Hey earth muffins! I hope everyone is staying safe during this troubling time in this country, regarding both Mister Corona and the protests/riots. While I mentioned in a previous post that my mental health has been affected by being in quarantine this long, the state of our current world has definitely not helped…. But, I have found that certain activities, like baking things or making homemade granola, help me stay positive! So, I wanted to share a recipe on how to make easy focaccia bread to (hopefully) give a little joy into your day. 🥰
Doesn’t this bread look good?!
On a sidenote, you might have noticed that Life of an Earth Muffin looks quite different – my Blogger to WordPress migration is officially completed!! I am so happy with how it looks, but I will definitely be doing a lot of research and playing around with WordPress to improve my blog even more. Let’s go get some bread! 🍞
What You Need: -2 cups of warm water -1 packet of active dry yeast (make sure you are using active dry, as instant yeast is not the same thing and doesn’t need the water to be activated!) -1 tbsp of sugar -2 tsps of salt -4 cups of flour -1/4 cup olive oil -Rosemary
What To Do: 1. Pour the packet of active dry yeast into a bowl with the warm water. Stir until the yeast has mostly dissolved – it will look like cloudy water when it is ready!
2. Next, add the sugar and salt, and stir together. Add the flour (I found it easiest to do the flour in cup increments to ensure that I could easily mix up the dough!). Stir the dough until everything is fully incorporated.
3. After the dough is ready, spray a casserole dish with Pam (or rub with some butter if you are trying to live that low waste lifestyle!) to ensure that the bread won’t stick. Use whatever casserole size you want depending on how thick you would like the bread to be. I personally like thicker focaccia breads, so I used a small casserole dish.
4. Lastly, drizzle the olive oil on top and sprinkle rosemary, adding as much as you want depending on your herbal preferences.
5. Let the dough rise for 45 minutes in a warm place. I suggest putting it into the oven with only the oven light on!
6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (making sure to remove your rising dough if you had it in the oven!).
7. Bake for about 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cut into squares and serve warm. Any leftovers can be put into a mason jar or Tupperware to be served cool the next day.
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There you have it, some delicious and incredibly easy bread to make! What have you been baking recently?
Hey earth muffins! In the past, I have done some sponsored reviews for Primal Pit Paste and have loved everything I have tried from this company. I was quite excited when they recently reached out to me again, as they have now re-named themselves as Pretty Frank. After searching through the products that I have not tried, I was curious to try out the new Vanilla Lavender Lotion Bar. They were kind enough to send it my way, so I will be sharing my thoughts on the product with you all today!
What I Love *It is plastic free! It is no secret that I have been trying to avoid as much plastic/unnecessary packaging since starting my journey towards living a sustainable lifestyle in 2018. Lotion containers irritate me because 1) they are made of plastic and 2) you often can’t get everything out of the bottle (which can impact their ability to be recycled). This product comes in a cardboard box, which can be recycled. I love that the product itself is “naked”, as it resembles some of Lush’s products. I love that companies are starting to realize that it is important to reduce the waste of their packaging!
*Perfect for all your moisturizing needs without being greasy. I also am not a fan of typical lotions because they are often quite greasy…. Who else can’t open doors for a solid 5 minutes after rubbing in some lotion? So annoying! This bar is awesome because it moisturizes but doesn’t get that greasy layer on your hands (or wherever you apply it). Especially in a time when we are washing our hands more, it is so important to keep your skin healthy and moisturized!
*Easy to apply! I was interested to see if it would be harder to apply a lotion in bar form, but it is quite simple. All I do is take the bar and rub it over the area of dry skin and rub it in with my fingers for a minute or so. Again, the fact that it doesn’t leave behind any greasy residue is so great for me – definitely a huge bonus!
*Equivalent price to other lotions. This bar is only $10 (or $8.50 if you get a plan to ship every 1-3 months). While I have only been using it a few weeks, it seems like it will last for a long time as you don’t need a ton of product for each use. Lotion, in general, can be pricey, but I think this is a good bang for you buck!
*Fast shipping (even in quarantine!). I was talking with my contact at the company (shoutout to Katie!) right when all of the stay at home orders were first put into place. And my product still got to my house super-fast!
*Smells amazing! Honestly, who can hate the scents of vanilla and lavender together? Lavender is such a calming scent for me, so I love applying this lotion right before going to bed as it helps me go to sleep. I am not sure if Pretty Frank is going to release more scents in the future, but it wouldn’t surprise me. If vanilla and lavender aren’t your thing, keep an eye out!
What Could Be Better *The circle shape could be a square. As the cardboard box is a square, it would seem like the bar itself could be a square as well. Even though the circle shape is easy to roll over the skin when applying, it might be easier storage wise if it were a square instead (even though I just kept the box it came in and haven’t had any storage issues yet).
*It came wrapped in wax paper. While the box itself is recyclable, the bar was also wrapped in a small square of wax paper. This can’t be recycled, so I made sure to reuse it before throwing it away. I would have loved to see this wax paper be just normal paper that could be recycled! : )
Overall, I have been loving Pretty Frank’s Vanilla Lavendar Lotion Bar! If you are looking for a more sustainable option than your typical plastic bottle lotion, I would definitely recommend giving it a try. I look forward to trying more Pretty Frank products in the future! What lotion are you currently using while in quarantine?
Hey earth muffins! As this blog has seen some drastic shifts in its content over the past year or so, I wanted to write a post about my thoughts on being a “zero waste” blogger. It seems that as sustainability becomes a more popular topic in the news and among the younger generations, there has been a rise in the “zero waste” blog category. However, I personally will never consider Life of an Earth Muffin to be a “zero waste” blog; here are the reasons why.
First, I would like to start out by saying a disclaimer that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a zero waste blog or living the zero waste lifestyle! I support anyone and everyone who is in this category, but I don’t see being completely zero waste as a realistic end goal for me. While creating absolutely no waste is incredible for those who opt to do so, I hope to live as sustainably as possible without subjecting myself to living that strict of a lifestyle. My boyfriend, who I will be living with starting in August, is not fully on board with zero waste living as well, so it would be difficult to try to live this lifestyle if he were not too. Zero waste in general is definitely not a perfect concept (because really, what is “perfect”?), so I figure that I will live the way I want to live and share that journey here on Life of an Earth Muffin.
You definitely do not need to be 100% zero waste to make an impact on the planet and challenge the views of people living around you, so I would much prefer to stay away from the “trendy” label of being zero waste and pave my own path for my unique way to sustainably live. I hope that my content will continue to show what one person can do in their daily life and inspire others to follow – one of the reasons I changed my blog’s name to Life of an Earth Muffin is because being an “earth muffin” encompasses so many more people than those who are just “zero waste”.
Even though I personally have found that being low waste does not require extra money in my budget, the zero-waste community is already one plagued by privilege. How are you supposed to be zero waste if you don’t have access to bulk stores or secondhand shops? Or affordable bulk or organic options? Or live in a climate where fresh produce is unavailable? Or have the time or resources to avoid all plastics? The media around this lifestyle is often white centric and female heavy, with mason jars full of trash in tow. While it is a misconception that everyone who is zero waste must have this mason jar trash can, I would much rather not put myself (or my blog) into a category that is not totally inclusive.
While using the terms “zero waste” and “low waste” will always be a part of this blog (because face it, clickbait and “trendy” terms are necessary to drive traffic), I don’t find myself trying to shove my content or modify it to fit into a category that doesn’t accurately describe me. Helping the planet and inspiring others to do the same are my main goals for this blog, and I know that I can be successful at it without being fully zero waste. 🙂
Thanks for listening to my TED talk – comment below and don’t forget to follow Life of an Earth Muffin to never miss another post!
Hey earth muffins! Wow – it feels great writing an actual post for you all! If you read my latest updates, you will know that my boyfriend and I recently took a trip to Disney World over spring break, before all the craziness of Mister Corona started. We definitely lucked out with timing, as most (if not all) of the Disney parks are now closed due to the pandemic (please stay safe out there everyone!). After my boyfriend and I had picked our destination, I was excited to see if visiting Disney parks is possible when you are zero waste or, like me, trying to be as low waste as possible. We were in Orlando, FL for only a total of 4 days and hit up two different parks: Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
So the big question is, can a trip to Disney be sustainable? For the short answer: yes, it is totally possible to zero waste Disney parks. BUT, it does require some effort. From our experience, I wanted to share some of my suggestions for making a trip to Disney World as low waste as possible.
Take advantage of the fact that you can bring bags into the park. My parents gifted me an adorable mini backpack purse for Christmas, so I was able to bring food and my 8 oz stainless steel water bottle into the park with me. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to bring in metal, but Disney is apparently only strict about no glass in the parks. That being said, you can bring in as many reusable containers as you want, which is awesome if you are wanting to reduce single use items when it comes to food and water as well as save a lot of money with how expensive Disney food is. There are plenty of water fountains around the parks too, so don’t worry about running out of water!
Reuse your Magic Band if you have been to Disney before (or are an Annual Passholder). Even if your band was linked to a different account you are able to re-link it to a new account, which saves you from having a plastic card/ticket to enter the parks and use for FastPass. If this is your first time to the park, no worries! Save your Magic Band for either your next trip or give to family/friends who will be going (who can then re-link the band to their own account). A perfect zero waste Disney tip!
Use the My Disney Experience app instead of paper maps, menus, etc. The Disney app has everything you could possibly need during your visit including wait times, maps, dinner reservations, booking FastPasses, etc. Make sure that someone in your group has a phone that has a battery that will last all day or bring a travel charger if you have one.
Take advantage of the dinner reservation feature of the app and take a break by eating in instead of eating out! Many of the Instagram worthy mouse shaped treats come with a lot of waste in tow… Even though Disney did make the switch to paper straws, single use items are still mainly used. If you have the financial resources, try a sit-down restaurant instead! My boyfriend and I had been gifted a bunch of Disney gift cards before our trip, so we definitely took advantage of eating in and found some really tasty food along the way!
Eat vegetarian/vegan options! On the topic of food, I suggest reducing your impact on the planet by utilizing the many vegetarian and vegan options at Disney. I have been a pescatarian since August and was excited to learn about all of the great options they have in their parks. Many of the take-out options are pretty customizable when it comes to removing meat from say a Greek salad (the price will also be less).
Reduce your food waste by ordering off the kid’s menu. I’ll be the first to admit that my stomach is the size of a large snail. Okay, it’s probably bigger than that, but I get full SO easily. To prevent throwing away half of a meal, I would definitely recommend either splitting or ordering from the kid’s menu. No one at Disney cares if you aren’t 12 and under (I promise!), and the meals are actually quite large, healthy, and cheaper than the adult versions of the same thing.
Use alternative transportation to get to the parks! Reduce the emissions from yet another car going to Disney and use the many other forms of transportation available in Orlando. Many of the resorts and outside hotels have shuttle services or take an UberPool instead.
Buy your Mickey merch at the thrift store (or borrow from family/friends) BEFORE you get to the park. While thrifting for Disney apparel is definitely a trial and error process because of the brand’s popularity, it can be done for a zero waste Disney trip. After keeping my eye out for a couple of months, I found an adorable Mickey shirt for only $0.25 at one of the local thrift stores in Ann Arbor! I actually saw a woman wearing the same exact shirt at Magic Kingdom, but my impact on the planet was much much smaller. If you aren’t having any luck, try borrowing clothes (and even Mickey ears) from family or friends. This will also save you hella coin at the parks!
Be smart with your souvenir choices and avoid all plastic ones! I won’t sit here and tell you to not buy a souvenir at all because then I would be a hypocrite. But, you can still buy things at the parks that aren’t terrible for the environment. We bought a couple of paper postcards to use as wall décor (which can then be recycled if we ever get bored of them) and then a glass ornament for our Christmas tree. While avoiding plastic souvenirs gets much harder when you have kids, try to steer your eager shopper towards something that will last a long time like a metal pin, glass figurine, etc.
Overall, I think you can definitely make your trip at Disney a sustainable one! Like any situation, you just need to be cognizant of the impact your decisions will have. But, don’t feel like your whole trip has to be fully sustainable! I personally feel like doing my best to live zero/low waste 90% of the time is totally fine because I am still doing a ton to help out the planet. If you want to splurge on a plastic Elsa doll or a Mickey ice cream sandwich in plastic wrap 10% of the time, I say go for it! We all deserve a little extra at the happiest place in the world.
Hey earth muffins! I am officially home to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family – and I am so excited! 🎉 Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays as I get to do two of my fave things: hang with my family and eat all day. 😂 Ever since starting my journey towards living zero waste, I have been writing posts about how to reduce waste on holidays (check out my Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day posts!)… In honor of this Thursday, I thought I would share some tips on how you can reduce waste this Thanksgiving!
~Avoid unnecessary packaging at the grocery store when you do your holiday shopping. I suggest checking out the bulk bins for some great savings or buying loose produce for your meal! You could even challenge yourself to make everything from scratch like the pumpkin puree for your pumpkin pie! If you have to buy something in packaging, choose glass or metal containers that can be easily recycled. 👍
~Have a vegetarian dinner. Turkey is such a classic for Thanksgiving, but you could always try having a meatless holiday feast! The meat industry is pretty terrible in terms of both sustainability and ethical practices, so avoiding turkey is a great way to share these beliefs. This is obviously not for everyone as I know my own family would never not have a bird, but maybe your family would be okay with it!
~Know how many people you are cooking for! While having some leftovers is a good thing, you don’t want to have so many leftovers that you end up throwing a lot away after a few days. 👎 Keeping serving sizes in mind is a great way to reduce food waste this Thanksgiving.
~Set up a designated compost bin and keep it nearby when cooking. When you are cooking this holiday, make sure to put all of the food scraps into a compost bin! This is especially great if you are preparing food for a good amount of people, as you will be shocked to see how much compost you have been throwing away all these years. After dinner you can put the compost into your own compost bin or have someone take it to theirs (or to drop off at a local composting company).
~Use “fancy” table settings. I’m talking the whole nine yards: fancy dishes, cloth tablecloths and napkins, nice silverware, etc. If you are hosting and don’t have enough supplies, ask you family and friends to bring some along! While you will then have to wash everything at the end of the night, you will be saving a ton of waste from heading to the landfill. Worth it!
~Plan what to do with the leftovers! After a couple of days after Thanksgiving my family definitely gets tired of the same leftovers… So make a plan on what you are going to do with the leftovers! You could freeze some turkey to put in soups, turn vegetable dishes into a casserole, etc. etc. By having a plan you will be less likely to just throw away the food after a few days. 🙂
When I wrote my review of Mad Hippie’s Mineral Mascara last month, I referenced the other mascara that I use on a day-to-day basis and realized that I have not written a full review of it yet… I have been using a mascara from Clean Faced Cosmetics for a couple of years now, so I thought today would be a perfect day to share my Clean Faced Cosmetics cake mascara review!
What I Love: *It is sustainable! This was one of the first switches I made when I started my green journey back in May 2018. The mascara comes in a metal tin, can be sent back to the Etsy seller to be refilled, and comes in zero waste packaging. I also use a powder from this shop (see the full review here!), and I love that the seller will ship a compostable bag of the product instead of using another tin.
*Made of only 4 ingredients – As you all know I try to keep the ingredient count down on all the products I use, as I’m not a fan of chemicals or putting things on my body that shouldn’t really be there…. So I LOVE that this product is made with less than 5 ingredients!
*Good pigmentation and color – It is not super duper black (even though it is buildable if you want a dark black), which I love because I usually do a natural makeup look.
*Lasts all day and is easy to get off in the shower! I mentioned in my Mad Hippie mascara review that I didn’t like how I had to actually try to get this mascara off in the shower. I love this Clean Faced Cosmetic mascara because it is easy to get off with just water but lasts all day long.
*It is multi-purpose – Because this mascara is in cake form, it allows it to be used as both a mascara, eyeliner, brow filler, and even eyeshadow! I typically just use it as mascara and eyeliner, which saves me from creating more waste than I need to! 👏
*Easy to apply! Cake mascara might seem harder to apply compared to those in tubes, but it is actually super simple.
*Comes with a TON of product – Especially if you use a small amount each day like me, this product will last you a long time.
*Supports a local business – Laura, the lovely lady who owns the Etsy store, is from Grand Rapids, MI. I love that I am able to support a local Midwestern!
*Easy to sanitize! Mascara wands can get pretty nasty and collect bacteria, so I love to sanitize my cake mascara by spraying it with some rubbing alcohol every once in awhile. You definitely can do this with typical plastic containers!
What I Don’t Love: *A bit pricey – Compared to cheaper drugstore products (like elf, NYX, Wet n Wild, etc.) this mascara is more expensive… But for $16 (and usually the shop has some awesome sales!), it is definitely worth it!
*Learning curve – While applying cake mascara is easy, it will require you to learn how to do so if you have been using wand mascaras for your whole life. Not a big con, but I thought I would still add it to the list. 😬
Thanks for reading my Clean Faced Cosmetics cake mascara review! What is your favorite mascara currently?
Hey earth muffins! A couple of weekends ago, I went to Cleveland to visit one of my college friends. She lives in a suburb on the East Side of the city and was kind enough to show me around for a few days. It was so much fun to explore with her, so I thought I would share another weekender’s guide with you all (especially since you have loved my guides for Madison (WI), Fort Wayne (IN), Bar Harbor (ME), and Washington D.C.). 😊
What To Do: 1. Visit the Cleveland Museum of Art – My friend is a huge art buff, so it was great to explore this museum with her as she knew so many fun facts about certain paintings and artists! For a free museum, it has SO much art it in from ancient Egyptian sculptures to modern art. Plus, they have some extremely famous art from Monet, Degas, Picasso, Rembrant, etc. 🎨 We were lucky enough to witness a couple get engaged in front of a Monet painting, which was definitely the cherry on top of this museum trip!
2. Walk around Little Italy – Your girl right here is Italian, so of course I had to check out Little Italy! It was so cute and fun to walk around; see my Italian dessert suggestions in the section below. 😉
3. Drive through the gorgeous neighborhoods of Shaker Heights – This might be odd, but I absolutely love to drive through residential neighborhoods when I am visiting new places! There are some gorgeous (and huge) houses in Shaker Heights, so I would definitely recommend driving around if you are into that sort of thing.
4. Walk around University Circle – At the heart of the East Side of Cleveland is University Circle which has many museums (the art museum is here!) and colleges (including Case Western). It is a great place to cover some ground on foot.
5. Spend time in the Botanical garden – I was in town when the weather was just starting to turn cold, so I wasn’t able to embrace any nature inside the garden… However, I would definitely recommend checking it out if you are searching for some calm in the city. 🦋
6. Find some famous graves in the Lake View Cemetery – President Garfield, John Rockefeller, and many other people are buried here. There is free parking on the side of the street next to the cemetery on East 123rd Street, which is a great place to park if you are going to walk around Little Italy or University Circle!
What To Eat: 1. Cannoli from Presti’s Italian Bakery – Cannoli have forever been my favorite dessert, and these were a 10/10. This place gets extremely busy, so make sure you take a number when you enter so that you save your spot in line. 😄 They have huge portions for a reasonable price, making it a must stop!
2. Peppermint Thai Cuisine – This restaurant is located over in the Pepper Pike suburb, so if you find yourself nearby I would definitely recommend. The food is healthy, delicious, and a great price! The teriyaki salmon was amazing, and my friend (and her family) order food from this restaurant all the time (which shows you just how good it is!).
3. Mitchell’s Ice Cream – Good ice cream is a staple whenever I travel, so I love that this brand is local to Ohio. They have traditional flavors but also some out of the box ones, making it perfect for everyone in the family! 🍨
What are your favorite things to do on the East Side of Cleveland?
Hey earth muffins! Today I wanted to talk about a topic that I have noticed much more during my journey towards living zero waste: planned obsolescence. 🤔 Let’s jump right into it!
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What is Planned Obsolescence? “Planned obsolescence” is the term used when goods are produced in a way that will become obsolete in the near future (usually about 2 – 4 years). This requires the consumer to replace the good when it becomes obsolete. Some examples of planned obsolescence make sense; in fashion, nylons are going to run after a certain point and will need replacing. However, planned obsolescence has become more prevalent and is often used by companies to maintain revenues across the years. Think about Apple: their iPhones only last a few years when more sturdy phones could actually last decades.
Why is Planned Obsolescence bad? Let me make this clear – not all forms of planned obsolescence are bad. Often times, this practice can help with technological improvements. But, there are many negatives as well:
*Costs the consumer (YOU!) more money because you have to keep buying replacements
*Results in lower quality goods – if it is made to break in 2 – 3 years how good can it really be?
*Creates unnecessary and excess waste going to landfill 😥
*Reinforces our “throwaway-able” culture – just like fast fashion has ruined how we see and value our clothes, products that become obsolete strengthen the way we view material goods as something that will be in our lives for a short time and then get replaced. See previous reason on why this is bad.
What can you do to avoid Planned Obsolescence? 1. Only buy the best of the best: Do research before buying products to make sure they will last you a long time. Many brands advertise that their products last a lifetime because they actually might! Definitely prioritize supporting brands that make these higher quality items.
2. Repair it instead of buying new: I’ve personally had my iPhone 6 since junior year in high school instead of forking out money to purchase the latest and greatest iPhones. It does what I need it to do (text and call people, check email, etc.) so that is good enough for me!
3. Don’t buy into everything advertisements are trying to sell you: Trying to live sustainably has really helped me on this one, as it is easy for me to refuse products that I don’t need and won’t last.
4. Buy used or antique: How many times have you seen your grandma use an old cooking dish from the 60’s? Those goods were always made to last so try to buy those instead!
