Tasty Recipes for Summer

As we are moving close to summer time, everybody’s preparing for this season of fun under the sun. Summer brings its own special activities such as its own food recipes. It’s going to be hot, humid and storms will take place in some places. Indeed, in hot and humid weather, certain foods can be really refreshing such as ice cream, a cold drink and more. These refreshments would really make you feel that summer time is the best time of the year.

Aside from desserts and drinks, there are so many recipes for summer that might interest you. Here are some recipes which can make your summer a memorable time for you and your family.

Let’s start with making a salad, a butter bean salad to be more specific. To prepare for this type of salad, you need:

3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

5 Tbsp. olive oil,

¼ tsp pepper,

Chopped parsley (parsley can bring a lot of taste and a good aroma in salad so put in as much as you want)

2 (15 oz.) cans butter beans (rinsed and drained)

11 oz. corn can (drained)

14.5 oz. can zesty chili diced tomatoes (drained)

Small red onions chopped (not more than 3 pieces).

Simply prepare a big bowl and combine vinegar with olive oil, salt and pepper. Make sure you mix it well. Afterward, add the parsley and start mixing again. It’s good to consider that you should mix parsley in the bowl well and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix them well, chill the bowl for two hours before serving and enjoy the salad.

Some people might not want to spend so much of time cooking in their kitchen. Eventually, they will decide to dine out and often this act can be a part of a lifestyle. If every material is ready and laid out on the kitchen table in an organized way, cooking can be much easier and faster than what you think. So make sure that you always carry out an organized approach in cooking. Now we move on to the main dish which is lemon thyme grilled chicken. Here are the ingredients you need:

4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts (if you are serving more people then simply add to the amount)

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

3 cloves of garlic (minced, always keep in mind that garlic can bring a very good taste to your food so if you want to add a bit more flavor then its completely up to you)

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

3.5 tsp. lemon juice (it would be great if you use real lemon)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

To prepare this meal, you will first place the boneless skinless chicken in a bowl and pour lemon on the chicken breasts. Make sure the chicken and lemon juice are mixed well. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover the bowl and chill it in your refrigerator for 1-3 hours. Prepare the grill while the chicken is in the refrigerator. Initiate the fire a quarter of an hour before you bring out the chicken. Grill the chicken for 5-7 minutes on each side. Ultimately, it’s up to you how you want your chicken—some prefer their meat well-cooked while other prefer it rare and a bit juicy

With these two recipes, you will surely enjoy your summer time meal. To lean more about summer recipes, do some research online.

Working Moms, Are Your Children Eating Healthy?

Parenting is one of the greatest tasks that you will have to face in your lifetime. The task of being a mother is so demanding and consuming that for most women, it becomes their main career. However, if you are one of the many women who are trying to balance your job with being a mom then these new findings may interest you. A British study showed that a working mom can actually create an unhealthy environment for her children. According to the case studies, children who have full-time moms who stay at home are healthier than those whose mothers are working. This health discrepancy between children became most evident in the aspect of nutrition.

The fact is kids love to eat without giving any thought to nutrition. You’re not likely to see an eight-year-old choosing spinach over ice cream any day soon. When the mom is not around to provide food guidance then the child will simply devour anything he pleases—soft drinks loaded with sugar, bags of potato chips, candy bars, etc. Needless to say, unhealthy diet or food in the early ages can threaten the health of the child in future. And it’s not just the diet of the child that suffers. Lack of exercise is also rampant among kids who have working moms. They tend to use the computer and watch TV for longer periods of time. Unsurprisingly, they also spend less time walking to school.

It’s also not a surprise that working mothers have less time to spend with their children. Most of their days are dedicated to their jobs and we all know how tiresome working everyday can be. If you’re a working mom then you probably get home every day wanting nothing better than to take a few hours to rest. And the time you take to rest further subtracts from the time you spend with your child.

According to studies, almost more than half of the female population in the United States and United Kingdom join the work force shortly after giving birth. This study about working moms and kids’ nutrition is probably igniting an understandable outcry from working mothers everywhere. After all, with the current economic crisis, unemployment for men has grown more than it has for women. Because of this, many moms have no option left but to look and apply for a job in order to ensure the financial stability of their families. Unfortunately, there are many cases when the health of the family is overlooked.

So what can working moms do in order to maintain their job while maintaining the health of their kids? Organizing your time would be a great idea. No matter how tired you are when you get home, set aside an hour every day to spend time with your kids and be sure to teach them the importance of a healthy diet. If you don’t have time to prepare dinner, order take-out from a restaurant that serves healthy food. Enjoying outdoor exercises like a walk in the park or biking are also great ways to spend some quality time with your kids while ensuring exercise for everyone. If you have money to spare then hiring a maid would also be a great option. Be sure to train the maid to follow a healthy diet program when cooking for your kids. If you have other ideas how busy mommies can squeeze in healthy eating for their kids then be sure to share your thoughts!

To Eat or Not to Eat: A Pregnancy Diet Guide

Pregnancy is whole new adventure for any woman. It is a time when everything in the woman’s life seems to be undergoing transformations and there comes a need for her and her loved ones to adjust to these changes. If you’re planning for a child then it’s very important for you to know everything that you can possibly know about pregnancy. One of the fundamental issues in pregnancy is nutrition or diet. If you want your baby to be as healthy as possible then you should study up on the foods that you must eat and those that you must avoid.
Food is a vital matter that you need to consider in order to carry out a successful pregnancy. Let’s begin with the foods that you must try to avoid during your pregnancy.

Unprocessed meat or raw meat

These meats can be contaminated with toxic bacteria that exist in the sea such as Coliform bacteria, toxoplasmosis, and E-coli or salmonella. A great illustration would be sushi. In certain locations in the sea, fish meat (shark, sword fish, tile fish, and king mackerel) is contained with accumulated levels of mercury–mercury that can cause severe brain damage in the baby, affecting the developmental process in the brain. Another case would be when the fish is contaminated with specific industrial pollution. This pollutant, in scientific terms, is called polychlorinated biphenyls or PCB’s. This very toxic chemical can cause an incredible damage in IQ, memory, abnormality and can result to ultimate autism in the child. Before eating fish, study about the environment that you are living in. Contact the health department in your location and find out it the fish meat is safe.

Raw egg

Raw egg contains salmonella and should be avoided. Egg products like mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce, Caeser sauce, homemade ice cream and any food that uses raw egg are also good examples of food to be avoided. Salmonella can cause serious illness and a possible infection in your baby.

You have probably heard that pregnant woman have more appetite for food than a non-pregnant woman. For the most part, this statement is true. However, we often encounter statements that are false such as: “a pregnant woman should eat twice as before in order to carry out a successful pregnancy”. One fact that any expecting woman should know is the need to provide the body with the best nutrition available in the market. This is more important than eating more. A pregnant woman is in need of carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and minerals.

Carbohydrates

Rice, pasta and bread are great source of carbohydrates. Other great sources of carbohydrates are potato and corn.

Protein

Meat rich in protein include beef and chicken. Meat can provide a great amount of calories in a day. Beans and dairy products are good providers of protein as well.

Vitamins and minerals

Vitamin B9 is a vital vitamin. Vitamin B9 is known as Folic Acid which helps with nervous system development in your baby. You need to take this in the first trimester of pregnancy. Another important mineral is iron. The purpose of iron is to produce enough blood in your body for the delivery of the nutrition to baby. Calcium and zinc are important for developing the embryo and are best absorbed by the body through the foods you eat.

Learn more about nutrition for pregnant women in http://www.surebaby.com/foods.php.

Big Salads For Big Butts – 101 Simple Salads for the Summer Season

Yummy yummy! I don’t know what it is about salads, but I LOVE THEM!

When I was pregnant, I swear I could devour a salad 3 times per day. Something about the mouth-watering juicy feeling of eating something light and healthy just had me all over it!

The funny thing is, my daughter LOVES salad as well. She can gulp down tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, strawberries, cherries like it was J-O-B!

Nowadays, I eat salad so I can lose the 60lbs I gained during the pregnancy that I am STILL not anywhere near getting rid of.

Check out this NYTimes article on 101 different salad recipes for the summer season. YUM YUM YUM!!!

I love salad recipe collections like this to keep your menu and palate fresh.

So chop chop! Get busy eating some healthy veggies and fruits!

You can thank me later.

Do you have a favorite salad recipe? Share it below in the comments!

Low Fat Diets

Remember when it was decided that “fat” content in our food was the thing we had to watch? There was no mention of carbs being an issue – startch was our friend. It was our fuel and A OKAY! In the 90s fat was the culprit and carbs were totally fine. Remember how there was a huge diet craze where people were screaming out things like “low-fat cream cheese” and “low fat mayo”!? No one said a word about carbs – we were encouraged to eat pretzels and bagels and pasta and all kinds of GLORIOUS carbs.  Remember when being on a diet meant you could eat like 5 plain bagels a day as long as the cream cheese was low fat?!

Than that bitch Atkins had to come along and ruin it for all of us. (Sob) Why can’t we just think it is the fat in the food we eat that are the problem!? Why did we have to learn the aweful truth? Ignorance is bliss. I want to go back. I don’t want to know the truth.

Someone bring me a damn bagel….with low fat cream cheese of course, I AM on a diet you know.

Here comes the bridesmaid (STOMP STOMP STOMP)

As the weather grows warmer and warmer, the panic begins to set in that soon I will no longer be able to hide the sins of lingering pregnancy weight with things like over sized sweaters, and black leggings and high boots. That slimming little combo has hepled me delude countless friends and family into believing I HAVE lost all my pregnancy weight and that I look great for someone that has been pregnant so recently. (Ps – how long do you get to call it pregnancy weight for? When do I own this mess?)

The truth is, I have the wrong friends for my dress size. I know we are supposed to love our girlfriends unconditionally but truthfully, I hate those skinny bitches. Okay, I am kidding, but really their bodies are all wrong for my self-esteem.  Of all of my college and early career friends I am one of the very few that are married, I am the ONLY one that has yet to have children. (Let alone a litter of them).  This means, sadly, I am still trying to keep up with a crowd that believes a size 6 is …..HUGE. (No seriously its not their fault – they have been brainwashed by things like billboards in Time Square and US Weekly  and Nicole Richie.)

So with this in mind, you can imagine my joy when one of them announces they are getting married and oh goody for me, I get to be in the wedding and stand next to ALL OF THEM IN PICTURES. Let’s talk a look at that pic shall we? Size 0, Size 00, Size 2, Size 00 (-10), Size 2 and then……….ME.  Yeah cause it is seriously flattering and highly exciting to be wearing a fuschia cocktail length gown, standing next to chicks that are so damn skinny if they swallowed a grape you would probably SEE it through the dress. I am seriously considering accessorizing my gown with a button like (I had kids they didn’t) or permanently attaching one of the twins to me so everyone can see for themselves there is reason for my larger size.  You can tell me – would it be wrong to be actually breastfeeding one of the babies as I walk down the aisle? Too subtle? Not enough to drive the point home?

So the wedding is in three weeks. Pale Mint. I know so flattering – really thrilled about it. Even more thrilled about the other three bridesmaids that told me at the shower they REALLY need to loose weight before the photographer captures their image. (I guess they are going for completely invisible.)  I, of course, did the whole “OMG you are so skinny you totally don’t have to” as is stated in my girlfriend contract, and then I of course,  totally agreed I had to do the same.

Then I went home and ate the rest of my kid’s french fries to make myself feel better. Then I cried. (And ordered the button in a color that will compliment my mint dress perfectly).