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
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