Food! Fat Free Salad Dressing - I found a Goodie!

Another food post!  What's going on here?  I guess it's that the more I read and listen to podcasts (favorite right now: http://www.richroll.com/podcast ) the more I can't separate what I'm eating* from what I believe in from an environmental impact + fashion perspective.  And, I've learned I need to cut out fat due to cardiac concerns that run in my family (thank you, Dr. Esselstyn!).  

So - what can I use as salad dressing?   I don't like sweet ones and the only two I ever loved are Blue Cheese and Ranch (which, after living in Texas where pizza is dipped in it!!!!!!  I was so grossed out I couldn't eat that anymore.  It doesn't wash off plates very easily either - can you imagine what it's doing in your body? ugh.ack.yuck.).   

Fat Free Dressing?  Does it exist?  How can one live without olive oil???  Here's what I just invented, and it's pretty tasty on top of being nutritionally dense!

"Salty" Lemon Dressing

2T. Lemon Juice

1-2T. Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Shake or 3 of Maine Coast Sea Seasonings Dulse Flakes (yummy seaweed)

Shake or 3 of Toasted Black Sesame 

    Whip it together w/ a fork and pour over your salad.  Done. 

Here's why I like it - lemon juice aids in the absorption of iron and calcium from greens; Bragg's and Dulse add a sea salty taste without being refined salt; Bragg's is of course an amazing source of Amino Acids (meat, schmeat!);  sesame seeds (the wonder food!) add beauty, crunch, a gazillion minerals, fiber and an earthy sort of meaty flavor; Dulse Flakes are also mineral dense.   

There you have it!  Enjoy:-)

*BACK STORY:  I was raised vegetarian but went meaty in my teens believing the hocus pocus about "needing animal protein" but then, after reading Skinny Bitch 6 years ago I switched to a 95% vegan diet because I didn't have any legitimate excuses for eating animals anymore.  I struggle to this day completely avoiding cheese and ice cream, but I get better every month:-)  And better, the less dairy eat the better my skin and overall health/well-being.  

Brie, oh how I love thee, but thee lovest not me:-(

Organic Food Really IS Better 4 U

HA!  Finally the organic farmers of the world - backyard variety on up - are vindicated!  It is now proven that organic food is considerably higher in antioxidants & flavanones and MUCH lower in pesticide residues.

BUY ORGANIC.

(I don't know why the eggplants - they're just cool I guess:-)

20 More EASY Eco Tips

I just saw this article on 20 Ways to be more Eco Friendly from Style Caster.
Easy Peasy!  I like that:-)

My favorite one is how to avoid those plastic stir sticks when you buy a coffee to go - put sugar and (SOY - you don't really use COW do you?!) creamer in the bottom first and when the coffee goes in it's already stirred!

Upcyling a Jet - Malibu Style and Earth911

It's time to break the silence on the Southern Front.  It's been a busy, kid monopolized summer, but here's something amazing for your enlightenment nevertheless - - -

Have you seen the Wing House in Malibu?  Designed by David Hertz of the Studio of Environmental Architecture in Venice Beach,  it is largely constructed from a dismantled Boeing 747. 

Many of the large pieces had to be flown in by helicopter.  Hertz was devoted to upcycling as much of the jet as possible, even making a fire pit on the patio out of parts.  You can read a shortie about the house on my new favorite eco blog -  Earth911 - More Ideas, Less Waste. 

Click to watch a video tour of this magnificent house

I wonder how many centuries it will take to save up enough pennies to hire SEA to make a beautiful house & studio for me - - -

Tire Chic

In celebration of all things le Tour de France (love those biking madmen) - I want to share the very special upcycled inner tube bags of Dante Robles Design with you.

But first - boys!

Mark Cavendish won his first, and hopefully one of many, stage today.  LOVE to watch Cav!

 As always we are rooting for Andy Schleck for over all win.  Go ANDY!

Apologies for the detour (a ha ha ha. not-so-punny),  back to fashion, where we should be.  
Dante Robles Design just won the “Timberland Best Green Handbag” at the Seventh Annual Independent Handbag Design Awards.  Well deserved.  I've been looking around at inner tube creations for some time and these are by far the most refined.  Beautiful!

 

Woven Bucket w/ Removable Fringe

 There's a cool bracelet that converts into a necklace too.

More Cool Textile Recycling Facts

Here's why we should NEVER forget to donate cast-off clothing!

It pays off; it really, really does.  The Council for Textile Recycling has a terrific graphic demonstrating just how successful textile recycling can be. Click here to see in better detail.

No one has ever accused me of being a numbers person... BUT data like these make my pulse race:
* Every 1000 lbs of donated textiles when recycled generates 2 man days of labor!
* Only 5% of textiles that are recycled ends up as waste!  5%!  That's amazing considering that according to the EPA 5% of landfill is clothing:-/

Eco Shopping - Recycle Party.com

We've just joined a fun group of Etsy recycling artists called Recycle Party.  It is a huge source for every imaginable item crafted of recycled materials you can imagine.  To give you a taste - here's a gorgeous treasure from member Arte Plastique -

Napkin Ring Set from recycled soda bottles!

Our account is:  http://www.recycleparty.com/users/jag-and-nevie

Enjoy browsing around.

The Importance of Supporting Small Designers - Like Us:-)

This morning THE Cut ran a good article on shopping ethically for presents this year.  They advocate spending on better quality and supporting US makers - Jag & Nevie, perhaps? :-)  Exerpt:


"...That means going local in our shopping. For example, you can purchase your holiday gifts from crafters like Jenine Bressner, who sold and showcased her wares at Maker Faire this year. When I spoke to Bressner and other craftivists like Church of Craft's Callie Janoff, it was clear their DIY wasn't just Portlandia-ish kook. They do tend to have ideals.* They aren’t creating a mass-production line that can lead to exploitation and dangerous corner-cutting. Buying and selling from real people and being able to make everything they need: These were some rationales for all that knitting, felting, and decoupaging."
* Three cheers for ideals.

Everybody needs a fun new scarf for Christmas

Water Bottles - the ugly truth and chic alternative

The Green Shows just pinned this on Pinterest and I'm so glad they did.  I never thought about the "less attention to public systems" aspect before.
We LOVE our silicone sleeve glass bottles.  Beautiful design, don't you agree?  Lifefactory makes this one, but Amazon has several varieties and I'm even seeing inexpensive versions (reduced quality goes w/ the price:-/ ) at Target and our local grocers.  I use 8 oz. ones for school lunches.

Waste Not

piles of t shirt strips = straps and necklaces at a later date

stack of sleeve = ruffles, posies and/or more strips

I am always excited when able to reduce waste of any kind.  We are making mosaics out of plastic container caps at our elementary school right now - awesome.  Southern Houston grocery stores are finally recycling plastic bags - whew.  I'm making necklaces out of frozen juice container caps - chic (hopefully!).
And today I decided to actually measure how little/or how much, depending on your half full/half empty perspective, fabric waste was leftover after cutting 8 t-shirt "T Bags".

This is all that remains of 8 unloved t-shirts that would have otherwise met their demise in a landfill or been shipped (at great environmental cost) to Africa for donation & resale.   Much of this small pile (scissors shown for scale) will be used as pillow and doll stuffing also.  I call that fantastic.

Pulp Princess

I just found this on Ecouterre and couldn't pass it by.  A princess-y gown made from unloved Little Golden Books - you know the ones!  Ryan Luke Novelline is the genius green designer behind this brilliant creation.  The best thing about old Golden Books is the fantastic period illustrations.  I have kept some vintage ones just because the pics are so stunning, but I would never think to re-craft them like this.

Cool people & places

Wow, there are so many amazing blogs to follow!  Who knew?  Of course, not me!  Too busy being busy.  Look at the blogs I follow if you want.  I'm so inspired by all these folks that are so environmentally active in their lifestyles, businesses & dietary choices.  Compassion is not dead even though it seems like it as you drive along the highway & everyone wants to run you over in their great cell-ph chatting hurry....