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Upcycle with these 5 unique ways to repurpose your old jeans
Posted by: | CommentsIn today’s more environmentally conscious world, people are finding unique ways to upcycle by repurposing old jeans. When you upcycle, it means you are converting something that is no longer useful to you into something new and different with better quality. Therefore, you’re turning something useless that would otherwise be waste into something functional and new. So, if you don’t wear those old jeans any longer, it doesn’t mean they are useless. Repurposing your jeans is a great way to go green while being imaginative. Call it eco-friendly craft-making with a fabric that’s extremely durable and machine-washable.
We’ve linked the upcycle ‘how to’s’ for these 5 ways to repurpose your old jeans:
1) Shopping bags – make your own fashionable denim shopping tote.
2) Quilt – cut out denim square patterns to create your own unique quilt.
3) Blue Jean Notebook – when your child is looking for a little extra flare in the classroom, this is the perfect craft for them.
4) Apron – a stylish apron for the cook in the kitchen.
5) Baby Bibs - a practical, durable, washable and cute solution for mealtime.
And here’s 3 more common ways for you purists out there:
Traditionalists typically repurpose jeans into shorts or a denim skirt, or even a new pair of jeans for your toddler. There are so many ways to repurpose your old jeans that it really gives you an opportunity to be creative.
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Meatless Monday with Vegetarian Shepherds Pie
Posted by: | CommentsHappy Meatless Monday! Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative that represents an eco-friendly global movement to reduce consumption of animal products in favor of more plant-based meals to help combat global warming and improve personal health. Today’s recipe is courtesy of Food Network star Aida Mollencamp. It’s a vegetarian twist on a classic favorite – Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie:
Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie – Serves 8
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium mushroom broth
- 1/3 cup dry red wine
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3/4 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
- 3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, and cut into large dice
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 pounds cremini mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 medium celery stalks, finely chopped
- 5 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 medium celery root, peeled and small dice
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and small dice
- 2 medium parsnips, peeled and small dice
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 2/3 cup whole milk
Directions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, wine, tomato paste, and flour until evenly combined and smooth. Stir in dried mushrooms and set aside to reconstitute, at least 30 minutes. Strain mushrooms before using, reserving liquid.
- Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with heavily salted water by 2 inches. Bring potatoes to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Heat the oven on broil and place a rack in the upper third. Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 3 to 4-quart Dutch oven (or oven-ready saucepan) over medium-high heat. When it foams, add half the mushrooms and cook, stirring rarely, until mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes. Remove mushrooms from pan, season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and set aside. Repeat to cook off remaining mushrooms.
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Happy Meatless Monday! As you may or may not know, Planet Forward has pledged its support to the Meatless Monday campaign – a non-profit initiative in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Meatless Monday is part of an eco-friendly worldwide movement to reduce consumption of animal products in favour of more plant-based meals to fight global warming and improve our personal health. This week, a tasty recipe from Canada’s popular top chef, TV host and cookbook author, Ken Kostick.
Ken has a fantastic new cookbook aptly named the $10 Gourmet: Restaurant-Quality Meals that won’t break the budget. This cookbook is a wonderful selection of recipes that are easy to prepare and combined with standard household ingredients, cost under $10. We’ve got a delicious recipe to share with you from Ken that features Portobello mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms are hearty and perfect as a replacement for meat in certain recipes.
Sweet Portobello Mushrooms Sautéed with Onion in a Balsamic Reduction (Serves 2)
Cost of ingredients: $6.65
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup (60mL) tbsp olive oil
- 3 large Portobello mushrooms, cleaned cut into lengths - $4.29
- 2 medium red onions, sliced - $0.80
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced - $1.56
- ¼ cup (60mL) balsamic vinegar
- ½ tsp (2mL) dry basil
- ½ tsp (2mL) dry rosemary
- ½ tsp (2mL) chilli powder
- ½ tsp (2mL) sea salt
- ½ tsp (2mL) ground black pepper
Directions:
- Using a large sauté pan heat the oil and add all of the vegetables.
- Sauté the vegetables about 4-5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and allow the balsamic vinegar to reduce.
- Sauté about 3-4 minutes and serve immediately.
Low-Fat Option:
Use grape-seed oil.
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Top 10 Countries creating Renewable Energy with Wind Power
Posted by: | CommentsWhich countries are the leaders using wind power as renewable energy to provide electricity? Well, thanks to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), a list of the world’s wind power renewable energy leaders wasn’t difficult to formulate. It’s important to recognize that the world’s cumulative installed capacity for wind power has grown from a paltry 6,100 Megawatts in 1996 to over 120,000 Megawatts in 2008. These numbers are on a constant incline according to the trends of the past 12 years and the 2009 report yet to be released will inevitably demonstrate significant growth.
Here are the top 10 global leaders using wind and creating renewable energy:
California's Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm
Country Capacity in Megawatts (MW) | percentage of World Total
- USA 25,170 MW | 20.8%
- Germany 23,903 MW | 19.8%
- Spain 16,754 MW |13.9%
- China 12,210 MW | 10.1%
- India 9,645 MW | 8.0%
- Italy 3,736 MW | 3.1%
- France 3,404 MW | 2.8%
- UK 3,241 MW | 2.7%
- Denmark 3,180 MW | 2.6%
- Portugal 2,862 MW | 2.4%
Rest of world 16,693 MW | 13.8%
Source: Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) 2008 Global Wind Report (published in 2009)
According to the report from the GWEC, the long-term outlook is promising:
“Over the past three or four years, two markets have continuously outperformed our most optimistic expectations – the US and China. For the next year or two, developments in the US will be hampered by a lack of financing and the overall economic downturn. At the same time, growth in China is set to continue at a breathtaking rate, and this will drive a substantial increase in global wind energy installations in the coming years. GWEC predicts that in 2013, five years from now, global wind generating capacity will stand at 332 Gigawatts (GW), up from 120 GW at the end of 2008. During 2013, 56.3 GW of new capacity will be added to the global total, more than double the annual market in 2008.”
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