$1 Off Morningstar.... You're Welcome!

Click HERE for a $1 off coupon for one of the new Morningstar Farms frozen entrees!

~Green Events in Indy~ NOW - APRIL!!!!

Winter Market
Now - April 24
Saturdays @ Indy Winter Farmers Market
9am-12:30pm
FREE

Going Green Festival
Indiana State Museum
Friday 9:30am - 2pm; Saturday 11am-4pm
$7 Adults; $6.50 Seniors; $4 Ages 3-12

Meditation Hike
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Every Thursday 4-5 pm
Meet at the Efroymson Entrance Pavilion.
Click HERE for more information
FREE

Footprints: Balancing Nature's Diversity
Indiana State Museum
April 1st-December 31st
Tues.-Sat. 9am-5pm & Sun. 11am-5pm
$7 Adults; $6.50 Seniors; $4 Ages 3-12

Rain Garden Basics
Indianapolis Museum of Art
April 8th: 6-8pm
$30 - Public, $21 - Members

Green Spring Cleaning Workshop
Morris-Butler House Museum
April 13th: 5:30-7:30pm
$10/person, $7/members

Urban Composting: The Demise of the Stinky Trash Can
Indianapolis Museum of Art
April 15th: 6-7pm
$35 - Public, $30 - Members

Earth Day Indiana Festival
White River State Park
April 24th: 11am-4pm
Click HERE for more info
FREE

Arbor Day - Indy Free Tree
Monument Circle
April 30th: 8am-2pm
FREE

Arbor Day Celebration
Indiana State Museum
April 30th: 9:30am-2pm
$7 Adults; $6.50 Seniors; $4 Ages 3-12

My Baby's Getting Some PIZZA!!!!!

Poor Joel is always getting all the toppings ripped off of his pizza just so he can enjoy a slice with the rest of us. Pizza (the easy dinner) definitley isn't easy in our home. Daddy is a huge carnivore, Joel can't have any dairy products due to his lactose intollerance and I am a vegetarian. We literally need 4 different pizzas because Skylar is sure to be difficult as most 5 year old do!! Tonight is Joel's night. I was super excited to find this at SuperTarget here in Greenwood. My baby's getting some pizza tonight!

Earth Hour 2010 - JOIN IN!

It's that time of the year again, Earth Hour 2010 happens in 22 days - March 27th at 8:30pm! Join the rest of the globe and turn off those lights. Please take a moment to watch the Earth Hour Video and see how you can make a difference.
Earth Hour Video

You don't no stinkin' dryer!

Considering it hasn't gotten above 30 degrees in the last 3 months, hanging up your wet clothes to dry on a clothesline will probably make some denim popcicles before giving you nice dry clothes. And unless you have a private yard with something to tie a line to, it also can be pretty tricky. A clothesline isn't usually an option in an apartment complex either. So with the bad weather, apartment living, and a broken dryer our family has made do, improvised, and realize the energy stealing appliance is completely unnecessary! All you need is an extra shower curtain rod and you can turn a small bathtub area into a perfect place to hang your wet clothes to dry. We have been dryer-less for 3 months now. Another upside is, once you hang the wet clothes up, once dry, they are already on hangers, no folding needed,...and a side bonus - no wrinkled clothes you forget to get out of the dryer and no static cling! You can also avoid the poisonous dryer sheets that so many use. So if you don't have the weather/sun to hang outdoors, the space, or your apartment rules ban the use of a clothesline, you can still go greener, ditch that dryer and drip those clothes dry! You can also count on your clothes shrinking less and lasting longer, which will also save you money long-term. The environment and your pocketbook will thank you!

Bacon VS Bacon

For those vegetarians out there.... I am a huge fan of MorningStar Farms products. They are found in the frozen section. I buy the grilled chik'n strips, bacon strips, and veggie cakes. I use the bacon strips the most. I use it for breakfast with eggs, on my salads, in my chicken carbonara (with the grilled chickn' strips), on BLTS, in loaded mashed potatoes. The uses are endless. I can cook it in just a few minutes in my toaster oven. Last week, I ended up at Meijer instead of SuperTarget for some shopping, and didn't have time to hit up the frozen section and ended up grazing in produce. I saw the LightLife brand of veggie bacon (Smart Bacon) and snapped it up. Looking forward to a yummy BLTA (A=avocado) for lunch. But let me tell you.... NOT ALL VEGGIE BACON IS CREATED EQUAL! Blech!!!It never crisped up, remained floppy, whereas the MorningStar brand crips enough to crush and acts like "real" bacon would and not to mention tastes delicious. The Lightlife Smart Bacon perfumed my kitchen with the nasty smell of hotdogs. Hotdogs? Really? I immediatley threw it in the trash, along with the brand new package I had just opened that mealtime. This specific LightLife product is the reason for the bad sterotypes of veggie protein meat replacements! I can't speak for the other products in the LightLife line except the GimmeLean Sausage which is actually very good, but if you are in the market for a veggie bacon alternative, please take my word for it, save yourself the $ and go with Morningstar Farms. It is above the rest and gives me everything I would want from this type of protein Your palette and the piggies will thank you!

Do you really need your microwave?!

I can't believe it's been an ENTIRE YEAR since I posted to this blog. Shame on me. Well I am getting back on track because I love to write and blog and share. So I'll start small.
When we moved back to Indiana we decided that we would simplify our life as much as possible. This included decluttering as much as possible, in a way that we could minimize our trash, and go with a reuse and recycle approach. Also to make sure we lived in a completely toxic free environment, doing what we could within our control. Creating a balance of energy in our home using the practice of feng-shui and committing to family relaxation and meditation. One major change we decided to do was to get rid of our microwave. Many reasons. First it is a pretty large appliance that uses a LOT of electricity when in place in a kitchen. Unless unplugged after every use (which is actually what we were doing before), the microwave even when not in use is in fact using electricity for the clock feature. It is undesirable clutter in most kitchens for those who are not lucky enough to have it built into the cabinets. And lastly, just with knowlege I had learned it also damaged the nutrients of the food cooked in it. Of course food is most nutritious in its most natural and raw form anyway, but if you are going to cook your food, the microwave is going to take more nutrients away from your food that other cooking methods. We have been microwave free for 2 months now, and I haven't even for one second missed it. I purchased a nice tea kettle. It looks cute, and takes up a lot less space for heating a simple mug of water for some tea. Popcorn? Bagged popcorn is about the only thing we can't do, but we purchases kernels anyway and use our hot air popper that belonged to my grandma. That method is SO MUCH healthier anyways! So I urge you all to reevaluate your true need for a microwave. Is it really worth it? Please also read below the Top Ten Reasons to Throw Out Your Microwave!

This is from a study that I found here: The Proven Dangers of Microwave Ovens


Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven

From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1. Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].

2. The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.

3. Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.

4. The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.

5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.

6. The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.

7. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.

8. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.

9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.

10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

Have you tossed out your microwave oven yet?