Yucky!

This loaf of bread is disgusting!!! I'm not even going to post the recipe because it is that bad, here's the link just so you know NOT to make this one. I will have to find some other way to use it, because I've been trying to eat it and I just can't its gross even slathered with butter an jam.

Garbage in another country

I was off seeing a bit of the world recently - and it was interesting to see the trash of another place. I spent a week in Romania with AL (who grew up there) and we wandered around the country looking at all the wonderful things. AL was concerned about the quality of the tap water - so we drank bottled water, and recycling is basically non-existent, oh did I feel bad. The city of Bucharest was quite clean, but I was told that they were cleaning up to put on a pretty show for the NATO summit which began the day we left. I'll post some more pics later, but I thought I would share these to begin with.

Weekend of the Bad.

I had a bad weekend. I ate out, and ate lots of things that come in packages, and unfortunately, I don't see that slowing down for at least 2 weeks. I'm in the midst of a semester 'break' (as we aren't supposed to stop working, we just don't have classes, and I have WAY more things planned, as I thought it was a real break). In this semester break, I have many visitors coming here to see me (how nice), and I'll be traveling to see a bit of the UK with my parents, and I'm off to Romania in 5 days for a week or so. So I pledge to be better than normal... bring my own waterbottle with me, and most of all think about what I buy before I buy it.

Daily Dumpster Dive!

I've been bad I know. I have been picking things up off the ground I promise. I found some really great stuff lately, I'm just not so good at uploading my camera daily. I'll work on it. So here are some of my kick-ass finds. Note the awesome scarf - I'm sad for the person who lost it, but happy that I was able to rescue it. Also the hinges - I needed hinges. How exciting! Most of what I pick up is cardboard - so I'll spare you the thousands of pictures of boxes - for now that is.

Grocery Shopping

Goodies from Unpackaged

Basics at Waitrose

Groceries at Sainsbury's

So I've done a bit of grocery shopping this weekend. I went to Waitrose, Sainsbury's and the absolutely lovely Unpackaged... So the garbage free (which isn't going perfectly - but I'm sure trying) lifestyle is difficult at the grocery store. But I've managed around it somewhat (except for the toothpaste tube, the cream container and the bag that the brown sugar came in -I am trying I promise). I tried to buy a snack at M&S - I couldn't buy a thing! Everything was in plastic. I think they might actually be a plastic retailer not food... I wonder if they have shares in a plastic wrap company, it would make sense.

I made it

These books are the first useful things I've made from my dumpster diving... I got all of the paper and cover stock from the recycling bins in the library.  They make really great notebooks.  I'll post some instructions for them soon, so you can start making some pretty recycled books too!

Bread Recipe #2

The Garbanzo Bread was pretty good... but this one was amazing! I think it might be the best gluten-free bread I've ever had (except for maybe the french bread from The Big Carrot in Toronto). I found the original recipe from RecipeLand here... I of course changed the recipe to fit with what I had in my cupboard, so here is my version...

Stephanie's Rad Rice Bread
1 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Yeast
1/4 cup Warm water
3 cups Rice flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Xanthan gum
1/2 cup Almond meal
1 1/4 cups Warm water
1/4 cup Butter
2 Eggs
1 Egg replacer
Sprinkle Flax meal

Directions:
Dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over water. Stir
briefly. Let sit for 10 minutes until foamy on top.

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Melt butter in 1 1/4 cup warm water. Add this mixture to the softened yeast and in turn add this to the dry ingredients. Beat well. Add 3 eggs and beat well for 2 minutes.

Cover. Let rise until double (1 1/2 hours). Beat again for 3 minutes. Pour into greased loaf pan. Let rise until dough reaches the top of the pan.

Bake at 400 F (Gas Mark 6) for 15 minutes, cover with foil if top is getting too
brown. Continue baking for about 45 minutes longer. Remove from pan and leave unwrapped just until cool.