My husband just sent me this link to a short article on Current about how there is no “local vs. organic.” I was glad to read it because when I hear people say that buying local is better than organic and vice versa, it made no sense to me. They’re two completely separate things. Buy organic AND local, if you can, or choose the one that’s most important to you but don’t feel like you’re choosing between two equal options. One is specifically better for Read the rest of this entry »
A Greener Apple
A Greener Apple (NYC) is the project of New York City mom and producer/director Pamela French. She takes her camera to a variety of locales in New York City area for man/woman-on-the-street interviews asking people what they would do to make New York greener (A Greener Apple!) It’s actually very interesting to see where people’s heads are at in terms of greener living and what sorts of things they feel would make a difference. The responses range from highly aware and educated to flip and somewhat ignorant. Fortunately, Read the rest of this entry »
Roast!
Sometimes the ugliest* fruit is the sweetest. Sometimes the simplest preparation of meals are the most delicious.
Like roasting, for example… It is the easiest, simplest, quickest (and quite tasty) way to prepare vegetables. The method can be used on almost anything and it’s pretty much the same:
- Cut up veggie into equal sizes.
- Drizzle on oil and toss to coat.
- Sprinkle on grey salt or sea salt.
- Lay it flat on a cookie sheet so they are not crowded.
- Roast at 375F for 10 - 30 minutes until done, usually until they begin to brown.
Variations have to do with what vegetable, oil, and temperature.
- You can roast at a higher heat, 425F, for less time. I usually choose that method.
- You can toss in olive, coconut , walnut, macadamia nut, or sunflower oils. Don’t use corn or soybean oil or another GMO oil.
- The big secret is not to overcrowd the pan, otherwise they will steam instead of roast.
- Choice of vegetable or mix of vegetables is the biggest change.
Roasting enriches the flavor and deepens the color. It offers variety into our weekly menu and can be done for any seasonal vegetable. It is quick and easy, nutritious and delicious, and comprises of 3 ingredients and some heat.
Introducing The GGP Awards!
I read a lot of green blogs and I’m always so impressed with how much great writing is out there so I thought it would be cool if every month we could all give an award to the writer of a post that we really liked, found inspiring, learned something from etc—you know…really GREAT green posts! And so The Great Green Post Award was born. June’s recipients can be found here.
Here’s how it works:
Glee Gum Poetry Contest
You may recall that we featured Glee Gum around Christmas time last year because it contains no artificial preservatives or sweeteners and uses sustainably-harvested, fair-trade natural gum base (chicle).
Glee Gum is hosting a poetry contest and you can win a whole gum dispenser FULL of Glee Gum. See details below.
Everyone’s favorite chewing gum mascot, the Glee Guy, absolutely loves to rhyme. Take, for example, his recent composition:
“A Salute to Spearmint”
O Spearmint Glee, so sweet and tart
You hold a dear place in my heart
So mint-y fresh and full of flair
Your eternal devotion I must swear!
Think you can beat this candy bard? Try your hand; see, it’s not so hard! Just send us a poem, in any form - whether haiku, sonnet, or limerick it be. But be sure to include the word “glee” - and at least one rhyme for it, like “yippee”!
The top three Glee-ful poets will each win a brand new, fully loaded Glee Gum Dispenser. Talk about poetry in motion!
Let’s Clear the Air
I love to travel and explore with my family. At the same time I dread it—being out of my comfort zone, being away from my kitchen where I prepare meals that nourish our bodies with good food and our souls with tradition, and stepping into the unknown of chemicals and cleaners used at the place where we will rest our heads.
Since we’ve stopped using chemicals and have been eating real food, we notice it, even the kids do. Walking into a shoe or toy store makes our eyes water with all the off-gassing. It’s amazing what we can subject our bodies to, lack of nutrition, bombarding it with chemicals and disease, and our lovely bodies continue to function. Our family, thankfully, is more in tune so we can make better decisions knowing what’s good and not.
We realize this and are more accepting of the outside world when we travel but there is one thing we cannot tolerate. And you shouldn’t either. When you think about it, it’s an amazing invention that never existed and now has become a necessary element in making a house a home.
Sprays, plug-ins, plug-ins that self-spray, odor neutralizers, air sanitizers, and aromatherapy candles in just the right scent are all there, something for everyone. Air fresheners seem to work to help erase the smells in the room and clean the air, but actually they work on us. The chemicals coat our nasal passages with a film that deadens the nerve endings. They mask the problem and fool us into thinking the room is fresh, the smell we have learned to think of as clean.
To Our Readers
Due to a legal issue with the domain name greenmomfinds.com, we will be moving have moved to a new address. We ask that you please update your bookmarks and if you have one of our buttons, if you could point it at our new address, we would be eternally grateful. We’re very upset about having to move but we hope to make the transition as smooth as we can. Our main concern is our loyal readership—we don’t want to lose you!
If you have any questions, please feel to drop us a note.
Earth Day!
Yes, I know this is just one of a thousand Earth Day-themed posts but don’t leave! I’ll be brief, I promise. All I really wanted to say is that while this site is devoted to bringing you greener alternatives to the things we all need everyday, we still believe that buying less is the greenest thing we can do. That said, on this Earth Day, our challenge to everyone, ourselves included, is to buy nothing unless it’s secondhand or recycled. If it’s too late to do that today, then you can always do it tomorrow! We won’t tell :)
Lean & Green: Live Sustainably on a Budget
This is a very stressful, yet hopeful, time in our lives. Due to the economy, we are forced to make changes in what we buy for our family, but can we also choose what’s best for the planet? “Green” seems to cost more, it takes time to learn and implement, it requires that we focus and prioritize. It may not seem like the best time to go green and eat healthier, but this is actually the perfect time to get healthy, heal our environment, and save money!
Especially under times of stress, we need to keep our immune system strong to ward off disease. Disease costs money, so there is a real savings there (avoiding doctor bills, medicines, days off) but it’s deeper than that because without our health, we have nothing. Being healthier keeps us within our budget. Making changes that impact our health, in turn, helps heal our environment. And the truth is, choosing healthier options for our body and planet does NOT have to cost more; there are ways to save money while making good choices. We can tighten our belts and still eat delicious nutritious food that allow us to tighten our belts a notch as we get healthy and lose weight.
Support your body to do it’s job to keep you healthy by:
1. Eating well
2. Sleeping
3. Exercising
4. Being Optimistic
5. Loving
6. Using Safer products On & Around Your Body
Eating Well Read the rest of this entry »
Win a Non-Toxic Crib and Mattress
Babies breathe in whatever is in their mattresses so it’s important to have a non-toxic one if you can swing it. The same goes for cribs—you don’t want your baby mouthing toxic finishes on cribs or breathing in the outgassing formaldehyde used in certain kinds of wood.
KIWI Magazine is having a contest where you can win an eco-friendly crib matttress and crib. Just sign up for the KIWI Green Baby Shower newsletter and be entered in a giveaway to win a Q Collection Junior crib and Naturpedic crib mattress.
The Q Collection Junior crib features:
- Locally-sourced solid ash and bent wood construction
- Mattress support is made of formaldehyde-free plywood
- Water-based finish, non-toxic, free of VOC health hazards
The Naturepedic mattress features:
- Provides non-toxic fire protection and waterproofing
- Certified organic cotton and environmentally friendly materials
- Made, tested, and certified in the U.S.A.
Contest open until April 30, 2009. Good luck!
Live Chat with Expert from Whole Foods
Please join The Green Mom Review and The Motherhood for a live, online conversation on healthy, green living with an expert from Whole Foods at noon ET on Tuesday.
We’ll be talking about how we can eat better, save money and make healthier, greener choices for our families.
Live Chat Details
Guest Expert: Mara Fleishman of Whole Foods Market.
Your Host: Janet, editor and co-founder of The Green Mom Review
The Time: Tuesday, March 10th at noon ET
The Place: The Motherhood in the Healthy Moms, Healthy Families circle.
The Fab Giveaway: Two lucky chat participants will each receive a “Whole Baby Bag” full of great products.
Put Tuesday, March 10th at noon ET on your calendar. See you there!!!
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Edited to add: With nearly 500 guests sitting in on our chat with Mara Fleishman of Whole Foods, it was a big success. Thanks to everyone who dropped by to join us!
Grocery Store Secrets
We were in the grocery store the other day. (Yes, now that our biz closed we have to go to one of those) I find them very surreal. There is very little real food—lots of things to fill the belly, and loads of chemicals, but very little nourishing food and a pretty “hospitalized” look to the whole thing. Sometimes I still feel like an alien dropped on a strange planet when I enter. Take a look the next time, think of yourself landing here looking for real nourishing foods and see what you think.
Anyway, we were at the bakery and it was the end of the day so they had just restocked their bread on the shelf. Other customers are pulling loaves in bags complaining that they are wet. Of course they were wet! We know to expect that based upon our experience running a grocery store, but maybe you didn’t know to expect that as a consumer. That leads us to our first “Grocery Store Secret”
