Wordless Wednesday.
Wordless Wednesday
May 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Recipe | Yummy Tuna Casserole
May 20, 2013 by 1 Comment
If you’re wondering what to make with all those sustainable cans of tuna you’ve been buying, here’s one of my favourite recipes.
I make this tuna casserole about once a month, it lasts 2-3 meals for us. There aren’t many leftovers I enjoy eating (my little secret) but this one I look forward to. This is probably my main comfort food, along with this sausage and bean ragu. My mother would make this casserole and it’s been the main dish I’ve craved over the years. It’s easy to prepare and a crowd pleaser.
Tuna Casserole
3/4 (or a bit more) bag of Egg Noodles, not quite the whole bag.
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (I use Pacific organic cream of mushroom condensed soup)(or similar – I’ve used Wolfgang Puck’s Chicken and dumplings too)
1 can of tuna, drained (I often add 2 cans of tuna for extra protein)
Diced celery stick
Diced onion
Tabasco (don’t be shy)
S&P
Spike/paprika/chile flakes (at your discretion)
Cheddar cheese
While the pasta water boils, fry up the celery and onions until translucent.
While pasta cooks mix together celery onions and tuna. Add Tabasco, s&p, spices. Add soup. Mix.
Add pasta. Stir well.
Transfer to buttered casserole dish.
Top with lots of cheddar.
Cook for 40 minutes at 350.
C.
image via food.com
World’s first 100% recyclable umbrella | Indiegogo
May 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I’m so excited about this online purchase, $25 dollars to get this incredible, 100% recyclable umbrella by Ginkgo. That’s what I love about sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter, you can get in on the ground level and help support the creators and innovators and artists. I was blown away when I saw this Indiegogo campaign a few days ago. Living in the Pacific Northwest, the rain coast, the wet coast, the left coast, whatever you want to call it… it rains A LOT here and umbrellas are necessary.
Over 1 BILLION umbrellas lost or damaged every year. Ginkgo aims to save our landfills and our pocketbooks. Made entirely of 100% recyclable polypropylene, these umbrellas are able to resist strong winds by flexing without breaking or even bending. The hinges are designed to withstand thousands of open/close cycles. Created with plastic injection moulding, each part can be coloured as desired, for an infinite variety of possibilities.
“Umbrellas on the market today are theoretically made of recyclable materials such as metal, plastic and wood. However, they can’t be recycled as they are. They’d need to be disassembled to be properly disposed of, which means that most of them just end up going to landfill…a big waste of resources. The polyester canopy, as an example, takes up to 100 years to biodegrade.”
“Ginkgo is made entirely in a single material. All the parts, from the canopy’s fabric to the seams’ thread, from the pole to the closing button, are made from polypropylene. All the fastening elements, such as screws, pivots and especially glue, have been replaced by integrated snap-fit elements. Thanks to these solutions, when Ginkgo finally reaches the end of its useful life you can just toss it in the recycle bin. No need to disassemble the components.”
“Since all the components are made by injection molding, Ginkgo is ready to be made with zero-impact biodegradable polymers or, alternatively, to be produced in a cradle-to-cradle system, where all the material is completely recovered at the end of the product’s life and reused to produce it once again.”
There’s still some time to get in on this one. Wouldn’t you love to walk around with one of these umbrellas!
Find out more at the Ginkgo Umbrella Indiegogo campaign.
C.
PS – you can get black or custom colours.
PPS – shipping to Canada add $9, shipping to US add $5. I didn’t know this until after my purchase!
When should my toddler sleep with a pillow? | SIDK
May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I’m starting a new series called “STUFF I DON’T KNOW” or SIDK. It’s about, well, stuff I don’t know the answer to… and there’s plenty of it. I’ve been wondering for a while when my toddler son should start to sleep with a pillow. Here what I found out:
When should my toddler sleep with a pillow?Judith Owens pediatric sleep expert ~ via BabyCenter
Though they’re often sold with crib bedding sets, pillows are not recommended for children under 2. Actually, older kids don’t need pillows either. Parents often think a pillow will provide their child with extra comfort, not realizing that their child was doing fine without it. If you want to introduce a pillow, it’s best to wait until your toddler moves from a crib to a bed. But if you want to give him one while he’s still sleeping in a crib, go with one that’s small (the size of an airline pillow) and firm. Stay away from feather pillows, which are too soft, can set off allergies, and can smother a child if his head sinks into it while he’s sleeping.
• • •
AlphaMom says:
The “official” recommendation from the Something Something Expert Academy of Associations of Something, is to wait until a child is two years old before letting them sleep with a pillow. However, many pediatricians don’t draw such a hard line, and will sometimes even recommend parents try a pillow if their child is, say, an especially bad bad sleeper or bothered by colds, allergies or chronic ear infections. When I Googled around for that “official” guideline I generally came across articles by an “expert” saying two years…and hundreds of comments from parents saying: Yeah, whatever, my kid’s used a pillow for ages and is JUST FINE.
• • •
BabySleepSite says:
I recommend avoiding a pillow for your baby until she is well into being a toddler over 2 years old. And, if she is content not to use a pillow at all, don’t even worry about it. My eldest son didn’t care to sleep on a pillow until he was close to 2 1/2 and then we gave him a very flat pillow.
• • •
The most helpful piece of advice I found was from WikiHow:
Evaluate whether your toddler is ready to use a pillow. Do not use pillows in cribs, where they can be a suffocation hazard. The best time to introduce your toddler to a pillow is when the child begins sleeping in a bed. Once a child’s shoulders are wider than the head, the child usually will be more comfortable sleeping with a pillow.
CONCLUSION:
I won’t worry about introducing a pillow to my (now 19 month old) toddler until he’s in a big boy bed! That will be after he’s 2 years old. There’s no indication that he wants a pillow and he’s sleeping wonderfully through the night in his crib. Why mess with that? I’m satisfied! Thanks internet.
Check back next week for part 2 – “Toddler Pillow Roundup”
C.
Wallpaper Tiles + Eco Paste
May 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
WANT!
This got me excited. I’m a renter. And we move often. I don’t like it but that’s just the facts. I have a deep longing to REALLY decorate, the way you would in a place you intend to stay for many years. Adding wallpaper has just been a faraway fantasy… until now.
Removable wallpaper tiles from Hygge & West - brilliant. With designs by Joy Cho of Oh Joy blog. Oh YES! I covet her designs that I see adorning her walls on Instagram with her super-cute kid. Now I can put them up… and take them down. They can move with me. Oh joy, oh happy Hygge joy.
There isn’t really an eco component to this product… except that it’s re-usable, durable, made in the USA… and will bring happiness.
However, if you choose to get the traditional wallpaper, you can purchase the eco-friendly wallpaper paste for adhesive.
C.
Giveaway | Kids Fest on Granville Island | May 27 – June 2
May 8, 2013 by 17 Comments
There are some things on the list of “fun things to do” you can really only do with kids… or that are more fun to do with kids. We are looking SO forward to bringing Henrik to Disneyland one day… The Hub would go tomorrow but I think (maybe??) we should wait until the babe has watched some Disney movies first.
A close runner up is the upcoming Vancouver International Children’s Festival from May 27 – June 2 on Granville Island. Now that Henrik will be 20 months old, we can bring him to the Twist and Toddle Toddler Tent, with activities such as Water Play, Seeds and Bugs, Dress up, Wow toys, and a Mini Face Paint station, just to name a few.
This month’s Giveaway is a Family 4-pack of Activity Wristbands that can be used to access the World of Art at the Granville Island activity zone. These can used on any day during the Festival. You can win for yourself or for a friend!
This year’s Activity Zones include:
Facepainting • Making Music with Found Objects• African Dance & Music • Shadow Puppetry • Circus Skills • Bicycle Spin-Art • A Kaleidoscopic Outdoor Weaving Experience • Origami • Magical Mystery Maze • Sock Puppets! • Twist & Toddle •
Come down on Sat, June 1 and Sun, June 2 for an exclusive weekend activity - Me On The Map. Make your mark on the city’s first kid-co-created multi-media installation!
Leave a comment below. Say Hi and let me know if you’re planning to attend the Kids Fest this year and I’ll add your name to the draw for the Activity Zone. For an additional chance to win, please like us on Facebook and let me know you’re a fan in the comments below. We love our Facebook community!
This Giveaway runs until Monday, May 20 and the winner will be announced here and on our Facebook page on Tuesday, May 21.
*CONGRATS TO DIANE WHO WON TICKETS TO THE ACTIVITY ZONE – I will send you an email with more info*
The prizes can be picked up at the Box Office on Granville Island (The “B” right behind the Kid’s Market) on the day you choose to attend the Activities!
(This prize is valued at $32)
Thanks for playing and hope to see you there!
C.
Modern Farmer magazine | farm. food. life
May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
We had our first SPUD delivery last week. SPUD = Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery. SPUD buys from as many local farms and suppliers as possible, when you sign up you can chose ‘local over variety’ or ‘variety over local’ which I thought was pretty cool. 100% of their products are either certified organic or local and sustainably produced. AND they included (for free!) the PREMIER issue of Modern Farmer. ISSUE 01 | SPRING 2013.
Modern Farmer is a smart and cool magazine, talking about food trends, global agriculture and even farmer fashion. I love how brave this magazine is, they answer questions and go places we may have wondered about but would never actually tread. “Real Talk: Humane Slaughter” is one you don’t want to miss (pg. 40). I found out that half of the cattle in the US and Canada are now handled by equipment Temple Grandin designed. (The autistic animal welfare advocate gloriously played by Claire Danes in the 2010 biopic) and that’s rather surprising, I had no idea.
”There has been a movement afoot in recent years to make connections between what we eat, how we live and the planet. Modern Farmer exists for people who want to be a part of that movement—it is for window-herb growers, career farmers, people who have chickens, people who want to have chickens and anyone who wants to know more about how food reaches their plate.” ~ Modern Farmer
Have you ever thought about goats? And how important they could be for global food security? Dr. Tad Sonstegard, along with a group of researchers have created the first global goat database. Since we drink goat’s milk at our house, and we’ve visited Maplewood Farms and played with the baby goats and we’ve spotted mountain goats on the drive to the Okanagan ~ I was happy to learn more about goats!
MF: So, why goats?
Dr. Tad Sonstegard: We see goats as the most sustainable, highest-impact livestock for bringing global food security.
MF: Why is that?
TS: Ninety percent of the world’s goat populations are in hunger zones. Cattle are the rich man’s livestock, but goats feed our poorest populations. They can adapt to virtually any climate, and can eat just about anything. Even salty rocks.
On the Modern Farmer website you can find interesting articles such as “how to turn your backyard into a four season farm” and “how to build a straw bale house” and “China’s agricultural revolution“
Check your local bookstore for a copy of this quarterly magazine or you can order Modern Farmer online. Or get a delivery from SPUD.ca!
C.
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