Gems From The Farmer's Market

These tomatoes have inspired me to make a Caprese Salad. Here's how I make it;

4 tomatoes, sliced thin (golf ball size)
2 oz of fresh mozarella sliced thin
4 big basil leaves sliced into thin ribbons
A drizzle of extra virgen olive oil
salt and pepper

Toss it all in a dish and let it marinate together for about 15 minutes before eating. For a prettier presenation, stack up the tomatoes and cheese alternating them like poker chips. Spread them out in a fan like cards and top with basil, oil and salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

If you're wondering what to do with these lovelies, try this recipe for Oven Roasted Green Beans.

Or if you have a recipe for Green Beans Almondine, please share in the comments!

What are you loving at the Farmer's Market these days?

Texture Tuesday

I Love Meeting Other Eco Peeps!

I did a private corporate Earth Day show last month and met Lachelle of Chaming Ink

and Misty of MistyAmber Art. Feel free to check out their works by click on the pictures.

Please Take Action

Carageenan does not belong in organic products.  This synthetic (not organic) ingredient has been shown to cause digestive problems and cancer. Ewwww!

Please educate yourself by popping over to the Organic Consumers Association to read more about it.

There's also a prewritten letter here to send electronically to organic brands to tell them to stop using carageenan. All our voices together can send a message and change what organic companies are doing.

Texture Tuesday

Sneak Peek of a Future Paper Lab's Upcoming Funness :)

Green Eats: Oven Roasted Green Beans

 

Oven Roasted Green Beans

Preheat oven to 350.

1 pound of fresh green beans (frozen work ok too)

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Wash and clean the beans, cutting off the ends. Dry them.

2.  Spread the beans out in a single layer on a sheet pan.

3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes to roast.

5. Pull them out and sprinkle evenly with parmesan cheese.

6. Roast for 10 more minutes to get thet cheese melted and toasty brown.

Enjoy!

These are a delish side dish -- I like to think of them as green cheese fries! :)

NEW! Origami Stationery and a Mother's Day Concert

So with some experimentation and fun conversations, I have started making origami stationery.

Here's a sneak peak of a set that I am donating to the Women's Chorus of Dallas fundraiser silent auction. I met one of their members at an Earth Day event and we got to talking and voila!

They are focused on butterflies and pink.

Their next event is on Mother's Day at Fair Park and all the details are available here.

The idea of stationery has been floating around for a while but after my conversation with Frida,  I had to take action! Available in my Etsy shop later this month!

Earth Day Event in Fort Worth

At a recent corporate Earth Day event, I made some fun discoveries - vendors, ways to serve up flatware and some new friends.

 

The event getting set up.

 

Ranchman's Soapery table.

I was really lucky to have Ranchman's Soapery as my vendor-neighbor. They were really nice and added a delish fragrance to the event. I think people were naturally drawn to their yummy smelling table of soaps. You can check out all their goodies for yourself here.

 

The product that seemed to get the most comments was a soap bar called "Stinky Dog". It can be used to wash dogs or humans. It got lots of giggles and was really popular. I chose a soap -- cucumber. It's a very mild fragrance and very rich and creamy -- and a gorgeous color. Can't wait to try some of their other fragrances too!

 

Flatware dispensery.

This facility had some really cool green accessories. I love their very "Sheldon Cooper friendly" flat wear dispenser - one of my faves. It keeps things clean, tidy and recyclable. You just press the handle on the right and one piece of flatware at a time is dispensed. Clever! 

Still Celebratng Earth Day: water

Spring Time Fun and Cute Creatures

Some lucky person will be receiving these cuties in the mail this next week! (I'll keep the person's identity a secret for now -- I love planning sneaky fun surprises.)

These hedgehog nail brushes melted my heart when I saw them. So cute, so useful and colorful too! Can't wait to put them in the mail as a little Springtime surprise package!