Layer cooked (brown) rice in the bottom of the crock pot on high
Mix together and add:
Shredded cooked chicken
Frozen mixed veggies
Chicken broth ( Better than Bouillon [? gluten free] w/ water)--this is full of salt so I don't add any
Shredded mushrooms
Shredded onions
Cubed potatoes
Paprika
Turmeric
Granulated Garlic
Powdered Ginger
Fresh ground pepper
For the crust:
One or two potatoes--grated
micro grated garlic
two eggs
mix together and spread over the top. Cook until done.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
How to save money on your garbage bill
How often do we think about our garbage bill? Once every three months when we pay it? When the container is overflowing with garbage? Maybe it on your property bill or the landlord pays it and you don't think of it at all.
Let's talk about it now, and you may feel better about it when we make a few changes.
Change came slowly for me, I learned about composting almost 20 years ago and slowly incorporated it into my life. Started a worm bin, that broke down our kitchen waste and gave me the best compost I've ever had. This was the first part of decreasing our garbage stream.
In class the teacher held up a baggie with dryer lint in it, "Is this compostable she asked?" We had varied guesses, "Yes," "No," and "Maybe" It was maybe, if the lint was a natural fabric like cotton or linen then the answer was yes, if not better to leave it out.
Class went on like this, here is a list of many of the items you can compost:
Food-- Fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and small amounts of meat (you will need to bury these to keep animals away) *don't put too much of one thing in there, if you are collecting stale bread, for example, don't put so much in that it overwhelms the system.
Tree products -- Cardboard (our dog chews it up for us) in small pieces, shredded paper (black ink is okay, not colored), toilet paper and paper towel rolls, pizza boxes and so on.
Dryer Lint -- Cotton, wool, linen & other natural fabrics *remember that wool and linen don't like the dryer
Leaves/Branches-- Rather than paying to have them hauled off, put them in your compost, the smaller they are the faster they will break down.
Recycling, some communities charge separately for this, others include it in the bill. Is a great way to save on your bill (and help the environment, it takes 90% less energy to recycle an aluminum can than to dig more out of the ground.) Find out which plastics (they take up a lot of room, so this is a really space/money saver) and metals are accepted for recycling and fill up your bins.
Newspaper and office paper (black ink only) can be composted or recycled.
Plastic bags -- can be taken to your local grocery store to be recycled, there is usually a bin near the front of the store, including grocery store bags, newspaper sleeves and vegetable bags. In addition, you can reuse these at the store and will often get a refund for using your bags again.
We carry cloth bags (doesn't rip when wet, handles are thick and comfortable, can put heavy items in them) and use them over and over and get 5 cents back for each one we use, every time.
Buying used -- is one of the best ways to prevent garbage from coming into your house, thereby decreasing what needs to go out. Less packaging as someone else has already unwrapped it. If it was going to fall apart after one or two uses, it has already done that and been junked.
When I noticed that we were only putting our garbage can out once every 3-4 weeks (we would wait until it was full before putting it on the curb) I called our hauler and asked for a smaller can, they told me I had the smallest one that they offered. She suggested that we go to once a month pick up, a savings of a few dollars. I didn't think it was worth it, because despite the fact that we were only putting it out that often, if we missed one month we would have to wait a whole month for the next pick up. Despite the fact that our garbage doesn't stink (food waste is in the compost) it would be stressful making sure we put it out in a timely manner.
Another option, is to share with a neighbor. This would cut your bill in half. I tried this but for whatever reason it didn't pan out.
Finally someone suggested to me that we could go to pre-paid bags and that is what we use now. I only pay for the garbage that I send out and we stuff the bag to the hilt. Taping it shut if necessary (rather than using a twist tie as it uses the whole interior bag space. This is the right time to fold, spindle and mutilate everything going into the bag!
Let's talk about it now, and you may feel better about it when we make a few changes.
Change came slowly for me, I learned about composting almost 20 years ago and slowly incorporated it into my life. Started a worm bin, that broke down our kitchen waste and gave me the best compost I've ever had. This was the first part of decreasing our garbage stream.
In class the teacher held up a baggie with dryer lint in it, "Is this compostable she asked?" We had varied guesses, "Yes," "No," and "Maybe" It was maybe, if the lint was a natural fabric like cotton or linen then the answer was yes, if not better to leave it out.
Class went on like this, here is a list of many of the items you can compost:
Food-- Fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and small amounts of meat (you will need to bury these to keep animals away) *don't put too much of one thing in there, if you are collecting stale bread, for example, don't put so much in that it overwhelms the system.
Tree products -- Cardboard (our dog chews it up for us) in small pieces, shredded paper (black ink is okay, not colored), toilet paper and paper towel rolls, pizza boxes and so on.
Dryer Lint -- Cotton, wool, linen & other natural fabrics *remember that wool and linen don't like the dryer
Leaves/Branches-- Rather than paying to have them hauled off, put them in your compost, the smaller they are the faster they will break down.
Recycling, some communities charge separately for this, others include it in the bill. Is a great way to save on your bill (and help the environment, it takes 90% less energy to recycle an aluminum can than to dig more out of the ground.) Find out which plastics (they take up a lot of room, so this is a really space/money saver) and metals are accepted for recycling and fill up your bins.
Newspaper and office paper (black ink only) can be composted or recycled.
Plastic bags -- can be taken to your local grocery store to be recycled, there is usually a bin near the front of the store, including grocery store bags, newspaper sleeves and vegetable bags. In addition, you can reuse these at the store and will often get a refund for using your bags again.
We carry cloth bags (doesn't rip when wet, handles are thick and comfortable, can put heavy items in them) and use them over and over and get 5 cents back for each one we use, every time.
Buying used -- is one of the best ways to prevent garbage from coming into your house, thereby decreasing what needs to go out. Less packaging as someone else has already unwrapped it. If it was going to fall apart after one or two uses, it has already done that and been junked.
When I noticed that we were only putting our garbage can out once every 3-4 weeks (we would wait until it was full before putting it on the curb) I called our hauler and asked for a smaller can, they told me I had the smallest one that they offered. She suggested that we go to once a month pick up, a savings of a few dollars. I didn't think it was worth it, because despite the fact that we were only putting it out that often, if we missed one month we would have to wait a whole month for the next pick up. Despite the fact that our garbage doesn't stink (food waste is in the compost) it would be stressful making sure we put it out in a timely manner.
Another option, is to share with a neighbor. This would cut your bill in half. I tried this but for whatever reason it didn't pan out.
Finally someone suggested to me that we could go to pre-paid bags and that is what we use now. I only pay for the garbage that I send out and we stuff the bag to the hilt. Taping it shut if necessary (rather than using a twist tie as it uses the whole interior bag space. This is the right time to fold, spindle and mutilate everything going into the bag!
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