This simple dessert hummus tastes sweet, rich and something like chocolate pudding but is easier to make and very economical.
snacks
10 Easy Zero-Waste Snacks for Kids and Those Who Feed Them

Fill little bellies, not big garbage bags, with these healthy and simple zero-waste snacks for kids.
Charlotte’s Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cranberry Granola Bars

Click here to jump to the recipe I’ve filed these granola bars under desserts and sweets in my recipe index. From Merriam-Webster cookie noun cook·ie \ ˈku̇-kē \ cookie : a small flat or slightly raised cake These are cookies. Bar cookies to be more precise. Unlike Big Food I will not market these as energy bars, meal replacements, […]
Roasted Chickpeas

When we went plastic-free, we cut store-bought snacks. Those processed foods come packaged in plastic in one way or another—either in plastic bags, or in plastic bags tucked inside cardboard boxes or individually wrapped in plastic and then stuffed into yet more plastic bags. So we started making more snacks from scratch—stovetop popcorn, crackers, dips […]
Hummus with Preserved Lemon

I love the complex, intense taste of preserved lemons. The first time I made them, I didn’t really know what to do with them. Now I go through them quickly. Chopped up, they make a fantastic garnish for Indian dishes, such as dal or chana masala. They also pack a ton of flavor into hummus. […]
Charlotte’s Soft Pretzels

This may sound harsh but if you want your kids to learn how to bake, don’t buy them snack foods. When we went plastic-free, I stopped buying crackers and cookies. If my kids want crackers or cookies, they make crackers or cookies. Not only have they learned baking skills, they also eat fewer snacks—sometimes the […]
My Transition to Full On Hippie Is Complete: Solar-Baked Kale Chips

Updated 06/19/17 I loved my Easy-Bake Oven as a little girl. Every fall when the Sears Christmas Wish Book arrived, I pored over the pages featuring the small boxes of cake mixes and circled the flavors I hoped to find under the tree. Today I shudder to think of the ingredients those little packets contained. But as […]
How to Make Candied Citrus Peels

Click here to go straight to the recipe My younger daughter Charlotte loves mandarin oranges. While the peel to fruit ratio of these small, juicy, sweet oranges doesn’t quite hit 1:1, at three dollars a pound, I do pay quite a lot for peels. And although compost can save the world, I would like to […]
Fried Potato Skins
Ideally, my daughter would eat mashed potatoes with the skins on. But as I have usually peeled the potatoes, I have personally trained her to expect mashed potatoes with the skins off. I hate to compost the skins and waste them. Fortunately, you can never go wrong with fat, salt and potatoes, even if just the […]