attack of the alien food

Add comment May 14th, 2008

i know that next to toys, packaging for kids food is a plastic challenge. even if you tried to avoid it all on your own, your children still will bring stuff home. the snack mix in bag is from family. the fruit rollup is from the bus driver’s assistant. and the goldfish in an evil plastic bowl? well, those are my fault. but i’ve reused those little bowls with lids for a long time. they do well in the dishwasher.

why am i really really doing this?

Add comment May 14th, 2008

i told you in the beginning why i’m doing this “week without buying plastic experiment,” which has been easy so far since most of my buying won’t be until the weekend. (all i’ve done is gas up my non-v6, non-4-wheel-drive toyota rav-4 before the price went up to $3.95. it gets great mileage.)

but why am i really doing this? because i couldn’t find a reporter to do it and my assistant rockford woman editor shelley hendricks egged me on. she also told me i needed my picture on the blog, so here we both are, from her wedding day 2 years ago. that’s what she gets for telling me that!

another reason i’ve tried to be smarter about the environment is my children, of course. so it’s appropriate that i started this thing the day after mother’s day (mine was great, as you can see below).

toys, toys everywhere

Add comment May 14th, 2008

i have enough toys in my house that i could avoid buying any for a long time. in fact, i spent a chunk of a recent saturday just cleaning and organizing the. naturally, a bunch of them are made of plastic.

picture 1: messy room. yep. i think every mom has come home to this.

picture 2: baby doll things. made of plastic. even their container is plastic.

picture 3: a girly favorite: littlest pet shop. one of many plastic toys that hurt your foot when you step on them in the dark.

one plaything that is not plastic? the dora table. wood.

recycle or die

Add comment May 13th, 2008

someone hung this on the garbage can next to the aluminum can bin in the newsroom. it wasn’t me. it went up before my plastic experiment started.

update: i found out that chris soprych, our assistant managing editor for multimedia, was the culprit. shoulda known. he also one day turned our office creamer and sugar into dharma products.

band-aids: could you live without them?

Add comment May 13th, 2008

in a quick search, i couldn’t find an option that didn’t employ plastic. except maybe this would be better.

maybe liquid adhesive would be eco-friendly? or at least cloth bandages?

not sure i could get around this one.

didn’t have to buy anything monday

Add comment May 13th, 2008

but i do have to ditch a recipe, i think (my meal list is above).

on saturday, i bought lemon-poppyseed muffins for stuffing for a recipe and my 3-year-old ate one for breakfast (she never eats, so i couldn’t complain). so if i need to make it this week, i’d have to ask for the muffins in a paper bag instead of a plastic container. well, maybe i’ll try that at any rate.

p.s. i couldn’t find the recipe online, but it’s rachael ray’s:

chicken with leek and lemon-poppy muffin stuffin’ with pucker-up pan gravy broth

4 servings

2 medium leeks
2 T EVOO
4 T butter
2 celery ribs, chopped
4 lemon poppyseed muffins
3 to 4 thyme sprigs, leaves stripped and ch opped
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 t poultry seasoning
2 c chicken stock
8 chicken breast cutlets
salt and pepper
2 T flour
handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish

cut off the tops of the leeks, leaving 3 to 4 inches of greens (i just used 2 bunches of green onions instead). trim the root ends and halve the leeks lengthwise. thinly slice the leeks into half moons and transfer them to a colander. run the leeks under cold water and separate all of the layers, freeing the sand and grit. drain the clean sliced leeks well.

heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with the evoo and 2 T of the butter. when the butter has melted, add the leeks and celery. saute the veggies for 5 minutes, then crumble the muffins into the pan. toast the muffin crumbles with the veggies for 3 to 4 minutes. season the stuffing with the fresh thyme, lemon zest and poultry seasoning. moisten the stuffing with up to 1 cup of the chicken stock and reduce heat to low.

while the stuffing works, heat a second skillet ovcer medium-high heat. season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, then transfer it to a platter and cover it with foil to keep it warm. add the remaining 2 T of butter to the pan, and when it melts, sprinkle the flour into the pan. stir and cook for 1 minute, then whisk in the remaining cup of the chicken stock. cook for 2 minutes, or until thickened. whisk in the lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

pile up stuffing on 4 plates. top with 2 pieces of chicken cutlets and ladle gravy over the top. garnish with parsley.

do they still make envelopes without the self-adhesive?

Add comment May 13th, 2008

because if they do, i should probably start buying those instead (because then you don’t have the little plastic strip to waste).

i thought of this when my daughter wanted to send a spider-man picture to her classmate.

things in my kitchen that aren’t plastic

Add comment May 13th, 2008

you can always use glass vases (i try to send flowers without vases to avoid waste).

and you can use clothespins instead of plastic chip clips. if you don’t have any, they cost less than 4 bucks for 50.

does my life revolve around food?

Add comment May 12th, 2008

last time i was thinking about this plastic thing, it was breakfast. now i’m eating again.

for lunch, i usually use plastic forks/knives/spoons that i wash. i might as well use silverware. easy fix.

my bigger challenge: my fondness for gladware. (and i ask, “why exactly would you play this game?)

i can’t start my morning quite the same

Add comment May 12th, 2008

when i woke up this morning on my first day without buying plastic, i realized that i didn’t buy my lactose-free milk at the store this weekend, so i’ll probably have to eat peanut butter toast on double-fiber wheat instead of corn chex for breakfast in a few days. the milk comes in a paper carton, but the spigot is plastic. i figure i can suffer, though i’ll be less likely to make my kids suffer (they drink regular milk).

i also noticed that the box that holds my morning tea comes wrapped in plastic. i have enough for the week but will have to see if there are other kinds in aluminum canisters or plain boxes.