Bake sale packaging solution

I keep running into the bake sale issue. The one where I am supposed to bake for a bake sale and then figure out how to present the baked goods without using plastic bags or some other kind of disposable one time use only wrapping. Obviously this is my issue, but still an issue nonetheless.

And today, I discovered the first of what I hope to be many good ideas for a solution to this problem (and others like it).

My daughter's class was having a bake sale today to raise money for water 1st, a charity to help bring safe water to the people in Malawi, Africa. They would be standing outside in the cold and I knew that whatever I baked would need to be wrapped in something to make it more likely to sell.

So I was contemplating how this was going to work when the idea came to me - recycled paper! (Duh) We recently received something in the mail that had a bunch of brown paper as filler in the box. It was sitting in our pile of paper to burn for fires in the fireplace, but it was the perfect thing. I wrapped the brownies up and found some string to tie them into little packages, with two per package.

Plastic free and cute too!

Making soy milk

Before I start here, let me preface this by saying that I know that there is controversy over soy. I have cut most other non fermented soy items out of our diets, but my kids have this one vice that I continue to indulge them in. However, I do consider it of utmost importance to buy organic soy and to avoid GMOs at all cost.

That said, I decided that I needed to give making soy milk a try. I am so sick of buying packaged soy milk and there are some people in my family who do not like cows milk.
Here's how it went down.

I first bought some organic dried soy beans from the bulk department.

And then I looked for some easy to follow recipes online. Most of you know that I can't stand follow recipes, so I found this video much more useful:

I soaked my soybeans over night. Actually, I meant to make the soy milk yesterday, but before I found this video I got so overwhelmed by the recipe that I was going to use that I put the soaking soybeans in the fridge to soak for one more night so that I could continue to contemplate the task.

I pulled myself together and blended the soybeans up (in batches) with some filtered water and poured it into a big pot to cook.

Now let me tell you a little tip about cooking the soy milk - keep stirring! I didn't at first and consequently spent unnecessary time and energy scraping one of my more favorite pots when I was done. Good news though - the pot was saved.

Remember to scoop off the foam from the top while you are bringing it to a boil.

Something else that I would have done differently here was add more flavor. My final product is decent but to get my kids to drink it at the rate they were blowing through packaged soy milk, I should have put a little more sweetness and vanilla in during the cooking stage.

Once it was done cooking, I strained it through a cheese cloth. I didn't have those nifty clips that they used in the video, so I just secured the cheese cloth with a rubber band  - and since my bowl had a lip at the top, it worked perfectly.

I saved the soybean pulp stuff, also known as okara. My original plan for this stuff was to add some of it to my dog's food or just compost it, but then I remembered seeing another video on the side of that soy milk video, so I went back to find it.

I decided to save all of the okara so that I can make a bunch of these veggies burgers and freeze them for when I need a quick meal.

I let the soy milk cool for a bit before I strained it into some clean glass jars. I used a funnel with a small strainer to catch any lingering bits that might freak my kids out if they were to encounter them. Oh, and remember that as it's cooling you might see a film form on the top of the milk. I just took a spoon and scooped it right up and tossed it into the compost.

And now I have soy milk without all of that packaging! Cross your fingers that the kids like it enough to use it on their cereal in the morning...

Chocolate popsicles

I know that it is technically winter since I live in New England and it is the beginning of February... but most of you probably know that the weather has been warm and snow has been non-existent.
Therefore, we find ourselves eating weird things like cold popsicles after school.

As most of you probably remember, I love my stainless steel popsicle maker. And I am often looking for ways to make popsicles without having to buy containers of juice, which in the past has been the easy solution for making popsicles.

But this afternoon my daughter (a self proclaimed chocoholic) reminded me of the time that I once made chocolate popsicles from hot chocolate. It was super easy and simple and this is all you need to do it yourself:

- Hot chocolate mix... you can often find this in bulk bins or you can make your own mix from bulk items. Don't forget to buy fair trade when it comes to chocolate and sugar - it's totally worth it.
- Water or milk for the hot chocolate mix (whichever you prefer)
- Popsicle makers
- A freezer

Make the hot chocolate how you normally like it. I tend to make it on the less hot side since I'm going to freeze it anyway. Also, I'm always freaked out about glass breaking, and I tend to make the hot chocolate in mason jars just because they are bigger and I can make more for the popsicle molds.

Let the hot chocolate cool a little bit and then pour it into the molds and put them into the freezer. You guys - it's that simple!! And if you happen to have the stainless steel molds, it actually freezes much faster... which means chocolate popsicles sooner!

Enjoy!

Today

Today is my day off and there is lots to do as always. This is my to do list:

- complete taxes (check)
- wash laundry and hang on drying rack (check)
- donate 3 bags of clothes from hallway pile (check)
- take wooden puzzles ( the ones with all of the correct pieces) to the kids consignment shop (check)
- go to local bookstore and use credit from used books that I turned in to buy first 2 books to a series (we got the 3rd and 4th one from the used book store) for a birthday gift for a friend (check)
- go to library (there now, check)
- learn how to make soy milk from scratch to avoid buying in packaged from now on
- continue to go through and eliminate items in the hallway which have been designated as "get rid of piles" by my older kids - somethings need to go in the attic for future use, like clothes that my youngest will wear... This helps us to avoid buying new even down the line
- vacuum (enough said)
- take a walk with dog and at least one kid
- do my homework (how did this get to the bottom of the list when school is tomorrow morning? Hopefully my teacher isn't reading this...)


And that, my friends, will be everything that I expect myself to do today. Hopefully I will complete more and not less...

Books

I'm feeling sad for books.

With the new technology of devices that you can read books and newspapers and magazines on now, I'm a bit torn. On one hand, there is the reduction of paper production when using these readers... but on the other hand we have the need to make more of these electronic devices as people stray away from books. I recently listened to an episode on This American Life that reminded me (about what I already knew) about the production of these fancy electronic gadgets that make us all so happy. Reminders are good sometimes.

And what about all of the books out there that already exist? We don't need contribute to the production of new paper to buy those. One of my favorite stores to visit in my town is a used bookstore called Yellow House Books. I have been selling some of our good books that we are ready to pass on and receiving store credit. My 5 year old has been really into the Magic Tree House series, so it has been great to go in there and add to his collection from books already in production.

We also love to give books as gifts, so this makes it fun to pick out a "new" book for someone without contributing to the production of something new. And we can support a local business at the same time.

There is something so magical about going into a used bookstore and not being sure what you are going to find until you find it. Not only do you totally miss out on this experience when you read books on an electronic device, but you also completely miss out on any human interaction that a bookstore could offer you.

I know that some sources say that there is absolutely no difference between reading a book on an electronic device and reading a real book, but they seem to have forgotten to consider other things like how light affects our sleep... as I'm sure at least a few you like to read before going to bed.

And then there are libraries... oh, how I love the library. In fact, I was just there yesterday thinking about how wonderful libraries were and much people need them. How could they exist if people stopped reading real books? it was amazing to watch how community formed in the downstairs children's section of my local library. Children were doing homework and browsing the shelves, younger ones with parents and older ones just off the bus killing time before going home. Yes, electronic devices played a role there too - some kids checking their email on the computer and some adults using the wifi to keep themselves busy while their children searched for books to read.

But what would we do without libraries?

The truth is, I feel like I would rather not be getting magazine subscriptions and instead be reading them online or... on something. I know that I could get magazines from the library too, but I haven't quite worked this one out just yet. Maybe if I go in this direction of an electronic device for this, I might be able to get my hands on something second hand... but it's a thought.

And what about when the power goes out? You can only read on a reader so long before the battery dies, but a little candle light and a paperback and maybe a little of this:

and I think you will have one happy (over 21) camper.

Hows that for a quick lead in? I just wanted to add that I have now committed myself to buying local alcohol whenever there is an option... and it just so happens that we have this great local company that seems to make quite a selection of recreational drinks for us grownups. Not that I buy a lot of alcohol... but for some reason I was letting myself slide on the local purchasing when it came to this category. Well, not anymore.

Ok, off to do my homework... which just so happens to involve reading a real life book!

Appreciating the simple

Sometimes it's difficult to appreciate the simple things in life with so much going on around us all of the time. While practicing positivity has definitely been a huge help for me these past few weeks, appreciating the simple has certainly been important:

The simple act of kindness from a friend who was ready to loan us money to put propane in our tank when we ran out of heat last week.

The simple solution (for now) of getting a new battery for the car when it died last week.

How simple it was to communicate about an important matter with the right people... and how positive the outcome was, even if a solution was not reached.

And there is the smaller stuff, the stuff less stressful than running out of heat, being temporarily broke and having a car break down.

The power went out here the other day and it was actually kind of nice. It wasn't long enough for the heat to be an issue (even though it was something like 9 degrees outside, or less maybe) and we always have plenty of candles and bottles filled with water lying around... it was in the evening and all three of my kids had spent the day working on a project together while I was at work - they were making a newspaper. And while it might not have been a completely appropriate newspaper (it had a PG-13 rating, which seemed uncomfortably accurate after my assessment), it did keep them creatively busy and cooperative with each other for a whole day.
At the moment when the power went out, my daughter was reading my youngest a bedtime story, and my oldest was busy working on the newspaper. It was suddenly very dark in the house but it didn't take us more than a few minutes to locate some candles and for the kids to go right back to what they were doing without missing a beat. It was a nice feeling to think that if they had been watching a movie or playing video games or even using the computer, we would have had some grumpy kids wondering what to do next. Instead it was just us grownups thrown off (recording studios don't work without power, sadly)... so we played my favorite game by candlelight.
And it was way better than watching a movie or using a computer.

Ok, I used my cell phone to take the picture without power but it is 2012...

And now today, I am feeling off. I write this post on a day that I am fighting the stress and searching a little harder to find the positivity in things. It's not too hard, but some days it requires a little extra work.

But a simple drink with some fresh fruit makes me feel a little better.

And the fact that someone is willingly driving my oldest home from drumming class for me while I make dinner certainly helps.

And the simple fact that at this very moment in time, we have everything that we need in life... and even more.

It's simple really... the hard part is remembering that.

Simple day

Today was a simple day.

I basically just read. I read this whole book - it was really good. The author herself gave me the book just a few days ago and it was really worth it to take the day off and just read it. I only cried a few times, but in that feeling connected and affected by her words kind of way. It's actually the first book that I've made the time to read in quite a long time... so long that I just don't remember the last book (unrelated to school) that I've read.

Anyway, when I was done reading I took a nap. A real honest to goodness nap!

When I woke up I went and picked my daughter up from the bus stop, took the kids to the library and then returned home to lay down again while the kids read.

The sky was beautiful while we were out, I'm sorry that I didn't have a chance to capture the amazing pink clouds.

My partner has been kind of sick so maybe I'm fighting it off, but whatever the reason was, I needed to just read and sleep today and I'm super glad I did it.

When dinner came, we grabbed some "just in case" cans of soup from the pantry and heated them up. I didn't even care because it was just what we needed. We ate some bagels and left over roasted potatoes with it.

And now I'm sitting on the couch getting ready to put my youngest to bed so that I can do nothing some more and then go to bed and sleep some more.


It seems that simple was just what the doctor ordered for us today.