Anyone got some summer recipes?

It's the middle of May and our temperatures are hovering in the high-80s already. The humidity isn't as bad as August, but that hasn't made the heat less miserable for those of us without air-conditioning. Windows are open, fans fully ensconced, and still, we're struggling. Unfortunately, there are children in the house and neighbors not far off, so I'm limited in how far down I can strip to keep cool. I'm sure you can guess that the last thing we want to do in this heat is to fire up the stove. The grill hasn't worked for some time, and we're not really in a rush to replace it for the time being. All of this leaves us in a bind when it comes to dinner.

If we don't want to spend too long sweating over a hot stove, what do we make? I'm somewhat limited in that I dislike lettuce, so green salads just aren't much of an option for me. So when the dreaded question, "What's for dinner?" comes up, I have no real answer. Tonight, to avoid dealing with all of it, I bought a pre-roasted chicken from the grocery store, some raw veggies, and olive-oil and herb goat cheese. It was delicious, and we ate healthier than normal. But that's going to end up getting expensive, and I don't really want it every day all summer.

Help? Any suggestions on healthy, cheap recipes that require little to no cooking?

A happy medium in environmental care

Because I love DIY stuff for the home, I read a lot of blogs that offer suggestions on living the natural life. Most of the time, the blogs give great advice and wonderful ideas on how to cut costs by doing it yourself. Unfortunately, I often find that they are also very ... extreme in their views.

I appreciate that there are those who have the time, energy, and money to live a very pro-biotic lifestyle. I think it's amazing that they dedicate that much of their lives to avoiding anything they believe to be "unnatural", and I applaud them for it. But I gotta' say, I just couldn't do it.

Sure, I love to make my own laundry soap, but that's because I'm cheap, not because I worry about chemicals, dyes, or scents. I mean, it's great that my laundry soap doesn't have much if any of that, but it's a by-product of my frugality, not the goal of it. I normally make an effort to make healthy frozen meals that I can bring for my lunches, but again, that's because I'd rather spend $1.25 for it than the $5 I'd pay at the grocery store for something less tasty and more salty. That doing so results in less packaging garbage is a happy bonus.

As a working mother of four teenagers and the wife of a full-time student, I just don't have the energy to worry about whether the meat my family eats is completely grass-fed and antibiotic-free. I don't have the time to run to three different stores to get the healthiest, safest, most eco-friendly things for my family. My shopping trips tend to be an hour of sheer hell, often-times spending over $200 a week on just the basics. (Did I mention that three of the teenagers are boys?)

We recycle, but I don't cry if a bottle ends up in the trash. We eat healthy whenever possible, but yes, cans are often opened when dinner is being made. I enjoy making my own bread, but the store-bought stuff has a special place on top of my fridge. I have far too much stress already in my life to fret over these kinds of things, and I think it's unfair of me to impose this on my family, too. As a family, we have to decide what works for us.

I'm a firm believer in doing the small things to make whatever difference you can. Be smart and simplify when you can, but don't kill yourself to do it. Don't run the water while you're brushing your teeth, but take a bath every now and then if you want. Recycle if you can, but don't freak out if it just doesn't work for your family. Buy a hard water bottle to carry with you, but if you forget it, don't worry about buying a single bottle of water every once in a while.

At the end of the day, the reason people are panicking over our environment is because so many aren't bothering to even worry about the simple, easy things they can do every day. You don't have to go to the extreme on either side. A happy middle can be just that... happy.

Plarn? Now that's just plain brilliant!

I found this neat new website today called Craftster.Org. (I seem to have been the last crafter alive to have found this place, but that doesn't make it any less cool.) Anyway, there's a picture of a laundry basket that a crafter made out of something called "plarn", which I had never heard of. It is, apparently, a type of plastic yarn made out of recycled plastic grocery bags. You know the ones I'm talking about.

Being the resourceful Googler that I am, I immediately wanted to find a simple tutorial on how to make the stuff so that I could make my own laundry basket. And ta-da! I found one!

This is from myrecycledbags.com, and it makes the process simple and easy. You'll be creating your own plarn in no time.

Plarn How-To

• Cutting

Lay recycled bag out flat

Fold in half lengthwise then fold in half again

Cut off top handles

Cut bag in strips about 1 inch wide or as desired

Set aside the end of bag where bottom edge was glued. The ends and the handles can be recycled either as stuffing for other projects, packing material for shipping, or taken to your local recycling bin for plastic bags.

• Tying strips together

Take two strips and inter-twine together as shown

Gently pull on ends to knot two strips together

Connect next strip to last strip in the same manner

Continue connecting strips until you have a large ball of plastic “yarn”

Tips:

Pull ends evenly to create a smooth and flat strip.

If you find your strip doesn’t lie flat between knots, you didn’t pull evenly which creates a bunched strip. Just make sure your strip is even before you pull your knot tight between the two connected strips. To fix a bunched strip, just loosen your knot between the strips then pull on the ends again to make your strip flat and smooth.

Here's the link, with pictures for the tutorial. Very helpful.

http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2007/02/17/instructions-for-cutting-plastic-bags-creating-recycled-plastic-yarn/

Here's a picture of the laundry bag:

Special thanks to ToadallyDee from craftster.org.

 There aren't any instructions, so I'm just going to play around until I get something that works reasonably well. In the meantime, I think I'm going to set my 13-year-old daughter to making the plarn for me from our piles and piles of bags to combat her recurring bouts of boredom. I'll let you know how it goes.

Lunchtime chatter leads to great recycling ideas!

At lunch on Friday, TheVillageBeader and I were talking about different ways to use bottle caps, can lids, and various other odds and ends. She's a crafter and often sees really creative ways to use fairly mundane things. I, on the other hand, am great at following directions rather than creating my own things, but occasionally even I come up with something fun.

Anyway, we came up with several ideas that seemed worthy of sharing:

• Use bottle caps as "weights" for candle-making. Drill a hole in the cap with a nail. Tie a knot in one end of the wick and draw the long end up through the hole, having the knot come up on the flat side of the cap. Add a drop or two of melted wax to the knot and press it firmly to the bottom of the candle mold. Tie the other end of the wick to a pencil or dowel and settle across the mold's top. Pour the wax in, and voila!
• Bottle caps make a funky, colorful decoration on wide leather belts. To keep from scratching yourself, pound the edges out flat rather than leaving them curled up.
• Wine bottle corks make great trivets and coasters. Cut them in half length-wise and then glue them down in neat designs to a 1/4" piece of plywood cut to whatever shape you want.
• Glass jars (think empty jelly, spaghetti and pickle jars) can be made into beautiful candle holders. Pour an inch of dried beans in the bottom and put a votive candle inside. (Lots of colors to choose from just by using different types of beans and different colored candles.) If you decide to use the lid, make sure you punch holes in the top so air can get in or the flame won't last long.
• The tops of tin cans make lovely wind chimes. Drill holes in the centers of the tops. Tie a knot in one end of a long string, wire, or cord, thread a lid onto the string, tie another knot two inches above the lid, thread another lid onto the string, tie another knot, thread another lid - continue until you have as many lids on the string as you'd like. Make another two or three strings with lids on them. Tie the strings together at the top and hang.

Any other ideas to share? What suggestions do you have to re-cycle items around the house? I'd love to hear them!