Leftovers | Photo by Goodncrazy

If you’re like me, you don’t naturally gravitate to leftovers when searching for that next great meal.

And sadly, according to the US Health Department, Americans now throw away on average, 25% of the food they purchase. (The NY Times offers a great graphic showing the breakdown.)

Imagine if you could save 25% on your weekly food budget? Wouldn’t it be worth learning a few new tricks?

By putting just a few of these tips into regular practice, you can turn bland into grand and make those frozen TV alternatives a thing of the past.

• Plan ahead – one of the best ways to have great leftovers is to plan your meals accordingly. My Life and I have a number of meals on our menus that I know will naturally make good leftovers — and then there are others that I know we should cook less of because I know the leftovers will just sit and sit in the back of the fridge until we take the time to throw them out.
• Cheese – one of the easiest, all-around improvements you can make to most leftovers is adding cheese before you toss the leftover dish into the microwave. There’s something about cheese that can cover a multitude of “sins.”
• Bring on the hot – after cheese, my favorite way to spice up leftovers (literally) is with Tabasco hot sauce. Like cheese it can change a dish in a flash.
• Make tacos – add tortillas, shredded cheese and salsa and you can turn just about any left over meat into a great helping of tacos. Even fish sticks, chicken strips or salmon patties can make great tacos.
• Make a sandwich – if you prefer the more traditional route, toss your leftover meat onto a couple slices of bread, add a slice of lettuce, a dab of mustard and mayo and you’ll have a sandwich that will put any processed, pre-sliced meat to shame.
• Make a soup – if you have left over meats or vegetables, they’ll often go great in a soup or stew the next day — especially chicken or beef.
• Make an omelette – leftover meats and potatoes go great with a morning omlette or scrambled eggs.
• Add a bowl of rice – rice is a great staple food in many diets around the world. Adding rice to ground beef or chicken can give you totally different experiences, depending on what sauces or spices you add to the dish. Beans work essentially the same way.
• Make a salad – last night’s chicken is often today’s chicken salad at many restaurants — don’t forget this option in your home as well.
• Add a baked potato – many of your meat and vegetables leftovers will make great potato toppings as well.

BONUS: Italian Dressing – some people might not find this as appetizing as I do, but I LOVE Italian dressing and I’ve found it a great way to spice up many leftovers — especially casseroles or Italian and pasta dishes.

“You can be a chef with most anything — just let your imagination go.” My dad — the leftover expert.

Whatever your choice, find a way to put those leftovers to use and do your best to avoid those frozen TV dinners and unhealthy fast food lunches on the go.

What other strategies have you come up with?

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Fields outside a Nigerian village | Photo by Jonathan Blundell

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. – Ovid

I hope you all enjoyed your extended Labor Day weekend (for the U.S. readers at least).

This weekend was at times mournful as well as joyful for our family and close friends.

We had a beautiful memorial service for a dear friend on Sunday and were reminded to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God just as Bob did.

On Monday, we spent much of our day off with friends and family — and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it.

Now it’s back to the office and the regular work week.

But before we get too far along in the week, I wanted to say a huge thanks to our commenters from last week.

• Cowpunkmom
• Willow (2)

Thanks for adding your voice to the discussion!

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your (short) week. Here’s to more great friendships and conversation.

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Love Wins | Photo by Jonathan Blundell

Don’t pursue simplicity, poverty or even generosity in the hopes that it’s the way to wholeness, holiness or satisfaction.

Pursue love.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. – 1 Cor. 13:3

Learn to love deeply — and all the rest will take care of itself.

And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. – Col. 3:12

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charity:water in Rwanda

Today is the last day of our 2010 campaign with charity:water to raise $5000 to build a fresh water well for those in need.

(Why water?)

So far we’ve raised $150 — enough to give clean, fresh drinking water to 7 people for the next 20 years!

That’s awesome!

But I know that as a group we can do better than that.

It’d be great to reach our goal of $5000 by day’s end — but I’ll be realistic and admit that’s a really unlikely chance — but perhaps each you’ll prove me wrong…. (hint, hint, hint).

Yes, money’s tight. Yes, you’re being hit up for money from all sides… but if you could spare a few dollars today to get us one step closer to that goal, you can help us change the life of those in desperate need.

(Who is charity:water?)

And my offer to give away a free e-book copy of my novel to everyone who donates, still stands through the end of today.

Any donation, of any amount today will receive an e-book (PDF) copy of my novel. Think of it as “name your own price” to help those in need and get a free novel along the way.

So — will you help? Will you donate?

Donate now.

Thanks to all those who have given — and thanks to each of you for caring for the under-resourced around you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Decluttering momentos from Jr High, High School and Bachelorhood | Photo by Jonathan Blundell

In our recent reader’s survey several of you asked about decluttering sentimental items.

I have to admit, sentimental items are one of the hardest things for me to declutter in my home as well.

Whether it’s something from my childhood that I hoping my boys will enjoy someday — or something that’s been handed down from other family members, I’m always slow to remove those items from my home.

However, while I tell myself (and others) how valuable these things are to me — more often than not they’re not displayed in a place of honor — they’re boxed and hidden in a closet or attic.

So what should we do with these treasured items that we’re afraid to get rid of?

Unclutter.com has some great pointers…

As you go through each room, make three stacks (similar to what we’ve mentioned before).

• Stack 1: Items that can be scanned, photographed or digitized for saving
• Stack 2: Items you want to display proudly on shelves or other areas in your homes
• Stack 3: Items you’re not sure about

And don’t forget — while decluttering you may always come across those items you’re ready to simply give away and forget about. No need to stack them into a pile — simply carry them straight to your donation box.

In several rounds of decluttering I’ve come across a number of things I’ve forgotten about, or as Miss Minimalist suggests — I’ve realized the item’s perceived value is no where near the value of the space I’ve used to store it in.

Some of these items include baseball cards from my youth — gave them to my friends’ kids — and old newspapers of big sporting events from my youth — gave them to a sport fan at work.

Once you have your three stacks you can begin digitizing, photographing or scanning the items.

• For some tips on photographing items visit DPS’ post on How to Shoot Items for eBay.
• You can scan photographs and other items at home or hire someone else to do it for you. Using a flatbed scanner and Photoshop, I recently scanned and cropped 250 or so photos and posted them to Flickr in roughly 4 hours. Your time will vary depending on how high a resolution you use, so you may want to consider the time and energy involved before you decide on doing it yourself or hiring someone else to do it.
• Once you’ve photographed or scanned your collection, you can now find unique ways to share and keep your collection. Perhaps storing and sharing on Flickr.com or Picasa, or creating a digital scrapbook that can be viewed on your DVD player.

With the second pile, begin finding places throughout your homes to display your treasures. This might also give you a chance to get rid of a few other things that aren’t as treasured. Or — if your shelf space is limited, you may opt to keep some of your items together and rotate your displayed items with the season. Rather than buying new trinkets and decorations for various times of the year, simply trade out your displayed items with treasures from your past. You’ll feel a greater attachment to the decorations and it will keep your house looking freshly redecorated.

Finally, with the third pile, place the items in a box and mark them the date. In six months, anything you haven’t touched can be photographed and donated to someone in need. If you haven’t used the items in six month, see it as a sign to move your collection elsewhere. A photograph will likely be all you’ll need to keep the memories alive.

What other steps have you taken to help declutter sentimental items in your home?

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Sunshine on my shoulder | Photo by Jonathan Blundell

Thanks to each person who commented last week:

Kim
Bill Gerlach
Matthew Cornell

Thanks for contributing to the conversation last week — you’re like sunshine on my shoulders! Here’s to another great week!

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Some great posts you may have missed recently…

Faith:
Enjoying God’s Reality

Living:
Launch Every Single Day
100 Ways to Simplify Your Life (and Make Yourself Happier)
How Many Wows Will You Miss Today?
Being Busy is Not That Important
Divine Interruptions

Technology:
Make Phone Calls Directly from Gmail
Kodak’s First Digital Camera
Google Tweaks Gmail’s “Undo Send” Labs Feature
Seasons of the Soul
Tracking The Companies That Track You Online

Work:
10 Creative Ideas for Different (Better) Business Culture
Finding a job that you love

Have a link you’d like us to share? Drop us a note on our contact page.

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Fail Whale Critter | By tinysparrowscraft

Note: I’ve been sitting on this post since Jan. 19, 2010 (goodness!). After reading Tonia Simeone’s post on Wednesday I figured it was time to update my list and post it )

Twitter makes for some great entertainment, as well as a unique learning and sharing experience.

Along with the latest gossip and news, there are some great folks who are sharing their simple life experiences in 140-character nuggets. Here are some of my favorites for Living Simply:

@sistersimplify – Encouraging the world to enjoy life more with less!

@IttyBittyImpact – ittybittyimpact.com (Tonia Simeone)

@christinesine – Christian, social activist, gardener, interested in spiritual disciplines, liturgy, social action

@joshua_becker – husband, dad, minimalist, blogger at becomingminimalist.com, author of simplify.

@RowdyKittens – Author of Simply Car-free, blogger at RowdyKittens, tiny house enthusiast, cat-lover, and coffee addict.

@ragan – Ragan is a writer and farmer in his native Arkansas.

@sustainabletrad – A Call To Holistic, Embodied, Whole-Life Christian Faith, Intentional Community, Sustainable Agriculture, Justice, Prayer…

@wwje – Theologian, foodie, husband, father, writer, wanna-be farmer… not in any order.

@brokeinthecity – 20-something girl who is a Shopaholic & a Saver & 2 other blogs: EverydayMinimalist.com and StyleString.com

@missminimalist – living a beautiful life with less stuff

@michaelpollan – author Michael Pollan

@re_nest – Account for re-nest.com. Abundant Design for Green Homes.

@foodimentary – Twitter’s @ShortyAwards winning Food~Fact~Tweeter Guaranteed to pepper your day with fun food facts! Impress others with your food knowledge!

For an even fuller list, check out my we live simply list on Twitter. And you can also follow my living simply updates at @welivesimply.

Did we miss any? Who would you recommend?

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Army Reserve 2010 Best Warrior Competition Army Physical Fitness Test | Photo by dvids

Simplifying your fitness routine means choosing exercises that will get the most bang for their buck. Usually these exercise will fall into the four basic movement patterns – Jump, Push, Pick up from ground, and run.

If you are trying to evaluate the merits of a exercise program or develop one your self than using most of the movements included below is a good place to start.

The exercises are a mix between body weight movements, weightlifting, and ways to move distance – i.e running, rowing, and swimming. I prefer having a mashup like this because it ensures that I have a good balance between strength and conditioning. Favoring any one to much will create other deficits in your overall fitness and make you susceptible to over use injuries (yes i’m talk to you if all you do it run).

Some of the movements below have a video with it. These videos were filmed at the gym I work at to assist people with proper technique. If you’re curious to know which one I am, I am the demo guy in the first squat video.

1. Squat. The squat is the king of all movements. No other exercise has the ability to be the only exercise you ever do and still manage to be in pretty good shape.

   Click here to view the embedded video.

2. Push ups. The best movement to build upper body pushing strength while only using your own body weight.
3. Pull Ups. The best movement to build upper body pulling strength while not having to use any other weights or machines.
4. Running short distances and sprinting. Running isn’t just about stepping outside your door and running around the block a few times at a leisurely pace. Our ancestors sprinted fast and hard for hunting and escaping predators. Luckily we don’t have to do much of that these days but alternating between slow long distance runs and short 50 yard sprints is a great way to maintain and develop cardiovascular strength.
5. Dead lift. The dead lift sounds as daunting as your name. It the heaviest exercise your body can do.

   Click here to view the embedded video.

6. Press. A lot of old school weightlifters believe that the measure of a mans strength is whether or not they can press their body weight with a barbell. You don’t necessarily need to be able to press your body weight but it couldn’t hurt.

   Click here to view the embedded video.

7. Over Head Squat. The over head squat is not only impressive to watch but is great at developing should stability to prevent injuries and also develop core strength.

   Click here to view the embedded video.

8. GHD Situp. The GHD sit up is one of the most difficult abdominal movements if you are doing full range of motion.

   Click here to view the embedded video.

9. Rowing. Most gyms have a rower but no one ever uses it. It sits in the corner and collects dust. This is unfortunate because rowing is more of a total body cardiovascular workout than most other ‘cardio’ equipment.
10. Swimming. This is the most low impact exercise on the list and probably the funnest. After a hard work out one of my favorite things to do is jump in the pool and swim a few easy laps to get some circulation so I can recover faster.

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And Toilet... Children! | Photo by reibart

Looking for a natural cleaning product, without all the harmful chemicals you find in your typical toilet cleaners?

Give these alternatives a try:

Sodium biocarbonate – helps control odor and prevents clogging. You’ll need roughly 3 1/2 oz. a week to make a real difference. If you’re looking to buy in bulk try your local swimming pool equipment store.

Borax and lemon juice – this is a good solution for getting rid of stubborn stains. Mix together 4 oz. of borax and 2 fluid oz. of lemon juice until you have a paste. Leave it for an hour, then scrub clean with an old toothbrush. Be careful however with the borax though. Be sure to avoid contact with your eyes and be sure the room is well ventilated and wear rubber cloves.

Sodium biocarbonate and lemon juice – instead of using borax, you can also use sodium biocarbonate in the same way, although it may be slightly less effective.

Vinegar – pour vinegar into the toilet instead of bleach and leave it overnight, this will help remove limescale from hard water. To clean the bowl, use 3 parts water and 1 part vinegar.

Cola – pour cola into the toilet, leave overnight and flush in the morning.

Source: The Self Sufficient-ish Bible

I’ve used the vinegar and cola solutions from time to time but haven’t tried the others.

What other solutions have you found for cleaning your bathrooms?

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