Roasted Trio veggies with cilantro lime rice
Easiest recipe of all! So satisfying and flavorful and you don't need unnecessary packaged condiments! The veggies are local and/or organic and I got the rice and spices in bulk!
Read MoreBlack Bean brownies
This recipe is directly from Minimalist Baker with a few tweaks. I've used this recipe way before I was trash free and realized I do not need to change a thing except where I source these ingredients. The best brownie recipe I have ever used. So yummy!
Read MoreBlack bean and beet burgers with sweet potato fries
How does your life relate to global warming? Do you know what our most significant interaction with the environment is? Hint: Every one must do it in order to survive. That is right…Eat!
Everything you choose to feed yourself with is a direct demand to the environment of what it needs to produce. So when it comes to global warming in the kitchen, it isn't a hard problem to solve! It's you.
GET IN MY JAR challenge
So in order to stay trash free when you leave the house, what do you really need?
To most it either sounds daunting or maybe its too many things to bring and will forget or claim they are just too lazy. So I made it simple. How about just one jar before you leave the house? Maybe slip in a fork!
Read MoreEvergreen Syrup
EVERGREEN SYRUP!
So visiting my best friend in Canada was AMAZING! We did so many things that was needed for a vacation away from NYC. We went to a Nordic spa in the mountains, took long walks and trail runs through her acreage in the Canadian woods. We played card and read books by the fire. We made bonfires and most importantly made delicious drinks for the bonfires also!
This is a quick recipe for Pine syrup. We actually accidentally picked it from Spruce, so either would work but Pine has a bit more distinct flavor! It can pair well with a ton of different alcohols. We used gin with tonic and you can also use a whiskey, rum galore! A hot tea would be really nice with it too.
What you'll need to make the syrup
-3 cups water
-2 cups of any of these > sugar/maple syrup/honey
-1/2 cup pine needle
What to do!
1. Bring your water to a boil and then put your pine needles in along with your sugar
2. Heat it on low for 2 hours
3. Strain through cheese cloth or regular strainer
4. Mix with favorite alcohol or tea (about 1 oz or so depending on preference)
5. Enjoy and share!
Compost your Pine needles, sit by the fire and enjoy!
Trash free weekend vacation
Trash free weekend vacations may sound daunting but if you think of these three things before you go, you are in the clear! Easy!
1. Bring cloth produce bags so you can get those yummy fruits, veggies and bulk items (rice, granola, dried fruits) in non plastic bags!
2. Bring some bell jars just in case (bulk peanut butter, apple cider, olive oil etc…)
3. Bring a recyclable and compostable paper grocery bag for your compost!
Getting away from New York City for the weekend is probably one of the most fulfilling things out there ! My friends and I are trying to maintain a fairly new tradition of going to this forest house that these amazing friends of ours lets us borrow. So this year the excitement was high! Since going trash free, the first thing I thought of was, how cool if this entire trip could be trash free. It seems a bit of a stretch if you involve people who are not trash free, however my friends are eco-conscious beings so they were all in.
I started by packing all of the things I already had in my house. Baking items, dinner ingredients, etc… It is super easy to pack up without creating trash since everything is already in a bell jar, because I shop in bulk for all my ingredients. You can find bulk if you just do a little research! I go to 4th street co op in Manhattan for most, and then whole foods has some good raw granola options. But I try and stick to co ops for their variety and sourcing. For fruits and vegetables, I get what is in season at the farmers market which you can easily find too! Not only are the things you will buy way healthier, but they will be local which cuts carbon emissions in the atmosphere from those long food shipments across the country. Make sure your grower has an organic and sustainable practice. I promise it makes what you put in your body worth the effort.
So alas this is the forest house! This post will be heavy on the photos because there are too many goodies to pass up.
Our breakfasts were really simple and super flavorful! Sweet potatoes, eggs and onions from the farmers market and we had french press coffee. Nothing to throw away and we composted all our food scraps and coffee grinds. The mornings were so nice, chilly, and crisp. We played Andrew Bird and sat and ate outside in the sunroom. Its hard in the city sometimes to sit in thought for too long without thinking you need to do something busy. Here, we could sit all day amidst the trees that were doing the same thing. All in good company.
This is a really important to-do if you are gonna be trash free. COMPOST! Not only are you freeing up space in landfills but when food is suffocated in landfills it creates a green house gas called methane! Food also isn't trash!
With all my food scraps I put them in the freezer in one of these bags you see to the left. I will take it to a drop off at a local farmers market once a week. You can do your research to find the best compost drop off near you!
We went to the market upstate to grocery shop for our dinners and we made it a serious point to not create any trash! I brought cloth produce bags for all our veggies, and we made almond milk in case of any smoothies. We even brought a huge mason jar so we can have apple cider! No plastic gallon!
We did some really beautiful hikes and every now and then we would find a field to eat our snacks in and catch up on girly things. We are all going through some tumultuous stages in our life so it was really important we take in the energy of the trees and the air, and to re-absorb the big picture.
Love these girls so much! They are the most grounded, silly, and sweet beings I could ever know. It is so important for us as individuals to take care of ourselves, each other, and the well being of the environment we are surrounded in. To open our eyes fully to every aspect of our impact whether it be with our relationships, ourselves, and how we treat nature is truly the most important way to live.
Buy it old, make it new!
When you think of climate change, pollution, and global warming what are the first things you think of?
I know that a year ago my response would have been gasoline from cars, oil spills and big tractors tearing down trees for paper. Then I assumed that since I wasn't driving or using too much paper that I was pretty awesome at steering clear of any big environmental impact. I would then go online for hours browsing my designated big brand sites and put a bunch of things in my cart and when they were on sale or cheap enough, all of them would be mine. What did I love about these cheap buys? Well for the obvious was that I could buy for quantity. It really didn't matter the quality. As long as I could wear it a couple times I was good.
So what is the big deal here? One person who buys some cheap stuff and wears them once and gets rid of them. It's just a handful of garments every couple months. It's accessible, it's legal, everyone does it and no one is saying it's a big deal. Well, welcome to the world where advertisements and big brands can fluff up ANY tragic situation that they are creating. They are their own elephant in the room. Also, you are one person that is making this decision along with the other millions of people in the world making that same one. That is the BIG problem.
There is devastating environmental damage in EVERY stage of what you could be wearing right now. There is atmospheric pollution from constant transportation across the globe, and more carbon dioxide being emitted from the heavy machinery being used to produce these textiles/garments and now doubling because of the fast fashion boom. Throughout the entire supply chain, the industry places destructively heavy demand on every aspect of the environment by using copious amounts of energy, water, raw materials, and releasing harmful chemicals. After researching and realizing that I, the consumer, have all the power in this production, I decided I cannot live with this burden anymore. What's the remedy? Buy vintage or second hand. Not only is it cheaper, but it has far lower emissions.
You may be thinking:
"Okay okay, what are the tedious steps to take to stop my habit of fast fashion? Man it seems really hard and inconvenient."
First let go of that thought. Once you tie yourself to the idea of trying to break a habit, you end up feeding into your deviant thoughts about it and already want to fail. This day and age you can find a thrift store just about anywhere and there are amazing vintage shops on Etsy or ebay that will send you packages in all minimal, reusable, recyclable and no plastic packaging. I would advise you to do your research on this matter to spark your own motivation behind it, and I guarantee you will never look back.
These photos were by my wonderful friend and photographer, Kassia Phoy. She came to NYC to explore and she took some amazing pictures along the way. I had the honor of hanging out with her for a dinner and she made some time for a little roof top fun. Check out her website to be bedazzled by the way she sees the beautiful world: http://www.kassiaphoy.com
My top is Free People top from a second hand store that was $8.00 and my white boyfriend denim jeans are from Reformation.
