Thursday, January 9, 2014

Basic Ingredients without cooking from scratch!

I'll admit it.  Baking from scratch?  I'm in!  Cooking from scratch?  No bueno! Especially when I have so much to juggle with work and school and two young children!

How do I do it?  My secret is Trader Joe's, which happens to be my new favorite shopping establishment!

Not only do I love that they offer a meal idea in the store every day that is so easy to prepare, but "all Trader Joe’s brand products share the following attributes: they contain NO synthetic colors, NO artificial flavors, NO artificial preservatives, NO MSG, NO added Trans Fats, and NO genetically modified ingredients" (Trader Joes, 2014).

That's one way of going back to basics in OC without spending a fortune OR cooking from scratch!

Kindergarden Composting

It's a new year and I'm ready to start blogging again!

Since my last post, I was able to get Dr. Francene Kaplan of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District, a composting guru and self acclaimed "priestess of rot," to hold a composting talk with the kindergarden students at my son's school!  She was really in her element and did a fantastic job with them!  The school has been supportive of the composting program and the kids are so excited to participate!  I donated my single rotating Lifetime compost bin to their yard, and its contents look great so far!
Woodland Elementary School kindergarteners look on as Dr. Francene Kaplan shows examples of brown waste during a composting presentation on Thursday.
 (photo obtained from the Daily Pilot- from another composting talk by Dr. Kaplan)

The bonus for me is that I had to upgrade to a double composter and my first batch is looking great!