How to make playdough within minutes
During the holidays, as many parents know, kids expect you to entertain them from morning till dawn. Unless the day is action packed, it's a "boring" day and "I don't have anything to do" day. On one of those days, we made a batch of homemade playdough (play dough). In summer, we tend to spend more time outside and kids didn't play with it for a while. Not only did the playdough keep them occupied for hours - to mum and dad's delight, but also there is an educational element to it: development of fine motor skills, blending colours, exploring senses ...
Simple sustainable living in the city – Part I
The big city has its challenges when we talk about simple, sustainable living. Nevertheless it is possible to live a greener, more conscious life in an urban jungle. With just a few easy steps everyone can do their bit towards a greener, more sustainable future. And every little step counts.
Pet chickens: Keeping chickens in the city
Let me introduce our gorgeous city chickens: Princess, Singapore and Sunflower. Singapore is the black one, still occasionally called “he” although reliably proving the opposite every morning. Sunflower (on the left) has brown feathers, lays biggest eggs and is first in the pecking order – meaning she is the boss! Princess is our daughter’s darling, brown too, but laced with more white feathers than Singapore. How it all started? For quite a while, our kids were asking if they could have a pet, as most kids do. We’ve tried to settle for a fish, but “we can’t play with a fish!” was ...
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
My kids' all time favourite desert in summer is ice cream. I would end up with heaps of plastic ice cream containers at the end of the season. They are reused mostly, however the thing I didn't like about buying ice cream was the ingredients list: artificial colours, flavours etc. Commercial one is full of air and that's why it's sold by volume instead by weight.
Sustainable Living
2010 Sustainable Living Festival Melbourne
Sustainable Living Festival- Melbourne is in full swing. The 2010 Festival will...
Christmas at Sustainable Echo
It’s December the 23rd! Where did all 22 days disappear all so suddenly? ...
Make Your Own Bread – Inspirational Video
Bread making is one of the simplest ways to make your life more sustainable. It...
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Eco Kids
Eco-Fun for Kids: Grow Your Veggies and Eat it Too!
Engaging kids in the organic gardening from an early age has many benefits: it...
Funtainer: School Lunches Saviour
After a two-week break, it’s back to school/kinder for our kids tomorrow. That...
Food additives: What is your daily dose?
Born in Europe, my husband and I were brought up without the fast food chains, on...
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Food & Drink
Soft Butter Spread Recipe
In my previous post on butter, Butter vs. Margarine, I wrote about why butter is a better option. As I mentioned at the end, there is one thing about butter that isn’t so handy: it’s solid and hard to spread directly out of the fridge! Types of butter Butter is mostly made form cows’ milk. In the past, cream was collected from the raw milk... [Read more of this review]
Butter vs. Margarine
Summer school holiday is over. The school started on Monday and kinder is back to full hours next week. For me it means back to lunchboxes, school -kinder-home triangle, but also back to writing in peace and quiet . Sandwiches are on the menu again. But, what to put on the bread: butter or margarine? The butter vs. margarine debate is always... [Read more of this review]
Healthy and easy: Berry Pudding
I’m very excited to see the first strawberry flowers in our container garden: the berry season in upon us! We will have just enough of our strawberries to taste, but usually go to the berry farms to pick larger quantities. The best way to enjoy berries is to eat them fresh on their own or in fruit salads. Also, we make a lot of berry... [Read more of this review]
Homemade Vanilla Extract in Less Than 5 Minutes
Vanilla is my all time favourite spice! There’s something luxurious, exotic and warm in the vanilla scent. This might be why: vanilla plant belongs to the orchid family growing in tropical regions and is the second most expensive spice (saffron is first). I used to by a single vanilla bean only when cooking for a special occasion. At $6 plus... [Read more of this review]
Simple gluten & dairy free orange cake
Orange cake is a special treat, especially in winter when cakes with apples and pears dominate. Many recipes involve boiling the orange for an hour or so – the length of the process always puts me off. This flourless orange cake recipe is simple and the cake is all done and ready to eat in less than 1 hour. In addition it’s gluten free... [Read more of this review]
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