Project Genesis - Bread

I'm a day late, but not a dollar short as they say.  I advocate Project Genesis, courtesy of "oldgreymare" who started this several months back.  A way to be kinder to our mother earth and use what she has given us with thankfulness and thoughtfulness. 

So this month I write...I don't care how big or how small the household is, bread will often wind up getting old and tossed.  Growing up, in our house my mother never, ever threw out bread unless it was rock hard and then she ground it up for the birds.  We used our leftover bread for bread pudding, "eggy bread" (the family term for french toast) and croutons.  So I am sharing two easy recipes for you to repurpose your bread into additional meals...all good comfort food and an easy and affordable way to expand your food budget.

Eggy Bread is the easiest to make and I love the way day old baguettes cook up so tender and light after getting rock hard the night before.

Slice remaining baguette (or use leftover bread) about 1/2 inch thick. Beat one or two eggs until well mixed.  Dip bread in egg and drop in a frying pan using real butter or a little flavored olive oil.  Cook until both sides are done and serve.  I actually like this with a little cracked pepper and salt but my sons always covered it with syrup or powdered sugar.  It is a quick meal we ate any time of the day and we still enjoy.

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Easy Bread Pudding.
Ingredients 
3 Cups scalded milk 
8-10 slices of  leftover bread or about a half baguette of french bread
1 3/4 Cups sugar
1 T butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla


rum Sauce:
2 egg yolks
1/2 stick butter
1/3 cup dark rum
Soak bread in 2 cups of hot milk for 5 minutes
Put in greased pan and sprinkle raisins or crushed nuts on top
In bowl, mix remaining cup of scalded milk, butter, eggs, and sugar
Add vanilla, Mix well and slowly pour over bread mixture
Bake 350 degrees for 45 min to 1 hour


You don't need to add the rum sauce, but it is worth it in my book.  A nice scoop of French Vanilla gilds this lily if you choose not to want to add the rum sauce.

Rum Sauce:
In a sauce pan add butter, rum and powdered sugar
stir until sugar melts over heat
slowly add beaten egg yolks
cook until desired thickness
 
Blessings to you and those you love.  Sea Witch

Shower with a Friendly Bucket!

Say what?   Yes, shower with a friendly bucket!  We fill our showers with hair products, soaps, sponges, loofahs, gels, you name it. 

 So there is plenty of room to put a tiny bucket or plastic container in the bottom of the shower to collect excess water.  Water that can later be used to water any indoor plants you have or even the lavendar by your garden gate.

Every living thing gets thirsty and this is a benign way of spreading the wealth of water around by merely letting it fall into a small pail or bucket in your shower.  So much better then watching it all flow down the drain without nuturing living things.  Hopefully, you are using environmentally friendly products in the shower.  If not, ensure that the bucket only catches the excess shower head water and not what you showered off your body.

Any pail or bucket will do that you may have around the house. I just found these scrunchy, silicon buckets which are colorful and pliable and children would have fun with them as well.  Delightful colors and they fold up.  You can order them here.

The water savings may appear small at first, but each bucket you utilize rather then sending it down the drain is a positive use of this greatest resource.  It's another one of those small gestures you can do for our mother earth and to live a more gentle life upon her.  This post is part of the Genesis Project - Creating change one day at a time.  Blessings to you and all you love. Sea Witch

Groce Me're and Project Genesis

My maternal grandmother worked at Moskins Drug Store in Englewood, New Jersey for many, many years.  The cosmetic reps loved her and would hand her bags of samples of every color and new product available; so each weekend she would come visit us with shopping bags loaded down with cosmetics, nail polishes, razor blades, brushes, stockings, toothpaste, soaps...you name it.

Ida Chivinsky Malone, Fullman, MacFarland (yup, married three times)  The original Groce Me're.

My dad had a knack for creating new words and usually in several languages and he christened our grandmother with the name "Groce Me're" (grossa mear).  It was a combination of the abbreviated english word for grocery (Groce) and the french word for mother (Me're).  This was his way of teasing her about the grocery bags laden with treasure she would carry and bring each weekend.  A child of the Depression, she threw nothing away and repurposed everything.  She would recycle her brown paper bags from the local market to use and she was never without her net bag for fruits and vegies.  She was the original bag lady. 

You see men and women at local markets all over Europe with net bags like these.

About a week before the Deepwater oil leak, I had decided to begin carrying my own bags like my grandmother.  I would bring my own like she did when grocery and variety store shopping rather that utilize the petroleum based plastic bags found everywhere.  Yes, I know many are biodegradable, but you are still looking at years before that type of garbage truly breaks down.  I just wanted to contribute less to our existing landfills.  Would this bring an end to excess waste in the world...NO.  But it would bring an end to MY excess waste and that is a start and perhaps another would do the same and so on and so on.  (side note:  this is not about "going green" a commerical phrase that I cringe when I hear...already overused by corporations and activists as a populist label.  So, I'm not going "green", I'm going a "little common sense". ) With so many wonderful little bags out there, you can't help but want to do this. So I keep several in my car for grocery use and when I'm junkin. They come in handy for so many things.  Do I forget to use them, sometimes, but this is part of my retraining my way of living gently with the earth regarding throwaway items and garbage.  The Deepwater leak brought this to the forefront for me and I had no idea that I was setting the stage for my commitment to Project Genesis.  So I challenge you to do the same.  Utilize and reuse the nifty little bags that are out there rather then the plastic bags each time you shop.

Love these bright lime green Publix bags.  They fold flat and take up no room at all and hold lots of items with ease.  I have several in my car.

A personal favorite of mine.  A HUGE grocery bag (large enough to carry a small child in) from the local supermarket in Vincenza, Italy.  I purchased and carried back two dozen bottles of olive oil for work colleagues in this bag. 

Every girl needs a kicky black bag and this one gets a lot of use too.

About half the size of a man's wallet, I keep this little fold up bag in my purse. You would be amazed how often I use it.

The same bag opened up.  It is a huge, nylon bag that holds a lot of items.

My favorite bag of all.. Mood Fabrics from Project Runway.  This bad boy is big, black and screams let's create something.  Even bought one for my sista...she is crazy about Project Runway as much as I am.  As Mood Fabrics touts on their website, "Be the envy of everyone - get your reusable Mood Fabrics canvas bag now!  Whenever I go to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, JoAnn Fabrics or any other fabric/yarn/fiber shop, I bring this bag with me to haul home my fiber treasure.   

For those of you who want to create your own netted bags, here are links to both a knitted bag site and a crocheted bag site.  I've already obtained two skeins of soft cotton yarn in sea witch reef colors to knit a netted bag for my use.

Free pattern for a Crocheted Net Bag can be found at Suzie's Stuff.

This is an easy pattern and crochets up quickly.

Free knitted bag found at "I Live on a Farm."

Knitted out of soft cotton, this bag has a solid bottom.

So, I've become a bag lady, a Groce Me're if you will.  I like this reuse of bags rather then throwaway plastic ones and I encourage you to do the same.  Whether you become part of Project Genesis or not, our mother earth and perhaps your mother will be proud.  Blessings to you and all you love. Sea Witch

Project Genesis

All are welcome - come, be a part of
Project Genesis. 

It begins with a small path.  An email from a fellow blogger at The Raspberry Rabbits, about a comment left and then a question..."are you participating in Project Genesis?" 

You follow the link and then see the invitation.  Project Genesis. 

Genesis - to come into being. 

I have taken the below post in its entirety from Old Gray Mare's blog. 
I did not want to change or paraphrase a word she wrote.   It was perfect as written.  In this quiet way and through this wonderful blog venue, we can effect change to heal our mother, our planet.  I'm a believer in personal change...quiet change...little things that have a marvelous ripple effect when many hands begin to follow.  Come join us or stop by and see what others are doing to live in a more gentle manner on this earth.  All are welcome. 

Thanks to Raspberry Rabbits for asking if I would become a part of Project Genesis and especially to Old Gray Mare for this beginning.  Look for my first Project Genesis post on Thursday.  It will not be an earth shattering epiphany, but something I began doing about a week before the Deepwater oil leak.  It is something we all can do easily and effectively.

The Invitation:

We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. Albert Einstein

Project Genesis
July 1, 2010

The birth of this idea was fostered by several events.  Frustration over recent ecological disasters and continuous reports of the devastation of our planet.

A realization that blogging possesses power far beyond decorative design, recipes and give backs that we all love and enjoy.

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Convincing ourselves that someone else of higher power, authority, or more commitment is taking care of this for us, it is far too easy to let it slide, this "being green."   We have all experienced that moment of not wishing to take the time to rinse out the mayo jar so that it can be recycled, and instead we toss it into the trash. When faced with the extra 30 cents charge for recycled paper products or organic foods, how often we all opt out.  Time, finances, lack of understanding.  

We all make excuses.

Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find - unknown

It is with these perceived stumbling blocks in our path, that we falter, making small attempts, while always pondering if we are able to do more, and if so, what?

The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.  Ralph Nader

Beginning July 1st and on the first day of each subsequent month, I hope to meet you here.

On blogs we share every topic under the sun, including recycling ideas. We will organize these ideas, and expand upon them in an inspiring and easily referenced site, once a month.

Friends leading friends, showing us the way, no more excuses.

Once a month, that's easy.

There are some ground rules I wish to get out of the way right up front.
Project Genesis will link visitors back to your blog; however, this is not the forum to exploit for give-away promotions, to garner Followers or to link to your commercial enterprises.

 The link should be directly to your post contributing to Project Genesis.  There are numerous blogs and TV programs that show how to recycle furniture, so we'll leave that to them.

Not your original idea or photos? Provide credit where credit is due.  I reserve the right to edit any participants. In other words play nice, please.

Still wondering what we'll be sharing?  A few ideas without "leading" you into any one direction.
Perhaps you can explain how you've made recycling easier, more convenient.

Are you reducing your own or your family's dependence on fossil fuels?

How do you reduce the amount of garbage you contribute to the landfill?

What should we be aware of in regards to product packaging?

How do you teach the children in your life to respect their environment?

How do you influence those around you in your neighborhood and community to make changes for the planet?

Can you link others to responsible environmental programs in your area? In other words, link us
to cool people with great ideas.

Big ideas - Small ideas - Your ideas.

Awareness to affect change.

If you have any questions please email me.  We'll figure this out together.

July 1st, the good stuff happens.

Create Change - The World Will Thank You

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Blessings to you and all you love.  Sea Witch