I pride myself on keeping up with nutrition news and with buying good foods and preparing them in ways that are most beneficial, health-wise, to myself and my son. However, I think anyone could use nutrition lessons to stay informed and healthy. I learn new things all the time about foods, food additives, and nutritional assessments of foods. For instance, eggs aren’t the cholesterol bad guys scientists used to think they are. I don’t eat a lot of eggs, but on occasion I get a craving for them, so I don’t worry about cholesterol issues when I do include them in my diet.

Since I do enjoy food, and I also enjoy learning new things about food, it’s only natural that I’m interested in learning more. It all begins with learning about our own digestive system, and about the benefits of particular foods, through some free lessons on the internet. The information is clearly written and easy to understand. I think I’m going to enjoy this.

Technorati Tags: nutrition, health

While I’d much prefer to stay home all the time, the way I used to, the fact is that I’ve learned a lot working in the fast food industry. I’m certified for ServSafe, which is a course on food safety, and can take that with me to any other restaurant job. It comes in handy here at home, too.

I’ve also learned some rather neat cooking tips for a variety of foods, so that helps me at home.

While my job is sometimes very hard on me, there are times when it’s also pretty interesting. Being a manager means I have charge of the safe and the money, and sometimes there are some really neat coins in the drawers. For instance, the other day, there were two silver dollars but they weren’t the newer, small ones. They were the older large ones with Eisenhower on them. Naturally, I bought them for face value.

At some point, I really need to check with a rare coin dealer like Monaco Rare Coin to see if any of the coins I’ve purchased have more than face value on them. I’ve always kept odd coins in a little box, and called them my “funny money”. Not that I’m heavily into numismatics, but it is interesting to read about coins and look them up. It actually might be worth my while to look into this more deeply. Who knows? I might have something a real collector would be interested in.

I don’t think it would be in my best interest to go blindly online to just any old coin dealer with these coins. When I do try to see if they have value, I’ll be wanting to use a company with great resources and plenty of experience in the field.

Technorati Tags: ServSafe, restaurant, money, coins, silver dollars, Monaco Rare Coin, numismatics

One of my best friends in the kitchen is my slow cooker. I use it for the ordinary cooking tasks you’d expect. But I also use it for other things. For instance, I make small batches of dressing in it instead of using the oven. The dressing turns out moist and delicious. I’ve even used it for making baked potatoes by wrapping the potatoes in aluminum foil, putting a little water in the bottom, and laying the potatoes on a rack in the bottom.

My crockpot is really old. I’ve had it for about 22 years and the only thing wrong with it right now is the lid broke a couple of years ago. I use a pan lid I already have that fits it nicely and keeps the steam in. However, I have recently been looking for a new slow cooker, which means doing some research. I want to know the appliance I get will last a long time, will cook efficiently and evenly, and will be versatile.

One place I can do some of that research is at Wize.com, where they show you user reviews, brands, prices, and a number rank for the slow cooker I’m looking at. I can do some side-by-side comparisons and be ready to buy the exact one I need for my uses.

Technorati Tags: crockpot, appliance, Wize.com

You may be planning some special holiday dinners for your family or friends this Christmas season. You’ll go all out with pretty tablecloths, beautiful dinnerware, and festive centerpieces. You may even set up a side buffet table for all the bounty you’ll prepare.

Of course, you’ll be wanting some fresh flowers to add to the tables. This time of the year, you won’t be finding those flowers from your own flower garden. I suggest you try FiftyFlowers.com for wholesale, freshly cut flowers of all kinds. For instance, you could get wholesale calla lilies and use them in all white arrangements for a winter bouquet or centerpiece. These and other flowers are offered at up to a 75% discount over regular florist prices. They can offer this low rate because they buy direct from growers. They guarantee the flowers are cut fresh within the past two or three days, and they ship immediately to you.

I’m not very good at making centerpieces or arrangements, but they also offer floral arrangements made to order, so even I could have something unique on my table.

Technorati Tags: FiftyFlowers.com

I’m quite sure many of you will shop for gifts for Christmas, or maybe you’ve already finished all your Christmas shopping. If so, then you’re miles ahead of me already. Others of you will create your own gifts in the form of tasty quick breads, tender cookies, and decadent fudge or other candies. These will be presented in a lovely gift basket or whimsical Christmas tin. And, they’ll be well received!

Still, there’s yet another way to give gifts while also helping others who are less fortunate than yourself. By shopping at JacarandaStyle, you can not only buy beautiful handcrafted home accessories from South Africa, you can know that a portion of the proceeds from your purchase is being applied toward helping the Ethembeni School there.

Now, think about this: What if you could place your beautiful Christmas pastries into a stunning bowl to present to someone you love? This bowl in particular really caught my eye. I love the brilliant colors and the artistry of this item.

I can easily imagine this on my own table, filled with an organic salad or piled high with Christmas Snowball Cookies. Better yet, I can get a 10% discount on it just by using the code “JSTYLE” when I order. And, I can get free shipping, since it’s over $100. Still, with all that, the very best part is that I can know I am helping some of the 300 or so disabled children at the school.

These functional and whimsical works of art have been featured in such publications as The New York Times, Ebony magazine, and Food and Wine magazine, along with the charitable aspect of this company.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, shopping, South Africa, Ethembeni School, pastries, Christmas Snowball Cookies, The New York Times, Ebony, Food and Wine

I am not usually that fond of places that send me unsolicited emails or ads to my PO box, but I have actually found a few places where there are some really good deals going on. I love a good deal, so when I’m on a marketing list for places I really would, and maybe already do, shop at, I don’t mind nearly as much.

For instance, I get emails from places like Best Buy and Walmart. They save me money on things I am planning to buy anyway. Some that I receive aren’t for places I signed up at, but they still work out to my benefit. It makes me wonder of Martin Worldwide is the source of those emails and catalogs? I don’t really know, but they are among the world’s largest producers of such lists and have the expertise in place to work with demographics to determine which people are most likely to be interested in which products, at which places.

That’s a lot of data to cover, but they’ve been doing this successfully for over ten years now so they’ve got the experience.

Technorati Tags: shop, Best Buy, Walmart, Martin Worldwide

Eventually, your refrigerator, and mine, will either quit completely or become such an ineffective appliance to keep around that you’ll be shopping for a new one. Large appliance purchases are not undertaken lightly. I research everything I buy, and this would especially apply to purchasing something like a refrigerator.

First of all, I want to know that what I’m buying has a good warranty against defects, and that the warranty isn’t so flimsy that it will be discarded by the dealer at the first sign of trouble. I also want to know that the appliance I purchase has a good energy rating, so my electric bill doesn’t start to skyrocket. Additionally, I want to purchase locally and save the money I’d have to pay for shipping from some other location.

If I were interested in General Electric Refrigerators, I’d want the above standards met. Finding just the right dealer, though, can be a problem. Krillion.com offers to simplify my search and show me the local stores that sell these refrigerators.

Like most people, while I have good internet access and can research for reviews of appliances, I’d still want to buy them in my hometown, if at all possible. I believe in supporting local merchants. They are our neighbors, after all, and their contribution to the community often extends beyond the front door of their businesses.

Technorati Tags: refrigerator, appliance, shopping, Krillion.com

Considering the ever-increasing cost of groceries these days, I need ways to not only stretch my grocery budget but to add to my income enough to help offset the higher prices. One way I do this is to blog for money. And one place I do paid blogging is for Smorty.com.

Smorty will send you offers to blog for and you can accept or decline them, according to your own personal preferences. You do have to login to their site pretty quickly, though, or the offers could be all taken by other bloggers. This way of generating extra income is possible because blog advertising is becoming the newest and biggest means for an advertiser to make their name or product known on the world wide web.

Since I’ve begun to blog for money, I’ve earned enough to make my car payments and car insurance, plus buy nicer gifts for people I love. I’ve also been able to purchase a new laptop and wireless internet with the money I’ve earned. Add that to being able to have more freedom in the grocery store, and you wind up with an all around win-win situation, for both the blogger and the advertiser.

Technorati Tags: groceries, budget, Smorty.com

Have you ever eaten any snacks from a vending machine? I have. There have been times when someone was in the hospital or I was waiting at a garage to have my car serviced, and the only thing available was a snack or a drink from a vending machine. In the past, all you could get was something fatty, sugary, or otherwise not so good for you.

Vending machines have come a long way, though. Many places now have better choices in the foods available. Things like fruit, juice, and even sandwiches can be obtained from a vending machine. Companies like multivend have made this possible by expanding their lines and technology to include a wider variety of offerings from the machines. They have also enabled the machine owners to keep better track of the money inserted so they know exactly how much is there through digital updating.

What is the last thing you got from a vending machine?

Technorati Tags: snacks, vending machine, fruit, juice, sandwiches

When I visited the doctor on Monday, they weighed me, of course. It was disheartening to see how much weight I’ve gained since my last check up. I blame myself and the way I’ve been eating at work, and not eating at home. After all, I already know that fast food is loaded with fats, sugars, and calories. I’m afraid my current lifestyle doesn’t have much room in it for going to the gym or to support group meetings. So, I’m looking at the Cheat to Lose Diet.

No, you don’t cheat all the time. You do have one day a week where you can cheat on your diet, though, as long as you are faithful to it and to some kind of exercise the rest of the time. For me, cheating is eating ice cream or drinking a strawberry milkshake at work. It’s also eating a big, fat hamburger. That’s my problem, see. I’ve been doing that way too often.

I don’t blame the fast food place where I work. After all, they didn’t put a gun to my head to make me eat too much. So, now it’s up to me to lose this weight (which is absolutely no good for my high blood pressure or my back problems). Trying a program like the Cheat to Lose Diet could be just the thing I need to get my metabolism fired up again without feeling as deprived of my favorite foods all the time. I can get a personalized diet and fitness plan that will fit my full-time job schedule. I can also get recipes by the hundreds that will help me reduce my caloric intake while consuming foods that help spark my metabolism and start burning fat.

Have any of you tried this program? I’d really like your thoughts.

Technorati Tags: doctor, weight, diet, exercise, recipes, metabolism