Earth Day at Nokia Siemens

We spent Earth Day with the employees at Nokia Siemens to talk about going green at lunch. The topics of our discussion were all things green including: the typical trashy lunch, where to shred sensitive documents, CFL bulb safety, BPA-what's that again?, and stainless steel water bottles.

A special thank you to my dear friend, Angela Frew, owner of Lefteas. She supplied delicious sweet tea any Southerner would be pleased to drink and "bet you'll eat the whole bag in one sitting" sweet pecans. You'll definitely need more than one bag of those.

I'd also like to thank John Klemenc, store manager at the Home Depot in Roswell, GA. John graciously donated CFL bulbs for those who attended the meeting. He also educated me a bit on where to recycle those babies. Your local Home Depot of course! Thanks John, we're gettin' the word out!

Where to Shred documents

What to do with all those old bank statements? The Roswell Recycling Center periodically has free document shredding. Roswell, GA too far for you? Check out this site for a recycling center near you. Many recycling centers offer this service periodically for those that live near by. Also, Whole Foods has held the same event in certain cities. Look here for a store near you.

Recycling CFL bulbs

Where to recycle CFL bulbs? Home Depot and Ikea will both take your unbroken CFL bulbs for recycling.

Stainless Steel Water Bottles ON SALE

Looking for a stainless steel water bottle? Klean Kanteen is the most popular brand and is sitting in our fridge as we "speak". However, just found Cynergreen and their offering a sale this week in honor of Earth Day. Their bottles are on sale for $9. We paid ~$20 for each of ours so I'd say that's a pretty good deal. Let us know what you think.

Tax Credit for Going Green

Did you know you can receive up to $1500 in tax credit for making changes to your home that reduce the amount of energy used? That's right, you can save green by going green and then get some mo' green. Check it out at Home Depot or the US Gov.

Clean Air Campaign

The Clean Air Campaign will pay you money, up to $3 a day, for telecommuting, carpooling, or taking alternative transportation to work. They sent me a check for $90! Get yours.

Jen's Healthy Whole Wheat Muffins with Flax seed and Chocolate Chips

So many of you have asked for my muffin recipe. It has changed a bit through the years. Though I began making them with "mock" buttermilk, I now make them using filtered water and have reduced that amount of liquid a bit (noted in recipe). Yes, I do grind whole wheat berries to get fresh ground whole wheat. You can use store bought whole wheat flour and still get a good result. I would however suggest grinding your flax seed fresh. You can do this in a coffee grinder in no time. The nutritional benefits are at their peak right when the seed is ground. Immediately baking or freezing will "lock in" those nutrients. Buying flax meal at the store is great for fiber but will have lost quite a bit of the other key components. DO NOT grind flax seed in a wheat grinder-the oil can damage the machine. Use a coffee grinder. Also, don't skip the grinding and just dump in whole flax seeds. While you may get the benefits of fiber, our bodies can't break the seeds down and you will be missing out on so much more that flax seed has to offer. Ok, enough rambling, here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Jen's Healthy Whole Wheat Muffins with Flax Seed and Chocolate Chips

3 ½ C Whole Wheat Flour (I use freshly ground- ½ hard & ½ soft)
1C Flax Seed (freshly ground – measure 1C BEFORE grinding)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder (Aluminum free)
1 ½ C Evaporated Cane Juice
1C Olive Oil
2 Organic Eggs (slightly beaten before adding to mixture)
2C buttermilk (or “mock” buttermilk) or 1 ¾ C filtered water (my preference-it's free)
2C Chocolate Chips (good quality)

Mix dry ingredients first and then add Olive Oil, eggs, and buttermilk (or water). Mix well but don’t beat. Gently fold in Chocolate Chips. Put 1/3 C mix in each muffin cup (sprayed or oiled). Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from muffin tin and finish cooling them on a wire rack. DO NOT try to remove them from the pan immediately after you take them out of the oven. They will fall apart. Wait ~5minutes and then remove them. Also, it is best not to let them cool completely while sitting in the pan. These muffins are excellent to freeze and heat up wonderfully! ENJOY!

This recipe makes 24 muffins.
© The Everyday Organic

Get the scoop on BPA

What is BPA and should you avoid it? Get the scoop from these water bottle experts. Do keep in mind, there are differing opinions. I provide several sources for you to compare and decide for yourself.

FREE CFL BULBS

FREE, No purchase necessary. Sign me up! Starting tomorrow, Sunday, April 19 through Earth Day (Wednesday, April 22), Home Depots will be giving away free CFL bulbs while supplies last. One per customer (vs. one per household) so I suggest you go as couples. Teens, help lower your carbon footprint at home and join your parents for the cause. For more details and to find a participating Home Depot near you by zip code, visit them online.

FAU & Florida Beaches

Finally, finally we were at the beach. We survived our 12 hour trek down to the West Palm area the night before and now it’s Saturday morning and time to HIT THE BEACH! Sandwiches made, all the beach necessities in hand, and kids in tow we head down to the sandy shore. AAAAHHH…we made it. Just as we got set up, we noticed a group dressed in civilian clothing (i.e. no bathing suits). They were wearing gloves and carrying bags. What’s this…a beach clean up? I LOVE it!

The students from Mission Green, an organization on the campus of Florida Atlantic University (FAU), were doing their part to keep Florida beaches clean and green. Now if you can remember back to your college days…I’ll wait …you can remember the precious commodity of a Saturday morning. Yes, these students were hittin’ the beaches by 9am to clean up trash left by the true beach bum.
Read more about Mission Green and for all you college students, let’s hear what you’re doing on your campus to keep things clean and green.

Adult Seniors Recycle

Today while heading to the recycling center, I was behind a brand new Escalade. Wow, new car in this economy? Good for you man. But wait, this was no ordinary SUV. It was a hybrid. A hybrid Cadillac Escalade. Imagine that! Then I noticed the man driving it was about my Dad's age-huh? AND "HYBRID" was boldly painted across the bottom side of the car. This was a proud "greenie". If that wasn't enough, he pulled into the recycling center too! This man struck a home run: support your local economy (or Detroit's), buy a hybrid and use less oil, then use that SUV to haul your recycling to the center!!! See Dad, it IS cool to be green and over 65!

Yoga and Organics

At the end of this month, The Everyday Organic will be visiting the yoga studio of Stephanie Clements in Marietta, GA. Stephanie is a Yoga Therapist and Meditation Teacher. I will have the privilege of sharing with her students the how to's of living naturally and organically despite our busy lifestyles. Visit Stillness Yoga for more information and find out how you can experience a class for free.