Non-toxic Microwave Popcorn

What?!  Non-toxic microwave popcorn?  Am I saying that microwave popcorn might be bad for you?  Yup.

Microwave popcorn contains a Teflon-like chemical in the lining of the bag to keep it dry and non-stick.  This chemical, PFOA (which the EPA classified as a likely carcinogen), has been shown to cause cancer in lab mice. And it has been found in small amounts in the blood of nearly 95 percent of humans.  I don't know how much evidence links it to cancer in humans, but I don't want to find out in thirty years that there is a connection.

Many of the companies who make microwave popcorn have plans to remove PFOAs by 2015, but I'm not sure that the chemical with which they will replace it will be any better.  It's best to avoid as many chemicals as you can.

Luckily, you can still use the microwave to cook up a quick, healthy, and non-toxic snack. Just buy a container or bag of plain popcorn at the grocery store.

Place 1/4 cup of the popcorn into a plain paper bag, and fold it over twice. Make a nice, strong fold, so your snack doesn't start popping out all over the microwave. Press the popcorn button on your microwave (or pop for three to four minutes).

Top as you like: butter, salt, nutritional yeast, Old Bay, or cinnamon and sugar.  Easy, and no unwanted chemicals.

I wanted to take a picture of the popped popcorn so you could see how pretty and fluffy it was, but I ate it all before I thought of it.  Oops.

A Natural Soultion to Ants (And Other Bugs)

Every spring (yes, I've been meaning to post this for a while), we get inundated with ants in the kitchen. Blech. I've tried just about ever imaginable natural solution: tea tree oil, peppermint, orange and lemon, cinnamon, etc, etc, etc. I spent all of last spring trying to defeat the ants with no success. They would continue coming in--Ants are easily squished, but they soon come back--and in greater numbers. (hee hee. anyone get that mangled allusion? anyone? anyone?)

This ant is not one that invaded my house. I invited this one in!
He lives in our AntFarm.

Well, this year, I found a miraculous, all-natural, non-toxic bug destroyer! Diatomaceous earth. Wha? That is a mouthful, but read on--it's worth it.

Diatomaceous earth (not dirt) is a rock that contains fossilized diatoms, one celled algae that have a hard cell wall, like a shell. The rock has been ground to a fine powder and you can sprinkle it where ever you have ants (or any bug with an exoskeleton, like roaches, stink bugs, or bedbugs). The bugs walk across the powder, which contains microscopic shards of the diatom's shell, and it makes tiny cuts in their exoskeleton, and they dehydrate and die. Yes! Triumph!

I sprinkled it across my door frame and window sill, and I sprinkled some on the anthills in my backyard. And within two days, there were no more ants in my house. I sprinkled more on the anthills a week or two later just to make sure that any new ants would die! Die! Die!

I bought diatomaceous earth at a local garden center, but it is also available online and at some home improvement centers. I have tons left over for future springs and in case of other insect invasion.

The Journey Toward Natural

I firmy believe that the closer to nature we eat and live, the healthier we will be and the healthier the Earth will be. I try to buy organic* foods when we can, use natural cleaners, and try to limit our exposure to toxins and plastics.

I started eating largely organically and shopping at a co-op when I was pregnant with my first child, my son, but probably the biggest steps I've taken toward living naturally came after my son was about 4 years old. We discovered that he is sensitive to artificial colors and preservatives (a long story for another post), so we avoid them as much as possible. This has lead me even further down a path toward healthfulness, for which I will always be grateful to him.

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* My opinion on organic foods has become a lot more complex recently.  I've moved more towards sustainable foods--grass fed beef and dairy, local agriculture, etc.  More on that later.