Pure Bar = Good Bar!
I received a sample of the wild blueberry organic Pure bar from Amazon.com and was very happy with the flavor. The bar is not too sweet (and not too un-sweet!) and was loaded with chunks of nuts and blueberries! It's soft and slightly chewy with a very slightly grainy texture - but it is more like a homemade snack bar than a mass-produced one. The contents of the bar are great as well: Organic Dates, Organic Wild Blueberries, (with Organic Apple Juice Concentrate and Organic Canola Oil), Organic Cashews, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Walnuts, Organic Brown Rice Protein, Organic Almonds, Organic Unsweetened Lemon Juice Concentrate, and that's all! (unless you count the 14 essential vitamins and minerals, healthy antioxidants, and healthy Omega 3 fats in every bite). Nothing cooked. Nothing processed.
These bars use certified organic fruits, nuts and grains, are gluten-free, vegan, and contain a full serving of fruit. I have tried many different types of snack and meal bars as I am always on the go or too busy to sit and eat a complete meal at lunch - these bars are great and I will purchase many more! These are available at Whole Foods and now also on Amazon.com (for a lot less!).  In fact, they are now available on Subscribe and Save for an additional 15% off!  This is the best price I have found anywhere.

After trying the bar, I went to the company website to learn more and now I feel really good about these bars and the company that manufactures them. They are a very responsible / Eco-friendly company started by a mom who really cares about what her family eats AND they are an American company located in Holland Michigan! (I'll do anything to support the state of Michigan - where I was born and raised!) Everything about these bars is awesome!

Not sure which flavor you might like best?  Order a Pure Bar variety pack and get 2 bars of each 6 flavors:  Chocolate Brownie, Apple Cinnamon, Cherry Cashew, Cranberry Orange, Trail Mix and Wild Blueberry

Get a coupon on their website: http://www.thepurebar.com/index.php

Check out their blogroll

Eco-friendly teeth!!

Preserve toothbrushes - When I first saw these toothbrushes, I thought, What a great idea! Recycled plastic, teaming up with another Enviro-friendly company (Stonyfield Farm, to recycle their yogurt containers) and the best thing is that they provide packaging to send back the toothbrushes to be recycled when you are done! So I thought I'd try them. I need soft toothbrushes anyway, and I found these to be very soft, comfortable on my teeth and to hold the brush, and the bristles have held up great over 3 months. Since it is recommended to throw away toothbrushes and use a new one every 4-6 months (because of germs and bristles start to fray), you can feel better about wasting toothbrushes since these can just be recycled!
Anything small we can do to treat the planet better is a great idea and this is a real winner.
From Amazon.com:
- 100% recycled plastics in handle, at least 25% recycled Stonyfield Farm« yogurt cups.
- Tri-level virgin nylon bristles with softer outer rows to protect your gums and tooth enamel.
- Curved handle, developed with dental professionals, for an effective and thorough cleaning.
- Preserve Toothbrush and packaging are completely recyclable with our postage-paid mailer (included with each order).
- Packaging is reusable travel case with ventilation holes.

Preserve also makes toothbrushes for kids - they are super-adorable with animals on them!  Since I have 2 kids I buy these in bulk (and save money!).  They are really soft and my kids really love brushing their teeth with these brushes!  Win-win!

Great Bio-degradable trash bags

We have been trying to be more eco-friendly at home and although we have been recycling for years and reducing our regular trash, like millions of other recyclers still have to throw things away. So instead of using traditional plastic garbage bags we have tried several brands of biodegradable / compostable trash bags. Many were too thin and riped so often that we had to double bag... When we tried Go Green, we found a winner! They are really strong - more like ordinary plastic and hold up to all our trash. The price is decent as well, especially when you buy in bulk on Amazon.com using Subscribe and Save! They are hard to find, and not always available, so buying in bulk is smart. These bags are the way to go to reduce the amount of plastics in our landfills!
http://www.perfgogreen.com/

Natural diapers if you decide to go disposable

A while back I was researching baby products when I read an article about the hidden chemicals in baby wipes and came across this website that is a great resource for parents. It is all about safety and safe products, product recalls, and Eco-friendly products. I have been using Nature Babycare because they are biodegradable and use no chemicals, are really absorbant and the packaging is also recycleable.  They have recently been improved and have much better velcro closure and better elastic around legs and back.  I have also tried Whole Foods 365 brand (cheaper) and they are good as well.

Read the article link here and bookmark this website as it probably has more info you might want to read (Great website by the way!):

http://safemama.com/?s=disposable+diapers

From the Safe Mama web site:
"Huggies Pure and Natural Diapers: We get a lot of questions about these diapers, and I hate to have to be the one to be the bearer of bad news, but these are not really a natural alternative, but more Huggies greenwashing the public to make them believe. Basically, the outer part of the diaper is made with organic cotton, which is great, but the rest of the diaper is no different than a conventional disposable. They’re bleached with dioxins, and as for the organic cotton outer, there’s no law that mandates exactly how much the product has to be organic in order to label it as such. So the diaper could be made from 100% organic materials, or 10% organic materials. I picked up the newborn size for my daughter in the interest of seeing what the hype was all about, and also because they had a cord cut out (something Seventh Generation doesn’t have). However, greenwashing aside, I found the diaper to be sub par and 99% of the time it leaked. SafeMama gives this diaper a thumbs down.

So what are our top picks for disposables? Seventh Generation, Nature Babycare, Earth’s Best and Tushies. There’s also the little g hybrid diaper, which could be considered disposable, however, they’re a more expensive option."

Amazon.com sells Nature Babycare products - the lowest price I have found (and if you sign up for subscribe and save, you save 15%). just click below to view/purchase any of their great products that I have used.  FOR A SHORT TIME you can save 30 % - go to: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000517101&tag=green01d-20

More links:

Nature Babycare Eco-Friendly Diapers

Nature Babycare fragrance-free wipes

Nature Babycare Biodegradable Disposal Bags