Phoenix Zoo teams up with water conservation group.

...link via Laura Stewart

The Phoenix Zoo has teamed up with water conservation advocacy group Water Use It Wisely. Water Use It Wisely, is an excellent wealth of information on simple water saving tips that the whole family can use, and specifically breaks it down to different regions in the country so you can see what water saving techniques are good in your area. There is a list of over 100 different way to conserve water, from the very obvious to the very creative, and also ways for you to be able help and spread the word. The website is also children interactive, so you can start teaching your children the importance of saving water.

Here is a great video and link off of the site that tells Arizonians where they can start looking for to save water, and many of these ideas can be applied to anyone:

http://wateruseitwisely.com/region/arizona/water-challenge/

Take a look around on the site. Check out what it says for your area of the country, and let me know what you think!

---Justin J. Stewart (link via Laura Stewart)

Double Meatless Monday!!!

Well, it has been awhile but we are back, and on track now! To make up for the lack of posting last week, today we will have a double Meatless Monday, from last week and this week. Both Mondays had very creative things and exciting food and both were delicious. I can tell you for lunch and breakfast both weeks I had Cheerios and Grilled Cheese. I do not think anyone needs recipes for either one of those, but just to let you know we did add homegrown tomatoes to our grilled cheese both weeks, and yeah, only I am eating the Cheerios, Laura is eating Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch!

Monday 10.11.2010

Veggies getting ready for ratatouille!So for this day we had some Eggplant that needed to be picked from the garden, and we also had some zucchini that needed to be cooked. As I racked my brain trying to figure out that to do about this situation of combining both of these veggies. Well, after some recipe searching! I found it! Ratatouille!

Now the recipe was fairly easy, and it tasted great! It took a little bit of time, with all of the simmering, but it was absolutely delicious. We served the Rataouille over some farfalle pasta, and it worked great! The recipe can be found here, or here it is written out for everyone:

Ratatouille With Eggplant and Zucchini

By Diana Rattray, About.com Guide

Ratatouille

This delicious combination of vegetables is easy to prepare. Serve this fabulous side dish with grilled, roasted, or broiled meat, fish, or poultry.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes with juice
• Red, yellow, and green bell pepper, cut in 1-inch pieces, about 1 to 1 1/2 cups
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil, about 12 large leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Dash dried leaf oregano
• 3 small zucchini, halved lengthwise then sliced
• Fresh shredded Parmesan cheese, optional

Preparation:

Peel eggplant and cut in 1-inch cubes; put in a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Let stand in the sink for about 20 to 30 minutes to drain.

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion is tender. Add the tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, pepper, and oregano. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add zucchini and eggplant; cover and continue simmering for 10 to 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Taste and add salt, if needed. Serve with fresh shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Serves 4 to 6.

Here are some photo's of how it turned out for us!                                                                                                

  Ratatouille simmering, with fresh picked basil and oregano getting ready to go inLet the simmering begin!

Finished product!

Monday 10.18.2010

Ingredient Volcano!Laura with a ball of doughCutting the dough log.   Noodles unrolled and ready to cook!

So, Laura and I have always talked about making our own pasta. We have been talking about this for about five years now. Well, about a month or two ago, we finally did it! It was pretty easy and very delicious! So we thought that it would only be appropriate to use this for an excellent meatless Monday.

We Used:

2 1/2 Cups of Flour
3 Eggs
1 tablespoon of butter
and milk for consistency

You mix all of the ingredients together and kneed them until you get an even consistency and get a nice large ball of dough. Then you quarter you ball of dough into four balls of dough. You take each ball individually and with a rolling pin, flatten as thin as you can. From there you roll up your dough into a log type shape. Cut your dough into slice of desired with of the pasta. Then unroll your slices, and you have a noodle! This pasta when fresh takes about 4 minutes to cook in boiling water!

We also added an Alfredo sauce to the pasta. To make the sauce, start with 1 table spoon of butter and melt it in a saucepan, add in 4 oz of heavy whipping cream, let them cream and butter get hot and intermingle, then add 3 to 4 oz of shredded parmesan cheese, until desired consistency. We then added in some fresh cut broccoli and then you add the sauce into the pasta.

For this meal we also had a side of grilled Eggplant, and grilled crooked neck squash. These were left over from the other night, but I will tell you really fast how to make it, since it is super easy and super yummy.

Take a whole eggplant, or desired amount or desired amount of squash. Cut into 1/2 inch slices length wise. Brush both sides with olive oil, and salt and pepper. The on just the eggplant brush both sides also with balsamic vinegar. You throw those on the grill, cook each side for 10 minutes, only flip once, and your done, and it's delicious! 

Sorry about the long delay of your Meatless Monday fix, but I hope some homemade pasta and some Ratatouille made up for it! If you have any suggestions let me know, or energy saving ideas!

Pictures of the complete product below!grilled eggplant and crooked-neck squash

---Justin J. Stewart

complete homemade broccoli Alfredo.

Obama administration putting solar panels back on to the roof of the White House

Tuesday, President Obama announced that solar panels would be reinstalled onto the roof the White House. President Carter placed solar panels on the white house during his presidency, and they were removed by President Reagan. Recently, President George W. Bush used solar power for maintenance buildings and heating the swimming pool on the grounds of the White House.

Not only are solar panels being installed, but a solar hot water heater is also in the works for the modifications to the White House. While this is a large symbolic statement about the administrations commitment to energy conversations, it is worth noting that this is something that every home owner can look into. It is also something that local business owners and even Fortune 500 companies can look into and help us look forward to an energy independent future.

---Justin J. Stewart

Meatless Monday 10.4.2010

So once again, this Meatless Monday started off without myself eating breakfast. I did have breakfast food today though, but it was for lunch. For lunch I had Cheerios. Honey-Nut and Multi-Grain Cheerios to be exactly. Even though it would not have been my premier choice for lunch, it was meatless, and fast for today's busy day.

Dinner was another story though. Tonight we had a delicious stir fry, all supplied from a local market in Bryan, Texas called The Farm Patch. The stir-fry included: zucchini, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, bok choy, garlic, cayenne pepper, green peppers, yellow peppers, and bean sprouts. We also included Chinese vermicelli in our meal (aka cellophane noodles).

Our bounty of veggies!Chinese vermicelliThe meal was pretty easy to make, and I will give you a quick recipe on how to do it, but most of it came from the gut and what just felt right. I put the Chinese vermicelli in a pot of water to soak for 20 minutes, while doing that I chopped up all the veggies. In a wok, I added enough Peanut Oil just to coat the wok with a thin layer of oil. I first added the bean sprouts, zucchini, and chopped up garlic cloves to cook. I then added some spices. I used ground black pepper, chili powder, szechuan pepper, crushed red pepper, ginger, onion power, and a dash of curry.
YUM!

Now, I can't tell you what amount I used, like I said I was cooking from the gut tonight and just rolling with it. I pretty much added seasoning to taste. I then added in the chopped cayenne pepper, some soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, szechuan sauce, and a dash of Frank's Red Hot. I stirred this up and let it simmer for a few minutes, then added in the rest of the chopped vegetables. Which I tossed around in the wok for about five minutes.

When the vegetables looks slightly steamed, yet still crips, I added in the Chinese vermicelli to the wok and let that settle to the bottom of the wok to soak up all of the juices and flavors floating around in their. I then stirred around everything a few more times, to get a good mix. Sprinkled some sesame seeds on the meal in the wok. Let it simmer for about two minutes. then pull it out to serve. It was delicious and very quick and easy to make. Also, thinking about all the vegetables that I ate with this meal, kidna blows my mind!!

What did you have this meatless Monday?! Feel free to share if you tried it out this week!

---Justin J. Stewart

Tempe Hazardous Household Waste event tomorrow!

Tomorrow the city of Tempe will be sponsoring a Hazardous Household Waste event at Kiwanis Park from 7am to 2pm. This even is sponsored by the Tempe Household Products Collection Center. This is a great way to properly dispose of hazardous household waste. Also remember that the Tempe Household Products Collection Center also has a free swap area, where one can take free partially or never used household, automotive, and other hazardous products that can be used for your own personal use. This is a great way to save on your budget and makes sure that these products never make it to a landfill.

The event tomorrow will feature a way to drop off your Hazardous Household Waste, free shredding of documents, and free compost for your own home use. Make sure to bring your utility bill for your free compost. The free compost is part of Tempe's new green waste program.  Check it out if you have some chemicals and what not around the house that you are looking to safely dispose of. Also, coming up on November 13th, is the City of Tempe's electronics recycling collection date.

Have a great weekend!

---Justin J. Stewart