Why Butter Bell Bowls Are A Cool Idea – Try It - Plus a green BOOK GIVEAWAY!

 

Allergies are torture for me. I am allergic to everything from dogs to dust to trees to soy beans. No kidding. If allowed, my allergies will keep me in a perpetual state of stuffiness, sinus infections, and bronchitis.

Learning to control my mold and soy allergies have been particularly difficult. No bread, no wine, no cheese, no beer, no mushrooms, no chinese food. Sometimes I have no choice but to eat an allergen food as there is nothing else available. Mostly, I sacrifice.

Because of the lack of spreadability issue, I have rarely used real butter – I always use margarine. Recently I discovered that most margarine’s are made of soy beans. There is also a lot of controversy over margarine versus butter due to the trans fat content levels.

Therefore, I have decided to try a technique for storing real butter which leaves it soft and useable inspired by Vanessa Farquharson, author of Sleeping Naked is Green. This was a really interesting green read. Vanessa decides to make one serious green change to her life every day for a year. She learns how to turn off her refrigerator, lower the temp on her water heater, stop wasteful practices, and so much more. Part of her change of using no refrigerator was to utilize butter from a butter bell bowl.

While I am green, I am not green to the extreme. Like everyone else, I prefer taking easy, simple, baby-steps. However, this butter bowl idea holds weight because it could allow me to break my margarine addiction and possibly take my allergies down a notch. Anything to get our family healthier and feeling awesome. Besides – my mouth starts watering every time I remember the fresh taste of butter on a hot tortilla right off the griddle!

After careful research, I decided to purchase my butter bowl at Williams-Sonoma. It is surprisingly easy to use. If you look at the top photo on this page you will see butter inside the “lid” of the butter bowl.

All you have to do is turn the lid over and spoon the butter in.

Put a small amount of water in the bottom of the bowl – it acts as a seal for the butter so it will not go bad while sitting out without refrigeration. Be sure to change the water every couple of days or so.

Then turn the lid upside down and place it on the bowl with the water just covering the lid’s opening. Easy!

Without a doubt, this butter bowl has been an awesome kitchen gadget which I will now keep FOREVER. Fresh butter which is easy to spread and helps my allergies. Love it!

Three copies of Sleeping Naked is Green is sitting on my office desk right now and I will give away all three copies randomly chosen from whoever leaves a comment listing a good idea for going green in the kitchen.

Please leave a comment below before next Friday – July 3, 2009. Then follow me on Twitter (@shawnacoronado) to qualify and good luck!

THE CONTEST WINNERS HAVE BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM THE AWESOME IDEAS IN THE COMMENT AREA BELOW. AND THE WINNERS ARE – MARIANNE, KRISTA, AND GAYLA - - - CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS FOR THE AWESOME IDEAS!! 

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

 

Comments

[Gayla W. Patterson]

I use cloth (no PVC and BPA free) reusable food/snack bags that has a velcro closure in my kitchen to store food short term or to use in my daughter's "waste-free" lunch box.

I have followed your blog since listening to you as a guest on The More Than Hippie podcast a few months ago. I am now following you on twitter as grwrn.

[Laurie]

Keep a pitcher by the sink to catch the excess cool water while you wait for warmer water to come out. Use it to water plants, boil pasta, make iced tea, ice cubes, etc..

Keep extra bits of fresh herbs (I'm using lots of basil right now), dry it, crumble and add to your jars of dried herbs.

And I started making my own soap last year. A bar of good basic soap is great for dishes! I push a large juice cap into the back while it's wet and soft. Then it has its own little "stand" to sit on so it doesn't melt (soap dishes and I just don't get along!)

[Krista]

I follow you on Twitter and love your blog!

My "green tip" for the kitchen is to avoid using processed and prepackaged food at all costs. Making meals from scratch is healthier, less processing and less packaging!

[Kristine]

i have learned to keep by garbage separated: one is for dry stuff, like papers, etc, the second is for wet stuff, that is mostly garbage which can be compostable. i live in a small apartment, no garden, no compost, but dumpsters. so i use no plastic bags, put dry into can, and wet into something like milk or juice cartons with lid, right now using large yogurt container!
feel great when taking garbage out and do not have huge plastic bags to wrestle!

[dymphna]

have a worm farm.
deefna at gmail dot com

[Hope Doty]

My favorite green kitchen ideas are:
--buying in bulk, including foods like pork loin. Cut your own chops and save huge amounts of money (usually dozen chops plus two roasts cut from one $18.00 Costco loin)
--using washable kitchen towels instead of paper towels for a 90% paper savings
--using cloth placemats and napkins in the dining room for meals

[Stephen Kastner]

Ever since being in Jamaica, I have learned to place greater value on ziplock bags and always wash them out and reuse them until they finally fail.

[Eric]

I want the butter bell...what a great idea! We've not used margarine in years (along with doing the cloth napkin and cloth grocery bags as well). Keep up the good work Shawna

[Susan]

We are using organic cotton mesh bags for storing our produce- a loose weave mesh is good for berries or veggies like snap peas, and the tighter weave is good for keeping lettuce fresh.

[Indigo]

We've been able to go from a roll of paper towels every week or so to a roll a month or even longer, but getting a pile of grainsack towels. We've also stopped buying sponges and use knitted scrubbies that I make.

[Shawna Coronado]

Fantastic ideas - keep'em coming!!! :-)

[Marianne Arkins]

She doesn't use a refrigerator? Holy smokes! I'd read the book just to see how she manages. I keep my butter out and refuse to use margarine. Blech. We try our best to use "real" food and the taste of butter is amazing. I'd never heard of a butter bowl, though. Going to look into it more.

Just followed you on Twitter, too. Found you thru a post on Facebook and am thrilled! Love the blog... going to go read more posts. :-)

[Michelle]

To reduce paper towel use, I purchase the select-a-size brand, which are already half the size of regular paper towels. Then, using scissors, I cut the entire roll in half (except for the tube) and hang it on our paper towel holder. It's amazing how sufficient one paper towel square is for most messes!

[Angie (Losing It and Loving It)]

I haven't done it yet but I am looking to go green in the kitchen by using cloth napkins instead of regular. Just need to find a good deal LOL

We also stopped buying paper plates and plastic cups.

[Katie]

That butter bell looks cool! I had one but found we used LESS butter when it was out on the counter. Go figure. So I payed it forward and gave it to a friend who now loves it.