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3 Gourmet Burger Ideas for Grilling (Stuffed with Goodness)

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When it’s time to grill, sometimes you feel like getting a little creative. A regular burger is great, but it’s just…. regular. Here are three deliciously different ideas for making an amazing gourmet burger for grilling.

Barbecue Outdoor Grilling

Chorizo and Mexican Cheese Burger

Flickr/ladymissmarquise

This burger is sure to delight people of all ages–it’s like eating a Mexican meal on a bun. Add Mexican seasoning to the meat including chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Mix everything up well. Remove chorizo sausage from casing, cook thoroughly and drain excess oil. Allow it to cool. In the meantime, make two medium sized patties. Place one of the patties in the palm of your hand and create a well or depression in the middle. Add some chorizo and shredded Mexican cheese to the center. Place the other patty on top and pinch edges to create one big burger. Grill and serve on a toasted brioche bun with salsa or pico de gallo.

Mushroom and Gouda Cheese Burger

Flickr/u-suke

This is a great burger to make if you want something classic with a touch of sophistication. The Gouda cheese will give your burgers a wonderful smokey flavor. First, add salt and white pepper to the meat, then mix well. Slice mushrooms and chop Gouda into small chunks. Again, make two patties remembering that they will come together as one. Place one of the patties in the palm of your hand and create a depression. Add the mushrooms and Gouda to the center generously and pinch the edges closed for grilling. Serve on a toasted ciabatta or asiago roll with a bacon topping, dijon mustard and a drizzle of steak sauce.

Mediterranean Burger

Flickr/go2net

Here’s a burger idea inspired by Mediterranean style cooking. It’s simple to prepare and contains a lot of flavor. Add salt and Greek seasoning (here’s an example) to the meat and mix thoroughly. Make your two patties again, make a depression in one and add sliced black olives, crumbled feta cheese and fresh chopped spinach to the center. Place the other patty on the top and closed up the edges carefully. Grill and serve on toasted focaccia bread, a pita pocket or asiago roll with a slice of fresh tomato, tzatziki sauce and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

All of these burgers will impress you, your friends and your family. Maybe this year you’ll finally be crowned “The Grill Master.”

Tip: When you’re buying ground beef for burgers, check the package for the meat to fat ratio.Your ground beef should be a minimum mix of 80% meat and 20% fat. This will yield a nice juicy burger.

Tip: You might choose to replace the ground beef with ground turkey for a lighter option.

Tip: Allow the meat to grill on both sides and do not press down burgers when on the grill.
Enjoy these gourmet burger ideas for grilling!!!

Posted by Eve

 

Photo credit: Flickr/ladymissmarquise, Flickr/u-suke, Flickr/go2net

 

 

Tooth Decay in Kids: Don’t Share Spoons & More Dental Tips

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If you have had tooth decay, cavities, gum disease or any other dental problem in your past, it’s not a good idea to share spoons with your child. Here’s why…

Flickr/armymedicineParents are often distressed to learn that the same dental problems they experienced early in life are now plaguing their children. Some believe it’s due to genetics, but many parents don’t realize that they could be the ones who are actively introducing bad bacteria into their kids’ mouth.

Learn how sharing spoons and other items could be putting your child at a higher risk of dental problems.

Bacteria that Causes Cavities

Cavities form when bad bacteria eat away at the tooth enamel, creating tiny holes. If those holes aren’t filled by a dentist, the tooth becomes weak, creating a full-blown cavity and eventually an infection if it’s not treated. The bacteria that most commonly causes tooth decay in children, teens and adults is called mutans streptococcus. It eats sugar for energy and combines with food particles to form plaque.

Kids are most vulnerable to cavities because they eat a lot of candy and sugary drinks. There’s also another reason why young children tend to get cavities even when they brush and floss regularly—their parents unknowingly pass that cavity-causing bacteria to them by sharing spoons.

Sharing Spoons…

Flickr/the_luna

When you feed your baby or toddler, do you sometimes eat a spoonful of the food first then give the same spoon to the child? This isn’t the best idea if you’ve had dental problems in the past. Bacteria is carried in mucus, so it can travel on the spoon and be transferred to the child’s mouth. If you’ve had cavities in the past, the bacteria that causes tooth decay could still be living in your saliva.

Parents are often shocked when they take their kids to the dentist and learn that the same dental problems they had as children are now plaguing their young ones. They assume that tooth decay is something that runs in families, but it’s actually something that can be avoided. Besides sharing spoons, there are a number of other ways that adults could pass bad bacteria to children:

  • Allowing a child to brush with an adult’s used toothbrush.
  • Flossing a child’s mouth with the same piece of floss that the parent used.
  • Eating from the same plates.
  • Kissing children on the mouth.
  • Sucking a pacifier “clean” then putting it back into the child’s mouth.

Preserving Your Child’s Dental Health

If your young child has been diagnosed with tooth decay or you’re generally concerned about your child’s dental health, there are actions you can take starting today to head off problems:

  1. First, ensure that your child brushes twice per day for at least two minutes with a fluoride toothpaste made for kids. Buy your child a dedicated toothbrush and box of floss that only he or she will be able to use—there are electronic toothbrushes for kids and brushes with timers to make it fun.
  2. Now this is probably the toughest but most important step: drastically reduce the child’s consumption of candy and sweets as well as sodas and sugar-rich juices. If your child has a sweet tooth, try a healthy alternative like fresh apple slices or the occasional piece of candy made with a sugar substitute. Remember that sugar feeds the bad bacteria that cause cavities. It may help to explain this to the child and read a kids book about dental health together—knowledge is power.Flickr/payitforwardphotos
  3. Take your child in for dental checkups at least twice per year—more often than that if they have already experienced problems with tooth decay. The best thing you can do is teach your child to get comfortable with going to the dentist from a very young age. Have any cavities cleaned and filled in immediately.
  4. Some dental experts theorize that some children are more susceptible to cavities because they drink bottled water instead of fluoride-rich tap water. Ask your dentist if a dental sealant or fluoride treatment is a good idea.

And of course, be extremely careful about introducing your own saliva into the mouth of a child, whether by sharing spoons, floss or brushes to prevent tooth decay in kids. You should also make it a point to keep your own teeth healthy to keep bad bacteria at bay and to teach your child the importance of dental health.

Posted by Jade

Photos Courtesy: Flickr/armymedicine, Flickr/payitforwardphotos , Flickr/the_luna

 

 

4 Amazing Benefits of Vegetable Gardening

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Gardening at home, whether it’s done indoors or outside in your yard, can be a very satisfying experience. It’s estimated that over 160 million Americans garden every year. For many, it’s a hobby, for others a profession, for some it’s a way of life; it seems all gardeners garden because of its many advantages. Here are four benefits of vegetable gardening that might encourage you to get out there today and sow some seeds.

It Gives You Peace

Flickr/pictoquotes

The average day is full of distractions, from the television to disagreements with family members. Your garden is a place where you can find some peace and serenity. The only distraction is the occasional butterfly or bee buzzing by. You can relax and listen to happy birds chirping nearby or put on a pair of headphones and turn on some classical music while you’re tending to your vegetable plants or working in the dirt. No matter what’s going on in your world, you can find respite by going to your garden and communing with nature.

 

You Feed Your Family and Save Money

Flickr/galant

One of the top benefits of vegetable gardening is that it gives you a way to provide your family with healthy, homegrown foods while also saving you money on grocery bills. A one-time investment of about $50 in seeds and supplies for a small garden can yield you hundreds of dollars in vegetables that you would have bought for your family at the supermarket during the year. Additionally, you can harvest the seeds from your newly grown veggies and keep them for a decade or more. Many say that stockpiling seeds is even more valuable than collecting gold–vegetable seeds give you the security of knowing that you’ll always be able to feed yourself and your loved ones.

 

You Get Moderate Exercise

Flickr/usdagov

If you’ve been looking for a way to ease back into a more active lifestyle, vegetable gardening just might be the solution. It gives you a way to do moderate exercise with a purpose.It’s estimated that you can burn 300 calories in an hour of gardening.

You’ll have an excuse to walk more as you carry supplies to and from your garden. You have to dig holes and till the soil with repeated back and forth motions. You’ll also have to bend and stretch to pull weeds and pick your greens. Once you get used to performing these activities every day and your body feels more refreshed, you might be inspired to step it up and start doing morning jogs around your neighborhood or a little yoga for lunch.

 

Your Kids Learn How to Grow (In More Ways Than One)

Flickr/all-seeing_angler

If you have young children or teens, vegetable gardening could be an activity that changes their lives and inspires them in the future. A lot of young people in modern times are housebound — tied to their computers. They rarely come outside unless they are trying to get better reception on their cellphones. If you show them how to garden from a young age, you’ll teach them the timeless lesson about sowing good seeds, watering them, watching them grow and then reaping the benefits. This lesson will apply to just about every area of their lives.

Let these 4 benefits of vegetable gardening be your inspiration for starting your own home garden this year. You may be surprised at how rewarding and uncomplicated it is to grow your very own veggies.

Posted by Jade

Photos courtesy: Flickr/pictoquotes, Flickr/galant, Flickr/usdagov, Flickr/all-seeing_angler

 

 

Strange Things People Do When They’re Sleeping

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Sleep paralysis, sleep texting, singing in your sleep and more.

Sleep is supposed to be a peaceful and relaxing time. It’s the time of day (well, night) when your body finally has a chance to take a break and renew itself. But some people don’t get a good night of sleep because they’re too busy doing… other stuff. Here are some of the strange things people do when they’re sleeping.

Talk (or Sing) in Their Sleep

Some people have full conversations in their sleep. They might be talking to someone in their dreams or giving a speech—who knows? One guy tells funny jokes when he’s sleeping like he’s a comedian on stage. When people talk in their sleep maybe it’s because they have a whole lot on their mind and they want to speak out more, but they only feel comfortable doing so while asleep. Experts say that it can also be related to depression and stress. Generally it’s a harmless behavior (unless you tell on yourself while your significant other is listening in).

Flickr/sahlameche

Some people have even been known to sing in their sleep—sometimes popular songs and sometimes it’s an original creation. How cool is that?

Look Around at the Room but Remain Unable to Move (Sleep Paralysis)

There’s a fairly common occurrence called sleep paralysis that causes people to feel as if they’re awake yet unable to move. They feel as if they’re being held down or prevented from moving by some unknown force. People often panic in this state because their imagination starts to run wild. They start to see things and become fearful.

The truth is that unknown “force” is your own body protecting you! The mind has partially woken up before the rest of the body. A paralysis naturally takes effect when you fall into deep sleep. I think that this is the body’s way of protecting you from getting up from your bed and walking around (see the next section on sleep walking) while you’re still asleep. The best course of action when you experience sleep paralysis is to simply relax, close your “mind’s eye” and wait until your whole body wakes up (it usually only takes a few minutes, but the key is to relax). Pray for comfort and peace.

Sleep Walk and Sleep Eat

It’s relatively rare, but there are cases where people walk around in their home and carry on normal activities while they’re asleep. Some people get up at night to grab a late night snack, but don’t remember it because they were sleepwalking and sleep eating.

Flickr/sk8geek

Sleep walking, also called somnambulism, affects between 1 to 15% of the population and is most common in children. It can be dangerous if a person is sleeping on the top level of a bunk bed or in a house with stairs, so it’s important to take precautions.

Ironically, getting plenty of restful sleep is considered the best way to avoid sleep walking.

Grind Their Teeth

A lot of people grind and gnash their teeth at night (also called bruxism). It’s a nasty habit that can actually be damaging to the teeth and jaw. Some people develop a condition called TMJ or temporomandibular joint disorder (inflammation of the joint that connects the top and bottom jaw) from grinding their teeth too much. They don’t realize they’re doing it until they go to the dentist. Simple dental devices are available to stop this from happening.

Text People

Strange Text

Cellphone use has become so commonplace in the modern world that some people have been known to send full text messages to their friends and family while asleep! They wake up, look at their phones and see a bunch of weird sent messages that could only have been written by someone having a strange dream. In one case, a sleeping woman sent an email setting up a special wine and caviar dinner (she must have really had this delicacy on her mind). If you think you might be susceptible to sleep-texting, you might want to turn your phone off at night or put it away in a drawer!

Wake up Hundreds of Times without Knowing It

Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes people to wake up dozens, even hundreds of times during the night, and in most cases they don’t even realize that they’re doing it. It’s usually caused by a temporary blockage in the airway. When they wake up they’re fatigued even though they had a full night of “sleep.” Sleep apnea devices are available to stop this from happening (and stop the snoring that often comes with it).

Wake Up to a Dream within a Dream

Have you ever woken up from a dream (or so you thought) and carried on with your day, brushing your teeth, combing your hair and putting on your clothes, only to later realize that you were still in a dream? Waking up to a dream within a dream is a complex situation because you honestly believed you were already awake. Now you have to get up (for real this time) and do everything all over again! Sometimes it happens multiple times (a dream within a dream within a dream).

Dream within a dream
Am I really awake this time??

 

What weird things do you do in your sleep?

 

Posted by Jade

Photos courtesy: Flickr/sahlameche, Flickr/hejog, Flickr/sk8geek, Flickr/martinaphotography,

 

 

How to Make Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

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We’ve all had those moments of craving a pint of cold ice cream on a hot summer day or night. If you don’t really feel like running to the supermarket to pay $5.99 or more for a name brand ice cream, try making Ice Cream in a Bag. This is a simple way to make homemade ice cream without buying an ice cream maker.

Making ice cream in a bag is also great because you get to add your own ingredients. You can use a sugar substitute like Splenda or Stevia instead of white sugar and add sugar-free cookies and fresh fruits. You can also reduce sugar intake by using Half and Half instead of regular milk. The ideas are endless.

On this particular occasion, I decided to make chocolate ice cream with chocolate chip cookie pieces and strawberry ice cream with shortbread cookie pieces (see pics).

photo 5What You’ll Need…

Ice Cream in a Bag

  • About a cup of Half and Half or heavy cream (heavy cream is probably best for creamy ice cream, but Half and Half is the lowest in sugar)
  • The added ingredients you want (such as sliced frozen strawberries, cookies, Oreos, a bit of vanilla extract or vanilla beans for vanilla ice cream or a scoop of chocolate powder to make chocolate ice cream)
  • One tablespoon of Splenda, Stevia OR regular sugar
  • 1 or 2 small, strong zip lock bags
  • 2 large, strong zip lock bags
  • At least 2 cups of ice
  • 3 tablespoons of Kosher Salt

(Whatever you do, don’t add any water to the small bag full of cream! That makes it too icy.)

Instructions

Add your half and half, Splenda (or sugar), and all of your other desired ingredients to the small Ziploc bag and seal it securely. You might also add a tiny sprinkle of salt to the cream to bring out the flavor more. Reinforce with an additional small ziploc bag if you think it’s needed. Shake everything together thoroughly and make sure that there aren’t any leaks.

Ice Cream in a BagNow get the large Ziploc bag. Add ice along with the salt. Reinforce it with another large Ziploc bag just in case.

Place the small bag of cream inside of the larger Ziploc bags and zip those closed securely as well. Shake vigorously for 10-15 minutes. (The shaking process takes some time, but you can look at it as a moment to get some exercise and burn off some calories before you enjoy your cold treat 🙂

Scoop the ice cream out of the Ziploc bag, add any toppings you like and enjoy!

Make this Ice Cream in a Bag whenever you get a craving for something cold and sweet!

Posted by Jade

Strawberry Ice Cream in a Bag Chocolate Ice Cream in a Bag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Veggie Rice Summer Salad with Black Beans

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I came across a recipe for Summer-style Orzo salad on one of my networks and it looked delicious. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any orzo and was missing a bunch of other key ingredients it suggested, so I improvised.

The result was this delicious Veggie Rice Salad with Black Beans. It is fresh, tasty and delicious. Perfect recipe to add to a summer meal (or good enough to eat by itself for lunch).

Ingredients
1 cup of rice
1.5 cups of water
3/4 of a chicken broth bullion
5 fresh basil leaves
1-2 chopped tomatoes (preferably Roma or grape tomatoes)
1 cucumber, chopped
1 chopped white onion
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 can of cooked black beans
1 teaspoon of Parmesan
1 fried chicken sausage, chopped (optional)

Vinaigrette Dressing
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper
1 teaspoon of oregano or Italian season mix
(Combine all of these vinaigrette ingredients into an empty water bottle and shake thoroughly.)

Boil bullion cube in water with a little olive oil. When it’s boiling briskly, add rinsed rice and turn down to medium heat. Cover and let simmer until cooked.

Prepare all chopped vegetables (except onions) and herbs to the side and dump them into a bowl. Chop up onions separately to fry in a little olive oil in a small pot along with optional chicken sausage. Add half a can of black beans (or your favorite bean) on top of onions and cook, covered, on low heat for about 3 minutes.

Add a few scoops of cooked rice (the fluffier the better) to the bowl containing vegetables. Add gently cooked beans, onions and optional chicken sausage (chopped). Drizzle with some of the vinaigrette dressing and then add Parmesan. Sprinkle with a bit of salt to enhance flavor.

Toss in the bowl until thoroughly mixed — add more rice and dressing as you see fit. Eat warm or chill for an hour in the fridge until dinner.

Enjoy this delicious Summer Veggie Rice Salad with Black Beans!

Posted by Jade