my special mix in Easy Gluten-free Lunches and Snacks: Simple Cookbook)
1/4 cup sugar (feel free to reduce if you like)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup non-dairy milk ( I use coconut milk)
1/4 cup oil (I use olive oil)
1 Tbsp of ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp of water
Optional: 1 tsp gluten-free vanilla

Instructions:
1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Mix wet ingredients.
3. Blend with mixer or food processor the dry/wet ingredients together.
4. Pour on a griddle in a circle.  Flip when batter bubbles. 
5. Serve with maple syrup, jam or molasses.

Update on our Passive Solar House

Details and background can be found here http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/BermedICF/BermedICF.htm

Update: Update: Our electricity this month (October bill) was $85.59 including the $26.92 service fee so energy use was 453 kwh (we believe we can get this down further). Since moving in July 19th - we have used our wood stove 5 times and 2
of those were to test the new woodstove with once to re-heat our house after our son decided at 6pm in the evening while we were out to open some windows he was hot - then left the house, not realizing that you can't just turn on the furnace! :-) The other two were after three days of cloudy weather.  Today, November 21st we woke up to a house of 60F or 15C and now at 8:20am it is almost 70F with the sun shining.  Weather today outside "Issued : 5:00 AM AST Wednesday 21 November 2012 Today Clear. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this morning. Fog patches inland early this morning. Wind northeast 20 km/h becoming light this morning. High 6C. (around 40F)" 

We are very happy with our building choice. Building a Passive Solar House: My Experience Shared

Easy Chocolate Ice Cream - Paleo, Gluten-free, Lactose-free

I've stopped eating regular chocolate ice cream reason - it is the Christmas fast for Orthodox Christians (we become vegan until Christmas) or to avoid the chemicals in our processed foods...either one works for eliminating it from my diet.  Of course, I was craving it like crazy the other day....so had to do something and going to the store wasn't an option.  Happily I've discovered an easy recipe that one could even say has part of the key food groups! So it is healthy too :-) Here it is:
Servings: Makes about 4 servings...depending who is eating it.

Ingredients:
1  1/4 cup coconut milk (any non-dairy would likely do)
3 frozen bananas (I'm sure fresh work too)
2 Tbsp cocoa (apparently a super food according to Food Matters)
2 Tbsp honey (the good local stuff)
pinch of salt

Instructions:
1.  Throw it all in the food processor or blender and give a good blend.
2. Place in container in freezer for about 2 hours, stirring every once (every 30 minutes) and while until it hardens.
3. Eat!

Author Video about Easy Gluten-free Lunches and Snacks: Simple Cookbook

Being Celiac is expensive enough - this cookbook gives you one all purpose flour mix (no corn, no soy, no potato, and no bean flours used,) plus gives easy instructions, fewest ingredients, and great tasting healthy food options while helping to keep you on track for your food budget.
Book available at The Bookmark in Charlottetown, Amazon.com online in Kindle and colour paperback.

Reducing 'stuff' in the bathroom

First besides wanting to reduce 'stuff', or 'clutter' making my life simplier, I also try hard to avoid chemicals, as much as possible. 
And you may have noticed in the news articles about chemicals in our bathroom products.  Here are just a few:

Problems: Chemicals in Shampoo - too much 'stuff' or 'clutter'
Deadly Antibacterial Chemical Triclosan Found in Human Breast Milk, Blood Plasma
and Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Basically you need to worry about whether your shampoo contains neurotoxins, or carcinogens or reproductive toxins - I don't care what brand it is....I don't want to use it!  You can buy supposely organic and natural shampoos but I've noticed even those have bad chemicals listed at times.  Plus the cost is high, they use a lot of packaging (bad for the environment), and they in plastic bottles most of the time.

Solution: Goat Milk Shampoo Soap
I've tried different home made versions of shampoo including the baking soda/water mixture among others and really like the shampoo soap.  He comes in scents from essentials oils or real herbs AND it LATTERS just like the high end shampoos.  Tip put the bar of soap on your head after wetting and move the bar around to latter...I just lattered it in my hands, and it wasn't near and great lattering.  The greatest part of all this is the fact that you can use the soap for everyone and you can use it for the your body wash too! Plus for the celiacs out there....this soap is Gluten-free....no wheat protein or startch is used!

These would make great Christmas gifts!

Disclosure: My son works for The Great Canadian Soap Company and I received a sample since they were imperfect for sale...just as good I might add.  Having said that, I likely would never have tried the shampoo bars otherwise.   

Solution to deficit pensions - Paradigm Shift

While this solution is intended to suggest an alternative or new paradigm for government retirement pensions on Prince Edward Island, I'm sure it could be used just about anywhere. First a bit of background preamble.

The Situation
In the  news PEI will deficit $436 million each YEAR
on the current government pension plan. The government employees will now add in $8 million a year from their wages and PEI Tax payers will add in 23 million a year or a total of $31 million towards the $436 million yearly shortfall, now my math suggests that putting 7% of what is needed towards a shortfall puts us still short $405 million a YEAR or in terms of population a shortfall of $2,892/year per Islander...now I'm not an ostrich so I don't put my head in the sand, so don't blame me when I point out the obvious - government pensions as they stand now are Not Sustainable. To put it bluntly, the government either this one or the next one will have to tell government employees there is no more pensions...there is no more money. The facts really speak for themselves, I'm not anti-government pensions. But don't despair there is a solution.
 
Now this hasn't been researched...it is all just off the top of head but here is where I see PEI sitting right now. 

PEI Strengths
 ・ Community based society. Let's build on that strength.
 ・ Birth place of Canada – we are trend setters even if we don't like change. So maybe we should capitalize on this and create the first sustainable living model in PEI. 
・ Social democratic government – or at least that is what I learned in school years ago.  This is a great place to be, theoretically it means we balance the social well being of citizens with the democratic process.  Maybe we could even consider the economy working with the environment.
 ・ We are small so therefore should be flexible/adaptable.
 ・ The government of PEI owns land throughout the province.
 ・ PEI is building, albeit slowly, renewable energy.

 PEI Weaknesses 
・ The mindset that pensions represent cash or money. Think for a minute what if  one there wasn't any cash to pay pensions (very real possibility) or two money wasn't worth anything (other countries have experienced this first hand). Keep that thought.
 ・ The wealthy want more than there share and this isn't just PEI. 
 ・ Housing is the biggest expense for Islanders 

Opportunities 
・We have the opportunity to build on our status as the birthplace of  Canada so let's create a sustainable living model for the rest of the country to
follow. 
・Mini-communities are cropping up all over the world – sustainable housing with renewable energy, community gardens etc. 
・ There are opportunities to generate new businesses for a healthy economy and ecology.

Threats 
・ The world economy is collapsing or for those that want a rosier picture is having some difficulty right now.
 ・ The retirement pensions are grossly underfunded.

Solution
Go back to the question of 'what if there was no money?' or 'what if money was worthless?'  Now consider one of the most basic needs is shelter.  What if your retirement was a guaranteed place to live rent free? 
 
Picture this: 
A mini-community where 2 bedroom passive solar/ICF 500 square foot homes were built in a community setting that were powered/heated by renewable energy, cars that were powered by electricity generated on site, and that there was a community garden, maybe even a hen house to supply eggs/food for the community.  And since I propose this as a retirement plan for government employees in place of money, a health care provider dedicated to the community to monitor  medications etc. 

On retirement an employee could take up residence free of charge for the remainder of their lives, open housing would be rented to off-set upkeep items.  Cars would be community property and the community gardens would be also. Moving people out of the city centres would also alleviate other problems such as over development, water and sewer problems, importation of energy, and health care
costs. 

I would suggest taking the $8 million/year from employees and $23 million from PEI Tax payers would more than cover this type of set up for 4,400 retirees or $7,045/year each...a mortgage on a 500 square foot house with infrastructure could be done with $587/month with additional funding from the actual fund  itself.

This is just one idea of potentially many, if we just think a little different, since we are moving into a new era one that will require us to adapt and change to remain sustainable. 


　

Top 10 ways to stop wasting your money- environment

Usually I talk food but when you are simplifying and saving, there are many areas to save or in this case eliminate waste of money and environmental resources.  We love our children and they love us but sometimes they just don't understand the power of waste and neither do we at times.  Waste in many forms results in lost resources and money. We have been trying to stop the waste and here are a few ways we feel we have succeeded....feel free to add to the list via comments since I know there are way more than 10.

# 1 - Hot Water/Showers - Heat is one of our highest costs and if you don't have to pay the bill then the more heat the better.  So why not take a nice long hot shower, not once but maybe twice or more a day. What is the big deal  - ah wasted water and wasted heat and both cost money/resources! I'm happy to report we try to limit our time in the shower to what is necessary...and an occassional treat of a little longer one.  That said my son has discovered that cold water showers are actually healthier for you - yeah! And he may be on to something check out this link 7 Healthy Benefits for Cold Shower  or hydrotherapy .

#2 House Heating - Heat for our housing was also a biggie.  Now in Canada the winters can be cold and most people heat with oil, gas or electric (some passive solar and/or wood too).  Picture this: teenage son in his room and he flicks up the heat since it is 'freezing in here' he says as he is dressed in only boxer shorts.  Before he goes to bed he opens his window (February of course), since he needs fresh air and heat.  Yep - it happens, been there...but not any more - we live in a passive solar house so there is no heating to waste, at least that we pay for....he can open the window in February but then he will have to put on a sweater....moo ha ha. 

#3 Food Waste - From my experience our families really want short order cooks in the kitchen 24 hours a day.  Want and need are two different things and while my mother told me if you don't like what we are eating, you can make a peanut butter sandwich - I thought I will encourage my children to cook.  And they are very good at cooking, I might add, one is a chef and other one could be if he wanted.  Now while this is a great skill for them to the have when they move out, not so great for when they live home.  Why you ask? Well now they don't eat what we eat (telling you after you made it), they also cook at any time of the day.....creating a greater potential for food waste.  Leftovers present the greatest problem for food waste...that and having your fridge so full you can't see what you have.  We are working on this one but leftovers are few and far between now, and we buy enough for a few days rather than fill the fridge all at once.  Article on from CBC on  wasted food .

#4 Electric Waste - It seems so small but it can sure add up leaving things plugged in.  Ipods, computer cords, phone chargers and the list goes on and on. It is called phantom load check out this article on it. Now if the cord is attached to the device ok but most of the time you find the plug in the wall with no device to be seen in sight.  Another awesome resource is Maritime Electric's house tour - very informative and nicely done.

#5 Leaving appliances/lights on - Have you ever left home and returned to find that every light is on in the house (Lights are on but no one is home!) - oh and no one is home.  In our new house we put in motion sensor outdoor lights so if you aren't within a certain area they don't turn on.  Great savings.   

#6 Overuse of Appliances - Here is a good news/bad news type of situation.  Son washes his own clothes - yes! Then removes one shirt and turns the dryer on a full load....not so good.  For months we played the mom unplugs the dryer since she doesn't use it, while son plugs it back in to touch up his shirts so they are warm! New house has no dryer - problem solved. :-)  Another good one is using the stove's oven part to heat up a few fries rather than the toaster oven. If the appliance is heat based then this has the potential to create wasted energy use...of which you pay for.  We found that when we starting fitting the use to the appliance that we didn't actually use the oven much sold it with the house and bought a Breville Smart Oven - love it and it is easier on electricity.

#7 Buying stuff you don't need - This is a hard one.  We have struggled and although we are getting better, it is difficult. We found asking the following helped: 1) Do I need it or want it? need buy, want no.  2) Do I have something else already that can be fixed or altered to work? yes - don't buy, no-buy. 3) Can you borrow it, if it only a temporary or one time use such as equipment? Yes -then borrow, no - consider renting and if you need it then buy 4) Can you get it at a lower price? or Get it second hand? Yes then do it.  etc. You get the idea.  The next very useful thing we did was become accountable to each other on our spending by writing it down - this saved some purchases! We also found in our new house that we intentionally limited our storage space so that we wouldn't be tempted to get 'stuff' since now we also had to think - where will it go?

#8 Banking - Banksters was a term I saw that made me laugh - Best advice - question everything and review everything, yes they do make mistakes.  Consolidate your banking accounts (chequing) to one joint account since you will save time and money by reducing your service fees.  Look closely at your savings vs your interest being paid.  One person told me they have money taken off each cheque to go into a Canadian savings bond but they have a balance they pay interest on their credit card.  You earn 1% on the savings bond if you hold it for a year while you pay 8%-30% on the outstanding credit card balance - pay down the debt on the credit card makes more sense.  Pay off your loans/mortgages as fast as you can - Mort (Death) - Gage(Pledge) or Death Pledge to translate your mortage. 

#9 Transportation - It would be lovely to own an electric car powered by renewable energy, however that costs money and we will save for it.  In the meantime we are very good to group our trips and map out our errands to save on gas/mileage.  Bike, walk and car pool where we can too.  It all adds up.

#10 Housing - smaller is easy to heat, clean, maintain, and prevents accumulating stuff! We downsized from 2,600 square feet to 1,600 square feet to our now 1,200 square feet house.  Three bedrooms and 1 bathroom, all I need to clean :-)

So tell me - what are you doing to save money and the environment since they seem to be related :-)

Gluten-free Cooking Class November 30th - Sold Out

The November 16th class is sold out so another class was set up for November 30th and there are still spaces left for those that are interested.  UPDATE: This class is now sold out too. I will take names/phone/email to contact in January 2013 about classes in the new year.

Gluten-free Cooking Class November 30th

The November 16th class is sold out so another class was set up for November 30th and there are still spaces left for those that are interested.

Vegetarian Gluten-free Almond-kin Cereal

Almond-kin Cereal
Easy to make,  (Vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose-free, Paleo) 

 Ingredients: 
1 cup roasted almonds chopped
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (raw out of shell, salted work too just different taste)
3 Tbsp honey

Instructions: 
   
Toast almonds in a toaster oven for 3-5 minutes and cool. (Toasted almonds are a great snack just by themselves.)
       
Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend – or a bowl and blend if you don't have a food processor.

Serve with milk or non-dairy beverage of your choice.