Tracey Allen's Blog, page 3

Kids Cooking Class - Pizza and Wraps from Scratch

What fun teaching the next generation to cook from scratch.  Peter, Lauren, Logan and Lucas all in the 11-12 age range came to learn in the local Community of North Shore kitchen.  While two had only ever had microwave pizza the other two had done some baking at home.  Everyone brought an ingredient plus two brought their own pan and some materials so they could take a pizza home.  Starting off with the yeast setting and all the important information around yeast and how it works followed by making homemade tomato sauce with real and fresh tomatoes from the garden and some spices to mixing the ingredients, forming a dough ball and letting it set for a bit.  While the dough rose a bit we made some quick wraps for small, quick, oven pizza and zataar pizzas.  Getting their hands dirty was definitely a highlight but spreading the pizza dough out was equally as fun....nothing like feeling your cooking first hand.  The kids left with full bellies from eating the quick wrap pizzas and took home a pizza ready to cook and share with their family. 

If you have time...teach a group of kids to cook something from scratch the rewards are immediate from the smiles on their faces and long-term as they now have a valuable life skill.  A child making a meal all by themselves can be very confidence building plus makes them more independent and helpful around the house.  For me, the smiles were the best!

Natural Soap - Free

You might notice these lovely wild, road side or field flowers that are tall and have light purple flowers - they are referred to as soapwort....rightfully named so as they can be used to make natural soap. 

So I checked it out.  I harvested two stocks and trimmed the leaves from the plants. 

Take 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of packed leaves and puree them, strain the leaves out and use the liquid for washing your hair or your clothes.

I tried it for shampoo and while it doesn't lather, it leaves the hair feeling clean and silky.

And then I used it to clean laundry - seem to do as good a job as my regular laundry detergent.

Strawbale Gardening - for Squash

Every year we try something different...this year we had strawbales around our greenhouse.  We have framed in our green house 'properly' this year and decided to use the strawbales to create our squash beds. 

We used six straw bales per bed - 2 on each side and one at each top.  Then we layered with newspaper, then 'leafs' of straw with the file layer of compost.  Squash are heavy feeders so they will be pleased.  Another few weeks and we can put in the squash plants.  I'll post some more pictures then. 




Happy gardening!

To Ship 'Stuff' or Not - that is the question

We have family and friends who are out of our Province and we therefore need to ship gifts to them.  Anyone who needs to ship 'stuff' will tell you the cost depending on where it is going, is often more than the gift in some cases.  This brings me to the point.....cost vs value.

If you are sending an item that is a nice gift but not an item that can't be purchased in their area then don't....just send a card with the money to purchase that item.  Or in one case I ordered online and had the gifts shipped direct to them saving a ton on shipping as the online store offered 'free shipping.'

When you are shipping books, or other items ask yourself, would it be cheaper to buy the item again than to ship it? Looking at the cost vs value - how valuable is the item to me? Is it worth paying doubt for or is there another way to remember the item or re-purchase the item etc.

Why waste money? If you think it through and you still want to pay to ship the items then at least you know you have consciously decided to pay double for the item.

Eliminate Waste 2014 of Conscience Consumption

Eliminating waste is one of the best ways to go green - if we use resources wisely we are greener and saving money too in most cases. 

Ideas on eliminating waste:
1) Don't replace something if you can repair it, borrow it (especially one time or limited use items), do without it. 


2) If you buy something if it is feasible buy the item second hand, and if not, research for an item that is good quality rather than a product that will break in short order...often buying cheap puts more items in the landfill.


3) Don't buy it unless you need it. 


4) From an electricity point of view - if you aren't using it, turn it off and unplug it...phantom power (using power even when it isn't turned on, just plugged in) is a true waste of resources and the electricity costs add up over the year.


5) Do you need a second car, really? Really look at your transportation usage and decide if you could take a bus, cab, borrow a ride occasionally, car pool, use a carshare program, or rent on occasion.  The cost of two cars going to similar areas can really add up financially and add to the pollution. We have been married almost 30 years and have never had two cars. A car can cost approximately $5,000/year or more a year to operate (Registration $100, Gas $300/month, Insurance $100/month, car loan?, Maintenance?) and add "A typical passenger vehicle emits about 5.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year." http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/documents/420f11041.pdf Check out Car Share PEI http://renewableenergypei.weebly.com/1/post/2013/11/car-sharing-coming-to-pei-sign-up-now.html


6) Use mother nature's resources like the sun to heat your home rather than oil or even electricity.  See cheap and simple solar air heater http://renewableenergypei.weebly.com/1/post/2013/11/cheap-and-simple-solar-air-heater-championed-in-tignish.html

2014 The Year of Reduce - that is the Challenge

On PEI and elsewhere the 3 R's are often recited but rarely fully practised.  The recycling part, well we are all getting there...since it is pretty well mandated that we do so by law in many ways.  The reuse one might get some practise with the number of re-stores around from Value Village or Goodwills for my USA friends and of course we have all been doing the 'yard sale' thing since we were born!

So 2014 to me should be the Year of Reduce: 

Reduce our spending - most will need to reduce their spending anyway with all the other increasing costs).Reduce our consumption - Food, we eat too much, Consumerism - we consume/buy too much, Electric - we waste so much and so on.Reduce our dependence on Stuff - we have too much, we are cluttering our lives, depleting our pocket books, and creating a sea of waste in the process.  Purge and cleanse of a different kind.


This the challenge for 2014 try to do one of more of these things: This year the challenge is to reduce - even if you do one thing you will make a difference.  Get a group together and start to chart your progress.  Will you start a budget? Will you carefully examine every purchase- buy a quality product from a local retail store rather than multiple items you will replace over and over in short order? Will you reduce your shopping trips, look at replacing your CFL bulbs with LED or do an energy review of your home...do you 'need' three TVs in your house? Do you really have 'no space' or is it an illusion and really you have 'too much stuff'.... Purge, clean, examine your spending and your waste and see how you can REDUCE your spending, consumption and stuff in 2014.

Gluten-free on Nova Scotia Trip to South Shore

My husband and I took a short vacation to the south shore of Nova Scotia...me being celiac - the trip is through the eyes of a celiac.  We stayed at Alicion Bed & Breakfast where their concern for the environment was appreciated - organic gluten-free shampoo and breakfast friendly for celiacs - yum, just watch the hand soap as it has oatmeal in it...body wash was gluten-free though.  Kate's Café had wonderful coffee and gluten-free raspberry squares.  Then off to Mahone Bay where we ate at Biscuit Eater Café - the best grilled gluten-free sandwich anywhere! Also a trip to Eil's Expresso for a Florentine cookie (gluten-free)!  In Chester the Kiwi Café had triple chocolate chips cookies...worth the stop.  We then stayed at Inn on the Lake in Fall River, NS - I was given gluten-free crackers for my soup - also gluten-free....what a treat.  It seemed that eating gluten-free wasn't a problem anywhere we went...one of the best gluten-free adventures I've been on. 

Buy Environmentally Friendly Laundry Detergent and Support Sierra Buddies

I had the fortune the other day to receive a free sample of Dissolve Laundry detergent.  It is pretty neat, it comes in strips, very shippable, compact and easy to use. 

Environmentally friendly - check.

Economically friendly - check 144 loads for $14.99 (.10cents a load) compared to my current brand but not as cheap making your own.
And you can Buy One, Get One FREE until Oct. 31!

Socially Responsible - support a cause such as Sierra Club Atlantic Wild Child and Sierra Buddies

Try them today and see if they work for you. I plan on using them for my next load of laundry.  Note, you might dissolve them ahead of time in water for a front load washer, as they may not break down enough in a low water load.

Passive House Results - Overcast, Coolish Day

As you know I live in an earth-bermed passive solar house in Prince Edward Island, Canada.  Today is a rainy, overcast, and relatively cool day at12C or 60F and our house's current temperature without any heating is  at 69F or 20.55C.

It has been a year and two months since we moved in and we are very pleased with the results.

Make Your Own Onion Powder - Simple & Easy

I was given a wonderful gift of garlic scrapes powder and it was delicious. It had me thinking about making my own, unfortunately, I had already harvested my garlic, so that will be a next year project.  I decided to use the same idea of drying my garlic tops, but use onion tops, so I did and highly recommend it.  Often we just throw the tops out but they can provide a very flavourful powder for cooking soups/stews etc.


Step 1 - Harvest the tops.   Grow your own onions or harvest the tops from a friend with a garden.  

Step 2 - Dry the tops.   You can cut them up slightly or leave them whole it is your choice, depending on how you are drying them.  I used a dehydrator but you can use a solar dryer, or an oven. 

Step 3 - Grind them into powder.  I have small spice grinder but you can do it by hand or use a food processor, whatever works for you.

Step 4 - Store in a dry airtight container out of direct sun.

This powder is more green since it is from the tops rather than the onion itself.  Great way not to waste anything grown and the taste is wonderful add just like onion powder to give an onion taste to your recipes.  Enjoy!