One of the things I've come to appreciate is reusable grocery bags. I know for a fact there are places in this country where you'd get funny looks if you showed up to the grocery store with your own canvas bags. Depending on which stores you go to around here, people might give you dirty looks if you don't. Many grocery stores are nice enough to offer slightly sturdier, reusable bags for sale, but even those don't look like they'd last more than a few shopping trips.
I wanted some unique canvas grocery bags, so I searched Etsy. Luckily I found an adorable shop called Bags by Melanie. She had just what I was looking for: thick, sturdy grocery bags with long handles. I ordered a few from her and I'm absolutely in love with them. I took them to the grocery store last week and only used three of the bags for $70 worth of groceries.
Here's one of the bags I ordered from Melanie:
Here's all of the stuff that I packed inside -- with a few inches to spare on top:
They're slightly smaller than a brown paper grocery bag and fold up just the same. See?
Melanie has kindly offered Posh Mamas (and whoever is reading my blog) a 15% discount on your entire order (everything in her store -- not just the totes!) through May 31st. Just enter "goinggreen" in the comment section when you check out. She has lots of different fabric to choose from. Just send her a message and she'll get you all set up. Did I mention that I'm in love with these bags?
Not only can you use them at the grocery store, but they're great for trips to the park or carrying food for potlucks. AND they're fully lined and machine washable.
Check out her store: Bags by Melanie. If you click on "Reusable Shopping Bags" on the right, it'll take you to her selection.
Speaking of green, I have a great pesto pasta dish to share with you. We tried it out this week and decided it's a keeper!
Wishing you a few Bags by Melanie, (I'm not joking!)
Grilled Tilapia and Artichoke Pasta
adapted from a recipe featured on Simply Recipes
1/2 lb whole wheat linguine, fettucine, spaghetti or other pasta
3 T prepared basil pesto
2 T olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 c grilled tilapia, chopped into chunks
1 c diced zucchini (about the size of peas)
About 20 artichoke hearts, canned or frozen, quartered
1/3 c thinly siced green onions
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated Pecorino-Romano or Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta according to package directions, making sure to salt the water. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining pasta. Drain the pasta and toss it with the pesto. Cover to keep warm.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add garlic and zucchini, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Add artichokes and tilapia, lower the heat to medium, cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Add green onions; reduce heat to low. Add the pasta and about 1/3 c of the reserved cooking water, tossing to coat evenly. If the pasta is still a bit dry, continue adding cooking water a little at a time.
Salt and pepper to taste and top with grated cheese. Serve immediately.
Serves 3-4.
Nat's Notes:
1. Feel free to replace the tilapia with any other type of fish or even grilled chicken or tofu. If you use uncooked shrimp, add the shrimp at the same time as the zucchini. I just used tilapia because I had some leftover from earlier in the week.
2. When shopping for pesto, read the ingredients carefully. Good, quality pesto has extra virgin olive oil as the first oil listed.
Posts
6 comments:
I'd like to welcome you to California. I have to tell you, here in CA we don't say pop...wierd, I know, we call it soda. Just a bit of trivia for you. By the way, that recipe has my mouth watering and my stomach grumbling.
Thanks for the welcome! I've gotten teased a bit for saying pop, but I decided that I just don't care. :)
I would have to say that I agree with Sasparilla Sue. The only people I hear say pop is east coasters...strange, i know...oh, and my grampa, but he's from Iowa...sometimes he'll stretch it as far as saying soda pop.
awesome shopping bags! i love Melanie's work. i am working on becoming more green myself. where i live it's not such a big deal, but i want it to be a bigger deal!
Thanks for saying hi! I totally agree with you. I live in a pretty "green friendly" place right now, but when my husband finishes school we'll most likely move somewhere else where that isn't the case.
I loved this post because in Taiwan, if you want to take your groceries home in a bag you have to buy it from the store or bring your own. Or carry a lot of groceries in your arms! Since we're an island with a lot of people and not a lot of space, their recycling program is crazy here. We have about 6 bins in the kitchen, and 5 of them are for the recycles.
Post a Comment