Great news for those who really liked the website Good Guide. You can now create a member profile to get updates, keep track of products, and a few other features I haven't gotten into yet! Try it out and share the experience!
Let's be healthy. Good food, good products, good life!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Maintenance
I am doing some upkeep and trying to make this blog look a little better. Check out Shabby Blog where I will be playing with some of their backgrounds until I find one I like! Great stuff for you to use on your blog too!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Don't Buy it Just Because it's Pink
It's October and that means it's Breast Cancer Awareness month. Everyone breaks out clothing and accesories in pink and we try to buy products that promise to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer.
This leads me to my argument. Aren't we already aware? Isn't there a crazy level of awareness in this country? We women need to get out there and get mammograms. Do the self examination and encourage each other to care about our health. This is action. But there are more ways to be Action oriented.
I want to draw your attention to an amazing website, Breast Cancer Action. The women behind this are tired of funding going to create more awareness. How about research? How about a cure? Let's raise money for that.
One of the best campaigns that Breast Cancer Action ran was against Yoplait yogurt. We have all seen the little pink lids that yoplait encourages us to end back and they will make a donation. Well up until February of this year, yoplait was putting rBGH in their yogurt. rBGH has been linked to CAUSING breast cancer. Thanks yoplait. Luckily, through Breast Cancer Action, and a whole lot of phone calls to General Mills, rBGH has been taken out of the yogurt. This year, the campaign is against Eli Lilly which is the only manufacturer of rBGH. They also make a variety of drugs needed to treat breast cancer.
These are a few examples of how we as consumers need to be aware and not just buy something because it is pink and promises to donate money. How much money? Donate to whom? Is it better if I just donate that money directly? Is this product actualy harming me more than it's helping?
Product manufacturers are smart. They want us to feel good with our purchases. But we need to make sure that our good feelings are warranted. We need to get smart about our purchases. I encourage everyone to read the Think Before You Pink website for some tips about purchasing pink products.
Let's get aware and let's take some action!
This leads me to my argument. Aren't we already aware? Isn't there a crazy level of awareness in this country? We women need to get out there and get mammograms. Do the self examination and encourage each other to care about our health. This is action. But there are more ways to be Action oriented.
I want to draw your attention to an amazing website, Breast Cancer Action. The women behind this are tired of funding going to create more awareness. How about research? How about a cure? Let's raise money for that.
One of the best campaigns that Breast Cancer Action ran was against Yoplait yogurt. We have all seen the little pink lids that yoplait encourages us to end back and they will make a donation. Well up until February of this year, yoplait was putting rBGH in their yogurt. rBGH has been linked to CAUSING breast cancer. Thanks yoplait. Luckily, through Breast Cancer Action, and a whole lot of phone calls to General Mills, rBGH has been taken out of the yogurt. This year, the campaign is against Eli Lilly which is the only manufacturer of rBGH. They also make a variety of drugs needed to treat breast cancer.
These are a few examples of how we as consumers need to be aware and not just buy something because it is pink and promises to donate money. How much money? Donate to whom? Is it better if I just donate that money directly? Is this product actualy harming me more than it's helping?
Product manufacturers are smart. They want us to feel good with our purchases. But we need to make sure that our good feelings are warranted. We need to get smart about our purchases. I encourage everyone to read the Think Before You Pink website for some tips about purchasing pink products.
Let's get aware and let's take some action!
Monday, October 5, 2009
In the Kitchen: Weekly Recipe: Rum Cupcakes
It's Monday and that means... absolutely nothing. Really, where was I going with this? Oh yes!
CUPCAKES!
A friend of mine is getting married in Vegas this weekend. We had a fun little shower for her a couple weeks ago and I made playing card-themed cupcakes for everyone.
The baking of the cupcakes was incredibly easy. I just got a chocolate cake mix and made it the normal way except when it came to the water. Instead of all water, I made 1/2 of that with rum!
It is very important that you do not taste very much of the cake batter before it is cooked. I didn't even think about it and was not prepared for a little alcohol buzz at 10 in the morning while I was baking.
I choose Sailor Jerry's rum to use because of it's nice vanilla finish. I was sad that all that alcohol would be burned off in the cooking process, but it was the taste I was after, not booze.
Decorating was fun! I piped on the vanilla butter cream frosting then used Betty Crocker's easy squeeze icing which was actually not very easy squeeze. I won't use them again, it was incredibly difficult to push the icing out. I sprained my hand! For the black I used the easy squeeze icing for brownies. I had the same problems. Originally i was going to use the icing to fill in the playing card images but after all the trouble to make them, I went ahead and used red and black sprinkles.
The cupcakes were a big hit though. Very moist with the fun rum taste.
I look forward to cooking with more alcohol in the future! He-he!
CUPCAKES!
A friend of mine is getting married in Vegas this weekend. We had a fun little shower for her a couple weeks ago and I made playing card-themed cupcakes for everyone.
The baking of the cupcakes was incredibly easy. I just got a chocolate cake mix and made it the normal way except when it came to the water. Instead of all water, I made 1/2 of that with rum!
It is very important that you do not taste very much of the cake batter before it is cooked. I didn't even think about it and was not prepared for a little alcohol buzz at 10 in the morning while I was baking.
I choose Sailor Jerry's rum to use because of it's nice vanilla finish. I was sad that all that alcohol would be burned off in the cooking process, but it was the taste I was after, not booze.
Decorating was fun! I piped on the vanilla butter cream frosting then used Betty Crocker's easy squeeze icing which was actually not very easy squeeze. I won't use them again, it was incredibly difficult to push the icing out. I sprained my hand! For the black I used the easy squeeze icing for brownies. I had the same problems. Originally i was going to use the icing to fill in the playing card images but after all the trouble to make them, I went ahead and used red and black sprinkles.
The cupcakes were a big hit though. Very moist with the fun rum taste.
I look forward to cooking with more alcohol in the future! He-he!
Friday, October 2, 2009
In The Kitchen: Weekly Recipe: Chai Tea
Fall has arrived! This is my favorite season so allow me to wax poetic for a moment.
The temperature from the hot scorching summer begins to drop. Instead of being sweaty in shorts and tank tops, a shirt and jeans become the uniform of choice.
The colors! Oh the colors that begin to emerge. Nature brings us orange and red with a tint of brown and dark green. The world bursts out with a radiant display of visual tricks before the sleepy winter months take over. The world even smells better! Cinnamon and hay mixed with apple's and dirt.
I lucked out on the genetic lottery and my alergies have no problems keeping away in the fall. I could stuff my head into a hay bale and breath in that smell. I love Fall!!!
To celebrate, I think we need a drink, wouldn't you say?
What is that I spy? Ho-ho! A warm and seasonal Chai Tea. Perfect!
I used to work at Starbucks and I became addicted to their Chai Tea. Of course, if you ever had the powdered Chai Tea mix from Borders Cafe before they had Seattle's best take over their coffee shops, you know that THAT was the best Chai Tea mix on the planet. Chai should be yummy and sweet. Sure, this is not a true Chai Tea, but it's the Americanized version of it.
But I know the calorie content of a Starbucks Chai. I also know that those sugar free Chai's just aren't as good. What to do? (The various flavored Chai's will lead me down another path, but really, I will figure out a low calorie option to pumpkin spice syrup so that pumpkin spice chai's can take over the world!)
Well I swung over to Hungry Girl and found a Chai Tea recipe that I modified a bit.
Here is what we will need:
2 Chai Tea bags
1 Cinnamon Stick
Hot water
Sugar Free Vanilla creamer
Cinnamon Powder
Throw the tea bags and cinnamon stick in with some boiling hot water. The tea bags are going to steep for 10 to 15 minutes, thus why it needs to be so hot. Just walk away and let it sit.
Take out the tea bags and cinnamon stick and set them aside. Add in the creamer until it looks milky then add a dash of the cinnamon powder on top and throw the cinnamon stick back in. I was able to get two batches of tea from the tea bags and cinnamon stick, so when you run out of one cup, make another!
Hungry Girl's recipe is actually for cold chai tea, so you pour everything over ice, but I believe that Chai is a fall/winter kind of drink. Also, if you'd rather use plain milk or even soy instead of the creamer, to get the vanilla taste, either use Vanilla Chai tea bags or add vanilla flavoring to the mix.
Enjoy!
The temperature from the hot scorching summer begins to drop. Instead of being sweaty in shorts and tank tops, a shirt and jeans become the uniform of choice.
The colors! Oh the colors that begin to emerge. Nature brings us orange and red with a tint of brown and dark green. The world bursts out with a radiant display of visual tricks before the sleepy winter months take over. The world even smells better! Cinnamon and hay mixed with apple's and dirt.
I lucked out on the genetic lottery and my alergies have no problems keeping away in the fall. I could stuff my head into a hay bale and breath in that smell. I love Fall!!!
To celebrate, I think we need a drink, wouldn't you say?
What is that I spy? Ho-ho! A warm and seasonal Chai Tea. Perfect!
I used to work at Starbucks and I became addicted to their Chai Tea. Of course, if you ever had the powdered Chai Tea mix from Borders Cafe before they had Seattle's best take over their coffee shops, you know that THAT was the best Chai Tea mix on the planet. Chai should be yummy and sweet. Sure, this is not a true Chai Tea, but it's the Americanized version of it.
But I know the calorie content of a Starbucks Chai. I also know that those sugar free Chai's just aren't as good. What to do? (The various flavored Chai's will lead me down another path, but really, I will figure out a low calorie option to pumpkin spice syrup so that pumpkin spice chai's can take over the world!)
Well I swung over to Hungry Girl and found a Chai Tea recipe that I modified a bit.
Here is what we will need:
2 Chai Tea bags
1 Cinnamon Stick
Hot water
Sugar Free Vanilla creamer
Cinnamon Powder
Throw the tea bags and cinnamon stick in with some boiling hot water. The tea bags are going to steep for 10 to 15 minutes, thus why it needs to be so hot. Just walk away and let it sit.
Take out the tea bags and cinnamon stick and set them aside. Add in the creamer until it looks milky then add a dash of the cinnamon powder on top and throw the cinnamon stick back in. I was able to get two batches of tea from the tea bags and cinnamon stick, so when you run out of one cup, make another!
Hungry Girl's recipe is actually for cold chai tea, so you pour everything over ice, but I believe that Chai is a fall/winter kind of drink. Also, if you'd rather use plain milk or even soy instead of the creamer, to get the vanilla taste, either use Vanilla Chai tea bags or add vanilla flavoring to the mix.
Enjoy!
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