Kitchen Business, Part Deux

he got me

Ever hear of Dr. Julie Becker?  I hadn't either, until this morning, when I heard her speak at a synagogue service.  She's the founder of Women's Health & Environmental Network, an organization that serves Southeastern PA, in trying to educate and increase awareness of the connections between our environment, our living habits and our health.

In listening to her speak (highlighting the terrible results of BPA exposure), I thought of a few more items of business that I left out on that A Change Will Do You Good post I wrote last week.  I neglected to discuss utensils, pots and pans, cleaning supplies and other kitchen-related goodies.

First off, let's just say that common sense is key (duh) to keeping a healthy kitchen.  If you are using a plastic spatula that seems to be melting and leaving bits in your eggs, it's time to add it to the landfills and switch to bamboo.  Wooden spoons and spatulas (yes, they do make flat ones) are perfect for all kinds of cooking and baking.  While it's easy to stain them with quality spices, I always feel better about using something earthy to prepare something earthy.  They are easy to come by, especially at Home Goods or Marshalls (my favorite places to shop for kitchen accessories), are pretty inexpensive, and make nice gifts.  Use metal ladles or slotted spoons for dishing out heartier foods and just stay away from plastic altogether.

a very big butterfly landed on me.

Next, we have pots and pans.  Kind of a biggie.  I feel the same way about these as I did about the melting plastic spatulas.  Thanks but no thanks.  We got some beautiful stainless steel pots and cast iron pans from our wedding, and I just stick with those.  Look for sales at Macy's or again, Home Goods, for some good deals on basic cookware.  There's been some discussion about green pans as well.  My feeling is that they won't stand up to high heat for very long, so might as well spend your money wisely and just use different oils while cooking so you don't have to do too much scrubbing.

*In the spirit of full disclosure, I will confess that we have one Calphalon pan I have not been able to part with because I get perfect over easy eggs in it.  But the minute it starts to shed on me, it's history.

see my name? I am famous.

Speaking of scrubbing, let's discuss soap.  I like Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers (honeysuckle counter spray - best scent ever), Avalon, and method.  But only the sulfate-free kind.  Bleach has been banished from our kitchen.  An unnamed (albeit well-intentioned) houseguest once cleaned the inside of a coffeepot with a bleach soak.  Um, I appreciate the desire to make it all look so pretty and unused, but I prefer my java minus the poison.  You?

***TIME WARP***

I took a break from this post yesterday (read: cannot accomplish a task with a 4 year old in the vicinity) and am coming back to it this morning.  Last night, after said child was asleep, I was bitten by the Clean Out the Linen Closet Bug.  Mostly because you can't get anything out of there without 5 bottles of body goo falling on your head.  Like a rabid dog, I went hunting (for crap to toss).  And boy oh boy did I find it.

I have this guilt (tip of the iceberg) about throwing this stuff away.  And I feel like that about all of the kitchen stuff we got rid of/are storing in the basement.  We are just filling up the planet with our trash.  It feels awful, especially when I'm throwing out whole tubes of lotions and high end hair product.  But I would feel worse giving it away to someone to use on their person.  So I choose what I think is the lesser of two evils and I throw it away.  Let it become the earth's problem.  Anyone interested in starting up a planet-safe poison disposal system?

Now.  You may be wondering what these pictures have to do with health conscious kitchen utensils.  The answer?  Nothing.  My parents, husband, and I all attended the Light the Night Awards Reception last week at the Academy of Natural Sciences.  Since I'm too lazy to go take pictures of our kitchen stuff, I figured I'd add these to the mix.  Big shout out again to all of you who helped to make me a Bright Light (raised more than $1000 for LLS).  As a group, we raised over $2,500.  You do Team Mama Mia proud.

xxoo