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Children, Family, Food, Halloween, Healthy Living, National Days, Parenting Tips, Ultimate Blog Challenge
Tips for Halloween Night 2020
Oone of the best things about Halloween each year is the trick-or-treating. In our family, my husband or I (usually him) would take our kids out each year. However, when my son decided he was too old for costumes, he commited to taking his younger sister out each year. It wasn’t all altruism, though. He got a LOT of candy from people who were proud of him for taking his sister out. So it was a win-win! This year, trick-or-treating is going to be different for our household as well as for the world. Our son is at college in Miami so that tradition has been halted for now, and…
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Fun Facts About Pumpkins
As you start incorporating more pumpkin into your fall recipes and learning about their health benefits, don’t forget to learn more about pumpkins themselves. You can even teach these facts to your kids to get them more interested in the healthy pumpkin meals you put together. Pumpkins Are a Type of Fruit Definitely one of the more surprising facts about pumpkins is that they are fruit, not vegetables. Many people consider pumpkins to be a vegetable, along with squash and other gourds, but it is in fact a fruit. Fruits are typically defined by being planted with seeds, which pumpkins definitely have. Therefore, while a part of the gourd family,…
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It’s National Dessert Day: Lemon Raspberry Loaf
Another cool month: National Dessert Month. So you can eat dessert every day this month! Woo-hoo! And on top of that, October 14th in National Dessert DAY. If you don’t want to have dessert every day, you can just do it on the 14th. It doesn’t matter, this is a great month to enjoy any number of desserts all throughout the month. One selection is this Lemon Raspberry Loaf. This delicious lemon raspberry loaf is a welcome addition to Sunday brunch, or it can be enjoyed as a not-too-sweet treat morning or night. For a little added sweetness, be sure to add a light drizzle of the optional lemon glaze…
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Health Reset: Balancing Your Nutrition
One of the first things you probably consider when you think about resetting your health is your nutrition. The way you eat, how much, and the ingredients you use are all essential to living a long, healthy, balanced life. Here are some easy ways to get started on balancing out and resetting your nutrition. Drink Your Water! Of course, the first tip is going to be drinking water! Everyone needs water, and chances are you haven’t been drinking enough. Dehydration can often be very subtle, where you barely notice it. There are a few techniques that help you drink more water without thinking too much about it. Start your day…
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I Started a Garden…
I have started a garden this fall. We already have a 15-year old orange tree that is producing like mad and around 10-12 other trees that produce from a couple of fruits to nothing. Some are new — we are trying to be patient. So — back to the garden. It’s not the first time I have tried my hand at gardening. The first time, all of the wild creatures* with hands ate everything. I even bought a little greenhouse a few years ago. The wild animals with hands used their little hands to lift up the sides and to go in and finish off my tomatoes. So this year,…
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Cooking Pasta: How to Tell When It’s Done
Have you ever had pasta that was too hard or just plain mushy? Everyone likely has prepared a pot of pasta that wasn’t the best. You may have wondered if there were a secret to cooking pasta and knowing when it’s cooked to perfection. The truth is, there is a secret but it isn’t hard to learn. And with it being National Pasta Month, it’s a good time to talk about it! Al Dente Do you know what “al dente” is? It is Italian for “to the tooth” which is what perfectly cooked pasta is called. But what exactly does it mean to have pasta cooked “al dente” and how…
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How to Have a Halloween Party 2020
Oh 2020! There is not one part of our lives that 2020 has not altered — and mostly for the worst! The month of October and the fun of Halloween (for those who celebrate it) is next in the path of the destructive whirlwind that has been this year! Halloween is in serious danger this year! However, we are smart folk and have figured out ways to enjoy ourselves despite the may restrictions that the pandemic has presented. While traditional trick or treating has been essentially canceled in many places and large gatherings have been banned, there may be ways to have some Halloween celebrations — safely and socially distanced!…
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Tips to Make Great Chili
Now that it’s getting cool, you may be considering making a big pot of chili. And it’s National Chili Month, so it is a perfect time! Follow these tips to make a great chili for your family. These steps may make ho-hum chili into something your family will ask you to make again and again. Fresh is Best Start with the freshest ingredients possible. While opening a couple of cans of beans and tomatoes may make your chili quick and easy, it simply can’t compare with homemade all-the-way chili. Use fresh, seeded tomato and peppers. Even though the seeds often provide a bit of flavor, seeds can detract from a…
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National Chili Month: Instant Pot® Pulled Pork Chili
It’s October of this amazingly strange year, and it’s even getting chilly right now in Southern Texas. It’s starting to be chili season! October is National Chili Month. There are so many types of chili — beef, pork, turkey, meatless. I love experimenting with the different recipes and seeing which one my family likes best. Since fall is my favorite season, I tend to make a LOT of chili. Crockpots make chili cooking pretty effortless but the Instant Pot? Quick and mostly hands-free! It’s a game changer! This easy Instant Pot® chili recipe only takes 15 minutes of hands-on prep time. After that, the Instant Pot® does all the work.…
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A Couple of Drinks for National Vodka Day
October 4th is National Vodka Day. As i have noted in the past, vodka was my choice of alcohol when I was still consuming alcohol. It is not completely clear who invented vodka — Russia, Sweden, and Poland debate this honor. It consists of mostly water and ethanol — coming from distilling fermented cereal grains. In some instances, potatoes have been used or fermented fruit. Vodkas in the US have to be 80 proof (40% alcohol by volume). Commonly, vodka is consumed neat (straight with no mixers, ice, or water) and freezer-chilled. However, it is also a frequent component in mixed drinks and cocktails. I was not a huge fan…
