Love Sweet Love

Valentine's Day: an easier "holiday" to not get caught up in. We painted and stamped, rolled and cut. These cookies are pretty great. Our house smelled like cinnamon buns. It was almost plastic free. I'm looking for plastic-free paint options for kids. I'm also looking for plastic-free options for brown sugar. 

 

Bread

Helping knead the bread.

 

 

 

 

Some of you may know about my efforts to reduce the amount of plastic in my life. If you're wondering what that's about, this blog is helpful. 
One way that we reduce a bit of plastic in our kitchen is by baking our own bread at home. This way, we don't acquire the plastic bread bags. We have a few different recipes that we rotate, but mostly rely on two. We have one for when we want to make a big batch and unfortunately I can't find the link to the recipe. This one is for when we are feeling lazy want something a little more "artisan" tasting.

Frugal Hot Weather Decadence

One of my favourite things to make in hot weather is iced coffee. There is something about it that is so decadent, yet it is hardly different than our regular drip coffee. This is definitely not a food blog, and I am not a gourmet cook, but I'll share with you my method of making iced coffee.

1. Make a pot of strong coffee. We generally buy Kicking Horse brand coffee simply because it comes as whole beans, is organic and fair trade. If we make it out to Ten Thousand Villages, we buy a few packages of their whole bean version of the Ethiopian Blend.

2. Pour some of it into an ice cube tray to make coffee ice cubes. You can use regular ice cubes, but I'm not a fan of weak coffee, so I'd rather not water it down when the cubes melt. If I think of it, I save leftover coffee and use that for ice cubes. (I bought my non-plastic ice cube trays at an MCC. Took some getting used to, but I love them now.)

3. Chill the coffee in the fridge. 

4. When cool, doctor it up the way you'd like and add a few ice cubes to keep it cold. Normally I don't put sugar in my coffee, but for this, about a half teaspoon makes it extra special. 

It tastes like heaven. Funny how a temperature change can make a world of difference. It feels like such a treat and I am even more pleased when I think about what a simple pleasure it is. 

I'm trying to get into sewing. I think this little bib turned out nicely enough to give as a gift. I hope my new little relative likes it. This diaper cream is amazing. It's safe for cloth users and it comes in virtually plastic-free packaging (plastic under the metal lid).

Living Less Plastic

Something that has become very important to me is trying to live with less plastic. We are addicted to the stuff and it is harming us and our earth. Here are a few blogs that have been helpful to me, some have even been life changing for me. Please consider your consumer habits and how they affect our world. As one blogger puts it, the three R's should be switched to five; rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, re-imagine. As he also says, "Responsibility is not convenient -- it's necessary."

• My Plastic-Free Life  - the most life-changing blog I've subscribed to
• Beyond Plastic - an aggressive approach to changing our lifestyles
• The Clean Bin Project - a good account of a plastic-free lifestyle
• Plastic Manners - another good account of a plastic-free lifestyle
• Life Without Plastic - a blog linked to a wonderful, nearly plastic-fee online shop
• Life Less Plastic - nothing has been posted here for over a year, but it is still a good resource

 

The majority of our son's toys are non-plastic.