Take Action for Climate Change

Theresa from Pondering the Myriad Things has a list of climate change actions she would mandate if she were the "benign dictator" of the world. Although she's being facetious, I think it would be a great start to seriously tackling the problems created by burning too much fossil fuel. Go check it out and see what changes you're willing to make. Quit waiting for the world's "leaders" to come up with solutions - it ain't gonna happen!

FlyLady Would Swat Me!

How to tell if you're sick: it's almost noon and you're still in your bathrobe.

Years ago, I tried the FlyLady method for getting, and keeping, my house clean. It worked at the time, mostly because I had nothing else really going on in my life so I had plenty of time to devote to reading her site, wading through the numerous emails, and building my own control book. I gave it up when my life got busier because all her suggestions, emails, and recommended tools began to feel like the clutter she recommended jettisoning from your life. This is not to say her method doesn't work; it did for me for a while and obviously does for a lot of people.

For those of you unfamiliar with FlyLady, her recommendation is to start each day by getting dressed - all the way to the shoes - first thing in the morning. That all-important first step to gaining control over the chaos in my life has not happened here for the last few days. This cold still has me in its grips and I know I'm not going anywhere. Why get clothes dirty when I can stay in my stinky comfy bathrobe all day? It's not like I'm going to be busting butt cleaning the house either; coughing fits yesterday were so severe they threatened to trigger the gag reflex and throwing up.

About a week ago, I cleared my schedule for the last half of November in the hopes of getting caught up on a lot of projects at home. The only outside commitments left were the weigh-in with my weight loss group and CSA volunteer work each week. My mother-in-law is coming for Thanksgiving which requires a bit of cleaning which I needed to do anyway. I had big plans to get a lot accomplished. Getting sick was not in the plans and has put quite a damper on getting anything done.

However, I am managing to accomplish a little bit. In the past few days, I've made progress on using up some tea that expired in August ("Throat Coat" from Traditional Medicinals). The steamer is getting quite a work-out and I've researched lots of recipes for the neti pot, including ones that use cayenne pepper. I'm training the dogs to lay on my feet to keep them warm. Before the cold really got established, I even got caught up with financial record-keeping that had been neglected for the past couple of months. The Thanksgiving menu is planned, making substitutions using what we'll get through the CSA share tomorrow. The shopping list is made and, thankfully, pretty short.

If I can force myself to take it easy today, I should be able to start Friday out right by getting cleaned up and dressed first thing in the morning. After all, this bathrobe really needs to be washed! That will leave me some time still to finish up the month strong. I might even manage to get the next 100 Days Challenge check-in post up in time for the 40 Day mark.

The Best 75 Cents I Ever Spent

Years ago - gosh, I'm not sure how many...it may have been as many as 18 - I bought a "Steam Facial" at a local thrift store for less than a dollar.


Written on the box in grease pencil was a scratched out price and a new price of 75 cents, as well as the claim that the product was new even though the box had obviously been opened and was taped back up. Knowing this particular store, I figured it was not really new but, for 75 cents, I could afford to check to see if it worked. If not, it wouldn't have broken my budget.

Turns out it looked unused and it did work. Now, as you know, I don't give a hoot really about my appearance. I did not buy the steamer for silky skin. Inhaling gentle steam can do wonders for the sinuses and I was prone to sinus infections. (These ended almost entirely when I quit eating dairy products.)


Every time I have a sinus congestion or a cold, I pull out the ol' steamer and breathe the steam for half an hour or so. I set in on a table, pull up a chair, and position my face several inches above the face shield. To enhance the steamy benefits, I sometimes put a couple of drops of peppermint essential oil in the fragrance cup on top.

I usually also drape a towel over my head and the steamer to create a tiny little steam room for my head. This has to be done carefully as it can get too hot and the steam can burn the delicate mucous linings of the nose. I use my arms and hands to vent the towel as needed, taking a break occasionally if it gets to be too much. The great thing is the steamer uses far less energy and water to create a healthy steamy environment than trying to get an entire bathroom steamed up by running a hot shower.

I started showing symptoms of a cold this weekend but completely forgot about the steamer until talking on the phone with a friend yesterday morning. She could barely recognize my voice as it was so hoarse and she cautioned me to be careful as it sounded like the cold was settling in my chest. At that moment, I remembered the steamer. My neti pot had not helped relieve symptoms much this time but the steamer went a long ways yesterday towards relieving them. I also finally remembered that I had two medicinal teas in my kitchen for sore throats and respiratory health.

This is the first cold I've had in years. It's no fun but I'm grateful to know I can deal with it at home with just a few tools and supplies. No need to go to the doctor or spend a fortune on dubious health remedies.

Solar Cooking Tips

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your solar oven. Also check out this post on solar cooking resources, with lots of links to other helpful sites. And, be sure to keep up with the adventures of the Solar Oven Chef in Arizona as she strives to cook every single day with the sun.


Plan ahead

Even if you're not sure whether you'll be cooking outside or not, set up your solar oven early. That way it will be preheated if and when you’re ready to cook. This is especially important during the winter months when the sun is available less hours than during the summer.

Plan your meals ahead of time. If, like me, you don't particularly like doing a week's worth of meal-planning ahead of time, at least sit down first thing in the morning and decide what you will be making for dinner. This will allow you to determine what foods and dishes could be cooked by the sun.

Get the food out into the solar oven as soon as it is preheated. Foods take a little longer to cook in the solar oven generally than they do inside. Make sure you have time to finish your dishes or cook multiple dishes by getting started early.

If you are not home during the day, orient your solar oven to where the sun will be at midday. Be cautious about putting meat out in an unattended solar oven to avoid issues with food poisoning if the meat is not kept at a high enough temperature throughout the day.


What to cook

Anything you can cook in an oven or slow cooker can be cooked in a solar oven. You can toast, bake, roast, steam, and boil foods in a solar oven. You can cook foods for cold dishes to eat later – such as potatoes for potato salad, rice for rice salad, or green beans for a cold salad. You can prepare hot dishes to go straight to the table for dinner. (If the sun is gone before dinner time, keep your food hot with a retained heat cooking box.)

See this flyer for a long list of foods that can be cooked in a solar oven. You can also check out my solar cooking log where I keep a list of everything I'm cooking in my ovens.


Maximize Your Solar Cooking

If you are home during the day, you can accomplish far more with your solar oven. (You can still cook with it if you’re gone all day.)

Orient solar oven to sun

If you are home during the day and can tend your solar oven, adjust it every hour or so to maximize the amount of sunlight hitting it. In the winter, the sun’s angle is lower so you will need to adjust your oven accordingly.

Use the entire day’s sun

As soon as one dish is done, remove it and put in the next. Finish off the day by heating a big pot of water to wash all the dishes.

Maximize the oven space

Use all of the space within the oven for cooking by using large pots, multiple pots, and tucking things (like potatoes or corn on the cob wrapped in foil) around the edges.

Large pot - If you are cooking some potatoes to make mashed potatoes for your dinner, use a bigger pot to cook more for the next few days. You can reheat the cooked potatoes for a quick meal, make potato salad, or shred them to cook as hash browns for breakfast.


Multiple pots – if you need to cook several different dishes, use smaller pots that will fit next to each other or can stack. The Tulsi has a lot of floor space and comes with 4 covered pots that can all be cooking at the same time. Those same pots, or other small pots, can be stacked for use in the taller SunOven.


In this instance, I put the bottom lid on the pot upside down to create a flat surface to stack the second pot.

Tuck in around the edges – At the solar cooking demos in town, folks often wrap potatoes and corn on the cob in foil and tuck them in the oven around the pot cooking the main dish.


Saving energy

Cooking with a solar oven saves gas or electricity normally used inside to cook the food. It also saves additional energy in the summer needed to cool the house off when cooking or baking inside heats up the kitchen.


Rather than bring your hot solar-cooked pots right into the house to cool, set them outside on a cooling rack in the shade. Set a timer and bring them in within two hours. If not serving the food immediately, store in the refrigerator to avoid the possibility of food poisoning.


I don't leave the lids off while the dishes are cooling outside because bugs would get into them. Also, my dogs might eat my dinner.


Solar ovens can also be used to reheat food. The Tulsi oven, with its large floor space available is ideal for this. In fact, I purchased a set of enamel-covered metal camping plates (at a thrift store, of course) just so that I could reheat food in the solar oven. I can prepare two plates of food and cover them with the other two plates for reheating.


If you cook with the sun, please share your favorite tips.

Grateful for my CSA Share

In some parts of the United States, Farmer's Markets and CSAs have closed until spring because cold temperatures, snow, and frozen ground shut down the growing season. Residents who want to continue eating mostly local food must rely on what they have canned, pickled, fermented, cured, dehydrated, frozen, and stored over the past months.

I am grateful that I live in a warmer zone. With a more temperate climate, food can be grown year-round in southern Arizona. Hard freezes are few and far between where my CSA farmer grows his winter crops. Other than a holiday break over Christmas and New Year's so that the farm workers can visit with their families, we get farm fresh produce every week of the year.


Here is a picture of this week's CSA share. We are moving into greens season here but still enjoying a few remnants of summer. In the back is a melon, although I don't recall the variety. Perched on top is an acorn squash. We've been receiving winter squashes since mid-October. Kept in a cool part of the house, acorn squash will keep well for weeks. My Halloween pumpkins will keep for months. (I still have cooked puree in my freezer from last Halloween's pumpkin....that I didn't cook until May!)

Other than the bag of roasted green chiles in the front of the photo, everything else is greens. On the left is some red Russian kale, which goes wonderfully with potatoes. On the right is a group of baby bok choy and a bundle of tat soy, two delicious Asian greens. In the middle are two bags of spring mix. The share only included one bag of spring mix but I traded some turnips for another bag.

Our backyard garden is also still producing. We often don't get a hard freeze until January so we hope to keep the plants going for a while yet. There are eggplants ripening, more okra, and the brassicas (cabbages, broccoli, etc.) are coming right along. There is a smorgasbord of peppers of different varieties adding a rainbow of color: green, red, yellow, and even purple. The herbs haven't fared well but there is plenty of basil and a little parsley. My grapefruits are beginning to turn yellow but they are tiny this year. Despite being the size of tennis balls, they still taste good.
Is anything still growing in your area? Or are you already depending mostly on what you put up over the past months? What are you eating these days?

And Then Inertia Set In...

Last week was easy. Life was busy. I was cleaning the house for company. Company arrived and was wonderful. We biked, visited, ate, and had fun. Then she left to continue her journey and we decided to continue having a relaxing weekend. The week began and work started again. We worked. Got a few chores done and then were interrupted by a holiday. A holiday mid-week just doesn't feel right; long weekends are better.

Back to work today for my sweetie but not for me. My back spasmed this morning while putting Angel's harness on for the walk. No walking for me. No chores that involve bending or lifting. That's pretty much all of them.

This didn't trigger the inertia but it legitimized it. I think the inertia began after the relaxing weekend, spending time with someone doing something more interesting than the regular daily grind most of us submit to. What meaning does another load of laundry have compared to biking 70 miles to a new place each day?

Daily chores are tedious. This is why vacations are exciting. A break in the routine, the unknown, these are the appeals of adventure trips - biking cross-country, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, walking across the country, and such. Deciding whether to boil or bake the potatoes before they sprout, not so exciting.

Missed a Challenge Check-in

There are less than 60 days left in the year which means I missed posting the last 10-day check-in for the 100 Days Challenge. How is everyone doing? Are you still sticking to your chosen challenge every day or are your goals slipping amidst holiday preparations?

I've been doing pretty good with avoiding food waste. It may have been a case of going to extremes (again), but I decided I was not going to toss the box of stevia packets that has been sitting on my shelf for some time. The contents of many of the packets had clumped together and would not dissolve in liquid, making them uesless for my hot drinks. (I've tried the liquid stevia products and they give me a headache.)


The spice grinder came to the rescue. Along with all the packets, I added some sugar so there would be enough volume in the grinder to work well. (I love this Cuisinart grinder because it has a removable basin, great for dumping out the contents and for cleaning, but it doesn't seem to work well with small volumes of anything.) The sugar provides the traditional form of sweetness that my taste buds recognize and seems to increase my mouth's acceptance of stevia as the primary source of sweetness. The grinder made quick work of the lumps and yielded a fine powder for sweetening. I'm still trying to figure out the right amount to spoon into my drink and often end up with it either too sweet or not sweet enough.

Too many greens in the refrigerator lately led to more composting than is ideal. I've been better about it the last few days. We've had fresh arugula over mashed potatoes, Mexican soup with chard, and a delicious "cream" of potato/mushroom soup with more chard. To make the soup last night, I started by pressure cooking diced potatoes. While they were cooking, I browned a chopped onion in the soup pot. I usually make my soups fatfree but last night I was craving a little more richness so I added Earth Balance (vegan margarine) and flour to make a roux. To this, I added drained water from the cooked potatoes and some additional water, stirring it in slowly to avoid lumps. Next, the cooked potatoes were added along with salt and pepper. To make the soup creamy, I used a masher to break up the potatoes a little more but not completely. All that was left to add was a little bit of dehydrated celery, some dried mushroom slices, and chopped chard. By the time the chard was cooked, the vegetables were rehydrated. A splash of Liquid Smoke added the final smoky taste.


Rather than toss the bitter orange eggplant from our garden, they went into the CSA surplus basket last week. A few more will go in this week, with the caution again that they are quite bitter. Some people like that evidently or bitter melon would never have been cultivated in gardens!

This year's pomegranate seed liquor was strained just this morning. I don't think it is as good as last year's. Maybe drying the seeds first is important to impart more flavor. Hopefully it will be better after it ages a bit with the sugar syrup added. We are not drinking our liqueurs on a regular basis. After watching several public television episodes lately about Scandinavian cooking using aquavit, I'm inspired to try using the liqueurs in cooking occasionally. The authors of the book that inspired me to make liqueurs in the first place recommend doing this; I just keep forgetting. Perhaps a list of what I have posted in the spice cabinet would be a good reminder. Or, I could just make a sign to put on the wall by the stove that says:

Add Spirit to your cooking ---available in cacao, Calamondine lime, cherry, ginger,
lemon, orange, peach, pomegranate, prickly pear, and vanilla!

I've also saved the seeds from two other fruits we've had recently. Once in a while, I crave Mexican papaya. Since Arizona borders Mexico, this is a far more local fruit for us that papaya shipped across the ocean from Hawaii. Mexican papayas are larger and less sweet than the ones from Hawaii but still tasty. They have an interesting nutty flavor, as well, that is reminiscent of walnuts. Since walnuts give me heartburn, I do enjoy that aspect of this fruit once in a great while. When slicing it up, I decided to see if it might be possible for us to grow a papaya. Using this site as a guide, I cleaned and dried the seeds. My sweetie is going to try growing some in a pot that will eventually live in a greenhouse that we hope to have someday.

The other seeds I saved are not for growing new plants. I've saved the seeds from every CSA watermelon we've eaten this year. I enjoy making this bean soup with roasted watermelon seeds. In fact, I've got some Mayacoba beans soaking right now to make soup tonight. Hopefully the clouds outside will burn off so I can toast the seeds and cook the beans in the solar ovens.

That's all the challenge news from here. What's happening with your challenge?