Just got back from a great trip to the UK and Ireland, weather was great - must be the global warming !!I stayed with my sister -in- law Pia who is a great cook and I have stolen 2 recipes from her that I knew I could share with you. They are really easy and can be made with store cupboard ingredients (My kind of recipes!)

Almond Fruit Pie

100g finely chopped almonds

100g Butter-melted

100g Sugar

2 Eggs -organic

200g Plums - cut in 1/2 remove stones

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C

Place the plums in the bottom of an oven proof dish. Mix the balance of the ingredients together and pour over the plums.Voila bake in the oven for 30-40 mins.

Oat Cookies

150g Butter

230g Sugar

1 Egg-organic

125g Plain flour

1tsp baking powder

175g raisins/choc chip (Optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease 3 baking trays.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg, add the flour and baking powder and mix. You can add raisins or choc chips. Make the mixture into round balls and place onto the baking trays and with a fork press down gently and bake for about 20 mins, until golden brown.

Sometimes it seems that being more ‘green’ requires a lot of effort and I sometimes feel that I don’t have the energy and time to fit into my day. But, what I am realising is that there are a lot of really simple, easy and quick ways to make a difference. Although many may think, “what difference is my tiny effort going to make?”, imagine the result if every human being on the planet was saving just that little bit of energy?

I found some useful tips on saving energy in the kitchen, and they really aren’t very hard at all!

Stovetops: With an electric stovetop, make sure your pan completely covers the heating element. With gas burners, make sure the flame is fully below the pan; otherwise, you’re paying to heat the air around the pan, not just the pan itself. Also, use the appropriate size pan for your meal. Smaller pans are easier to heat up.

Keep appliances clean. Clean surfaces maximize the amount of energy reflected toward your food. This applies to microwaves, toasters, ovens and other appliances.

Keep a lid on it! Covered pots retain heat and help cook food more quickly.

Take advantage of residual heat. Turn off the oven or electric stovetop several minutes before the recipe indicates. Both will stay hot enough to complete the cooking process.

Don’t preheat the oven unless a recipe requires it.

Use the right cookware. Glass and ceramic cookware conducts and retains heat better than metal. If a recipe calls for a metal baking pan, switching to glass or ceramic allows you to lower the oven temperature by 25 degrees.

Don’t peek. Opening the oven door can lower the internal temperature as much as 25 degrees. Use a timer to set the cooking time, and be sure your oven window is clean enough for you to see how your dish is progressing.

(courtesy of www.treehugger.com)

I think that even in my busy day I can make these small changes!

There are so many cosmetics on the market that claim they are keeping your family safe by killing the hidden bacteria that is out there to harm your children and family. But are they really protecting your kids?

Here are some points to ponder:

* The antibacterial components of soaps (usually triclosan or, less commonly, triclocarbon) need to be left on a surface for about two minutes in order to work. Most people are not this patient, and end up washing off the soap before the antibacterial ingredients can do their job.
* Some scientists theorize that bacteria may develop a resistance to bactericidal agents over time.
* Some bacteria actually benefit us. The normal population of bacteria on our bodies not only eats our sweat, but also helps defend us against truly harmful, invasive bacteria.
* Many common diseases are viral in nature, anyway, and are therefore not prevented by antibacterial products.

( see How stuff works for the full article…)

Yet another study points to triclosan not only being completely ineffective, but also potentially dangerous:

“…researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health have found that the ingredient commonly used in these products, triclosan, provides no additional benefits beyond those of plain soap; it also may contribute to the rise of many different drug-resistant bacteria, including a relative of tuberculosis.”

And if this isn’t enough, the article goes on to say:

“…triclosan can also form the probable human carcinogen chloroform when exposed to chlorinated water, you may take pause lathering up with that antibacterial soap next time you shower…”

All in all, it seems that the hype around protecting your loved ones by using antibacterial soap is not all that true and once again I am convinced that using the most natural products you can is the only way to go.

Who is the greenest of them all?

With the oil price climbing higher every month, I think it’s time we all started to seriously think about how we can make a difference to the amount of oil we need in our lives. I came across this very interesting article on What Car? that takes a good look at the who’s who of green. It seems the winner this time around is the Smart Fortwo Roadster.

“Smart Fortwo Roadster is ‘greenest car’
26 September 2007

• New reports says Fortwo is greenest car
• Based on CO2 and nitrous oxide emissions
• Toyota Prius came 12th in survey

The Smart Roadster tops the charts as the most environmentally friendly car, according to a new report.

In the study by Cardiff University and automotive consultants Thames Clifford, researchers gave a car’s carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions 50% weighting in assessing its overall environmental score.

For the other 50%, the researchers ranked cars on their construction, energy used and end of life disposal costs.

By using this scoring system, the green car table was dominated by superminis, topped by the Smart, which is now no longer in production, and followed by other city cars such as Citroen’s C1 and the Fiat Panda.

Toyota’s petrol-electric hybrid Prius, a car often associated with environmental friendliness, came 12th in the study.

The report’s authors warned the Prius could move further down the green pecking order as greener versions of conventional petrol and diesel powered cars come on sale.

‘We’re not saying that any car that’s the same size as the Prius is better, but the gap is closing very rapidly, and conventional technologies will pass the Prius,’ Clifford Thames’ Richard Barber told the Financial Times.

Toyota has said its expects its next Prius to have carbon dioxide emissions of between 90 and 99g/km, but it won’t be on sale until 2009.

Currently, Volkswagen’s Polo Bluemotion is the car with the lowest carbon dioxide emissions, but VW plans a Golf Bluemotion - similar in size to the Prius - by the end of the year.

Citroen, Ford, Hyundai and Volvo are also planning greener versions of their small family cars in the near future.

Greenest cars
1 Smart Roadster
2 Smart Fortwo cabriolet
3 Citroen C1 1.0i
4 Peugeot 107 1.0
5 Citroen C1 1.4 HDi
6 Fiat Panda 1.2
7 Ford Ka 1.3
8 Toyota Yaris 1.0
9 Fiat Panda 100hp
10 Peugeot 206 1.4
11 Mini Cooper D
12 Toyota Prius 1.5
Source: Cardiff University/Clifford Thames ”

Finally my 2nd book is now available Savvy Kids Menus ISBN 978-0-6203-8516-9 should retail for about R199.00 , available at Exclusive Books and Mr Price Home stores.

I have lots of new recipes for the whole family, and a great weekly menu plan to help you get super organised as well as lots of info about kids nutrition and other hot topics.

I had the pleasure of meeting a great crew from feedback yesterday

( www.feedback.org.za )

Feedback are a team of commited individuals who redistribute excess food to communities that are in need. In this particular case we went to supply our multivitamins to a home that supplies meals to 320 orphaned and abandoned kids, some who are hiv positive. It was the most amazing experience for me as although I do not live a sheltered life, I had not actually driven into a township and met with a group of people and been taken into their home………

I met with the most amazing group of caregivers who take care of all of these children 2- 18 yrs. Some kids live on the premises and others just come into the home to get meals.

And the meals are freshly prepared each day using loads of fresh ingredients all donated - covers, a sandwich company servicing the Sandton area, drop off sandwiches daily for example.

The kids get porridge in the morning, hot lunches and dinner (The food I saw them preparing was better than most kids in the Northern suburbs are eating!). It’s great to see that there are some very generous companies doing their bit- and not all of them are big.