From the cheap and easy file

Making your own baby food is super easy and super cheap.

Here was a little weekend project from when I had a baby. I went to my favorite superstore, Meijer, bought plentiful supplies of freezable veggies. Organic or locally grown veggies would have been even better.

For 60 cents, I purchased enough green beans to feed my then baby for a week. After steaming and blending them, I filled ice cube trays with tiny single serving size portions.

Presto. Finished for the week.

And bonus — these little servings cost about 60 cents each when you buy the jarred variety. That's what I did for for my older child. I don't think they're any less nutritious, just more expensive and bearing more waste.

But those little glass containers are super reusable for storing tiny items like nails and beads. Just FYI.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

Sometimes when you have kids, you just do things to get by.

Of course I'd love to make every meal a culinary delight, but nobody ever died from eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch. And there are days when that's all the creativity I can muster.

But my all-time favorite quick meal is the quesadilla. It's easy. It's simple. And it can even be nutritious. The quickest meal is the quesadilla with refried beans and grated cheese. But my favorite is spinach with goat cheese. Yum.

One bunch of spinach.
Two cloves garlic.
One Tbsp. olive oil.
Two flour tortillas.
Spreadable goat cheese
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Salsa and sour cream for dipping.

Sauté the garlic over medium heat for about 30 seconds (just until it smells nice) and add spinach. I like it with a little water still clinging to it. With tongs, continue cooking until the spinach is nice and wilty.

On one flour tortilla, coat with goat cheese. Top that with spinach. Next, add the mozzarella (this binds it all together).

Top with second tortilla. Brush with oil and cook over medium heat until both sides are golden brown, about a minute each. Serve with salsa and sour cream, or eat standing over the stove, which is what I sometimes end up doing with these beauties.

Save the extra spinach to add in pasta, stuff in a pita or more quesadillas. The possibilities are endless.

Growing a garden

There's nothing quite as wonderful as fresh vegetables.

Last year, we joined a CSA that only expanded my appreciation for growing stuff. I learned to cook kale, Japanese greens (the original fast food) and Jerusalem artichokes, which are not from Jerusalem or an artichoke.

I learned fresh radishes and the sliced red and white "radishes" at a salad bar are not at all the same thing.

So I'm giving gardening a go this year. I'll grow mostly simple things like tomatoes and lettuce. In fact, I'm so new at this that I had to get a book from the KIDS section of the library. I know... embarrassing.

I have a lot to say about gardening, from my dad's vegetable gardens, to my aunt's canned tomato sauce, to my reluctance to go too far on the side of vegetable-garden crazy for fear my neighbors will talk about me.

But for now, I'll just cross my fingers, hope this endless winter actually ends one day and fill my slosh bucket for compost with all our fruit and veggie scraps.

Awesome reasons for not driving

Car rental.

When I was younger (pre-25, before I could legally rent a car) I thought car rental was based on convenience only, and charged for it.

Turns out, car rental is surprisingly affordable. We rent from Enterprise, which normally offers 50 percent off weekends. For a three-day getaway, we can rent a car for about $50.

Now, unless you're doing a trip every couple of weeks, it's totally cheaper than a car payment. Plus... the insurance for your primary car covers it (better check, but mine does). Plus, plus... no regular maintenance like oil changes and wiper replacements.

And the biggest plus... it's totally fun to try all these new cars. In the last year I traveled home pretty regularly and I got the same car maybe twice. And the cars are always kind of new and clean.

Much better than the clunker we're shlumping around town in.

Turn up the heat

Every family has a dirty little secret. Even, our little eco-friendly clan.

We love to barbecue. And not just because we like to send a bunch of carbon emissions into the blue, clear sky on sustainable seafood and veggies.


Oh no... We're talking red meat.

I know. It's a horrible secret. But we're not alone. The Sierra Club tells me three out of four American households own a grill.

Nationwide, the estimated 60 million barbecues held on the Fourth of July alone consume enough energy—in the form of charcoal, lighter fluid, gas, and electricity—to power 20,000 households for a year.

Yikes. But here's a few hints to guilt-free grilling. Also, make sure you take your clean sheets off the line before your favorite family grill-master fires up the hardwood briquettes or you'll be sleeping with the aroma of your great smoky dinner.

Trust me. It's not as much fun as it sounds.

DONE: Ditch the VOC-laden lighter fluid for a chimney starter, which let's the head chef start the grill with just newspaper. It's a cost saver in the long run.

STILL WORKING: Buy locally raised meat. It typically has fewer issues with how they're raised and from long-distance shipping than those value packs of brats at your neighborhood superstore. This Times article has a good rundown of grilling a better burger. Don't forget that grilled veggies are pretty rockin'.

NOT GONNA HAPPEN: How about a solar ovens or stoves to avoid most emissions entirely. I'll go ahead and do this after my bio-plastic stock makes me a millionaire.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

I've recently changed my diet to reflect a more Asian style of eating. I did this after seeing the Asian Diet Pyramid, a different spin on the healthy eating pyramids seen in every middle school in America, and realizing they are permitted to drink alcohol EVERY day.

Now that's a diet I can get behind.

The biggest change for me is less meat. Specifically less red meat, which I kind of love. Plus, it's not as expensive as fish or fancy veggies. Plus-plus, nothing fills you up like a good old-fashioned slab of steak.

But I'm working with it. And I recently created this fantastic pita sandwich with sautéed spinach and mushrooms, and topped with bean sprouts. But the real heart of the sandwich is the Green Goddess Dip, which is versatile, yummy and is a fun and healthy dip for kids.

2 Garlic cloves
1 cup parsley
1 cup Spinach (Green goddess dip is typically all herbs, like basil and dill, but I like spinach so there)
3/4 cup of yogurt
1 cup Ricotta cheese
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut up garlic in food processor or blender. Add parsley and spinach. Blend in the yogurt. Add lemon juice.
Scoop into bowl and vigorously stir in the ricotta. Season with salt and pepper.

Addressing the driving issue: Finally

National Public Radio ran this great report today about an Atlanta woman and her child who moved from the suburbs to the city. By removing her commute, the move greatly reduced her carbon footprint.

It was nice to hear this issue being addressed as far as parents are concerned. Most green parenting stories I see talk to parents who buy organic or use all-natural products. Not that these things are bad, but it's only in passing the stories mention the parental resistance to giving up the minivan.

At first I thought, "Oh great. Another story of how the rich are becoming oh so green." But the woman, Malaika Taylor, talked about how she couldn't afford a house inside the city but could move into an innovative development that incorporates residential and commercial life.

Taylor didn't have the environment in mind when she made these decisions, much like my own family's decision to try a more simple pace. She just wanted to get her life back. It's at the core of how the environmental movement can be a catalyst to returning sanity to the American family.

I love how she describes her new commute-free life.

"Maybe I'll work out. Maybe we'll play a game. It makes a huge difference just in the quality of our life. We get to spend a lot more time together. I think she's happier. I'm happier. It makes life a lot better."