Tonight we had chicken salad, feeding five with leftovers. We took one large cooked chicken breast, one box whole wheat shell pasta, one bunch of celery, and for dressing we used lemon juice, olive oil, and spices. And don’t forget the capers!
When I was young the only time we used vinegar was to color easter eggs. Many people use vinegar for washing windows as a green alternative, but the uses for vinegar are so many I will not list them here but refer you to two great links.
This website, http://www.heinzvinegar.com/tips, from Heinz Vinegar emphasizes using their product ensures you their product is natural and not made from petroleum of all things. It lists countless home use tips for their vinegars.
More uses for vinegar can be found many places. Check out http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/vinegar-uses-460409, and many other links for this remarkably versatial liquid.
You gotta see this
I found a green thrift link I want everyone to see.
http://www.greenamericatoday.org/emails/canews/20090519
It has great tips for all type of green ways and saving money.
Take a look.
Why throw out hundreds of baggies a year when you can buy reusable sandwich wraps? There is a large number of products you can purchase to pack your lunch in that you can use forever. Besides, according to the New York Department of Conservation, children who take lunch in disposable containers and bags, produce 45 to 90 pounds of garbage per year, or 18,760r 18,760
English: World English Bible - WEB
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! pounds of lunch waste for an average size elementary school.
There are a variety of items you can buy for your lunch that you don’t discard. For sandwiches you can buy a “Wrap-n-Mat”. It encloses your sandwich in a velcro sealed sheet of organic cotton surrounded by recycled plastic. There are also reusable snack bags for chips, veggie strips or other small snacks. There is a variety of stainless steel, or safe recycled plastic bottles for drinks. Then you can put your sandwich and other items in a reusable lunch sack.
For other foods you can get a stainless steel or plastic containers. One is like a plastic, bento box, laptop style container, with many colorful interior sections. To eliminate the use of disposable plastic utensils bamboo or any silverware, can be taken in a convenient roll up cloth.
For these, and many other great products you can go to www.reusablebags.com.
Lemon has been used for thousands of years for medicinal purposes, as well as cleaning. Lemons are rich in vitamin C which strengthens the immune system and acting as an antioxant, and protects cells from radical damage. It is also a great buffer in the body, although it is acidic, reducing hyperacidity in the stomach.
The juice and the peels are great antiseptics, and the leaves can be used to reduce fever. It can treat gout, arthritis, scurvy, inflamation of the mouth and throat, digestive orders, asthma, insomnia, nervousness, heart palpatations and stomach, liver and intestine problems.
Lemon juice treats sunburned skin and relieves its pain.
Lemon juice can be used as a disenfectant for wounds and those in the mouth or throat.
To alleviate sore throat and hoarseness, squeeze one lemon and dilute the juice with 1 cup of hot water. Gargle three times a day with the juice.
To stop a nosebleed dribble a small amount of diluted lemon juice on a cotton ball and dab it repeatedly onto the nasal mucous membrane. The lemon’s astringent effect draws the body tissues together.
So lemon can be an inexpensive cure for many ills. Squeeze to your health.
Energy Audits are usefull for any home and is a fast growing field. While you can get one professionally done, if you go to www.energystar.gov and click on the “home improvement” tab you can access the do it yourself energy audit- all you need is your last 12 month’s utility bills. The site will then lead you to home improvement steps you can take to reduce your bills and your house’s innefeciency.
To save up to 20% on your heating and cooling costs, work on sealing and insulating the outer shell of your home. It is the most efficient way to reduce these costs. The three ways to do this is to (1) seal air leaks all through the home to stop drafts. Drafts can be found by carrying a candle around door, window and other possible leaks. The second thing to do is to add insulation to block heat loss in winter and too much heat in the summer, and thirdly use energy star windows.
The best and most inexpensive resource is the DIY Guide to Sealing and Insulating with ENERGY STAR. The Guide offers step-by-step instructions for sealing common air leaks and adding insulation to the attic. It is free and downloadable from the website. So go ahead and audit yourself and save money and electricity.
Lemons, with their slight acidity and refreshing smell, are useful in many ways. They can be used in cleaning and polishing naturally, without the odor of vinegar, or especially harsh inorganic cleansers.
Countless other uses for lemons are available. More later.
Another good recipe, this one is tex-mex, using one large chicken breast, is for chili verde. It is like regular red chili, but with chicken, usually white beans, and green chilis. This recipe uses chicken leg quarters, but a large breast should prove meatier. This recipe serves 6. Enjoy.
6 servings
Preheat broiler.
Cut chiles in half; discard seeds and membranes. Place halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 5 minutes or until blackened. Place in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel chiles; discard skins. Chop chiles.
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 6 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Return chicken to pan. Add broth, 1 1/2 cups water, and cumin; bring to a simmer. Cook 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken; cool slightly. Remove chicken from bones; cut meat into bite-sized pieces. Discard bones. Add chicken to pan; stir in chopped chiles and beans.
Combine 1/2 cup water and flour, stirring with a whisk. Stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a simmer; cook 15 minutes. Stir in salt. Spoon about 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 6 bowls; top each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons sour cream. Serve with lime slices.
Another good recipe using only one breast of chicken to feed a family of four or five is chicken enchilades. The sauce can be either the conventional red tomatoe sauce or, as here, enchilades verdes, a green sauce.
Martha Stewart has a recipe both online and in the current issue of her magazine. It includes onion, garlic, fresh cilantro, tomatillos, jalapenos, poblano, tortillas, Monteray Jack cheese, sour cream, and 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast. This should be only one breast deboned making this dish economical. Tomatillos might be difficult to get as might be poblanos- you may have to go to a mexican market.
Here is the recipe.
Makes 8
hang-sheets-towels
Why Hang Your Clothes up to Dry
According to the federal Energy Information Administration, 6% of total energy consumed by American homes is drying clothes. Before the advent of the electric clothes dryer what did we do? We hung clothes up to dry outside, or if it rained, inside.
My father had a picture of his mother standing by a large wooden, square wheel. A woman would climb a short series of steps to reach a platform, then reach over to hang up her laundry over this frame. Today a variety of stands and ropes are available to hang laundry inside or out. Walmart sells an attractive simple wooden rack that folds like an accordion, but which broke under high desert winds soon after I bought it. Ikea sells a nice metal one, also collapsible, and sturdy.
Drying clothes outdoors saves electricity, saves money, and sunlight kills germs thereby disinfecting your clothes. What could be a drawback? Just ask your home owners association. 60 million people now live in some 300,000e 300,000
English: World English Bible - WEB
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se začne z 1! Vrstica 0 ne obstaja! neighborhood associations that are at least partially “governed” with codes of restrictive rules. One of the many rules and regulations prohibits the use of outdoor clothes lines and racks. Wouldn’t want to trash up the neighborhood I guess. I lived in a community where each house was surrounded by 10 to 15 foot high walls. Still the next door neighbor reported us for having grass that was just a little bit too high. How much more would we be chastised for hanging out laundry up outside.
Utah and Florida have ” right to dry” laws.May the rest of the states follow and save you and the U.S. 6%.
