Mindful Momma

Inspired Healthy Dinner: Pizza Puffys

Looking for ideas for an inspired healthy dinner tonight? Here's one that's in frequent rotation at our house. Pizza Puffys are a cross between a German pancake, an omelet and a pizza. They are simple to make, very filling and best of all, customizable!

Start with a simple batter made with flour, egg and milk. Put it in the oven and watch it puff up dramatically. Then, top it with whatever ingredients you have on hand. We love the Mexican version (beans, corn, salsa, avocado), which is perfect for a meatless meal. Just add a green salad and you're good to go! I wish I had a better photo to share, but you'll have to trust me, Pizza Puffys are fun to make and even better to eat!

Here's the recipe, straight from my book, Practically Green: Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision Making. Use organic and sustainably produced ingredients whenever possible.

What's your favorite healthy, inspired dinner?

DIY Necktie Bag Tutorial

 

Do you know anyone who still wears neckties other than your grandpa? I happen to love neckties (so many cool fabrics!), but sadly, they seem like a dying fashion trend. Here's a fun craft project to make with those long-forgotten neckties you still have lying around the house or the cool, vintage one you found at the thrift store. Just follow these simple steps to turn a necktie into a cute little bag for your cell phone, iPod or mad-money! (sewing machine not required)

Here's what you need:

Necktie

Coordinating thread

Velcro closure

Decorative cord for strap

Here's how to make it:

Step 1: Cut necktie at 13 inches from the wide end of the tie.

 

Step 2: Fold cut edge under 1/4" and then another 3/4".  Press and pin to secure. Hand-sew the bottom edge closed. This will create the channel for the strap.

 

Step 3: Open up a few inches of the center seam of the tie. This will make it easier to fit things inside the case. (You'll know what I mean when you look at the tie.)

Step 4: Fold the tie in half (wrong sides together) so the bottom edge reaches just below where the tie becomes a triangle. Using a slipstitch, hand sew the side seams through the top layers of fabric. Do not sew the front and back of the case together, or you will not be able to put anything inside!

 

 

Step 5: Add a Velcro closure (follow manufacturer's instructions).

 

 

Step 6: Thread cord through channel. Cut to desired length and sew together or secure with a knot. Hand sew the cord in place.

 

 

Have you ever made any crafts with old neckties?

(Note: This project was first published in my book, Practically Green: Your Guide to EcoFriendly Decision-Making. Check it out for even more green DIY ideas!)

Lessons from the Lorax: 5 Ways to Help Your Kids "Speak for the Trees"

Unless you are living on a different planet, you've probably heard that Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is coming to town. Everywhere I look, there's another advertisement or product endorsement mentioning it. The adaptation of the classic book The Lorax by Dr. Seuss is about to hit theatres on March 2nd and I can't wait to see it!

When Universal Pictures asked me to be part of a 12 stop, Lorax inspired, blog tour, I was happy to oblige because there are so many lessons to be learned from this story, which manages to be both beloved and a little bit controversial at the same time.

 

 

The Movie

The Lorax, in typical Dr. Seuss style, is full of silly characters with even sillier names. From what I've seen in the trailer, it has huge appeal to both kids and adults alike. Still, it deals with a very serious, environmental topic - what will happen if we use up all the beauty in our wonderful world? I'm so glad to see this message being broadcast to a national audience. Let's hope people listen.

The Lesson

The lesson that stands out for me is that we must all do our part to preserve this beautiful planet we are so lucky to live on. I think it is critical to start at an early age, teaching kids to take responsibility for how they treat the earth. Help your kids "speak for the trees" by establishing eco-minded chores and actions like these:

Conserve water - Teach kids to turn off the water when brushing their teeth and to take shorter showers.

Save energy - Make kids responsible for turning off the lights when they leave the room. Show them how you lower the heat at night or when you leave the house.

Recycle - Let kids help sort the recycling (with supervision for younger kids) and take it out to the curb on recycling day.

Pick up trash - Get kids involved in community garbage pick-up events. Teach through example by picking up trash you see around your neighborhood and disposing of it properly.

Get in the garden - Involve your kids in growing something, whether it is a garden at home or a community plot; one tomato plant or a huge veggie patch!

The Blog Tour

Yesterday, my friend Lori from Groovy Green Livin shared her Lessons from the Lorax post.  After me, there are only 4 stops left, including Sommer at Green & Clean Mom tomorrow. Check out all the stops on the blog tour - each one has a different perspective!

2/20 New Green Mama

2/21 The Green Parent  

2/22 Eco Child’s Play

2/23 The Smart Mama  

2/24 My Plastic Free Life  

2/27Retro Housewife Goes Green

2/28 Groovy Green Livin

2/29 Mindful Momma

3/1 Green and Clean Mom

2/2 Moms Going Green Blog

2/3   Kitchen Stewardship

2/4 Nature Moms

Do you plan to see The Lorax movie? How do you teach your kids to "speak for the trees?"

(Full disclosure: I was compensated by Universal Pictures to write this post. All opinions are my own.)

 

Eco-Friendly Stain Removers

With two boys in the house, we get a lot of stains on clothing - grass stains, pen and markers, dirt, blood....you name it! So having an arsenal of stain removal stuff is pretty important to me. Still, I like to spend as little time as possible doing laundry so I appreciate products that are easy to use. Here are a few that I have tried:

Stain Removal Products

Vaska SpotOff - A spray-on spot remover made with botanical surfactants that will not harm fabric.

Thumbs up: Just grab and spray - it's so easy! Free of NPEs, chlorine, phosphates and optical brighteners. Biodegradable and color safe.

Second thoughts: Full ingredient list not available. Seems a bit pricey at approx. $10.99 for a 22-oz bottle but it will last you a long time.

Ecover - A plant based stain remover gel with a built in brush.

Thumbs up: Use brush to rub stain remover into stubborn stains. Affordable at $4.50 for a 6.8 oz bottle and you only need a smidge per stain. 

Second thoughts: According to Goodguide and Skin Deep, there are a couple of questionable ingredients in the formula, including 2-BROMO-2-NITROPROPANE-1,3-DIOL, a preservative linked to immunotoxicity.

Roux Maison - Fragrance free, naturally derived liquid stain remover.

Thumbs up: Readily biodegradable and free of the usual nasties like parabens, SLS, phthalates and formaldehyde.

Second thoughts: Complete ingredient list not available. Expensive at $8.95 for an 8-oz bottle.

Home Remedies

If you would rather try your hand at home remedies, here are some ideas from my book:

What are your tried and true stain removal techniques?

(Full Disclosure: I received samples of Vaska SpotOff and Roux Maison stain removers in exchange for my honest opinion.)

(This post is linked on My Green Resource over at Live Renewed. Check it out for more green living ideas!)

Highlights from The Non-Toxic Avenger

Not everyone has the gift of writing about serious topics with humor and wit, but Deanna Duke has quite the knack for it. Deanna, well known for her irreverent environmental blog, Crunchy Chicken, tackles the very personal topic of her family's exposure to environmental toxins with grace and levity in her new book, The Non-Toxic Avenger: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You, published by New Society Publishers.

Throughout the book, Deanna shares more than most people would be willing, about the health of her family as well as her own hypochondriac tendencies and personal struggles. Shortly after starting her blog, her son was diagnosed with Asperger's (a form of autism) and her husband with multiple myeloma, an incurable form of leukemia. Instead of retreating into martyr mode, Deanna dove head first into uncovering the health implications of the day-to-day chemical exposures that might have caused these problems in the first place. Eventually, Deanna undertook what might seem an impossible mission - to drastically reduce the level of chemicals in her environment, and ultimately in her body, by overhauling her life, product by product, using body burden testing as the measure of success.

Part of the draw of the book is to find out what ultimately happened to Deanna and her family (you'll have to read it, I'm not telling!) but the journey is compelling and believe me, you'll want to start applying much of what you learn to your own life, immediately! Here are a few highlights from the book:

• The "No-Poo" Experiment - After learning that most conventional shampoo is filled with parabens, fragrances and other unhealthy ingredients, Deanna decided to try the popular "no-poo" method of washing your hair with baking soda and vinegar. The results were disastrous and "For the rest of the day, my head itched like crazy and smelled like rotten bacon."
• The Off-Gassing Chess Set  - When her son Henry became interested in chess, Deanna's husband immediately ran out and bought a new chess set. Unfortunately, the board was made from PVC and "smelled like someone had unrolled an inflatable raft on the table". Deanna played mean mom and packed up the board to let it off-gas in private, before it was used again.
• The DivaCup - What's the one thing Deanna would bring with her on a deserted island? Her silicone, reusable menstrual DivaCup, of course! It's better than subjecting her body to chlorine and dioxin from conventional menstrual products and Deanna considers it "one of the greatest inventions known to womankind."

While I've never met Deanna in person, we've been blogging buds for years. Her humor keeps us "green moms" from diving too deeply into eco-despair and her pioneering ideas push us to keep trying something new (have you joined the Freeze Your Buns Challenge?) When Deanna asked me to write an endorsement for her book, (which you can find just inside the front cover), I happily obliged.

Bottom line? If you are at all concerned or even mildly curious about the effects of daily chemical exposure on our bodies and what you can do about it, I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of The Non-Toxic Avenger: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You. It's quite an intriguing story but you'll find yourself referring back to it as a reference manual again and again.

Check out more great, green book suggestions from the gals of the Green Moms Carnival, hosted by Best of Mother Earth.

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. There are affiliate links in this post. Any purchase you make helps keep this blog in business. Thank you!)

Practically Green in Chinese!

Imagine my surprise when I opened a package from my publisher and found 2 copies of my book, Practically Green: Your Guide to EcoFriendly Decision-Making, printed completely in Chinese!! The book has a completely different cover, as you can see:

And inside? Well, it's all written in Chinese characters!! The photos in the book are the same and all of the copy & clip guides and craft projects are there too. I can't help but wonder how it all translated. Anyone know Chinese?

I'm tickled pink (I mean, green!) to think that people in China are reading my book and learning how to live a greener and healthier life.

Non-Toxic Holiday Tips

You know what I would like for Christmas? I'd like to be able to shop without worry. To buy gifts without a lingering uneasiness that they might be unsafe in some way. To buy food without concern about chemical contamination. To make purchase decisions based on joy, not fear. Is that too much to ask?

I don't think it is. That's why the best gift I could hope for would be passage of the Safe Chemicals Act. My progressive Minnesota Senators are already on board to help get the bill passed but some Senators still need a friendly nudge to remind them that we need commonsense limits on toxic chemicals! If you haven't already, will you send your Senator your family holiday photo over on the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families website?

Meanwhile, since it's still the wild west out at the mall and the grocery store, follow these tips to make your holidays safe and non-toxic!

Shop safe

Obviously, you wouldn't knowingly give someone a gift loaded with toxic chemicals, but how are you supposed to know what's safe and what's not?

• Buy from companies you trust with a reputation for safety.
• Choose natural materials like wood and natural fibers over plastic and other synthetic materials.
• Skip the dollar stores. That cheap stuff made in China is more likely to contain nasty chems.

Resources:

Safe Mama's Safer Holiday Toy Guide

WVE Holiday Shopping Guide

Green Moms Carnival Green Gifts Roundup

Moms Rising Non-Toxic Toys and Non-Toxic Beauty Gifts

Mind what you eat

It's true, we do tend to eat a bit more than usually during the holidays, but it's possible to eat more and stay healthy as long as we're eating clean food, free of toxic additives. (the diet can start in January!)

• Skip BPA-laden canned foods.
• Buy organic when possible (at least avoid the dirty dozen).
• Avoid processed foods with artificial colors and flavorings.
• Use safe cookware and bakeware.

Resources:

Non-Toxic Kids Non-Toxic Holiday Tips

Katy Farber's Eat Non-Toxic Book

Essential Safe Products Holiday Gift Guide

Clean green

As we prepare for holiday entertaining, a big scrub-down of our house is in order. You can bet we won't be using toxic, conventional cleaning products to do the job!

• Scour the ingredients list before you buy any new cleaning product. A company that doesn't list ingredients has something to hide!
• Make your own cleaning products using natural ingredients like vinegar and baking soda.
• Use elbow grease instead of toxic cleaners.

Resources:

Groovy Green Livin - What's Hiding in your Cleaning Products?

Healthy Child Healthy World's Recipes for Safer Cleaners

15 Ways to Use Vinegar in the Home

What do you do to stay non-toxic during the holidays?

(image credit: deborah.soltesz via Flickr)

Eat Non-Toxic: A New eBook by Katy Farber of Non-Toxic Kids

If you have kids in your life, I'm sure you will agree that nothing is more important than the health of those special little humans! And what impacts health more than the food they eat every day? Yet so many of the food choices we are faced with are less than healthy. Cheetos anyone?

Fortunately for us, Katy Farber, author of the popular blog Non-Toxic Kids has whipped up a delicious little eBook that's all about feeding kids a greener, healthier, non-toxic diet. It's called Eat Non-Toxic: A Manual for Busy Parents.

This handy eBook covers the gamut - from breastfeeding to school lunches and everything in between. Here's a sneak peek at what you will find inside:

• Learn why it's important to avoid toxic chemicals in food and products used to cook, store and carry food.
• Find out where unwanted chemicals lurk - they hide in some surprising places - and how to avoid them.
• Discover how to get more healthy, organic, real foods into your family's diet.
• Tips for better, safer products for feeding your family.
• Tired Parent Cliff Notes - for the quick scoop on best practices for non-toxic eating.

Katy was even kind enough to mention my book as a good resource for healthy, homemade snacks. Thank you Katy!!

BUY IT!

Eat Non-Toxic is on sale for 25% off of the $9.99 price through Friday of this week (October 28th). Download a copy today!

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of Eat Non-Toxic in exchange for my honest opinion. There are affiliate links in this post. If you make a purchase, I will get a small percentage of the proceeds. Thank you!)

Easy Homemade Granola Bars

It was our turn to bring team treats last weekend for both Drew and Liam's soccer teams and my husband decided to make homemade granola bars. People were pretty shocked that we brought homemade treats - and even more surprised to learn that John made them!

Instead of following a recipe, John winged it using ideas from the Healthy Snacks to Go eBook and the recipe for Go Bars in my book. They turned out so well, I decided to write up a recipe based on what he remembered doing. But of course, I couldn't just leave his recipe alone - I had to doctor it up a bit for myself!

The point is that homemade granola bars are surprisingly easy to adapt. Substitute your favorite sweetener, whatever nuts, seeds or dried fruit you have in the house....you get the idea! Here's the recipe I ended up with. Use it as a base to make whatever kind of granola bars you like best!

Do you ever bring homemade snacks as team snacks? Do you have a favorite recipe you would like to share?

(Full Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.)

(This post is linked up on Real Food Wednesday over at Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Your Green Resource at Green Backs Gal - check them both out for even more great real food and green living ideas!)

An Introduction to Raw Foods - via Rawmazing

For quite some time now, I've been intrigued with eating raw foods. I took some baby steps a couple of years ago and I have continued to make raw food recipes from time to time. More importantly, I incorporate a lot of raw foods into my diet on a regular basis, mostly through salads and raw fruits & veggies. I find that I really crave raw foods when I don't eat them regularly.

Why eat raw foods? When food is cooked many important vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytonutrients are lost. Raw foods provide maximum nourishment to your body and help maintain a healthy immune system. Other benefits of a raw diet include healthier skin, fewer digestive problems, higher energy and more mental clarity.

I recently had the good fortune to meet the author of a fabulous website called Rawmazing. Susan Powers is the writer, photographer and recipe developer behind the intriguing blog posts and mouth-watering cookbooks - all about raw foods. Susan was kind enough to let me write a guest post on her blog about simple ways to live a greener life. Similarly, I wanted to introduce my readers to her!

If you are considering a transition to raw food or just want to experiment a bit, you might want to check out Susan's E-book Rawmazing: Transitional Recipes for Introducing Raw Food. The ingredients are mostly raw with some cooked ingredients like whole grains.  Use it to ease into a raw food diet - or to simply incorporate more raw food that you are accustomed to eating.  Susan shared one of the most popular recipes from the book on her website recently - Forbidden Rice with Pineapple and Sweet and Sour. I made it and found it absolutely delightful!

Susan has many other cookbooks as well, including her most recent, Rawmazing Frozen Desserts. She's also got a whole slew of free recipes on her website - truly a perfect place to start your journey toward raw foods!

Do you follow a raw food diet? If not, are you interested in incorporating more raw foods into your diet for health reasons?

(image credit: Susan Powers - Rawmazing.com)