Carrot Slaw

One of my all-time favourite salads is one I've dubbed "Carrot Slaw".

It is basically a coleslaw-type salad, based on carrot, but without all the mucky, fattening, greasy dressings.

This is an ideal option for people on dairy-free diets, or for those wishing to just eat healthier.

It is also delicious - everyone I've made it for has demanded the recipe.

In fact, Carrot Slaw is sooooo delicious that a friend of mine, who has battled her weight all her life, will eat this by the plateful, yet I've never known her to eat any other salad. Give it a go - it might become a favourite for you too :-)

So here it is. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4-6 large carrots, any variety, cleaned and topped.
  
• 1/4 cup or thereabouts of slivered almonds. (If you don't have slivered almonds, any slivered nut will do, but I prefer almonds.)
  
• 1/4 cup of raisins, sultanas or craisins (dried cranberries). I tend to use sultanas, because they're cheapest.
  
• Juice of one lemon. (You can also use bottled lemon juice - about 2 tablespoons - but it won't taste as zingy)
  

Method
1. Grate the carrots into a bowl. If you have a food processor with a 'grating option', this is very quick.
2. Add the almonds and sultanas. Mix thoroughly.
3. Add the lemon juice and mix again.
4. You're done! This salad will serve about 4-6 people. Keep refrigerated in a sealed container, and eat within 48 hours.

If you're watching your weight, you might like to go easy on the nuts, but I think that nuts don't tend to add weight, unless you're eating them by the handful.

I lived on this salad for lunches when I was dropping weight, and it helped me to lose over a kilo (2.2 pounds) a week, on average. I couldn't help but reach the conclusion that salads like this, which are delicious and healthy, can be eaten by the bucketload (like I did!) and you'll *still* shed the flab.

I'll talk about weight loss (which is part of cutting the clutter, after all!) in another post, but for now too busy - I'm eating the salad you can see in the picture above! Yummy!

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Challenge Number 1 2009: Bag the bags!

If India can do it, so can we! It's time to quit plastic bags!

All around the world, governments and councils are saying NO to plastic bags. Many families and communities are saying NO to plastic bags too.

On an unofficial scale, we've been using cloth shopping bags for a long time now, but I think it's time to make a ban on plastic bags official in our home.

So here's the lowdown:

• If we don't have a bag, we don't shop!
  
• We re-use small portion bags that we already have.
  
• We'll work towards eliminating bags used in the produce section for fruit and vegetables, by obtaining re-usable vegetable bags.
  
• We'll use re-usable sandwich bags instead of plastic bags for lunches. More on this later as I research and develop alternatives.
  
• We'll choose products that come in less (or no) packaging when a choice exists. If I think a product I use has excessive plastic packaging, I will write to the manufacturer and complain.
  

A hard ask? Maybe. I'm not Beth from Fake Plastic Fish - and I think even she would have more difficulty if she had two preschoolers! But we all need to change, and the best way to create change is to start with myself.

Want to take the challenge and go plastic bag free with me for 2009? Just say YES!

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Plastic wrap and chocolate-free update

The update is - I'm going well.

Plastic-wrap free home

Our household has been plastic wrap free since the 25th of July, when I decided to officially Cut the wrap! and eliminate it from our shopping list now and forever.

We simply put leftovers in tupperware, in sealable bowls, or leave it uncovered in the fridge if it will be used within 48 hours. Despite misgivings, we've not had food poisoning yet!

So yes, I think we can happily say we've kicked the wrap!

Chocolate-free status

I decided to go chocolate-free at the start of August 2008.

Since then I have had two 'slip-ups'. One was within a week of starting, when stupido here (*waves*) forgot that chocolate soy milk is actually chocolate (doh!).

The second slip-up happened a couple of weeks ago at a friend's house. I was offered a homemade shortbread biscuit which looked like it had icing on it. I accepted, and only after I'd started eating did she say "Everything tastes better when it is dipped in chocolate!" and I realised that the biscuit had white chocolate on it, not icing! I ate the rest of the biscuit anyway, not meaning to seem rude. But I did not take another. She didn't know about my chocolate-free status, and I haven't told her since, in case she feels awful about the incident.

But that's it. I've remained choc-free all through Christmas, refusing my favourite Lindt chocolates when handed around, and even saying NO to my mother's homemade cherry ripe slice. That was tough!

So YES, it can be done! Despite the slip-ups, I think I have remained chocolate-free enough to claim I am succeeding on this challenge, and I never thought I could. It has been nearly six months, and I'm going well.

My next challenge?

I've decided to take on another challenge for 2009. A much more difficult challenge. But that's for another post!

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Use plastic bags in India? Go to jail. Go directly to jail.

India has just introduced a ban on all non-biodegradable plastic bags, effective immediately.

The ban will be enforced gently at first. But it won't be long before plastic bag offenders in New Delhi face five years in prison for plastic bags.

It makes me think that if India can do this, maybe we should be doing it too. Fake Plastic Fish definitely has the right idea.

Here at home, I want to see New Zealand plastic bag free. It's time we put plastic bags where they belong - in the dustbins of history.

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Spend for the economy, or save ourselves?

All around the world, governments are giving people money and encouraging us to spend to 'save the economy'.

It seems that, unlike throughout history when people saved their way to wealth and security, the opposite is now true. In fact, the USA's Henry Paulson just blamed the Chinese for the world's economic collapse, saying that massive savings accumulations in China have been the cause of squeezed interest rates, forcing investors towards riskier investments.

According to Paulson, the economic collapse happened because the Chinese saved too much, not because we in the West spent in an unsustainable manner (the phrase "like a drunken sailor with six arms" springs to mind).

Where does this leave you and me, the little people?

I think we're seeing what happens when a system dependent on limitless growth (the current economic system) rams up against finite restrictions (environmental damage, peak oil, demographic changes etc.). A big mess.

The collapse is also a bit like one of those horrible people-pyramids your gym teacher forced you to make in High School. You know, the one where that poor sucker at the bottom finally realises that he can't support six people on top of him, and he collapses in an Oh Heck moment.

And the real estate situation is a bubble. It's a bit like the situation when some smart alec kid (let's call him "Greg"*) is selling smurfs at school for $1.00 each, and everyone pays it, because everyone wants smurfs.

So the price gets higher, and a full blown contraband Smurf economy springs up, and before you know it, select smurfs (Papa and Smurfette) are fetching prices topping five bucks apiece.

Then another smart alec kid (let's call her "Leanne"*) finally points out to people that you can buy any old smurf you want down at the BP station for .89c. Bubble over. And everyone mighty annoyed at the 'devaluation' of their smurfs.

Despite what the 'experts' might say, I don't think we can spend ourselves out of this one. Buying more smurfs, printing more smurf money, or building more mushroom houses isn't going to help ordinary people much. In truth, I think we're in for a rough haul before everything settles down again, and if I'm being told to 'do my bit' for the economy and hustle up some debt but meanwhile I can do more to help my family by budgeting tightly and saving, my family comes first. The economy can go jump.

A non-cash world

I think what we're also seeing is a partial return to a non-cash world.

What I mean by this is a return to the way things used to be, where people are more independent, and buy and consume fewer consumer goods and services.

Already in my local area I'm seeing more people:

• Growing their own fruit and vegetables
  
• Keeping chickens once again
  
• Learning to make their own clothes and mend things when broken
  
• Trading in more expensive vehicles for cars that are cheaper to run
  
• Buying bikes, scooters and motorbikes to replace second cars
  
• Buying secondhand items instead of new, and selling items secondhand that they no longer need or use
  
• Doing without luxuries like eating out, going to the movies, haircuts, cosmetics, manicures and beauty appointments, and the latest 'geekware'
  
• Waiting to buy items when on sale, and only buying items new when on sale
  
• Learning how to cook and prepare food from scratch
  
• Insulating their homes to save money
  
• Walking or catching public transport instead of driving to work and social activities
  

The list goes on. In short, people are spending less, using less cash. I'm seeing clothing shops and hairdressers and CD shops closing down, and restaurants are beginning to do it hard.

But bicycle shops are doing brilliantly. The local motorbike place can't keep up with demand, and at the local garden centre you have to order fruit trees in - weeks in advance. So when people are spending cash, they're investing in items that will give a genuine return. A non-cash return in many instances, interestingly.

The times are changing. We're not returning to Little House On The Prairie just yet, but the days of excessive spending might just be over.

And that can't be a bad thing, can it?

So should we spend for the economy, or save ourselves? Well, I think governments are doing a pretty good job of spending for the economy - so I'm going to save.

And maybe order a few fruit trees!

*** *** ***

* The character in this blog post may (just a bit) be real, and the story might (just a bit) be based on reality. I hope my classmates in the Great Smurf Crash of 1979 have forgiven me.

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Endangered man

Men are the next endangered species.

Yikes!

For years my single female friends in their thirties have been saying that men are getting thin on the ground, but it may soon become a fact.

According to a scary new study, a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people.

This study comes just after recent American research that shows American baby boys born to women exposed to widespread chemicals in pregnancy are being born with smaller penises and feminised genitals.

No laughing matter. We may not have to wait for climate change at this rate - the chemical and pesticide industry may nail our own coffin for us.

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How to boil eggs, peel eggs, curry eggs - and avoid eggs!

Here's how to boil eggs:

1. Put the eggs in a saucepan. I usually boil six eggs at a time.

2. Cover the eggs with enough cold water to cover them so they are at least an inch (2-3 centimetres) under water.

3. Turn the stove on to High.

4. When the water begins to boil, turn the eggs off immediately, and let the water sit until cool enough to remove the eggs with your hands. In other words, let the water cool naturally with the eggs still in the water.

5. Take the eggs out of the water, dry them off, and refrigerate.

6. You're done!

TIP: Don't ever put unpricked eggs in the microwave. They *will* explode. While this may be exciting for kids, cleaning it up is an awful pain in the rear!

*** *** *** *** ***

Egg-centric?

I didn't know how to boil an egg until recently, when my son was diagnosed with mild autism, and we placed him on a strict gluten-free, dairy-free diet.

Until that point we had maintained a vegan home, but we found that gluten-free vegan was simply too difficult to manage for young, growing children. I know there are people who manage it, but for us it was too hard. The inclusion of eggs in our childrens' diets has made my son's special diet a lot easier.

So I continue to not eat eggs, my husband remains the ovo-lacto vegetarian he has always been, and the kids both eat gluten-free, dairy-free vegetarian. My daughter is not autistic, but if we gave her treats in front of my son, there would be hell to pay!

How to peel hard boiled eggs the easy way

1. Make sure the eggs are cold. The colder, the better.

2. Grab an egg, wet it under cold running water, then tap it a few times against the kitchen counter until the egg shell fragments or cracks.

3. Peel the egg shell from the egg gently, working first towards the rounded (not pointy) end. There's an air bubble at the rounded end - by moving towards this air bubble, you should be able to peel large chunks of shell off easily without destroying the egg itself.

4. You'll see that there's a membrane just within the egg shell - if you're sneaky about it, you can peel the shell and this membrane, and the shell will come off in large pieces, leaving the egg itself nice and smooth.

5. If you have real problems with peeling an egg, try doing so under a trickle of running water. It really helps!

Eggs and allergic reaction

Eggs are a great source of protein, but they are also a common source of allergy - along with wheat, dairy, shellfish, nuts and berries.

If you suffer from eczema, asthma, or other allergic reactions, you may want to try eliminating eggs from your diet for a week or so, and see if it helps.

I eliminated eggs and dairy foods from my diet back in 1998, and my lifelong eczema and asthma disappeared within three days.

Allergies and intolerances can change as your body ages and grows. Ten years on, I find that I can tolerate small amounts of dairy in the form of cheese, yoghurt and ice-creams, but I still don't drink milk. Eggs still cause me to turn into a walking, talking rash from head to toe. So I avoid them.

If you do decide to try eliminating eggs from your diet, be aware that many, many foods contain egg. Read the ingredients labels.

Common processed foods that often contain egg include battered and fried foods, cakes and biscuits, sauces and dips, and most desserts.

Curried egg recipe - very yummy and very quick!

Ingredients:

• Eggs.
  
• 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise per egg (i.e. if you're using two eggs, use two teaspoons of mayonnaise)
  
• Curry powder (half a teaspoon per egg)
  
• Salt and pepper to season.
  
  Method:
  1. Peel the eggs, and mash roughly with a fork.
  
  2. Add the other ingredients, and mix well.
  
  3. You're done!
  

My husband loves this in toasted sandwiches - he says it's pretty good. It is certainly very quick.

The traditional way to do curried egg is to just use the yolk and to either discard the white, or to pipe the curried yolk into the halved whites.

I think my recipe is better. It is more balanced, and probably healthier. It also goes further when you're on a budget.

Finally - be a Free Ranger!

I always use free range eggs. Even though I don't eat eggs, as a cook I can see the difference in the consistency and the weight and colour between free range and battery eggs. Besides, who wants to support cruelty?

Friends of mine who make meringues on a regular basis say that free range eggs make better meringues, and most of my egg-eating friends say free range eggs taste better too. As for me, I've no doubt they're better for you.

The best place to get eggs is from your own chooks - or from a neighbour. If you hear chickens in your neighbourhood, don't be afraid to knock on the door of the chooky house and ask if the owners are interested in selling surplus eggs to you. You could end up snagging a great eggy deal!

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Berry season!

It's berry season!

The above photo is our dessert the night before last - a kilogram of fresh strawberries picked less than 24 hours previous. The kids devoured them in about two minutes flat, but we still have another kilogram sitting in the fridge.

The reason we haven't eaten this second kilogram of strawberries (a kilogram is 2.2 pounds) is because last night we ate our way through two kilograms (nearly five pounds) of raspberries and boysenberries for dessert. Yum.

We served the kids about half the berries fresh. The other kilogram I simmered in a saucepan with about half a cup of cointreau (orange liqueur) until warm and soft, and swimming in their own juice. Then we served them warm over ice-cream. A truly luxurious adults-only dessert!

Life is truly wonderful right now.

Tonight we have to eat the remaining kilogram of strawberries still sitting in the fridge, plus a fair serve of the left-over cointreau raspberry-boysenberry dessert. I think I might make frozen yoghurt smoothies for the family with the remaining strawberries. Or we might just eat them straight. I haven't decided yet.

However will we cope???!!! Hehe.

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Home made toilet cleaner

I used to use a whole stack of 'eco-friendly' cleaners around the house, but got annoyed when I worked out how much we were spending. Those 'green' cleaners aren't cheap!

So I took a friend's advice, and switched to cleaning my toilet with Bicarb Soda and White Vinegar.

It's really easy. Here's how to do it.

1. Tip about a tablespoon of bicarb soda (baking soda) into the bowl. Using the toilet brush, scrub at any stains or marks until they disappear.

2. Flush. Leave for a couple of minutes until the water has settled.

3. Next, pour about a tablespoon of white vinegar into the bowl, and scrub again to distribute the vinegar. Leave for five minutes.

4. Flush again. You're done.

Now that was easy, wasn't it!

With this method, you won't get that fake 'blue toilet' look, and you won't get that fake 'citrus toilet' smell either. You'll just have a clean toilet. No nasty chemicals. But that's what you want, isn't it?

And - if you really want a nice smell, open the window!

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Car free...Could you? Would you?

Melinda over at One Green Generation has just asked the question, "What is the most difficult thing to change on the path to sustainability?"

For me it is THE CAR. I don't drive much, but I do drive. With two preschoolers, having a car makes life so much easier.

Which leads me to the question, If you had to go car-free, could you? Would you?

Is there public transport in your area and do you use it? And if all the cars in the world suddenly disappeared, how would you cope?

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Fitness For Free!

I'm a cheapskate. I don't want to spend money - and time - going to the gym.

But when I bought some new and accurate bathroom scales, and got weighed accurately for the first time in 10 months, I knew I needed to lose a bit of flab.

Fitness does not have to cost money. In fact, it can save you money.

I know that the trendy thing is to go join a gym or a health club, spend up big, buy all the fancy sports clothes and expensive gym shoes, and other equipment, and employ a personal trainer. But you really don't need it.

In fact, I'd argue that you stand a better chance of getting fit and healthy by avoiding gyms and fitness clubs, and doing the Fitness For Free technique I'm going to talk about.

I know heaps of people who, the moment they feel a little heavy, go straight off to the gym, but I don't know anyone who has lost weight by doing so - although plenty have ended up poorer!

Gyms can be good fun, and if they appeal to you go to them by all means. I enjoy gym work too. But most people would agre that most gyms are expensive - although not as expensive as a quadruple bypass you get as a result of eating rubbish and not keeping trim over the course of your life.

Gyms are an option for fitness - but there are plenty of much cheaper options that can even save you money. I call these options the Fitness For Free plan, and here are some options on this way to get fit:

• Get walking. Walking costs nothing and is great exercise. Grab a pedometer if you want to keep track of your steps, and gradually build up the amount of walking you do. If you live within reasonable distance from your workplace, consider walking. You'll save money on petrol and parking or on public transportation, and get healthy at the same time!
  
  While you're at it, walk to the local shops, and to friends and family if possible. Grab a map of your local area, and check out all the safe ways you can walk around your home town or city.
  
  
• Get in the swim. Most cities and towns have great and underused public swimming pools, and they cost very little to visit. Most also offer passes that make multiple visits cheaper still. This is usually a much more affordable option than a private gym.
  
  
• Bike it! If you have a bike that you seldom use, dust it off, clean it up, service it, and get riding! If you don't have a bike but think you would use one, get hold of a second-hand bike and get riding!
  
  
• Join a sports club! Find a club for a sport you enjoy. It doesn't matter what - there are bound to be community clubs for your favourite sport in your local area. If you haven't a favourite sport, but have always wanted to try something, check your local Yellow Pages and give it a go!
  
  Archery has always appealed to me, and I have my name down on the waiting list at my local club. But if netball is your thing and you've never tried it, why not? Almost every sports club has beginner lessons that are affordable and fun - not just for kids, but for adults of all ages.
  
  
• Dig your garden! Gardening is excellent exercise - and you get real rewards in the form of fruit and vegetables! Plant a few fruit trees and get a veggie plot started. You'll save gym fees and food costs!
  
  

The above are just a few ideas on the Fitness For Free plan.

I'm planning to shed a bit of blubber and get a little lower in the BMIs - I'm in the healthy range, but not so low as I'd like to be. Exercise is a good way to support improvements to dietary habits, and is fun and healthy in its own right.

Get moving!

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2009 crystal ball

I'm just your average Jane, but I'll make a few predictions for 2009.

• Obama will be disappointing. I really wish he would be the messiah we're all hoping for, but I think he'll toady to the oil corporations, the mining corporations, big business, the banks, the Chinese, the Japanese, and just about everyone else. In short, not much will change - even though it desperately needs to - and America will continue on its downwards slide from decadence into barbarism.
  
  Oh, and the chances are pretty high that he might get assassinated.
  
  
• We'll see some "once in several thousand year" weather events. Climate change will continue to do the nasty on us, and thousands of innocent people will die.
  
  Insurance companies will refuse to pay out, and may start to claim these unnatural weather events are not "Acts Of God" but are "Acts Of Humanity" and not coverable by insurance.
  
  We will see rain (possibly floods) where it has not rained in decades, and drought where there has never been droght before. Grass painting and astroturf companies will start to lose profits as people realise theres no point in painting a dustbowl, and plastic grass always looked a bit too Brady anyway.
  
  
• Australian politicians will continue to offfer pitiful emissions targets. Australia will continue to find excuses to avoid paying the rent on climate change. Australian farmers will continue to suffer from "once in several thousand year" weather events. Tit for tat, I reckon.
  
  Australia's major river system - the Murray-Darling - will continue to die, and the Great Barrier Reef will continue to suffer from coral bleaching, as a result of weak emissions targets and a lack of climate change action around the world. We reap as we sow, don't we?
  
  
• There will be a backlash against outrageous Hollywood celebrities. Struggling ordinaries (that's you and me) will get pissed off seeing the uber-rich Lindsay Lohans and Paris Hiltons living it up, and one or more 'celebs' will be the victim of hatecrime.
  
  
• US emissions will begin to drop. Not from Government targets, but simply from poverty. People are doing it hard, and will start reining in spending on electricity, gasoline and other fuels. George Monbiot will celebrate, but many Green-leaning bloggers around the world will feel sympathy for their American friends.
  
  
• Russia will turn off the gas to Europe, and threaten to turn off the petroleum pipelines as well. Russia now holds control over some of the big fuel pipelines to the west. It will turn off the gas, threaten to turn off the petroleum, and chaos will ensue. Petrol prices will once again soar to unheard-of levels. Chaos will ensue.
  
  
• Scientists will announce that some 'miracle fuel' or 'miracle car' is just around the corner. It will produce no pollution, cost nothing, and be available...soon. Yeah, right.
  
  
• Food prices will begin to soar. As a result of the petrol price spikes in 2008, food prices will increase. However, food prices, once raised, will not come down again. Food price increases will significantly outstrip inflation.
  
  On the positive side, backyard veggie plots will become more and more fashionable. Chickens will be heard in our neighbourhoods again (and roosters!). People will plant fruit trees in preference to flowers and trees just for show and shade. Self-reliance will become meaningful, and the green movement will gain momentum.
  
  
• Unemployment will significantly increase across the west, and throughout China. We're about to see unemployment increase hugely. People who have been doing it a bit tougher will rein in their budgets when the Christmas bills hit, about March-April. Then you will see drops in spending on unnecessary items like haircuts, clothing, shoes, games, gadgets, jewelry, and other luxury items.
  
  Unemployment in shops servicing these areas will follow. Unemployment in the restaurant area will increase as well. Things are going to get nasty - especially in countries such as the US and China which do not have good social security systems.
  
  
• Several America states will go bankrupt. Several states will literally be unable to provide services or pay their employees. Chaos will ensue, as city bus and train services grind to a halt and debts remain unpaid. More unemployment, from this sector. Not good. Arnie might even sell his Hummers to break a few bucks.
  
  
• Autism rates will continue to increase around the world, yet gain little, if any, publicity. Up from 1 in 10,000 a generation ago and virtually unknown, now 1 in 150 of our children is diagnosed with autism. In the UK the rate is 1 in 50. Some cities are noting rates of 1 in 9. This devastating syndrome is passed off as being 'genetic' when genes simply don't change that fast. Autism gets little funding, and families get nowhere near the support they need. This is the silent epidemic of our times.
  
  
• Race riots will happen in American cities. There will be suggestions that lay-offs in some companies were racially-preferenced, and race riots will occur. Things will get very nasty.
  
  
• People around the world will continue to do it hard, and the economic situation will not improve. A lot of people around the world will fear for their jobs and their homes in 2009. It will be tough.
  
  And finally...
  
  
• Osama Bin Laden will remain safe and well. The man is obviously living it up on a tropical island somewhere, probably drinking daiquiris. The CIA probably know where he is, and probably don't care.
  
  

So that's my crystal ball, and we can all laugh at me in 2010. Or not.

But a three word summary for 2009 seems to be "chaos will ensue".

It's going to be an interesting year.

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