Bruschetta is an Italian appetizer made with bread, garlic, tomatoes and olive oil. It’s one of my favorite summer treats.

There is nothing like crusty bread topped with fresh farm or garden tomatoes. I’ll eat Bruschetta as an open sandwich or with a side of greens.

Following is a recipe that can be adapted depending upon your tastes.

Ingredients
1 loaf of any type of bread
French or Italian or gluten free if gluten is an issue. I prefer a nice white and crusty type bread

Variety of Tomatoes (8-16 ounces)
My favorite is Sun Gold Cherry. You can use other Cherry/Grape Tomatoes or any other type

1-2 Cloves of Garlic

1-2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1-2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar (Optional)

5-8 Fresh Basil Leaves

Instructions
Preheat over to 375 degrees farenheit.

Cut bread into 1 inch slices, large squares or slice a baguette lengthwise if you desire. Place on a cookie sheet and toast in a heated oven 10-15 minutes until bread is crisp on the outside but still soft in the center.

While bread is toasting, chop garlic cloves, tomatoes and basil leaves and toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a large bowl.

Take the bread out of the oven and top with the tomato mixture. Return to the oven for an additional 5-10 minutes until heated through.

Variations
Bruschetta can be made a variety of ways and optional ingredients can be added.

With the above recipe try sprinkling mozzarella cheese over the top or spread goat cheese on the toast slices before topping with the tomatoes.

You can also make a Bean Bruschetta with rinsed canned white beans, garlic, olive oil and Rosemary.

Try adding chopped shallots or red onion to either recipe for an interesting kick.

Replace the bread with a store bought pizza crust and make a Bruschetta Pizza!

Bruschetta Recipe is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

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If you love chocolate and peanut butter, you more than likely love peanut butter cups. I know I do and they are super easy to make. Following is a recipe that is great to make with kids or adults.

Ingredients
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
(try SunButter for those who are allergic to peanuts)
1 pound chocolate chips or other type of chocolate
(try dark or white chocolate)
36 small paper candy cups (and mini muffin tin if you have one)

Instructions
Mix sugar and nut butter by hand, or with a mixer until well blended.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave
(heating in 10 second increments to avoid burning)

Using a small spoon, coat the inside of the paper cups with chocolate
and place in the freezer to harden

Drop a small dollop of the nut butter mixture into the hardened chocolate

Top with a little more chocolate and return to freezer until set

Eat immediately or keep tightly sealed in the freezer

These are great eaten alone, as a mix in for ice cream or in other recipes calling for peanut butter cups.

Peanut Butter Cup Recipe is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

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A common typical estimate is 100 calories for every mile of exercise. Keep in mind that calories burned depends upon your sex, height, weight and physical shape.

Following is a rough estimate of the amount of calories an average 150 pound person can expect to burn doing thirty minutes of the listed activities.

Cooking 90

Walking 3 mph 99

Housework 99

Carrying an Infant 126

Raking lawn 135

Bicycling – leisure 135

Gardening 184

Hiking 202

Shoveling Snow 207

Backpacking 238

Running 5 mph 288

Calories Burned Chart is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

Ice Cream Cake has to be one of the easiest treats to make. The choices are limitless and the results sublime.

If you are familiar with food allergies, you know all to well how difficult it is to find a pre-made “allergy safe” ice cream cake. Many may contain nuts or ingredients cross contaminated with nuts. Why not make your own and for a fraction of the cost of a store bought cake?

There are so many flavor combinations and allergy friendly choices at your fingertips. You can keep it simple or combine multiple layers. Soy or rice based ice cream can be used for those with dairy allergies. Allergy friendly chocolate and candies can be found. You can even make your own ice cream and sauces. There is really no way to screw up an ice cream cake.

Ingredients
Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt, Sherbet, or Sorbet
(Store Bought or home made)

Cookies, brownies or Cake
(For crumbling, layering or mixing in)

Variety of optional mix ins
(Candies, caramels, marshmallow, fudge sauce and or fluff etc.)

Cool Whip, heavy cream and chocolate chips
(Optional)

Instructions
An ice cream cake can be made in any shape or size so long as you have enough ingredients. A spring form pan works nicely as does a rectangular or square disposable aluminum pan.

Line your pan of choice with plastic wrap so that the plastic hangs over the sides. This will help with getting the entire cake out of the pan if you choose so for presentation or frosting purposes.

Start your first layer. This can be cake, cookies, brownies or ice cream. I like to make a first layer of chocolate ganache by heating 1-2 cups of heavy cream and adding 1-2 cups of chocolate chips. When the ganache cools, I use it as a base layer. I then sprinkle crumbled cookie crumbs on top and lightly press into the ganache. (A food processor is great for crumbling cookies.) The pan goes into the freezer to set.

The second layer of my cake is typically an ice cream layer. I make my own home made ice cream so it’s soft. You can use store bought ice cream and leave on the counter to soften, or soften in the microwave in ten second intervals. Spread the softened ice cream over the hardened chocolate ganache and cookie layer.

The third layer can be anything you like. I like to use small slivers or crumbled chunks of cake. I lightly press them into the ice cream mixture. The pan goes back into the freezer to set.

The fourth layer can be an additional ice cream layer or you can spread Cool Whip (whipped topping) over the hardened cake and ice cream layer. Put the pan back in the freezer.

The fifth layer is what I like to call the “fun” layer. Here you can swirl or spread fudge sauce, butter scotch sauce, marshmallow fluff. You can also add chocolate chips or candies. Back to the freezer again.

The sixth layer is the final ice cream layer. Smooth the softened ice cream as evenly as possible. If you are leaving the cake in the pan or you are finished, you can sprinkle the top of the cake with candy or more cookie crumbs. You can also add an optional last layer.

If adding the optional last layer, put the cake back in the freezer as soon as you’ve added the final layer of ice cream. When the cake has completely hardened you can frost the top with Cool Whip (whipped topping) OR you can remove the cake from it’s pan and frost the entire cake with the Cool Whip. You can sprinkle this layer with crumbled cookies, candy or leave plain. Put the cake back into the freezer until you are ready to enjoy.

Make sure you pull the cake out about 10-20 minutes before you plan to eat it so that it has enough time to soften. If cutting is difficult warm your knife under hot water.

Additional Tips
If you are sticking to ice cream only (without mix ins or cake/cookies layers) be creative. Try mint chocolate chip or chocolate chip ice cream for one layer and chocolate for another. Or try a coffee ice cream layer and a chocolate ice cream layer. Top with shaved chocolate.

You can mimic a peanut butter flavor by using peanut butter substitutes like SunButter or SoyButter. Check out our SunButter Cup Recipe for a treat that tastes just like peanut butter cups. Make these and add or crumble them into vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

You can also use small freezer safe bowls, aluminum cupcake liners, ice cream cones or ramekins for mini ice cream cakes. Same directions and ingredients but on a smaller scale.

Ice Cream Cake Recipe is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

Technorati Tags: birthday cake, cake, cake recipe, ice cream, ice cream cake

With 2 boys ages 6 and 7, I was probably a bit foolish NOT to sign up for some sort of day camp. If you are like me, you might be wondering right about now how you might make it through the rest of the summer while still keeping sane. Well here is what we’ve been doing and what we’ll be doing to keep busy, stay cool and have fun.

Water the Garden Boys
One of the chores I most despise is watering our organic vegetable garden. It involves lugging a 30+ foot hose down a pathway on a hill, across the driveway and into the garden. Then of course dragging it back up.

When the boys are driving me crazy I make watering the garden sound fun. They get to use the hose on their own, fill up their watering cans and spray each other in the process.

Other Garden Chores
I also show the boys what tomato hornworms look like and they delight in searching for them in a “Where’s Waldo” type adventure. Being boys, they also like to pick them off and stamp on them.

We have a strawberry patch and as soon as they turn red I don’t even have to ask the boys to get out there. They usually beat me to it and return with juice soaked chins and bowls of berries.

If you don’t have a garden, get your kids to start the sprinkler and run under it while watering the grass or they can water any potted plants you might have indoors or out.

Speaking of Fruits and Veggies
Even with our strawberry patch, we love to make annual visits to pick strawberries in spring, blueberries in the summer and apples in the fall. We also head to our town farmers market on weekends to listen to music, socialize with friends and pick up some fresh bread and vegetables that we don’t grow.

Check out your own local farms or visit a farmers market in your area. It’s great to teach kids where their food really comes from and  many farms also have a great assortment of barnyard animals.

Off to the library
We have one of the most wonderful libraries in our town. There are free movie nights as well as free fun events all summer long that we sign up for. The most recent event was an outdoor super cool yo yo show.

Our library also has discounted museum passes that you can sign out. Call your local library to see what they offer, you might be surprised.

Rec Camp
Many towns have some sort of rec department and will oftenl offer lessons for a variety of classes at a discounted rate. Our town has a beach so we do swim lessons. There are also canoe lessons, tennis lessons as well as several sports camps. We’ll be doing a 1/2 day soccer camp in August. By then, the kids and I will both need a break from each other.

Local Parents Paper
Most states and communities have a local parents paper that has a calendar section highlighting all the great local events. Many are free or cost very little. If you can’t find a paper, look online. Many also have online editions.

The Great Outdoors
Plan an outing, pack a picnic and explore your neighborhood or nearby city. Where we live there is lots of conservation land and hiking trails. Boston is a 40 minute trip away where we can walk the freedom trail. There are so many great things to do outdoors with your family.

Do you have some ideas or tips of your own? Email us or let us know in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!

Enjoy your summer and come back for more great green living articles, reviews and tips. We hope to get back to a regular posting schedule soon!

Summer Kids Activities is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

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How many things do we become accustomed to that harm our environment and are really not necessary?

Bottled water? Chemical pesticides or fertilizer? Paper receipts?

Each of us shops in some way, shape or form and usually our purchase comes with a paper receipt. It might be small but at times can be quite long. Every time I grocery shop I cringe at the big wad of paper I have to carry that includes my purchases, my savings and some special coupons for things I don’t actually buy. But honestly, I never really gave much thought as to whether this receipt was necessary or the impact hundreds or thousands of these receipts might have on the environment.

The website Software Advice recently posted an article and poll about this. You can find both by clicking on Please Kill The Paper Receipt.

We use to reconcile our receipts but it became too much of a hassle so now they get tossed. We rarely return items and if we needed to I’m sure there is a better way than having to hold onto a piece of paper.

I’m curious, what do you do with your paper receipts?

Software Advice Poll is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

It’s the time of year when gardeners across the country are planning what to put in their gardens. If you are a novice or an expert, following are the must haves and what we are putting in the Green Peony garden.

Tomatoes
They come in all shapes, colors and sizes, but a garden is not complete without at least one variety. Tomatoes are easy to grow as they tolerate (even love) heat and will survive poor soil.

You can buy plants at the garden center or start seeds of your own indoors. You should start your seeds 4-6 weeks before the last frost date in your area.

We started our tomatoes from seed early (we put them out with protection early) and they are now in 4 inch pots and stand about 6-8 inches tall. The varieties we are planting this year are:

Glacier, Paste, Sweet Cherry, Sungold Cherry and an Heirloom Mix–which means we’ll get a bunch of different heirloom tomato plants.

Peas
The peas can be put in the ground as soon as the soil can be worked. Today we planted a row of Mammoth Melting Snow Peas. We’ll also be planting shell and snap peas soon.

Spinach and Lettuces
Spinach and Lettuces are easy because you can eat them as baby plants or let them mature. Both can be planted early and love cooler weather. Today we planted Spinach, Slobolt Leaf Lettuce, Winter Density Bibb/Romaine Lettuce, Sweet Valentine Lettuce and Tom Thumb Baby Bibb Lettuce.

Cucumbers
The cuke seeds go in when it gets a bit warmer. This year we are planting a pickling cuke and a slicing cuke.

Peppers
Peppers can also be bought at the garden center or started indoors when you start your tomatoes. We started from seed and have 3-4 inch tall plants. We chose a sweet variety mix.

Green Beans
Green Beans are as easy as peas but unlike peas need to be planted when the weather is warmer. We prefer the bush variety from a taste and texture standpoint, though many like pole beans because they can train them to grow up and save valuable garden space.

Herbs
Herbs are a wonderful addition to the garden and can be grown anywhere. Some are perennials and will come back year after year. We have started bush basil seeds and sweet basil seeds indoors with our tomatoes and peppers. We will purchase Rosemary and Cilantro. The following herbs have come back this year: Thyme, Oregano, Chives, Parsley (from plants that went to seed), Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Sage and Tarragon.

Asparagus
If you love asparagus it might be worth setting aside a part of your garden or yard for an asparagus patch. The plants are slow to start but come back yearly for many, many years. Our plants are 3 years old this year and are starting to shoot up now. Fresh out of the ground asparagus is far better than store bought.

Onions
If you are a big onion eater you might want to consider plants from the onion family. In our garden we stick to scallions, leeks, garlic and shallots, but there are many other types of onions you can plant.

Fruits
If you have the space you might want to try growing fruit. We have 3 two year old blueberry bushes that are just babies and a small strawberry patch. We also have wild raspberries and black raspberries. These plants are investments because they will grow and bear fruit for many years.

Extras
If you have the space you might want to consider planting your other favorites. Melons and squashes are space hogs but are pretty tasty right out of the garden. Brussels Sprouts are also great out of the garden but also demand a lot of space. Root vegetables like potatoes and carrots can be tricky without the use of pesticides but can be done.

You also might want to save space for one unknown untried plant. Something you can’t get at the grocery store but are curious about. We were going to plant the herb Stevia and Husk Cherries both this year and last–but our seeds did not germinate well.

Keep in mind that you can plant a lot in little space. There are many ways to plant besides your typical farmers row. We have a potager or what is known as a french/country kitchen garden. it is about 16 feet by 20 feet surrounded by a cedar picket fence lined with buried chicken wire to keep critters out. We are able to put most of the above in our garden and around the perimeter (with the exception of the asparagus, blueberry and wild raspberries). We also practice container gardening and what is known as lasagna gardening. We’ll talk about those methods of gardening in another article.

We hope this article gets you excited about your garden. Let us know what you are planting this year in the comments section below.

What to Plant in Garden is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

Technorati Tags: garden, Green Peony Garden, organic garden, seed starting, vegetable garden

If you are looking for eco-friendly slippers or booties for your little one, look no further. Wooly Baby makes adorable products for kids ranging in age from 6 months to 4 years.

Wooly Baby slippers are handmade from re-used wool sweaters and leather jackets by work at home mom Josie Marsh. They feature a felted wool inner and outer surface, flexible leather non skid soles, an inner elastic band and leather toe and heel options.

Natural soap is used in the felting process and cedar wood is used to naturally protect materials from moth damage. Even better–the Wooly-Baby.com website host offsets 100% of its electricity use with wind power credits.

Since Wooly Baby slippers are made with recycled sweaters, all items are one of a kind. Check their site often for new designs.

Wooly Baby is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

Technorati Tags: booties, recycled wool, slippers

If you haven’t checked out bhg.com, now is the time. From now through June 30th you can enter their Dream Gardens Across America Sweepstakes. Grand prize is a 2010 Honda Insight LX Hybrid valued at approximately $20,510 or the wholesale price cash equivalent $19,397.

Visit http://www.bhg.com/dreamgarden to enter and for more information. While you’re at it, be sure to check out their main page http://www.bhg.com/ for numerous tips for your home and garden.

Dream Gardens Across America is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

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Every spring I get asked the same question–when can I plant my vegetables?

Putting vegetables out in the garden depends on a variety of factors.

What zone are you in?
Gardening zones are based on temperatures and frost dates.  Most of Massachusetts is in the zone 5-6 range. Average last frost date is around Memorial day or end of May, but can range from mid May to end of June depending upon where you live and the weather that year.

What types of vegetables?
Some vegetables thrive in cooler weather while others like it hot. Pea seeds can be put in in early spring or even in fall (though they won’t come up until spring). Garlic and onions are best planted in the fall. Leeks and scallions can go in the garden now. Tomatoes and peppers like it hot. It’s best to wait until your last frost date for those plants.

Seed Starting
If you plan to start plants from seed, you should start most of your seed 6-8 weeks before you plan to plant them outside. Check your package for the exact time frame. Most seeds take a week to germinate and another few weeks to get a few inches tall. You will also need to harden off (acclimate to outdoor weather) your seeds before putting them into the garden.

Massachusetts just experienced a warmer than normal weekend and temperatures are expected to reach 80 this upcoming week. Keep in mind that the evenings are still quite cool and we could still experience a frost. It is best to wait before putting out any heat loving plants unless you plan to protect them with a cover. Another option is to plant in containers and bring them out during the day and back in at night.

This is just an overview. Some other articles you might find helpful are:

When to Plant the Garden?

Garlic and Scallion and Leeks, Oh My!

Seed Starting 101

Start Plants Early With The Wall O Water

When to Plant Vegetables in Massachusetts is a post from: Green Peony: Green Parents

Technorati Tags: garden seeds, vegetable garden, zone 5, zone 6