1/2 c flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1 t sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 c cream corn
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c oil
1/2 c milk
Combine dry. Combine wet, except for the milk. (This includes the onions and 2 T of the oil.) Add to the dry. Stir in the milk.
Heat 2 T of oil in skillet. Use 3 T of batter per cake. Cook 3-5 minutes or until bubbles stick. Flip, and cook another 2-5 minutes.
1. Remove the carpet. Even without taking into account some of the nasty things that go into making most carpet in the first place, they are a dust and toxin and…. trap. Wood, tile, or stone can be kept much cleaner, and don’t have the tendency to collect and hold onto everything that comes into your house. If you want to keep the floors (and your feet) a little warmer, you can use throw rugs, the mobility of them getting around the cleaning issue.
2. De-chlorinate the water. Fairly straightforward. Put filters on your taps and on your shower.
3. Insulate. With one of the newer greener variants that don’t outgas.
4. Replace your mattress. Typical foam mattresses are treated with things that are… questionable, and can assist in loading up our toxicity until you find yourself standing on the road to Chemical Sensitivities-ville. There are organic options.
5. Dump the artificials (fragrance, cleaning products, personal care, etc…). There are alternatives in each area. I’ve actually noticed a lessening of my allergic to the world issue just from dealing with the bath products and cleaning supplies, and in most cases, vinegar and water and possibly some safe dishsoap covers my cleaning needs.
6. Bake out the bad stuff. If you can’t replace some of the nastier materials in your home, there are ways to speed up the outgassing of the toxic stuff. Making sure, of course, that you and yours aren’t in the location while doing so.
7. Clear the air in your house by ventilating from time to time. Open some windows, let air circulate, and thus waft out some of the bad and refresh the air.
1. Slay the vampires. Sounds strange, likely, but a lot of things that are left plugged in all the time draw a lot more power than you might think. (TVs, VCRs, etc..) Even just plugging all of that sort of thing into a power strip and turning that off when you aren’t using them can save you (on average) $75 a year.
2. A computer consumes (again, on average) as much energy as 3 100 watt light bulbs. Turn it off when it isn’t in use.
3. Vacuuming your refrigerator coils twice a year increases the appliance’s energy efficiency by quite a bit.
4. Keep your freezer full. A full freezer functions more efficiently and uses less power.
5. Keep your hot water heater set at no more than 120 degrees.
6. Train yourself to turn off lights in rooms when you leave them. This measure alone can cut your energy bill by 5-10 percent. (Again, this is something I’ve seen in practice. Once we managed to make it habitual, the savings were immediately visible.)
I did not actually test this one, because I am not allowed to make hummus. However, a source I trust says this is about right.
3 T olive oil
15 oz garbanzo beans (if you start from dry, they do need to be boiled before being mushed, can’t just soak them)
1/2 c tahini
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
red pepper flakes
(I’d add some garlic, too, probably roasted first)
Mash garbanzos, add tahini, oil, lemon juice, salt, and red pepper. Drizzle with a little more olive oil before serving.
Formaldehyde: Aloe Vera, Elephant Ear Philodendron, ficus, golden pothos
benzene: English ivy, peace lily, corn plants
Carbon Monoxide: Golden pothos, Spider Plants
Steam spinach until wilted, pat it dry, pack into ice cube trays. Pop out and use as needed.
1/4 c vinegar
1/2 tsp liquid soap
2 c water
Found this to work on general cleaning, too. Not tested on stove grime yet, and it does next to nothing to mildew on textured walls or soap scum without a lot of elbow grease. However, for most basic household uses, it is fine, and if you keep up with it, you don’t end up needing to worry about some of the more severe cleaning situations.
The ingredients below make a barbecue sauce originally intended for Spare-ribs, but has also been used for “country style” ribs and pork chops, and could probably cross over to other things as well:
3 T cooking oil
1/2 c coarse chopped onion
1/2 c water
1 T Worcestershire Sauce or 1 tsp Wright’s Smoke
1/4 c lemon juice
2 T brown sugar
1/4 c catsup
2 T vinegar
Saute onion in oil until soft, then add all other ingredients and simmer 20 minutes.
Cooking time depends on the meat used. For ribs – baste and bake covered at 450 for 30 minutes, lower heat to 300, uncover, and baste. Bake for 1 hour, turning and rebasting 3 or 4 more times. For boned pork – cut cooking times in half, possibly more for meat under 1″ thick.
3 Leeks
1 8 oz package mushrooms (portabella are choice)
1/2 c butter
worcestershire to taste
1 lb sausage
3 cloves garlic, chopped
english mustard, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, paprika to taste
Saute/Cook appropriately everything but the meats. Couple spoons of that + 1/4 c pureed tomatos in a blender becomes the sauce. The meats can either be presauteed in what is left from making the “sauce” or they can be cooked on the pizza crust. Throw some cheese on top of the sauce, add other toppings, if you like, place the meat…
Cream together:
1/4 c butter
1/3 c honey
1/3 c light molasses
Mix together and then add to the first, alternating with 2 c buttermilk:
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c rye flour
1 c yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Stir in 2 c chopped Golden Delicious apples.
bake one hour at 350. Cooking time on this is a little twitchy – not sure yet if that has been my ovens for the past few years or a high altitude issue. Definitely have to check it, and the cook time, for me, has varied between the recipe stated hour and 90 minutes.