Last week we got a ton of decluttering done at the new house. I got several closets and dressers cleaned out. There’s more to do, but I think my dad needs the space to himself for a while, so we are taking the week off from the house and focusing our efforts on our old place.

Inspired by Megan, this week I am working on eating at home. The kitchen is usually the one area I am really good at organizing. I am really good at meal planning and pantry management, but the move has made that more difficult.

I made a batch of bran muffin mix for breakfasts. I am keeping it in the fridge and making a batch each morning to be served with a piece of fruit and a small bowl of cottage cheese or a hard boiled egg. Normally I like more variety in my breakfasts, but I’m not feeling picky this week.

I made a batch of granola bars for snacks. I have a lot of dried fruits to use up, so this helped make a dent in those. They are healthy, portable and everyone in the family likes them. If we get bored of those we can have popcorn or strawberry smoothies.

Lunches will be tuna salad sandwiches, chicken salad (made with leftover chicken cooked for Tuesday’s dinner) with dried cherries and tarragon and good old peanut butter and jelly served with either carrot sticks or fruit.

I made a dinner menu for the week that mostly uses things I already had in the pantry, fridge or freezer. When I plan ahead I am much less likely to eat out. Here’s the menu.

Monday: Scrambled eggs with cheddar, toast and fresh fruit
Tuesday: Noodles, chicken and veggies with spicy peanut sauce
Wednesday: Dinner at church (this is a weekly thing)
Thursday: Potato leek soup, popovers
Friday: Cheese and spinach enchiladas, Mexican slaw
Saturday: Navy bean soup, cheddar garlic biscuits
Sunday: Pannekoeken with strawberry rhubarb sauce

Probably the only thing I will buy for this menu is cream for the potato leek soup and to whip for the pannekoeken.

How are you all doing with your challenges?

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to score an invitation to my great-aunt Beulah’s. Invitations to Beulah’s are an exciting thing for many reasons, not the least of which is the food.

“We’re not going to fuss, sweetie,” she always says, “We’ll just throw a little something together and keep it simple.”

And yet the food is always to die for. The secret to Beulah’s cooking, she and I agreed recently, is that everything is made from scratch. The bigger secret is that cooking many things from scratch is easier than it seems.

And, of course, when you cook from scratch, you know what you are eating! We care about the environment, our health, and the health of the workers who grow and harvest our food, so we are eating more and more organics, something we’d never be able to afford if we relied on organic convenience foods. Knowing how to cook is key to being able to eat well on a budget.

I have been cooking for as long as I can remember. As soon as I could stand on a chair I was in the kitchen “helping” my mom and dad. I was eight when I attempted my first solo cooking experiment, a memorable batch of brownies that I made with olive oil. The recipe called for vegetable oil, and olives seemed more like vegetables than whatever “canola” might be.

By the age of 12, I was planning and cooking whole meals. For extra credit homework in Home Ec, I made petits fours for the whole eighth grade class. That was memorable too. As I made the first batch of icing, it fell on the floor, directly onto the dog who was begging at my feet. The food coloring from the icing dyed his fur blue for a week.

In spite of these occasional mishaps, I learned a lot from my childhood attempts at cooking.

Indeed there was a time in our history when learning how to cook was a part of growing up. As families got busier, and convenience foods became an increasingly large part of our food culture, fewer and fewer kids learned basic cooking skills. Without these skills, people now rely on prepackaged foods, fast food, and convenience foods, which are hard on their health and on the environment.

Benefits Beyond the Obvious

I’d like to see us reverse this trend and raise a generation of young people who know their way around a kitchen. Teaching kids to cook has benefits beyond the obvious.

Involving children in food preparation is a great time to talk to them about where food comes from, and the environmental and social impact of our food choices. It’s the perfect opportunity to explain the benefits of eating organic, locally-grown, or fair trade products in a way that actually means something to them.

Kids have an easier time understanding a concept if they have hands-on experience with it. When they are allowed to help in the planning and preparing of a meal it awakens their interest in a way that simply talking about your values does not. Without some concrete connection to the subject, these conversations can become little more than the modern day version of “eat all your food, because kids are starving in China.” It goes over their heads. When a child feels like there is something concrete she can do about a problem, she is much more likely to take an interest.

Another benefit of letting kids help with the cooking is that it makes them more likely to eat a wider variety of foods. A kid who regularly turns his nose up at peppers might happily eat them in a dip he has helped prepare, or as the smile on smiley face pizza.

Getting kids in the kitchen

My kids are small, but they have been helping me in the kitchen for quite a while now. They love to do simple things like dumping ingredients into bowls, stirring batters and mixes, and putting toppings on pizza. They get so excited when I ask them to help me cook. Cheyenne was two years old when she made her first batch of salsa. I chopped up the veggies and put each one, plus the herbs and spices in separate bowls. I let her dump it in and stir. Ever since then she eats salsa all by itself. She doesn’t even need the chips.

Pizza is another good first project. Younger kids will get a kick out of choosing different foods to top their own pizzas. Older kids can do everything from kneading and tossing the dough to spreading the sauce and topping the pizza. You can make smiley faces or designs on the pizzas using the toppings for some extra fun.

Salad is another thing kids can help make. Cheyenne likes to help me pick out veggies for the salad and Isabella likes to toss it. I’m not sure either of them would eat salad if they hadn’t made it first, but being involved in the process makes it fun for them.

One of my favorite rainy-day projects to do with my kids is to make pretzel or bread dough shapes. My mom used to do make these with my sister and me when we were younger and I just loved it. I tried this project recently with my 12-year-old cousin and we had a blast. We both agreed that kneading bread dough is very therapeutic when you are feeling squirrelly. You can make pretzels into snakes or hearts, or make bread dough animals with raisins for eyes. My cousin and I made cinnamon raisin turtles. Yum!

In addition to cooking, it can be fun to involve kids in the planning of meals. Take them to the farmers market and let them pick out some new fruits and vegetables to try. Getting to try new and interesting foods is one of the best things about farmers markets. Last year we got hooked on ground cherries, yellow doll watermelon, water spinach, and smoked trout. It’s tough to find those kinds of foods at the supermarket. You could also pick a theme, like an ethnic cuisine or a color, and let your kids come up with menus based around it.

Food is such a wonderful thing. It nourishes us and bonds us in so many ways. I can’t tell you how many friends I have made by bringing over a basket of muffins or inviting someone over for dinner. We use food to express caring, like bringing soup to a sick friend or a casserole to a loved one who has had a baby. It gives us an easy starting point for conversation with people we don’t know, or don’t think we have much in common with. My mom was at a meeting once with a group of people from all over the world, who had never met before. Halfway through the day they discovered that each of their grandmas had a good recipe for rice pudding.

Our world may comprise a multiverse of different cultures and religions, but we all like to eat. That shared passion is something I want to pass on to my kids.

I had a stellar week with the organization challenge. I have remembered my cloth grocery bags and coffee mug every time. I even remembered the grocery bags when I was out getting non-grocery items, which is when I am most likely to forget them. I have one of those bags that folds up and I have been keeping that in my purse. That way, if I run to the hardware store or the garden center I have at least one bag with me.

I also did better at combining my errands, although I still feel like I could use some more work on that one. This week I am going to break out the white board. Then when I realize I am running low on something I can write it down immediately instead of trying to remember it later when I am making the grocery list. That is a big downfall of mine.

I also need to work on not running errands on a whim. I ran out of cinnamon today. I like cinnamon sometimes in my coffee or on my oatmeal, but really, it’s not a pressing need.

I have a new rule of thumb for myself. If the errand is for something small and non-urgent, like cinnamon, I am going to ask myself if I would be willing to walk or bike it. I don’t mean that I necessarily will walk or bike it. If the weather is bad I will still take the car, but by asking myself if I would be willing to use my own energy to get that item I should cut back on a lot of silly little errands. Hopefully I can eventually make these errands a thing of the past through planning ahead, but I think this will work as a stopgap measure.

Over at the new house, I am working on clearing out my parents’ unwanted clutter. They lived in that house for 20 years and now they are both in small apartments with no room for most of their junk, I mean belongings. We are trying to find homes for as much of it as possible and dispose of the rest in the proper manner. We have literally taken truckloads of stuff to Goodwill and we are still not done. Next week we plan to list their outdoor table on craigslist. I also found a home for their silk flowers. Cheyenne’s Japanese dance group is going to take them to make hair ornaments for performances. That one makes me feel particularly good as silk flowers are hard to give away and this will guarantee they will be used.

So, slowly and steadily we plod ahead. How are things going for all of you?

As everything in my apartment is being torn apart and packed into boxes, I have been thinking long and hard about this organization challenge. I’ve decided that for me this is going to boil down to three major points: my habits, arranging my physical space in an efficient way, and getting my family on board.

Adjusting my habits will help keep laziness and poor planning from derailing my efforts. This is a problem for me. When the girls were babies I fell into some bad habits out of exhaustion and they need to be broken.

Arranging my physical space in an efficient way will make it easy to do the things I need to do. Having things laid out poorly wastes time and effort that could probably be spent more efficiently elsewhere.

Getting my family on board is crucial. My girls are old enough to put things away and help with chores. The responsibility is good for them and I have better things to do than pick up their toys all the time or put away clothes they pulled out of the drawer for no reason. Zach is more than willing to help, but when things are disorganized he gets overwhelmed. Having him help with organizing things he uses everyday will make the system work for both of us, not just me.

Deciding which to tackle first feels like a chicken-or-egg sort of question. All of these factors are very much intertwined. I have to start somewhere though and I am starting with my habits. I can’t tackle the new space until my dad has moved out of it and I think the kids have enough on their plate right now just adjusting to the idea of moving.

I’m going to start with three simple things this week.

• First, I am going to make sure I put the cloth grocery bags back in the car when I’m done. This will prevent me from getting to the store and realizing that they are still at home.
• Second, I am going to rinse out my travel coffee mug when I am done with it and stick it directly in the diaper bag so I don’t forget that either. I always have the diaper bag with me, so that should prevent me from forgetting it.
• Third, every time I leave the house to go somewhere I’m going to ask myself if there are any other errands I need to run that are on the way there or back. I got a good start on this today. I planned ahead and did my grocery shopping after work.

How are you doing this week?

Birthdays are a wonderful rite of passage. The joke in my house is that my birthday lasts the entire month of October, with the exception of the 13th, which is my husband’s birthday. I love a good party. Life is a gift to be celebrated. Eat, drink and be merry, I say.

Still, the reality is that kids birthday parties can easily turn into stressful, bloated affairs. Between the junk food for 20 kids, the disposable, licensed character cups and plates and the blinky-light toys, birthday parties can be more of a paean to the Gods of consumerism than a celebration of the life of a child. The first time I went to Chuck E. Cheese as an adult I felt an immediate urge to call my mother and apologize for ever dragging her there. As long as I can, I am going to try to avoid that kind of birthday party, if only for the sake of my sanity.

Up until this year my kids’ birthday parties have been family affairs. Last year I asked Cheyenne what she wanted for her birthday and she told me, nearly bursting with excitement, “A birthday cake and a birthday hat!” I knew I was getting off easy. This year she has friends and ideas of her own and I can tell we have entered a whole new ballgame. My challenge this year was to come up with a birthday party that was fun, but still as simple and eco-friendly as possible.

After some discussion Cheyenne and I came to an agreement on the theme of Garden Tea Party and a guest list of a few kids. Especially at four years old, I think a small party of children helps to keep things simple and fun. The guest list was small, so I didn’t really bother with formal invitations. I have a casual circle of friends, so e-mails, word of mouth and scraps of paper with my address written down were my preferred means of communication. Little kids really don’t care about the invitations anyway, so why waste the paper?

For the menu I decided to stick with easy, homemade foods. By skimping a little on convenience I could afford to use higher quality organic and local ingredients. Considering there were only six kids, including mine, it wasn’t much trouble. To make the menu more fun, I made everything bite-sized—kids love that. We had bite sized tea sandwiches, cheese and crackers, cookies, banana bread bites, fruit, gingerbread orange tea and bite sized cupcakes with white frosting and sprinkles. We would have had scones with homemade jam, but I forgot they were in the oven. By the time my nose had reminded me they were literally toast. Still, we ended up with a pretty great spread:

I used real plates and cups instead of disposable. I found some old demitasse cups at my parentss house that worked as teacups. We spread a picnic blanket on the floor of the living room and served the kids there, so there wasn’t much chance for them to break anything.

I wanted to come up with party favors that were a little less disposable than the average bag of cheap plastic toys. Since the theme of the party was garden related, I decided we would all plant our own tomatoes or lettuce. I found some white ceramic pots at IKEA for $.50 apiece and bought a package of Early Girl tomato seeds and a package of French-style salad mix seeds.

It was actually above freezing that day, so we bundled up in our coats and headed outside. The kids were really enthusiastic about planting. “So this seed is going to become a tomato? That’s awesome!” Even the little ones were excitedly scooping dirt into their pots. Who doesn’t like playing with dirt? When we were done we wrote each kid’s name on their pot with a dry-erase marker. Here’s the birthday girl with one of her garden tools:

The whole thing cost me about $50. Most importantly, it was a hit. The kids loved the novelty of having something “grown-up” like tea and they really enjoyed the food. Surprisingly, the cucumber sandwiches went as fast as the cupcakes, so I at least feel like the kids got something healthy to eat that day. They had a blast planting their seeds and I felt good about sending them home with something that would remind them of the party for months to come.

Everyone had a lovely time. It wasn’t a big, noisy stress-fest, but a simple celebration of my sweet little girl. The focus was on the people, not the event. I like that. At the end of the day that is what memories are made of.

I am in the midst of my 11th move in the last 12 years. It’s been a fun and crazy 12 years, as your late teens and twenties often are, but I am ready to be settled. This will be the last move for quite a while and Zach and I are very excited. As we box up all our worldly possessions one more time, we have been talking and daydreaming about our life in the new house.

It’s funny how many small details come up in our conversations. “Just think, Stella, you can put a laundry basket right under the laundry chute off the kitchen and finally have a good place to put all those cloth rags,” or “I want to put the bikes somewhere out of the way, but easy to get down so we will actually use them.” “Maybe we should put a little chalkboard or whiteboard in the kitchen to write down stuff we need as we realize it so we don’t have to make so many emergency runs to the store.”

We believe that every little action helps, but, like most of us, sometimes we lose focus. One of the big obstacles to living more in line with our values has been organization. I start out with the best of intentions, vowing to bring my stainless steel water bottle, my cloth grocery bags and my travel coffee cup everywhere. I resolve to ride my bike for errands and only use paper towels for really yucky cat or baby messes. Then life intervenes and I am dashing out the door forgetting my water bottle, or taking the car because I’m 5 foot 2 and my bike is hung too high for me to reach, or reaching for a paper towel to clean up a juice spill because I haven’t washed the cloth rags.

I suspect that I’m not alone in being derailed in my efforts to be green by disorganization, so I want to invite you to join me in The Sunny Way Organization Challenge. Spring is a perfect time to do this. It doesn’t have to be big. Maybe you’ll resolve to put the cloth grocery bags back in the car when you’ve unloaded the groceries so you don’t forget them, or maybe you’ll streamline the laundry so it’s easier to line dry it. Whatever it is we want to hear from you. For those of you who are already super-organized, tell us your secrets. I’ll be chronicling my efforts as best I can during the move and I’d love to hear more about yours. We’re all in this together.