Throwing an Eco Friendly Dinner Party

I got up thinking it was Friday….DUH! Talk about being disappointed! After taking a few minutes to get over it, I hopped in the shower and got going with my day!

Breakfast:
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Old Wessex 5 Grain oats
-cinnamon
-1 tbsp PB2
-mashed up naner
-carob chips
Mmmm…my new favourite combo! Not only does it taste great, but it lasts me for hours!!

I got the baking bug at the late hour of 9pm last night. What's a girl to do? Well, I went for it! I baked this banana bread recipe from Hungry Girl. The only thing I changed was adding a ¼ cup of agave nectar in place of the Splenda (yuck!) and I also took the liberty of adding a scant quarter cup of cocoa powder to make it a chocolate banana bread! Here’s the damage!
I spent a good chunk of the morning in an impromptu meeting. You all know the kind…”this will only take a few minutes” and 1.5hrs later you get back to your desk. Yeah…fun times! I snacked on a piece of the above mentioned treat after reorganizing myself. Man, it turned out goooood!

I decided not to go to the gym today. Since my hubby has been on afternoons I’ve hardly seen him and the tension of the different schedule is starting to take its toll so I called him up and asked him to meet me at Subway for lunch. I had a 6” turkey on WW with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, black olives and sweet onion sauce. This sub was delish!
And it was nice to catch up with the man!!

I spent the afternoon fiddling with a government site to get some payroll documents sent and sending out new tax forms. Jealous? No? Don’t blame ya!

The kids and I went grocery shopping right after work. Let me tell you how impressed they were! Well, DD doesn’t mind, but it’s certainly not DS’s idea of a fun outing! I normally would’ve gone tomorrow but the store I shop at has some sweet sales so I pushed it up a day. I’m a rebel, I know.

What I had packed for lunch turned into my dinner. I think it made a much better dinner, to be honest! I defrosted the portion of butter chicken that I put away last week and served it over a bed of Shiritaki Fettuccini noodles.

Did this ever hit the spot in a good way! I ate the normal sweet end...a mint chip Cadbury Thin!

The kids are just finishing up a movie and then I'll be breaking out my 30 Day Shred DVD to (hopefully) work up a sweat! It's really nice out and I thought about going out for a run, but I think the kids are pretty wiped out so I'm gonna have to pass on that. Once that is done I will be doing the 3 sets of squats that I would have done last night had Precision Pilates not kicked my butt so bad! Then, as per the OSG BBCC, DD and I are going to dance around the living room! I’m pretty sure the 2 of them will think I’m nutso after that!

Is anyone thinking about planning a spring dinner party??? I'll leave you with an article by cookware.com on some tips to having a eco friendly get together!!

Hosting an Eco-Friendly Spring Party
Depending on where you’re living, spring
is either here already, or it’s right around the corner. To me there’s no
better time of the year to have an outdoor party, weather permitting of
course. There’s always a sense of optimism; as good as the weather is now,
it will only get better as the months go on!
But as spring begins anew, keep
in mind that there’s no better time to starting thinking about the earth when it
comes to party-planning. While parties and get-togethers can certainly be
a good time, they can also create a lot of waste, and it doesn’t need to be that
way. If you follow just a few simple guidelines, you should have no
problems throwing a party that is both fun and earth-friendly!
Don’t Bother
Sending out Snail Mail
Many people still use traditional stationary and cards
when sending out invites for weddings and anniversaries, and certainly these
types of invitations do have their time and place. However, for a spring
gathering, are sending out paper invitations really necessary? These days,
a simple e-mail or facebook invitation should do the trick in most cases.
And if you want to send an invitation in style, sites such as evite.com or
socializr.com can send out customized and personalized invites for free without
creating paper waste.
Buy Local
Buying food produced locally has been a
huge trend recently, especially when it comes to produce. Simply put, food
grown locally will greatly reduce you carbon footprint, especially when you
consider that much of the produce stocked in supermarkets come from Central and
South America or Europe and thus uses a lot of energy to get from the fields to
your plate. Certainly what’s available can vary depending on where you
live and whether the party is planned for early or late spring, but it might be
a good idea to go to a local farmer’s market, see what is available and then
plan out your recipes and dishes accordingly.
Ditch the Disposable
Plates and Utensils
Most people opt for disposable dinnerware as it makes
cleanup a lot easier. But this creates a lot of unnecessary waste, and
some types of disposables are quite harmful for the environment, especially ones
made of Styrofoam materials. Using real plates, utensils and glasses are a
much more eco-friendly option, even if it does mean more cleanup work.
Using non-disposable dinnerware does require that more water being used
during the cleanup process, so if you’re making water conservation a priority or
live in an area in which water use is restricted, consider using disposables
that made of materials certified as biodegradable. While this does create
more trash, biodegradables compost within a month, so they won’t create any
long-term environmental problems.
These are just a few simple ways to help
host an eco-friendly spring party. The important thing to remember is that
having a party without creating waste is easier to do than you think. Even
taking such simple steps as having your party during the daytime will help
reduce excess waste and energy without sacrificing fun as you ring in
Spring!

Hope you all enjoyed that!! Have a great night....

Bye for now!