As a Graduate Chef and chief meal planner now at home; I’m always trying to think of recipes to help overcome meal monotony. yes you all know exactly what I’m talking about.  it’s where you look in your pantry and everything looks exactly the same. or when you look in your deep freezer [...]]]>

As a Graduate Chef and chief meal planner now at home; I’m always trying to think of recipes to help overcome meal monotony. yes you all know exactly what I’m talking about.  it’s where you look in your pantry and everything looks exactly the same. or when you look in your deep freezer and nothing jumps out at you; so to say.

I started collecting cooking videos a while ago, to help inspire me; when I’m a little unenthusiastic about cooking.  first off I have to cook two special diets usually in one meal – trying to use the same ingredients, mostly.  just think about that why don’tcha.  I have to cook a restricted renal diet; which is no salt, no real fiber or high potassium/phosphorus ingredients.  I’m sure you’re just thinking now to yourselves, what the heck is she talking about ?

welllll, that means white bread instead of home-baked unbleached whole wheat bread.  focaccia instead of pizza. tamales instead of chili;  get it ?  it’s really a game of mix and match.  the dietitian and I compare notes about what works and what  doesn’t.  he drinks Rice Dream; and he’s supposed to eat Rice Dream Dairy Ice – instead he likes TCBY Chocolate Yogurt.

first off he is not allowed to have chocolate; or dairy. so both are a fail. in addition he likes it topped with Hershey’s chocolate syrup.  still if he wants it, he gets it.  he loves croissants which I bake fresh several times a week in fours. yes four only.  he is not supposed to have rich anything – and he has high cholesterol; so butter is a oh hell no.  still I relent. he gets his hot ass croissants; as he refers to them.  I just shake my head and walk away.

I bake him blueberry muffins, and corn muffins; get him light wheat bread for sandwiches; and try as best as I can to not take everything away from him, as he says.  it’s a daunting task as I have High Cholesterol and am on a salt restricted diet too, so pretty much I need diuretics and he well, isn’t supposed to have alot of them.  I love celery, he can have it in moderation.  I love Broccoli and Collard Greens. he can have them in moderation, extreme moderation. his vegetable of choice is Cabbage which is on his extremely limited consumption list;  yet how could I not cook him some steamed Jamaican style cabbage with carrots, onions, garlic and fresh thyme ?

OOhhhh co’monnnn it’s only cabbage..

he itches like he is on fire when he eats stuff he isn’t supposed to and yet the doctors have no remedy.  all of my sheets look like the scene of a cat fight . meeeeeeeeeeoooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww ! it’s a real problem. this is something that goes with dialysis for some patients.

Anyway back to food Mon,

so the recipe videos are kind of interesting and provide a distraction to me during those times when I just need to get away for a minute in my own head.  yes I miss making fresh strudels with supreme sauce; and gumbo with all the vegetables and shrimp. sure I miss making rice and peas in the real rice pot. but what I have today v. yesterday is a whole new cooking reality show going on everyday in my kitchen.

no rice-n-peas here anymore Ms. Reeni..

I think you might like some of these videos enough to try them. check them out and when you cook them, drop me a note and let me know what you cooked and how it came out. I love to read about cooking and you can always find me lurking around the cooking blogs – leaving smart mouth comments and asking questions. My Buddy Reeni The Cinnamon Girl; yeah that’s what I call her, asked me a few weeks ago why I never write about cooking. I had to think about it; so today is my first attempt at posting something about cooking.  Here You Go Ms. Reeni – tell Moonkitty Heyyy,

Check Out These Caribbean Cooking Videos, and Tell Me What You’d Cook Mon ?

Just So You Know – I’ve got more than 100 of these cooking videos in my collection.

click on the video and it will take you directly to my video site.

you can check out my library and find something delicious and unique to cook just by checking out a video.

I’ll be updating my videos weekly so there’s always going to be a storehouse of good eatin on this page. be sure to bookmark it or subscribe to the rss feed so you know what’s cookin mon !

I also wanted to say that in order to make food more palatable when you have a special diet – my tip is to use Fresh Herbs. I love Fresh Herbs. I of course dry my own, when in season – but otherwise when I can get them – I Always Keep Fresh Thyme, Chives, Parsley, Cilantro and if I can Rosemary and Basil in my kitchen; in a vase.

Check out this tip on essential Caribbean Spices

I also want to show you one of my most favorite fast food Drive Throughs Literally;  the restaurants in the wilds of Jamaica – in Faiths’ Pen.  notice the red bauxite hills above the roofs.

Yes, this is a twenty four hour operation. anytime you are passing from north to south, you must stop at Faiths Pen, just to rest and refresh yourself. that’s why this food court of sorts sprung up, in carts and lean to’s along side the mountain about 40 years ago. finally the government made it official.

it’s breathtakingly beautiful, and has some of the best food in the world, yes the world.

Notice she is cooking over a Wood and Charcoal Fire.

Yes an Open Fire. nothing is burning, and she is well in control of all her pots. she has only running water and electricity from her own generator to run her fridge and lights. Ms. Fatty is a very nice lady and she’s been there for as long as I can remember. all of that food will be consumed by people who are driving along that highway you see behind her on the oposite side of that fence. btw, that fence is recent, and the vendors don’t really like it since they say it cuts into their money.

the cars used to get car service by people who would run out to you with a pad asking what you wanted and they’d fix your plate and bring it to you – wherever you might be sitting to stretch your legs. kind of a form of Jamaican Car Hops. Even the  Roast Corn man would have some kids who ran with a pan of hot roasted corn, dipped in butter and sell it along with bag juice; car to car so you never had to get out. now they have bathrooms and it’s an official Jamaica Tourism Rest Stop.

“if unnu hungry half way a town, stop thru Faiths’ Pen fi good nam down” this is an old jamaican road blessing given as you are departing usually. I’ve said it myself to those leaving us on the north coast heading south.

Okay enough talk about cooking, lets eat Mon!

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for those of us who are not really into typical gifting, today is just for you. check out these alternative gifting ideas; and consider something totally original, and green. alot of todays suggestions are from The Daily Green – Thanks Guys.

An octopus might make [...]]]>

for those of us who are not really into typical gifting, today is just for you. check out these alternative gifting ideas; and consider something totally original, and green. alot of todays suggestions are from The Daily Green – Thanks Guys.

in the previous blog on Gifting we highighted this idea – Give Nothing to those who have everything; instead give in their name to someone who really needs it, and will more greatly appreciate it – Like a Kiva Micro Loan. we have Kiva on our list for this year, and we Love it. it makes it so easy to put the gift to work for someone who will make this a life changing exchange.

Changing the Present

Photo credit:Courtesy of changingthepresent.org

What to get the person who has everything? Simply: Nothing. Or, nothing directly. Instead, give a gift to someone who really needs it – a woman struggling to start a business in an impoverished country, clean water to a village suffering from cholera or any number of charitable donations. Changing the Present has dozens of ideas.

This one is quite close to my heart – gifting the Environment –

do it locally or globally, just do it.  plant a tree, give seeds, gardening gifts or even a gift donation to a local gardening club or the local county extention.  I took my master gardener class and my master canning class at the local county extention for basically nothing.  why not give them a hand to encourage greening of the earth this year, with a community garden contribution.

Rainforest Acre Adoption

Photo credit:Courtesy of support.nature.org

Help make your loved one’s surroundings happier and maybe that can put a smile on their face. Adopt an acre in one of the “World’s Last Great Places” with The Nature Conservancy (nature.org, cost varies) or somewhere closer to home (find a local land trust with the Land Trust Alliance).

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/alternative-gifts/rainforest-acre-adoption-gift#ixzz0ZnIFWEQ8

This is one of the gifts we’re giving this year in Jamaica –

it’s not our first time since we regularly contribute to the World Wildlife Foundation. We Love Those Panda Stickers !  the world wildlife foundation has partnered with the woofers to allow them to get a full experience when volunteering. many help at nature preserves, and wildlife sanctuarys to preserve in danger plants and animals.

This is a Great Idea and We Highly Endorse It

WWOOF It

Photo credit:Courtesy of wwoof.org

WWOOF — that’s World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms — is trying to give you a gift too. They want to educate their volunteers about an organic lifestyle. “WOOFers” are volunteers that stay on organic farms and are hosted by a family that offers food, accommodations and learning opportunities. Places to explore and learn include North, Central and South America, Europe-Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. It’s the gift of a lifetime. (wwoof.org)

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/alternative-gifts/wwoof-it-gift#ixzz0ZnJECeOP

This is also one of our gifts this year – Water.

For the last Two Years we’ve contributed to the playpump project for my birthday. it made me so happy to know that the kids who are playing on the wheel are driving the pump to bring the water out of the freshly drilled clean water wells. many of these wells were drilled after Jay-Z joined with the World Water Foundation to promote the cause of Clean Water Globally For ALL. That one endorsement did a world of Good.

Won’t You Join Us and Give the Gift of Life This Year  – Clean Water

This is one of the Pumps we helped to put up last year in Africa

Clean Water

For the do-gooder on your list who’s impossible to find a gift for, give the gift of clean potable water. Assuming that already flows from your friend’s tap, give the clean water in his or her name to those who really need it: families living in developing nations where water is frequently contaminated. Now that’s a true gift. (shopunicef.ca, $45)

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/alternative-gifts/clean-water-gift#ixzz0ZnK6JIHn

This next suggestion is for my friend Staci - of Just Bloggled

Sweet Girl She Is, she wants to give her Sister and Grandmom some Green Cleaning Inspiration.  Staci sweetie, They are not afraid of Spiders so you can give  em a call and rest assured that you did a good green deed.

Green Housecleaning

Photo credit:Courtesy of Maid Brigade

Cleaning’s a drag. What better gift, then, but a whole-house cleaning? Perhaps this: A whole-house cleaning using only sustainable nontoxic cleaning products. That’s just what cleaning services like Maid Brigade or Green Maid Inc. offer. Green cleaning products are just as effective without all the harmful toxins. It’s good for any home and good for the environment. And if a professional cleaning isn’t in your budget, offer to do it yourself for a personal touch that’s sure to satisfy any spouse or roommate. (Cost varies by house)

How About Clean Air – Yes you can help to give that too, by planting trees, orchards and reforesting

this is a totally old but reinvented project.  I so love this that it’s on my list for 2010 gifting ideas.  I think I’ll give both of my sisters trees for this mothers day’ and then give my brother a tree for fathers day.

I’ve given my sisters plants and even Hibiscus Hedges. one of my sisters gets an amaryllis yearly from me. which she has planted in her yard. some of them are 10 years old. my mom had plants from me in her yard, as she started the replant it tradition. when she died, I started giving plants to the rest of the women in my family, in rememberance of that tradition. this year, no doubt somebody will be getting a few trees planted in their name. hopefully one will be mine, especially in Ethiopia. that would be like reestablishing my roots in the motherland, literally.  WOW

Reforest a Nation

Photo credit:Courtesy of worldvision.org

Planting one tree is admirable but helping to reforest a nation is closer to miraculous. In places like Haiti and Ethiopia, deforestation has caused major hardships, like devastating mudslides and decimated farms. With Worldvision you can offer a gift in your friend’s name to support tree nurseries, orchard-planting and educational outreach that supports local communities in forest conservation. It’s a gift that keeps on growing! (worldvision.org, suggested $50)

Adopt an Apple Tree

Photo credit:Courtesy of My Eco Farmer

It’s not the cheapest way to get a box of fresh apples, but it’s memorable. Adopting an organic apple tree from My Eco Farmer gives you access to an amazingly abundant tree on an organic orchard. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then just think what a whole tree can do. (myecofarmer.com, $275 per tree, plus $55 annually for farming and maintenance, plus $30 per box of apples)

There are plenty of other types of trees to adopt as well:
Adopt an Organic Peach Tree: (masumoto.com, $500 per tree, plus the time and effort to harvest the fruit in Fresno, Calif.)
Adopt a Truffle Tree: (truffle-tree.com, $299 for the tree and all the mushrooms that sprout beneath it, $69 annual care and maintenance fee)
Petaluma Farms, various trees: (petalumabounty.org, $100 per tree)

When I get back to Tampa or Atlanta permanently

I’m planning on joining a Community Farm for the fresh produce, and the joy of gardening unusual veggies and herbs.  this is the perfect gift for the folks who like to eat healthy and regularly shop for organic produce.  we can all use this one.

Community Farm Produce

Photo credit:Courtesy of Local Harvest

Fresh farm-grown veggies every week! Set up a friend with shares of a local farm so that they receive produce throughout the season, a program provided by a CSA (short for Community Supported Agriculture). This gift supports local farms and keeps your friends flush with fresh healthy veggies. (localharvest.org, price varies)

This one is surely going to catch the eye of my friend Rachelle; because We Are Wine Lovers.

I was lucky enough to enjoy the winery tour for my honeymoon at Niagara Falls. we drove back along the southern Ontario winery tour route and tasted the whole 500 miles home.  we bought several very good bottles which we enjoyed over the weeks after the trip.  hubby asked about the trip the other nite, and actually said he was ready for his glass of Ice Wine;  Oooooo Me Tooooo !

Organic Winery Tour

Photo credit:Courtesy of Frogs Leap Winery

Buy your friend a tour at Frog’s Leap organic vineyard in Napa Valley to learn how an organic vineyard differs from a conventional operation — and to enjoy some fine wines amid beautiful scenery with a good friend. (frogsleap.com, $15 seated wine tasting)

There are many organic and sustainable vineyards in California wine country, and around the country. For an unforgettable gift, choose a local vineyard with the help of Local Harvest (search for “wine” “vineyard” or “winery”) or local tourism agencies.

I sincerely hope that this year you will think Green when you give. put the spirit back into the holiday. keep the joy with you throughout the rest of the year, in a memory.

Green is Doing Today FOR Tomorrow. Wishing the Happiest of Holidays to all my friends and visitors.

Spread The Cheer,

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Today Bloggers Unite for Hunger and Hope, across the Blogosphere.

Hunger and Hope is a cause that involves each and every mouth on this planet.

we added our names to the role and decided this was a perfect time to talk about getting that kitchen and backyard action going. but first we wanted to remind [...]]]>

Today Bloggers Unite for Hunger and Hope, across the Blogosphere.

Hunger and Hope is a cause that involves each and every mouth on this planet.

we added our names to the role and decided this was a perfect time to talk about getting that kitchen and backyard action going. but first we wanted to remind you that every night in america, a child goes to bed hungry. that’s just plain not right, in a nation where so much is wasted by so few. the politics of food is just as complex as the politics of clean water.

people die for food and still they are hungry. think of the lil girl in the picture above and remember that america is a land of plenty, for such a few.

isn’t it time we started examining our realities a little closer..

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Hunger in America | PBS

we take a look at the First Families’ Efforts to Return to Kitchen Gardening. Victory Gardening has been around for as long as the whitehouse. Mrs. Obama is the first resident in recent years to bring the garden back, and we think it was high time. we also offer you a look at the Green Revolution, and why Mrs. Obama joined it a long time ago – she knew, Hunger Kills.

White House Organic Vegetable Garden – First Lady Michele Obama Plants Organic Vegetable Garden at White House.

First Lady Michele Obama breaks ground for an organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn.

Photo courtesy of The White House

On March 20, 2009, First Lady Michele Obama celebrated the first day of spring by using her famously well-toned biceps to pick up a shovel and break ground for an organic vegetable garden at the White House. (See the official layout [pdf] of the new White House garden.)

Educating Children a Primary Goal of White House Garden
In talking with reporters about the new garden, the first lady got down and dirty about the benefits of good nutrition and the need to educate children, families and whole communities about the importance of a healthful diet, especially at a time when obesity and diabetes have become national health crises.

Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, DC, helped the first lady dig up the 1,100-square-foot garden plot on the south lawn of the White House, which is near the tennis courts and the swing set the Obamas installed for their daughters and can be seen by people passing by on E Street. The plan is to have the students stay involved in planting, tending, harvesting and cooking the presidential produce.

White House Garden to Feed First Family and the Homeless
The Obamas will grow dozens of varieties of vegetables, berries and herbs—a wish list of fresh produce prepared by the White House kitchen staff—and the first lady said that everyone in the first family will help care for the garden. The garden harvest will become part of the Obamas’ daily fare, contribute to state dinners, and be shared with Miriam’s Kitchen, a nearby soup kitchen for the homeless.

The organic vegetable garden will use only natural fertilizers and pest control methods. Two beehives will be installed and tended by a member of the White House staff. The bees will help pollinate the garden and provide honey for the president’s table.

Obamas’ White House Garden Part of a Long Tradition
Planting an organic vegetable garden at the White House is a potent symbol, but it is not a new idea. Gardening and agriculture have been part of the White House culture at many times throughout its history.

Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden on the White House lawn in 1943, inspiring millions of Americans to start their own backyard gardens during World War II. President John Adams, a farmer as well as a lawyer, planted a garden soon after taking office and tended it carefully throughout his presidency. Thomas Jefferson grazed cattle on the White House lawn, Woodrow Wilson kept sheep, and some histories claim that George Washington refused a third term as president in part because he missed his garden at Mount Vernon.

White House Garden Intended to Inspire Americans
Planting an organic vegetable garden at the White House in the midst of a serious recession, and at a time when Americans are increasingly concerned about the environment, sends a powerful message of health, sustainability and self-reliance. The first lady encouraged all Americans to take that message to heart, even if they are unable to plant a garden and grow their own vegetables.

“You can begin in your own cupboard,” she told the New York Times, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.”

(end of article clip)

This video is all about the Freedom Garden and the Homegrown Revolution. I suggest We All Join Immediately. the rewards will be greater than you could ever imagine. Good Health, Good Spirit and Good Eating.

You Go Obamas’ ! Now Lets Get Busy Everybody,

so within the next few weeks the real Recycled Frockery will again reappear here at it’s OWN Domain.

Thanks For sending us good vibes [...]]]>

ScratchThat – We’re BAAAAACCCCKKKK,

welll… as you can see, we took a little Re-design time off.

we Were hosted over at today.com while we took some time to contemplate our next move.

we think we’ve decided

so within the next few weeks the real Recycled Frockery will again reappear here at it’s OWN Domain.

Thanks For sending us good vibes because we highly appreciate em.

Peace ,

to see the video click the title – it will carry you to a great 3 min national geographic video of Cubas’ Green Movement and the Saving of the Loggerhead Tortises; including Cuba’s [...]]]> URL: Cuba Gets Green Cred

November 14, 2008—Cuba is the only country that meets the criteria for sustainable development from the conservation group WWF.

to see the video click the title – it will carry you to a great 3 min national geographic video of Cubas’ Green Movement and the Saving of the Loggerhead Tortises; including Cuba’s fight for a complete ban to capture of Tortises.

so we’re literally starting from scratch. we hope you’ll be a lil patient with us while we recreate our archives, as best we can remember.

this is a [...]]]> We made the move this weekend and now we’re going to start reconstruction on our old archives. we didn’t have the option of moving our previous database with us;

so we’re literally starting from scratch.
we hope you’ll be a lil patient with us while we recreate our archives, as best we can remember.

this is a cute short video spoof on why to endorse being green.

Cheers and Sunshine to You !

~RE