Look what you can accomplish in just a year!

My boyfriend, Jesse and I started this year (2011) wanting to really work on our "green" habits. We actually accomplished a great deal this year and I wanted to share the list. It all started with our new friends the worms.

1. Worm Compost- Still functioning well and the worms have had babies too.
2. Purchased a cedar plant box for our patio.
3. Joined a Community Garden
4. Made natural cleaners for the home- We are still working on using up the chemical ones, but have not bought new and have mostly used the green ones because they work better.
5. Made laundry detergent
6. Bought sturdy plastic cups, plates and cutlery for a family reunion (we collected in a bin and washed/ stored them for next time).
7. Started supply of glass containers for leftovers to replace the plastic ones we currently use.
8. Changed all my bills to online and e-pay so that I no longer receive any paper bills.
9. Learned how to make paper
10. Made a raised bed for my parents
11. At work, I changed our schedule posting from being single sided to double. This will save a lot of paper per year (and we recycle them when we are done).


Items we have started and will continue working on:
1. Shopping locally
2. looking at items and their packaging before we buy

Items we were already doing:
1. Recycling
2. Using metal cans for water instead of plastic bottles
3. Visiting the farmer's market


We also harvested  from our community garden plot and at home: zucchinis, swiss chard, carrots, spinach, lettuce mixes, rosemary, oregano, pumkins, sunflowers and bachelor buttons. 

What a Year And I plan on doing a lot more next year!

Here's to my health!

I have a very active sweet tooth and a rather extreme love for breads.  This combination of sugar and carbs, however, results in an extremely bad diet. My food choices are mostly dominated with food groups that do not include fruits or veggies. Yikes!

I have recently started a low carb diet to encorage me to eat healthier. My mom has developed a system of eating low carb meals during the week and allowing carbs and goodies on the weekends.  It is a system that has worked for me in the past and is rather easy to incorportate into my lifestyle. I still get to eat the yummy goodies I crave just more moderately.

Here are some pictures of the yummies I have already enjoyed this past month with less carbs in my diet.

Spinach from our apt patio container garden

Mock "Potato" Soup- uses Caulflower

Yellow Squash

Another problem that I usually encounter is coming home from work and not having anything planned for dinner. This problem is usually solved with going out or ordering in and that is never healthy.

To solve this problem meat is purchased at Costco and frozen. Then every week I plan out what I would like to cook and buy just the extra ingredients that are needed. I look for the vegetables that I need first at my local farmers' market; if not there then at my local grocery store.

All in all, the combination of these two habits help me eat healthier and to reduce dinner time stress.
Please let me know of any suggestions that you might have; they are most welcome.