Versatile Quesadillas

 My friend introduced me to the concept of quesadillas as a quick meal a couple of years ago. Since then, they have been a regular meal at our home. Last, night I made chicken-mushroom quesadillas which were a hit here. The great thing about them is you can put about anything between them that you would put between two slices of bread plus more. Here is the recipe from last night. The middle portion can be easily adapted to whatever your creativity allows.

Chicken-Mushroom Quesadilla
(makes 4 quesadillas)
8 whole wheat tortillas
4 oz cheddar or mexican blend shredded cheese
1/2 cup or more cooked chicken (this is a great way to use extra chicken up)
1-8 oz package mushrooms
1 small sweet pepper
1 medium onion
1-2 Tbls fresh or dried cilantro
2 Tbls olive oil

Put olive oil in small skillet. Cut up onions, peppers and mushrooms into pan. Saute until tender. Set aside in a little container. Spray a tortilla lightly with cooking spray. Put spray side down in same skillet used to saute veggies. Sprinkle on 1/4 of middle ingredients-veggies, cheese, chicken, cilantro. Spray another tortilla with oil spray. Put spray side up on top of middle ingredients. Cook until light brown on both sides and cheese melted in the middle. Once the pan is hot this will only take about 2 minutes per side so watch closely. Remove from pan and cut into fourths. Serve plain or with salsa, sour cream or any other topping your family may like or need used up. Enjoy!

I have used many other toppings for this such as leftover taco meat, beans, salsa, ham/cheese, pepperoni/cheese/pizza sauce. As I said before the list can be as long and short as your creativity. It is a great way to use up those leftovers.

PLU Produce Labels

There is a post with a picture of an apple going around facebook lately telling people how they can avoid GMO foods. Here is the post:  Have you ever wondered what those numbered stickers on your produce mean? Besides inventory control and pricing information for the grocery clerk, they may be useful to you as well.

Non-qualified (conventionally grown, with the use of pesticides) produce codes will be either 4 digits or sometimes 5 digits, with the first bein

g a "0".

Genetically modified produce will have a 5 digit code beginning with an "8". (These CAN be organic.)

And organic produce, that has not been genetically modified, has a 5 digit code that begins with "9".

You should note that the codes are used for the convenience of the supplier and grocer, not necessarily for the benefit of the consumer. So not all produce bears a PLU code, particularly the genetically modified.

Although these codes are used, they are only used as a convenience to grocers and are not required to be used. You will see the "9" number used frequently in stores to distinguish organic versus conventionally grown food. This is the way the grocer uses to distinguish between the two at the cash register. This is done mainly because the organic produce is usually more expensive and they want to make sure the consumer is charged the proper amount. Unfortunately, the "8" number is rarely used and not required to be used by any regulatory agency here in the U.S. GMO food are not required to be labeled here in the states. 

There is a grass roots effort at this point to have GMO's labeled in stores. Until that happens though, we probably will not see the "8" number used voluntarily. 

Lids for Conservation

There is one very easy thing that you can do to conserve earth's resources the next time you need to purchase a pan or casserole dish. Make sure you buy one with a lid. Many times casserole recipes call for it to be covered while baking. Any leftovers may simply be left in the dish, covered with the lid and put in the refrigerator. This means using foil to cover the dish for baking or plastic to store it if you do not have a lid. Several of my cake size pans also have lids. This allows me to keep cakes and other baked goods fresh without the use of plastic wrap. I simply put the lid on in between uses.

The other investment that I have made are metal rings that I put over the edges of my pies and quiches while baking. This allows me to save aluminum foil by not having to wrap the edges so they do not burn.

Although these seem like easy steps, think of all the aluminum foil and plastic wrap you can save by simply buying pans with lids.

Fall Leaves

Fall has finally arrived here in Kentucky. The trees are turning and the leaves are falling. It is time to talk about fall raking. First, raking leaves can be great exercise. Who needs a gym when there are leaves to rake? Leaf blowers pollute the air with their noise and fumes. There are many ways to dispose of leaves besides sending them to the landfill. Here in Lexington and many other places, you can put them in your yard waste container. If there is not enough room, you can put them in paper yard waste bags (in Lexington they give you coupons to get some for free) and then put them out at the curve.

At our house, we use the leaves for many things. We put them in with the chickens. They love scratching through them and finding all the treasures hidden in them. They can break down a pile of leaves in a just a few days. This provides compost for the garden. We also pile leaves around our delicate plants that need a little bit more winter protection. Leaves are also put on the garden to be rototilled into the soil so they can break down before spring planting season. We also will pile leaves in areas that we want to kill off the grass or plants to create new flower beds. The rest of the leaves go into the compost pile to be broken down into rich compost for the garden. Areas in our yard with just a few leaves are simply mowed into the grass when we mow for the last time in the fall. Fall leaves have a lot of uses besides just sending them to the landfill. Try some of them this year and I am sure you will find more uses of your own. 

Slave Chocolate

Last night, my husband and I were at a downtown event. While we were there, people were strolling through the crowd handing out small bars of Fair Trade chocolate with the following message attached to it. "Don't be a Monster this Halloween.". On the back it has the following message. "Unless your chocolate is labeled fair trade, it's probably produced using child slave labor. According to CNN, there are an estimated 200,000 children working the fields to create the many chocolate delicacies enjoyed around the world. What can YOU do? Buy fair-trade chocolate for Halloween, or switch to a candy that doesn't contain chocolate." It goes on to list some local places where fair trade chocolate is available. The back of the card listed the following link where you may go and get more information on this topic Slave Free Chocolate.

I have written several posts on this subject. My daughter did an extensive research paper on this subject. I try to buy only slave free chocolate products. It is important to have the correct information. Our consumer dollars do speak to big companies. That is the one thing they will all listen to. Use your consumer dollar for good when it comes to chocolate. 

Bugs

I teach an elementary homeschool science class and one of my favorite topics that we cover is insects. I have always found insects interesting but also love teaching others about their benefits for all of us. It is interesting how many people lump all bugs into the bad category. Here are some things that I like to make sure my students learn during the time period we talk about the creepy crawlies.

1) Not all bugs are bad. Some, in fact are very beneficial. All insects have 3 body sections-head, thorax and abdomen. They also have one pair of antennae and 3 pairs of legs. They usually have wings in some stage of their life.

Honeybee

2) Yes, bees can sting but only if they are directly threatened. Bees are very important to us. They provide yummy honey as well as pollinate our food crops. Without bees we would not have most of our fruits and vegetables.
3) Yellow jackets can be scary and aggressive and you should not mess with.a nest in the ground that has bees coming in and out of it. I teach them that yellow jackets are long, skinny and smooth. Honey bees are smaller, fatter and furry. Yellow jackets, even with their aggressiveness, are still important to us. They also help pollinate our food crops. (If you find a nest that you need to get rid of, flood it with water versus insecticide. They will move on to another nest.)
4) Spiders can be icky and scary to many people and yes, there are two spiders that can actually hurt you. Don't kill spiders outside. They catch many harmful insects and keep their populations under control. By the way, these are NOT insects, they are arachnids. (Remember spiders have 4 pairs of legs and 2 body segments.)
5) Praying mantis can be a little scary looking but they should be welcomed into your yard. If you find one in your house, live catch it and stick it outside. They catch all those yucky bugs you do not like.

Praying Mantis

6) Ladybugs are ferocious aphid eaters. They are not only cute but help keep your plants healthy.
7) All those bug shells you see on your trees in the late summer are cicadas. The real bug did not get eaten but shed its shell to become an adult cicada.

Japanese Beetle

8) It is OK to kill any Japanese beetles and mosquitoes that you see. Japanese beetles are an invasive species here in the United States and create a lot of crop damage. Mosquitoes do have some redeeming qualities. They provide food for bats and birds. Bats are your best friend at night when it comes to mosquitoes.
9) Caterpillars can be ugly and sometimes destructive but they turn into beautiful butterflies.
10) House flies are dirty but they do perform an important job. They, along with many other bugs help recycle all the natural waste products so that they can be used again by the earth.

I challenge you to take some time and learn about the good bugs in our life. There are many other beneficial insects that I have not even mentioned. 

Bananas: Conventional, Organic or Fair Trade?

I tend to grow most of my own fruits and vegetables. When I do not grow them I try to buy local products. There is growing controversy of buying organic and whether it is worth the extra cost. The lines on this are blurred now that big business has entered into the organic market. One fruit that I always buy organic though is bananas. I do this not because of the pesticides that I am afraid to ingest but because my choice of bananas are a social justice decision. A couple of years ago, I was reading one of the many books that have been written on sustainable living and it mentioned bananas being a inexpensive way to support social justice issues. After that I did some research.

My research showed that most banana sales are controlled by a few large conglomerates like Dole, Del Monte and Chiquita. Bananas are grown all over the world in over 120 different countries but most of the conventional bananas are grown in Central America countries where employee protection laws are lax or not enforced with the worst being Ecuador. Plantation housing tends to be close and dilapidated. Child labor laws are lax and children as young as 10 are used in the fields. Intensive banana growing requires regular applications of pesticides. Most of this is done by spraying from the air where people are working and living. Some plantations do not even allow workers to leave the fields during pesticide application. People who live and work on these plantations have a higher rate of cancer and other pesticide related diseases.

Organic and fair trade bananas can cost between 10-30 cents more per pound. They are grown on small cooperative farms. Organic products most uphold certain safe labor practices in order to be certified organic. Fair trade organizations pay a living wage to workers as well as reinvest back into the community. Paying a few cents extra for a pound of bananas is a small price to pay to know that they are not grown by children or exploited workers. Organic bananas are commonly found in most large food chains. If you still have problems spending those few extra cents, look at it as a donation to help people in third world countries to work in a safe work environment and provide food and family necessities without a handout.

Here are some links to read up further on this area of concern.
Banana Plantations-Washington University Research
Fair Trade Bananas
Ecuador-A Banana Republic