Your Cookbook??? Or is it Portions?

According to the Cornell Study Older cookbooks can make us healthier. Mostly because of portion control.. supposedly recipes have less fat, but I found nothing that really said that in those words in the article... I guess the fact is that we need to watch our portions and use less trans-fats, salt and sweeteners...

I have a cookbook that I use that was my grandmother who I lost when I was only 8 years old.  Miss Animal Rights wants that book she tells me that she will pass it on to her daughter... I use it for peanut butter cookies, fudge and bread sticks that I also use to make as pizza dough!
It was published in the 50's.  So I guess it not the old cookbook in the study they are talking about...

But I believe that many of the prepackaged foods are high in sodium, fat, preservatives, artificial colors, sweeteners,  and flavors; things that our bodies have a hard time digesting.  Plus if you read the label many time the amount that we eat is more than one serving... many people blame the "fast food giants" for that, you know the super size and biggie that for me, we get use to larger potions... eating more than we need... If you check the label on the "healthy prepackaged foods" you will see high sodium and artificial colors, sweeteners, and flavors.

SO what is a momma to do???

So maybe the healthier thing is limit  using these foods, I know I still can't find a rice recipe they like better then the package... Plus I know some days are realy rough and to say no meals like that without weaning them off the box...... is hard to do... I have slowly made fresh in place of the favorite prepackaged items, plus the few time I made something from a box I have some from scratch to go with...

But I still enjoy the ease of frozen fruits and veggies, they are picked fresh then "flash frozen" as the commercial says.... I was think I better add that if someone didn't know that yes they are packaged but not in the category of prepackaged foods per say.....

It's happening again...

Hey where are those young gentlemen that will snow blow my driveway for 5 dollars???? Guess they are really really busy today!!


If you live in the  North East you know the storm that is going threw our area.

 

The view from my front door...

Some areas the news said got a inch a hour.... they are in the snow belt of Ohio, where because of Lake Erie they more snow.... 

It's great packing snow! SO all those kids that have the day off, can build snow figures. LOL 

In front of my garage! after I shoved... AND I didn't do the whole driveway.

I was sweating under my coat but my face was burning from the wind and cold... so I only did part of the driveway and my sidewalks for the people who will probably still walk in the middle of the road during the snow storm later because not everyone shoves their sidewalks.... grrr....

But last time I got to drive to work in a snow storm, yea I went 40 MPH but then at rough places I went 20MPH.  Tool me 40 minutes to get to work, when it normally takes 20.  then it took me a hour to get home from work later that night and gasp I was a half a mile behind a snow truck, I think by the looks of the road they where plowing.... cause the next lane looked like it had 4 inches of snow....

Ah the joys of living in Ohio.... And the kicker is it was 50 something with rain...last week and next week we are in for more rain..... Yea flooding ahead for the area....

Ziplock bags recycling coming to a Grocery Store near You

It is estimated that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are throw away everyday. Plus it takes over a thousand years for them to decompose. Only 13% is recycled.... that's 87% ending up in our trash, many being eaten by the wildlife.... Your child can produce around  180 plastic baggies just from school lunches!! 

 Yes it is true that SC Johnson, the parent company of the Ziploc brand,is starting a recycling idea! SOON you can right next to the store plastic bags recycle bin;  recycle your ziplock bags! You will of course need to wash and dry them before placing them in the bins... that is any ziplock sandwich, storage, or  freezer bags.

Recyclebank where you earn points for recycling. Of course my area doen't have the curb recycling that is with Recyclebank But I earn points other ways... Like typing in  the codes from speically marked ziplock bags on the site!!

They estimate that over 18,000 stores will be part of the program and the first store will bin Texas.....

You can even win Cuisinart® GG-12 Green Gourmet Eco-Friendly Nonstick Hard Anodized 12-Piece Cookware Set or the Big Green Cookbook!!

It's your choice....

You may want to Opt out of the Yellow pages deliveries or not. For something I didn't know that the yellow pages are made from recycled newspapers and residual chips, the unusable pieces of wood that are cut off at the lumber mill when they are cutting the logs.... they all so use vegetable-based inks and eco-friendly adhesives as not to pollute the ground water

They also have a link to how to recycle your old book...

Turn Down for Weight Loss??

Cold house can help in weight loss yahoo report... Basically they believe if we turn our thermostats down to lower 60's, we will lose more weight.  That we stay  inside and just vegging out on our couches.  But if we turn down the thermostat we will not get the rush of OMG it is cold outside, not wanting to go out into the cold... that we will get use to being warm.....


hummm so why did I find this map showing the states of the north and the south about the same.... Colorado being the healthiest state and Mississippi being the most obese.  humm really looking at the map seems the "middle" of the country is the part that needs to work on their diets  The middle like the middle of our bodies where the belly fat is most dangerous place to have fat, for it can cause problems for all your organs!! 

It isn't just diet that causes obesity.  Then again we know that; don't we. That diet and exercise is what we need.  Yet the school system still feeds out kids junk and cuts down on gym classes and recess...
We keep the thermostat about 67 degrees because if I turn it down any more the girls would just hind under blankets and complain about it being freezing in here... At 67 it is cool enough to have a sweatshirt on and make you move a little to keep warm.... Now for their friends.... they like to show up in t-shirts and bitch how cold it is in my house... Well, they really have to learn that I conserve energy and they need to wear something heavier than a t-shirt here.... Or look in the living room closet there are large and ex=large sweatshirt for them to use while here... Oh yea we got them just for you... PS Tech wears t-shirt and it doesn't really bother him.... it like the man doesn't feel cold or warmth... he doesn't complain about the air not being up on high in the summer time either.......

You see I also goggled poverty in the USA... Guess what state is the number 1? It is Mississippi... the state with the large percent of obese people......It the prepackage foods that are higher in saturated fat, sodium and sugar... the cheap stuff in cardboard boxes, the fast food lane with the dollar menus... the fact that many of these states are the climate for fresh foods mostly all year long, but they have the highest poverty........ BUT I think from shows like Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution it shows that many Americans don't have the knowledge of how to cook tasty foods for themselves with time limits and

I did get off on the tangent..Did I? ... but I think that what you eat and how much you exercise not how cold you are......

It is 7 degrees where is your globial warming now?

Oh yea I hear that all the time from my debaters... The better term to explain the winter blast and blizzards that has hit this country is climate change.  The fact is that yes the arctic shelf is melting.  The North pole and south pole are getting smaller every year. The fact is NASA believes that the ice is getting thin and has gotten thinner by 40% since 2004.........

 So what the heck does this mean? so what they say.... well seeing how you have to remember that adding ice to anything changes it... the sea levels  rise. the currants change.......... I remember seeing the show with ex President Clinton where he showed that the European shore including Untied Kingdom could be covered in ice and snow as in a new ice age...That adding more liquid to the air produces more precipitation but can dry up in other ares making them  desert like...
.  The EPA has a site explaining this...

Crazy think is people don't think it is important that we 
try to stop this now , stating that why should they worry they aren't going to be around for it, or stating that there is plenty of oil and gas. 

Yea but the oceans can't be replace.  The ice shelves can't magically be replaced.....
But I think that the movement to change the thinking of big business and governments is slowly happening.... I have to think that  

Snow day!!

Wow I got lucky with my schedule I have today off and this morning it was 40 degrees and raining... last night it was freezing rain... and now the temps are going down to the teens..... yea the snow and rain will become ICE.... Chicago is having the third biggest blizzard the city has ever seen... Closer to home Cleveland and Canton has many homes without electricity. Lodi outlet mall was closed last night early. The Zoo and many more places closed for the last two days.

What really concerns me is the fact I watched the ticker tape at the end of the screen on my TV thinking dang... look at all those places. Of course my inner child said OMG it must be really bad out that the Rootstown school system was closed.... LOL but then I saw the zoo and the mall.... OK now it is really hitting home......
But my heart sank when I see in most of the county's the mobile meals are canceled.. It's our areas Meals on Wheels 

It kinda sad that the housebound that depend on those meals that are brought by volunteers might not have anything to eat for two days..... I understand that they don't want to endanger the volunteers.

Shampoos

The best green shampoo......Liquid Castille Soap! Wrong... it breaks me out... I have very sensitive skin that includes my scalp! So most homemade shampoos use this ingredient..And most green health food store brands shampoo use chamomile... Chamomile is part of the Asteraceae plant family, which includes ragweed and chrysanthemum, If you have  allergies, chamomile  may cause some reaction.... If I use chamomile on my face or hair.... My eyes swell up and I can't breathe..... fun times trying to find a herbal shampoo!  I was using a unscented shampoo but then it stopped working.  So really they say that the shampoo doesn't stop working your needs -your hair needs change.... but hey I have to switch...  Found one that I missed the chamomile.... it was like smack in the middle... I read right over it... and I learned even a little amount... judging by the fact it wasn't one the first key ingredients... I will not be able to breathe normally..and look like I cried for days.. grrr....

So many health food store shampoo have chamomile and or are over $10 a bottle.... too rich for my budget.  The grocery isle of healthy organic shampoos are the same thing....

When I first started to use the organic shampoos I would have to wash my hair every day or my hair would look so greasy. Now I wash my hair every couple of days and looks fuller.  Well that before trying to find my shampoo.... there are some that dry out my hair (ok I saved it for summer, for those sweaty summer days..Worked great them!!) Then the ones that made my hair look even more greasy...  

I tried the no poo -hummm I couldn't do it.  I know there is a adjusting period but I couldn't do it...my hair was too greasy. It made my head itch. I "washed" with conditioner, that too made my hair look too greasy and flat.  Then I try to make my own... yea the liquid castille soap allergy was uncovered after my first homemade herbal shampoo...  green tea shampoo..... I had bumps that inched and hurt! So no more Castille soap, I did try straight castille soap on my body and got the same rash... and it really hurts!! 

So my last recipe.... thing is I found this from a baby shampoo recipe and a regular shampoo recipe with milk so I thought I make a hybrid of the two.....


 Milk Shampoo

• 1/4 cup Non-Fat Dry Milk
• 1/4 cup Whole Milk
• 1 tablespoon Corn Starch
• 2 tablespoons of honey

Combine ingredients in a clean container.;It makes a thick paste.  Use just as you would a mask for your hair.I left on for about 5 minutes.  I used it on my face and my windburned arms....... nice and soft soothing...
I did rinse for longer then normal  just cause I don't want to smell like spoiled milk later...
The only problem is I found was my hair was a little snarly.  So I did use some coconut oil that I use on my hands.  I rub my hands with a small amount, you only need a very small amount; and then I  ran them over the ends of my hair.  My scalp I very lightly ran my hands over the hair... and soon my comb was going threw my hair without a problem.... You can use your hair conditioner or hand cream like that too...

Guess we will see how this plays out...........