MoneySavingMom & FishMama are hosting a live once a month baking/cooking event that starts today. Once a month cooking... an interesting concept, but I am not quite sure I'm ready to jump in with both feet. There are only two people in my house (myself & the roomie) and our schedules vary, so we don't always eat at the same time, we eat out sometimes, and sometimes we just snack. However, I can say that the concept of having some meals on hand so that my kitchen can stay cleaner...well I can buy into that... so I'm dabbling with this notion of cooking/baking ahead... though I must say I cheated a tad, I roasted a turkey breast yesterday and have the deconstructed results already packaged and in my fridge, but I was really wanting some turkey and knew that would occupy my oven for much of the time, so I decided to get a jumpstart on it. So what else am I up to... well it's midday here and so far in addition to the turkey I roasted yesterday I have already made:
Baked Pasta - No recipe here, I just pick a pasta, this time I chose a whole wheate penne, cook as directed, drain, stir in grated parm cheese, saute up any veggies you have on hand, add in pasta sauce ( I had some jarred variety) and mix it up. I go ahead and portion it out in 2 serving portions and freeze. Then, just pop out of the freezer and into the oven... I usually top it off with cheese when baking (you can also stir in some cheese when you're making it up) and it's pasta for dinner without having to wait for water to boil, etc...
Stuffed Mushrooms - Again, no recipe, I'm really more of a method cooker. Start with stuffer mushrooms, remove stems and reserve... gently clean your mushrooms with a lightly dampened paper towel. Finely chop your mushrooms. In a skillet melt about a tablespoon of butter (or you can use an oil, I happened to have small piece of butter left over from some other recipes), as it melts, sprinkle in a tiny pince of red pepper flakes, lightly sautee a minced clove of garlic and a few tablespoons of chopped onions (I made veggie dogs last night, so I had some leftover onion... chop it once, store it in the fridge and add to dishes during the week!), stir in your mushrooms, and add some crumbled precooked meat (I actually used some Boca soy crumbles, work just as well, taste the same and you don't have to precook!). Season with whatever you have on hand, I used a bit of poultry seasoning, which is a fun little mix to cook with. Cook until onions are soft and then stir in some grated parm cheese. I then let the mixture cool... then just stuff about a tsp of the mixture into your reserved mushroom caps. Place on a lined baking sheet and freeze until firm, then transfer into another freezer safe storage option. You'll probably have some left over stuffing, just pop it into a freezer bag and toss in the freezer too, it's a great addition to pasta sauces! When ready to use, just pop them out and lightly spray or brush the caps with a little olive oil and bake at about 350 for about 15 minutes or until heated through. Oh, and sprinkle on some cheese!!
Next up - I have some yummy homemade bread that is rising and will be going into the oven shortly.
And I just pulled some yummy French Puff Muffins out of the oven and am getting ready to top them now.
I am also planning on whipping up some peanut butter fudge and then I'm probably going to call it a day for today... but that will definitely stock me up on some quick dinner options, breakfast options and a sweet treat... Also have to get some homework done and then I might regroup and see what I want to work with tomorrow!
Dilbert
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Spicing it up affordably
My kitchen is full of spices, I don't know that I could even rattle off the assortment of spices and herbs that I have on hand. The great thing about having a variety of spices is the ability to change things up when you get bored with a particular dish. That being said, spices can be expensive. I don't mind spending a little money on quality spices however sometimes I run into a recipe that calls for a spice that I don't have on hand and don't frequently use. Obviously, depending on what it is, I can always substitute, but sometimes I like to give it a whirl. What I don't like to do however is spend $6-$10 on a spice that I may not use very often, especially if I'm unfamiliar with the spice. So what's a girl to do?
Check out your local health food store or the bulk food section of your local grocery store. Up until recently, when I needed a random spice that was a bit pricey, I headed to Whole Foods, but now, I can actually take advantage of the updated bulk food section at my local Kroger. There you will most likely find a bulk spice section. Now don't let the prices on the bins scare you... it's not oncommon to see prices like $17 or $29, this is however the price for a pound of the spice! You can simply get as much or as little as you like. Last week, I was trying a recipe that called for coriander, which I didn't have any of. Now a jar of coriander was around the $4 mark, but I wasn't sure that I would use it frequently enough to pick it up, and I was sticking with a budget... so instead, I just went over to the bulk section and dispensed out what I needed for my recipe - the cost was around 14 cents!
I really recommend this method if you're trying a new spice or if you are trying to stay within a weekly budget and don't have much wiggle room that particular week!
Be sure and check out Tammy's Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesday Tips!
Monday, September 21, 2009
It was 1980 something...
It was 1980 something... the four little munchkins you see are 3 of my cousins and me. I'm the blonde one on the right, with the giant bear and the dirty white socks. We were thick as thieves. My cousin Rhonda, (second in from the left, the giant of the group) was like a big sister to me at that age. We lived across the street from each other from as early as I can remember. We shared toys, we shared secrets, we even shared clothes (I always got her hand me downs). One time, she even shared the chicken pox with me, though managed to avoid them herself... yeah, that was one she could have kept to herself. The little dark haired girl on the end, that is my cousin Shelly, and the tiny little boy next to me, her brother Kevin. They lived about an hour away, but visited quite often. I was born between them, Shelly being about a year older than me, and Kevin being almost a year younger. Sleepovers with Shelly meant late night gigglefests, with parents threatening to separate us if we didn't quiet down. And Kevin, being the only boy in the crew, was of course often teased mercilessly, but still a part of all the important playtimes. We all spent birthdays and holidays together. We played nice and we played not so nice, sometimes being cranky and taking it out on each other.
Through the modern marvels of Facebook, our family has been sharing lots of old photos, and we've had so much fun, laughing and teasing each other about old hairstyles and fashion sense as well as that lack of self conciousness that little kids seem to have when letting their parents take pictures of them doing silly things.
This picture really is a snapshot of a moment in time, back when we were young and idealistic. Back before life had reared it's head and exposed us to some of the less pleasant aspects. In that moment, our biggest concern was most likely if we would be able to get back out to play some more before our parents started hosing us down and getting us ready for bed. This was before three of us would learn the word divorce. Before one of us would welcome the birth of a second child while still reeling from the loss of a mother. Before one, at the tender age of eight would be able to establish the timeline of "before my dad died" and "after my dad died." These children aren't yet preparing to say goodbye to a grandma, the matriach that held their large family together. The innocence on their faces doesn't reveal that one will hear the word "cancer" not once, but twice as a young adult. That one will make some bad choices and go through some difficult teenage years. They will experience their share of loss, of illnesses (both their and loved ones), trials and tribulations, though it won't all be bad. They will also experience great joys, in marriages, and births; in graduations and promotions. In the time between then and now they will have felt both joy and sorrow, happiness and fear.
So, if I could go blink my eyes, and go back to that moment. Would I step out of the shadows and warn these children of what lies ahead? Would I advise them of what to watch out for and who to hug one more time? No, I think that if I could transport myself back there, I would just want to stay there in the shadows and soak in the pure, unadultered bliss that is the naiveity of that moment. I sit here now, knowing that they each come through it all, a bit wiser, a bit stronger. Each event has shaped those little faces into the adults that we are today; and we are the better for them. So I look into each of those smiling faces and revel in the innocent happiness of their gaze, and I am reminded that we were blessed with that moment, when all was right in the world.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Making Facebook Work For You - Part 2
If this is your first time joining me on the joys of FB, you'll want to start here in order to be completely in the loop.
So, now that you've mastered "Hiding..." Lets take a minute and talk about "Requests." What are "Requests" in FB? Well, they can be anything from a friend request, to a gift for your favorite farming application, to an invitation to play the newest farming game, to a virtual hug. FB has thousands of applications, enough to interest everyone, though most of us are usually only entertained with a handful of them, and sometimes lose interest in an application after a couple of uses. When I first started using FB, I would get so annoyed by the growing number of requests I received. They multipled like rabbits (and I couldn't sell their fur, because they weren't farming rabbits!) Sometimes I would get annoyed and just delete all of them. That only worked for awhile though, because, like dandelions, when you get rid of one, five more come back to taunt you. On top of that, some of the requests were useful. What's a girl to do?
Well, the answer really is simple, and it's very similiar to the "hiding" feature. When you click on your requests from your homepage (not the "See All" but rather a specific type that is listed) you're going to see something similiar to this:
I've blocked out names & pictures, to respect the privacy of my friends, but you should get the general idea of what the screen looks like.
Generally, you'll see who the request is from, if it is from an application, you'll see the name of the application and then you'll see some blue buttons that give you options (options are nice!)
The first option is generally an option to accept, which is what you'll click if you want to comply with the request. You will also have either one or two more buttons that give you the option of passing on the request. Generally you can click "No Thanks" or "Ignore" and get the same result, the request goes away. This is possibly what you typically do. It works, the request leaves... the problem is... if this is something you have no particular interest in... you've just created a dandelion... the request can come back, maybe from the same person, maybe not... but mark my words... it will be back...
That's why I like to use the two link options below the buttons. The first one is my favorite. "Block This Application." You simply click it, and you will be blocking all future requests from that application. This is particularly handy for some quizzes and if you're not into hugs, flowers, etc.
The second option, I rarely use. It's "Ignore all invites from this friend" Technically, if you have a friend who loves to invite you to everything under the sun, you can click this, and you won't get anymore invites from them, ever... the only problem, you may want to get something from them later. If you have a friends who is constantly bombarding you with new requests for different applications and you're tired of blocking them all, this would be an option... then again, you may just want to tell your friend to lay off the invites... Invites / Requests are kind of like the FB equivalent of an email forward. We should all be responsible and only forward ones we actually enjoy and choose the most appropriate audience for each one, unfortunately there's always one person out there who Spams us with everything... If you don't want the confrontation of telling them to knock it off, perhaps "Ignore all..." is your friend.
That's all for now. Next time, I'll be focusing more on what you can do to limit what others see you doing (Big Brother's watching, lol)
Be sure and check back for other posts on even more options to Make Facebook Work For You!
Gotta go, my farm is calling, need to harvest my crops before the Mobsters take them all and I have to call my Sorority Sisters in for backup because then the Vampires might get testy, and then who will there be left to Farkle with?!?!
So, now that you've mastered "Hiding..." Lets take a minute and talk about "Requests." What are "Requests" in FB? Well, they can be anything from a friend request, to a gift for your favorite farming application, to an invitation to play the newest farming game, to a virtual hug. FB has thousands of applications, enough to interest everyone, though most of us are usually only entertained with a handful of them, and sometimes lose interest in an application after a couple of uses. When I first started using FB, I would get so annoyed by the growing number of requests I received. They multipled like rabbits (and I couldn't sell their fur, because they weren't farming rabbits!) Sometimes I would get annoyed and just delete all of them. That only worked for awhile though, because, like dandelions, when you get rid of one, five more come back to taunt you. On top of that, some of the requests were useful. What's a girl to do?
Well, the answer really is simple, and it's very similiar to the "hiding" feature. When you click on your requests from your homepage (not the "See All" but rather a specific type that is listed) you're going to see something similiar to this:
I've blocked out names & pictures, to respect the privacy of my friends, but you should get the general idea of what the screen looks like.
Generally, you'll see who the request is from, if it is from an application, you'll see the name of the application and then you'll see some blue buttons that give you options (options are nice!)
The first option is generally an option to accept, which is what you'll click if you want to comply with the request. You will also have either one or two more buttons that give you the option of passing on the request. Generally you can click "No Thanks" or "Ignore" and get the same result, the request goes away. This is possibly what you typically do. It works, the request leaves... the problem is... if this is something you have no particular interest in... you've just created a dandelion... the request can come back, maybe from the same person, maybe not... but mark my words... it will be back...
That's why I like to use the two link options below the buttons. The first one is my favorite. "Block This Application." You simply click it, and you will be blocking all future requests from that application. This is particularly handy for some quizzes and if you're not into hugs, flowers, etc.
The second option, I rarely use. It's "Ignore all invites from this friend" Technically, if you have a friend who loves to invite you to everything under the sun, you can click this, and you won't get anymore invites from them, ever... the only problem, you may want to get something from them later. If you have a friends who is constantly bombarding you with new requests for different applications and you're tired of blocking them all, this would be an option... then again, you may just want to tell your friend to lay off the invites... Invites / Requests are kind of like the FB equivalent of an email forward. We should all be responsible and only forward ones we actually enjoy and choose the most appropriate audience for each one, unfortunately there's always one person out there who Spams us with everything... If you don't want the confrontation of telling them to knock it off, perhaps "Ignore all..." is your friend.
That's all for now. Next time, I'll be focusing more on what you can do to limit what others see you doing (Big Brother's watching, lol)
Be sure and check back for other posts on even more options to Make Facebook Work For You!
Gotta go, my farm is calling, need to harvest my crops before the Mobsters take them all and I have to call my Sorority Sisters in for backup because then the Vampires might get testy, and then who will there be left to Farkle with?!?!
Making Facebook Work For You - Part 1
Judging by my current friend count, I know that I'm not the only Facebook (FB for short) user out there. Actually according to FB's press releases, there are more than 250 million active users, 120+ million of those access their accounts daily. It seems like I am constantly finding old friends, coworkers, acquaintances, classmates, etc... Many of my family, from my mom, to aunts, uncles, cousins, etc... are now on FB and I communicate regularly with them through FB. According to Istrategylab.com, in 2009 there was a 276% growth in FB users, age 35-54, and 55+ has increased by 194%, not to mention younger demographics which grow exponentially.
Ok, so why am I boring you with statistics? Well I guess that's stemming from my recent back to school mode, I'm used to having to provide supporting details and references, lol... But seriously, the truth is, there are plenty of FB users out there. If you are using FB regularly (or even semi-regularly) you're bound to notice that your friend count creeps up... and with that increased friend count, comes more & more information thrown at you. I enjoy reading my friends updates, and often times I also enjoy seeing the results of their quizzes, etc... but sometimes, I think it can be overkill... I don't particularly enjoy going to my newsfeed and having to scroll down through 30 different quiz results to get to anything real or interesting. And as the number of friends I have has increased, along with the time that I can set aside to use FB decreasing, I have began to use options that make using FB work better for me.
So that's what I've decided to share with you today. There are actually several things you can do to enhance your FB experience, and if I were to put them all in one blog... you might be finished reading it by next week, so I'm going to break it up over a few blogs, for your reading pleasure.
The first focus... your view... literally, what you see from other people when you log into FB. The quickest and simplest option for eliminating clutter in your Newsfeed (the main part of your homepage, that streams your friends updates) is to use the "Hide" feature. Let's say for example that one of your friends is a "Farming" fanatic, however you aren't interested in farming, or in seeing updates from your friend (or friends...there are lots of us farmers!) about their farm. All you need to do is, the next time you see a post from your friend that is one of the "Farm" posts, hover your mouse in the upper right hand corner of that post (Just below the separator line). When you do this, the word "Hide" will appear. When you click on the word "Hide" you should be given a couple of options, either to hide your friend entirely (this means you won't see anything from that friend in your newsfeed, and I don't recommend this option for someone you regularly talk to) or the option of "hiding" that particular application. Once you click to hide the application, it will take away ALL posts from ALL friends pertaining to that application... and presto... no more farming nonsense for you! This is also a handy feature when your friends start a quiz that you have no interest in... you know, one of those quizzes that everyone takes, you can simply "hide" the quiz. I use this all the time for random applications, like "drinks, hugs, kisses, etc" It's not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but honestly, FB has thousands and thousands of applications, and various friends have their favorites... if I didn't hide some, I'd drown in drinks, hugs and flowers!
Be sure and check back for other posts on even more options to Make Facebook Work For You!
Gotta go, my farm is calling, need to harvest my crops before the Mobsters take them all and I have to call my Sorority Sisters in for backup because then the Vampires might get testy, and then who will there be left to Farkle with?!?!
Ok, so why am I boring you with statistics? Well I guess that's stemming from my recent back to school mode, I'm used to having to provide supporting details and references, lol... But seriously, the truth is, there are plenty of FB users out there. If you are using FB regularly (or even semi-regularly) you're bound to notice that your friend count creeps up... and with that increased friend count, comes more & more information thrown at you. I enjoy reading my friends updates, and often times I also enjoy seeing the results of their quizzes, etc... but sometimes, I think it can be overkill... I don't particularly enjoy going to my newsfeed and having to scroll down through 30 different quiz results to get to anything real or interesting. And as the number of friends I have has increased, along with the time that I can set aside to use FB decreasing, I have began to use options that make using FB work better for me.
So that's what I've decided to share with you today. There are actually several things you can do to enhance your FB experience, and if I were to put them all in one blog... you might be finished reading it by next week, so I'm going to break it up over a few blogs, for your reading pleasure.
The first focus... your view... literally, what you see from other people when you log into FB. The quickest and simplest option for eliminating clutter in your Newsfeed (the main part of your homepage, that streams your friends updates) is to use the "Hide" feature. Let's say for example that one of your friends is a "Farming" fanatic, however you aren't interested in farming, or in seeing updates from your friend (or friends...there are lots of us farmers!) about their farm. All you need to do is, the next time you see a post from your friend that is one of the "Farm" posts, hover your mouse in the upper right hand corner of that post (Just below the separator line). When you do this, the word "Hide" will appear. When you click on the word "Hide" you should be given a couple of options, either to hide your friend entirely (this means you won't see anything from that friend in your newsfeed, and I don't recommend this option for someone you regularly talk to) or the option of "hiding" that particular application. Once you click to hide the application, it will take away ALL posts from ALL friends pertaining to that application... and presto... no more farming nonsense for you! This is also a handy feature when your friends start a quiz that you have no interest in... you know, one of those quizzes that everyone takes, you can simply "hide" the quiz. I use this all the time for random applications, like "drinks, hugs, kisses, etc" It's not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but honestly, FB has thousands and thousands of applications, and various friends have their favorites... if I didn't hide some, I'd drown in drinks, hugs and flowers!
Be sure and check back for other posts on even more options to Make Facebook Work For You!
Gotta go, my farm is calling, need to harvest my crops before the Mobsters take them all and I have to call my Sorority Sisters in for backup because then the Vampires might get testy, and then who will there be left to Farkle with?!?!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Getting the most out of college text books
Higher education can have a lofty price tag these days. Not just the usual suspects like tuition or room & board. When I went back to school last spring, I spent alot of money on books. In fact my book expenses were almost 40% of the amount that I paid in tuition! Imagine that, paying tuition, then spending somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of that on book... Why I haven't went into the college text book business is a mystery to me.
Depending on the class a text book might cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 - $150... sometimes less, sometimes more... You can save a few dollars by buying the used books at the bookstore, IF you beat the rush, used books are limited quantities...
Of course college bookstores will also buy your books back at the end of the semester, however you might be sad to find out that a book that you spent $100 on will be purchased back for around $20... I've been in the bookstore picking up books and saw a student turn in a stack of books and only get back about $40... And of course, used books, while less than new, still go for a pretty penny. If a book is $100 new, you can probably get a used copy at the bookstore for $80... that's quite a profit for the bookstore... you'd definitely get more dollars if you could cut out that middle man... but how do you do that? Well, you could try standing outside the bookstore and asking each student what they were looking to buy, but chances are that isn't the best use of your time... Which brings me to...
The wonderous invention we call the internet. Everyone knows you can buy practically anything online. Most of us are familiar with EBay or similiar sites that allow us to buy & sell at better prices than we might otherwise find. What you may not know is that EBay has a branch of their company called Half.com. So what is Half.com? It is similiar to EBay, but instead of bidding, you just list your price for books, cd's, games, and gaming systems. If you're familiar with the "Buy it Now" feature of EBay, that would be an easy comparison, all of the listings are simply at a "Buy it Now" price.
The great thing about Half.com is that you don't have to pay a listing fee (as you do on EBay). Half.com collects a small commission on all final sales, so if an item doesn't sell, you're not out any money. The trade-off is that unlike EBay, where the buyer pays you directly (through paypal, checks, etc) they submit payment directly to Half.com. The website pays you (via paypal) 2 times a month, so you won't get your payment right away.
So why am I talking about Half.com? Well they happen to be a big draw for college text books. People all over the country list their books online & sell to other people all over the country. I recommend if you are purchasing books to check out their website and compare the pricing to that of the local campus bookstore. Depending on the book, it might or might not give you some significant savings. And once the semester is over, a few weeks before classes resume, you can list your textbooks on the website for sale.
Just this week, I listed 5 textbooks of mine & my roomies on Half.com and in 3 days, I had sold all the books. The combined profit? About $350 - if we would have returned these books to the school bookstore, we probably would have recieved about $60.
Now I know that many of my readers may not be in school themselves, but many of you probably know people going to school, or kids getting ready to start college, etc - So pass this helpful information along to them. College is expensive enough, it's great when you can actually save a few dollars!
Depending on the class a text book might cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 - $150... sometimes less, sometimes more... You can save a few dollars by buying the used books at the bookstore, IF you beat the rush, used books are limited quantities...
Of course college bookstores will also buy your books back at the end of the semester, however you might be sad to find out that a book that you spent $100 on will be purchased back for around $20... I've been in the bookstore picking up books and saw a student turn in a stack of books and only get back about $40... And of course, used books, while less than new, still go for a pretty penny. If a book is $100 new, you can probably get a used copy at the bookstore for $80... that's quite a profit for the bookstore... you'd definitely get more dollars if you could cut out that middle man... but how do you do that? Well, you could try standing outside the bookstore and asking each student what they were looking to buy, but chances are that isn't the best use of your time... Which brings me to...
The wonderous invention we call the internet. Everyone knows you can buy practically anything online. Most of us are familiar with EBay or similiar sites that allow us to buy & sell at better prices than we might otherwise find. What you may not know is that EBay has a branch of their company called Half.com. So what is Half.com? It is similiar to EBay, but instead of bidding, you just list your price for books, cd's, games, and gaming systems. If you're familiar with the "Buy it Now" feature of EBay, that would be an easy comparison, all of the listings are simply at a "Buy it Now" price.
The great thing about Half.com is that you don't have to pay a listing fee (as you do on EBay). Half.com collects a small commission on all final sales, so if an item doesn't sell, you're not out any money. The trade-off is that unlike EBay, where the buyer pays you directly (through paypal, checks, etc) they submit payment directly to Half.com. The website pays you (via paypal) 2 times a month, so you won't get your payment right away.
So why am I talking about Half.com? Well they happen to be a big draw for college text books. People all over the country list their books online & sell to other people all over the country. I recommend if you are purchasing books to check out their website and compare the pricing to that of the local campus bookstore. Depending on the book, it might or might not give you some significant savings. And once the semester is over, a few weeks before classes resume, you can list your textbooks on the website for sale.
Just this week, I listed 5 textbooks of mine & my roomies on Half.com and in 3 days, I had sold all the books. The combined profit? About $350 - if we would have returned these books to the school bookstore, we probably would have recieved about $60.
Now I know that many of my readers may not be in school themselves, but many of you probably know people going to school, or kids getting ready to start college, etc - So pass this helpful information along to them. College is expensive enough, it's great when you can actually save a few dollars!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Slowly but surely
So week 2 came & went, I weighed in this past Sunday... after having dropped 10 lbs the first week, I was expecting some resistance... While I didn't make double digits again, I did lose a respectable 3 lbs... So I'm at 13 lbs lost for the month.
This "monitoring your sodium" diet is tricky, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. It seems easy at first, you just cut back on salt... then you start reading labels...and well... you realize just how tricky that can be. Nutritionists recommend that a person should eat no more than 2,400 mg of sodium per day. That is roughly the equivalent of 1 tsp of salt... And you may be thinking, I don't eat a tsp of salt a day... but you might be surprised to find that many people consume more than that, alot more than that...
Since starting this plan, I've targeted the "2400" rule... and when I go grocery shopping I'm amazed... Pasta sauce - 400 to 700 mg of sodium per serving, my favorite french bread pizza... a whopping 1100mg of sodium... even juice isn't safe... a serving of juice can have upwards of 90mg of sodium per serving... Does that mean you shouldn't drink it? Well, no... just that you may want to look for the best options out there, practice moderation, and take a realistic look at what you're consuming. I think that's important with anybody, whether or not you're trying to cutback on anything...
Even water that's not filtered to remove it has sodium in it... not that sodium is bad, your body does need about 500mg a day... it's just fascinating... Right now I'm starting the search for sodium free/reduced baking soda/powder (Baking Soda has a ridiculous amount of sodium in it!) But the stores around here don't seem to carry it, so I guess I'm going to order it online.
Ok, rant about sodium is over.... it just happens to be a forethought for me these days. I will be posting a couple more blogs this week, I've got a yummy recipe to share (that's low sodium, hehehe) and I'll discuss how to save & make money with college text books!
This "monitoring your sodium" diet is tricky, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. It seems easy at first, you just cut back on salt... then you start reading labels...and well... you realize just how tricky that can be. Nutritionists recommend that a person should eat no more than 2,400 mg of sodium per day. That is roughly the equivalent of 1 tsp of salt... And you may be thinking, I don't eat a tsp of salt a day... but you might be surprised to find that many people consume more than that, alot more than that...
Since starting this plan, I've targeted the "2400" rule... and when I go grocery shopping I'm amazed... Pasta sauce - 400 to 700 mg of sodium per serving, my favorite french bread pizza... a whopping 1100mg of sodium... even juice isn't safe... a serving of juice can have upwards of 90mg of sodium per serving... Does that mean you shouldn't drink it? Well, no... just that you may want to look for the best options out there, practice moderation, and take a realistic look at what you're consuming. I think that's important with anybody, whether or not you're trying to cutback on anything...
Even water that's not filtered to remove it has sodium in it... not that sodium is bad, your body does need about 500mg a day... it's just fascinating... Right now I'm starting the search for sodium free/reduced baking soda/powder (Baking Soda has a ridiculous amount of sodium in it!) But the stores around here don't seem to carry it, so I guess I'm going to order it online.
Ok, rant about sodium is over.... it just happens to be a forethought for me these days. I will be posting a couple more blogs this week, I've got a yummy recipe to share (that's low sodium, hehehe) and I'll discuss how to save & make money with college text books!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Off to a good start
In keeping with the concept that "It's not over after 30" I've embarked on a sort of "upgrade" for myself. Nothing drastic like botox (luckily I'm not in need of that yet) or plastic surgery. More of a do-it-yourself project, on myself.
The first thing I've tackled... Vitamins... I admit, I'm horrible about remembering to take them, but I'm working on it. I've also started back up on my iron supplements (I tend to be anemic) in an effor to bring myself some more energy.
I've also modified my diet. Again, nothing radical like "No-Carb", "Low-Carb", or "Cardboard Only" I'm just focusing on moderation and cutting out processed food where I can. The biggest change being sodium content. I'm trying to stick with the recommended Sodium allowance. I've never really had problems with my blood pressure, and I've never been one who was heavy handed with the salt shaker, but when I started looking at sodium content of items, I was shocked at how much sodium I was seeing. I've not outlawed anything completely, just keeping in mind the best ways to serve them.
I've actually came up with some great recipes that are healthy, low cal, and low sodium... oh and most importantly... TASTY... that I'll start sharing periodically on here. For those of you who see me chattering on about something on FB, just ask if I mention a recipe that I haven't shared and I'll be happy to pass it along.
The one item I have pretty much eliminated from my diet... Soda... It's really more of breaking a habit... But it's a great way to cut out carbonation (which excess can make you feel bloated) cut out sodium, caffeine, sugar (or sugar substitutes...which still make you crave sweets). I went an entire week without drinking any. I really wanted the "cola" taste, and had been trying to find a 20 oz Diet RC or Diet Rite (since they have no sodium, blah, blah, blah) but hadn't had any luck, so I did go yesterday and pick up a 6 pack of bottles at the grocery store... However, I only had one yesterday (and split that w/ the roomie) It was tasty, and I think it satisfied the craving... so I'm going to see if I can stretch those and only drink one per week.
I also need to get my Wii hooked back up (I took it to a friends awhile back, and haven't gotten around to setting it back up) so that I can hook up my Wii Fit and see how that works now that the monster lives here... Should prove to be interesting...
So, each week, I am weighing myself. And when I weighed in this week... I discovered that I had lost 10lbs! Now, I'm not crazy enough to believe that I'll lose that much every week... I know that because I cut my sodium down to a more sensible amount, I've definitely shed some water weight, so we'll see what this week holds for me.
That's all for now!
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