For more than two years Mad Cat Quilts has featured posts called 6 More Moths of Zero Waste. In this challenge series, we take 6 month increments to get started or work towards becoming better at zero waste. Each month for a 6 month block we tackle a zero waste problem and learn how to be more sustainable, more zero waste, become better at being plastic free. We would usually tackle these challenges the 6 months leading up to Plastic Free July and for the 6 month after PFJ.

In those years we have learned what trash we throw away when we did a trash audit, we’ve done meatless Monday, we’ve learned how to shop second hand, we’ve stopped buying bottled water, learned to grow our own food, and how to compost our scraps, we have become more aware of our consumption and waste, we have become better at the low impact movement lifestyle and we have found ways to use less plastic!

We were chugging reight along for those last few yers. But what happened in December of 2020? Well, that’s question that we could ask about every month in 2020. The last installment of the last block of 6 More Months of Zero Waste will happen…. Eventually.

This was a super fun series and it let me and my reader make new roads towards a more zero waste lifestyle.

But now, it’s time to reinforce some of what we learned in all those 6 month block. As we all know, Zere waste is the goal, but it’s a life long on going journey. We will have times where we fall back into bad habits, or get slack on those we keep. IN order to help us move forward, we can revisit the things we learned to make sure that we are still incorporating them in our daily lives. We will call this One More Month to Zero Waste.

If you feel ready for a refresher, you can go back to the beginning of the blog series, or take a look at any of the blog posts to see past month’s challenges. You can start at the beginning, or you can hop around. Over on my youtube channel we’ll be going month to month with small actionable challenges, based on 6 More Months to Zero Waste starting now! There are many ways to follow along and make every month a chance to be better at zero waste!

Did you have a favorite challenge from this series? One that surprised you? One you already did? What challenges do you feel the need to revisit? Leave us a comment!

A few weeks ago I made a kheer inspired vegan rice pudding and a lot of people asked for the recipe. When I got out all the materials to make it again, I had completely forgotten how I made it the first time! So this recipe is a version of the original and perhaps eventually I will make another recipe for that one as well.

Kheer is one of my favorite Indian dishes, a simple rice pudding. This vegan version so so easy to make.

Ingredients:
Cooked (leftover) rice.
Light coconut milk
Cardamum
Nutmeg
Sugar
Thai ginger
Vanilla extract
Saffron

Equipment:
Medium sized pot
Spoon
Knife

In a pot, combine coconut milk, spices and a small chunk of ginger, chopped. Add rice and cook over low heat until mixture starts to thicken. Once desired thickness serve warm or cold. I garnished mine with a simple fruit compote but I like it just as well plain.

A few notes:
-I used batsmati, but you can use any leftover rice you have at hand.
-Saffron was in my original recipe, not the one pictured here, but I included it here bc I thought it added quite a lot.
-I used whatever sugar I had to hand, but you can use maple syrup, agave, coconut sugar, etc… You can also use only a smidgen of sugar to make this a more breakfast friendly recipe.

Using leftover rice, coconut milk out of a can, and bulk spices make this recipe low waste. I really love that this recipe is super creamy even though it’s vegan and I appreciate that it’s not overly coconut flavored.

What are your favorite simple dishes that use left overs?