Healthy-ish chocolate chip cookies

I looked over what seems like hundreds of chocolate chip cookie recipes and their corresponding reviews online to create this healthy-ish version. Why? Because you asked for an alternative to the traditional crisco-laden sugar-drenched chocolate chip cookie. This healthy-ish alternative is flourless and dairy-free. Please note, it contains oats and, therefore, is not gluten-free.

Ingredients:

1 cup of coconut oil or butter (same thing)

1/2 cup of organic sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup of almond meal

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups oats

1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, cashews, macadamias, or almonds)

1 cup polyphenol rich chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 F

Heat coconut oil to liquefy it (it is already liquid in the summer).

In a large bowl cream together coconut oil and sugar. Beat in eggs and add vanilla.

Stir in almond meal, baking soda, salt until the mixture is creamy.

Mix in the oats, chocolate chips and nuts.

Roll the cookie dough into balls in your hands and drop onto a non-greased stainless steel cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Raised Tomato Planter

Last Sunday I worked on a super amazing project that I am excited to share with you - a 6'x1'x1' tomato planter. This project began with an old solid wood bookshelf that was sitting in the garage. We tipped it on its side, added a bottom and two ends from scrap wood that was also found in our garage.

We drilled holes in the bottom of each section for water drainage and added three planks along the bottom to raise the planter a couple of inches off the ground.

We put the planter in the middle of the yard to maximize sun exposure. Then picked up 4 bags of organic soil and distributed them evenly along the six planter squares.

And finally, we planted tomatoes that I started 4-6 weeks ago from seeds in cans.

This tomato plant looks pretty happy in her new home:)

The cost of this project was about $25 which is what it cost us to buy 4 bags of organic soil. We had tape measure, scrap wood, wood screws, electric drill and electric saw on hand.

We spent the rest of the morning decorating the planter with positive messages:)

Garment Dyeing

Over-dyeing is a great way to recycle and reuse a garment that you are not ready to part with. The garment in question may be a perfect but worn-out skirt that you've had since college. Or maybe you can't find just the right color cami in the store and would like to create a custom shade. Or you would like to give a whole new life to your wedding dress. The possibilities are as numerous as the contents of your closet.

There are many garment dyeing techniques and brands of dye on the market. There are just as many fabric dyeing recipes and variations. It seems to me that most people never follow a recipe perfectly. Last week when looking at a highly rated oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe, I read through hundreds of comments that read something like this: "Great recipe! I added less sugar and substituted butter with margarine. The cookies came out just as perfect as the recipe said they would." or " I used less oats and more flour and the cookies turned out as awesome as all the other people said they would!" Just like the perfect oatmeal cookie, there is no one correct garment dyeing recipe. And like with the oatmeal cookie, there is a chance that the end product will come out lousy or fabulous despite incomplete adherence to the original recipe. The anticipation of the finished chewy chocolate chip cookie (or a perfect shade of green dress) is simply exhilarating. That's a chance I was willing to take! After some research and despite some protests, I dyed an ivory silk dress green. (It is worth mentioning that Chemistry was my favorite class in college!)

This is my version for water immersion method for a long ivory silk dress and is mostly here for me to remember what I did:

Ingredients:
1 2/3 oz. container of Procion MX teal powder dye (found at Blick Art Supply stores)
1 cup Soda ash aka sodium carbonate (also at Blick Art Supply stores)
6 cups Non-iodized salt (found at any supermarket)
6 gallons of lukewarm water (75-100 degrees)
12 gallon plastic storage bin (or a similar size glass, plastic, or stainless steel container that is not used for food)
2 large plastic yogurt containers (or similar containers that are not used for food)
2-3 plastic spoons
1 stirring stick (found at Home Depot or any paint store) or a wire hanger
2-3 old towels
a box of latex gloves

Directions:

Prewash the garment, if it has never been washed before, taking care to remove stains. Sadly, the dye will not cover up stains.
Fill the tub with lukewarm water and let your garment soak.
Line the bathroom floor with old towels and place the dye bath container on the towels
Fill the container with 6 gallons of lukewarm water
Dissolve 6 cups of non-ionized salt in the dye bath, taking care that all of the salt is in solution
Measure out 1 cup of soda ash and dissolve in hot water in one of the large yogurt containers, set aside
Put gloves on
Add 1 cup of lukewarm water to the second yogurt container, add the dye, and mix thoroughly making sure that there are no clumps
Add the dye water to the dye bath, taking care to stir constantly until all the dye is completely dissolved
Wring out your garment and add to the dye bath, leaving the water in the tub for rinsing
Stir with a wooden stick or your gloved hand constantly for 15-20 minutes to make sure that all garment surfaces are exposed to the dye.
Take the garment out of the dye bath and add soda ash taking care to dissolve the soda ash completely
Put your garment back into the dye bath and continue to agitate for 15-60 more minutes.
After 30-60 minutes in the dye bath, wring our your garment and rinse in the water used to soak it initially.
Continue to rinse until the water runs clear.
Hang your garment on the line to dry.

General recipe:

1 gallon water - 1 c of salt - 1/6 c soda ash - 1 Tbsp dye
Usually 3 gallons of water are used for 1 lb of dry fabric/garment

More garment dyeing resources:

http://fabricdyeing101.blogspot.com/
jacquardproducts.com
ritdye.com
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml

A pantry

The word "pantry" comes to us from the Middle English "paneterie", meaning bread room. A modern pantry contains bread-making remnants of the 13th century bread room such as flour and grains, along with non-perishables. Is today's pantry still the best place keep bread-making essentials such as flour and grains? Today's post will discuss the best way to store provisions such as grains, beans and pulses, nuts, and flours.

As the weather outdoors is heating up, so is the temperature inside the pantry and cabinets. This change in seasons is my queue to move some food staples out of the pantry and into a climate controlled refrigerator.

Tree and ground nuts and nut butters should be stored in a cool and dark place, ideally a refrigerator (even unopened). (Tree nuts are, just what they sound like, the ones that grow on trees - almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, pistachios. Ground nuts are peanuts.) The fats and oils in nuts become rancid and spoil in the presence of light and heat.

Flour should be stored in the freezer. Freezing will keep the flour fresh and free from exposure to light, heat, and oxygen, elements which can speed up the rancidification process.

Beans, lentils, and grains should be stored in a cool dark cabinet. The ideal storage container is made of glass or stainless steel (not chemical-leaching plastic) and seals tightly to minimize exposure to oxygen. Glass mayonnaise, tomato sauce, and nut butter jars can be reused for storing bulk grains, herbs, legumes and loose teas. Adding a whole clove of garlic to each grain or legume will keep the bugs away.

Huge Impact

Last night I watched Collin Beavan's No Impact Man: The Documentary. Beavan's year long project into reducing his family's environmental impact, documented in this movie, had a profound impact on me. It reaffirmed for me that what is good for the environment is also good for me personally, or as Colin puts it, on his blog, "happier planet = happier people". And just like anything that is worthwhile watching - this documentary was not merely enjoyable and worthy of discussion, it propelled me to take immediate action.

Before I knew it, I had taken out my sewing machine, old cotton tablecloth and a tape measure and made drawstring bags for the greens and fresh herbs I pick up at the farmer's market every week. (Most weeks, I decline the plastic bag and just place the dill, parsley and cilantro directly into my shopping bag, often next to muddy beets, and later regret not having anything to shield them from the dirt. Also greens tend to last longer in the refrigerator when stored in a bag.)

As my reusable recycled cloth bags are drying on the line, I am inspired to completely do away with plastic bags. What are your thoughts about healthy and happy environment being inseparable from healthier and happy people? Have you seen No Impact Man or read Beavan's book by the same name?