Mongolian Beef w/White Rice

This is one of my favorite dinner recipes to make. I developed this from a combination of a couple different recipes that I found online. I tried a few different recipes and then took the parts that I liked from each to make this. One of the recipes had a good sauce, but the meat wasn't all that flavorful. Another recipe marinated the meat prior to cooking which added a lot of flavor to the meat, but the sauce wasn't so great. With a few adjustments this is what I came up with...

My First Freecycle Transaction

I completed my first Freecycle transaction today! I've been perusing the OFFER posts for something I've been wanting/needing, but I haven't found anything. So I started going through the WANTED posts to see if I could find a post for something that I had laying around and wasn't using. I came across a post for a floor length mirror.  I responded to the post yesterday and set up pick-up for today. Like Vanessa in Sleeping Naked Is Green, I was a little apprehensive, but I live in a condo building so I advised my fellow Freecycler to ring the buzzer and I would come down with the mirror. I ended up getting rid of this mirror...

Going Car-less

I've been fantasizing about getting rid of my car, but there is a part of me that loves the convenience of having it and is a little afraid to give that up. I've been doing some research, looking into alternative modes of transportation and trying to apply the idea of not having a car to my current lifestyle. I live close enough to the train to take a short walk, hop on and go pretty much anywhere I want in the city.

I haven't owned a bike for a while so I started looking into buying a new one and the choices are endless! For the first time I discovered folding bikes. The CTA does not allow regular bikes on the trains during rush hours (7am-9am and 4pm-6pm), but folding bikes are allowed during these times. This is a plus for me because if I get rid of the car and getting on the train with my bike is the only option to get somewhere then it would be much more convenient to not have to worry about avoiding the rush hours.

Environmental Enlightenment #9 (Natural Deodorant)

I realized after I wrote my last blog that someone out there may be asking themselves why I didn't mention grocery shopping at Whole Foods. I have a confession, I've only been inside of a Whole Foods once. That store is so huge and overwhelming (and I am pretty easily distracted). I ventured into Whole Foods with a purpose, to purchase a Diva Cup, which I will write about in a future blog in as lady-like a way as possible. But of course I got distracted and ending up buying a natural deodorant also. I had been looking for a good natural deodorant for a while. Burt's Bees makes a spray natural deodorant, but I couldn't find it in stores anywhere and I couldn't bring myself to have it shipped. I tried Lush's solid bar natural deodorant, which smelled fantastic and worked well, but it wasn't very easy to apply. It was powdery and broke into chunks. So when I found myself at Whole Foods in the Personal Hygiene aisle, I took a sideways glance towards the natural deodorants and came across this little guy...

Environmental Enlightenment #8 (Fair Trade Tea)

Food has always been the hardest thing for me to change when it comes to being the most environmentally friendly as possible. Since I love to cook it is personally very hard for me to go without avocados, butternut squash, mangoes and other food items that come from outside of the United States. The indoor garden will be (I hope) a small step towards alleviating my reliance on non-local produce. My trips to the grocery store are becoming more and more time consuming because I have been spending more time reading labels and scanning for organically made products. I normally get my fresh produce from a store called Fresh Farms, but for other food purchases I head on over to Jewel. I've noticed that recently they've been stocking their shelves with a brand called Wild Harvest Organic. So I bought some of their organic tea which is certified fair trade.

Basil and Cilantro Planted

A couple days ago I planted the first two plants that will be a part of the indoor garden: basil and cilantro. I've grown basil before, but not cilantro so I'm pretty excited about that. I've also been reading up on how to save seeds from these plants so that I can possibly grow other plants from my own seeds. The main reason that I wanted to write about the basil and cilantro was to share a couple of crafty ideas on how to label your pots so you don't forget which plant is which before it sprouts. The first idea came from Gayla Trail's book Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces. She writes that an inexpensive way to make plant tags is to spray tongue depressors with chalkboard spray and then write in chalk which plant is in that pot and you can always erase the chalk and reuse them! At Christmas time I was given a chalkboard wall decal which I didn't have a purpose for, but I remembered Gayla's idea and came up with my own version. I cut up the wall decal into smaller pieces and stuck them to the pots (labeling what plant was in there and the date that it was planted).

Environmental Enlightenment #7 (Freecycle)

I've always been a fan of hunting through thrift stores. When I was little my mom used to take me on countless journeys to either thrift stores or antique stores. I always thoroughly enjoyed finding some treasure with the 25 cents that I had in my change purse (which I had also found at an antique store for 25 cents!) As I got older my love for second-hand clothing faded. I started wanting the "new" and "in-style" looks. That's when I became aware of Plato's Closet. It's like a thrift store, but they only take in labels and looks that match the current trends. I can't remember the last time that I bought new clothing or shoes, because every time I need something (say a new pair of jeans) I can find it at Plato's Closet.