Building with Bottles

It takes a plastic bottle 450 years to decompose.  Some have said of the waste we generate why we aren't building houses out of it.  Now some people are!  With 6,000 bottles filled with sand then cemented into place, you can make a small house or community building.  Of all the bottles produced or the U.S., only 27% get recycled.  This PET (polyethylene terephthalate) can be made into carpet, luggage, shoes, fabric, fiberfill, car bumpers, and more.  Yet, the other 73%, or 60 million bottles a DAY,  are thrown away in the US alone. That single day of "trash" could build 10,000 houses.  There are an estimated 640,000 homeless in America. 

Personally, I reuse mine and also have reusable water bottles.  Rhode Island now recycles #5 plastic, so all those ice coffee cups should be going in recycling too.  They do make great pots for seedlings on a budget.  We donated 42 basil plants to a food pantry last January.  There are so many other uses for them as well: bird feeder, light bulb...  I've posted before about other countries using plastic bottles as light bulbs.  Here's another video and the original one I posted.  

The best course of action is to not generate trash in the first place.  But if you've got it, reuse it, recycle it, send it overseas if you want to, but keep them out of the landfills and ocean!  The majority of the air we breathe is not from trees (not even the rain forest), but from phytoplankton in the ocean.  Every curb is a coast-line.  Enjoy your water and keep it clean!  

BTW, our Kickstarter is up to $341.  Just $4859 to go in 40 days.  If you haven't pledged, even $10, please help us get our cookbook out into the world!

I just made this again, this time with stinging nettle and lemon balm.  Oh my!

Vegetarian 
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Pansotti with Walnut Sauce

Taste of Italy

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Prep: 1 hour  Cook: 15 minutes  Serves 10 

Dough:

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp. cider vinegar 

1 tsp. salt

2 3/4 cup unbleached flour

Filling:

1/4 cup blanched, towel-dried, minced borage* 

1 cup ricotta (cow or goat)

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 tbs. chopped fresh basil*

Walnut Sauce:

1 shallot, minced

1 tbs. butter

1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

1 cup whipping cream

1/4 tsp. liquid smoke

This dish takes time to make, but it well worth it.  Serve it at a dinner party and enjoy the praise for making your own ravioli and rich sauce.  Borage has a light cucumber taste and the hairy texture of the leaves disappears when you blanche them.  For dough, whisk eggs, milk, and vinegar.  Stir in salt and flour, then knead on heavily floured counter into a stretchy dough.  Keep wrapped in plastic in refrigerator until needed later.  For filling, pick 25-30 borage leaves, carefully washing them and removing discolored parts.  Boil leaves about 5 minutes to soften hairs, place in ice water 1 minute, then squeeze out excess water by placing leaves in a towel and pressing.  Mince leaves on a cutting board, to yield a 1/4 cup.  Mix thoroughly with cheese, wine, and basil.  To make ravioli, roll dough out as thin as possible (the last setting on a pasta machine) and cut into 3” squares.  Make sure area is heavily floured, as dough can get sticky.  Place about 2 tsp. of filling on each square and fold over into a triangle.  Separate ravioli on floured wax paper until ready to cook.  For sauce, toast walnuts gently in pan then set aside.  Mince shallot and sauté in butter until just soft.  Run nuts through food processor with some of cream to create a paste, leaving some pieces unprocessed if desired.  Return nut mixture to pan with remaining cream.  Heat gently, stirring in liquid smoke towards end.  Cook ravioli in boiling water 3-5 minutes.  Drain and top with sauce.  Use fresh basil leaves as garnish, if desired.

* Recipe also works with stinging nettles and lemon balm