Friday, 7 March 2014

4 Easy Tips To Make Your Holiday Kitchen Greener



The holiday season is upon us! For most of you, that means spending a lot more time in the kitchen - whether you're hosting a party or simply cooking a traditional meal for your family. No matter what the reason, you're going to shop for many ingredients, cook, clean, and enjoy lots of yummy food (let's hear it for the leftovers)!

If you're like me (and I'll bet you are, since you're here), you want to buy quality food that is also healthy for your family, while keeping costs down. I've done the legwork for you and created a list of tips to help you accomplish your "green" feasts.

Here are 4 easy tips to keep in mind as you shop, cook, eat and clean: 

- Choose food low added chemicals and toxins

- Avoid toxic chemicals in cookware

- Store and reheat your leftovers safely

- Clean the greener way!

1) CHOOSE FOOD LOW IN POLLUTANTS AND ADDED CHEMICALS:

As you may already know, today's food can contain ingredients that you definitely don't want to eat, such as: pesticides, hormones, artificial additives and chemicals found in food packaging.

Here are 3 ways that you can cut down on these types of chemicals: 

When you go grocery shopping, buy organic when you can. Why buy organic? Two reasons: organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides and organic meat and dairy products can limit your family's exposure to growth hormones and antibiotics. I know what you're probably thinking: "Organic costs more. I thought that you were going to show me how to save money??"  Don't worry, it's okay to buy some non-organic fruits and vegetables. You can find the list of the 15 least contaminated fruits and vegetables here.

Cook with fresh foods, rather than packaged and canned, whenever possible. Packaging chemicals in some food containers can leach  into food. Bisphenol A, for example, is used to make the linings of canned goods. Go for fresh food or prepared foods stored in glass containers. Pick recipes that call for fresh, not canned, foods.

Cook with frozen fruit and vegetables. When cooking with fresh produce is not an option, your next-best choice would be to cook with frozen fruit and vegetables - some would even argue that frozen is the betterchoice. While fresh fruits and veggies may be more visually appealing and taste better, they don’t last as long in your refrigerator and may not even be the most nutritious. Frozen produce is available year-round, and in most cases, is cheaper than fresh. Plus, the vitamins and nutrients are preserved in frozen fruits and vegetables because of the way that they are processed; they are picked, then quickly blanched and immediately frozen and packaged, generally when nutrient levels are at their highest. This means that frozen fruits and vegetables are processed at their peak, in terms of freshness, and nutrition.

2) AVOID TOXIC CHEMICALS IN COOKWARE

Is non-stick cookware in your kitchen? It is in most kitchens across America, but for safer cooking, may I suggest cast iron and oven-safe glass? My family uses both, but there are many benefits of cooking with cast iron cookware: they are inexpensive, conduct heat wonderfully, go from stove-top to oven with no problem, and can last a lifetime, if properly cared for. There are also health benefits when cooking with a cast-iron skillet. You can boost your iron intake from eating food cooked in cast iron cookware. Iron is a vital mineral that is crucial for maintaining energy levels, and it also helps strengthen immune systems.

If you're not completely sold on using cast iron cookware, you can reduce the possibility of toxic fumes when cooking with any non-stick cookware you already own: never heat an empty pan, don't put it in an oven hotter than 500 degrees F, and use your exhaust fan over the stove.

3) STORE AND REHEAT YOUR LEFTOVERS SAFELY 

Who doesn't like leftovers? Leftovers help to keep you in the holiday spirit by giving you a break from the kitchen! When storing your leftovers, it's best to avoid plastic containers - especially when reheating them, even if they claim to be "microwave safe." The chemical additives in plastic can get into food and liquids. Ceramic or glass food containers, like Pyrex, are safer.

If you do use a plastic container, handle it carefully. Use it for cool liquids only; wash plastics by hand or on the top rack of the dishwasher, which is farther from the heating element. Use a paper towel instead of plastic wrap to cover food in the microwave. Also, avoid disposable (or single-use) plastic as much as possible -- reusing it isn't safe because it can harbor bacteria and trashing it fills up landfills, polluting the environment.

4) CLEAN THE GREENER WAY

Having guests means that there will be tons of cleaning to do - before they arrive, while they're there and after they leave. You will also have to clean while you cook, but do you clean the green way? Traditional household cleaners (bleach, etc.) can cause the air inside your home to become polluted with chemicals. It is easy and cheaper to clean the green way. You can try natural alternatives like vinegar, baking soda and water.  Avoid commercial anti-bacterial products (learn about natural alternatives here) and the biggest hazards: acidic toilet bowl cleaners, air fresheners, oven cleaners, and corrosive drain openers.

While cleaning, no matter what products you use, be sure to do it safely! Open the window, use gloves and keep young kids away from toxic products. Dust and vacuum often since dust often contains toxins. Wash your hands with plain soap and water -- it's simple and very effective. Use a baking soda and water paste instead of commercial oven cleaner.
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News

Two passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 were travelling on stolen passports, it has been confirmed, as authorities, including the FBI, investigate whether the disaster was the result of a terrorist act.

Whatever happened to the Boeing 777 high above the South China Sea, it was quick and gave the pilots no time to issue a mayday, although there were reports that another Malaysia Airlines pilot flying ahead of the missing flight had managed to contact the plane at the request of air traffic control authorities.

There were also suggestions from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency that the plane may have attempted to turn around, after it spotted oil slicks about 20 nautical miles south of the plane's last point of contact.

Click for more photos

Malaysia Airlines plane goes missing

Dato'Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, Director General of DCA, briefs the media that Malaysia Airlines fight MH370 is still missing. Photo: Getty Images

Neither of the two Europeans whose passports had been stolen were on the aircraft. The Italian, Luigi Maraldi, was travelling in Thailand and the Austrian, Christian Kozel, aged 30, was located in his homeland.

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Both the men lost their passports in Phuket, the holiday island in Thailand.

The New York Times reported on Sunday the two passengers who used the fraudulently obtained passports bought one-way tickets issued last week at the same travel agency in a shopping mall in the Thailand beach resort of Pattaya, according to electronic booking records.

A woman who answered the phone at the travel agency said she was “too busy to talk.”

It is unclear how the men traveled south to Malaysia to board the flight on Saturday. In Beijing, each man was to continue on to separate European cities, according to the electronic records, The Times reported. As transit passengers, they would not have been required to obtain Chinese visas.

Security experts in Asia said the use of false travel documents is a persistent problem in the region, but differed on the significance of the two stolen passports to the investigation.

Xu Ke, a lecturer at the Zhejiang Police College in eastern China who studies aviation safety and hijackings and has advised the Chinese authorities, said the two men might have been illegal migrants.

But Steve Vickers, the chief executive of a Hong Kong-based security consulting company that specializes in risk mitigation and corporate intelligence in Asia, said the presence of at least two travelers with stolen passports aboard a single jet was rare and a potential clue.

“It is fairly unusual to have more than one person flying on a flight with a stolen passport,” said Mr. Vickers, who publicly warned a month ago that stolen airport passes and other identity documents in Asia merited a crackdown.

“The future of this investigation lies in who really checked in and what they looked like,” he added.

Mr. Azharuddin, the Malaysian civil aviation chief, said investigators were reviewing video footage of the passengers, including their check-in bags.

Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Sunday investigators were checking the entire passenger list and that counter-terrorism units and the FBI have been informed.

At one stage on Sunday Malaysian authorities said there were four passengers travelling on suspicious documents, but they later revised it back to two.

Asked whether this was a security lapse, Mr Hishammuddin said "Let us not jump to conclusions and make wild speculation."

However, terrorism expert Greg Barton, of Monash University's School of Political and Social Inquiry, said modern aircraft did not just vanish from the sky and when they did, a bomb was almost always the first suspect.

''Things will become clearer once wreckage or debris is found,'' he said.

''Beijing’s reticence at linking the disappearance with terrorists is noticeable, but if debris or a black box indicates a midair explosion, expect the Uighurs [a Muslim people from the restive far western Chinese region of Xinjiang] to come into contention.''

According to the New Straits Times newspaper, contact was briefly made with the aircraft before it vanished. It was being flown by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a highly experienced pilot, and first officer Fariq ab Hamid.

''We managed to establish contact with MH370 just after 1.30am and asked them if they have transferred into Vietnamese airspace,'' a pilot on another Malaysian Airline flight told the New Straits Times.

''The voice on the other side could have been either Captain Zaharie or Fariq, but I was sure it was the co-pilot.

''There were a lot of interference ... static ... but I heard mumbling from the other end. That was the last time we heard from them, as we lost the connection,’’ he said.

Across the world, the mysterious disappearance of the Boeing 777 is playing on most travellers’ fear of flying.

Vietnamese air force planes spotted two large oil slicks close to where the plane was presumed to have gone down in pitch darkness early on Saturday.

The slicks were the first possible indication that the aircraft, bound for Beijing and carrying 239 people, had crashed.

Passengers and crew came from at least 14 countries and included six Australians – Robert and Catherine Lawton, Rodney and Mary Burrows and Gu Naijun and Li Yuan. There were 154 Chinese nationals, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, five Indians, four French and three Americans.Malaysia, China, the Philippines, US and Singapore have deployed ships and planes to the search area, which had been widened after radar signals indicated the plane may have turned back.

Malaysian Air Force General Rodzali Daud said this theory was based on military radar. ‘‘We looked back at the records – there was an indication the plane may have turned back,’’ he said.

The Malaysian maritime agency’s director-general Amdan Kurish, who joined in the search, said his team spotted ‘‘two or three’’ patches of yellowish oil slick about 16 kilometres long.

''A ship has been dispatched to the location of the slick to take samples so we could test whether the oil is from a plane,’’ Mr Amdan said.

Even so, no trace of the aircraft has yet been found, and this failure has prompted speculation about what caused the disappearance. Apart from terrorism, other possibilities include airframe failure, bad weather, pilot disorientation, engine failure, hijacking, pilot suicide and being shot down.

David Learmount, operations and safety editor at Flightglobal media, said modern aircraft were ‘‘incredibly reliable and you do not get some sudden structural failure in flight – it just doesn’t happen’’.

Malaysia Airlines has a good safety record, as does the Boeing 777. Boeing has manufactured 1030 of the aircraft and they had not had a fatal crash in their 19-year history until an Asiana Airlines plane crashed in San Francisco last year, killing three passengers.

However, the missing Malaysia Airlines 777 is reportedly the same aircraft that crashed into the tail of another plane while taxiing at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport in August 2012.

An independent accident-tracking website, Aviation Safety Network, listed the accident and claimed damaged suffered by the Boeing 777 was ‘‘substantial ... the tip of the wing of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was broken off and hung on the tail of the China Eastern Airbus 340-600, according to pictures posted by passengers on the internet’’.

At a news conference in Beijing on Sunday, Ignatius Ong, chief executive of Malaysia Airlines subsidiary Firefly airlines, said the plane was last inspected 10 days ago and was "in proper condition".

Prime Minister Tony Abbott would not speculate whether terrorism was involved in the crash.

He has offered Malaysia two Australian aircraft to assist with the search.

"This afternoon I spoke to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to convey Australia's condolences on the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and offer our assistance with the search for the missing aircraft," he said in a statement.

"On behalf of Australia, I offered two RAAF P-3C maritime surveillance aircraft to help with the search for the missing aircraft."

"The P-3C Orion is a long-range maritime surveillance aircraft ideally suited to this task."

Prime Minister Najib accepted the offer and the first aircraft was due to depart from Darwin on Sunday night.

The disappearance of Flight MH370 paralleled the loss of Air France Flight 447, an Airbus 300, travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, in June 2009. It fell into the Atlantic, killing all 216 passengers and 12 crew.

A report the following year found a combination of technical faults and human error led to the crash.

Heavy turbulence caused air-speed sensors to malfunction while the captain was taking a rest break and the plane began to stall.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the families of Australians listed on the flight had been contacted: ‘‘Australian consular officials are in urgent and ongoing contact with local authorities and with Malaysia Airlines including on efforts to locate the missing flight.’