Month: January 2008

2 out of 5 stars
This is a  very very aromatic tea not for the faint of heart.  Though it comes with natural boysenberry and lavender flavor, the sage and nettle in it can’t really be avoided.  Even with sugar, this is an exercise in mind over matter.
I know one of Yogi Bhajan’s favorite sayings was “Keep up!” but in this case it has to be “keep down!”

Strawberry-Banana Breakfast Smoothie
One Serving
• 1 cup orange juice
• 3 tbsp nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/2 banana; cut into pieces
• 10 fresh strawberries; hulled
• 3 ice cubes
Combine all the ingredients in your blender.
Blend until thick and frothy.
Nutritional Facts Per Serving:
Calories 209
Total Fat 0 grams
Saturated Fat 0 grams
Cholesterol 0 milligrams
Sodium 70 milligrams
Total Carbohydrate 45 grams
Dietary Fiber 1 grams
Sugars 29 grams
Protein 7 grams

Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

1.0 out of 5 stars Less than glittering third book

I enjoyed the other two books in the series, having been given a recommendation in the American Library Association best romance of the year list.  While the first two were well exectuted (emphasis o the executed, since they are heavily plotetd) this one really cranked it out, but with about as much romantic/erotic tension as a wooden Indian.

The heroine is a bluestocking interested in social welfare and she s so virtuous, it is hard to believe she would just say, “Ok, come to my bedroom to have sex with me, I’ll be ready for you in half an hour.”

Which she does. We get more detail of her birth control practices than we do of her passionate interest for the hero. Ugh.

Our hero may be known as the Archangel and fabulously handsome and eligible, but he is thoroughly unlikable in my opinion. He is rude, patronizing, and above all, in love with another woman (another man’s wife) in the book throughout nearly the whole of it, whilst still deciding to put himself on the Marriage Mart with the help of his female secretary, whom he is trying to make into his mistress. Ugh again.

He also has a ex-mistress he spends more time with than the heroine, and is so patronizing towards her, it is a wonder she doesn’t kill him with her bare hands!

I don’t see anything passionate or sensual in this book at all. The ONLY love scene in the whole book happens on page 71. Any of the usual conventional ways of getting them romantically linked again are totally forfeited. The unchaperoned trip into the countryside, old deserted inn, all of them in peril…

Sound familiar? But it is all to try to discover who has tried to murder him. They never even so much as kiss!! Or hold hands or touch!

The book drags on way too long. The title is based on the costume she wears in the last 10 pages of the book, when he finally sees who she really is through her startling family resemblance to all the males in her family. Silly, really.

The fact that the heroine is supposed to have been in so much danger all these years that she walks around in dark glasses to hide her eyes, which only call attention to her appearance, and a terrible wig which also calls attention to her, is all the more absurd. Anyone else would have just sent her to America or India if it were that risky for her to be found.

All of this absurdity might have been overlooked if there had been some heat between the couple, but anything there was in the wooden, totally in the dark love scene which lasts a page or two without any sensuality, dies totally after page 72.

The so-called mystery is predictable, and not worth the time or effort to plow through the book.

504 words

Continued from Part 1

Leftover Magic for Families

As for large, busy families, yes, you can certainly freeze the leftovers to have another time, but with a little bit of advanced planning, you can come up with a couple of days of menus in minutes.

Let’s look at what is happening in your house now. You prepare a roasted pork loin and rice for dinner one night. The family wants something else for dinner the following night, so the forlorn and soon forgotten pork loin gets pushed to the back of the refrigerator.

Normally, that’s where it will stay until you clean out the fridge, right? But not anymore. That is a total waste of time, money, and energy. With a bit of forward planning when you shop, and some creativity, you can spin your leftovers into something everyone will want to eat, not throw away.

Eating leftovers the way they were originally served is probably what’s turning family members off from wanting it again the next night. Therefore, don’t expect them to want it again exactly the same way.

Instead, chop that pork loin up into bite sized cubes, and take your leftover rice as well if you have any. In a large skillet or wok, stir fry the leftover rice with a bag of frozen veggies, an egg, and some of the chopped pork loin to make pork fried rice. Add a little soy sauce and you’ve got a whole new dinner for your hungry family.

This is just one way that leftovers can be turned into a new dish with a new flavor. The same can also be done using chicken, seafood, or beef. Stirfry is a great way to use a wide variety of ingredients as well, and best of all, you don’t just have to use rice. You could make the same dish with left-over plain boiled spaghetti, making a great lo mein noodle dish.

Let’s take a look at beef next.

If you have hamburgers leftover from dinner one night, crumble or chop them up until they resemble ground beef again. The meat can be combined with chili powder and taco sauce to make beef tacos.

Or, you could add some kidney beans, chopped peppers and tomatoes, and sauce to create a pot of chili. If you have the imagination, there are an unlimited number of possibilities of what you can do with meats and side dishes from a previous night’s dinner.

Using a little leftover magic can make one meal last for two, three, or even four more days. But, you don’t have to eat it all in the same week. Fix a new meal with the leftovers and freeze it until you are ready to have that particular meat again. On that day, dinner will already be made and all you’ll need to do is heat it up. You will have a great meal in minutes for you and the whole family.

Your family will be amazed at your ability to transform any meal into a new creation they will enjoy. Besides that, you will save money on your grocery bill. Your leftovers won’t end up in the trash can as spoiled food. Try these and similar ideas to expand your family’s palate, and your time and budget.

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Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

What do you do when a meal is finished? Most of us wash the dishes and wrap up the leftovers. But what happens to the leftover portions?

Do they get consumed later? Or do they just sit in the refrigerator until they start to smell and either risk eating them, or you finally throw them out?

If you tend to do the latter, how about saving some time and money by learning how to use those leftovers in new ways to surprise your family at dinner time.

Some people like leftovers and some do not. Men really tend to hate leftovers. Many people might eat them one day later, but since we are omnivores (we eat everything!), most people will quickly get tired of eating the same thing over and over.

Yet at the same time, cooking in larger quantities can save time and money too. It is just as easy to prepare dinner for 4 as it is for one if we are talking about many dishes like stews or casseroles. In addition, a lot of the shopping clubs sell meat and many other fresh foods in very large quantities.

Leftover Magic for Singles

So what is a single gal or guy to do? Or the budget conscious mom looking for wholesome meals?

For the single person, the easiest thing is to cook a quantity for 4, and then use plastic food containers for your own TV dinners, or handy lunches to brown bag to the office to save money.

A leftover stew or meatloaf can go a long way if you divide it up into portions. Label your containers and rotate your meals. You might find you can do all your cooking for a month in only a matter of hours if you are organized and plan ahead.

Another way to use leftovers wisely it is to take a main part of the meal, and spin it into other meals you can then freeze, or take for lunch. For example, you can boil a large quantity of spaghetti, and use it with different pasta sauces, home-made, or jarred.

You can also use it as noodles for stir fry, or eat cold as part of a pasta salad. You can even bake it with milk and egg for a custardy noodle pudding.

You can do something similar with rice, making it into a stiry fry, Spanish rice with turmeric, rice and beans, stuffing with wild rice, even rice pudding.

Save Time And Money By Planning Your Meals

From Yogi Bhajan, Master of Kundalini Yoga

Sit cross-legged on the floor with a straight back, or on a chair with spine straight and feet flat.

Bend your right elbow and raise your hand as thoough taking an oath. Raise the first two fingers, and pin down the other two with your pinkie.

Do the same hand position with your left hand’s fingers, but place the tips of the first two fingers on the breastbone in the center of the chest.

Close your eyes. Move the focus of the breath from the nose, to the center of the brow (the third eye) to the heart, and repeat. Practice this for 3-11 minutes.

Inhanle, exhale and then relax at the end, and feel the sense of well-neing flood through you.