During this time of year of yuletide greetings and all that holiday, snowflaky kind of stuff, I love to make cookies and give them away. After all, it’s the time of year when we eat lots of candy, cakes, chocolates and goodies in general so to add to the festivities, cookies are on my agenda. One of my favorite cookies to prepare are the buttery sandwich cookies with jam inside, called Linzer Cookies. They are so absolutely yummy with a steamy cup of tea or coffee, or with a large icy cold glass of milk. They look like snowflakes…sort of! Anyway, use this cookie cutter set to make your delectable Christmas cookies to bring to work or to give away to family and friends.

G e t   t h e   L i n z e r   c o o k i e   c u t t e r   s e t   h e r e

The set includes linzer cutter and 6 interchangeable center cutter designs. Boxed with recipe and instructions, metal.

Need a recipe for Linzer cookies? Here’s one from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa.

Ingredients

* 3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 3 1/2 cups flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup good raspberry preserves
* Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/4-inch thick and cut 2 3/4-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round with a heart or spade shaped cutter. Place all the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.

Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread raspberry preserves on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners’ sugar and press the flat sides together, with the raspberry preserves in the middle and the confectioners’ sugar on the top.

The Kettle Krazy Popcorn Popper and Nut Roaster makes a wonderful gift for someone who loves to curl up on the sofa with a big bowl and munch on America’s most popular snack while watching an absorbing movie or favorite TV shows. There’s nothing more comforting and fun than watching your big screen (or little screen!), grabbing a huge handful of popcorn and then stuffing it in your mouth! Okay, some of you might eat one at a time but admit it, it’s fun to try to get a whole bunch in there at once sometimes!

Kettle Krazy Popcorn Popper and Nut Roaster popper quickly pops up to 6-quarts of fresh popcorn in just minutes. There’s a motorized stir rod that moves the corn kernels so they don’t burn, which also means there will be very few, if any, unpopped kernels. When the popcorn’s ready, just turn the bowl upside down and it’s ready for major munching! The appliance also makes up to 3 cups of mall-kiosk-style glazed nuts or roasted nuts, so you can make some Cracker Jacks!

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1. Make a list of what dishes you’ll have – You obviously need the basics: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie. Now, are any of your guests vegetarian or vegan? If so, plan to offer food they can eat: tofurkey? roasted veggies? a hearty gratin? Do you want to have hors d’œuvres and appetizers? Maybe you don’t want the usuals and want to stray from tradition. Roast beef instead of turkey? That’s fine. Here are some great side dish ideas from Mark Bittman you can make ahead of time: 101 Head Starts on the Day. Just decide on this list, write out a shopping list and move on to step 2.

2. Plan out a detailed schedule/timeline about when to make or do what – Many dishes can be made the night before and shopping must be done in advance (remember to include decorations if needed on your shopping list), which will save you from doing too many things on one day and at the last minute when you should be finalizing decorations and little details. Write out a timeline and put everything where it belongs, planning the prep time and cook time if necessary. Remember about straightening up the house, decorations and set up, and getting dressed! What time will you wake up? Make sure you get a good night’s sleep the night before!

3. Make sure you will have enough storage space in the frig for the dishes you make ahead of time. – There’s nothing worse than not having enough space for everything. This includes counter space. If you don’t have that to work on, you will run into some problems. A cook needs her/his space!

4. Enlist the help of family and friends – You don’t have to do everything on your own, like you think you can. Unless you are Martha Stewart’s clone or Bree from Desperate Housewives, it’s not possible. Accept this fact now. Delegate various tasks, dishes and desserts to other people, and that will lighten your workload. You will be happy about it. It’s that simple.

Extra Pointers
1. If you have things that need to be thawed, put that on your timeline.
2. Remember to tidy up your bathroom.
3. Have enough space for guests’ coats.
4. Iron your table linens.
5. Make sure you have enough silverware, dishware and linens.
6. Ensure your chairs and tables are functioning properly.
7. Remember about drinks for everyone!!
8. Decide what you will wear ahead of time.
9. Visualize in your mind what the day will be like.
10. Enjoy yourself and Happy Thanksgiving!

GARDENING: You can do weeding or lawn care, grow and sell plants, grow and dehydrate herbs and make herb blends, press flowers and frame them or make cards or preserve food such as berries to make and sell jam. You can ask a local florist if they’d like to buy your flowers or ornamental branches such as willows, dogwood or forsythia, or sell right from your home, too. You can grow your own food to save money, and anything you sell can go toward funding your hobby or directly to savings.

CRAFTS: You can sell crafts at craft shows and malls. You can teach your skill out of your home or possibly at a local craft store or at a community education course. There are a lot of people who would love to learn how to make items such as jewelry, soap, candles or quilts, to name a few. Ask if you can hang a flier at your local grocery store, library or local craft store. If you sew, you can make slipcovers, or do mending or alterations. Or specialize in an area such as zipper repair, making boutique childrens’ clothes or upcycled clothing from thrift-store garments or material. There are Web sites online that you can sell your work, too. Visit www.etsy.com, www.1000markets.com or www.artfire.com. You can start an online club or newsletter featuring tutorials or patterns, as well.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Not everyone has the talent to do photography for special events, but nothing can stop you from earning money as you learn more. You can find a niche in an area such as pet photography, stock photos or taking pictures of local landmarks or popular regional places, and make cards or calendars to sell. You can contact your local newspaper, magazines or real estate agencies to see whether they’re interested in your work, too. Or contact local businesses and see if they need photos for brochures or ads, or sell your photos at art and craft shows, fairs or festivals.

ORGANIZING AND CLEANING: Start with friends and family and ask if anyone needs help. You can set yourself apart by using eco-friendly, homemade cleaners.

WOODWORK: Have you ever made something to fit a need, such as building a custom deck, picnic table, bookshelf, dog or birdhouse or bed frame? Or maybe you paint small wooden items for ornaments or doll houses. All of these projects can be sold. If you enjoy refinishing furniture or working on trash-to-treasure projects, you can sell at flea markets or arts-and-crafts shows, too.

FOOD: You can sell decorated cakes, cookies, bread, candies, etc. You can go into catering, too. Or place an ad to cook for a busy family, someone sick or the elderly.

The information above is from: Source

Sadly, many items these days are not meant to last so that you will buy another one over and over again. This is not only bad for the environment because these things end up in landfills, but also, you the consumer waste an exorbitant amount of money over time. This is why I like to recommend durable appliances that will last quite a while.

Enter the stainless steel Lello 4080 Musso Lussino 1.5-Quart Ice Cream Maker. Here’s what people have to say about it:

Fully automatic and precisely controlled by a timer, this machine takes the trouble and guesswork out of making ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt, gelato, and frozen drinks at home. Ingredients go into the bowl, the timer is set, two buttons are pressed and about 30 minutes later 1-1/2 quarts of a frozen confection are ready for consumption. Because the machine doesn’t require its bowl to be frozen for hours in a refrigerator’s freezer (like less expensive machines that only churn), it can immediately begin making another batch. If a batch becomes too hard the machine shuts off automatically. Not only does it work professionally it looks the part, as the housing, bowl, and paddle are made of stainless steel for sanitation and easy cleaning. The 100-watt machine measures 12 inches wide, 11 inches high, and 18 inches deep, and it weighs 38 pounds. Made it Italy, it carries a one-year warranty against defects. An instruction booklet with many recipes is included.

Find out more about it

Ok. It’s expensive but it is one of the best blenders you will ever have and it’s made to last.

Read more about it

“A lot of Americans think they’re eating a healthy diet these days. But it’s easy to be fooled by our assumptions and the ways that food manufacturers play on them.

Take chicken. The average American eats about 90 pounds of it a year, more than twice as much as in the 1970s, part of the switch to lower-fat, lower-cholesterol meat proteins. But roughly one-third of the fresh chicken sold in the U.S. is “plumped” with water, salt and sometimes a seaweed extract called carrageenan that helps it retain the added water. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says chicken processed this way can still be labeled “all natural” or “100% natural” because those are all natural ingredients, even though they aren’t naturally found in chicken.

Producers must mention the added ingredients on the package — but the lettering can be small: just one-third the size of the largest letter in the product’s name. If you’re trying to watch your sodium to cut your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, it pays to check the Nutrition Facts label. Untreated chicken has about 45 to 60 mgs of sodium per four-ounce serving. So-called enhanced or “plumped” chicken has between 200 and 400 mgs of sodium per serving, almost as much as a serving of fast-food french fries.

Adding salt water became widespread when big discount stores began selling groceries and wanted to sell chicken at uniform weights and prices. Plumping packaged chicken helps even out the weight. But that means consumers are paying for added salt water at chicken prices — an estimated $2 billion worth every year, according to the Truthful Labeling Coalition, a group of chicken producers that don’t enhance their products….”

Read the whole article

Scientists now know enough about the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals to advise that we minimize our consumption of pesticides.

What’s the Difference?
EWG research has found that people who eat the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides daily. The Guide helps consumers make informed choices to lower their dietary pesticide load.

Will Washing and Peeling Help?
Nearly all the studies used to create these lists assume that people rinse or peel fresh produce. Rinsing reduces but does not eliminate pesticides. Peeling helps, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the skin. The best approach: eat a varied diet, rinse all produce and buy organic when possible.

How Was This Guide Developed?
EWG analysts have developed the Guide based on data from nearly
87,000 tests for pesticide residues in produce conducted between
2000 and 2007 and collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. You can find a detailed
description of the criteria EWG used to develop these rankings and
the complete list of fruits and vegetables tested at our dedicated
website, www.foodnews.org.

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Citrus Infused, Jumbo Lump Crabcake

Beef and Mushroom Turnover

Fresh Sea Scallops in Bacon

and how can we forget about the American Duo. This is a must have at your party.

These are just a few samples of what is available. There are many more yummy appetizers to choose from like Philly Cheesesteak Springrolls, meatballs, paninis, dumplings, reuben sandwiches, ham and swiss puffs, mufalettas, chicken and cheese enchiladas and more! Too meaty you say? Don’t worry there’s lots of veggie items: Artichoke & Spinach Filo Tartlets, Asparagus Rollups, Porcini Risotto Croquettes, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Potato Pancakes (Latkes), Crescent Puffs -Sundried Tomato & Feta and more.

They’re easy to prepare and you can order for as many guests as you need. Reasonable prices, too.

I’m hungry now.

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Why on earth am I featuring a BBQ in the dead of winter? Pfff, if you know me (of course I realize none of you don’t really know me but anyway…) I’m someone who WOULD feature precisely that: a BBQ during the dead of winter – because that is when it’s so great to have a BBQ! Set this awesome seasoned cast iron hibachi on a deck (place something underneath so it doesn’t burn your wood deck!) or somewhere safe, and BBQ away. NO. You don’t have to stay outside. Just barbeque whatever you’re having and eat indoors. Duh, just because it’s snowing outside, or it’s butt cold out there doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself of the marvelous world of bbq. Get it?

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You didn’t think all you could do on your Nintendo DS Lite was to play Yoshi’s Island and Mario Kart all day long, did you? Or are you more of a Dr. Kawashima kind of DS game player? Whatever the case, get with the program; you can cook up a storm with Personal Trainer: Cooking on your trusty DS. It’s so wonderful because the DS is small and will fit on your counter while you cook and remind you about what you need to do to prepare some of the most tastiest dishes on earth. Check it out.

First things first: select a recipe. With 245+ to choose from, Personal Trainer: Cooking makes it easy to find what you’re looking for by helping you browse by country, ingredients, difficulty, cooking time, cooking technique or even calorie count.

Once you’ve found something that looks yummy, take a look at the ingredients. Out of butter or need to buy some cumin? Just tap them with the stylus to automatically add the ingredients to your Shopping List. Making several dishes tonight? Just keep tapping ingredients – your Shopping List keeps it all in one place for you. Now that you’ve got your ingredients, it’s time to start cooking. The DS Chef is there with you, talking you through every step along the way. Don’t know how to fillet a trout? Watch the demonstration video when you get to that step. Didn’t quite catch the last step? Just say “Repeat,” and the Chef will explain it again. You can pause the recipe at any time to consult the Cooking A-Z guide, and prompts will appear within recipes for specific terms you might need more information about.

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Complete with a tin storage box to reduce clutter, this set of 11 round, stainless-steel cookie cutters comes in handy for all seasons. The cutters range in size from 3/4 inch high to 3-5/8 inches high, and they have rolled edges on top to protect fingers during the cutting process. They’re constructed to be long-lasting and are dishwasher-safe.

* Professional gauge pastry and cookie cutters with a plain edge.
* Set of 11 in a reusable storage tin, ranging in size from 7/8″Dia to 3-3/4″Diameter
* Stainless steel.

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Additionally, gluten is also used as a binder in some pharmaceutical products (medicines, supplements, vitamins and more) and there can be starch in unidentified food starch, caramel coloring, modified food starch, hydrolyzed plant or vegetable protein. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that you avoid items where the ingredients are of questionable origin or are listed as simply “natural flavorings, flavor extracts, or spice extracts” as gluten may be used in processing them. Yes, we did wish they would be more precise in labeling, but the industries haven’t reached that level of enlightenment, unfortunately.

Since it’s oftentimes so very difficult to find gluten-free foods, I’d like to offer a place where you can find lots of gluten-free items in one place. Note: Always verify that the products are truly gluten-free. Click below and you’ll find all kinds of goodies just for you.

Gluten Free Food for You

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“This slicer is an inexpensive alternative to a professional stainless-steel mandoline, this device makes it possible to quickly, uniformly, and safely slice and julienne vegetables and fruits. It also shreds cabbage and neatly dices potatoes, tomatoes, and onions. For safety, a holder firmly grips food with stainless-steel prongs so fingers are protected from the German surgical-steel blades, and the three inserts accompanying the device lock in position. The inserts act as a guide for slicing against the V-frame’s knife that reverses to create slices either 1/4-inch or 1/16-inch thick and two julienne inserts for creating 1/8-inch or 3/8-inch strips. For storage, the V-frame, all three inserts, and the safety holder fit into a caddy that can stand upright on the counter, lie flat in a drawer, or hang on the wall. Made of rugged plastic, the device measures 15 inches long and 6 inches wide when assembled for storage.” –Fred Brack

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From the retail supermarket outlets of huge, publicly traded corporations comes processed, manipulated, engineered “food products” – produced by other wings of the same corporation. These artificial, toxic treats are then sold with the blessings of the Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration – government organizations charged with safeguarding the public good – laying the foundations for future disease and chronic ill-health for the consumer, and a guaranteed source of revenue for the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.

Kevin reveals the shocking truth of how drugs – which are being advertised directly to the consumer, pushing their use to an all-time high – are actually the cause of illness and disease climbing to near epidemic levels.

And, though it sounds dire, Kevin offers a light in the darkness and directs the reader to scores and scores of alternative therapies, medical practices, philosophies and – most importantly – potential cures that help your body regain its natural state of health and vibrancy.

So follow Kevin on an amazing journey through the behind-the-scenes world of corporate sponsored “nutrition” and “health,” and learn about “Natural Cures ‘THEY’ Don’t Want You To Know About.”

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Is a chicken labeled “free range” good enough to reassure you of its purity? How about “grass fed” beef?

What form of soy is best for you — soy milk or tofu?

About milk: I’ll bet most of you voted for reduced or non-fat. But if you’ll turn to page 153 of “In Defense of Food,” you’ll read that processors don’t make low-fat dairy products just by removing the fat. To restore the texture — to make the drink “milky” — they must add stuff, usually powdered milk. Did you know powdered milk contains oxidized cholesterol, said to be worse for your arteries than plain old cholesterol? And that removing the fat makes it harder for your body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins that make milk a valuable food in the first place?

About chicken and beef: Readers of Pollan’s previous book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma“, know that “free range” refers to the chicken’s access to grass, not whether it actually ventures out of its coop. And all cattle are “grass fed” until they get to the feedlot. The magic words for delightful beef are “grass finished” or “100% grass fed”.

And about soy…but I dare to hope I have your attention by now. And that you don’t want to be among the two-thirds of Americans who are overweight and the third of our citizens who are likely to develop type 2 diabetes before 2050. And maybe, while I have your eyes, you might be mightily agitated to learn that America spends $250 billion — that’s a quarter of the costs of the Iraq war — each year in diet-related health care costs. And that our health care professionals seem far more interested in building an industry to treat diet-related diseases than they do in preventing them. And that the punch line of this story is as sick as it is simple: preventing diet-related disease is easy.

In just 200 pages (and 22 pages of notes and sources), “In Defense of Food” gives you a guided tour of 20th century food science, a history of “nutritionism” in America and a snapshot of the marriage of government and the food industry. And then it steps up to the reason most readers will buy it — and if you care for your health and the health of your loved ones, this is a no-brainer one-click — and presents a commonsense shopping-and-eating guide.

If you are up on your Pollan and your Nina Planck and your Barbara Kingsolver, you know the major points of the “real food” movement. But if you’re new to this information or are disinclined to buy or read this book, let me lay Pollan’s argument out for you:

– High-fructose corn syrup is the devil’s brew. Do yourself a favor and remove it from your diet. (If you have kids, here’s a place to start: Heinz smartly offers an “organic” ketchup, made with sugar.)

– Avoid any food product that makes health claims — they mean it’s probably not really food.

– In a supermarket, don’t shop in the center aisles. Avoid anything that can’t rot, anything with an ingredient you can’t pronounce.

– “Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does.”

– “You are what you eat eats too.” Most cows end their days on a diet of corn, unsold candy, their pulverized brothers and sisters — yeah, you read that right — and a pharmacy’s worth of antibiotics. And they bestow that to you. Consider that the next time there’s a sale on sirloin.

– “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” By which Pollan means: Eat natural food, the kind your grandmother served (and not because she was so wise, but because the food industry had not yet learned that the big money was in processing, not harvesting). Use meat sparingly. Eat your greens, the leafier and more varied the better.

In short: Kiss the Western diet as we know it goodbye. Look to the cultures where people eat well and live long. Ignore the faddists and experts. Trust your gut. Literally.

In all this, Pollan insists that you have to save yourself. And he makes a good case why. Our government, he says, is so overwhelmed by the lobbying and marketing power of our processed food industry that the American diet is now 50% sugar in one form or another — calories that provide “virtually nothing but energy.” Our representatives are almost uniformly terrified to take on the food industry. And as for the medical profession, the key moment, Pollan writes, is when “doctors kick the fast-food franchises out of the hospital” — don’t hold your breath.

“You want to live, follow me.” I loved it when Schwarzenegger said that in “Terminator.” It matters much more when, in so many words, Michael Pollan delivers that same message in “In Defense of Food.” [review by J.Kornbluth]

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There are 22 chapters, each one dealing with an important element of success such as green manures, tillage, direct seeding, transplanting, weeds, pests, harvest, marketing, season extension. In addition there are three appendices on tools, the major vegetable crops and a one-page schematic outline of biological agriculture. If you plan to buy just one book on organic growing, you will find it difficult to beat this book.

[source: amazon]

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This excellent mixer is for the serious home baker and features a 575-watt motor with heavy-duty transmission and a 6 quart bowl combined to give you the power and capacity to mix 13 dozen cookies, 8 pounds of mashed potatoes, or over 8 loaves of bread.

I didn’t make my own bread before but now I only make it at home with the Kitchen Aid and it is so incredibly easy. Much better tastewise and healthwise for you too, instead of buying premade, packaged icky bread in the market.

KitchenAid’s unique planetary mixing action provides faster, more thorough blending of ingredients all the way to the edge of the bowl, without ever rotating it. The rugged, all-metal quality construction and Commercial-style motor protection assure a long life of trouble-free, dependable and quiet operation.

Other features include a professional style bowl-lift that makes it easy to lift the bowl into the mixing position, 10-speed slide control ranges from a very fast whip to a very slow stir and a power hub for optional attachments. Included with the Stand Mixer, a burnished aluminum flat beater, PowerKnead spiral dough hook (designed to replicate hand-kneading to handle 20% more dough than previous models), a professional wire whip and pouring shield.

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See samples from the book

For approximately 2000 years maca was (and still is) an important traditional food and medicinal plant in this high altitude growing region. It is seen and considered as a highly nutritious food and as a medicine that enhances strength and endurance. It’s very known purpose, which is why it has become extremely popularly lately is because it’s regarded also as acting as a powerful aphrodisiac.

Maca has traversed the world over and it is not just available in South America anymore, but also it is available practically everywhere.

Some people prefer to take capsules of maca, but other can use the powder form and mix it with drinks or add it to baked goods.

Most people focus on the following qualities maca gives them:

- increased energy levels

- decrease problems associated with PMS, fewer cramps, a gradual decrease in bleeding and fatigue

- increased ability to function under stress

- increased libido

Men have reported increased libido function and stamina. A man’s sexual desire & potency increases with continued use of mac as does a women’s.

Men and women all over the world take Maca on a regularly to enhance their sexual desire and performance as well as to increase their energy levels.

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It’s never too late to start a garden even though we are getting ready for fall. What am I talking about, you ask? Grow food indoors. Why not? If you have a spare room, or better yet a basement, you can grow many things indoors. How?

Get a Turbo Grow Room or a 36 Plant Dual Chamber Hydroponic Grow Cabinet!

These allow you to easily grow vegetables and herbs indoors. The latter looks like a regular cabinet so you can even put it in your living room. No one would even know there are living plants inside the cabinet. Closed, that is!

Eating chocolate or cocoa increased a measure called flow-mediated dilation, which is a good indication of blood flow in the veins. It also reduced blood pressure, both systolic (the upper number, reflecting the maximum pressure exerted when the heart contracts) by about 6 points, and diastolic (the bottom number, reflecting the maximum pressure when the heart is at rest), by about 3.3 points. But it didn’t seem to have an effect on so-called “bad” LDL cholesterol.
Soy protein reduced diastolic blood pressure by almost 2 points of mercury and improved bad cholesterol but didn’t improve so-called good HDL cholesterol. But those effects were found just for isolated soy protein, not for other soy products.
A habit of green tea drinking reduced bad cholesterol levels, but drinking black tea boosted both systolic and diastolic pressure — by 5.6 points for systolic and 2.5 for diastolic.

Ok. Calm down. This isn’t license to jump in a chocolate filled pool. No, no. It means stick with foods high in flavanoids and antioxidants: lots of fruit, small amounts of a good dark chocolate (at least 70 percent cocoa), plus the basics like onions and green tea and an occasional glass of red wine. Be reasonable about this. And don’t just eat any ole chocolate. Some are so terrible they could kill you, so stay with high quality and you can’t go wrong, normally.

Here’s a chocolate sugggestion – with mouth-watering photo. Don’t eat it all at once!!!

[via]

C’mon. Plastic is the cheapest looking crap ever. Get wicker or wood. Make sure you take proper care of those so they last.

This outdoor wood patio set is on sale!

The 24-Hour Pharmacist- is the perfect pill for anyone seeking enlightenment on overall health from a resource that is thorough and fun to read. With chapter titles such as “Frazzled, Frustrated and Freaked Out: Coping with Anxiety and Stress” to “More Jiggle, Less Joint Pain: What You Can Do About Arthritis” you get the sense that the author well knows what course to recommend but also truly enjoys educating others. One feature I found especially enlightening were the sections in each chapter entitled “Suzy’s Secrets From Behind The Counter”. Here is where she (Suzy) offers great little insights to live by with a perspective that only a pharmacist can give. One good example of this is in the chapter about weight loss where she explains that some drugs can make you hungry. Included in her list are sedatives and tranquilizers, antidepressants, allergy pills, female hormones and diuretics. Wow, who knew?

Read more about it here: The 24-Hour Pharmacist

Don’t worry about making your own. It’s not like you have to get out and churn some cream eight million times or something that you just don’t have time for or don’t have the energy to do. With the Cuisinart Supreme Commercial Quality Ice Cream Maker, it’s faster and easier than ever to treat friends and family to rich and creamy gourmet ice cream. The Cuisinart Supreme Commercial Quality Ice Cream Maker has a built-in compressor-freezer, so there’s no bowl to pre-freeze. That means frozen desserts are ready to enjoy sooner. Processes batch after batch of scrumptious ice cream, fruity sorbet, silky smooth frozen yogurt, and even your favorite ice summer drinks. Just add the ingredients and turn it on. No pre-chill or freezing bowls required. Fully automatic 60-minute timer. 1 1/2 quart capacity. Click here for details

Even if you eat dry cereals from a health food store or even an organic store, the way cereal is made is identical to commercial brands, and you will be better off knowing about this. You see, the process of creating cereals is called “extrusion.” The manufacturers first make a sort of mush of the grains. They then put that through an Extruder. The slurry or mush is forced out of little holes at extremely high temperatures, which gives shape to the individual pieces of cereal, whether they are woven squares, o’s, sticks, shreds, flakes, nuggets, round puffs (puffed rice or corn puffs), etc. A sharp blade cuts off each flake or cereal piece. Then all pieces are sprayed down with oil and corn syrup to make them crunchy and sweet.

You can read all about the process in Fighting the Food Giants by Paul Stitt. In his book, he describes how the process of extrusion completely destroys nearly all of the nutrients in the grains. It destroys the fortified vitamins they add (why add them, you ask?). The fatty acids are also destroyed and whatever amino acids were inside, well, they become toxic in this extrusion process. It is utterly insane unless you are a greedy, capitalistic cereal manufacturer that only cares about making money at the expense of the public’s health.

Are you eating these boxed, dry cereals? Are your kids? Well, cut it out! You and your kids should be informed and should be eating healthy meals to avoid any kinds of diseases and cancers that are caused by toxic ingredients. To become more informed read Paul Stitt’s book. Click the link below.

Fighting the Food Giants