Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Trying Some New (to me) Things

Good Morning!

It is grey and wet here (again), but very mild.  When I got home yesterday Fletch had NO heat on in the house!  And, bedroom windows were open last night.  It was good to air out the house a bit.

Yesterday saw a few more rows knit on the shawl, but it looks the same, so no updated pictures to show.  Instead I thought I'd talk (write) about a few new (to us) products we have tried.  Some are good, and one we did not really care for.  First up, food items.

Fletch and I are definitely not vegan or even vegetarian - we love a good steak, or a piece of chicken, definitely bacon!!  But, we do have vegetarian meals on a regular basis.  I will often make stuffed (with spinach, onions, some kind of beans, etc.) portabella mushrooms and recently I made a slow cooker "lentil sloppy joe" mix that was really good!  The other week when Colin and Mailing were over for dinner Fletch grilled the  Beyond Meat Beyond Burgers  and they were delicious!  It did not take long to cook them and there were even some leftovers that Fletch had later and said they were still good.  Colin tried cooking some inside in a skillet after that, but said they really were not good done that way - weird texture, etc.  I'm curious to try the Beyond Meat Ground "Meat" and I believe there is a sausage too.

This past weekend when grocery shopping we bought BBQ Jackfruit and neither one of us cared for that.  It was ok, but not something I'd buy again and Fletch said to not bother saving the leftovers for him.

We've been using our own bags at the grocery store for years and we have mesh bags for produce (that I try to remember to use, not always successfully).  I was thinking about all the plastic in our shampoo bottles and decided to try a shampoo bar (like a soap bar) and even a conditioner bar.  I bought both from Educated Earthling and they arrived recently.  The delivery time was slow and I received an annoying number of emails congratulating me on my purchase, etc., etc., but I do like the product.  The shampoo bar lathered up very quickly and rinsed out of my hair quickly too.  I wasn't sure about the conditioner bar, but honestly my hair didn't seem as tangled when I got out of the shower (and my hair is long...way below my bra strap).  So far I've only used them once - I've discovered one of the benefits of aging is that I no longer need to wash my hair daily.  In this dry winter weather, I can get by with washing it only twice a week!  (I've also discovered that I no longer have to shave my legs daily - yay!!!)

That company (Educated Earthling) has a number of other products I'd like to try - bamboo toothbrushes, solid dish soap (!), bamboo utensils that I want for my lunch sack that comes to work with me.

So that wraps up the consumer report from me today.  Have you tried anything new?  Or any of these products?

17 comments:

  1. These are great suggestions, Vera! I really lament all the plastics, of which so many are not recyclable!

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  2. Thanks for your consumer reports! I haven't tried any "Beyond Meat" products yet, but will look for them. John is a huge fan of meat, so I'm anxious to see if I can sneak these past him. We eat a lot of venison which is naturally lean, but Beyond Meat sausage would be great.

    I've never tried shampoo or conditioner bars, but have had a couple in my Amazon cart since Christmas. I just may give them a try now. I'm also curious about solid dish soap and look forward to your future report!

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  3. I have tried the bamboo toothbrush and did NOT have a good result. The base of the toothbrush molded quickly. Now, this WAS in Orlando, but I'm not sure the results would be any different here.

    We tried stuffed portabellos and LOVED this recipe: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/a10724/stuffed-portobellos-recipe-ghk0111/

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  4. Interesting... thank you for sharing! I had a shampoo bar a long time ago and liked it. Not sure why I didn't replace it. Hear hear to those benefits of aging -- I'm with you!!

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  5. Hello, we had a nice day yesterday and today it is back to cloudy and rain. It is good to use less plastic, we do tend to re-use the plastic grocery bags a lot. I love stuffed portabella with crab meat. YUM. My hubby loves meat, I could be a vegetarian. Enjoy your day!

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  6. Nothing new for me... about a decade or so, a pair of friends got married. It was a small pot luck wedding (One of the sweetest weddings I've ever been to), and since they were both vegetarians, they asked that the dishes be so too. This was a challenge for a few of us meat-eating guest, but we all rose to it. One of the guest brought a shepherd's pie. It was made with "veggie ground" and it was honestly the best shepherd's pie I ever had.

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  7. I tried a lentil sloppy joe recipe that even Dennis wouldn't eat. Would you be willing to share yours? We eat meat too but like to try other things. I also tried the bamboo toothbrush last summer and didn't care for it. Mine also got moldy and we have a dry climate up here.
    Snow on the way today and tomorrow. I would love to open my windows but I think I should wait awhile unless I want to shovel the bedroom floor! :-)
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  8. I haven't tried the Beyond Meat products yet, although I have tried several different Impossible Burgers. I don't eat red meat at all, but I thought the Impossible Burgers were delicious. So meat-like that I had to confirm with our server that it was actually not a regular burger! I would love to try a shampoo bar! (And, yeah. Those are great benefits of getting older, aren't they???) XO

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  9. Thanks for the product reviews. I have never heard of shampoo and conditioner bars, but what a great way to reduce plastic waste! I'll check out the company. Thanks for the ideas. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  10. I have NO plastic bottles in my bathroom. I've been using my own soap on my hair for a few years and it cleared up all my itchy scalp issues. I have one bar that does it all-even the dog. Lol...

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  11. I've had the Beyond Meat burgers out, and that's it. I do appreciate your reviews and wish we tried new things more to share, too. (and I totally get and applaud the less washing/less shaving thing! that is for sure a benefit my mom never shared with me!!)

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  12. We use our own grocery bags and I have these bags I use for produce as well. I've tried this toilet paper that's made out of bamboo which is better for the environment (regrows faster etc). Haven't tried the beyond meat stuff -- sort of freaks me out. We do a lot of veggie cooking, but we aren't strictly veggie by any means. I'll have to think on the bar shampoo soap stuff.

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  13. I do love when a shampoo bar or conditioner works well. Ive only found so/so products from LUSH. I'd love to see you long hair!!! I remember it being shoulders length. I do like the new L'oreal face mousse wash. It has a bit of grit to it, but it is still gentle.

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  14. we eat a lot of vegetarian meals as well. It's nice to feel like whatever we do we are doing something positive for the environment.

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  15. I tend not to eat meatless...I love a good steak and lots of veggies with it for our meal! I love my soap for a shampoo--

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  16. Totally agree that there are some benefits that come with aging that I really love! Interesting about the shampoo and conditioner bars...I will have to investigate!

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