For the handy DIYer, Remake it Home provides projects and inspiration on reusing just about anything to make a new item for the house. (I received a free copy for review.)

Remake it Home: The Essential Guide to Resourceful Living by Henrietta Thompson includes 20 step-by-step projects revealing how to make things like a freezer from terra cotta pots or a layered cupcake stand from plates and cups.

At 272 pages, the emphasis isn’t really on the step-by-step projects. The book serves as more of a visual and inspirational showcase of products remade from items that have served their purpose — junk. The guide is supposed to get you motivated, and make you think of additional ways items may be reclaimed in your world. Or it could serve as a sort of shopping or interior design guide.

Examples of items featured in the book include the Coat Hanger Fruit Bowl by Amplifier, the Maarten de Ceulaer Iron Bookends, or the Dominic Wilcox War Bowl (using toy plastic soldiers). Many of the items are available for sale by the designers. Featured designs cover anything you’d want for the home — furniture, appliances, accessories, lighting, tools and more.

If you’ve spent much time on blogs that focus on reuse projects (like my former blog Junk Creation), then you’ve likely seen a few of the designs before. Yet, you’ve probably not seen them all. Remake it Home lists for $29.95, but can be found online for about $20.

Is it worth it?

• Remake it Home is printed on 100% recycled stock, using only post-consumer waste.
• The book itself is stylishly presented with great pains taken to include a large variety of items made from “junk.” Several handy reuse tips are included, but if you’re looking for a book packed with instructions on reuse projects, this isn’t it.
• Remake it Home would make a nice gift for the green and imaginative DIYer, crafter or design student. For others, it may just be a source of curiosity or another coffee table book. While the book is certainly interesting and beautifully designed, calling it an “essential guide” is a bit of a stretch.

Have you read Remake it Home?

(Cover Image Credit: (c) Remake it Home: The Essential Guide to Resourceful Living by Henrietta Thompson, Universe, 2009)

Thanksgiving may not not be the ideal time to try out a new product for the very first time, but you have a couple of weeks to do a trial run of these vegetarian recipes featuring Veggie by Galaxy Nutritional Foods. If you’ve tried Veggie in the past, you may want to give it another round. They just reformulated it with an organic ingredient base. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s certified organic, but it’s still a step forward.

Veggie is the most popular cheese alternative on the market. This soy-based product is a good source of calcium without the fat and cholesterol found in cheese. Veggie is also lactose free and available in the produce section. For vegans, Galaxy also has a Vegan line.

The following three recipes and ultra-yum photos are compliments of Galaxy Foods.

Roasted Fresh Figs with Smoked Almonds and Veggie Cheddar
Makes 2 Servings

Ingredients Read More – Have a “Veggie” Thanksgiving

There’s even more reason to eat fresh vegetables whenever possible. Consumer Reports just released the results of their Bisphenol A (BPA) tests of canned foods. Items tested include: soups, juice, tuna and green beans.

Sadly for consumers, almost all of the 19 name-brand foods tested contain measurable levels of BPA. The highest levels of BPA were found in canned green beans and canned soup. Even worse, some of the canned foods labeled “organic” or “BPA-free” were in the bad group! Vital Choice tuna in “BPA-free” cans contained an average 20 ppb (parts per billion) of BPA, while eco-favorite Eden had detectable levels of BPA in their canned baked beans (averaged 1 ppb).

Some example BPA findings from Consumer Reports:

• Progresso Vegetable Soup: 67 to 134 ppb
• Campbell’s Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup: 54.5 to 102 ppb
• Canned Del Monte Fresh Cut Green Beans Blue Lake: 35.9 ppb to 191 ppb  (the big winner!)

While it may seem silly to some to debate on parts per billion, you have to keep in mind that it’s the cumulative effect of many foods consumed that’s harmful. For kids who drink Nestlé Juicy Juice in a can, parents should keep in mind that it averaged 9.7 ppb of BPA. Canned Similac liquid concentrate averaged 9 ppb of BPA, but there was no measurable BPA in the powdered version.

What’s the best alternative packaging?

Since so much food comes in plastic or metal cans, the wisest choices remain cooking from scratch or choosing foods packaged in safer materials like glass.

Dr. Urvashi Rangan, Director of Technical Policy, at Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, said:

“Children eating multiple servings per day of canned foods with BPA levels comparable to the ones we found in some tested products could get a dose of BPA near levels that have caused adverse effects in several animal studies. The lack of any safety margin between the levels that cause harm in animals and those that people could potentially ingest from canned foods has been inadequately addressed by the FDA to date.”

The results of the BPA tests are in the December issue of Consumer Reports, and you can read more online. Consumer Reports notes that their tests reflect a snapshot of the marketplace and don’t provide a “general conclusion about the levels of BPA in any particular brand or type of product.”

Do you eat food from metal cans?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Eating more meatless meals helps out the environment more than you might think. After all, it takes a lot of water and grain feed (which also requires water to grow) to bring meat to the market. We won’t talk about all those livestock farts, but they’re actually a greenhouse gas problem!

That said, start Thanksgiving off on a green foot by enjoying a nice meat-free breakfast — Pumpkin Ginger Waffles. You can make this recipe even more green by choosing organic ingredients like eggs, milk and flour.

This recipe is courtesy of Casa Laguna Inn & Spa in Laguna Beach, California and BnBFinder.com.

• 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups cornstarch
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups milk
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 cups vegetable oil
• 6 eggs
• 9 teaspoons sugar
• 4 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons candied ginger

How to Make Pumpkin Ginger Waffles

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix well.
2. Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg, sugar, pumpkin, candied ginger, and vanilla. Combine.
3. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat a waffle iron.
5. Do not use non-stick spray on the waffle iron; the oil in the batter will allow the waffle to release easily.
6. Follow the directions on your waffle iron to cook the waffles.
7. Serve immediately with fruit garnish, butter and syrup with pecans.

(Image & Recipe via BnBFinder. Used with permission.)

How funny I’m writing here again exactly one year after I left before, and on the very date that we turn back the clocks!

Jennifer has done a really great job with this blog from the very beginning, and I’m sad to see her go, but will still be reading her green writing online.

You’ll see a few things change (like the blog look, again), but some things will stay the same too. I’ll feature truly green products, not greenwash. And tell you my honest opinion in product reviews.

I’ll try to tackle the hardest green issues in our lives. Tree Hugging Family should have something for everyone in the family, from baby and college students, all the way to the family pets.

For those of you who don’t remember me from writing here in 2007-2008, I don’t want to be a complete stranger, so here goes. I live with my husband Michael, cat Choco and betta fish I never really named. Having grown up out in the country or “out in the sticks” as some of my friends said, I have a deep love of nature and animals and fresh veggies like real homegrown tomatoes.

While I don’t have kids myself, I do have nephews. And I’m always checking out new books, toys, recipes and food for kids. You’ll likely see a few guest posts from green parents too.

In November, we’ll focus on green Thanksgiving choices, including food, yum. I look forward to getting to know everyone better as we enter the crazy holiday season when it’s usually a bit of a challenge to stay totally green. Please leave a comment to say hello.

(Image via stock.xchng)

During the summer of 2007, I’d been writing for b5media for a while, and when my editor at the time asked for ideas for a new blog, I suggested Tree Hugging Family. I’d seen all sorts of green blogs, but none for families in particular, and being in a family, that made me cranky. My editor loved the idea and by the end of summer, Tree Hugging Family sprouted.

Almost 1,000 green posts later, it’s time for me to move on to other adventures.

Your new blogger here is someone you hopefully remember – Peggy! Our ex (and now back) THF co-blogger. Peggy left a year ago, and has been missed, so it’s awesome she’s coming back. She’s a great friend of mine, a super cool blogger, and I know this blog will be in excellent hands.

I’ll still be hanging around THF as a loyal reader, but if you miss me a lot, I’m an easy blogger to find. I’ve got plenty of green projects going on around the web. Come visit me at one of them.

The decision to leave THF is hands down the hardest blogging decision I’ve ever had to make. I adore this blog and love the readers here and all of your thoughtful, helpful comments. I feel like my son Cedar and me have both been able to grow so much greener over the years and a lot of that is due to the constant positive reader feedback and participation here.

Tree Hugging Family has been an amazing journey and it’s been such a huge honor that you’ve all shared your green goals, green living challenges, and ideas here. I wish all of you and your families well in your continuing efforts to get green, stay green, and build a cleaner, more eco-friendly world for your kids.

Take care and keep on hugging those trees!

It’s much safer for your kids if you banish household bugs without the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides. Here’s how to deal with buggies without icky junk…

• Keep crumbs off the floor; especially in well hidden areas like under the fridge, under stove burners and in-between the fridge and cupboards.
• Never leave standing water anywhere in the house – bugs like to drink your standing water so eliminate it. Watch for leaks and puddles under the fridge and in the basement.
• Block them – try caulking holes and gaps in the walls, especially around baseboards and doors. Most bugs move into your home via cracks.
• Be tidier – I know, it sucks but bugs (other than cockroaches) like it messy. Be sure to clean up piles of paper especially.
• IF you go with poison – DO NOT use a bomb or spray, instead try a bait or gel trap with will won’t fume into your home, but the poison will end up back with the bug wherever he’s hanging out (usually in the wall).
• Try some natural bug barriers. There are tons of herbs, spices, and oils that bugs hate.
• See more pest prevention methods.

[image via stock.xchng] 1

If you’re still looking for some super cute Halloween treats that are fast and easy, I’ve got a round up of some ideas for you. All of these treats take very little time and some, like the first adorable Halloween ghosts are even somewhat healthy. Note, of course like always, not all these treats are branded organic. It’s an easy enough switch though. Simply exchange conventional ingredients for organic.

BOO! Ghost Strawberries

Frighteningly cute ghost strawberries! I LOVE these. It’s crazy how simple but adorable a treat can be. Kids will adore these.

More spooky edible fun…

I’d never eat spider eggs – not for a million buck. But you might like them.

Pear “Ghosts” and Apple “Jack-o’-Lanterns” – really, ultra, super cute.

I’m not a huge fan of quick foods like ready made biscuits or cookies, but if you’re willing to make your own organic quick biscuit or cookie dough, Pillsbury has some cute and very fast Halloween ideas you can use with it, such as Crescent Mummy Dogs (PLEASE use organic hot dogs or soy though!!!), Black Beans in Boo Bowls, and Spooky Spider Cookies.

Mini Halloween Cakes

And one treat that takes a little longer. I KNOW I did say fast, but I found these and can’t believe how amazing they are. I think it’d be worth the extra time to make these truly unique little Mini Pumpkin Cakes. Seriously cute right!?

Swell Foop is a company making organic tees for almost the whole darn family. Of course, being that they’re a sustainable clothing company they’ve decided that people on earth consist of primarily newborns to toddlers and adults. All those years in-between – huh? Seriously the day I see companies making sustainable clothes (LOTS of them) for kids ages 6 years to teens I will faint.

Rant aside, they’re not doing anything that all the other companies aren’t plus this company is affordable so on with the show.

Swell Foop makes 100% organic tees and tanks for women, mens tees, tees for toddlers, and baby onesies. The designs are simply and feature endangered animals, but not in an obnoxious way. There are many color choices and prices are affordable. The company also donates 10% of proceeds to environmental causes. I LOVE the cute elephant onesie above.

Check out Swell Foop if you’re looking for some good basic organic pieces.

Greening a baby’s room is maybe one of the easiest green home tasks around. Everyone’s concerned with baby safety, so there’s plenty of products to choose from. Before focusing on green toys and gear focus on the actual space to maximize the healthy qualities of the nursery. Here are three things you should skip for a green nursery…

FLOR baby area rug above - FLOR products are made with renewable and recycled content and are recyclable at the end of their life.

Skip the carpet: Carpet fibers trap in plenty of allergens. When I was building a house one of the flooring experts we talked to said you can never, ever get your carpets truly clean, no matter how powerful a cleaning machine you rent. A better choice is to choose a sustainable wood floor. If wood floors sound chilly, you can also get an area rug. Many are being made with postconsumer materials nowadays and you can clean these much easier than attached carpet.

Skip the wallpaper: Most wallpaper contains PVC. Your choices – go with a low to no VOC paint, choose some fun non-toxic wall decals, or head to MOD GREEN POD - one of the few companies making toxic free wallpaper.

Skip the plastic blinds: First of all if you’ve got another choice than plastic why not choose it? Secondly, I think plastic blinds look tacky. Better than plastic blind choices include certified organic textiles, hemp curtains, shades made from paper, reeds, bamboo and other grasses, and FSC-certified wooden blinds and shutters. Be sure to look for coverings made with non-toxic finishes and low impact inks as well. Read more about eco-friendly window coverings.