Update on "shampoo" paste...

I've been using this for almost two weeks and LOVE it! It emphasizes the natural things you like about your hair and seems to minimize what you don't like! My hair has more body, is easier to style, and...wait for it...it covers up grey! I can't believe it!

I also really enjoy the process. Rubbing your scalp with a super mild abrasive. I had read that this can make your hair grow faster, as some say it does after a cut. It's not because of the cut. It's because of the scalp stimulation! Try it and let me know what you think.

August Farmer's Market

This is my favorite time of the year!  I went to my market yesterday, after brunch with a friend. What a simply splendid way to spend a morning! Local, organic, seasonal produce and other local products. I wanted to make another greens salad, but no greens to be found this week. Too hot! This is what I bought:

Cucumbers.
Tomatoes, regular and cherry.
Swiss Chard. This was a huge bunch.
Herbs - basil and mint. I buy any I see. Half of the time, I don't even know what I'm buying!
Radishes.
Fresh beer bread.
Yellow potatoes.
Multi colored carrots! Yellow, orange, and purple?
Curry, goat feta cheese.

I bought so many things and bunches are abundant. I was a little worried about how I would get all of this on my bike, with a purse and jacket already in hand! I may have lost a few cherry tomatoes along the way!

I also invested in 1/2 share of a CSA, so I had some goodies from there, too.

I wash, dry, and store all items when I get home. I made French Potato Salad, toubouli, and a veggie panini so far. I went to a small pot luck last night with potato salad and toubouli. I am determined to use all of these ingredients with very little from the grocery store. This week, I will probably only need to buy some fish, eggs, almond milk, and fruit.  One of my other goals is to waste none of this bounty!

Natural "Shampoo" Paste

Well, I have to admit. This may be my craziest recipe yet. I'm not sure how I started thinking about hair care. I've used shampoo only in my hair for years with no conditioner. About once a week, I rinse cider vinegar through my hair. You will LOVE how soft and silky this will make your hair. The slightly acidic quality makes it static free all year. I also, quite generously, spray on lemon juice when my hair is towel dry to style. This holds your hair in place, but also adds shine, and may lighten it a little bit. That's not the best part...after rain or snow, I toss my fingers through my hair and it looks even better than it did before!  I have short hair.   I get it cut every 5-6 weeks.

As you know, I've been looking at other natural cleaning kinds of products and stumbled upon this recipe. Ready???

Ingredients:
3-4 tbsp. Baking Soda
1-2 tbsp. Water

Process:
Mix baking soda with a small amount of water. Add enough to make a paste.

That's it!!!

Procedure:
Start by applying "paste" to scalp, around your crown. Work the paste into your scalp, careful to not really rub your hair too hard. It could break. You could thin the paste and put it in a plastic applicator bottle. Keep applying to the rest of your scalp, emphasizing the neckline of your hair, and around your face.  This may take a little bit of practice.

Now, in a worst case, or for someone that is bedridden, you wouldn't even need to rinse this out. I always do. Your hair will feel super dry after you rince out the paste, but it'll be okay. You can add honey or cider vinegar, if you want, but I don't.

I just run a comb through it. It is not tangled. As it dries, it gets super soft, highlights are emphasized, and it will have natural body like you won't believe! You only need to do this about every three days, but sooner if your hair is oily or if it's super hot outside.

This is a recipe I wish I'd have known about when I travelled every week. Super simple and easy to replace, especially if you forgot to pack your shampoo or if your luggage got lost!

Veggie Wash Soak (Green-especially if bought at the farmers market)

I truly enjoy buying my veggies from the farmer’s market, when available.    I’ve always washed what I brought home very well.  It seems that there is still a “grit” on it.  Once, I went to the farmers market in Madison with a friend.  We stopped at a meat market on the way, and made a nice lunch at my house.  The salad had a lot of grit on, even after washing.  

When I get home from the farmer’s market, I enjoy the proces of cleaning my veggies.  I usually fill a large stock pot with cold water and salt  This is very effective, but I don’t like to taste the salt.  Plus, my co-workers thought that it was crazy!  Imagine that!  The stuff they sell at the store is expensive, and I don’t like to kid myself about chemicals.  I’m not very smart with this kind of thing, but I don’t really trust commercial products and am working on getting away from a lot of them.  

I did my usual...starting fishing around on the internet.  I went to look it up again, just before writing this and could not find it.  Oh, well!

Ingredients:

• 1 gallon cold tap water.
• 3 tbsp. cider vinegar, or lemon (for the acid).
• 3 tbsp. baking soda (optional, but the recipe claimed that this would make the produce “squeaky clean”).  I used it.

Drop veggies in solution.  Soak for a minute or so.  Rince with cold water and dry, as much as possible.

I soaked several veggies in the same pot of cleaner.  I started with washing the kale,  the lettuce, the cilantro, and the potatos.  After all of that, the solution was very dirty and had lots of grit on the bottom.  Rinse the veggies after soaking in that solution.  The best part is that my veggies were clean and did not have grit.  Wait, maybe the best part is the low price tag of this wash and the understandable list of ingredients!  

Commuting, being green, and cooking...

I’ve always worked.  I’m not complaining.  I’m thankful for that.  It does present challenges regarding cooking for one or two people, though.  Eating out has often seemed faster and easier, although not better, and certainly not better for us. 

Recently, I’ve been working on simplifying my life.  It started with being more green and less compulsive “jumping in the car” to run for this and that.  I believe that this has saved me a lot of money, although I still buy whatever I want, especially with respect to groceries.  I also really try to support my small, local businesses.  I used to keep a list for Menards or Home Depot.  When I had a free afternoon or evening, I’d treck over there (driving, of course), and wander around, ultimately only finding about half of the items on my list and typically spending at least $100 on items I didn’t really need.  You see the problems here?  My little hardware store is less than one mile from my house.  The guys there are so helpful.  They are the best I’ve seen.  They always have what I’m looking for.  I stop there about once a week for a couple of things.

Living in the city.  Ahh.  I had never lived in the city, until about 5 years ago.  This makes a huge difference.  I live less than 5 miles away from work and most of what I need.  I feel very European!  I can bike or take the bus to work and most places I need to go.  I try to fill the tank of gas in my car less than once a month.  I know that this, alone, is a huge savings, and of course, green.  It’s also easier for me to hop on my bicycle than to fight traffic, find a parking spot, and avoid going to the gym.  Super bonus.  I also buy shoes and clothing on the internet.  I have two baskets on the back of my bike, so need to plan for groceries, but also have them delivered, if I need a bunch of stuff or bigger items.

I’m not always perfect about staying out of my car.  I seem to have “seasons” where I’m driving for several days in a row, but I find that I’m less happy when I spend time in my car.  I truly smile when I get on my bike, almost every time.  I enjoy seeing, hearing, and smelling things that you don’t even notice in a car.  I often stop and snap a picture of a garden or patio that I think is cute.  I don’t usually ride when it’s colder than 60 degrees or so.  

The bus.  I love having the bus as an option.  On the weekend or in the evening, it’s not as convenient due to limited routes.  However, I seem to be able to work around that easily enough.  I recently met a fella on the bus that lives near me.  He hasn’t had a car in 20 years.  I was impressed by that!  I’m not on the bus for very long, so usually don’t read, while on the bus.  I read at the bus stop while I’m waiting.  I’m a people watcher.  I love to watch all of the different types of people on the bus and often pray for some or all of them.  I’ve also been on the bus, when I’ve needed prayer and feel as if I’ve gotten it back.  It’s an interesting community of all ages, races, and types.  I really love to listen to young people on the bus.  When I do that, I look outside, so as not to be too obvious.  :-)

When I have something to do in the evening, I often drive.  I have to run home at lunch to feed and let me dog out.  As I’ve noted, I recently look a class by Lori, one of the chefs at Lucia’s.  She had a really interesting and similar approach to recipes.  Use only the best, local, if at all possible, and in season, always.  She also spoke to “small batch” cooking, as I now call it.  I used to love leftovers!  I do not anymore.  I don’t cook that way.  I make all of my own salad dressings and have gotten pretty creative with this.  I recently purchased a label maker, which is critical for this method.  I keep most jars that groceries come in with their lids.  Then, I have a bunch of different sizes and feel very green.  I use them to store cold and pantry items, along with canning jars.  I’ll be sharing some of these tricks.  

This makes me think that there are two kinds of cooks:  recipe followers and hippies.  Recipe followers are diligent about obtaining each and every ingredient and chasing all over to get exactly “what is written”.  This is also how most restauranteurs operate.  They need to deliver a consistant product.  No excuses!  The hippies, myself included, use recipes for inspiration only, as Samantha once said.  I often look at 3-10 recipes for one thing and pick most of what looks good to me.

I’m not at all a picky eater, but have really tried to reduce my meat intake, to preserve my fragile, diabetic kidneys.  I often substitue beans and or nuts for meat.  Lots of interesting flavors and textures this way.  However, I don’t care for raw onions, mayo, celery, or lots of oil/dressing.  I usually go out for lunch for some kind of soup and or saled with fresh bread (no preservatives).  The problem is the onions, mayo, celery, and too much dressing!  This is one of the many reasons I’ve been more doing more cooking.  We’ll see how this goes.  

Best Salad Ever!!!!!

I went to my little farmers market this morning.  I only purchased a few things...fresh herbs, new potatos, mixed greens, tomatos, and a scone (mandatory purchase).  I ride my bike over there (less than a mile each way) and am back with fresh goodies in about 1/2 hour.  This is the beauty of small, neighborhood farmers markets.  I wash everything off when I get home and try to dry the goodies, so I have very little waste.

Refer to my recipe for French Potato Salad.  As I said, I keep a jar of this in the frig all of the time.  It’s so convenient.  I just threw out my last bottle of store bought dressing.  It was Neuman’s, so I figured I would be more likely to use it than more fake kinds.  But, I just don’t use that kind of thing any more.  More to come on this...

The super simple salad I made had the following ingredients (serves 2):

• 4 cups fresh mixed greens (washed and dried).
• One medium fresh tomato, chopped.
• 2 white radishes, quartered and sliced.  I had these left from last weeks farmers market, but any other fixings will work.   
• 1/2 cup various fresh, chefanade slice, herbs.  I had basil, dill, cilantro, and parsley.
• Feta cheese (to offset the tartness of the dressing).  You don’t have to slice these at all.  You could break them up, too.
• 3 tbsp. mustard vinegrette dressing.  See recipe for French Potato Salad below.

Just put the ingredients, in order on 2 medium plates.  Distribute dressing.  Enjoy!

This salad probably has the fewest number of ingredients of any salad I’ve made.  All fresh, almost all local, quaity, ingredients.  What a difference!  Please support your local farmers and markets.  It’s good for them, good and delicous for you!  

French Potato Salad and Mustard Vinegrette

Lucia’s, ahh Lucia’s.  Life is short!  Eat at Lucia’s.  This is a little deli/restaurant that I am so thankful to have in Uptown.  They are an awesome neighbor to have!  Open at 7 am until about 9 - all three meals.  One is better than the next.  Scones in the morning, different quinoa, wheat berry, veggie and fruit salads for lunch, cool happy hour, and a great dinner menu.  She has an ever-changing menu and emphasises local and in season ingredients.  I feel like her marketing department.  

Last week, one of her chefs/buyers taught a class, at Kitchen Window, of course.  Lori is Lucia’s buyer.  Now I don’t know which is my dream job - selling fancy cheese at Lunds with Angie or being the buyer at Lucia’s?  I have a lot of experience with loving cheese and buying delcious food!  Oh well, I always say, “Don’t confuse a hobby with a business”.  I’d better follow my own advice!   I had a craving for potatoes, and had just recovered from one of the worst cold “bugs” that I’ve had in years, so this was a really fun treat.  I would’ve asked for seconds, but...

I don’t care much for mayo., onions, or celery...kind of a deal breaker for most potato salads made by others.  I make my grandma’s German Potato Salad, but rarely make it for myself.  I blame the need for topping with crisp bacon.  

Just like any potatoes, the leftovers are not as good as the fresh ones are.  Think of mashed potatoes, hash browns, roasted potatoes, french fries?  Yuk!  I made the sauce for this (also used for salad dressing) and can just boil a small potato or two, when I want this  Here you go...

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs. each of small red and yukon gold potatoes.

Mustard vinegrette dressing:

• 6 tbsp. white wine vinegar.  You can use any combo of white colored vinegars.  
• 3 tbsp. fresh chives.
• At least 1 tbsp. each of other fresh herbs.  Parsley, dill, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, basil, cilantro...I like to use 4 or 5 different ones-easy this time of year.
• 2 tbsp. capers, drained.
• 1/2 tbsp. each grainy and dijon mustard.  You can use one or the other, but both are delicious.
• 12 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste.  

Process:

1. Cook potatoes.  Place in a large pot of cold, salted water.  Bring to a boil.  Cook until fork-tender, about 20-25 minutes.  Drain.  Cool.
2. When cool enough to handle, cut into bite sized pieces.  
3. While potatoes are cooking, whisk together the vinegar, herbs, capers, and mustard.  Add the olive oil in a steady stream while whisking to emulsify.  Taste before adding salt and pepper.
4. Add the diced potatoes to the dressing/sauce, while the potatos are still warm, and mix, without breaking up the potatoes.
5. Serve cool or at room temp.

In class, they served this with a tenderloin sandwich.  This is also a great picnic dish, as it has no mayo.  I keep the sauce/dressing in the frig without the fresh herbs and capers.  I add those at the last minute with the salad/potatoes.