{Teflon-free} Pumpkin Whole Grain Waffles with Pumpkin Syrup

I Found a Teflon-free Waffle Maker!

Given my deep and abiding love for breakfast foods, some might find it surprising that homemade waffles were not in my regular breakfast rotation. After all, they freeze and toast up so well! Problem is, I ditched Teflon many years ago and I couldn't find a Teflon-free waffle maker anywhere. I had seen cast iron waffle makers, but they were unseasoned, and came with parrafin wax on them (to prevent rusting). In order to use it, you had to melt off the parrafin wax and season it yourself. Sorry, but that's a little too much effort for me. [Now a pre-seasoned cast iron waffle maker, that I would buy in a heartbeat. Are you listening, Lodge Logic???]

At any rate, I had resigned myself to living without waffles. That is, until recently, when my son's umpteenth request for waffles compelled me to half-heartedly google (again) "Teflon-free waffle maker." And, lo and behold, there it was: the Oster DuraCeramic Stainless Steel Flip Waffle Maker. Now, really, I should have done my due diligence and tried to find out more about what the nonstick coating of my waffle maker is made of before purchasing it, but I was just so excited to see a PTFE-free and PFOA-free ceramic-based coating on a waffle maker that I just went ahead and purchased it. (Read Debra Lynn Dodd's take on the coating here.)

Enjoy Superfood Pumpkin Year-round

Since then I have been keeping my freezer well-stocked with my sister Jeanette's Pumpkin Whole Grain Waffles. My 6yo son loves to have these for breakfast, and I love sending him to school with a tummy full of whole grains and pumpkin goodness. We most often eat these with maple syrup, but for even more pumpkin deliciousness, try with pumpkin syrup (recipe follows).

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My 2-year-old is Potty Trained! (Early Potty Training Reprise)

My 2yo is potty trained! She is consistently dry night and day and wears underwear during the day. She announces every time she needs to use the bathroom and always wants company. She still has occasional accidents (only at home, usually outside) and is sometimes reluctant to use the potty if she needs to poop.

I've been putting my third child on the potty since she was 5 months old. By 9 months she rarely pooped in a diaper and by 15 months she was also peeing in the potty more often than she was in her diaper. A couple of months ago, she was reliable enough that I packed up all the cloth training pants and all but a few cloth diapers (I still put a prefold and cover on her at night, just in case).

Early Potty Training Reprise

For those who like to see the end from the beginning, here is a summary of my experience potty training my third child. You can find additional details about each stage in the process by clicking on the links to go to the individual posts. You can also find links to all my potty training posts on my Early Potty Training page.

4 Months
Baby spends some time diaper-free most days. I make cue sounds when she pees and poops and change wet diapers immediately.

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Better than Cake: Homemade White Sandwich Bread (or Rolls)

We usually make and eat 100% whole wheat bread, but occasionally I make white bread for a special treat. We use it for French toast, for "buns" for black bean burgers, for grilled cheese and other sandwiches. Straight out of the oven with butter it is better than a slice of cake. I'm also including how to make rolls. Who knew it was so easy to make fresh rolls using a bread recipe? Probably everyone but me.

I got this recipe from a friend at church. She brought me dinner and a fresh loaf of bread after my third baby. I think it is just wonderful to bring new moms or anyone who needs a little extra TLC homemade bread. I have made a few alterations to her recipe (cut the sugar) and also filled in a few details (kneading time, etc.) by consulting my tried-and-true America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

After making 100% whole wheat bread for years, I have to say, white bread is downright easy. So forgiving and no need to worry about getting a decent rise. If you find the thought of baking your own bread a little daunting, try making the rolls. They're quite forgiving.

White Sandwich Bread (or Rolls)

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How to Turn Your Bread Loaf Recipe into a Roll Recipe: 100% Whole Wheat Honey Rolls

I recently made an important discovery: it is super easy to turn a bread loaf recipe into a roll recipe. I volunteered to bring rolls to a friend's house for dinner, forgot to buy them, and not wanting to run to the store just for rolls, decided I'd just go ahead and try making some from my favorite recipe for white bread (which I'll post next week). They were super easy and a huge success. We had to ration them out to the hungry wolves children at dinner. Why are rolls so much more appealing than a slice of bread? Is it the texture of the exterior and interior, the just-the-right-size portion, the compact shape? I don't know, but I know kids and adults alike love them.

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How Did I Do? Ten Green Goals for 2013 Reprise

I bought some houseplants, but now they're all dead.

Happy New Year!

My 2013 green goals were designed to help my family reduce waste and energy use, reduce exposure to toxins, and improve our connection to nature.  See the original post here.

Unfortunately, like thousands of other well-meaning resolution makers, I have barely referred to my 2013 list of resolutions in the last many months, although some of them were nonetheless always clear in my memory and have been nagging at me from the back of my mind pretty consistently (composting, for example). I always like to review the goals of the previous year before making any new resolutions (helps to clamp down on any unrealistic ambitions), so here we go.

1. Expand my homemade snack repertoire.
I'm doing OK in this category. I still wish I were making more homemade snacks and buying fewer pckaged chips and crackers. I have added a few items to my repertoire (in addition to my healthy whole grain "cookies" and chewy granola bars). I now frequently make my tried-and-true honey whole wheat bread into rolls. They freeze really well and, as far as I can tell, everyone loves rolls. I've also been experimenting with healthy muffins, another kid-friendly-sized food. What I really want to make is homemade cheesy crackers, because my children are obsessed with goldfish crackers (which we rarely buy, but everyone else always seems to have and give them). I want to master a homemade whole grain with real cheddar cheese mini cracker. I'm always on the lookout for any snacks that are easy to make in bulk, kid-friendly, good for on-the-go, and, of course, healthy. Any suggestions?

2. Transition from cloth diapers to training pants/ underwear by 15 months. 
I have been practicing early potty training with my third child since she was four months old. I had to look back through my early potty training posts to figure out if I actually did this. It looks like we transitioned to training pants almost all the time around 18 months. Actually, we are all done with potty training now with this one. We're down to one accident (day or night) every couple of weeks. Stay tuned for an early potty training reprise post coming soon!

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Simple Reusable Gift Tags for Cloth Gift Bags

We love our reusable cloth gift bags. Compared to wrapping paper and paper gift bags, reusable bags are:

• Eco-friendlier! We create less waste and recycling.
• Cheaper (in the long run)
• Faster and easier to wrap gifts with
• Easier to reuse
• More durable -- those paper gift bags only last so long when you reuse them
• WAY simpler clean up (my favorite part)

But I did run into one little snag the first year I wrapped all of our gifts with cloth gift bags: gift tags. Those little card stock gift tags you tape onto presents? They just kept falling off. Tape doesn't work well on fabric. At least not the scotch tape I was using. Sticker gift tags didn't work either.

But I soon thought of a solution: reusable gift tags. I used the same idea as the one I came up with for the numbered tags for my Children's Book Advent Calendar Countdown. I made super simple gift tags using index cards punched several times at the top to make them easy to string along the ribbon used to tie the gift bag shut.

I decorated them with holiday stickers from my childhood collection (a little scary that I still have these). I put clear box tape over the stickers to prevent my little ones from peeling them off.

These tags work well for me since we generally purchase and wrap a set number of gifts for each child from the same people year after year (one gift from Mami and Papi, one gift from my parents selected and wrapped by me, one gift from Santa).  I also have made gift tags to and from "Tia," since my sister often spends Christmas with us.  I stash the tags with my cloth gift bags and ribbons for easy reuse.


How do you label your gifts wrapped in reusable gift bags or fabric?

Related Posts

If I Can Sew This, So Can You: DIY Reusable Gift Bags
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle while Wrapping Gifts
Children's Book Advent Calendar with an Eco-friendly Twist
Eco-novice's Green Gift Guide

For more great ideas on being green 

and saving green during the holidays, 

visit my Green Holidays page.

Are you interested in Going Green Gradually? Sign up for my free email subscription to get each of my posts delivered to your inbox (I usually post one or two times a week). You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or with your favorite RSS Reader. I hope to see you again soon!

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Gifts that Encourage a Child's Sense of Wonder About Nature

Children are natural scientists and love to explore the world around them. But sometimes their enthusiasm for the natural world wanes as they grow up and become engaged in friendships, structured activities, and technology. Here are some gifts to encourage your child's sense of wonder about the natural world.

Books

There is no shortage of fabulous non-fiction children's literature about the natural world. Just the other day I found a "Like New" used hardcover copy of an amazing encyclopedia of extinct animals. My kids and I have particularly enjoyed books for the backyard naturalist. Our favorite books about trees include:

• Tell Me, Tree 
• The Tree Book For Kids and Their Grown Ups
• What Tree Is That? A Guide to the More Common Trees Found in North America (to identify trees)

For a long time my daughter's favorite book was Are You a Snail?, one of the books in the Backyard Books series, all about the little creatures you might encounter in your own yard.

We also have several books in the series of Take Along Guides for kids, including:

• Caterpillars, Bugs and Butterflies 
• Trees, Leaves, and Bark 
• Birds, Nests, and Eggs 

I also recommend investing in some guides for grown-ups about your own area's flora and fauna. My children have loved pouring over these, if only to look at the pictures, and they are great to take on hikes and outings (along with the Take Along Guides mentioned above) to help identify any wildlife or plants you might encounter.

Recently at the library I found the book Where Does My Shadow Sleep: A Parent's Guide to Exploring Science with Children's Books, which includes chapters on exploring the natural world. Find additional ideas for books about the natural world in Bugs, Bogs, Bats, and Books: Sharing nature with children through reading, published by the American Library Association (contains book descriptions, no activities).

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Green Sisterhood Etsy Handmade Giveaway

2013 has been a great year for Eco-novice and to help show my appreciation to all of you readers, followers, and fans, I am excited to be able to co-host this incredible handmade giveaway from the Green Sisterhood. Loyal Eco-novice readers know that I am a big Etsy fan, and I am thrilled to be able to introduce you to these eco-friendly sellers and their fabulous handmade products. One person will win all of these items, a total retail value of over $200!

Thank you again for being part of this community. Good luck!

Note to email subscribers: You will need to visit the post to enter the giveaway. Click here to go to the post and enter.

Green Sisterhood's Eco-Friendly Holiday Handmade Giveaway!

1) Herban Lifestyle - Man's Grooming Set $40 

2) zJayne - Set of 3 Lavender Dryer Sachet $15 

3) House of Metalworks - Yoga Hamsa Necklace $23 

4) Happy Earth Tea - Organic Immune Boosting Tea $12 

5) Crunchy Betty - Exquisite Cleansing Oil $15.50 

6) HerbanLuxe - Vegan Mascara $11.75 

7) Reiter8 - Clutch made from boat sail $23 

8) ecokaren - Eco Fabric Modal Scarf $30 

9) Snackaby - Food Safe Reusable Snack Bags $23 

10) Juniper Mercantile - Organic Unbleached Cotton Towels $15

And to improve your chances of winning, check out these participating bloggers. You can use the rafflecopter widgets on their blogs to gain additional entries.

Green-Talk 

ecokaren 

Almost All the Truth 

Condo Blues 

Conscientious Confusion 

Creative Green Living 

Eco-Mothering 

Healthful Mama 

Healthy Home Magazine

Glue and Glitter

Green-4-U

Growing Slower

Jen and Joey Go Green

Mindfully Frugal Mom

Nature Moms Blog

Non-Toxic Kids

O'Boy Organics

The Greening of Westford

The Green Divas

The Soft Landing

Here is how to enter. If you can't see the widget below, CLICK HERE TO SEE the FORM AND ENTER a Rafflecopter giveaway

NOTE: The giveaway is for US and Canada residents only and ends on Monday at 11:59PM EST, December 16, 2013. Please read the Terms and Conditions at the end of the Rafflecopter widget before entering. By entering, you are agreeing to subscribe to Green Sisterhood's email newsletter.

Are you interested in Going Green Gradually? Sign up for my free email subscription to get each of my posts delivered to your inbox (I usually post one or two times a week). You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or with your favorite RSS Reader. I hope to see you again soon!

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Eco-novice's Favorite Kind of Toy: Wood Stacking Toys by Grimms

In my six-plus years as a parent, I've acquired and discarded a large number of toys. Some toys broke, some were made of possibly toxic materials, others were too annoying for the adults or overstimulating for the kids, and many quickly lost their appeal and were soon ignored. So I now have some well-defined preferences when it comes to owning toys.

Eco-novice's Toy Preferences

• Quality over quantity
• Natural, sustainable, and completely non-toxic materials
• Aesthetically-pleasing
• Open-ended to facilitate creativity and imaginative play
• Durable
• Appealing to a wide age-span (including adults)
• Created by a business I can enthusiastically support
• Worth saving for the grandkids

If I had it all to do again, I would own only these types of toys. In every way, our Grimm's toys fit perfectly with this philosophy.

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Use a Pillowcase to Wrap a Large Gift {Easy Eco-tip Tuesday}

Today's Easy Eco-tip:
Use a pillowcase to wrap an especially large gift, rather than burn through half a roll of wrapping paper. Keep your eye out for festive, fun, and colorful pillowcases to use for gift wrap whenever you shop at the thrift store, or just use what you've already got. If you don't like the pillowcase idea, consider wrapping a large gift in a sheet or blanket (could be part of the gift) or, my personal favorite, stash the large gift in a closet or car trunk and send the recipient on a treasure hunt to find it.

Pillowcases make excellent extra-large reusable gift bags (I wrapped my yoga mat for the photo above). They can be tied off at the top with a ribbon, or for flat gifts like a box you can fold the pillowcase closed and criss-cross wrap with a ribbon to hold it shut (see photos in this post to see what I mean).

For oodles of additional eco-friendly and budget-friendly ways to wrap your gifts, check out my post Reduce, Reuse, Recycle while Wrapping Gifts.

Click here to browse the complete Green Holidays series.

For more Easy Eco-tips, click here.

Are you interested in Going Green Gradually? Sign up for my free email subscription to get each of my posts delivered to your inbox (I usually post one or two times a week). You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or with your favorite RSS Reader. I hope to see you again soon!

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