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Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Easy Chicken and Rainbow Veggies

Easy Chicken and Rainbow Veggies



Servings: 4
INGREDIENTS
Vegetables:
·        1 medium-size red onion, diced
·        2 cups broccoli florets
·        1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
·        2 cups baby carrots
·        1 ½ cup cherry tomatoes
·        3-4 tablespoons olive oil
·        Salt and Pepper , to taste
·        8-10 sprigs thyme
·        Few garlic cloves


Chicken:
·        4 chicken breasts
·        Olive Oil
·        Salt and Pepper , to taste
·        Pinch of Paprika
·        4 sprigs thyme
·        4 garlic cloves
·        Special Equipment:
·        2 baking trays
·        aluminum foil



PREPARATION
1. Preheat oven to 400°F (200˚C).
2. Place red onion, broccoli, yellow bell pepper, baby carrots, and cherry tomatoes evenly on a baking tray. (Try not to let the vegetables overlap too much so they roast properly.)
3. Season with olive oil, Salt, and Pepper (to taste).
4. Add sprigs of thyme and garlic clove halves on top of the vegetables.
5. Tear off four pieces of aluminum foil (approximately 12 in x 12 in).
6. Lay down the foil and place the chicken breast in the center for each one.
7. Season both sides of the chicken with Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper , and Paprika (all to taste).
8. Add sprigs of thyme and garlic clove on top of each chicken breast.
9. Bring the top and bottom edge of the foil into the center and fold a couple of times. Fold in the left and right sides a couple of times to seal the foil pack.
10. Place all 4 chicken foil packs on a baking tray.
11. Bake for 30 minutes.

12. Enjoy!

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Balsamic Chicken Salad with Lemon Quinoa

Balsamic Chicken Salad with Lemon Quinoa



Ingredients and Directions
·         1/2 cup dry quinoa
·         1 cup vegetable or chicken stock (or water mixed with 1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder)
·         Pinch of salt to season
·         Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1.    In a small saucepan, combine quinoa, stock and salt together.
2.    Bring to the boil; reduce heat to gentle simmer, cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes or until broth has absorbed and quinoa is soft.
3.    Remove from heat and set aside while still covered and allow to steam.
4.    After about 2 minutes, fluff with a fork. Allow to cool slightly and add the lemon juice.

·         6 boneless chicken thigh or breast fillets , trimmed of fat
·         1 tablespoon garlic (or plain) olive oil
·         2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
·         Juice of 1/2 a lemon
·         1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
·         1 teaspoon garlic powder/granules or 1 clove garlic , crushed

1.    Add the chicken fillets in a large skilletor nonstick pan with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, stock powder and garlic powder/granules.
2.    Saute the chicken until nice, crispy and golden on both sides, and cooked through.
3.    Remove from heat; allow to cool slightly, and slice into 1-inch strips.

·         2 tablespoons garlic olive oil
·         2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1.    Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl/jug, and whisk until mixed through.

·         6 cups (200g | 7oz) cos lettuce, washed and shredded
·         200 g | 7oz grape tomatoes , halved
·         1/2 medium red onion , thinly sliced
·         100 g | 3.5oz pitted kalamata olives
·         50 g | 1.7oz reduced fat Feta cheese
·         1/2 cup continental parsley

2.    Combine the lettuce, tomatoes, onion, olives, Feta and parsley together in a large salad bowl.
3.    Top with chicken slices and quinoa, and drizzle with the dressing. Toss to combine. Serve with lemon wedges.

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Sick During pregnancy

Sick During pregnancy

So I am 24 weeks pregnant and I have the cold in this heat!!!  This can’t be good, can’t take any medication and have a toddler which I have to take care of… so what to do, what to do?

It started from a sore throat and then a stuffy nose and now a full on cold during pregnancy, but guess what there are many safe and natural remedies that can help me with this cold which I already have in my pantry.

Some good news is that even though I am pregnant and have a cold it won’t pass to my baby but it is possible that my symptoms could last longer during pregnancy since my immune system is working at a slightly lower function and my body may not be able to deal with the cold symptoms as effectively.

Some medications during pregnancy are recommended by the government like Tylenol for fever or pain as well as over the counter cough and cold medicines such as Robitussin and Coricidin for cough and congestion after the first trimester. Even though these medications are recommended by the government there have been studies that Tylenol during pregnancy has been recently linked to an increased risk of ADHD in children. Tylenol is also hard on the mother’s liver, especially during pregnancy. 

Some natural cold and cough remedies to use during pregnant-

          Daily consumption of a garlic supplement reduces people’s chance of a cold by over 60%, but if you are already sick garlic helps with getting better faster. During pregnancy its best to have 1 crushed, raw garlic clove with each meal. If your cold is very bad you should increase your garlic intake to 1 crushed, raw clover per every 23 hours. It have it taste better you can have the garlic with honey.

          IT alkalinizes the body and most illnesses can’t thrive in alkaline environments. It also contains good bacteria which help to fight of infections.
          Mix 1-2 tablespoons into water or tea and drink 3 times a day.
          You can also gargle to Apple cider vinegar to soothe a sore throat.

          Raw, local honey is best to use to antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiseptic.
          Take 1 teaspoon three times a day.

          Raw onion has phytochemicals that help keep the respiratory tract open. You can make black bean or beef burger and to with lots of onions and mustard. You can add sauerkraut for an extra dose of probiotics.

          Lemon is antibacterial. Also helps alkalinize the body. Rich in vitamin C. Take two lemons, juice and add to a quart Mason Jar. Add filtered water and 1 tablespoon of raw honey and a dash of sea salt for added minerals. Drink throughout the day.

          Coconut Oil is antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal. You can add 1/8 teaspoon of Peppermint extract to 2 tablespoon of raw coconut oil. Mix well and add either 10 drops of stevia or 1 tablespoon of raw honey. Mix well. Then spread thin on a piece of parchment paper. Put in freezer for 15 minutes. Eat as a yummy, Peppermint bark dessert.

Warm salt water
          Use as a gargle for a sore throat or with a neti pot for congestion

High quality probiotic
          Supports general health and a good immune response.


          My all time favorite to use is the Elderberry Syrup. Many people have great success with elderberry syrup to relieve cough and cold symptoms. It’s an immune booster which can help speed up recovery. You can often find it in the natural section of your local grocery store.

Vitacost.com

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

The Promise 2017 Film

The Promise


 

“The Promise” officially open in theaters Friday April 21st. But on IMDb, a website where people can rate movies, the film has received more than 120,000 ratings — nearly 62,000 of them the lowest: one-star before the movie had even been released.
The ratings have nothing to do with the quality of the film, as it’s almost certain that most people haven’t seen the movie yet. Instead, a group of Internet trolls gathering on a Turkish message board decided to try sinking “The Promise” with bad reviews.
The film — starring Charlotte Le Bon, Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, and directed by Terry George of “Hotel Rwanda” fame — focuses on a fictional love-triangle between the main characters. Two of the characters play Armenians, while the other plays an American photojournalist.
That sounds like standard silver screen fare, but it’s set against the backdrop of the mass killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, beginning in 1915. Worldwide, at least 26 countries recognize the deaths as genocide, a term coined in the 1940s by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who investigated the massacre, to describe the deliberate attempt to exterminate groups.
To Armenians, Americans of Armenian heritage and Turks, the facts and especially the nomenclature are deeply emotional issues. Turkey has long argued that the deaths were not genocide, the death toll has been inflated and that the casualties were victims of civil war and unrest. It’s a crime in Turkey, called “insulting Turkishness,” to “even raise the issue of what happened to the Armenians,” according to the New York Times.
To keep its NATO ally Turkey happy, the United States has referred to the deaths as “atrocities,” but stopped short of calling them a genocide. President Obama had promised to change that before being elected president, saying in 2008 that “the Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence.”
He didn’t keep that promise.


The inevitable controversy over the film surfaced when word of its upcoming release spread to a Turkish message board similar to America’s mischief-making 4chan or its more mainstream cousin Reddit.
There, users decided to flood IMDb’s rating system with one-star reviews, hoping to tank the movie before it came out. (IMDb is owned by Amazon. Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)
One user’s comment, roughly translated by the Hollywood Reporter, read, “Guys, Hollywood is filming a big movie about the so-called Armenian genocide and the trailer has already been watched 700k times. We need to do something urgently.”
As final credits rolled during the movie’s September premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, it was already among the worst rated movies on IMDb.
“All I know is that we were in about a 900-seat house with a real ovation at the end, and then you see almost 100,000 people who claim the movie isn’t any good,” producer Mike Medavoy told the Hollywood Reporter.
At one point, the film had a 1.8 star rating on IMDb, placing it in the company of the 10 lowest-rated films on the entire website. The lowest rated film on IMDb with 1.4 stars is “Code Name: K.O.Z.,” a fictional account of the 2013 Turkish government corruption scandal
Some of these raters left short reviews. “The movie based on a lie so you know what to expect,” read one. “I fell for the positive reviews without realising they are written by armenians to push their political agenda on unsuspecting movie goers,” read another.
This is far from the first time Internet trolls with a political point-of-view have mobilized to offer a low star rating to a piece of entertainment. Both Amy Schumer’s book and latest stand-up special were targeted by members of r/the_donald, a subreddit purportedly composed of President Trump supporters.
Men, meanwhile, gave overwhelmingly low reviews to the female-led “Ghostbusters” reboot last summer, throwing the averages “completely out of whack,” as The Washington Post reported.
It’s difficult to ascertain if the ratings have any actual effect on the eventual sales. They ostensibly exist to help consumers sort through their many options, though some bloggers have claimed there isn’t a correlation between reviews and box office sales.
In Schumer’s case, the uninformed reviews led to negative publicity — such as the piece “Amy Schumer’s Netflix Special Slammed By Users: ‘She’s Lost Herself’” on Yahoo and “Amy Schumer’s ‘Leather Special’ Is Getting Overwhelmingly Negative Reviews From Netflix Subscribers” on Decider — both of which announced the special’s low ratings without the context of where many of them originated.
But there’s no doubt that user-generated, starred reviews are proving to be increasingly useless.
Friday’s release of “The Promise” falls just before the annual Armenian remembrance day of the mass killings, which is Monday.

“The Armenians were killed by their own government, not by the enemy, and they were killed in this systematic way that became the legal definition of the word,” said George, the film’s director.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Rosemary and Tea Tree Dandruff Hair and Scalp Mask

Rosemary and Tea Tree Dandruff Hair and Scalp Mask




Ingredients

Directions:
  1. Blend ingredients well in container
  2. Massage into the scalp
  3. Leave on for at least 20 minutes
  4. For severe conditions, try leaving it on overnight
  5. Shampoo well

Cedarwood Oil
  • Cedarwood essential oil is more of a woody, masculine scent. If you prefer something more feminine-smelling oils try lavender and ylang ylang. Cedarwood oil stimulates the hair follicles and increases circulation to the scalp to combat thinning hair. Cedarwood has also been helpful at improving dandruff symptoms.
Rosemary Oil
  • Rosemarry oil works well for dandruff due to its ability to minize scalp itchiness and flakes. It helps to treat both dry, dull hair as well as overly oily hair and can help prevent split ends. Rosemary essential oil helps to prevent premature baldness and stimulates the hair follicles.
Tea Tree Oil
  • Tea tree is one of the most popular essential oils for soothing damaged skin, but it's also great for scalp health. Since this essential oil is antifungal, it's been successfully used to treat dandruff. Tea tree oil also treats head lice.

Vitacost.com