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Here’s a great use for orange or any other citrus skins from the Wiki article on How To Maintain A Garbage Disposal. Save your orange peelings, cut them into manageable pieces, then toss them into a bag in the freezer. When your garbage disposal starts getting stinky, turn on some cold water then toss in a few frozen orange pieces while the disposal is running. It makes a horrible racket, but smells great. The frozen pieces also knock off any gunk that is stuck on the disposal blades. I’ve tried this several times and it works great with no damage to the disposal. My family loves fresh-squeezed orange juice, and this is a great use for all the otherwise wasted peelings.

I’m really proud of my kids — ages 8 and 7 — because they are totally into environmentalism. They keep me on my toes by yelling at me if I throw out a plastic container instead of putting it into the recycle bin. They know the mantra “Reduce Reuse Recycle” by heart and use it often. Today is Earth Day, and my son is excited to share with his 3rd grade class how we compost our kitchen scraps in our worm farm located in our garage.

To celebrate Earth Day tonight, we’re eating a meal that was obtained no more than 50 miles from our house. If you watch “Wasted” or other new environmental shows on television, you’ll know that these days the big push is to get people to start buying more local produce instead of imported fruits and vegetables. This imported produce used up a lot of gasoline to get to you, and it has probably been treated, sprayed, waxed with God Knows What to keep it appearing fresh.

Most of the meal I will make from stuff that is growing in my backyard. We recently moved to South Texas, and I am excited to have a (somewhat) thriving vegetable garden in April. I also have lots of weeds… many of which I plan to pull out today and add to our meal.

These include purslane, dandelions, and chickweed. Years ago, my Dad admitted to me that he kept his yard free of dandelions by eating them. At first I thought that was a bit eccentric and offered to buy him some groceries. However, after living for many years in Buffalo, where steak and dandelion pizza is a popular menu item, and Italians pick cardoons by the railroad tracks to fry up with their eggs, I realized he was on to something. Weeds are only weeds if you don’t want them. Many weeds are actually a delicacy and many are highly nutritious.

Take purslane, also known as “pussweed”. It grows everywhere, tastes pretty darn good, and is a great source of Omega 3 fatty acids. If you follow nutritional news, you’ll know that’s one of the things nutritionists are now telling us to eat more of. In fact, in Europe purslane seeds are sold as a common garden vegetable.

Epicurious lists 6 recipes for purslane. This recipe for - grilled zucchini salad with purslane - looks like a winner. This site has more information on purslane, including photos and more recipes.
Purslane leaves are crunchy yet succulent, and are sweetly tangy. Best thing is you can practically pull the whole plant out of the ground and it will be back growing strongly in a week or so. Before eating, squeeze a stem. If white milky fluid comes out, it might be a poisonous plant, so don’t eat it. Actually, here I’m going to make the disclaimer that I’m not responsible if after reading this blog you go out and start pulling and eating weeds and die of a horrible disease like Chris McCandless in “Into The Wild”.

Another reminder to only eat weeds from lawns and gardens that haven’t been chemically treated with pesticides, etc. Also, never pull them from near a road or driveway because they might be contaminated with garbage from the cars /exhaust.

Most people know about eating dandelion leaves. They are a common ingredient in the Spring Salad mixes available bagged at most grocery stores. Make sure to eat the greens young, as they turn bitter the larger and older they get. The flowers are also edible and are commonly used to make dandelion wine. I’ve heard that the roots are edible as well and can be boiled and mashed like potatoes.

So here’s our menu:

I’d love to hear what “low footprint” meals you are making, from your backyards and local sources!

Getting my husband to help out in the kitchen and subsequently letting him discover that he was a really good cook started with getting the right tools in the kitchen. If it feels and performs like a high-quality power tool, he’ll use it. When tools feel like they belong in a commercial kitchen, they are a joy to use, and use them he will, much to the benefit of me and my family. I save time by getting to shed a large part of the daily tasks of cooking, and the rest of the family enjoys eating the masterpieces he creates. My husband enjoys the praise and recognition of preparing part of a delicious meal.

Take, for example, my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. I had asked for one for years for Christmas, but being fairly expensive year after year I kept receiving cheap $9 handheld blenders from instead. These would break each year in November, about the time I started baking Christmas cookies for the freezer. This past year, several members of my family went in together to get me a Professional KitchenAid stand mixer, including several attachments like a meat grinder, vegetable pureer, food processor, etc.

This appliance is so heavy, so shiny, so beautiful… If a hurricane came through our house, the walls may blow down around it, but I believe the KitchenAid will still remain exactly where it stands. The day after Christmas, I unboxed the mixer and set it up. My husband started drooling immediately, then tried his hand at grinding a beef chuck roast into ground beef. He was hooked, and immediately went on the Internet to investigate sausage recipes to use with the Kitchen Aid.

He would never dream of making a Smoothie — not manly enough — until I got him his own high-end blender for the bar. Now nightly he proudly serves me delectable cocktails, like “Nada Coladas” (fat-free, but NOT alcohol free pina coladas), Mojitos, Mudslides. I need to buy more power tools for my kitchen, quick, so I can sit back and enjoy La Vida Dolce as he uses modern technology to create masterful concoctions for our family!

This brings me to my recently requested review of a new website — The Splendid Life at http://www.splendidlife.com . This site is brought to you by Splenda — a sugar substitute that happens to be a staple in our kitchen. Their Cooking and Baking section features a selection of unique kitchen appliances, including Stand Mixers (yes, the KitchenAid that I own is on there), blenders, waffle irons, food processors, and other small appliances. I appreciated that the selection is fairly small — it is not overwhelming, and only high-quality products are represented. Besides KitchenAid, other brands include Krups and Zojirushi — all brands that will make you feel like a professional chef when you use their superb products in your own “Splenda Kitchen“. I have my eye on one of the waffle-makers for a gift for my breakfast-cooking husband. He needs a new power tool to keep him in the kitchen where he belongs!

Other products in their Cooking and Baking section include bakeware, cookware, and “cooks tools” — small colorful gadgets and accoutrements like grinders, lemon squeezers, mixing bowls.

Check out their End of Summer Sale for up to 50% off several items. I buy gifts year-round from these types of clearance sales to save the money and craziness during the Holidays.

Also noteworthy is their “Kids Can Cook” section under the Family Fun tab. It has quite a few fun-colored kitchen items for kids. Getting kids to help in the kitchen is great bonding time, teaches math skills, and the kids will usually eat whatever they create.

I hope you will visit SplendidLife.com soon.