Full Width

Canned foods can help save the environment

I attended the #CansGetYouCooking #gno Twitter party this week, sponsored by the awesome folks over at MomitForward. In honor of Earth Day, CansGetYouCooking.com was sharing ways to use cans as part of a more eco-friendly, sustainable kitchen.

From MomitForward.com:

And cans not only help reduce the amount of the food we waste, they also reduce our impact on the environment. Metal cans are endlessly recyclable, and in fact, are the most recycled containers in America today – keeping metal out of landfills and saving significant energy. Plus, the can is one of the best ways to get food from the farm to your family table – sealing in foods’ freshness, flavor and nutrition…

Inspired by all this great information, I turned to one of my favorite go-to meals for dinner tonight: Sauteed Beans and Veggie Tacos. It’s so easy that you can make whip it together even while the kids are climbing up the walls

Ingredients for this easy, kid-friendly meal:

One can of black beans

One can of kidney beans

(You can also use pinto beans too)

Tomatoes: either two fresh tomatoes (cut into chunky pieces) or 1 can of stewed tomatoes

(The dish featured here has fresh tomatoes, but I usually use the canned because it saves time and is pre-seasoned ex: green chili flavor or oregano/basil flavor.)

1 cup spinach (frozen, or fresh or even canned)

chili powder to taste

cumin to taste

shredded lettuce or shredded Brussels Sprouts (love the bags from Trader Joes)

shredded cheese

soft tacos

Recipe:

Saute the beans in a skillet on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. Then add the tomato (either canned or fresh) and the spinach. (If you are using frozen spinach add it first with the beans.) Next add the spices to taste and let simmer for about 5 more minutes.

Note: I am by no means an accomplished chef. I’m one of those dump and taste kinda cooks, so take these timing suggestions as a general guideline. If you think something needs more or less time, do that instead. I sometimes also add additional veggies, depending on what I have in the kitchen, so you may want to think about that too.

When everything looks ready, plate on the soft taco with the shredded lettuce or Brussels Sprouts and some shredded cheese. (I’m addicted to the shredded Brussels Sprouts from Trader Joes. They’re super healthy and add a nice crunch that my kids love.)

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite recipe you used that’s made primarily with cans? If so, I’d love to hear it!

*Note: This is not a sponsored post. I’m just sharing great info. 🙂

Toasting Tuesdays- As we clean up Mama Earth, Don’t forget about Mama Me (err You)!

Technotini-PINK, Toasting Tuesdays

Today is a very special Technotini Toasting Tuesdays because I’m celebrating the one year mark of being breast cancer free! It was a year ago today that I had my mastectomy-April 22, 2013-Earth Day. Earth Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love how everyone comes together to celebrate Mother Earth and participate in concerts, clean ups, outdoor activities and more in appreciation of our beautiful planet. So when I realized that I would be going under the knife on such a special day, I became worried-it seemed like a bad sign. (Looking back, that seems a little bizarre, but you do a lot of overthinking before a big surgery, lol). As I thought about it some more and then even more, I remembered that Earth Day is about cleaning up Mama Earth, and my surgeon was going in to clean up Mama Me.

I learned that the only thing more important than cleaning up Mother Earth, is cleaning up ourselves–Mind, Body, and Soul–so we can be here for our children and grandchildren and maybe even great grandchildren (just as we wish for the trees and rivers). We get so busy as with work and taking care of our families, that we tend to neglect ourselves.

Here are a couple easy things to do (that are also easily left off our To Do list):

Mind: Take time to breathe. Deep breathing helps stimulate your lymphatic system, helps blood flow, and increases focus.
- Tip: Do 5 deep breaths at the stop light while you’re driving. Breathe in slowly. It should ideally take you 6-7 counts to breathe in. If it takes less, that’s ok. Just work on it. Slowly building up to 6 or 7 counts.

Body: Eat right and exercise.
- Tip: Try kefir yogurt drinks as you’re running out the door in the morning-packed with probiotics, it helps keep your insides healthy.
- Tip: Get up from your office chair every 50 min and walk around-maybe walk the stairs or if you work from home-do some squats.

Soul: Take a few moments every day to just smile and laugh. More and more research shows that laughter really is the best medicine. There are positive physiological effects that take place, during fits of laughter, which help keep you healthy (ex: increase blood flow, burning calories, decrease stress and blood pressure just to name a few).
- Tip: If you have kids, this is pretty easy, even amidst the chaos–place yourself in your kids’ shoes, enjoy the wonderment of childhood, pretend you’re their age again. Once in a while, if you catch them having a blast making a mess, instead of getting upset-jump in and join them. Laugh and be free. You might as well because you know you’re going to have to clean it up anyway!

Once again, I’m glad to be sharing this Toasting Tuesday with you because it’s important to take a few minutes out of each week and just smile, laugh and think about the things that are making us happy. Please take a moment to scroll down (under the share buttons) and leave me a comment with what you’re toasting this week. It doesn’t have to be as momentous as my toast for today–it could even be something as simple as getting your kids to school on time without any meltdowns. Or maybe you planted a really pretty garden this weekend in celebration of Earth Day. Whatever you’re toasting, it’s special and I’d love to hear it.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Shana

Spring cleaning your Twitter account and tackling the dreaded 2000 Following ceiling

Biz & Blogging

It can be tricky to break through the Twitter limitation of 2000 Following ceiling. In this post, I provide strategic and actionable steps to help you break through and succeed in Twitter.

Recently, I’ve started to really embrace Twitter. I’ve gotten involved in Twitter parties, conversations, trends, and link-ups. I’ve made lots of fabulous new connections and friends. However, I also hit the infamous and widely dreaded 2000 Following ceiling. I was so annoyed that I couldn’t follow any more people, especially these great new Tweeps with whom I had just connected, that I almost quit Twitter. Grrr, Twitter… But I had just invested so much time and energy into expanding my connections; I didn’t want to throw all that away, so I did some research and realized that it was time to clean nest–clean my Twitter nest that is. Besides, I didn’t really want to spring-clean my pantry today anyway.

What is the dreaded 2000 Following ceiling?

If you’re like me, you followed everyone and anyone who seemed interesting when you first joined Twitter. But maybe now, you’ve gotten more involved and realized your tastes have changed your strategy has changed, your goals have changed, or maybe you are quickly reaching the dreaded Following 2000 ceiling. What is the Following 2000 ceiling? In order to combat spam and misuse, Twitter has a rule that once you “follow” 2000 users, you can not follow anyone else if you do not have a strong number of “Followers” yourself. No one knows the exact ratio. The general rule of thumb is two-thirds or 70%. So, once you’ve hit 2000, you’ll most likely need to reach 1400 followers before Twitter lifts your restriction enabling you to “follow” again. So, what should you do if you hit the dreaded 2000 limit? Clean Nest!

Clean up who you’re “Following”

Make the most of the Twitter List Functionality

Go through your Following list and start unfollowing people that are not following you back. I recommend Crowdfire (formerly Just Unfollow) It’s a free service that allows you to sort/review your Twitter account via: Non Followers, Fans, Who Unfollowed me, Inactive Following, and All Following. As it turns out, I had over 1300 people that I was following who weren’t following me back. (This is listed under “Non Followers.”) As you can see, since I started managing this 3 weeks ago, I’ve whittled away at this list and am down to 1079 Non Followers. It’s still a big number so whenever I have a chance, I go through and review this list and try to make it work for me.

Weeding through the Non Follower list

1) Make a private list.

Many of these Non Followers are companies or celebrities that I am still interested in “following.” So I created a list (in Twitter) to keep track of their tweets which will enable me to keep “following” them without wasting a precious “following” slot. Remember, if you “unfollow” anyone, you can always re-follow them at anytime. A good rule of thumb is before you click Follow-check to see what ratio the Tweeter has. Does it look like they follow-back most people? If not, you may want to just add them to a list and watch them from there until you’ve surpassed the 2000 Following ceiling.

2) Conduct a Friend Check

JustUnfollow.com also lets you search by name (via Friend Check), so you can see if real life friends or colleagues are following you and if not, you can send them a nice note reminding them to follow you back. It’s also a good time to send some Twitter love-make a point to interact with Tweeps that you know in real-life (Retweet, or Favorite some of their latest tweets). That will remind them of your Twitter presence and easily stimulate conversations since you know them.

3) Give non-followers one more chance

As I review my non-follower list, I often come across Tweeps who seem interesting and have a good ratio of followers to following. So for these folks, before I press Unfollow, I try and give them a second chance. I’ll go to their profile, check out their latest tweets. If I see something that I find interesting, I’ll Retweet it and/or send them a Reply and try to engage them. If after a week or so, I don’t receive a follow, then I’ll add them to my private list and Unfollow until I reach the point where I can follow folks more freely.

How do you stay organized on Twitter? Have you encountered the dreaded 2000 Following Ceiling? Do you have any suggestions related to Twitter organization or Unfollows? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Chocolate Chip Macaroon Martini

Cocktails, Mocktails, and Smoothies

This week’s martini is in honor of a favorite Passover dessert-the famous Chocolate Chip Macaroon. The macaroon is a soft, cakey coconut based cookie that comes in a variety of flavors (chocolate chip, almond, chocolate, rocky road, etc). As I was munching on some this past week, I realized its ingredients were similar to those in my liquor cabinet and inspiration sparked!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 1/2 oz chocolate vodka (I used Three Olives Chocolate Vodka)

1/2 oz your favorite rum (I used Cruzan Black Strap per my husband’s request, but Malibu or another favorite coconut flavored rum would also taste great. The Black Strap is rather robust so be gentle with your pour.)

about 1/4-1/2 oz Cointreau (Just a splash for flavor. If you don’t have any, you could try a splash of orange juice. The citrus adds a light refreshing element; it also helps lighten the Black Strap.)

2 oz coconut water (Note: This is not coconut milk that you add to smoothies or use as a milk alternative. This is coconut water.) I used the house brand from Whole Foods.

shredded coconut for garnish and taste

a few chocolate chips

ice ( about 1 cup) to chill

Recipe

1) Wet your martini glass. Lay out a small handful of the shredded coconut on a plate and coat the rim of the wet glass with the coconut.

2) Add the ice, rum, vodka, coconut water, and Cointreau to your martini shaker. Shake well and pour into the coconut rimmed glass.

3) Plunk in a few chocolate chips. (They will sink to the bottom and add a nice finish).

4) Finally, finish by sprinkling in a handful (to taste) of the shredded coconut.

Enjoy with…what else? Macaroons!

Until next time.

Cheers!

Shana

Thoughtful Thursdays – April 17, 2014

Thoughtful Thursdays

Canned foods can help save the environment

Ingredients for this easy, kid-friendly meal:

Recipe:

Do you have a favorite recipe you used that’s made primarily with cans? If so, I’d love to hear it!

Toasting Tuesdays- As we clean up Mama Earth, Don’t forget about Mama Me (err You)!

Chocolate Chip Macaroon Martini

Here’s what you’ll need:

Recipe

Thoughtful Thursdays – April 17, 2014

Never miss a Family Fun Idea!

Categories

Full Width

Ingredients for this easy, kid-friendly meal:

Recipe:

Do you have a favorite recipe you used that’s made primarily with cans? If so, I’d love to hear it!

What is the dreaded 2000 Following ceiling?

Clean up who you’re “Following”

Make the most of the Twitter List Functionality

Weeding through the Non Follower list

1) Make a private list.

2) Conduct a Friend Check

3) Give non-followers one more chance

How do you stay organized on Twitter? Have you encountered the dreaded 2000 Following Ceiling? Do you have any suggestions related to Twitter organization or Unfollows? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Recipe

Never miss a Family Fun Idea!

Footer

Categories