We haven’t looked at veggie meals for a while, but you should always be considering vegetarian meals, at least a little, because it’s not only better for your health but super keen for the planet as well. While you don’t need to totally cut meat from your diet to reap health and earth-minded rewards, you should attempt to cut at least three meat-based meals per week.

If you’re looking for a way to get started on meatless meals more often, but are worried your family will freak, a good way to go is with some simple tweaks. You can make tons of mainstream meals meatless – you don’t even need to utter the words tofu or bean sprouts to be a good part-time vegetarian.

Some great veggie meal ideas for the typical meat eating family…

• Vegetarian Meals for Meatlovers
• Spaghetti and sauce sans meatballs
• Veggie, cheese, or vegetarian Mexican taco pizza
• Black Bean Chilaquile – so good!
• Bean and rice burritos
• 7 Cheap and Easy Vegetarian Meals
• A veggie soup, salad, and bread
• Stir fry minus the meat – pack in lots of veggies and have rice and fruit on the side.
• California Grilled Veggie Sandwich

To learn more read:

• Why Go Meatless More Often?
• Meatless Meals: Veggie Books for Kids
• Meatless Meals: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
• Tofu Recipes for Kids
• Meatless Monday

What are you waiting for? Try a meat-free meal tonight!

When was the last time you ate a great meatless meal?

My blogging pal Hilary over at Five Winds Family gave me a nice blogging award – the Sisterhood Award. Ah sisterhood and blogs – it doesn’t get much better than that.  Plus, really this gives me a chance to do a little link love. Yay.

The rules of the Sisterhood Award are…
1. Add the sisterhood logo to your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 5 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude.
3. Link to your nominees in your post.
4. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

And my favorite blogging sister are …

Peggy from The Kitty Blog (among others). Shocking that I picked Peggy, I know, but I just can’t help myself. Not only is Peggy an amazing blogger who puts loads of extra thought and care into all her posts (I’m talking lots o’ research and questions folks) but she’s a great friend who like the random in life as much as me.

Linette from Mother Earth’s Garden (yes, among other blogs as well). You know why I’m picking Linette – ONE reason. I don’t think I’ve ever (EVER) heard this sister complain – honestly, not once. Do you realize how rare this trait is in a blogger?! She’s always upbeat, a great blogger, and so utterly nice. I should follow her example more.

Marye from Marriage Actually – here’s the thing, I don’t follow Marriage Actually all that much. I prefer many of Marye’s other blogs over this one. Not because Marriage Actually is a bad blog, but because for the last year, I’ve been a little frownish on couples in general. That said, because it’s Marye, I do pop over from time to time, and her writing at this particular blog is strikingly honest, generous, funny, and so real it sort of gets you in the gut.  Marye’s like that in general, but over there, she really puts it all out there, and that’s really something.

Sarah! Sarah is my actual sister – you know the kind by blood She’s not a hard core blogger, but she does have attitude, and her posts always make me laugh. Actually, some of her posts make me think too, but in my opinion Sarah is at her writing best when being funny.

Oh man, I got nothing. I’m drawing a blank on my 5th. I adore a lot of girl bloggers, so it’s hard. I’m opting out of 5. Sorry folks.

BUT how about a bonus sister: Technically, I likely would have nominated Hil, had she not got to me first, so you could head over there and read one of her posts too – I like her last post Small Weddings because it’s so darn sweet.

Amazon has come a long way in terms of green toys and baby/child gear in the last year or so. One of the lines they carry; Summer Infant, has tons of adorable organic toys available, like the Summer Infant Nature’s Purest Activity Blocks above. Bonus, these items clock in at excellent prices. Far better prices than say, most of the organic toy companies. If you’re looking for a good baby shower gift, first birthday present, or just a safe non-toxic toy for any old occasion, I’d check out this line.

Some options…

Summer Infant Nature’s Purest My First Toy Giraffe or Summer infant Nature’s Purest Sleepy Safari Soft Toy

Summer Infant Nature’s Purest Safari Stack

The Summer Infant toy line is made with 100% naturally colored organic cotton and no dyes, chemicals, or pesticides.

[images via Amazon]

Because the Moonpads Reusable Menstrual Pads Giveaway was extremely successful, and because we had so many amazing comments, Annie Rose, maker of Moonpads, wanted to offer up a little something extra for all the contestants who didn’t win.

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The deal:

FREE SHIPPING on Moonpads now through March 15th, 2009.

How to snag this deal:

Type in code “thf” in the notes section when you place your order and Annie Rose will send you a refund for shipping via PayPal.

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VERY cool! This makes right now an extra great time for you to try Moonpads.

Head over to Annie Rose’s official Moonpad shop and grab some Moonpads with free shipping. Plenty of cute designs are available.

[image via Moonpads]

Just in case you happen to be both a Tree Hugging Family reader and an art fan I thought I’d let you know about the Aaron Chang Gallery Grand Opening Event.

What’s up?: Aaron Chang Gallery Grand Opening Event

When & where: February 28th, 2009 (7pm) at the corner of North Cedros and Cliff Street at 124 East Cliff Street, in Solana Beach, California. Click to RSVP.

About Chang: Chang is an award winning photographer with over 100 magazine covers to his credit. His client list includes names like Macys, Sanuk, Mercedes Benz, Nike, Levi’s, as well as his own brand.

Eco-Chang: Read more

While yes, it would be rockin’ cool if there was a real cupcake tree in my backyard, this is more a tree of the creative type…

The cupcake tree:

I have no clue how I came across this – I don’t frequent Woman’s Day, but I must say, this is a very nice little cooking with kids project. They give full instructions at the site for how to make your own cupcake trees – perfect for an Earth Day party or an eco-themed birthday party.

While the above trees are autumn themed, you could make little spring trees with green frosting (grass) and little flower candies, or summer trees; anything really. It’s a fun idea.

Notes: Use organic cake ingredients and use reusable cupcake liners and you’re green and good to go with this project.

[pretty flower cupcake image via stock.xchng]

Marye over at Kettle & Cup has a great post up that you should read: Coffee Biodiesel for a Smooth Ride. Oooooo! Coffee powered cars. So cool. Marye notes, among other things that the exhaust actually is coffee scented. If this was the norm, it might be a greener world, but it would also fuel my already BAD coffee addiction. I’d never stop thinking about coffee. Still, this is a great deal – so head over and have a read.

Not to waste a link love post, here are some other green goodies you should be reading today…

• guilty green pleasures
• Pace of Climate Change Exceeds Estimates
• Efficient Superhome from a Victorian Townhouse: The Nottingham Ecohome
• Green Depot Opens Flagship Green Building Store
• Whole Foods, Google, Trader Joe’s Among Consumers’ Greenest Brands
• Five reasons to love Pb Elemental Architecture
• Used Baby Bath Tubs Save the World from Another Hunk of Plastic

Enjoy – and /or let me know what you’re reading in the comments.

Well, the Moonpads Reusable Menstrual Pads Giveaway was extremely cool – we had a ton of entries and all of you had such amazing things to say. This has to be the most impressive group of contest comments I’ve ever seen. So a huge thanks to everyone who participated.

The bad news - there can only be two winners. Bummer. However, If you’re not a winner, I urge you to check out Moonpads anyhow – they’re a great deal in the long run, and Annie Rose (creator of Moonpads) even has seconds offered up at times.

Now, just as a recap here’s what our two winners will receive: a great starter gift pack from Moonpads Reusable Menstrual Pads. Each of our winners will get to choose her choice of 3 reusable pads in any style or color available.

And our two randomly drawn winners are… Read more

Before I give away the winners of the Moonpads Reusable Menstrual Pads Giveaway let’s look at a few pros of reusable pads.

• They don’t carry the cons of conventional products.
• In your life you’ll go through just how many pads and tampons. Tossing all those in the trash is such a huge shock to the planet. in your life.
• Reusable pads save you time. No running to the store at the last minute – or even each month.
• Need a $ shock about non-reusable pads: Disposable Pad or Tampon Cost Pad Calculator. You’ll save BIG bucks going with reusable pads.
  
• Good reusable pads last forever. As I’ve noted here before, in eight some odd years I’ve bought new exactly twice, and only twice because I bought two different kinds. That’s a huge monetary savings.

Here are some non-disposable options:

• Moonpads
• Glad Rags
• The Keeper
• Luna Pads
• The Diva Cup
• Make-It-Yourself Menstrual Pads
• Pleasure Puss Menstrual Pads – Singles
  
• Sckoon Organic Cotton Cloth Reusable Menstrual / Postpartum Pads

You can also find plenty of other reusable options on Etsy – just do a search for reusable pads.

If you’ve got any other pros of reusable pads, let me know in the comments. Next up winners of the Moonpads Reusable Menstrual Pads Giveaway.

Let’s find out who the winners of the ParentsDigest Subscription Giveaway are.

Just in case you forgot, each winner will receive a 90 day free subscription to ParentsDigest. This is a very nice prize from a cool company. To learn more about ParentsDigest read: ParentsDigest reads the best books, so you don’t have to…

Ok, we had 14 entries, and our two randomly drawn winners are… Read more