Archive for » June, 2008 «
Dress up an old or ugly dining room table by stencilling a runner down the middle. Sand table smooth, then run two stripes of blue painter’s tape down the tables as a guideline for stencil placement. Paint stencil pattern with a stencil brush, using a dabbing motion and an almost – dry brush. Remove stencil and let paint dry for 15 minutes, then reposition stencil to continue the pattern and repeat the process. Let dry overnight. Coat the tabletop with two coats of clear acrylic polyurethane to seal.
All of us could benefit from more fiber than the partly average of 15 grams a day. But pre-menopausal women may have special reason to boost intake, says a British study that tracked over 35,000 women for seven years. Those who ate 30 or more grams a day cut their breast cancer risk in half, compared with the women who ate less than 20 grams.
You know the joke: If you pick up dropped food within five seconds, you can still eat it. Turns out, it’s not a joke – and you may have more time than you think. In an experiment at Connecticut College, a group of microbiology students left both wet food (apple slices) and dry (hard candies) on the floor of a cafeteria for intervals ranging from five seconds to five minutes. When they tested their samples for bacteria growth, they found it took 30 seconds for germs to appear on the apples and up to 5 minutes for the candies to become germy. Of course, you have to use good sense too. If the floor is dirty or pets walk in it, even a nanosecond could be risky.
Calzone is a folded pizza, made from pizza dough and stuffed with cheese, ham or vegetables. The dough is traditionally folded over, sealed on one edge and baked or deep-fried – however, we can add a little bit of a healthy twist to the original Italian recipe by removing the deep-fry part from the equation and replacing the ham with boneless, skinless chicken breast. This recipe will yield six smaller calzones, which are the ideal size to be packed away and enjoyed at work, along with a fresh vegetable salad. If you’re vegetarian, simply replace the chicken with 1 pound of sliced mushrooms and 1/3 cup chopped onions, sautéd together in a teaspoon of olive oil.
What you need (for 6 servings)
1 frozen whole-wheat bread dough loaf (16 ounces, thawed, not risen)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
10 ounces (1 standard package) frozen chopped spinach (thawed, drained)
8 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
4 teaspoons Parmesan cheese
2 egg whites, divided
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon minced garlic
How you do it
First of all, preheat the oven to 350 F. In a nonstick pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the chicken breasts whole, turning them when needed so that they turn a light golden brown. This shouldn’t take longer than 10 – 15 minutes at most. Set aside and when cooled cut the chicken breasts into small cubes.
In a small bowl, blend together the spinach, Parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, parsley, garlic and one of the egg whites. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the remaining egg white. Then, cut the dough into six pieces and on a floured surface, press each piece into an oval, about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide.
Take each dough oval, brush the edges with the beaten egg white then add the filling in the center: 1/6 of the chicken cubes and 1/6 of the spinach mixture on top. Fold the dough over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together. Crimp with a fork, and place the calzones on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray or olive oil. Bake until brown and slightly crispy.
We cannot deny the fact that we live in extremely stressful lives and with constantly increasing problems connected to everything from money to the price of gas, to our jobs and relationships, romantic or otherwise, it’s no wonder most of us worry a lot. If you consider the matter a bit, you may find that the whole issue of “worrying” is a lot more complex than you may have initially assumed.
Base on the research only 10% of the things we worry about are really relevant. Money, disease, personal relationships, all of these make us lose sleep – however, the vast majority of the things that cause us concern either never happen or have already happened – and here I’m talking about break-ups, losing money, a friend, making a mistake at work and so on. Studies also show that those of us who spend a lot of time worrying are less productive in the workplace, get easily distracted from their tasks or even worse – fail to complete them properly. Worrying burns-off mental energy and messes with our moods often leading to depression.
The fact is, we should never allow our worries to take up too much of our time and energy, since they will only end up weakening us, physically and mentally. Chronic worrying was medically proven to wear out our hearts and push us to eat too much, engage in little exercise, drink and smoke too much. As someone once said, worrying is like a rocking chair – it gives us something to do but doesn’t really get us anywhere.
Yesterday, my partner and I were talking about ways to speed up your metabolism and increase the number of calories you burn every day. Well, we both need this regimen especially these days since we almost spend everyday in our computer without having any physical activity. I mentioned exercising about 20 to 30 minutes walk every morning should do the trick, strength training to build muscle and drinking caffeinated green and black teas for an extra input of antioxidants. We’ll go on talking about additional strategies that help us ensure that our bodies metabolize calories and we don’t gain any unwanted weight – on the contrary.
Here are some good ways to burn your calories. One way to keep our bodies fit and stay slim and toned is to eat smaller meals at regular shorter intervals. Our gastrointestinal tract starts processing the food we ingest and absorbing beneficial nutrients, and the whole process burns extra calories. The next calorie-burning trick in the book is not in any way new: don’t skip breakfast. A growing number of studies show that a hearty, healthy breakfast is the best way to keep your weight under control and get enough energy to keep you kicking throughout the day. The fact is, when we skip breakfast, we tend to eat more calories by the end of the day – which, of course, is not good news. Finally, another slightly surprising strategy is drinking a lot of water. Everything you call on your body to do burns calories, including absorbing and utilizing water while maintaining fluid balance. The good news is that drinking 2 liters of water may help you burn nearly 100 extra calories in one single day. In addition to keeping you fully hydrated and allowing your kidneys to function properly.
If you are among the eight percent of women who develop temporary high blood pressure during pregnancy, here’s another reason to follow a heart-healthy lifestyle. Until recently, doctors assumed the problem wouldn’t affect the mother’s future health. But now Dutch researchers, using a special CT scan, have found the post-menopausal women who had pregnancy-induced hypertension are 64 percent more likely to have calcium buildup in their arteries – a strong predictor of heart disease. So, if you developed even mild hypertension when you were pregnant, tell your doctor. And do everything else you can – eat right, exercise – to keep your heart strong.
A perfume has three notes: the top, middle, and base notes. The top note evaporates first while the middle note develops a little later and finally, the base note releases the true scent of a perfume. The rule of thumb is to always choose sheer top notes and never decide on a single whiff! Here are three quick ways to conduct a perfume road test:
1. Spot test on skin Do this only if you have already made a short list of scents, and if you do not have allergies. Allow the scent to settle on your skin for 15 to 20 minutes (to derive the base note). Do not rub on the dabbed spot. Allow for the scent to blend in with your natural smell until it becomes your own fragrance.
2. Blot test on paper Going through a caravan of concoctions? Spray on paper blotters (squeeze in coffee beans breaks between sniffs; inhaling the aromatic beans will clear out previous perfume smell). The blot test is highly recommended especially when purchasing perfume for another person.
3. Take home a vial Do not hesitate to ask for a trial vial. Taking it home is the best way to sample a perfume from its base note.
Girls here are some quick trick to get you ready to face the whole world beautifully – in a mere minute
Edit Your Makeup You can get a great, polished look with just three products 1. Even out skin tone with tinted moisturizer, dabbing on a little extra over dark circles or blemishes. Choose one with SPF and you’ll protect, hydrate, and add sheer coverage in one step, with no special tool. Swipe on a neutral lip gloss. It makes lips look full and healthy and adds color so subtle; you don’t need a mirror to apply it. 2.3. Finish off with a coat of brown mascara.
Brighten Up Add some cheek color. A light dusting of peachy, apricot brush works for nearly all skin tones and brings your whole face to life.
Hide Roots Need to disguise a few wiry white strays? If you can’t get to your color-list anytime soon, try brushing brown or black mascara on the problematic strands.
Skip Shampoo No time for the real deal? Roughly blow-dry your hair for a few minutes to blast away odor then sprits strands with a hair refresher, which contains less alcohol then regular perfumes so it won’t dry your locks. Beauty extra: If your hair feels greasy, use regular baby powder to zap excess oil on your scalp – but use it sparingly so you won’t leave visible traces of the white powder on your hair and scalp.
Sidestep Blow-drying If careful styling is not in the cards, pull hair into a sleek, low ponytail.
