Small Town Shopping

We have limited options at our in-town grocery and Wal*mart stores. You can find pretty much whatever you want, or at least what you need, but the selection isn't what it is at the larger (or smaller stores) in the town where we work.

It isn't so much the products that we can find (juice, soda, canned goods, frozen stuff, deli, produce, all of that), but rather the types of said products offered. Finding an organic brand of nearly anything at the local grocery is nearly impossible. But there are a few options for "natural" peanut butter. I think there is one barbeque sauce in the whole store that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup. And that says nothing of my poor uncle who has a recently diagnosed soy allergy: out of  wall of salad dressing, there were maybe 5 bottles he could eat. One was a spice packet where you add your own oil and vinegar. The others were locally produced brands.

Since I haven't exactly made the leap to baking soda/vinegar/washing soda and the like for all my cleaning products, this has presented a challenge for us.

What has been exciting as of late, is the emergence of more eco-friendly brands and variants on the shelves, and at prices that are at least comparable to the conventional ones. For example, dishwasher detergent. I picked up one of 2 bottles that declared itself eco-friendly with no phosphates and my husband rolled his eyes. "Are we really that rich that we can... oh, it isn't that expensive." True, a smaller bottle of the store brand was much cheaper, but every other option was within 50 cents of the bottle I picked. Some were even more expensive. Score!

Then, at Wal*Mart (groan if you must) Tom's of Maine is being stocked. I've read a few places (can't remember now, so apologies for no links) that some people are upset as a result of changes since they were bought by a larger company, but I'm still very happy to see 2 different toothpastes (one with and one without flouride), and at least 2 different Tom's deodorants (plus a Crystal liquid roll-on). As we needed toothpaste, we got some. Still using the deodorant I picked up at Trader Joe's in California while on a business trip. (Really, my checked bag on the way back from these trips is hilarious now - shampoo, deodorant, all sorts of organic and natural personal care products I can't find easily in my small town.)

Small victories, I know, but I get a small thrill buying these products at my local grocery and Wal*mart because I know that somewhere in the vastness of information and reporting, another ping is going towards the more eco-conscious shopper

Happy Tax Weekend, USA!

Happy Tax Weekend, USA! Remember that Tax Day this year is April 18th.

Anyone expecting (or already received) a refund?

Ominous clicking noises and happier endings

Know what is not awesome? Coming home from work after a day of storms to hear your gas stove clicking. The same clicking noise it generally makes when you've turned the knob to light a burner. Thankfully, no gas was leaking out. Just the incessant clicking. We unplugged the stove, and resigned ourselves to being stoveless for at least a few days.

What is awesome? Having a husband who realized (after consulting the internet) that water may have simply gotten in, and leaving the stove alone and unplugged for a few days may be all that is required. The same day we came home to a clicking stove, there was mysterious water on the plates in the cabinets above the stove, and in the ramekins living next to it.

After two or three days of leaving the stove unplugged to dry, when we plugged it back in, there was no clicking sound. Hurrah! Good thing, too. That first night, knowing I had no stove, all I wanted was to boil water for tea.

I am pleased to report that nearly a week later, and several stove-top heavy meals, all is in tact and still working splendidly.

*Whew! To replace the drop in stove, it would have easily been a few hundred dollars.

Appliance Replacement Poll Post

Please leave any comments about the poll here. If you selected other, please elaborate here. I'll be adding my answer to the comments

Think Green Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the "Think Green Hop Along". Everyone is welcome to link up and make friends here. The concept is to "think green"!! 

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Here are the rules to this link up:

• Follow the hostess, Tips 4 Green, of the Green Hop Along (in the first position).
• Grab the Hop Along Button and put it on your blog somewhere, make a post about it, if you would to try to get the word out!!
• Follow as many other blogs as you like, it is common courtesy to follow whoever follows you! Please follow at least two or three other blogs in this link up.
• Leave a comment on the blog of whoever you are following so that they can follow you back.
• HAVE FUN AND THINK GREEN!!

This hop along will close on 4/01/11 at midnight and will reopen again on each Friday. I hope to continue this link up for every Friday! Please leave me any comments or questions below or in an email to tips4green@gmail.com. Thanks!

Sort of a Recipe: Strawberries and cream

On Friday, I ran out to the store for a few things, and came back with quite a few more. Cabbages were drastically reduced; I assume from an overstock of St Patrick's day heads. I like cabbage, so I picked up a few. Boiled it that night, and stuck it in the refrigerator. I estimate I'll be having cabbage with lunch for the entire week. This does not make me sad in the least.

Strawberries were also on sale for a lower than normal sale price. (A price I have seen before, but still less than the normal 2 for X price.) Buying the strawberries also meant that I had to have cream. I debated between yogurt, sour cream, or heavy whipping cream and settled on the whipping cream purely for taste reasons.

That evening, I rinsed half the berries, put a metal bowl with a tablespoon of sugar in it in the fridge, and proceeded to prepare the strawberries: de-stemming, hulling, and cutting into tiny pieces. Then I sprinkled about 2-3 spoonfuls of sugar over the strawberries, and set them aside.

As the berries and sugar intermingled, I pulled out the chilled bowl and poured a bit of the whipping cream into it. Honestly, I have not idea as to the measurement. If I had to guess, probably 2 tablespoons. Maybe more.

Then I thought for a moment. Stand mixer, hand mixer or by hand? Since I hadn't used the stand mixer bowl, I took the stand mixer out of the running. It has had enough of a work out, considering the amount of cookies I made in the past two weeks. For some reason, I settled on whipping the cream by hand, so out came the whisk.

Several minutes and one tired arm later, I had soft peaks of sweetened whipped cream.

I divided up the strawberries and cream and surprised my husband with a delicious and simple dessert, hopefully ushering spring and summer into our little corner of the Earth.

Blog hop: Think Green Hop Along

Hello and welcome to the "Think Green Hop Along". Everyone is welcome to link up and make friends here. The concept is to "think green"!! 

Make sure to sign up for my giveaways while you're here too, located to your right --->

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Here are the rules to this link up:

• Follow the hostess, Tips 4 Green, of the Green Hop Along (in the first position).
• Grab the Hop Along Button and put it on your blog somewhere, make a post about it, if you would to try to get the word out!!
• Follow as many other blogs as you like, it is common courtesy to follow whoever follows you! Please follow at least two or three other blogs in this link up.
• Leave a comment on the blog of whoever you are following so that they can follow you back.
• HAVE FUN AND THINK GREEN!!

This hop along will close on 3/25/11 at midnight and will reopen again on each Friday. I hope to continue this link up for every Friday! Please leave me any comments or questions below or in an email to tips4green@gmail.com. Thanks!