Try it Tuesday: Green Kitchenware

Cooking your own meals at home is eco-friendly in itself but what if you're whipping up batches of millet & mushroom cakes all while releasing toxins into your food? You may not even know you're doing it.

So here are a few easy swaps to make to avoid poisoning your healthy food by using unhealthy kitchenware:


Stove Top Cooking

Trade in your non-stick frying pan, your electric griddle and your casserole dishes for one cast iron skillet. It's an all-in-one kitchen tool that is safe, easy to clean and even makes your food more nutritious. Scientists believe frying in a cast iron skillet will transfer dietary iron to your food - sounds good to us prone to anemia! I've been a die-hard skillet-fan for some time now but the key is to get a nice old one. New skillets have not been seasoned and tend to stick. See if a family member has one that they'll part with, or check the second hand store. If you must buy new, oil the skillet often and bake it for a while with a layer of oil. Never wash with soap, or in the dishwasher. Keep in mind a hardy skillet can wreck the nice finish on those fancy flat top stoves so it would be better suited for the BBQ. 


Storing 
It goes without saying that almost all plastic is a no-no, especially when you plan to reheat certain things in a (*hushed voice*) microwave. So many parents make an effort to pack their kids a healthy lunch for school, and then ruin it with a container that leeches yucky chemicals into the food. For storing food, choose glass. It's also nice and easy to pop into a hot oven for reheating. The glass storage containers I've seen are pretty tough and not prone to shattering easily.



Cutting 
Slicing can cause fragments of your board to chip off and enter the food. Now this is on a microscopic level so it's nothing you'll taste or hurt yourself on, but if you're cutting on plastic it's not the best thing to expose your body too. I love using a wood cutting board. There are, however, two considerations when switching to wood: cleanliness and sustainability. Wood is a bacteria-promoter and needs to be thoroughly washed after every use. Use hot water and soap. Or, for less threatening items like red bell pepper, wipe down with half a lemon. Allow to dry fully. With any wooden item we need to be cognizant of its environmental impact. Choose a product that is certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council.


Wiping 
If you're still using paper towel, it's time to stop! Disposable products like this are unnecessary and brutal for the environment. With each use you transfer a beautiful piece of our forests to garbage in a land fill - not pretty. A simple kitchen cloth can handle any of the messes that paper can, and a dirty cloth will take no space at all in your weekly laundry load (or rinse and dry for simple messes). If you really want to go all the way, purchase a cloth made of organic cotton. Cotton's one of those things that is just nasty when it's not organic.

When you're ready to convert more disposable products to reusable check out my posts on diapers and diva cups.


Lastly, Filtering
The best water system I've seen is the Santevia. The countertop model fits nicely on any flat surface and uses gravity and a layered filtration tube to remove most toxins (not fluoride however), alkalize and mineralize.

The kitchen is a great place to change the world, but you've gotta change your tools before you can do it!

31 Days: Day 1 and 2

Wouldn't it be interesting to see how someone else lives their life for a full month? Yes it would, so you can do it here. For the month of October I'll be posting about how each day goes, as best I can remember, and counting on each of you to find it interesting and awe-inspiring. Here goes.

Saturday, October 1
The three of us slept in quite a bit and then got a call from my Grandpa saying he'd like to come visit. We agreed on 3pm (he lives in Niagara Falls) and then I got cleaning. Straightened up all our rooms, collected garbages from the house because pick up day was coming up, and threw in a load of laundry.
Around lunch Calvin left to get gas for the lawn mower. I warmed up a bowl of rice & lentils and had a quiet lunch in the kitchen. I started reading a book (Pastoralia by George Saunders) but then remembered that I am nearly done crocheting a short grey scarf so I got to doing that.
Next thing I knew Grandpa arrived so I gave him a tour of our place (nerve-wracking - the guy is a successful cabinetry and home-building company owner and lives in a nearly-million dollar home himself, with all the best flooring, finishes, etc.). Him and I decided to take Oliver for a walk around the neighbourhood which meant spending practically half an hour just dressing him up in his plaid zip up, blue knit sweater, blue knit hat, grey booties, fuzzy brown blanket... oh and I threw a leather jacket on myself too.
When we got back Oliver was hungry (I was getting there too) so I took him upstairs to feed him while Calvin showed my Grandpa his theater room. They watched a bit of Saving Private Ryan while I made dinner plans with my sister. We met her and my parents downtown for thai food. I ordered the vegetarian shanghai chow mein with wontons to start.
I hadn't packed any diapers so Cal and I couldn't hang out after, we went home and watched the hockey game with Jordan. I fell asleep half way through (not because it was boring, but because I knew I needed a nap if I was going to stay up for SNL). I woke up around 11 to feed Oliver, change him, and be ready for SNL. It was hilarious. When it was over I zombie-walked up to bed.

Sunday, October 2
We woke up bright and early to get ready for church. I think I ate apples and peanut butter and a scrambled egg for breakfast. (Grandpa had brought us fresh Niagara apples and grapes). We went to the 9:30am service and at 10 we slipped out because we had a parenting meeting (mandatory to have your baby dedicated at Gateway). The coordinator told us about the church's vision for supporting parents and teaching about God from a young age. We got a tour of the children's areas and Calvin laughed his head off over a little baby hitting another baby with a rattle. Then we watched the rest of the service on a TV in the cafe. Hung out at the church for a while just visiting with friends. Then we went back to his parents' house and ate turkey burgers. I had a short nap and then Calvin woke me up to drive to Appleland. We were hoping to pick apples and take Oliver on a train ride but it started raining so we just shopped in the market shop. We bought apples, a caramel lollypop, some hot chocolate, apple cider and Cal's dad got a Wayne Gretzky framed photo for his hockey wall. When we got home we made apple crisp (the secret family recipe, I will never tell!) and also made toasted tomato sandwiches for dinner. After eating we put on the movie Hanna but I, again, fell asleep because I'm terrible and can't stay awake through movies. We went home, took out the garbage/recycling and set up the humidifier for Oliver because he's a bit stuffed up.