9 Simple Pointers on How to Eat Healthy Whether you’re dieting to lose weight or just want to look and feel better, you’re probably wondering why no one can tell you how to eat healthy without some fancy, convoluted chart or graph. Well, my dear, I can help, and it won’t even require an app, calculator, or pie chart; eating healthy doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it can be easy, if you keep these 9 simple pointers on how to eat healthy in mind. Table of contents: 1 Do the Math Weight loss, weight maintenance, and weight gain all boil down to a variation on one simple math equation. 2 Skip the Soda Simply put, soda provides no nutritional value. 3 Forget Fast Food Fast food is all about convenience… and calories. 4 Try for Five According to the USDA, we’re all supposed to get five handful-sized servings of fresh fruits and veggies every day, but hardly any of us do! 5 Eat Smaller Meals, More Often 6 Shop the Perimeter Ever notice where in the grocery store all the bad-for-you junk food and processed food is? 7 Swap Your Bread
Happy Thanksgiving Homemade Pumpkin Butter Good morning! This weekend is our Canadian Thanksgiving, which seems strange to me after the weekend madness, but I am just happy that I am not the one preparing the entire meal this time. ;) I have been thinking of something that I could bring for my in-laws that would make a fun Thanksgiving hostess gift. I didn’t feel like bringing cookies, pie, or something of that nature, so I put my thinking cap on and surfed the web for ideas. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks pumpkins. Happy Thanksgiving Homemade Pumpkin Butter This was super easy to make and quite delicious. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen. Ingredients: 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree, approx. 3 1/2 cups or fresh3/4 cup apple juice1/2-1.5 teaspoons ground ginger (optional, sometimes I omit)1/2 teaspoon ground cloves1 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar)1 tablespoon ground cinnamon1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice Directions: 1. 2. Note: Canning is not recommended. Get your super cute Mason jar and set aside… Wheeeeeeeee.
Oven-Fried Eggplant What is large, purple, and has a round bottom? No, it's not Grimace, the Ronald McDonald character, or Barney the dinosaur. It's an eggplant or melazana in Italian. There are many different varieties of eggplant. Some are small ivory-white and plump; they may be pink or purple and flecked with white irregular stripes. The majority of eggplants found in most grocery stores are dark purple or almost black and can be long and slim or fat. When cooking eggplant it is best to “salt” them first. You may get tired of me writing things like, "before moving to Sicily I had never eaten _____ or before moving to Sicily I rarely ate _____, or before moving to Sicily I didn't know what ______ was". I typically fry eggplant when serving as a side dish. Oven-Fried Eggplant Source: The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook Prep: 11 minutes Cook: 24 minutes Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3 slices) 1. Calories: 121 Fat: 2.8g Protein 5g Carb 19.8g Fiber 3g
52 Healthy Meals in 12 Minutes or Less Being hungry sucks (it’s a scientific fact). So why spend hours cooking a gourmet feast when a nutritious meal could be only 12 minutes away from getting from the kitchen to your plate? Skip the grumbling tummy, the hangriness, and the cranky guests, and serve up any one of these 52 healthy meals that are so quick and easy, you’ll wonder why you ever ordered takeout. 1. Um, YUM. 2. Say goodbye to boring toast. 3. You can have salad for breakfast, too. 4. This healthy breakfast is a little more of a healthy dessert, but we’ll let it slide. 5. Take a trip to the tropics with this pineapple and coconut flavored breakfast. 6. It doesn’t get much better (or easier!) 7. This blogger has recipes for four different flavors of awesome instant oats: blueberry vanilla, chocolate banana, walnut and date, and strawberries and cream. 8. Peanut butter toast might be a classic, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring! 9. These “wraps” are a creative and gluten-free way to hold your B.A.T. 10. 11.
10 Best Foods for an Anti-Aging Detox … | Food An anti-aging detox doesn’t have to rely on expensive creams, ointments or even plastic surgery. The best anti-aging detox can simply be food. However, it has to be certain types of good food that is filled with vitamins and antioxidant nutrients. Detoxing your body of harmful chemicals can come from within: good food helps your cells to absorb the nutrients in food easier, which in turn expels the toxins from your body giving you fresher, younger looking skin. Table of contents: 1 Red Peppers Their bright color is sourced from the fact that they contain nine times the amount of carotene and twice the amount of vitamin C than in green peppers. 2 Brown Rice Richer in flavor and texture, brown rice is richer in vitamin B1 than white rice. 3 Berries Guess what magic these little fruits can do? 4 Leafy Greens These vegetables are filled with the anti-aging detoxifying coenzyme Q10. 5 Quinoa This is a pseudocereal that has a flavor and texture similar to rice or couscous. 6 Lean Protein 7 Cinnamon
www.watermelon.org/Recipes/Watermelon-Malibu-Surf-16.aspx Watermelon Malibu Surf Ingredients 1 cup trimmed strawberries, cut in half1/2 cup coconut cream2 ounces spiced rum1 watermelon wedge for garnish1/2 cup sweetened whipped topping1 cup seedless watermelon chunks Instructions Blend watermelon, strawberries, coconut cream and rum just until smooth. Place in freezer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Servings Serves 1. Tags SmoothieBeveragesCocktailWatermelonSummerRumCoconutStrawberriesRefreshingParty Flavored Lemonade Elsie and I are starting to plan some spring/summer back-yard parties for this coming season. It's going to be my first summer in my house (just became a first time home-owner this past autumn). We plan to host a few little get togethers, I may build a small fire pit for s'mores. Who knows! Grapefruit Lemonade- to a large pitcher of lemonade add in 2 cups of grapefruit juice and fresh slices of grapefruit. Strawberry and Basil Lemonade- to a large pitcher of lemonade add 2-3 cups of chopped strawberries and a handful of chopped basil. Cucumber Mint Limeade-to a large pitcher of limeade (or lemonade) add one cucumber, thinly sliced, and a handful of chopped mint leaves. Blackberry Lemonade- to a small pitcher of lemonade add 1 cup of slighlty mashed blackbarries. Happy Monday!
Cook Healthy Mozzarella Sticks photo credit Who says our favorite cheesy foods have to be off limits? Mozzarella sticks are awesome for every occasion, and make for a delightful snack that most of us have been accustomed to since childhood. Now that we’re mature college girls who are more health conscious, we can still have the cheesy snack we all love, guilt-free! What you need 12 sticks of string cheese in your choice of cheese, go for the low sodium kind if you want to be extra healthy1 egg2 tbsp of flour5 tbsp of bread crumbs2 tbsp of parmesan cheeseA dollop of olive oil, or cooking spray Preparation Cut the cheese sticks in half, making 24 slices, then freeze the slices in the freezer until completely frozenBeat the egg in a small bowl. What makes them healthier? What do you think? Have you tried this recipe?
8 Extraordinary Vegetable Recipes … | Cooking Vegetable recipes can be much more exciting than you might imagine. It´s not just about boring boiled or steamed veggies – no, vegetable dishes can be much more exciting than that! Whether it´s an accompaniment or a main dish, a vegetable recipe can be tasty and filling. So I´ve picked out some super vegetable recipes to change the minds of the doubters … allrecipes.co.uk Sweet potato is probably my favourite vegetable. Vanilla Vodka Chai Tea Saturday, September 10, 2011 Vanilla Vodka Chai Tea Happy (day-after)Friday, folks. Yesterday’s tsunami rain made it difficult impossible for Tina to get an actual photo of today’s cocktail. I wanted to bring you a little sipper that is inspired by the flavors of Autumn but will still refresh you if your local temperature still think it’s summer vacation. I happen to love chai tea. I hope you’re a chai tea fan like me because this is how chai tea should be served. The Hubs Print Save Vanilla Vodka Chai Tea Ingredients:6 oz. strong Chai Tea (I used 1 tea bag for 6 oz. water) 2 oz. vanilla vodka ¾ oz. amaretto liqueur ½ oz. simple sugar ½ oz. half n halfDirections:Bring 3 cups of water to a boil and steep 4 tea bags for 2 to 4 minutes (following the tea directions on the box).
Lollipops Recipe Lollipops are an old-fashioned sugar candy favorite. You can vary the colors or flavors to suit your tastes. Make sure you have an accurate candy thermometer for this recipe! Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Ingredients: 1 cup sugar½ cup light corn syrup¼ cup water1-1/2 tsp extract of your choice (vanilla, mint, cinnamon, coconut, etc)Food coloring (optional)Lollipop molds and sticks Preparation: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Peanut Butter Banana Pie with Nutella, with Love for Mikey and Jennie As friends and family of Jennie Perillo gather to remember her husband today, our family sends love and support from far away. Many of us asked what we could do to help, and Jennie being the incredible, strong woman she is only asked for one thing: that we make a peanut butter pie, her Mikey’s favorite, in his memory and to help ease her pain. So if you read food blogs, Twitter, and other social media sites today, you’ll find hundreds of people supporting Jennie and her girls with the simple gift of a peanut butter pie that we will share with our loved ones. So hug the people you love today and enjoy some food with them, because in Jennie’s words, “…today is the only guarantee we can count on.” [Update Oct. 15, 2012: When I originally wrote this post, I did not include the recipe because Jennie is a friend and I felt that it was important for people to read her post and see the original recipe written in her own words. Peanut Butter Banana Pie with Nutella, with Love for Mikey and Jennie
10 Ways to Burn Belly Fat … Ways to Burn Belly Fat range from eating healthy to doing the right exercises, but some methods work better than others. If you have extra pounds around your tummy, you know how stubborn they can be, so while there are many ways to burn belly fat, you have to choose the best of the best to get results. It takes a lot of determination and will power, but it can be done, and once you're determined to shed those inches, it's actually not as hard as you might think. And don't worry – I've found all the best ways to burn belly fat, so you'll be fit in no time at all! When you're looking for the best ways to burn belly fat, you actually have to start slow.
appetizers This week has been such a mess! I can't wait for next week for a total do over! I have so much to accomplish this weekend - thank goodness it's a 3day weekend! Any fun plans you guys have for the extra time? Meanwhile... let's look at some yummy mini appetizers that you can make with your garden's supply of ripe tomatoes (or on sale at the market heehee)! Anything with goat cheese, I am a HUGE fan! Whip up some caprese bites! BLT stuffed cherry tomatoes! I am a HUGE fan of serving bruschetta! Party add on! Don't have enough little plates to do a fancy mini appetizer spread?