This morning I went to make banana muffins with some ailing bananas. These are the thoughts that crossed my mind.1. I've stopped buying that "Pam" stuff in the spray can. It seemed like such an eco-sin to throw away those cans since they can't even be recycled.
2. I don't want to use muffin papers, because they just get thrown away as well. I guess I could compost them? But still, why use something that doesn't really need to be used?
3. Okay, I guess that leaves me with oil or butter to grease the muffin pan with. Good choices!
4. Boy I really need a napkin or paper towel to rub this on with. D'oh. Never mind.
5. All this and I haven't even made the damn muffins yet. What have I become when I'm up at 6 am on a Sunday morning worrying about muffins.
For the record, I ended up rubbing it on with my (clean, of course) fingers. What do you do?
And do you worry about things like this too? I know some would say to stop worrying about the tiny little things and do something big. But we've done the big picture things - we've cut consumption, we recycle everything, I line dry, we freeze our buns off in the winter and don't use a/c in the summer, we've downsized our cars, I work at home, we compost, we conserve water....
I'm not saying that we couldn't improve upon each of these things - there is always room for improvement. But I wonder if there comes a time when one really does have to take things like muffins into consideration?
11 comments:
Had to laugh. You are certainly not alone in your thought process. We are really just starting to make a better effort at being more green and things like this always crop up. aye yi yi. Hope the muffins were yummy!
btw, I use my fingers as well...worked for me as a child helping mom in the kitchen...works now :)
Cheers,
Deb
I save the paper the sticks of butter come wrapped in, and then when the time comes, pull out one of those to grease the pan.
It's not helpful if you make your own butter; then I'd use my fingers too!
i use paper muffin liners, i figure they're biodegradable more so than a lot of the other options available (silicone or foil liners) and i'm usually neat enough with them that i don't need to also wash my muffin pans
Misto stainless steel spray cans. They have plastic tubes running down into them so you can agonize over what kind of plastic that is (smile), but you can refill them. I have one filled with olive oil and one with canola oil for baking. :)
You could also use those silicone baking cups but I use the Misto sprayer for lots of stuff.
Ha! This is something I have thought about. I do the same thing as JessTrev, works great. I do occasionally use the muffin liners when I am making cupcakes to share, I compost the ones from the cupcakes I eat at home.
Kellie,
Your great,great grandmother taught me to save the butter(stick) wrappers and use them for just that purpose. When she, (or we of the following generations), didn't have those around, we've used our fingers, or just rubbed the stick of butter directly onto the pans. Follow up with a little flour to prevent greasiness in the muffin tin or cake pan. ;)
I tend to color in the pan like a crayon with the stick of butter. It works, if I need oil I use my fingers. I've been slowly moving to reusable things and less garbage. My latest project is making 'reusable paper towels' for my kitchen. We have cloth napkins, dish clothes and towels. I wanted something to fill the gap with the really messy, staining stuff. We'll see how it goes.
And I thought I was the only one!
I realize I'm late commenting but I have 2 methods. Either my fingers... or even better my daughter's fingers. :) She LOVES helping mommy especially when it involves dipping them in oil and rubbing them all over something. I highly recommend kids for this task... just catch them before they run through the house with greasy fingers. :)
Btw I also recommend sticking to either butter or cold pressed oils like extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil. I've been doing some reading and the processed vegetable oils may not be good for us. Too many Omega 6's not in balance with Omega 3's and the manufacturing process does nasty things to them.
I have been using reusable silicone muffin liners. They work great!
I am a Chef, stopped using paper towels 30 years ago, same for muffin tins. I save the paper that the butter was wrapped in, keep them in a bag in the freezer, then when I have to grease a pan I grab one. Works great, then I throw it in the compost bin (I do high heat composting)
Millie Barnes
http://optimumhealth.wordpress.com
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