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| Delicious Meals Under $10 |
If you are looking to make delicious and
gourmet-tasting meals on a budget, then two of your best friends will be
stir-fries and soups. Invest in whole grains (purchasing them in bulk
will save you money), and fresh vegetables. Limiting the amount of meat
you eat means you can have more delicious, colorful meals with many
ingredients, and eating only white meat and fish when you do indulge will be good
for your health. Here are two examples of meals that cost less than $10
to prepare:
Five Vegetable Ginger-Orange Stir Fry:
Pick any five vegetables you like. Suggested ingredients include
broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, snow peas, mushrooms, green/red/yellow
peppers, asparagus, spinach, and so on.
Ingredients:
- 5 veggies of your choice
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 an onion, chopped
- 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
- cooking oil
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup rice
Directions:
Sauté garlic and onion over medium heat, using 1 tablespoon of oil. Add
in a teaspoon of grated ginger. Then, stir in your five veggies - denser
veggies that take longer to cook should go in first. Gradually add in your
vegetables in the order they need to be cooked, adding oil or water if
needed. Mix 1 cup of orange juice with 1/4 cup soy sauce and stir in. Cornstarch
or flour can be used if a thicker sauce is desired. Serve over rice or
any other whole grain.
Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup:
Ingredients:
 1 tsp olive oil- 1 onion - chopped
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 3 red bell peppers
- 4 large tomatoes - peeled, seeded and chopped
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1/8 teaspoon sugar
- 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 dash hot pepper sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Optional: 6 tablespoons sour cream to top, hearty bread to serve alongside
Directions:
Roast the peppers by oiling them and placing them under broiler in the oven,
until they are blackened, then set aside in paper bag for fifteen
minutes. Peel, core, and remove seeds. Chop the peppers, setting
one pepper aside.
Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic until soft, stir
in
tomato, bell peppers (except reserved portion), paprika, thyme and
sugar.
Simmer about 25 minutes until tomato juices have evaporated. Stir
in stock, salt and pepper, cayenne pepper and hot sauce. Bring to
a
boil, lower heat and simmer, partially covered, for 25 minutes.
Strain soup, reserving broth. Blend solids until smooth and add puree
back into reserved liquid. In a separate pan, heat and stir butter and
flour together for one minute. Slowly add this to the soup and add in the
reserved chopped pepper. Bring to a boil and let simmer 10 minutes.
Serve with hearty bread and sour cream if desired.
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Having a healthy green lawn is a beautiful thing, but having to
constantly battle to keep it that way isn't. There are several ecological
benefits to having a lawn, but this only applies if you are treating it in a
natural and healthy way. Grass (and other living groundcover) protects
the soil's micro-organisms, reduces run-off, and filters out rainwater
contaminants. Putting harsh chemicals on your lawn, however, contaminates
groundwater and kills earthworms, among other negative effects.
Fortunately, if you care for your lawn properly, you should have no need of
chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
 First, the grass: when choosing a grass for your lawn, make sure that you are
choosing one that is appropriate for your climate and location. If you
would like guidance, call up the agricultural center in your county to ask
which grasses grow well in your region. They can also advise you on any
other lawn or garden questions you might have. The deeper your topsoil,
the better your grass will take (5 inches is good, 10 is amazing).
Remember to water infrequently, but deeply. This will help encourage the
roots to grow further down into the soil in search of water. Likewise,
avoid cutting your lawn frequently, and leave grass high. Cutting your
grass too low will only make it grow faster as it works to recover its
photosynthetic abilities (the blades being essential to this process).
Adding a natural fertilizer (organic is best) once or twice a year will ensure
your lawn is in top shape.
Second, the weeds: many people turn to chemicals to help them get rid of weeds,
but the simple fact is that if you have a lot of weeds in your yard, you
probably need to change the pH of your soil. Grass thrives at a pH of
6.5. Dandelions, on the other hand, love a pH of 7.5. Solution:
lower the pH-- naturally of course. A pH test for your soil is cheap and
easy, as is gardener's sulfur, or lime, to treat pH issues. Along the
same lines, grass needs nitrogen from the soil, while clover can get nitrogen
from the atmosphere. Solution: add nitrogen. If you need to
spot-treat weeds, a simple vinegar solution (or pulling them up by the roots)
will usually do the trick.
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 It can be easy to get completely caught up in one aspect of your life,
especially when the project at hand is something that you are passionate
about. While such intense diversions can be fun for a while, it isn't
always healthy to dive head first into one venture, leaving the rest of your
life on hold while you do so. Instead, seeking balance between work and
play, personal and professional, can be the best way to make sure that you view
everything in your life with interest and energy.
When you feel yourself giving more energy to one aspect of your life, take a
step back and analyze the reasons why. If you are working hard to obtain
a short term goal and have the rest of your life under control, you might
decide it's worthwhile to direct so much attention to one area. If the
goal is long-term and you stand to lose out in the short-term, however, you may
want to rethink things. Taking 15 minutes out of each day for personal
meditation time, spending two evenings a week focusing on your partner with no
distractions, or taking up a new hobby to give yourself a creative release, can
go a long way in making sure that you have steam to stick out those long-term goals.
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 Whether you're naturally flexible or someone who really wishes
they could still bend over and touch the floor with their legs straight,
increasing your flexibility is beneficial to your health. Think you can
be in truly great shape without flexibility training? Think again:
Flexibility:
- Improves your posture
- Increases nutrient and blood flow to body
tissues
- Improves athletic performance
- Decreases stress on your joints
- Decreases the risk of injury during activity
- Improves muscular coordination
- Prevents and/or reduces back pain
- Reduces sore muscles
- Increases your enjoyment of physical activity
To increase your flexibility, start simple. When you wake up in the morning,
do a few simple stretches in bed before you get up. Stretch your body lengthwise
and to either side. Roll your wrists and ankles through their full range
of motion. Do a few simple back stretches (yoga cat and cow postures are
a great way to start your day). Take stretch breaks at work to extend
your legs and always warm up and cool down before exercising. Without any
extra flexibility training, you'll be well on your way to a healthier, more
flexible body.
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In this Issue:
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Contact Information
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Name
Phone
Website
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Drink To Your Health
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For a long time now, beer has gotten a bad rap, especially compared with
its fruity cousin, wine. However, there are health benefits to both beer
and wine, and as long as you consume responsibly, it is possible to have both
as a part of a healthy diet! Both beer and wine contain antioxidants and
can raise HDL (good) cholesterol.
The reason there is a perceived difference between beer and wine - especially
when it comes to the effects on the waistline - lie not in the drink itself,
but in the diet of the drinker. Wine drinkers are more likely to consume
olives, whole grains, white meats, green vegetables, healthy oils, and so
on. Beer drinkers, on the other hand, are more likely to consume
processed food, red meat, soft drinks, sugary foods and prepared meals.
The lesson here: eat a healthy meal with your alcoholic beverage of choice,
keeping in mind that ANY drink will add calories to your diet.
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Budget Friendly Fashion Tips
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If you are ready to update your wardrobe, but your budget isn't, there
are a couple of ways to get around the cold hard facts of money. For
example, clothing swaps are a great way to get new clothing as well as clear
out anything in your closet that you aren't going to wear again. If you
have clothing that can be re-purposed with a little bit of work, you might
consider doing that as well.
Look to consignment stores for new clothing before you go to the store.
High end consignment stores usually have very high standards of what they will
accept, so put aside any prejudices that you might have. High end
consigned items are always currently in style (or classic items) that are clean
and in good or new condition. On a good day, you'll pay 1/4 of the retail
price on high end designer clothing that you would never have been able to
afford in the first place!
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Fun Facts
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Have
you ever wondered how things were invented or just how often those inventions
were the result of intentional research as opposed to accidental
discoveries? Here are three examples of inventions you might have thought were intentional:
Super Glue: A researcher looking for optical
coating materials was testing the properties of various materials by putting
them between two prisms and then shining a light through them. When he
performed the experiment with cyano-acrylate, the prisms were glued together
and he couldn't get them apart -- and thus, Super Glue was born.
Velcro: The real inspiration for Velcro was
burrs that caught on the clothing of a Swiss man who was inspired to recreate
the phenomenon.
The Microwave: When a researcher with a
chocolate bar in his pocket walked by a radar tube, the chocolate bar
melted. Ever since then, people have been radiating their food to cook
it.
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