Monday, January 31, 2011

What's for dinner tonight?

Beef broccoli and fried rice.
The recipe is delicious. It's all about the quality of the beef. Using beef tenderloin guarrantees a juicy tender and flavorful dish.

The fried rice recipe is on YouTube and here is the link:
Make sure the peas are frozen not canned and the carrots are boiled ahead of time.
The fried rice recipe is also on Facebook in the photo album 'rice and beans'

The beef broccoli recipe is:
Beef broccoli. Serves 4.
12 ounces beef tenderloin, finely chopped
2 heads broccoli, finely chopped
1/8 cup olive or corn oil
2 cups beef stock
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons flour

TOOLS:
1 large frying pan
measuring cups and spoons
wooden spoon for stirring
cutting board
knife

In a large fry pan, cook meat in the olive/corn oil with onion and garlic powder until browned.

Sprinkle meat with flour. Stir. Add beef stock. Stir. Add broccoli. Stir. Add soy and hoisin sauce.Add sesame oil. Stir. Cook until broccoli is barely tender, but not limp. Serve over fried rice.


The ingredients for this and other Makeoverslife recipes are always in the pantry. If this recipe looks yummy, check the cabinets at home and when grocery shopping stock up on these basic staples-soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, onion and garlic powder, broccoli, and beef tenderloin... to be able to make this recipe at a later date.


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

5 really good reasons to cook at home


1. Food cost. If you have a family of 4, to go out to dinner costs around $40.00 plus tip not including dessert. Even fast food is not cheap anymore. A meal at home for a family of 4 costs around $10.00 including dessert.

For example, homemade bread: water, unbleached flour, yeast, salt, sugar, butter, and cream. Mix all ingredients in the a bread machine from Wal Mart. Each loaf is about 30 cents and no preservatives...none.
2. Convenience: By the time you get everyone out the door, drive there, possibly wait to be seated, order, eat, pay, and drive home it takes about 2 hours.
To make a meal from scratch at home with clean up it takes about an hour when your kitchen is set up for cooking. This means that the freezer has choice cuts of meat like beef, chicken, pork, and seafood already portioned in small baggies ready to be defrosted, seasoned, and baked or cooked in a pan.
Also, your vegetables are cut and bagged as soon as you get them home from the grocery store so there is no cutting for each meal. A dessert was already made on the weekend and it is easy to cut a piece of cake or bake some cookies. Planning ahead becomes the easy path to an already busy lifestyle.

Getting home and not even knowing what to cook makes it unbearable. When we begin to plan our meals mentally a few hours before dinner, the mind becomes set up for cooking long before we bring out the first pot.
For example, A can of soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar(corn syrup to be exact) in it. A batch of brownies has just 3/4 cup of real sugar.

3. Food choices: I can barely put into words the difference between the quality of ingredients of homemade versus restaurant food. It’s like night and day. Even boxed food has fillers and preservatives.
The only way to a balanced life is to cook at home. Cooking begins in the mind long before you get in the kitchen. Taking responsibility for 3 meals and 3 snacks a day for ourselves and our family is the initial step.
Creating a well run kitchen is the second step. Planning a few hours ahead and setting aside some ‘prep time’ is the third step.
Processed and restaurant food was made to have a long shelf life. Homemade food only lasts a few days. There is a reason for that. Homemade food would never make it in a tub driven in a truck cross country.
Also, processed food is made with fillers like soybean oil, whey protein, corn starch, bleached flour, sugar, corn syrup, food dyes, and preservatives. Eating food out of boxes decorated with colorful pictures of fruit and vegetables are not fooling us into thinking we are doing well.
Homemade food is made with choice cuts of meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and dairy. Sugar is limited. Butter and olive oil instead of soybean oil.
Now the industry is talking about genetically modified crops like soybeans, corn, and beet juice instead of sugar. All these add up to really bad food choices.

4. Bonding time: Having most meals at home brings the family together. Everyone can pitch in to make food the center of the household. Our children have virtual lives; avatars sort to speak. In order for us to bring them back to reality, we must make activities fun and worthwhile. Clean up time for kids or even cooking some simple recipes encourages them to learn to feed themselves and a lifetime of healthier eating.


5. Luxury: We live in the greatest country on Earth. The American grocery store with all its food choices is like paradise. Just ask people that have lived in other countries at how different our abundance really is. We are afforded the greatest luxury on Earth. To be able to feed our families the best food known to man. It does not matter if you live in a mansion or not. The sheer luxury to be able to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies or a bowl of mashed potatoes is priceless. So indulge and make cooking the main event in your life. And even when we veer off balance, our gorgeous American kitchens are waiting our return ready for us to bring our eating habits back into balance.


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Chocolate covered strawberries-a truly delightful treat

I love the Godiva store. They always have fresh treats like chocolate covered strawberries.Why not make them at home? It is a wonderful dessert for impromptu guests or an anytime treat for your quiet moments. And they taste like love:)))
Start by washing a few strawberries.
Dry them gently with a paper towel.
Use good chocolate chips like Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips.
Melt the chips in the microwave for about a minute. Be careful not to scald them. After the first 30 seconds, stir the chocolate with a small whisk.
Dip each strawberry in the chocolate and place on a piece of parchment paper to dry. For fast drying, put the strawberries in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
Voila! Enjoy...

Friday, January 21, 2011

How to Self Tan-a few easy steps to ensure a natural glow...

Self tanning is a nice perk when you want to add some color to
your skin in the deep of winter, want to enhance your summer tan, or
add some color to your skin for a special occasion.
When done right, self tanning looks natural and beautiful. When
done wrong, it looks awful. Follow the steps below and you will love
your faux tan without the high cost of going to a salon for a
professional spray.
TOOLS:
1 large soft bristle scrub brush with a long handle for your body
1 small soft bristle brush for your face
Soap or body wash
Face wash
Bathtub/shower
Self tanner
 
 Choose a self tanner.
• Chanel is a really fine one.
• Neutrogena is another fine one for a reasonable price. It
comes in light, medium, or dark- depending 
on your skin color.
• Put your hair up. Do not wash your
hair at the same time you self tan.
• It does not matter if you shaved your legs or not. You may
shave them the next day after self tanning is complete.
Actually, it’s better not to shave because freshly shaved
skin irritates easily from the scrubbing and lotion.
• Get in the tub or shower. Start at one end of your body
and work towards the other. Put a dab of soap or body
wash on your soft bristle brush. Start by scrubbing gently
in small strokes- your neck, chest, shoulders, upper arms,
lower arms, elbows, hands, fingers, stomach, upper back,
lower back, butt, thighs, knees, behind the knees, calves,
ankles, feet and toes. The most important thing to
remember is to scrub one area at a time thoroughly before
moving on to the next. Scrub your face with the small soft
bristle brush and soap or face wash depending on what
kind of cleanser you normally use. This scrubbing process
insures a nice even color. Without it, streaks and
unevenness are guaranteed.
• Get out of the shower or bath. Dry your entire body with a
towel. Let your skin dry for about 15 minutes. Do not
apply any lotion.
• Squirt a medium sized amount of self tanner in the palms
of your hands. Start at one end of your body and work to
the other end. Spread the lotion evenly on the same
sections of your body you scrubbed in the shower. Make
sure you cover one area at a time thoroughly before
moving on to the next.
• When you are finished applying the self tanner, put on a
pair of leggings and a long sleeved shirt. The clothes
should be dark so they do not get stained from the self
tanner. Leave these clothes on overnight or at least 12
hours. The self tanner needs time to set for best results.
When your body is not covered in clothes, some of the self
tanner wears off on things you touch.
• To ensure that your hands, ankles, elbows, and feet don’t
come out streaky, rub them with a wet wash cloth after
you’ve put on the self tanner. Also, wash your hands with
soap once you’ve finished the self tanning process. Then
rub a dab of self tanner on the back of your hands and rub
it all over. Don’t get any on your palms.
• Shower and shave after you let the self tanning lotion set.
• The self tanner lasts about a week. It is best not to self tan
too often. Skin tends to absorb the color in layers and turn
orange if done too many times consecutively.

Kitchen Tip-Cut vegetables once a week to save a lot of time...

In the Makeoverslife program, there is a concept called 'prep time'. This means that we prepare for more than one meal at a time.
Cutting vegetables as soon as you get home from the grocery store saves a lot of time.

Cut carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, and peppers.Wash vegetables before you cut them.Do not wash cauliflower,lettuce and broccoli until you are ready to use them. This keeps them fresh longer.

Cucumbers, tomatoes, and mushrooms are best when cut the same day you use them. Lettuce like romaine may also be cut ahead of time.

Bag each vegetable separately.
Make sure all the air is out of the bags. This ensures freshness longer.

Put a bowl in the fridge for all the cut veggies for easy access. This way, you already have the veggies cut when making meals like soups, pastas, and salads.

It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to cut all the veggies at once. Sure is a lot better than 2 hours combined time to cut them every time you cook a meal.

Make salads to go for lunches at work. Use a small storage container for the dressing.
Another time saving tip is to set aside about 15 to 20 minutes a month to make salad dressings. Make 2 and 3 at a time in the food processor. Store them in mason jars. There are quite a few delicious choices in the recipes albums on Facebook under 'salad dressings'. A really simple and delicious staple dressing is balsamic vinaigrette.
Here is the link on YouTube:
Home made dressings are made with fresh ingredients. They do not last long because they don't have any preservatives and the taste is amazing.

Store the different dressings in the fridge for up to a month.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Baked Chicken-tender and delicious may be used in so many recipes during the week...

A lady at the website hosting office asked me what my favorite recipe was in the Makeoverslife program. By far, it is the baked chicken recipe. Because the cooking time is 40 minutes and there is plenty of olive oil and spices in the pan, the chicken comes out really tender and juicy.
The link for the recipe video is above and the written version is in the photo album marked 
"Chicken and Turkey" on Facebook.
When making dinner, prepare enough for your family, then double the recipe to keep some extra in the fridge for the rest of the week and use use in other recipes.
 ...Like Cajun chicken salad.
or chicken noodle soup.

or Asian chicken salad to top the...
Asian salad with orange ginger dressing or...
a Caesar salad...
and last...sautee fresh vegetables with pasta and add the baked chicken.

This versatile recipe is a weekly basic in the Makeoverslife refrigerator...
Enjoy...

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Wardrobe Basics-Jewelry

Jewelry, as accessories, make or break an outfit. Jewelry
should ONLY accent an already good outfit instead of
overpower it. Jewelry is best when it is real precious metal
and genuine precious stone.
Being expensive makes this a hard rule to follow. What’s a
woman to do? Lucky for us there is a lot of faux jewelry that
is intended to fool just about anyone that you are wearing the
real thing.
Choose pieces that copy the expensive pieces exactly. A
good strand of pearls, a set of cubic zirconia stud earrings
could pass for diamonds. Garnet stones are less expensive in
a pendant or ring than rubies. Silver is also less expensive
than white gold, but look almost identical. Also, don’t ever
wear more than one ring on one hand at a time. It looks
overpowering.
Choose pieces for your jewelry box that are
interchangeable. Also, leave all the costume looking jewelry
at the store. They cheapen any outfit even an expensive one.
Themed jewelry like Christmas and Halloween is also a big
no no.
Take a trip to a good jewelry store to look at fine jewelry.
Try on many pieces to get familiar with what fine jewelry
looks and feels like. It will make you a much more informed
jewelry shopper and buyer. Jewelry should be timeless and
understated.
Rings:
Silver with cubic zirconium stones
Silver with red stone (garnet)
Silver with purple stone (amethyst)
Silver with yellow stone (citrine)
Silver with turquoise
Silver with black stone (onyx)
Necklaces:
Strand of black pearls
Strand of cream or white pearls
Silver necklace with cubic zirconia
Thick silver chain
Thin silver chain
Gold chain
 Pendants:
Silver with cubic zirconium
Silver with red stone (garnet)
Silver with purple stone (amethyst)
Silver with yellow stone (citrine)
Silver with turquoise
Silver with black stone (onyx)
Bracelets:
Silver tennis bracelet
Silver with colored stone bracelets
Gold tennis bracelet
Silver with turquoise bracelet

Monday, January 3, 2011

Knives-the foundation of a good kitchen...

KNIVES
3 PAIRING KNIVES
6 STEAK KNIVES
3 LARGE SERRATED
2 BUTCHER
1 SHARPENING STONE
Separate the knives from the silverware

Knives are one of the most important tools in a kitchen that works
efficiently. Without a good set of knives, it becomes very difficult to
cut food easily and efficiently.
The Makeovers Life Food program recommends Wusthof brand
knives. They are one of the best knives on the market today. These
knives deliver a perfect cut every time. Just make sure they are sharp.
A good sharpener keeps your knives in top shape. There are different
kinds of sharpeners you may buy. One is electric and is sold at
Williams Sonoma. This electric sharpener comes with three speeds
and you may sharpen serrated knives as well. The other kind of
sharpener is made by Wusthof and it is manual and you can just run
the knives through it to sharpen them.
This advice about knives is really good advice. Please take it to
heart and make your daily cooking experience as easy as possible by
having the best set of knives for the job.

Here is a link to the knife set in the Makeoverslife kitchen.It is a bit pricey, but well worth it. 

 http://www.amazon.com/Wusthof-1700-Gourmet-7-Piece-Knife/dp/B00005MEGY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294073490&sr=8-1

Another good source for Wusthof knives at a good price is the local Marshall's or TJ Maxx...



Saturday, January 1, 2011

New Year; New Habits...Diet Tips

Portion sizes: Imagine that you have just arrived in Dietville,
U.S.A. This city looks like Times Square in New York City with
all the colorful, fun, flashing billboards. All these billboards say
the same thing: portion control + eating slowly = successful
diet. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to eat
slowly and to eat small portions. The stomach is a magic
machine. Once it gets used to a smaller portion, it gets full
enough. During snacks, do not stuff your mouth full of food.
Learn to take small bites and chew slowly. For example, when
you are eating trail mix, do not stuff fistfuls into your mouth.
Slow down so that you can stay within the limit of the portion.

• Eating slowly: The stomach can take in lots of food very
quickly. It takes a while to register in the brain that you are full.
This is why it is important to eat slowly. Also, when food is
mixed with saliva and chewed thoroughly, it takes up more
room in the stomach. Don’t wait until you are starving to eat. By
that time, it’s too late to watch how and what to eat. Impulse
takes over and control is lost. In the Makeovers-Life Food Diet
Plan section, the sandwiches for lunch are not put together in
order to get you to eat slower. When you take a bite of a
sandwich, it is eaten too fast. However, when you eat small bites
of half a sandwich, you slow your food intake way down. So go
ahead, enjoy good food, but eat slowly. Savor every bite and you
will master the golden rule of successful dieting.

• Hot liquids versus cold liquids: People that drink cold
liquids with their meals have a much harder time digesting their
food. As soon as that cold icy liquid hits the food in your
stomach, it hardens it and digestion slows down…way down.
The way to give the digestive process a little magic boost is to
drink something warm with your meal like decaf tea. The food
is digested easier. Save the cold drinks for a snack.

• Diet foods: Low fat, fat free, sugar free, diet, lower
carbohydrates are all buzzwords put on foods next to pictures of
fresh fruit, vegetables, or dairy products to make us believe that
we are doing good by cutting bad carbohydrates, calories, or fat.
These foods are made with fillers like whey protein, sugar
substitutes and processed oils that are not good for our health
whether we are on a diet or not. So buyer beware. The only way
to eat is to stick to the basics.
* Butter versus margarine
* 2% milk, whole fat yogurt, half/half, heavy cream, sour
cream, a variety of cheeses versus low fat/fat free
counterparts.
* Sugar versus sugar substitutes.
* Mayonnaise versus lowfat/fat free mayonnaise.
* Real fruit juice-no sugar added versus fruit juice sweetened
with corn syrup and/or juice made from concentrate.
* Your home baked goods with your ingredients like
unbleached flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking powder,
vanilla, etc. versus bleached flour, corn starch, processed
oils, leavening agents, a rainbow of preservatives, added
vitamins and minerals.
* Corn oil, sunflower oil, and olive oil versus hydrogenated
soybean oil.
* Good cuts of meat like chicken, pork, beef and seafood
versus lower grade cuts of meat. Processed foods like
cold cuts, frozen dinners, and canned food.
* Whole wheat pasta, egg noodles, white pasta, and rice
versus already cooked pasta like in frozen dinners or
boxed foods.
* Sauces made at home from meat and vegetable stock,
butter, unbleached flour, and spices versus processed
sauces like gravies out of a can, jar or in powder form
made with thickening agents, corn syrup, processed oils,
animal fats from lower grade cuts of meat and
preservatives.
* Cream sauces made at home with butter, cream and real
cheeses versus cream sauces in powder form or in jars
that have soy fillers, processed oils, whey protein, and a
variety of preservatives.
*Snack foods like dried fruit, raisins, cherries, cranberries,
popped at home in the air popper popcorn, chips fried in
expeller pressed sunflower oil, chocolate chips, mixed nuts,
nut butters versus candy bars with corn syrup, processed
sugars, processed oils. Snack bars and processed baked
goods like cakes, pies and snack cakes.
*Real nut butter versus nut butter with soybean oil as a filler.
*Pizza made at home from pizza dough, real cheese and
better quality sausage, pepperoni, fresh mushrooms, and
fresh veggies versus frozen pizza made with bleached
flour and soybean oil.
*Tomato sauce made with olive oil, crushed or pureed
tomatoes, and spices versus tomato sauce made with
fillers like corn syrup and soybean oil.
• Most of the processed foods today have to be made in large
quantities. Therefore, the quality of ingredients is compromised
to sustain the shelf life of the product. The food we cook at
home with fresh ingredients is delicious without being
processed and shipped to your local grocery store. Home
cooked food would never make it on a truck in a box across
town or even worse, cross country. It’s not supposed to. It’s
meant to be eaten as soon as it’s prepared. That’s why it tastes
so good and it is so good for you.
• The Makeovers Life Diet Program promotes only wholesome
foods. Foods on the grocery store shelves that are meant for
cutting fat and calories are not part of this program. Use only
real ingredients. It is a wonderful way to do your body good by
getting your vitamins and minerals directly from your food. It is
the best way to eat.

• The scale: Buy a scale. Put it in your bathroom. While you are
bringing your eating habits back into balance, weigh yourself
naked every morning about an hour after you wake up. The
scale is an important tool in losing weight so that you can keep
track of your progress.

• 3 meals and 5 snacks a day: In order to lose weight, we
must cut our food intake at every meal, make better food
choices, and eat more often so that our bodies don’t feel
deprived. Eating smaller meals means that we will get hungry
again much faster. Eat three small meals every day-breakfast,
lunch, and dinner. Five snacks spread throughout the day and
evening is the key to success in balancing your eating habits.
The food choices in the diet plan menu are varied, natural and
delicious. Use this plan whenever your scale tips in the wrong
direction.

• Get going in the morning: The most important meal of the
day is breakfast. Your body’s digestive system starts as soon as
you eat. It is in fasting mode until you give it food. It is best to
start your stomach in the morning with a glass of warm decaf
tea-no sugar. If you give your body sweets first thing in the
morning, it is going to crave sugar all day long. The warm tea is
a gentle and soothing way to cleanse your stomach and prepare
it for the work that it has to do for you from morning to night.
Eating breakfast to stop the fasting process gets your
metabolism going earlier and burning more energy throughout
the day. When the body stays in fasting mode, it hoards energy
instead of releasing it in order for you to lose weight. Eating
breakfast is a great diet tip.

• Cut up fruit and vegetables when you’re snacking. It is
more enticing to eat fruit and vegetables when they are cut into
bite size pieces. There is no rhyme or reason why this is true; it
just is. Cutting up an orange to take with you on the go makes it
much more likely that you will actually eat it. Having to peel it
and get juice all over the place is messy. However, reaching into
a plastic bag and eating the nice cut pieces is a delicious neat
trick. Cut up all of your fruit and vegetables into bite size pieces.

• Animal fat versus vegetable/processed margarine:
There is a simple old fashioned test that shows which kind of fat
your body absorbs and digests easier. When you smear a pan
with grease like butter or bacon, you can wash it off with really
warm water. It leaves no residue on the pan at all. When you try
to do that same test with margarine, shortening or vegetable
(soybean) oil, the grease does not wash off the pan with warm
water. It lingers leaving everything greasy and sticky. The body
absorbs animal fat because it is natural. Processed grease is not.
That does not mean anyone should eat a ton of animal fat. The
right amount keeps your brain healthy and the body running in
balance. Not getting enough animal fat throws your body out of
balance.

• Check your progress often: It’s easy to gain weight
especially when you like to eat as most of us do. When you see
the scale going up 2 or 4 pounds, start your diet plan and watch
the weight drop to your desired level. It is much easier to lose 2
or 4 pounds in a few weeks than it is to try to lose 10 or 20
pounds that you’ve ignored for a few months. Keep up with your
weight in order to keep your body in good shape and your spirit
joyful.

• Once you learn how to bring your eating habits back
into balance, you can always return to it as you need it.
The best part about learning to eat healthy on a diet is that you
never have to starve or turn to processed food to lose some
weight. It is like riding a bike. All of us crave junk food. After all,
it tastes sinfully delicious. Most of us grew up with it before we
knew any better so it’s also comfort food. Who doesn’t like the
taste of a greasy cheeseburger, French fries, and an icy cola to
wash it down? Home made food is an acquired taste.
However, once you get used to it, there is nothing like it. We all
get lazy and want to take the easy out and go out to eat. When
going out and eating gross food gets old and it does, the
Makeovers Life Food program is here for us…waiting
unconditionally like an old friend to help us get back to good.