November 2011

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Indoor Air: Eliminating Toxins in the Home

11/28/2011 in Aromatherapy, Health, How To, Plants, Recipe, What Matters Most by Evelyn | No comments

While it’s nearly impossible to affect the majority of environmental toxins found in our air, water, and food supply, it’s easy to control what we bring into our homes. Unfortunately, many of our homes are just as polluted as the outdoors. Yet by recognizing the potential problems and making lifestyle changes that address them, you can create a safe, nontoxic haven in your home.

Believe it or not, indoor air can be even more polluted than outdoor air, even in the largest industrialized cities. This is very important to recognize because we spend as much as 90% of our time indoors.

Indoor air is dangerous for two primary reasons: pollutants and poor ventilation. Indoor air pollution can come from home heating and cooling systems, tobacco and cigarette smoke, building material outgassing, asbestos, mold from water damage, furniture made from processed woods, household cleaners, personal care products, and air fresheners, as well as from outdoor sources, that can become trapped indoors. Many times the air is not significantly affected by many one of these sources, but when multiple sources are added together, their individual affects can be multiplied and we can become sick.

About Air Purifiers

  • Ozone air purifiers: These release ozone into the air to remove chemical fumes, odors, and bacteria. They are not effective for removing particles or allergens from the air, and they are not safe to run while you are in the room because ozone gas can be toxic. If you use this type of purifier, turn it off about two hours before reentering the room.
  • Carbon air purifiers: These use activated carbon as an air filter. The carbon is able to remove odors and capture smaller particles than HEPA filters, but the carbon needs to be replaced regularly, which can be messy.
  • Ionic air purifiers: these work by negatively charging air particles, which then attract positively charged pollutants. When the two combine, dust is created. An unwanted side effect reported with ionizers is that they can produce ozone, so they are best turned off when people or pets are in the room.
  • Other air-purifying features can include an ultraviolet light to kill airborne bacteria, and some air purifiers come with a combination of functions to enhance their air-cleaning ability.
  • The E.L Foust Company has made air purifiers since 1974, its designs are created for people with environmental illnesses, allergies, or asthma.

Household Cleaning

Detergents, cleaning solvents, and indoor fragrances sound like good ideas because marketers have worked long and hard to get you interested in buying them. But the bottom line is that many are quite toxic and can affect your health. Besides being loaded with chemicals, many household cleaners are labeled as “antibacterial,” which is just a sugar-coated term for describing the active ingredient, pesticides. I’ve even found that many of the all-natural and natural cleaners containing essential oils are full of chemicals too; why? Because, they say, the consumer demands that their product be inexpensive and so they use cheap ingredients to make them. I personally have found that the natural cleaning products simply require too much product to be used to get the job done, or they’re not terribly effective. It was these two reasons 30 years ago that I set out on my quest to find better solutions.

What I Clean With  Continue reading “Indoor Air: Eliminating Toxins in the Home” »

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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The Indomitable Spirit of Migrating Salmon

11/26/2011 in News by Evelyn | No comments

Heavy rains in the pacific NW brought flooded roadways. The flooded road in this video confused migrating salmon and made the water passing over the road deep enough for the salmon to swim across. The video shot by reporter Keith Eldridge of Seattle’s KOMO 4 News shows salmon swimming across flooded Skokomish Valley Road near Union, a town located on an inlet of Puget Sound, at the base of the Olympic Peninsula.

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Pesto Pasta

11/25/2011 in Cooking, Food by Curt Siters | No comments

A friend of mine at the Asheville Williams-Sonoma gave me idea for this Thanksgiving Turkey Leftover recipe for turkey pesto pasta. He told me that he tried turkey and pesto on a croissant. I tried it on a croissant and thought it was OK, then i tried it on a crostini thought it was much better. After a few days this recipe hit me.

Ingredients:

  • 10 oz. left over turkey crumbs
  • 1 lb. Penne Rigate Pasta
  • 8 oz. Pesto (Williams-Sonoma has a great Pesto but is only available through their brick and mortar stores)
  • 8 oz. Cherry Tomatoes

Directions:

Cook pasta as directed on package.

While the pasta is cooking make sure the turkey is in small pieces and cut the tomatoes into quarters.

When the pasta is done, drain it and return it to the cooking pot. Mix in the pesto.

Spoon the pasta and pesto into dishes or bowls, sprinkle on the turkey and tomatoes.

Serves 2 to 4 (depending upon what else you are serving with it)

# # #

Curt SitersCurt Siters

Webmaster

Shoals Creek Village - a new build intentional community.

My Eco Oasis - the hub for what will be a network of many ecovillages.

Big fan of living simply

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~Standing Bear

Braised Slow Cooked Beef in Red Wine with Onions and Carrots

11/20/2011 in Cooking, Food, Health, How To, Old Ways, Recipe by Evelyn | No comments

This is one of our all-time FAVORITE slow cooked grass-raised beef recipes! This recipe is a good example of how to slow cook meat too.Grass-raised Beef Roast

It takes only 10-15 minutes to prepare and while it’s cooking for 4-5 hours we can be out doing gardening or other work, how much better does it get than to smell amazing aroma’s coming from the kitchen while you’re outdoors doing yard work or gardening! Not to mention, coming indoors hungry and having this incredible meal ready to eat!

You will need:

  • 1 thick cut of grass-raised Beef (any cut and size is great, however, it must be 2″ or more in thickness though, we prefer grass-fed beef from US Wellness Meats because it’s healthier and better tasting)
  • 1 cup of Red Wine (we like to use Merlot)
  • 1 Onion, diced thickly
  • 6-8 organic Carrots, sliced into pieces about 1/2″ thick (bite-sized)
  • 2 TBSP Coconut Oil
  • 4-5 cloves Garlic, chopped
  • water

Method

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a heavy Dutch Oven pot, over medium on your stovetop, melt coconut oil, then place your cut of beef in and allow to cook on each side until dark brown; about 4 minutes or so on each side.

Lift the meat out of the Dutch Oven and put on a plate while you cook the onions in the same pot (do NOT brown your onions!)

Before onions brown, add red wine; allow wine to cook for about 3-4 minutes to evaporate the alcohol.

Put beef back into the Dutch Oven, add carrots and garlic, then add enough water to just barely cover the ingredients.

Put a lid on the Dutch Oven and place in the preheated oven. After 3-4 hours remove the lid and let cook for one more hour (doing this evaporates out some of the water, making a more robustly flavored sauce).

After a total cooking time of 4-5 hours, remove Dutch Oven from oven and left sit for 10-15 minutes before serving (that part is REALLY hard to do!)

Serve with mashed potatoes or noodles.

More of our favorite recipes:

Pot Roast and Baby Vegetables

Yummy Lamb Meat Loaf

Grilled Flat Iron Steak

Thyme Crusted Sablefish

Serving Tip: We like to serve this slow-cooked meal right from the Dutch Oven so the meat never leaves the juices it’s been cooking in; simply allow each person to break off a hunk of beef with a fork (this is so easy to do as the meat is fall-apart-tender!). Then, spoon out some juices with carrots and onions onto meat, potatoes, or noodles.

Leftovers Tip: If you’re fortunate to have a large cut of meat and have leftovers this recipe tastes delicious reheated -or- slicing the meat and making a sandwich! Makes my mouth water just typing this recipe!

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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Study: Fresh Fish Diets Delay Dementia, Protect Memory, Ward-off Alzheimer’s

11/18/2011 in Cooking, Food, Health, News, What Matters Most by Evelyn | No comments

Fresh FishPeople who eat fish weekly may be reducing their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or milder forms of memory loss. That’s the implication of a novel study that compared people’s fish intake with their MRI brain scans and tested mental performance (RSNA 2011). This is the first study to detect a link between fish consumption and the health of brain areas shrunken by the Alzheimer’s disease process. Funding for the study was provided by the National Institute on Aging.

Lead author of the study Cyrus Raji, M.D., Ph.D., said, “… people who consumed baked or broiled fish at least one time per week had better preservation of gray matter volume in brain areas at risk for Alzheimer’s disease.”

“Consuming baked or broiled fish [weekly] promotes stronger neurons in the brain’s gray matter by making them larger and healthier,” noted Dr. Raji (UPMC 2011)

The study’s results linked eating baked or broiled fish weekly to dementia-related brain areas over a 10-year period.

In contrast, eating fried fish was not linked to protection of gray matter or cognitive capacities. In contrast to the benefits of baked or broiled fish, no brain-volume benefits were seen in the men and women who reported eating mostly fried fish.

In contrast to the benefits of baked or broiled fish, no brain-volume benefits were seen in the men and women who reported eating mostly fried fish. Thus, “fried fish flunks the test!”

The best place we’ve found for fresh wild fish and seafood is, Vital Choice Seafood.

Gray matter volume is crucial to brain health. When it remains higher, brain health is being maintained. Decreases in gray matter volume indicate that brain cells are shrinking.

The findings showed that consumption of baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis was positively associated with gray matter volumes in several areas of the brain. Greater hippocampal, posterior cingulate and orbital frontal cortex volumes in relation to fish consumption reduced the risk for five-year decline to MCI or Alzheimer’s by almost five-fold.  Continue reading “Study: Fresh Fish Diets Delay Dementia, Protect Memory, Ward-off Alzheimer’s” »

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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Plastic Cutting Boards are NOT Safer than Wood Cutting Boards

11/17/2011 in Cooking, Food, Health, News, Things that Suck by Evelyn | No comments

Wood Cutting BoardI find that nothing is more beautiful than a well crafted wood cutting board in the kitchen. The smoothness and warm hues of natural grain wood are unbeatable. And with proper care a wood cutting board will last generations!

So why are we ditching our wood cutting boards for plastic?

A few years ago, Curt worked at Williams-Sonoma, a high end gourmet cooking store, when we lived in Seattle, WA. One of the terrific things that took place there was every so often Williams-Sonoma had vendors come in to do various training and demonstrations for the staff and customers… there’s nothing better than well informed sales staff and consumers I say!

One day, Curt came home and asked me, “have you ever seen any studies that show plastic cutting boards were safer regarding food bacteria?”

I thought about it for a minute and said, “well, actually I don’t believe I have. If I had to guess I think wood is better because people have used wood for centuries and it’s never been a problem in the past and I think wood has [essential oils] oils in it that kill the bacteria.”

Well, it turns out that there aren’t any studies proving that plastic is better than wood!

As a matter of fact, wood is superior to plastic in keeping those nasty germs at bay!

I don’t know about you but I far prefer wood cutting boards over plastic – they hold up better, they don’t slide around on the countertop while being used, the chopped up food and juices stays on wood better (lessening the chances of a puddle on the floor), they wash up nice (do not put them in a dishwasher though!), and they’re far prettier.

This is a copy of the report Curt brought home on plastic and wood cutting boards…

Science Report Continue reading “Plastic Cutting Boards are NOT Safer than Wood Cutting Boards” »

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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Orange Cranberry Muffins

11/16/2011 in Cooking, Food, Recipe by Evelyn | No comments

  • 1 cup dried cranberriesOrange Cranberry Muffins
  • 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 1/4 cup Young Living Blue Agave
  • 1 tsp. grated organic orange zest
  • 6 drops Young Living Orange essential oil
  • 1/2 cup raw milk butter
  • 2 large organic eggs
  • 2 cups rice flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. sea salt
  • 1/2 cup almond milk

Preheat oven to 375 *F

In a saucepan, combine cranberries and orange juice and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

With an electric mixer, mix agave, orange zest, orange essential oil and butter until smooth.

Add eggs and mix well. Fold in 1 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt.

Stir in almond milk and remaining cup of flour.

Gently fold in cranberries.

Lightly coat a 12 muffin tin with butter or line with paper baking cups. Put a heaping tablespoon of the muffin mixture into each cup.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until just lightly golden brown. Let cool and serve.

Makes 24

More on cooking with essential oils.

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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Grilled Wild Alaska Halibut on Tabouli Recipe

11/15/2011 in Cooking, Food, Recipe by Evelyn | No comments

Alaskan HalibutTabouli (tah-boo-lee) is a Bulgar grain-based salad from Lebanon, often used as part of a mezze-type meal of small, appetizer-size dishes. The main ingredients in Tabouli are bulgur, finely chopped parsley, mint, tomato, scallion (spring onion), and other herbs with lemon juice and various seasonings, generally including black pepper and sometimes cinnamon and allspice.

Bulgur is parboiled, dried wheat with a light, nutty flavor. It is often confused with cracked wheat, which is made from crushed wheat grains that haven’t been parboiled. There are whole-grain, high-fiber versions of bulgur, which are nutritionally preferable.

Broiled / Grilled Wild Alaska Halibut on Tabouli
You can make this recipe with couscous instead of bulgur wheat.
Serves 4

  • 4 (6 oz each) Alaska halibut fillets (the best place to get fillets is Vital Choice Seafood)
  • Extra virgin olive or macadamia nut oil
  • 1 lemon, halved*
  • 10 oz bulgur wheat (or couscous)
  • 1½ pints vegetable stock
  • 1 zucchini, finely chopped
  • ½ onion, diced
  • 3 tomatoes, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
  • 4 tbsp fresh Peppermint or Spearmint leaves, chopped fine
  • Parsley or mint sprigs, to garnish
  • Sea salt and organic black pepper

*You could use lime instead.

Preheat the broiler or grill.

Put the halibut fillets onto a baking sheet, coated lightly wit olive oil. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon over the top. Season with salt and pepper. Grill the fish for 6-8 minutes, or until the flesh is opaque and flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Meanwhile, simmer the bulgur wheat (or couscous) and onions in the stock for 4-5 minutes, adding the zucchini after 2 minutes. Leave to cool slightly, then stir in the tomatoes, herbs and juice from the remaining lemon or lime. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add one portion of Tabouli to each plate, place one piece of Halibut atop the Tabouli. Garnish with herb sprigs and serve immediately.

###

They say that most people don’t eat as much fish as they should, particularly the fish highest in Omega 3s. Perhaps that’s because it’s so difficult to get really fresh and high quality cold-water fish in their local stores. If that’s the situation you find yourself in I highly recommend the place where we’ve gotten our seafood for years… Vital Choice Seafood – they are the best!

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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Grilled Flat Iron Steak

11/14/2011 in Cooking, Food, Health, Recipe by Evelyn | No comments

Flat Iron SteakWe’ve been buying our meats and raw milk butter from US Wellness Meats for the past several years. We’re totally hooked on the quality of their grassfed meats – grassfed is QUITE different nutritionally than feedlot raised beef. Anyway, one day while I was shopping on their website I saw a cut of steak that I had never seen anywhere before… they called it a “Flat-Iron Steak.” It’s a very affordable alternative and great for grilling. It has great flavor, and is terrific when marinated. I highly recommend this cut. More on How To Cook Grass-raised Beef

Grilled Flat Iron Steak (2 servings)

Ingredients

  • 2 – Flatiron steaks (17 ounces)
  • 2 – tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 – tea spoon chopped rosemary or thyme
  • 1 – tea spoon parsley
  • 2 – garlic cloves
  • ¼ – cup cabernet sauvignon wine
  • ½ – tea spoon dry mustard
  • generous amount fresh ground pepper to taste
  • celtic sea salt to taste

Instructions

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and marinate flatirons for one hour.

Grill over hot coals for a short 4 minutes per side. Prepared at medium rare for maximum tenderness. 
I like my steaks medium to medium well and it’s juicy, tender… YUM!

More of our favorite meat recipes

Bison Tips in Merlot

Yummy Lamb Meat Loaf

Braised Slow Cooked Beef in Red Wine with Onions & Carrots

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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Electricity for Our Homes: Wind Power or Mountaintop Removal

11/09/2011 in Health, News, Our Mountains, Reflections & Discoveries, Things that Suck, What Matters Most by Evelyn | No comments

The Last Mountain: Mountaintop RemovalIn a world of rising energy prices, rising global temperatures, and rising sea levels, Americans are looking for clean and affordable energy. Yet under the influence of big energy companies, policy-makers are stubbornly clinging to the old, dirty fossil fuel technologies of the past. Along with global warming, mountaintop removal is an egregious example of the destructive impact of our addiction to coal.

For years I’ve been saying, “I would RATHER have our mountains than this extremely environmentally damaging coal industry, I will do everything within my power to get  off of the grid and make much wiser choices!”

View the Google Earth Tutorial to see what’s going on, the Appalachian Mountains are in our backyards… this IS the high cost of coal!

The Last Mountain: A Sundance Official Selection, The Last Mountain is described as, “…a passionate and personal tale that honors the extraordinary power of ordinary Americans when they fight for what they believe in. The Last Mountain shines a light on America’s energy needs and how those needs are being supplied. It is a fight for our future that affects us all.” Find theatre showings.

Wendell Berry has this to say about the clean coal industry…

Not a Vision of Our Future, But of Ourselves

The only limits so far honored by this industry have been technological. What its machines have enabled it to do, it has done. And now, for the sake of the coal under them, it is destroying whole mountains with their forests, water courses and human homeplaces. The resulting rubble of soils and blasted rocks is then shoved indiscriminately into the valleys. This is a history by any measure deplorable, and a commentary sufficiently devastating upon the intelligence of our politics and our system of education. That Kentuckians and their politicians have shut their eyes to this history as it was being made is an indelible disgrace. That they now permit this history to be justified by its increase of the acreage of “flat land” in the mountains signifies an indifference virtually suicidal. Continue reading…

Study Shows West Virginia Mountain Could be Permanent Power Source for 150,000 Homes Continue reading “Electricity for Our Homes: Wind Power or Mountaintop Removal” »

Evelyn Vincent Evelyn Vincent

Native Plant Landscaper, Gardener, Labyrinth Design, Feng Shui Practitioner,  Aromatherapy / Essential Oils, Big Fan of Nature and Living Simply.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller

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