Some More on BPA

A few weeks ago I gave a quick run-down on the dangers of BPA. Today I came across an interesting video about BPA that looks into the government's involvement in the regulation of BPA and safety concerns over the chemical. You can watch the video here. Pin It Now!

Quick n' Easy Pants!

Here are a couple of quick pairs of pants that I made for my little guy. Some of the material was leftover from a baby blanket I had made, and the other print I found on sale. I didn't use a pattern, but just used a pair of store-bought baby pants as an example, and sort of fudged my way through it.
This is a great way to use up some extra material you may have laying around. Or, you may find clothes that you or your significant other no longer wear, but the fabric might be perfect to be re-worked into some baby gear! Goodwill and garage sales are other great places to look for bargains on adult clothes that can be turned into fabric for baby clothes.
For any future pant-makers, one word of advice is to remember that diapers take up more room than you think, especially if you use cloth diapers! My first pair came out a little bit too tight in the diaper region, but than I overcompensated on the second pair and they are a little bit "gansta" in the bottom. I think that the third time will be a charm! I will keep you all posted! Pin It Now!

Homemade Baby Food

Those little jars of baby food are awfully convenient, but may not give you the biggest bang for your buck-- monetarily or nutritionally speaking. Jarred baby food is MUCH more expensive per ounce than fresh food or food prepared for adult consumption. And while it is nice to have the pre-sized portions of well-blended baby meals, it can unnecessarily increase your grocery bill. Furthermore, jarred baby food loses nutrients as it has to be cooked at high temperatures to kill off any possible bacteria.
Making homemade organic baby food is easy, not too time consuming, and will save you some much needed cash, especially in these economic times..... When I was making baby food (now my guy is big enough to eat whatever we are eating!), I would devote a couple of hours once every other week and make large batches of baby food that I froze. I read the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. It was well worth the read and gave me some great tips on making your own baby food, as well as when and how to introduce new foods. I will share some of her tips with you here!
The easiest way to make baby food is, as I have already said, in large batches. When you go to the grocery store, buy a couple of weeks worth of a few different organic fruits and veggies. I always looked for what was on sale, which would sometimes determine what my little guy was going to eat for the next couple of weeks. If you buy large amounts of on-sale produce, you can make your own organic food for pretty cheap. Once you are ready to process the food, you will need ice cube trays and freezer bags, as well as something to mash the food with (a fork can work fine, but a baby food mill can help get the food even smoother-- some babies really prefer a smooth texture!).
I preferred do cook all of the food at once, and be really busy in the kitchen but get it over with. Cook, steam, or boil each of your fruits/veggies. You want to cook them enough so that they are soft and cooked through, but the more you overcook, the more nutrients will be lost. So, cook only until they are done. After each food is cook, mash well until you get the texture you want. Make sure to remove seeds and skins, particularly for the very young ones! As soon as you are done mashing, fill your ice cube trays with the mashed food, cover well with tin foil, and put into the freezer immediately. Freezing right away will keep more nutrients and prevent bacteria from growing on the food. If you time this right, you can be putting one veggie into the freezer just as the next is ready to be mashed.
After your food is frozen (a couple of hours) crack the veggie cubes into a freezer bag and make sure to get ALL of the air out. Then, double bag into another freezer bag. Trust me; if you don't get all of the air out and double bag it, you will get freezer burn. It is worth the extra minute or two! Also, don't forget your cubes in the trays overnight. The longer they sit there after freezing, the better chance of them accumulating some freezer burn!
Now, label your bags with what is in there and the date you froze it on, and now you have baby food all ready to go. When baby is hungry, just throw a couple of cubes into a saucepan and heat on low, making sure to stir frequently in order to heat evenly (as it is easy to get VERY hot parts in with still frozen parts). Before feeding to your little one, make sure that there are NO frozen or hot parts. You could probably use a microwave as well, but we are microwave-free at our house, so I am not sure how long it would heat up for.
Freezing the food will cause it to lose some nutrients; making your babe fresh food each meal would be ideal, however, none of us busy moms have time to do that. Plus you would end up wasting quite a bit of food. Freezing will preserve more nutrients than jarring, and will save you much needed time and sanity.
Now you know exactly what you are putting into your baby's tummy and you know exactly how that food was handled. If you buy food that is in-season, you can buy your produce locally and even know exactly where it was grown! You will be saving money, providing more nutritious food for your babe, and you will be reducing your environmental impact! You will no longer have multiple glass jars every day that need to be recycled after only 1 use! Plus, you will be avoiding all of the fossil fuels used to transport produce to the factory where the baby food is made, and then transport the finished product to stores. I am not saying that jarred baby food is evil- it is great for traveling, for babysitters, and for those days when you just can't muster the courage to face the kitchen after a day from hell. But, if you rely on homemade food for the majority of your little ones' meals, you will find that it is not that much extra work, and well worth the extra nutrition and extra savings! Pin It Now!

Coconut Carrot Quick Bread

This is a great quick bread recipe that has no processed sugar or dairy, and hides some veggies into a treat that your kids will eat!

2 eggs
2/3 cup agave syrup or other sugar substitute
2/3 cup oil
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 whole carrots, grated
1/3 cup coconut (or more, depending on how much you like it!)

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Beat eggs, agave syrup and oil. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add dry mixture to egg mixture.

Beat well. Add carrots and coconut.

Grease (I like to use olive oil spray) a 9x5 inch loaf pan and pour in batter. Or prepare 2 mini-size loafs for child-size pieces.

Bake one hour for regular loaf, 40 minutes for small loaves. Before removing from oven, pierce with a knife and make sure it comes out clean. Bread may need to bake slightly longer depending on your oven and carrot-moisture levels.

Place on cooling rack and eat! yum!

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Quick Tip #2: Use A Solar Dryer

We all know that going solar is the new rage, right? Well, how about using solar energy to dry your clothes! That's right, it's a brand new invention called the clothes line! You simply hang your clothes on it, and in a few hour, voila! They are dry!
But seriously... now that summer is approaching and days are getting warmer and sunnier, how about hanging a clothesline and at least drying some of your clothes that way. Even drying one load per week on the line as opposed to your dryer will not only save money on your electricity bill, but will also save greenhouse emissions from the source that produced your electricity. Plus, the sun will help to bleach out stains from garments and cloth diapers!
Happy drying! Pin It Now!

Sailing the Seas of Plastic

We have already discussed BPA, it's use in plastic, and the problems it can cause. Plastics also cause pollution during manufacturing, and can have some pretty serious negative health effects. Today we are going to bypass all of that and learn about the problems with plastics polluting our environment and poisoning wildlife.
Plastics are everywhere. Seriously. Our society could not function the way it does without them. After World War 2, the role of women in the home changed as plastics were used to create a "throwaway" lifestyle where women could be freed of the jobs of washing dishes and such. Women were being encouraged to simplify their lives with disposable items (made of plastic), and unfortunately, that mind set has stuck.
The biggest problem with plastics is that they do not biodegrade. They can spend time in the sun and the water and they will become brittle and break into smaller pieces, but the quantity will not decrease. And, since only a small percentage of the plastic we produce get recycled, that means that most of it ends up in landfills, or in places where it should not be, like the ocean.
There are 5 gyres in oceans across the globe. These are basically areas where ocean currents circulate and they tend to be a magnet for improperly disposed of items. The North Pacific Gyre off the west coast of North America is commonly called a garbage patch. It is not a floating landfill, where a big collection of garbage amasses; however, it is an area where a whole lot of plastic is floating on the waves. It is estimated that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic for every square meter of ocean in this area.
The biggest problem with plastics in our oceans is that they break down into smaller pieces, are mistaken for food sources and are eaten by aquatic life and birds. Plastics act as a magnet for oily pollutants (such as pesticides) and end up concentrating toxins on their surface. So while the ocean water may not have high levels of chemicals in it, these pieces of plastic act as poison pills to animals. Once ingested, the high levels of toxins are now residing inside an organism. Over time, as fish and birds eat piece upon piece of plastic that they mistook for food, they accumulate higher and higher levels of toxins in their system. Not to mention the fact that since these plastics don't biodegrade, they just sit in the animals gut. Many a dead bird has been found with a belly full of plastic, which affects the health and reproduction of the organism.
Now let's see how this relates to humans. If you eat fish, as most of us do, there is a good chance that the fish you eat has also ingested some of this lovely ocean plastic, and the pollutants that have adhered to it as well. And, if that fish you ate ate smaller fish who have also ingested pieces of plastic, the levels of toxins in it's system will be even higher (this is a process called bioaccumulation).
So, plastics are wreaking havoc not only on our oceans and our wildlife, but also on our own health. Plastics are extremely useful and great for some purposes. The point is that we need to use less of it and re-use it over and over again, and when we are done with it, it needs to be recycled and kept far away from our rivers and oceans.
How can you help?
* Buy less items made of plastic. this is especially true of children's items. Yes, wooden items may cost a bit more, but they look nicer and our safer for our Earth and for our children.
* Refrain from buying things for one-time use. Do you need to have plastic cups and silverware for that birthday party, or can you deal with washing some extra dishes for one day? How about washing and reusing those plastic bags?
* When you do buy plastics, try and buy used first. Check craigslist.org, goodwill, or other re-use shops in your area. Often you can find the plastic you need for a fraction of the price, and your purchase don't contribute to degrading our Earth.
* When you are done with your plastic items, try to donate or resell what is still usable. Anything leftover should be recycled if possible. Try to dispose of as little plastic as possible!
For more information, check out the movie "Addicted to Plastic" by Bullfrog films. And if you want a heart-breaking story about the dangers of throwing away plastics, check out Mae West, a turtle who was caught in a plastic milk jug ring as a baby. Also, check out Life Less Plastic, a woman's blog about her journey in trying to be plastic-free. Pin It Now!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mamas out there...including my own! Today, take some time to relax and thank yourself for all of the hard work that you do! Pin It Now!