Dinner Anyone?

Domestic Goddess will be hosting a 

"Lazy Summer"

mock dinner party on

May 16th

at 4:00pm

Win prizes! 

Please bring your favorite appetizer - must be 5 ingredients or less, and we will be awarding prizes based on Best Overall, Best Tasting, Most Exotic and Best Presentation.  If yours is a winner we will post the recipes on the blog next week!

Get ready to Entertain at your own home!

The Lazy Summer Mock Dinner Party will supply you with all that it takes to entertain. Get a great list of apps that are all 5 ingredients or less. Get awesome tips and ideas for every entertaining style, and a list of things to have on hand for last minute guests.  

We Make it EASY!

It's a party, not a trip to the dentist - It shouldn't be painful.  Find out how to use the most of the little spare time you have, without having to take a week off work to prepare.

The Art of Non-Conformity

This website was highly recommended for me to "check out."  It's called the Art of Non-Conformity, Unconventional Strategies for Life, Work and Travel. I rarely do REVIEWS on websites, but as I began perusing through this site, I became overwhelmed by the sheer coolness and relevance.  Many of us who have joined the Domestic Goddess Network are in search of ways to become more than the average person, which leads me to 2 favorite areas of the site.  All the articles are written by a philosophy student, Chris Guillebeau (which sounds like a pen name to me) who's working on his PhD.

How to be Awesome

Chris poses this opportunity to change your life and simply "Go and be Awesome."  His writing is really fresh, as he works through your first thoughts of the day, working hard, relationships and good vs. evil.  He posts the quote from Ayn Rand: 

"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."

How to Recruit a Small Army

If you're looking to change the world in a big or small-ish way, you aren't going to get there spending 5+ hours a day playing World of Warcraft.  You need people backing you up. (Domestic Goddess!!) And not just people, the RIGHT people.  Chris discusses real-world applications for the use of your army of remarkable people, and it's kind of a cliff notes, non-lame version of The Purpose Driven Life. 

Check out the site, and change your life!

Earth Day tips for Going Green

Re-use

If we re-used and re-purposed everything at least once, we’d have a lot less waste, and a lot smaller landfills.  Here are a few things you can easily re-use or re-purpose:

-       Water bottles.  I found a company recently who re-uses water bottles, puts a sprayer on top, and sells organic fertilizer inside.

-       Newspapers.  Remember making fun crafts with paper mache?  Get some balloons and get crafty!

-       Plastic Grocery Bags.  I re-use mine to pick up doggie-doo.  They’re great for storing your wet towels and bathing suits on the ride home from the beach or pool too.

-       Milk Cartons. I cut open a half gallon milk jug and made a dirt scoop with the handle left on, and used a gallon milk jug, spray painted black, as a planter on my porch.

-       TP and Paper Towel rolls.  Re-use the cardboard for Timmy’s hamster, or create all sorts of easy creative crafts for the kids.

-       Wine Bottle. If you’re artistically inclined, you can paint designs or flowers on the bottle and turn it into a vase.

-       Single Sock.  How long has that sock been lonely? Re-purpose it by using it as a dust rag, or cut it up and make ties for plants.

-       Egg Carton.  Germinate your seeds, cut off the lid and keep jewelry easy to find.

-       CD spindle.  This is by far the most clever thing I’ve seen in the re-use forum – use your old CD spindle to carry BAGELS!  I’ve used paper towels and baggies too often to bring my bagel to work, and end up throwing them away. (the bags, not the bagel!) Stack your bagel with the works and everything stays in place.

 

A great website to help keep you motivated: http://tinychoices.com, 2 ladies who address all the tiny choices we make on a daily basis.

Happy Earth Day!

How are you helping Mother Earth?

Today is a great day to start thinking about it if you haven't already. 

We'd like to hear your two cents: How are you going green?

Easy Earth Day Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked bite-sized pasta
1 chopped organic tomato
Sea or Kosher Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper
and your choice of 
- 1/4 cup Salad Dressing
- Organic Vegetable
- 3/4 cup Cheese
(used here: Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan, Athenos Traditional Crumbled Feta, and Baby Spinach)

This is an easy 20-minute recipe that can be done way ahead of time and is great for "Potluck Pennys" - you know who you are!

Directions:

- COOK pasta as directed on package; rinse and drain.

- TOSS hot pasta with Tomato, Organic Vegetable, Dressing and Cheese. Season with the salt and pepper to taste.

- TOP with additional 1 Tbsp. cheese.  (Don't forget presentation!)

How easy is that? YUM!

DG wants to know!

Tell us exactly what you think:

Has the feminist movement killed chivalry?

Green Thumb?

It's spring! And it couldn't come sooner. I love to cultivate and grow things year round, but Spring is the best time of year to get things started blooming in your garden. I live in an apartment, so my garden is restricted to potted plants, and because of limited space, I've been known to plant 2 or 3 different varieties in the same pot.

But it never fails. My dog Fergie is frequently lounging on the porch surrounded by the lovely oxygen-making flora. I've caught her on occasion nose-deep in the soil, and I still can't for the life of me understand why she likes the taste of dirt so much. Maybe she's hungry. Maybe dirt tastes better than dog food. Maybe she's just insane. Plenty of my plants are edible to humans, and I even keep a little cat grass around for my cat Sparrow to munch on, so I don't worry about "the girls" ingesting anything harmful.

Many house and garden plants are harmless to pets, but there are several that are actually POISONOUS and possibly DEADLY to our four-legged companions. Here's a list of several common springtime plants that can cause vomiting, seizures, hallucination, and possibly death.

-- LANTANA. It's very common in florida, and I love the easy maintenance. Fortunately, I keep my sunshine yellow lantana in a taller pot, so Fergie can't reach it.

-- TULIP. A beautiful and favorite flower to many, if ingested, can result in death.

-- DAFFODILS. I've been seeing these everywhere from Lowe's to Publix, but keep them out of your lawn if you have a furry plant-eater.

-- AZALEAS. Though not deadly, the effects aren't something you want to wake up to.

-- RHODODENDRON. Beautiful shrubs seen often around houses to brighten the lawn, but one munch can send Fido to the vet.

-- MORNING GLORY. Lavender vining blooms cover many mailboxes and are great for hanging. Unfortunately, it's like LSD for your dog.




If you'd like to learn more about maintaining a pet-friendly garden, click the jump.