5 Uses for old Green Tea Not just for Breakfast anymore!

Today I drank an entire pot of Green Tea with 3 bags!! I ran out of Coffee. I love Green Tea and can easily drink an entire pot, I just don't often drink the whole pot at once! Many commecials and website devote lots of ad space selling you on the weight loss benefits of Green Tea the stuff is in gum, juice drinks even muffins! Does it work? Maybe, as long as you are not consuming a dozen Green tea and spice muffins a day! Anyway I was about to toss my tea bags into the compost heap outside my kitchen window and I thought "is there anything usefull I can do with green tea bags" I have a Green Cleaning Business so maybe I can pass on some really great ideas to my clients!

I happen to live in Asheville North Carolina a large population of the folks living here are "eco-aware" I consult many of them with tips and ideas on how to make small, tiny, itsy bitsy little changes in their lives in order to have a softer impact on the environment. Oh and tip number jumped out at me right away Yoga Mat Deodorizer! Here in Asheville there is a running joke that if you need job become a yoga instructor or a massage therapist! So here is what I found on Green Tea, DO NOT throw away your used tea bags use them to change the world!

Adapted from The Book of Green Tea, by Diana Rosen (Storey Books, 1998).

1. Yoga Mats. In the hot, humid areas of Thailand, Burma, and other Asian countries, people sleep on straw mats. This straw is cool and comfortable, but people do perspire. It is quite common in these areas for straw mats to be washed in tubs of water to which tea has been added. The tea works as a powerful deodorizer, leaves a fresh scent, and can even infuse the straw with a delicate sage color. You can use green tea to clean other washable surfaces, such as yoga mats and air mattresses.

2. Litter Boxes. Used green tea leaves are wonderful in kitty litter as an extra boost for diffusing odors, and they help deter fleas from both cats and dogs.

3. Pet Beds. Sprinkle dried used green tea leaves on your pet’s favorite pillow or bed. Great in doghouses or anywhere troublesome pet odors occur. If you can afford the extravagance, loose leaf gunpowder tea is great for dogs to roll around in. The crunching of the pellets releases a wonderful aroma, and helps to scratch wherever dogs have an itch. The pellets help give your dog a more pleasant smell.

4. Refrigerators. Place used green tea bags or leaves in a small bowl, uncovered, in your refrigerator to help absorb odors from onions and garlic for about three days. NO need to throw them out even then, just sprinkle the old leaves around your ferns, rosebushes, or other plants.

5. Kitchen Odors. Preparing fish? Cutting up garlic? Rid your hands of the fish or garlic oils by rubbing them with wet green tea leaves, an instant deodorizer. The leaves are also great for deodorizing and cleaning the pan in which you cook fish or garlic.

Plastic? What to do?

I have a secret! Well I have a secret closet! I have plastic in this secret closet! It is time for the plastic to come out of the closet! It won't be hard either, each time I open said closet a tidal wave of tupperware, glad ware, spiderman plates, take out containers and unrecognizable lids attack! I use about a quarter of the items crammed in my secret closet. The others items are being held captive because I couldn't live with myself if I threw them away. I don't really know what to do with them! I stumbled upon the above video, it got me to work finding a way to liberate my collection of bisphenol A! Some of you may be thinking, "come on ecomama, get a grip! I thought that myself, then I decided to air on the side of caution like our mom's did in the 1970's when removing lead based paint was all the rage! The laws were changed and anyone who has ever bought a house knows to test for lead! If we stop buying this stuff the demand will go down and production of safer versions will proliferate!! Moms unite! So here is what you can do with the "bad" plastics with the number 7 or 3 http://www.plasticrecycling.com will actually buy scrap or damaged plastic. If that doesn't suit you I would load up a big box and ship it to the manufacturer with a note that you wish for them to recycle and write you back with an account of what they did with the plastic. If anyone else has some good suggestions please comment here! Cheers! Ecomama!

Top 3 College Student Recipes! Washing Dishes Not Required

I was a young college girl in the mid to late 90's. My three roommates and I shared a one bedroom apartment above a karate studio and next to a McDonald's. In the morning (closer to early afternoon on weekends) my hungover roommates and myself would awake to the sound of "ay.ya!" from karate students below and smell quarter pounders & fries wafting through our rooftop window.. The girls and I had exhausted our tolerance for cheeseburgers in the first month of living together. I was the first and only in the apartment to revoke the idea of four years surviving on top Ramon and cup o' soup, the tradition staples of college life. Our kitchen at the time was exactly 120 sq feet I kid you not.. I could mop the floor with a baby wipe!
In hopes of keeping myself and my roomies alive through 4 years of higher education I ventured into our micro-galley. I perfected a few dishes with trial and error plus some laboratory experimentation. We made it through the good times, the penniless times and the to young to care times.
The beauty of the top three recipes I am going to share with you today is they have evolved right along with me. I am now a wife and mother.. these dishes are a regular part of my rotation, my son will actually sit down without giving me his wide eyed look of fear when he gazes at the meal set before him. Nothing about any of the dishes are gourmet, they aren't complicated or very interesting, I am sure many of you have your own variation of these in your own rotation. Just think about it from a college kids perspective if you will. We could eat a couple of full meals with less then 8 or 9 ingredients 10 when our cupboards were really "full"! So this is for you Kelly, Amanda and for a little bit Jen, my roomies in crime during the hard times, Bon Appetite!

Tasty Turkey Pie
1lb package ground turkey burger
flour
water
butter
salt
pepper
potatoes
1 onion
cheese when we were lucky!
Dice the onion add to a skillet with the turkey and brown add salt and pepper once brown remove from heat next boil about 4 potatoes until al dente (not like you would for mashed potatoes they should still be a teeny bit hard) drain water add butter and cheese, mix the potato mixture with the meat mixture let sit. Add 2 cups flour and 1 stick of butter (soft). Cut the butter using a pastry blender or a couple of knives until crumbly add 2 or 3 pinches of salt. Add water to flour by the tablespoon until a firm ball forms. Roll out your bottom crust put in a pie pan and prick with a fork. bake in oven set at 350 for 10 min. remove crust and fill to the top with the meat pie filing, roll out a top crust and drape. Make it as pretty as you want but we never did. We would just roll the extra crust up and sprinkle with salt and pepper, bake in the oven until top crust is golden. Pass out 4 forks put the pie in the middle with ketchup! Dinner! No plates to wash!

Spaghetti Squash surprise
Cut 2 squash in half cover flat part with aluminum foil and lay flat side down on baking sheet for 25 min. Take out of oven remove foil and pour 2 or 3 TBL maple syrup and salt cover with foil and bake foil side up until tender. You will know it is done when you can easily remove spaghetti strands with a fork. You can do this same recipe with saran wrap and a microwave if you are OK with using saran. The surprise? No one knew I used maple syrup they thought the squash was naturally sweet! Enjoy.

Everything but the kitchen sink chicken ( or as Kelly would call it everything but the chicken kitchen????)
4 chicken breasts
cinnamon
parsley
paprika
basil
salt pepper

We would use just about any spice we had in the kitchen! Today I use just the spices listed but have fun with your favorites! Spray the chicken with Pam or rub olive oil on top and sprinkle with the first 5 spices saute' in a pan until brown on both sides then finish in a 350 oven until cooked through. Pretty good served with the squash! Cut the chicken up stick in the "squash bowl" washing dishes not required! (my son really loves this!) Happy cooking I'll add some other favorites when the roomies remind me of what they were! lol If you try any of these recipes this weekend let me know how they were! I like my turkey pie with a vintage PBR! Cheers!

How To Tidy Up in 3 minutes!!

Fun and informative what more could you want?? Enjoy your video of the day! Don't forget to share it if you like it! Cheers, Ecomama

7 Steps to shine your sink!

So your sink is looking a bit like a scene from a horror movie and you fear a new strain of the flu is replicating in you drain? Never fear you are not alone! Recent studies even show that our kitchen sinks have more bacterium per square inch then our toilets! I know it is scary but you can have your sink shining like new before your friends come over for your one and only dinner party of the year. Before your mother- in-law does that sly room sweep to see how bad your are at basic housekeeping. The bonus is I am gonna tell you how to clean a sink without the use of harsh yucky chemicals! I adapted this from flylady.com and made it more eco-friendly Most of the ingredients you need will already be in your cupboard and if not I will give you permission to improvise! Some of my best techniques began by accident! So before you even get started you are gonna need to EMPTY YOUR SINK! I don't care if you put the dishes in the oven I am not watching go ahead. Now lets get to the sink sparkle!
1. Get a brush or sponge and some soap and wipe all the food and junk out of your sink, rinse
2. Fill your sink all the way to the tip top with hot water and 1 cup of Borax or Oxyclean and 1/2 pure lemon juice (if you don't have lemon juice skip it, it will be ok)
3. Let this mixture sit in your sink for 1 hour or until the water is no longer hot
4. Drain
5. Rinse really well and dry with a towel
6. Take a soft cloth and soak with Grapeseed oil ( or whatever you have I like Grapeseed best)
7. Wipe every corner of your sink with the oil soaked rag making sure it is coated evenly
Ta Da your sink sparkles. You can clean the chrome with the oil too just go easy. Sometimes I break down and use a little rubbing alcohol on the chrome.
If your sink is really stained do step number 8 below before you shine with the oil,
8. If the sink is still really stained and yucky put the plug pack in and add an ice bucket full of ice, more lemon juice and 1 cup of Borax or Oxy clean. Swish around in your sink until your arm falls off. (not really just for 3 min or so)Let sit until the ice melts. Follow step 7 above!

For Coffee Carafes add 2 lemons quartered (squeeze out the juice and add the rind) or 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup salt and about 10 ice cubes swirl the carafes around in a circle for about 25 times. Let carafe sit until ice melts. Rinse well. Your carafe will be clean and your coffee will not be bitter! Enjoy
Next learn all the cool things you can do with Green Tea bags after you drink the tea! Cheers!

Its not easy being green?? REALLY? Its true it isn't. These days Green IS the new black. Here at Planet Healthy House you will be provided with a "guilt free" and easy way to "go green" at your own pace and with the greatest of ease! Its not all about baking soda and vinegar my future super greenines! Just have fun and do what you know. What I know is many companies are making it easier then ever to buy green cleaning products, even Clorox has joined the party. You do not need to spend all your hard earned money. Today I will tell you the number one household item to use for dusting. Grapeseed oil!! That all you need! Go to the store right now and buy the biggest bottle of Grapeseed oil you can find. While your at it get a big box of Kosher salt and if you are feeling really creative get a bottle of essential oil in ANY flavor you like. Any health food store will carry essential oils and there are lots of great websites too. I like Lavender or any citrus scent. But just get the Grapeseed oil for sure. Here is a list of what you can do with Grapeseed oil that will bring you one step closer to livin' Green!

1. Dab oil on a dust cloth and dust your whole house (except electronics or shower floors)

2. Clean the leaves of your houseplants

3. Use it to shine up your sink actually I will go into more detail on this in the next issue

4. Use it all over your body as a luxurious petroleum free body oil reuse an old mustard or ketchup bottle fill with oil and add 2-3 drops of your favorite essential oil.

5. Body Scrub- reuse old butter or sour cream tub fill half way with Kosher or Sea Salt (or brown sugar or granulated sugar) cover salt with Grapeseed oil and 4 drops essential oil, mix. Make a body scrub that will give the spa a run for its money! I like to put this mixture into small mason jars and give it as gifts!

Have fun with Grapeseed oil and come back to find out the best way to make your sink sparkle!!

Be sure to visit www.planethealthyhouse.com for more info