Showing posts with label Guest Blogger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest Blogger. Show all posts

Monday, March 31, 2014

Guest Post: How to Lose Weight with Delicious Chicken Recipes by Katy Cavallero

How to Lose Weight with Delicious Chicken Recipes

Chicken Chili with White Beans and Chipotles at Health.com
Grilled or poached chicken breasts are not the only option you have when you’re on a diet. There are countless delicious chicken recipes you can easily make at home in under an hour that are low in calories and may even help you burn stubborn belly fat.Inspired by various gourmet recipes and cuisines including Greek, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Italian, French, and Mexican, you can make a different chicken recipe everyday of the week and not wear out your taste buds.

To cut out the fat and calories, opt for skinless or boneless chicken breasts and low-caloriegourmet recipes. Choose a chicken recipe that uses healthy cooking methods like baking, broiling, roasting, poaching, steaming and sautéing in healthy oils instead of deep-frying. Also use low-fat and healthy ingredients including vegetables, herbs, spices and fruits, and stay away from heavy creams and butter. To fight belly fat, include ingredients high in monounsaturated fatty acids such as nuts, seeds, olives, avocado, and healthy cooking oils. 

Mediterranean
For a quick Mediterranean meal, sauté chopped onions, garlic, and rosemary in olive oil over medium heat in a skillet until tender and add (one-inch) cubed boneless and skinless chicken breasts and season with salt. Cook the chicken until no longer pink, about five to seven minutes then add pitted and sliced Kalamata olives and halved cherry tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for about four minutes more and serve with couscous, rice, bread or quinoa.

Chinese
For a delicious and healthy Chinese-inspired dish, stir-fry sliced chicken breasts together with vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, and bokchoi, and season with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, and sesame oil, garnish with lightly toasted cashews and serve over noodles or rice. You can also add cubed firm tofu and oyster or shiitake mushrooms for a more nutritious dish.

Thai
Make a quick Pad Thai and toss together cooked flat rice noodles together with sautéed chicken breasts, bean sprouts, strips of fried scrambled eggs, chopped peanuts, and fresh cilantro seasoned with fish sauce, peanut butter, sugar, and red chili flakes.

Mexican
Make sizzling Fajitas with leftover cooked chicken breasts for a quick Mexican treat, cooked with olive oil, chopped onions, garlic, red and green bell peppers, and chili powder served with whole-wheat tortillas, nonfat sour cream, salsa, and shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese. 

Italian
For a gourmet Italian pizza that is healthy and delicious, choose whole-wheat dough and top with pesto, goat cheese, Portobello mushrooms, sweet corn, slices of leftover rotisserie chicken and fresh basil.  

More recipe ideas
Other tasty and quick chicken recipes you can try at home are Chicken Spinach Parmesan, Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Asian Chicken Salad, Chicken and Vegetable Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken and Mushroom Crepes, Mexicali Chicken, Chicken Flautas, Chicken and White Bean Stew, Chicken Tagine with Olives, Chicken in Red Wine, That-Style Chicken Coconut Curry, Indian Chicken Curry, Narnecue Chicken Chop Salad, Chicken Jambalaya, Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Cajun Chicken with Dirty Rice, Chicken Burgers with Peanut Sauce, Chicken Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts, Tuscan Chicken Pasta, Chicken Cacciatore, Thai Chicken Wraps, Lemon Herb Chicken, and Chicken Avocado and Mango Sandwich.      

Resources:
Women's Health - Low-Fat Chicken Recipes

My name is Katy Cavallero from Toronto, ON Canada and a part time photographer.  Being a good photographer is definitely not easy.  I also joined the staff of a business magazine which was based in London and became a corporate photographer.  I began to shoot projects for a vast number of corporate clients - all of whom wanted to go one better than their rivals.  During free time I create blogs and post contents related to food.  It is my pleasure to share valuable information, knowledge and tips to this blog community. I also love collecting tattoo designs.

Social media links:


Published Articles:

Friday, January 31, 2014

Valentine's Giveaway!

What's better than a Valentine's giveaway that includes one of my absolute favorite products? How about a Valentine's giveaway with nine of my favorite bloggers and all of THEIR favorite products too?!

That's right- we've put together a Products We Love to Love giveaway for ONE lucky winner! The entire giveaway is valued at $245!

Check out what you can win:


Rodan and Fields Foaming Sunless Tan
"I'm So Tired" t-shirt from Hello Apparel 
Sterling Silver Bow Bracelet from Monica at Vintage Stamp Jewels
Bath and Body Works 3-wick Stress Relief Candle
$10 Target Gift Card
 $5 Starbucks Gift Card

Meet Your Hostesses:


I'm an Atlanta native who married my high school sweetheart six years after we started dating and six months after we graduated from Furman and Clemson (GO TIGERS!). We bought our first home back in 2010 and renovated the entire house before moving in. We have a golden retriever puppy named Tally and look forward to adding "real" kids to our family in the future. :)
Heather is giving away the Bath and Body Works 3-wick Stress Relief Candle.

I'm a California girl, born & raised! I love Jesus, wine, coffee, photography & throwing parties. Target is my Happy Place. I am a part time 7th grade math teacher and have been teaching for 10 years. I just recently became an Independant Consultant for Rodan + Fields. I have been married to Kevin for 11 years and we have 3 sweet kids. Kate is 7, Claire is 5 and our baby boy Luke is 17 months old.
Mel is giving away the Rodan and Fields Foaming Sunless Tan.

3. Elizabeth @ E, Myself, and I
I am a wife to my high school sweetheart Jeff, momma to two-year-old Sam, and English teacher to 75 ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders.  In my "free time" I moonlights as a blogger at E, Myself, and I where I chronicles my journey into adulthood and my attempts at salvaging a tiny bit of my former “Type A” self. I write about being a working mom, teaching, organizing, decorating, party planning, and The Bachelor, and I'm not afraid to laugh at myself when necessary. I am passionate about connecting women and helping them find freedom in living their real lives with grace, humor, and a strong cup of coffee.
Elizabeth is giving away "I'm So Tired" t-shirt from Hello Apparel.

4. Megan @ m for love
I'm the mama, wife and writer behind the lifestyle blog m for love. When you visit, you can expect to find pieces of our life, laughter, love, and faith (Oh, and a bit of fashion for good measure.)
Megan is giving away the Smashbox Wonder Vision Eye Set in Flash.

5. Tiffany @ The Dwelling Tree
I am a coffee-addict, runner during free time, and follower of Jesus. I am married to a super outdoorsy man who keeps me on my toes and has a cute toddler named Lillian who likes to make dinosaur noises. Follow my many adventures at The Dwelling Tree! 
Tiffany is giving away the Sterling Silver Bow Bracelet.

I'm a smitten wife, animal lover, Jesus follower, TV enthusiast, and home decor fanatic.  After living in Atlanta all of my life, my husband and I moved to Orange County, California where we are adjusting easily to the constant sunshine, lack of humidity (Praise the Lord!), and abundance of gourmet cupcakes. I recently started my own organizing company and love to make people's lives a little easier. I'm also slightly obsessed with our three fur babies, Maisy, Mr. Pepper, and Diego, so you'll be seeing a lot of them on my blog!
Julie is giving away a Target Gift Card, Starbucks Gift Card, and Valentine's Day DVD.

I am a military wife and Mom of two amazing and rambunctious boys.  I spend my time divided between my job as a 2 and 3 year old preschool teacher, a Tiger Cub Scout Leader, the Second Counselor in my church women's group, and chauffeuring my boys to their school, sport, and scouting activities.  I love to make things with my own hands.  I love a good story! Movies, books, art, and music all hold a special place in my heart. The most important thing I can do in life is to spend time with my family. I believe in a lifetime of learning and that life is too short for bad food! 
Krista is giving away the Pampered Chef Ice-Cream Scoop and Chocolate Caramel Sauce.

8. Samantha @ Samantha Elizabeth
My blog is about all things I hold dear to my heart... my faith, family, cooking, photography, and travel.  My hope is that my blog will bring inspiration, positive encouragement and perhaps a laugh or two to its readers.  I am a wife to a wonderful guy named Dusty and mother to an adorable fur-baby named Gus. 
Samantha is giving away the gorgeous Red Wrap Necklace and Gold Arrow Ring.

9. Bekah @ re•solve
re•solve is a personal self improvement blog focusing primarily on my green, vegetarian lifestyle with elements of faith and marriage thrown in!
Bekah is giving away Arbonne's Nourishing Daily Conditioner

10. Heather Lynne @ Raising Memories
I'm Heather Lynne.  I'm a Canadian wife and mom to 2 daughters. I blog about fun things parents can do with & for their kids.  These ideas and tutorials are mixed in with my photography,
photography tips and any other crafty attempts I make! You can also find a
Linky on my blog each weekend- I'd love to see you there! :)
Heather Lynne is giving away the Mabel's Labels Basic Kit.


Now for the GIVEAWAY!

Monday, January 20, 2014

Granny-Guru: Mary Poppins



I remember watching the Disney movie, “Mary Poppins” when it first came out. It was released August 27, 1964, the summer before my Senior year of high school.
I had never read the original 1933 book on which the movie is based, and, after watching the movie, it never occurred to me to read the book.


That changed when I recently saw the movie, “Saving Mr. Banks.”
This new movie is the story of how Disney came to make the “Mary Poppins”movie. He negotiated with the book’s author, an Australian who had moved to London, P. L. Travers (a pen name for  Helen Lyndon Goff). She was the child of an alcoholic father who died of influenza when she was eight.
Though the negotiations ended in Disney getting the rights to the movie, they were so contentious that he did not invite Travers to the opening and she never allowed him to make another movie from any of her seven other Mary Poppins books. If you stay through the credits at the end of the movie, you will hear a tape recording of negotiations between Travers and the writers and song-writers Disney put on the project.
Travers died in 1996, at the age of 96. She never married. Her only child was a boy she adopted from his grandparents, who were raising seven grandchildren.
So, how did this child, bereft of her adoring father as a youngster, come to write the fanciful “Mary Poppins?” After watching "Saving Mr. Banks," I had to go back and read the original Mary Poppins book.
The movie is largely very faithful to the book. Mary Poppins, a nanny, blows in on the East Wind, right when Mrs. Banks’ nanny has unexpectedly quit.
It is interesting to me that a modest family with four children, the father a mid-level bank manager, can afford a staff of four for the household. Mrs. Banks is a stay-at-home Mom only in the sense that she doesn't work. Perhaps it is as they tell us. Nearly one hundred years later, we live in an age of labor-saving devices that make up for staff.
But, historical context aside, the book’s delight comes from its whimsy.
  • What do animals do at night in a zoo, when all the people have gone home? What if some people get locked into the zoo at night?
  • What is an appropriate birthday gift for a snake to give a close friend? What does a nanny give her friend, one of the stars, for her birthday?
  • If you had fingertips that could be any flavor you wanted, what flavor would you choose?
  • Wouldn't you like to slide up a banister sometimes, instead of always down?
Though Mary Poppins brooked no nonsense from her charges, she introduced them to a fantastical world that kept them out of trouble and made her sudden departure on the next wind, as she had predicted, sadder but richer for her having been in their lives.


After seeing the movie, “Saving Mr. Banks,” you will want to read the original "Mary Poppins" book yourself and introduce your grandchildren to this classic.
Then, you will want to reward your own inner child and watch the Disney movie, “Mary Poppins,” all over again,
I can hear you already singing, “Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down…”
Order yourself a weekend of "Mary Poppins" with the grandchildren.
Click on the title here or the image below to order from amazon, "Mary Poppins" the classic book, "Mary Poppins" the Disney movie, or "Saving Mr. Banks," the movie about making "Mary Poppins" which is still in theaters but can be pre-ordered.
Mary Poppins, the classic book
 

Mary Poppins, the  Disney movie
Saving Mr. Banks, the movie about the making of Mary Poppins movie


Carol Covin, Granny-Guru

*Image Credit:  https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse455/12au/projects/project1/students/adevore3/artifact/mary_poppins.jpg
http://www.disneydreamer.com/MarryPoppins-wr.jpg
Amazon.com
72b4a2e244c46bbaac47c1df7258728a4600acb179c0c40386

Monday, December 30, 2013

Granny-Guru: The Iron

On January 4th my husband and I will celebrate our 12 year anniversary.  I laughed when I read the post today from Miss Carol, there have definitely been some "training" gift moments in my marriage! Sometimes a good tool is fabulous, like the Kitchen Aid I opened up for Christmas!  This one I specifically asked for that and hinted and hinted and hinted for.  However, I must say if I had received an Iron my reaction would probably not have been as calm as Carol's :).  It is possible, you can train your hubby to know what to get you for a gift, even if you have to slap him over the head with it, i.e. my new Kitchen Aid!

The Iron

A soon-to-be cousin from the other side of the family, young and single, at a recent family wedding asked me if it is true that men have to be trained after they are married and if they are trainable.
My husband and I looked at each other and both said, “the iron.”
My husband broke the ice.
“Both people train each other to what they need.”
Then, I told the story.
On some occasion, I no longer remember whether it was a birthday or Christmas, but let’s just say it was Christmas, my husband gave me an iron.
He knows better now than to give such a practical gift. But, it was a nice iron, irons aren't cheap and it was early in our marriage when money was not spent lightly.
To a guy, there is nothing better than a good tool.
And, to a guy, they’d rather have something they could actually use rather than one more tie to hang in their closet.
Even a dozen nice handkerchiefs are better than another tie, but pretty much any tool is a good gift.
So, of course, he thought I would appreciate it.
And, this is where the training comes in.
You have to learn that just because you would like something doesn't mean it would be special to the other person.
For me, as I imagine for most women, a household tool or appliance as a gift does two things.
It suggests her husband thinks of her primarily in terms of her function as a housekeeper.
I know now that this is not what he intends. He intends to make her life easier with a good tool just as he imagines how much easier his life will be every time he buys himself a tool.
It also suggests he has not been paying attention to hints she has probably dropped by commenting on something she particularly likes but won’t buy for herself because she doesn't need it and it would be an extravagance.
In my family, we were not allowed to ask for things directly because our parents wanted the freedom to give us what they thought we would like and what they could afford.
So, we were only allowed to hint and we were supposed to be watching out for what others in the family liked when we bought gifts for them.
I thought all families did this.
This is where the mutual training comes in in a marriage.
For me, a personal extravagance, preferably one I’d been hinting at, was exactly the kind of gift I wanted my husband to get me.
In my husband’s family, by contrast, they flat out told each other what they wanted, a practice I found crude and rude, but learned to adopt after the blue-watch incident.
In the early years of our marriage, since my husband didn't have the drop-hints or express wishes habit common in my family, I started going Christmas shopping with him a few weeks before Christmas.
If he showed an unusual interest in something, I went back later and got it for him.
One year, he lingered over and commented on how beautiful and interesting a watch was that had a blue face.
When he opened it on Christmas morning, he said, "What is this?" "Well, you really seemed to like that watch, so I got it for you."
"I liked it, but that doesn't mean I wanted it." Oops. After that, we had a serious discussion about how to buy gifts for each other.
The first time he asked me what I wanted, after the iron-as-a -gift and blue-watch incidents, I cried. I’d never been asked before.
The last time my watch broke, we went watch-shopping together. My watch now has a blue face.
My reaction to the iron? Not just vague disappointment that he hadn't been paying attention to what I liked, but also curiosity.
“But, I have an iron,” I told him questioningly as I held it up.
“Yours doesn't work.”

Monday, December 23, 2013

Granny-Guru: Bedtime Math. Modern Children's Book

I am happy to introduce a new Contributor to A Handful of Everything! Miss Carol Covin aka the Granny Guru! She has a fabulous blog http://newgrandmas.com.  Check it out for some great posts from her 4 fold mission: To inspire grandparents to write their autobiographies, highlight inspirational cancer survivor stories, to show how parenting has changed, and to describe fun activities to enjoy with your grandchildren.  And lets face it, kids always love to go to Grandma's house! We can learn a lot from the experts!  So without further ado, please welcome Miss Carol Granny Guru!

Bedtime Math. Modern Children's Book.

Pumpkins, photographed in Canada.
Last summer, my grandson took some of the money he’d earned from cleaning off shelves for me and we went to the bookstore so he could buy a book of his own.
He looked through biographies and fiction, then picked a Math workbook.
This shocked the bookstore clerk, who could barely contain her delight when he put the book up on the counter and brought out his own money.
He asked his grandfather to read the exercises to him while they did the math problems together.
His mother, of course, an accountant, approved when she heard the story.
My granddaughter, similarly, loves math and is good at it. Her parents have taught her to recite the numbers of pi when she has trouble drifting off to sleep.
It is with this backdrop that I ran across a site a few months ago called Bedtime Math.
It seems that Laura Overdeck, an astrophysicist, has been putting her children to bed with math problems, or rather stories with math questions, since they were two.
When I told my son's family about this book, my daughter-in-law, a computer consultant, said that her mother, too, had put her to bed with math stories.
Eventually, other parents began asking Overdeck for her problems. She put together an email and sent it to 10 parents.
Her email list doubled practically overnight and continued to double quickly.
She began to realize she wasn’t the only parent interested in “mathing” her children to sleep as often as reading them to sleep.

Her book, Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late, illustrated by Jim Paillot, was released in 2013.
It is now accompanied by a web site where, not only can you get more math stories and activities, but you can sign up for a daily activity to be sent to you.

Her format is approachable, slipping math in quietly after explaining something in the real world.
And, by giving three levels of difficulty of the activities, it allows children to find their own level.
Here’s an excerpt of one:
“Totally Squashed”
“A large cucumber or a bag of potatoes can get really heavy.”
“That’s because veggies are made mostly of water, and water itself is pretty heavy.”
“Wee ones: if you have 4 giant squash and 5 giant pumpkins, how many enormous vegetables do you have?”
“Little kids: If each giant pumpkin weighs 1,000 pounds and your car weighs 4,500 pounds, how many whole pumpkins do you need to outweigh your car?”
“Big kids: What weighs more, 4 of your 900-pound pumpkins or 5 of your 700-pound zucchinis?”
Overdeck hides the answers on each page and lays out the math equation it takes to solve the problem in an answer sheet at the end of the book for parents and grandparents.
If your grandchildren are like Overdeck’s children, they’ll be asking for their bedtime math every night along with their bedtime stories.
You can start off with the book from amazon, by clicking on the title, Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late.

Or, sign up for Overdeck's daily math post at http://bedtimemath.org to get started today.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Guest Blogger Chef Linda Rosario: Healthy Holiday Recipes

I am so happy to welcome Chef Linda Rosario as a Guest Blogger to A Handful of Everything! She is a food blogger from Chef Needs, one of the trusted suppliers of deli display cases. Miss Linda also loves to paint and dreams of having her own art gallery. Aside from painting and drawing, Linda has a heart for cooking and food.  Please give her a big welcome!



Healthy Holiday Recipes

Christmas is almost here. This is the time when diet goes out the window. After all, Jesus being born is one good excuse to pig out, right? Lucky for you, you can now eat healthily during the holidays. Here are some of the healthy holiday recipes that you should try out:


Eggplant Ricotta Bites

If you are looking for a healthy appetizer to jump-start your holiday parties, this is the perfect thing for you.

For this healthy recipe, you will be needing the following:

1 medium sized eggplant
a pinch of Kosher salt
All-purpose flour-- should be used for dredging
2 large sized eggs
3/4 cup of breadcrumbs
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp plus 2 tsp of extra- virgin olive oil, add more as required
2 large sized plum tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
1 cup of ricotta cheese
Shredded fresh basil as topping

Slice the eggplant thinly into rounds. Season with salt. Place a bit of flour in a dish. In another dish, beat an egg. On the third dish, place Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Afterwards, dredge your eggplant slices into the flour. Next, dip the eggplant slices into the egg. Lastly, coat it with your breadcrumb mixture.

Place large skillet over medium heat. Add oil and wait for it to be heated. Cook the eggplant slices in batches. Cook until it turns golden brown. This will take about 2 minutes for each side. If needed, add oil in between your cooking batches. After cooking, drain this into paper towels and season it with salt.

Mix vinegar and 2 tbsp of olive oil in a bowl. Toss the tomatoes. Place some ricotta on your cooked eggplant slices. Top it with a mix of basil and the tomato mixture.

Roasted Balsamic Onion

This simple onion dish is not only healthy but delicious as well!

For this, you will be needing the following:

3 large sized white onions, quartered  and peeled
3 tablespoons of olive oil
add freshly ground black pepper and Kosher salt
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of sugar

Here is what you need to do:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss balsamic vinegar, quartered onions, olive oil, sugar and season with pepper and salt. Place the resulting mixture into a large non-stick, oven-proof skillet. Spread this out, creating an even layer. Cover this skillet with the use of aluminum foil. Roast this for 20 to 25 minutes. Afterwards, remove the foil. Toss the onions so that it will evenly coated with the reduced balsamic glaze. After that, place it back in your oven. Roast this for 20 to 25 minutes more. Serve right away.

These are healthy recipes that you can enjoy during the holidays. When you eat these recipes, you can indulge in a guilt-free holiday eating!

Print Friendly

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...