Can you imagine why did I take a picture of these products? No, they are not going to be used in a recipe.

While tiding up the grocery closet I found these expired date products. I know, it’s a shame that I let products expire but it happened to me. Some of these products where hidden behind other products, some where opened for a long time, others, I didn’t even need them that’s why they expired.

On my to-do-list now I have:

• Make an inventory of all the groceries I have
• Put the ones with a shorter expire date in front of the others

I don’t want to put groceries in the garbage so I have to be more careful.

What do you do to organize your grocery closet?

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photo credit: annia316

Dollar Stores

Many years ago, dollar stores offered only off brand products or merchandise of poor quality. Fortunately that has completely changed because now you can walk into a dollar store and find the same name brand of laundry detergent, cleaning products, clothing, school supplies, everything for half or less the price. Check out your local dollar store and enjoy the mountains of savings.

Insurance
Shop around for insurance and work with a good agent that can provide information on discounts such as good student, multi-car discount, etc. Some people think the price of insurance is the same from one company to the next. However, prices can vary dramatically and to ensure you get the best deal, you need to consider all your options. Always check what the insurance covers. For instance if it is a car/rv insurance make sure it covers for instance motorhome towing only in one state or all over the country, if you have an accident if you receive a spare car while you wait for yours to be fixed, etc.. Check all the details before buying the insurance.

Today I bring here a healthy main dish that only takes 20 minutes to prepare (plus 20 minutes marinate). It is suitable for all family members although some kids don’t like the red pepper flavor. Depending on your kids taste you can or not avoid the red pepper.

I found this recipe at Taste of Home, photo credits to Taste of Home.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon plus 3 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
• 2 teaspoons plus 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce, divided
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1-1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1-1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
• 5 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, julienned
• 1/2 cup fresh broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 3 cups cooked long grain rice
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 2 teaspoons soy sauce until smooth. Place the chicken in a large resealable plastic bag; add soy sauce mixture. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• In another bowl, combine the remaining cornstarch and soy sauce until smooth. Stir in the broth and ginger; set aside.
• In a large nonstick skillet or wok, stir-fry chicken in 2 teaspoons hot oil until no longer pink; remove and keep warm. In the same pan, stir-fry onion and garlic in remaining oil until tender. Add the red pepper, broccoli, carrot and water chestnuts; cook and stir until vegetables are crisp-tender.
• Stir broth mixture and stir into vegetables. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Return chicken to the pan; heat through. Serve with rice. Sprinkle with walnuts.
• Yield: 6 servings.

I bought my Upright Freezer four years ago when my daughter was almost two years old and my son seven. I had and still have a Combo refrigerator but it no longer had space to keep all the food I wanted. We had a family of four and the necessity of food storage space was needed.

There are Freezers for every taste and we just have to choose the one that meets our needs. At the time I learned what to look for in a freezer.

Important Question: Do you have a small space or an open wide space to put the freezer?

• If you have a small space, like I have, you should buy an Upright Freezer.
• If you have an open, wide space free you can buy a Chest Freezer.

What are the differences between a Chest Freezer and an Upright Freezer?

• A Chest Freezer offers more storage capacity due to its dimensions but you should label all the items you put there and keep an inventory of what is inside so that you don’t lose track of your products.
• An Upright Freezer usually has shelves and drawers making it very easy to organize the items even without a label.

My Upright Freezer has two shelves and three drawers. I use one shelf for fish and another for meat. Than in the drawers I put packages of food I buy already frozen.

Important features that should be taken into consideration when buying a freezer:

• frost or no-frost
• automatic or manual defrost
• level of noise
• temperature alarm
• open door alarm
• energy efficiency/energy star-rated

Before buying a Freezer you should compare shopping prices because sometimes from store to store the price varies a lot. There are a lot of models and brands available in the market so the offer is huge.

To remember:

• 1st – choose the model you want based on the location you have to put the freezer.
• 2nd – check the features of the freezer, eco-friendly if possible
• 3nd – shopping comparison and take advantage of shopping deals available.

Happy Shopping.

photo credit: annia316

• Family Haircuts

I take care of my husband haircut once it is done with a machine always the same length. Until two years ago I did the same with my son but now that he is almost 11 he wants his own style and that I can’t do. I tried already three hair styling shops and I’ve chosen the one that has special prices for kids, the prices are lower for kids. This allow me to save some money on both my kids. Some hair style shops offer family deals and you pay as a family package.

Idea: Many families take care of their own haircuts and put the money they would have spent aside as a vacation fund. This system works out perfectly.

• Stock Up

Lately I have been paying more attention to discounts and bargains. Usually I shop in the hypermarket every week and I have a client card where some discounts are deposited. So, I always look for client’s card discounts, every week they 50% card discount meaning you pay the entire price on the shopping day but the next you have 50% of the product price on your card which you can use to make other shopping. Although we give the money upfront we get it back some other day. When I see a product with 50% card discount instead of buying only one item, I buy 2 or 3.

I do the same with brand discounts. Some brand sometimes have campaigns where you can buy a certain product at a lower price or there are packages where you buy 3 for the price of 2 or 2 for the price of 1. In this case I also buy extra items to same money.

Make sure you always check if the single item is more expensive that the price you are going to get with the discount. Sometimes certain campaigns can be a little tricky.

Attention: I only do this in items I use frequently.

• Pay on Time

Some companies change fees if you don’t pay the bills on time. You can avoid those fees by having a visible calendar where you write down the due payment dates or you can do as I do: I have almost all my house bills changed directly to my bank account. At least electricity, gas, water and insurances are paid through that method.

This week, instead of posting a recipe I thought it would be a great idea to publish a video. It has only 2.12 minutes and shows us how to make great pasta with healthy ingredients and with several options of presenting the Pasta. Pasta can served with a wide variety of vegetables and other ingredients. Watch how:

Still having some extra pounds from the last holiday season? Well just before Christmas the book Fat-Burner Foods: A Pyramid Health Paperback
by Caroline M. Shreeve was published. This book teaches you how to lose weight with the top fat burners food there are.

According to Amazon Product Description:

Whether you want to reduce your weight or establish a healthier lifestyle, this book outlines a comprehensive four-day eating plan with recipes and hints and tips on getting the most out of fat-burner foods.

With guaranteed weight-loss of seven pounds a week, without feeling hungry, Fat-Burner Foods provides a safe and realistic way to diet successfully. The diet guarantees satisfactory weight reduction whilst also including all the essential food groups, simultaneously banning hunger and boosting energy levels. With a comprehensive four day eating plan and a range of easy-to-prepare, adaptable recipes, Fat-burner Foods provides a dietary plan that helps establish healthier eating and ensures the weight stays off.

About the Author
Dr. Caroline Shreeve was, for many years, a doctor in the outback of Australia, having acquired a considerable track record both medically and as a health writer and journalist in the UK. Whilst in Australia she became aware of fat-burning food and diets which are used, principally to reduce the weight of patients needing surgery. Caroline has adapted the principles to achieve safe rapid weight loss for everyone.

Some foods are natural fat burners, take advantage of them and have a healthy life.

Everyone is looking for ways to reduce, reuse and recycle for their green craft project. Instead of spending your hard earned money on household items like laundry bags, quilts or even bookmarks, you can make them yourself simply and inexpensively. There are old items all over your home just waiting to be turned into a cool great craft project.

Simple bookmarks can now cost as much as $10 at a bookstore! You can make them yourself by recycling greeting cards you have received. All you need is old cards, some poster board or cardboard, some felt tip markers, and glue.

Cut a strip from the poster board or thin cardboard about 8″ x 2″. Cut strips from the greeting card with the same dimensions and glue them to the cardboard on both sides. If the bookmark is a gift, you can write a message on it. To make the bookmark more durable, cover it with clear contact paper or laminate it.

For added decoration, use a hole puncher to make a hole at the top of the bookmark and thread a piece of bright yarn or ribbon through it. You can use the same process to make beautiful gift tags. Just make the strips shorter!

Old clothes are a gold mine if you’re looking for a craft project to work on. If you have kids who love dolls or if you’re a doll collector, then you can turn old clothing into beautiful doll clothes.

If you’re looking for special projects for the kitchen, then try turning old sweats into pot holders. As a bonus, you can use buttons from the clothes to decorate framed art, picture frames or mirrors.

Being environmentally friendly can be fun as well as responsible. The next time you’re cleaning up the basement or garage, study items before you throw them out and imagine the new projects you could start.

Now that I’m at home due to health issues I’ve been thinking on the benefits I can get from an Healthy insurance. Right now I’m taking advantage of the social security system and I’m also a member of a private clinic. The problem is that appointments with a specialist doctor outside the clinic are paid full amount, in the clinic I have 15% discount and with some health insurances I could get 55% money back. Medicare supplement insurance is something I am looking into because I have to check if it is worth the annual payment versus discounts and private clinic annual payment versus discounts.

Deciding for one or another insurance coverage is difficult for me because there are several coverages and we never know what is going to happen. I feel that if I am paying for an hospitalization insurance coverage and I’m not hospitalized for q few year I am losing money. So, the budget is tight and my decisions have to be based on that.

What do you do when you want an acne treatment, sunburn cream or some sort of treatment product? Do you go straight to a dermatologist or pharmacist or you do your own research online first?

Well usually I do my online research, look for a review comparison, see closely the components of each product so that if I have doubts and in case I don’t buy online, I go to the pharmacy and ask for the right product. When a product is shown to me I take the caution to read the label and if any of the compounds are on the red list for dangerous products I ask the person that is attending me his/her opinion. Usually online reviews are accurate but we have always to make sure that the product is the right one for us.

Here we have another book from the authors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide.

According to Amazon Product Description:

Did you know the average dinner from a chain restaurant costs nearly $35 a person and contains more than 1,200 calories? That’s hard on your wallet and your waistline, and few people understand this better than the authors of Eat This, Not That! After years of helping consumers navigate America’s daunting culinary landscape – and literally thousands of weight-loss success stories – Dave and Matt have finally turned their nutritional savvy to the place with the greatest impact – your kitchen. The hundreds of recipes contained inside this book will help you and your loved ones eliminate body fat, get in shape, and lead fitter, happier lives.

But make no mistake – this is no rice-and-tofu cookbook. The genius of Cook This, Not That! is that it teaches you how to save hundreds – sometimes thousands – of calories by recreating America’s most popular restaurant dishes, including Outback Steakhouse’s Roasted Filet with Port Wine Sauce, Uno Chicago Grill’s Individual Deep Dish Pizza, and Chili’s Fire Grilled Chicken Fajita. Alongside this you’ll find other priceless advice, such as:

· The 37 Ways to Cook a Chicken Breast, A Dozen 10-Minute Pasta Sauces, The Ultimate Sandwich Matrix, and other on-the-go cooking tips.
· Scorecards that let you easily compare the nutritional quality of the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that go into building every meal you eat.
· The truth about how seemingly healthy foods such as wheat bread, salmon, and low-fat snacks are secretly sabotaging your health.

What can I say more? Just forget the weight loss pills and buy the Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide book.