Calling All Knitters and Crocheters!

Knit and Crochet Today! are featuring a worthwhile project to benefit the participants of the 2009 Special Olympics. Coats & Clark (the makers of Red Heart) are "...sponsoring a project to provide each athlete with a scarf created in white and delft blue Red Heart Super Saver yarns."  Coats & Clark is looking for 5,000 scarves to be hand knit or crocheted. The due date for the submission of these scarves is January 15, 2009.  The yarns to be used are Red Heart white (#311) and delft blue (#885). Any pattern can be made as long as both colors are somehow incorporated into the scarf. You can find more information about this fabulous project at the Coats & Clark website: www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Features/Special+Olympics.htm

Please consider donating a bit of your time and talent for this heartwarming cause!

Pop's Apple Pie

Ever since my Meme passed in 2001, I have refused to eat apple pie. My Meme's apple pie was the best I have ever eaten and I know there can be no replacement.

The other day I decided that I'm going to go home to see my parents this Friday. I offered to cook lunch for them (my very special beef stroganoff recipe) and make a dessert. I listed all the different pies I could make for my father and he, of course, choose apple.

I decided to use my Meme's cookbook, "The Good Housekeeping Cookbook" published in MCMLXXIII (that's 1973). I have had the best of luck with this cookbook, including my very favorite banana bread recipe and a killer chocolate chip cookie recipe.  The recipe in the cookbook for apple pie was very simple (after, of course, peeling and coring the apples!).  I was so very pleased with how the pie came out! After tasting some of the sauce that leaked out while baking, I immediately called my father to tell him how close this pie tasted to my Meme's pies. The top crust is lumpy and he said that that was how Meme's pies were. I'm so excited to bring it to him tomorrow and have him try it! My Meme was definitely with me as I made this pie and I made sure to thank her for the help when it was done.

Our Own Shade of Green

"Green Living" is a relatively new phrase and many people are feeling the need to be "Green." I have been trying to live this type of lifestyle for many years now. When I first met my husband, he categorized me as a "hippie." Now, he just sees what I do as the way that it is.

Here is how we live green:

Grocery Store:

• I always use my own bags at the grocery store. If my 3 bags aren't enough, I insist on paper so that I can later use the bag for my recycling.
• While at the grocery store, I never use those little produce plastic bags unless I'm getting peas or string beans. Why put tomatoes, bananas, etc. in those bags? I always wash my food before I eat it so what does it matter?
• Carry out large items such as milk, detergent, etc. that way there's no wasted space in your sacks.
• I make it a point to buy items with recyclable containers. My town recycles numbers 1 and 2 plastics. If something comes in a different number, more often than not, I don't buy it. I also NEVER buy Styrofoam!

Eating:

• I am a HUGE fan of antibiotic free meats and eggs. My eggs are cage free. I always buy Pete & Jerry's Organic Eggs. They come in half or whole dozen containers. My meats (chicken, beef, and luncheon meat) are all free range, antibiotic free.
• Pete and I are trying to stay away from processed foods. No more Tyson chicken, corn dogs, Betty Crocker stuff, etc. I make most of my meals now. Tonight we're having a pizza that I make from scratch.
• Most of my vegetables are organic. I also buy organic macaroni and cheese as well as Newman's Own organic & fair trade coffee.
• The coffee filters that we use are unbleached.
• 90% of what we eat does not contain hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup.

Personal Care:

• The shampoo and conditioner we use is from Nature's Gate. I also use their liquid hand soap (organic). 
• The dishwashing detergent we are currently using is Ecover (phosphate free). 
• For our laundry detergent, I use Arm & Hammer Essentials. 
• For my toothpaste, I use Tom's of Maine. 
• The deodorant that I use is also from the Arm & Hammer Essentials line. It is natural deodorant with no aluminum or parabens.
• My face wash is by Avalon Organics (facial cleansing gel).  The lavender, which is what I'm currently using, has a wonderful, calming scent.

Cleaning:

• The toilet cleaner that I use is produced by Seventh Generation. It is "non-toxic, biodegradable, no dyes."
• The general bathroom cleaner that we use is by Bonami. It is "earth friendly" with "no chlorine, perfume, or dyes."

Travel:

• We keep our tires inflated. We also have put nitrogen in all of our tires. Both of these things does add to our fuel mileage. A washed car also adds to fuel mileage as there is less resistance when you're going down the road.
• Pete and I combine trips and try not to let the car idle. Remember: an idling car gets 0 miles per gallon.
• We traded in our Pontiac Grand Prix for a Smart Car! We went from about 18 miles per gallon to 44 - 48 miles per gallon!
• I am lucky enough to carpool to work with someone 3 to 4 days a week.

Clothing:

• I am beginning to make some of my own clothes. This saves money and travel (on my end and for the item itself).
• We donate clothes on a yearly basis. If something hasn't been worn in a year, it gets donated. This is a form of recycling.
• Dry cleaning: I hate it. If something says "dry clean only," I wash it. The only things I don't wash are 100% pure wool. Pete, unfortunately, gets his work clothes laundered at the dry cleaner. We have asked that his clothes NOT be wrapped in plastic. All that plastic isn't needed!

In the Home

• We replaced most of our lights with CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights). We have regular incandescent only in areas that we turn the light on for a second and turn it back off again (i.e. coat closet). CFLs work best when they can be left on for periods of 15 minutes or more.
• I recently replaced my plastic shower liner with a cloth one. Having a cloth one means a longer life as I can wash it multiple times.
• Open the windows! Pete and I have central A/C but it was used little this summer. We opted for a more eco-friendly way of cooling our home: fresh air! We opened our windows and used a couple of fans when needed.
• I have a clothesline that is used during good weather to dry my clothes. Again, this saves energy and money!

Waste

• We recycle as much as we can!  Everything that we use that is glass, aluminum, or plastic (#1 and #2) gets recycled. Cardboard as well: toilet paper tubes, tissue boxes, pasta boxes (rip out those plastic windows first!), macaroni and cheese boxes, etc.
• Remember to check your lids too! Just because it was on your milk jug doesn't necessarily mean that the lid is the same number!
• Pete and I also compost. If you're interested about how I do that, check out the post I wrote a few days ago. You can link to it by clicking HERE.
• Garbage: ugh. What a nasty word. To help reduce what you throw away (which either goes to a landfill or gets burned) think about each piece you throw away and where it will end up. I cringe every time I throw something away.

I could go on and on but this is our "green lifestyle" in a nutshell. I hope to keep adding to the list as we try to make more areas of our living "green." If you have any additional tips that you would like to share, please leave it in my comment section. Be happy, be green!

A Bounty of Box Tops!

My afternoon was filled with those little pink and white Box Tops found on the backs of many of the food items you may eat.  I am the Box Tops coordinator for my school and didn't do too much with my collection of them over the school year. So, today was my day of cutting, bagging, and general organizing. I cut about 700 of those little buggers today. My poor hand is feeling it! Why cut them all? Well, General Mills requests that each one be cut around the dotted lines (yikes!) and that they be bagged in bunches of 50. Needless to say, I was surrounded by scraps, baggies, and lots and lots of Box Tops. It all paid off though as I will be submitting $1,136 worth of Box Tops to General Mills this coming October. Just think: each Box Top is only worth 10 cents! Yes, I had over 11,000 to deal with! 

Grrrrr!

All summer I've been meaning to wash my linen bathroom curtains and the 100% cotton decorative shower curtain.  Today was the day.  After machine washing them in warm water, I hung them out on the line to dry. I never expected my shower curtain to shrink almost a foot! It looks absolutely ridiculous! This was not a cheap curtain -- I got it from Kohl's. I wonder if I was to blame by washing it in warm water? Anyhow, I'll be making a trip to Kohl's again soon to rectify this situation! Anyone want a tad short shower curtain?

                                                      Eeek!

Busy Day!

Got up at 5:50. Made Pete's coffee. Started the laundry after breakfast. Researched patterns for the baby blanket I'm going to make. Made fresh whipped cream at 10:00. Read a little bit. Left at 11:10 for Barbara's.  Carpooled with Barbara to the party. Left party at 3:00. Went to Michael's for baby yarn and the stuff to make my jewelry. Went to cleaners. Thought about my laundry on the line as I drove home in the pouring rain. Made it back to the house. Not a drop! Took in and folded the laundry. Here I sit, absolutely beat!

P.S. Those shoofly pies were a huge hit at the party! :)

Lancaster County Wet-Bottom Shoofly Pies

Tomorrow all of the teachers from my school are getting together for a gathering at a fellow teacher's summer home. For my part, I am bringing fresh whipped cream to top off the two Lancaster County Wet-Bottom Shoofly Pies that I made tonight. These pies are absolutely delicious, easy to make, and taste much better the day after baking (hence the reason for me to make them today for tomorrow!). The recipe comes from "The Beverly Lewis Amish Heritage Cookbook," pages 144-145.

The picture below is the egg, dark corn syrup, and boiling water mixture. It will then be mixed slowly into the flour and brown sugar (2nd and 3rd pictures). This creates the base of the pie.

These unbaked pies have been topped with a reserved flour/brown sugar crumb topping. Into the oven they go!
Done to perfection! My entire house smells quite heavenly!