1. You shouldn’t need cream in a properly made risotto
   All you need is patience and the right rice
2. Use carrot juice in salad dressings
   For low-fat salad dressings with tons of flavor, replace one-fourth of the oil with carrot juice.
3. Bananas are the secret to complex-tasting muffins
   Replace the butter in your favorite recipe with a mixture of mashed bananas and vegetable oil.
4. Use peas in guacamole
   To make low-fat guacamole, puree peas and use them to replace some or all of the avocados in your favorite guacamole recipe.
5. Use yogurt for tender low-fat muffins
   Replace half of the liquid in the batter with yogurt. The acidity of yogurt helps to enhance tenderness in the absence of fat.
6. Use mustard instead of egg to bread
   Many chefs, when preparing lower-cholesterol breaded cutlets, replace egg with mustard, since bread crumbs adhere to mustard even better than they do to beaten egg. Plus, mustard’s fat and cholesterol counts are virtually nil.

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read article on Yahoo! Shine by Reader’s Digest Magazine: 6 Low-Fat Cooking Tips You Haven’t Heard Before

1. It will help you de-stress
2. You’ll lose weight
3. You’ll be less apt to get sick
4. You’ll be more comfortable
5. It will help regulate your blood pressure

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original article on Yahoo! Shine by Paula Spencer Scott from Caring.ccom: 5 Surprising Reasons to Drink Water

by accident m added some leftover wasabi in the sauce. the wasabi gave the flavor an extra kick. it was a great spin off the original recipe!

Ingredients

• leftover dressing from sweet and spicy brussels sprouts
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• dash of wasabi

Preparation

Pour the leftover dressing in a mixing bowl and add a dash of wasabi. Add chopped celery. Serve and enjoy!

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original recipe from Rachael Ray’s Holiday Feast: Sweet and Spicy Brussels Sprouts

after having this dish, m used the leftover sauce and made a new dish: sweet and spicy celery.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 teaspoons mustard seed – or -
  1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 2 tubs Brussels sprouts
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• sea salt and ground black pepper

Preparation

In a skillet, combine vinegar, honey and stock with a whisk. Stir in bay, chopped onion, red pepper, celery, mustard seed and turmeric. Stir and bring to a boil.

Trim the Brussels sprouts and halve them. Add to stock mixture and season with salt and pepper. Cover and reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, uncover and cook 5 minutes more.

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original recipe from Rachael Ray’s Holiday Feast: Sweet and Spicy Brussels Sprouts

1. BLOOD PRESSURE
   When to screen: Start at age 18; then every year
   Your target: Blood pressure under 120/80 mmHg
2. CHOLESTEROL
   When to screen: Start at age 20; then as recommended by a doctor
   Your target: Total cholesterol below 200 mg/dL; LDL below 100 mg/dL; HDL above 60 mg/dL
3. THYROID-STIMULATING HORMONE
   When to screen: Start at age 35; then every three to five years
   Your target:  TSH level between.5 and 5.0 mIU/L
4. IRON (SERUM FERRITIN)
   When to screen: As symptoms (increased fatigue, lack of energy, muscle soreness, achy joints, and sliding performance) occur; vegetarians and women may want to ask about preventive screenings
   Your target:  Above 25 ng/mL
5. BLOOD SUGAR
   When to screen: Start at age 45 (earlier if family history); then every year
   Your target:  Below 100 mg/dL

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read article on Yahoo! Shine from the editors of Runner’s World | Vitality: 5 Health Tests You Need to Ace This Year

following is a sample day that shows you what you can do to get the best zzz’s possible. (adjust it for your wake and sleep times.)

6:30am – Skip the snooze button
7:30am – Exercise
11:00am – Take a breathing break
1 to 2:00pm – Cut out caffeine
3:00pm – Go outside
7:00pm - Eat dinner
10:00pm – An hour before bedtime, have a proteincarb combo snack
10:30pm – Thirty minutes before bedtime, start your wind-down routine
11:00pm – Get into bed, breathe and stretch

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read article by Abigail Cuffey from Woman’s Day: Timeline for Better Sleep

it was easy and so good! the only thing missing is a photo to document this dish. when i make it again, i will be sure include!

Ingredients

• 1 (10 pound) prime rib roast
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 cloves garlic, quartered lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme

Preparation

Place the roast in a roasting pan with the fatty side up. In a small bowl, mix together the minced garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme. Spread the mixture over the fatty layer of the roast.

Using a knife, poke the roast and insert the quartered long pieces of garlic in various places. Let the roast sit out until it is at room temperature, no longer than 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).

Bake the roast for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C), and continue roasting for an additional 60 to 75 minutes. The internal temperature of the roast should be at 145 degrees F (53 degrees C) for medium rare.

Allow the roast to rest for 10 or 15 minutes before carving so the meat can retain its juices.

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original recipe from “chef mike” shared by a friend

probably what caught my eye that started my latest obsession was the flavor of the first bag i saw: garlic parmesan … ooooooh! i was so excited BUT what may take away from the great flavor is the salt content — not just the amount but it just tasted too salty, so much so that i had to brush off some of the flavoring so i can “enjoy” the snack. there are many flavors so i made sure to check the salt content. all the cheese flavors have a lot of salt.

so i tried the other flavors – savory: original, everything, buffalo wings – and – sweet: cinnamon toast. my favorite savory flavor is everything and my favorite of all the flavors i tried is cinnamon toast. it is still an awesome snack. they also come in resealable baggies to make sure it stays crisp. YUM! serve them at your next party (but remember to watch out on the salt content in some of the flavors!)

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learn more about Pretzel Crisps and buy it at your local food market

but in absence of them, what can i do? then i thought, why not try making them myself? well, i tried two recipes – one with lychee puree and one with canned lychee syrup. in this trial, the canned lychee syrup jelly won out … maybe bcuz i tried the lychee puree jelly with canned lychees, not fresh lychees so i’ll have to try it again!

in the meantime, i’ll share with you the lychee syrup jelly which was jelly fun!

Ingredients

• 2 cans lychees in heavy syrup
• 2 packets (approximately 2 teaspoons each) unflavored gelatin powder

Preparation

In a large bowl, separate the lychees from the syrup by emptying the two cans of lychees through a strainer. Keep the syrup in the large bowl and setting aside the lychees in a separate bowl.

From the bowl of syrup, remove 3 cups of syrup into a small pot and heat until boiling. Keep 1 more cup of syrup (cold or room temperature) and save the remaining syrup in a storage container other use.

Pour back the 1 cup of syrup into the large bowl. Sprinkle 3 packets of unflavored gelatin powder over the syrup. Leave for 1 minute. Add boiled syrup juice into the large bowl and stir.

Pour lychee syrup jelly liquid into 6 small cups. Add 2-3 lychees in each cup. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set. Serve and enjoy!

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original recipe from Knox Unflavored Gelatin packets

Ingredients 

• wild mushroom stuffing
• mashed potatoes
• turkey bacon

Preparation

In a small aluminum pan, layer mashed potatoes on the bottom, wild mushroom stuffing, another layer of mashed potatoes and then top with a slice of turkey bacon. Bake in a toaster or oven until warm, approximately 30 minutes. Enjoy!