Check out these neat owl cupcakes!! I know totally NOT healthy but a neat idea for decorating foods.
I know I'm late..but there is controversy over this Lane Bryant, lingerie commercial..WTF?!? Vicky's secrets commercials show more skin and are MUCH longer!! View the "offensive" ad here..
I just commented on Josie's Blog about finding more recipes that use Greek yogurt as a healthy alternative, I came across this Alfredo Recipe over at the Glamourous grad's weekend reads
I've been looking for nice vintage inspired skirts and dresses lately. Luckily, I just found out from Musings of a fatshionistathat JIBRI online have just revealed their newest line a vintage-inspired Spring 2010 collection!! I'm smitten!! I especially like the striped pansy dress..too bad it only comes in a 14/16.
The Autodesk homestyler renders your home blueprints in 3D.
From the simple dollar, How much do you really save by air drying clothes? Its more than you think..
Learn how to pronounce unfamilar names/words, by hearing them spoken
Got a stubborn laundry stain? Check the University of Illinois's stain removal database.
Learn basic culinary skills from chefs themselves by video
Budding green thumb? Learn to grow plants indoors. I'm going to try this with my kitchen herbs..
Lifehacker featured this neat photo sorter that goes through unmanageable photo collections (I know I'm not the only one that has a mishmash of misc photos in folders dumped from my SD card)
Got DIY home projects on the mind? Use lifehacker's guide to find useful design tools for your project.
Do you use over the counter medication frequently? Kevin MD compiled a list of OTC drugs to avoid.
Photo taken by me yesterday evening with my Nokia N900
Finally a study finds that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) may cause more weight gain then other sweeteners; also Maple Syrup might be a better overall sweetener..yum!
If you didn't know, buying expensive gold-plated HDMI cables is a waste of $$$$ : I personally get all my cables (computer, USB, mini USB, aux cables, etc) from Monoprice.com
A neat trick for your home office/desk use binder clips to keeps cables from slipping away.
Why doctors need protected time away from their pagers..
Afrobella discusses her search for a natural hair salon in Chicago and the natural hair tax (for example a relaxer at a salon may cost $60 but for a simple natural hair style may begin at $100+) that seems to be added on to services rendered for natural hair
Do you shop vintage, resale or thrift? Avoid bringing bedbugs home with these simple tips.
Got an iphone (apple stopped making screen protectors), Nokia n900 or other electronic device that hard to find a screen protector for? DIY an easy, cheap one with material that you probably have laying around the house.
A clever way to keep track of outdoor laps using pebbles
Reach great heights! Tips for learning and perfecting wearing fabulous high heels
Recipe of the Week
I have not personally tried this recipe, but when I came across it I had to share!
Hangry Pants posted this vegan brownie recipe using avocados; its supposed to be chocolaty and cakey---yum! Recipe at Hangry Pants here.. and below!
Ingredients
1 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
3/4 C Cocoa Powder
3/4 C Raw Turbinado Sugar
1/2 t Baking Soda (these really rose, less is better if you like less cakey brownies)
1 T Flax
3 T Water
1/2 Avocado
2 T Almond Milk (or as much as needed to create a batter)
Directions
Peel and cut 1/2 of an avocado and blend in a food processor until it’s a creamy texture.
Add 3 T of water and 1 t of ground flax to the avocado to make a flax egg. Let it sit for a few minutes while combining the rest of the ingredients.
In a large bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and baking soda.
Blend the avocado and flax egg in the food processor to combine.
Add the avocado flax mix to the fry ingredients and mix.
The mix will be too dry to mix completely. Add as much of the Almond Milk so that it creates a batter.
Bake in a prepared baking pan for 20 minutes at 350*
Just a note, I used a loaf pan and it made about 10 brownies of varying sizes.
--Note- If you don't want it to be vegan--substitute one egg instead of the (flax/water "egg" mixture) and regular skim milk instead of almond milk--maybe with a drop of almond extract.
There is a Part II to that Lady Gaga- Telephone video analysis here the gaga monster retweeted Part I and commented on it.
I am soo in love with this video, I watch it daily..and my pussywagon keychain is in the mail! Yess!!
Alcoholic Drinks that won't wreck your diet from Cheap, Healthy, Good.. (how dissapointed I was to see that my two go to drinks (Mai Tai and Coke with Rum) were among the bad, bad.
"Consider what you give your attention to each day. It’s a precious resource and it determines the shape of your life."
When I read this quote on Zen Habits I immediately felt guilty, my attention is spread across things that don't really matter when compared to my goals (grad school, medschool, MCAT!). In this article they gives ways to Reclaim your attention from things that distract you
(Facebook, Twitter, RSS feed--those three are my biggest ones I unsubscribed from over 100 RSS feeds two days ago)
Another reason to continue regular excercise: Exercise slows telomere shortening (and aging) (you have to read through the exercise while blogging stuff, Nice tips like the twitter tummy tuck ;)
I hope you have a nice weekend, its getting colder around these parts.
I've checked out some essiential pre-med "leisure books" I'm currently reading Atul Gawande's- Complications: A surgeon's notes on an imperfect science I must say, I was worried about not being able to stay interested but It is keeping my attention. Hopefully, I can read instead of watch TV!
ETA: Lady Gaga tweeted THIS link: a blogger's very insightful analysis of her Telephone music video featuring beyonce. I simply saw the video as visual and auditory bliss/overload. I love reading the analysis and digging deeper!
If you haven't watched it yet
I was inspired by Ella's March Mantra is about respecting yourself and others--personally it is exactly what I need to be doing each and every day.
Some things to consider the old Rent vs Own debate for housing
Helpful advice on decluttering your home--base the worth of an item on its value NOW not when you bought it.
Featured Recipe:
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
*my version inspired my TGI Friday’s red pepper pasta with sausage and chicken. I usually serve this as a side dish, but it can be made into a main dish by adding italian turkey and chicken breast.
Fabulously Broke: goes into how (almost) everyone is making less and less money, but still refuse to cut back on non-essentials to be able to live on less.
Recipe of the Week: I have none this week, but I do have a cookbook recommendation and feature recipes!
Book to checkout: Rocco DiSpirito's New cookbook Now, Eat this. is a cookbook that remixed calorie laden classic comfort foods into slimmer ones under 350 calories a serving! I have not read this book or tried any of the recipes yet, but he was on the Rachael Ray show today a made a few and they looked delish! I think this book is worth checking out at the library or even paperbackswap! When I get my hands on a copy I will do a more thorough review.
Note: You can get a few feature recipes HERE from Rachael Ray's site.
Another week is over! Start your Sunday with some reads.
A professor's fabulous response to a student who walked into class 1 hour late. Unwritten classroom rules..
If you are interested in buying a DSLR camera anytime in the near (or not so near future). Here is an article that explains why you should pay attention to the camera's ISO and what ISO means in a digicam.
This is an excellent article on expressing your opinions and speaking with conviction in general. I think this is an especially important issue for women, because we tend to do to that questions at the end of our answer thing..
I'm sure you've heard by now about Kevin Smith and the Southwest scandal, here is a fabulous commentary about it from a big girl perspective. I was appalled to learn that he was kicked off the plane despite being able to put on his seatbelt and able to put the armrest down.
Keeping your computer safe because of malicious PDF files that exploit Adobe Reader. I've always known to avoid hacked software, suspicious websites, and peer-to-peer software like limewire/frostwire like the plague, now bad PDF files? Read it and weep..
I suggest using an alternate PDF reader like the free, feature rich Foxit Reader (my favorite, just manually uninstall the foxit toolbar). I swiched a long time ago because Adobe reader always annoyed me with how bloated it was, it didn't matter if I was on a super speedy computer or a slow one, Adobe always took too long to load and print, period.
Recipe of the Week.
Food Addicts Toscana soup (their version)
Kemi's remixed Toscana Soup
-Even with my lightening mojo, it is still a hearty soup with ~170 calories per cup. You can cut down even more by lowering the number of sausages from 5 links to 2 and decreaseing the potatoes to one and cut the sausages and potato up finer to still get the same taste, but less calories.
1 lb. spicy turkey Italian sausage
2 medium potatoes (skin on), sliced ¼’
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp. soy bacon bits (or real bacon bits or chopped turkey bacon)
**using a dash of smoked salt can also give a smokey flavor without the bacon
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 c., fresh spinach (or kale)
8 ¾ c. chicken stock (I used 9 cups of water with powdered broth to taste after simmering)
1 c. skim milk (they used fat free, half and half)
salt and pepper to taste
Dash of cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (i like my soups spicy!)
I added ~1 tablespoon of roux for more complex flavor and a thicker, richer broth without using the half/half
Directions
1. Cook Italian sausage in a large pot and drain the fat (if there is any) ( I like boiling the sausages and getting rid of the water/salt/fat all together) 2. Add onions and garlic in same pot and cook until aromatics are released from the garlic about 30 seconds to 1 minute. 3. Add chicken stock and potatoes and cook over medium heat until potatoes are soft. 4. Add soy bacon bits, kale* (if using spinach add at very end) and half-and-half (or skim milk) and cook another 10 minutes over a low simmer. 5. If you are using spinach add it at the end, or if using kale--when kale is soft, remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
Serving size: 1 cup Calories: 171.8 Total Fat: 5.6 Sat. Fat: 1.7 Carbs: 20g Protein: 11.5g
I borrowed this post series idea from The Glamourous Grad Student's Weekend Reads I look forward to them each week because they come from blogs that I don't usually read and often give useful insights/ advice and all that jazz.
Here are my reads for the week:
(I forgot this post the first time!)
