Orange You Glad for By-Products

Winter is the perfect time for citrus, and my Imperfect Produce box is overflowing with more oranges, grapefruits, and lemons than I can get to. Fortunately, I love some fresh squeezed juice! 

I've been reading about ways to use the peels. Having already tried (and not loved) soaking them in vinegar for homemade cleaner, I wanted to try something else: CANDY!

There are many recipes for candying orange peel. I tried and liked this one.

First step: slice your orange peel into 1/4" strips. Go ahead and leave the white/pith. It won't be bitter when you're done. 

Next: boil the peels for 15 minutes. Dump that water. Then add 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water, and simmer the peels for 45 minutes. 

Finally: strain the peels (don't toss the liquid! keep reading for why), and a few at a time, toss them in granulated sugar to lightly coat. Set them on a wire rack and leave uncovered for 24 hours until fully dried. 

Voila! Perfectly candied orange peels! You can eat these as-is, garnish other baked goods, or dip in chocolate for a decadent treat. 

The end result? Something like this:

(image credit arsheffield on flickr)

These are not a picture of mine. Mine didn't turn out as pretty due to one main mistake: I used microwaved chocolate chips for my dipping chocolate, which re-hardens pretty quickly. I recommend using baker's chocolate in a double boiler for prettier results. Regardless of how pretty, they will taste amazing. 

Now, back to that liquid gold that is left in your boiling pot. The sugar water that you simmered your peels in is now orange-infused simple syrup! This is the perfect addition to a mocha or a cocktail. 

Cost of candied orange peel: $0.70 cents of sugar
Cost of simple syrup: FREE by-product!

These are a beautiful and festive treat as you wrap up your holiday season. Happy snacking. :)

Waste Free Gift Wrap #2 - Gift Bags

With the holidays approaching, let's talk gift wrap: Each year, billions of dollars are spent on wrapping paper in the US alone, with millions of pounds of wrapping paper usually used once. Holy cow!

In February, I showed one alternate way to wrap presents, by wrapping the gift with another, such as a tea towel or scarf.

In this post, I'll share another: fabric gift bags. Gift bags are pretty easy to make. They are essentially tote bags, made in a variety of sizes. Last year, I got a bunch of holiday fabric by the yard at Seattle Recreative. You could also work with curtains, tablecloths, etc, from a thrift store near you. Not only are you up-cycling the fabric, but you are also creating wrapping that can be used over and over again for years to come. By using thrifted fabric, the cost comes to about $3/bag, about the same cost as a new paper gift bag.

1. Cut out the 4 sides of your bag, slightly larger than your gift. Add a few inches of length, which will be used to create the bottom of the bag. If your fabric is thinner, might fray, or you just want a contrast lining, cut out 8 sides (you'll be making two bags, outer and lining).

2. Sew the four panels together, with the pattern on the inside. 

3. Sew the bottom shut. Note: For this bag, all my sides are equal width. Check the placement of my seams when I go to sew the bottom. Two of the sides are folded in half; this is important for making the flat bottom of the bag. If your bag is rectangular instead of square, make the shorter sides the halved sides. 

4. Sew perpendicular across the bottom seam on the two corners, resulting in two isosceles triangle points. This triangle should happen naturally when you flatten the sides of the bag. 

5. When you flip the bag right side out, those triangles formed the squared base of the bag.

6. To make handles, sew strips of complimentary fabric into a tube, and then flip right side out. These can be any width you like, but keep in mind if you can't fit your finger inside, you will have a very difficult time flipping them right side out. 

7. Put your lining bag inside your outer bag. Fold the rough top edges inside, place your handles, and pin together to hold everything in place which you sew this top seam.

8. Once you've trimmed any long threads, you are now ready to fill your bag with gifts! Want reusable tissue too? Use complimentary fabric squares.

Not crafty, or running out of time? You can purchase reusable gift bags from many places:
From TheRubySwan on Etsy - ribbon closure means no tissue needed!
From Cohasset Party Supply on Etsy
From Appleby Lane on Amazon
From Illumen on Amazon
From The Container Store

The example bags above average $6, meaning payback after just a few uses.

Happy Holidays!

Conscious Cookies!

With Thanksgiving having just passed us, do you have any leftover pumpkin puree? I know, crazy question, just like those articles talking about uses for "leftover wine".

If you do, try baking it into cookies! If you don't ,did you know that mashed sweet potatoes or butternut squash make an easy substitute, and it's a creative way to repurpose those leftovers?

I can't claim credit for this recipe (that goes to Lauren Miyashiro on Delish.com), but I did taste test it for you. It a fairly basic sugar cookie recipe, with just 9 basic ingredients, including pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. They're then topped with a cream cheese frosting, with just 5 ingredients. The ingredients are almost entirely kitchen staples.

(The final product - yum!)

The recipe calls for 2 cookie sheets. It easily made 3+ dozen cookies.

You can also make one simple swap in this process, replacing the parchment paper for silicone sheet pan liners. Not just for baking, silicone keeps your pan from having baked on messes, is easily washable, and replaces disposables like aluminum foil and parchment paper. Silicone is becoming popular with those trying to reduce waste, not only because it replaces single use items, but it's also non-toxic and doesn't contain BPA. T, as the primary dish-washer of the house, is *loving* my increased use of silicon, which is cutting down on time, elbow grease, water, and soap. They don't need to break the bank either; I got a 3-pack for around $15, and they also have measurement markings. They will pay for themselves within the first year, considering the cost of other single-use products.

(These sheets make it so easy.)

(Cook until browned, then let cool.)

These cookies are the perfect compliment to your coffee or as a dessert this fall. What are some of your tried and true recipes to re-purpose leftovers?

Food for Thought

As the world population grows and with it, the waste reduction movement becomes more mainstream, we're starting to see TV programming join in. Here are a couple shows to check out to give you some great ideas about minimizing food waste:

1. Wasted! The Story of Food Waste (85 minutes documentary). This film was produced by Anthony Bourdain (RIP) and was organized around two simple ideas. First, there are billions of pounds of food wasted each year and there are billions of people that are food insecure. Seems like a 1:1 problem that we can solve. Second, the EPA has a pyramid for ways to utilize food. The film follows each step of the pyramid to look into areas where waste is created (from farms and fishing operations, to restaurants and grocery stores, to end consumers) and solutions for each (from big to small).

(source: www.epa.gov)

I haven't found Wasted! for free yet, but it is available for rental as low as $1.99 through Amazon Prime Video or a number of other apps referenced on their site. You can also request a community screening; I learned about this through a community screening at my work.

2) Scraps (series on A&E, now in season 2). Chef Joel Gamoran goes around the US making incredible meals out of parts of food that would otherwise be discarded. I learned about this show first through my mom (Thanks, Mom!) and then was lucky enough to have Joel be a guest speaker at work. He spoke about things that we often don't think to eat that make great dishes and often become mainstream (think: using carrot greens for pesto). You can take classes at a Sur La Table near you on the theme, for example, how to re-purpose Thanksgiving leftovers. He also has a cookbook, Cooking Scrappy, for more inspo.

Next steps:

• Check out these shows for inspo! (And let me know if you find others. :) )
• Think about how you can insert a step in your own life before compost or the trash. Can you you use the heels of your bread loaves to make homemade bread crumb? If you have a recipe that asks the the whites of green onions, can you meal plan to use the greens? 

Happy Scrapping!

Blame Hilary!

(Aka "When thrifting goes wrong")

Tats and I went to Goodwill tonight. Tats was making a large donation and then we treated ourselves to some shopping. It didn't disappoint, with richer than usual stock of kitschy holiday tees and Halloween leftovers. 

I decided I needed a fall jacket, after having coveted some Uniqlo lightweight down jackets last week. Lo and behold, I found a light down jacket that fit perfect for $30 (Uniqlo's were $70).

We browsed around for a little while longer, until we came across the "themed leggings" rack. Staring at us were a hundred neon Hilary Clintons!

(We were excited to see each other.)

Problem is... I set the jacket down to take these pics. I looked behind me to pick up my jacket and another woman is holding it.

Do I take her down like a lioness defending her kittens? Or a New Yorker at a sample sale? Would she fight me back and start a brawl? Or, do I awkwardly back down and clumsily ask: "Oh, are you looking at that jacket?"

I chose the latter.

Before I know it, she's putting the jacket on. And another one on top of it. And filling her bag with other clothing items. I start to gesture to one of the employees, look at this woman. She's actively shoplifting in front of us.

She catches our eyes, and bolts for the door. I shout after her, "Hey! Stop!" and look around desperately: "She's stealing those clothes!" But she takes off running.

The employees are all staring at me, mouths agape, surprised that I called out after a shoplifter. Tats said they were probably thinking "Oh, bless her soul." (Southern sarcasm intended.) They shrugged it off like this happens every night, and unfortunately, it probably does. I'm sitting here torn between "she must need it if she needs to steal it" and outraged for Goodwill  and sad for myself. "But... my jacket!!"

Keep in mind, this would have never happened if we hadn't been preoccupied with Hilary.

Fabulous Fail

Sometimes, your best thrifted DIY intentions fail you. After two months of frugal, patient shopping, crafting, painting, sewing, and jewelry-making, my Halloween costume was a huge flop.

Literally. After a couple wrong cuts, the top of my dress lost all structure and became floppy.

So, all of a sudden, I'm a day away away from Halloween, and no costume, and I still want to keep my two priorities:

1) Save $$.
2) Reused, recycled, or borrowed.

Thank goodness, Goodwill came to the rescue. I'll follow with a picture of the final product after Halloween, but I've decided to go as punk Eleven from Stranger Things. That's her in the middle:

(Image borrowed, copyright Netflix)

The good news is these are pretty normal clothes, so I only needed two items: white sneakers (how do I not have these?) and an over-sized black coat.

Here's what I scored. Like-new Nikes, a deal at $15. That logo's from the '70s, so someone had them stashed in a closet for a very long time. They fit great, so I'll incorporate them into my weekend wardrobe.

This wool blazer. New with tags, that shows it would have been $175! Now I got it over-sized, but it turns out it's exactly the right size for T. Not only did I get a screaming deal for $20, but T will get to incorporate it into his regular wardrobe.

$35 for a Halloween costume, where we can reuse everything? That's a Halloween Treat.

November 6th - Vote for the Planet

I got my ballot for the midterms in the mail today.

According to The Environmental Voter Project, 15.78 million environmentalists did not vote in the 2014 midterm election*, and only 4% of voters listed Climate Change & The Environment as the most or 2nd most important issue in choosing a presidential candidate**. Their hypothesis? "If environmental issues are a low priority for voters, they will be a low priority for policy makers."

Voting is the most formal way to get your voice heard, whether it's choosing candidates that share your beliefs or voting on specific policies.

First, confirm that you are registered to vote with your current address, etc. You can still register to vote in Washington State in person until October 29th. Click here for information.

Next, keep yourself honest: you can check on your own voter history here for Washington or by Googling "my voter history" and your state.

Finally, VOTE! If you live in Washington, you are lucky that you can vote by mail, which gives you a couple weeks to complete your form and mail or drop it off at an official drop-box.

If you are in a state that doesn't have mail-in ballots, and transportation is a hardship to get to your polling location:

• Lyft is offering 50% off rides on November 6th or even free rides to under-served populations. Check out their partners for promo codes.
• Uber is also offering free rides through partner organizations. 

First time voting from your current address? Find your polling location here.

What you can do:
Easy: vote!
Advanced: get involved with The Environmental Voter Project to support others in voting


*From the Environmental Voter Project's 2017 impact report.
**Per an AR Research poll leading up to the 2016 presidential election.