Cream-Of-The-Crop Chops

Ingredients:

1 (10 ¾ oz.) can cream of celery soup
3 Tbsp. sour cream
4 baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
4 (1 inch thick) pork chops
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 13 inch ovenproof baking dish. Combine soup and sour cream in medium bowl. Arrange half the potatoes in prepared dish. Season with salt and pepper. Pour half of soup mixture over potatoes. Top with remaining potatoes. Pour remaining soup mixture over. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bake until golden brown, 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, season chops with salt and pepper. In a large heavy skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chops and cook until lightly brown, about 5 minutes per side. Place chops atop the potatoes. Cover and bake until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Great Catch Tacos

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
3 C. coleslaw
2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, optional
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. fish fillets (unbreaded), cut into 6 equal portions
1 tsp. chili powder
Salt
¼ C. all-purpose
12 corn tortillas, heated

Directions:

To make the slaw, mix the mayonnaise and lime zest and juice in a medium bowl. Add the coleslaw mix, scallions, and cilantro, if using and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Let stand while making the fish for the tacos. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat the oil is hot but not smoking. Season the cod all over with the chili powder and then the salt. Place the flour in a small bowl. Coat each piece of cod in the flour, shaking off the excess. Add to the skillet and cook, turning once, until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Transfer the cod to a plate. Place tortillas in a napkin-lined basked and close the napkin to keep the tortillas warm. Serve the tortillas, fish, and lime slaw at the table. To make each taco, place 2 tortillas, slightly overlapping, on the plate. Top with 1 piece of fish and break it up with a fork. Top with a spoonful of the lime slaw and roll up the taco.

Why Going Green Can Save You Some Green

Perhaps many people don’t initially make the switch to greener living because they are concerned about the environment. It may be that many are actually seeking to live a more simplistic and frugal life because they have limited resources and a limited budget. Or perhaps they always knew that going green and living frugal were practically synonymous. Either way going green can really save you some green in the long run. Being kinder to the planet can also mean being kinder to your wallet and who wouldn’t want that?!

So how exactly can green living equate to cost savings? Here are some of the many ways:

Grow Your Own Food

To avoid pesticides and to eat locally many green living enthusiasts have turned to growing their own food. Our economy at the moment is not looking so good and food prices are going through the roof. Eating food from your own garden will go along way towards easing your budget woes.

Reusing Means You Don’t Have To Buy New

Green people everywhere know that landfill waste is a serious problem so they seek to use reusable and recycled or recyclable items. This means they might use their stainless steel water bottles and filtered tap water instead of expensive bottled waters. They might also shop at yard sales and thrift stores to buy second hand items instead of buying brand new. They often like to use book swap services and clothing swap services too. These activities reduce their contributions to wasteful consumerism and they save a lot of money in the process.

Driving Less Means Money Saved

Eco minded people are rightfully concerned about the carbon emissions and other car pollutants that enter our atmosphere when we drive. Many of them have opted to buy energy efficient cars that have better gas mileage. Others drive cars that run on biofuel or waste vegetable oil. Some carpool, use mass transit, ride their bike more often or walk wherever they need to go. All of these choices result in cost savings.

Energy Saved is Money in the Bank

One of the first eco-tips you usually hear is too turn lights off when you leave a room and conserve energy. Well, they usually go beyond that. Too conserve energy, environmentally minded people will turn off lights, switch out inefficient light bulbs, insulate their hot water heaters, wash their clothes in cold water, and much more. All of these practices result in energy savings which any frugal person can see also means a cost savings.

Green Cleaning Saves Money

All of those conventional cleaning products on the market can be pretty pricey but environmentalists know that you can clean your home effectively with natural and relatively cheap products like baking soda, vinegar, borax, lemons, and olive oil. It is much more cost efficient to use theses ingredients and make your own cleaners then to buy the one sat the supermarket. Even soaps and detergents can be made at low cost, at home.

Less Meat Means Less Money

Many environmentalists are vegetarians or vegans. Others have greatly reduced their meat consumption because raising animals for meat puts an immense strain on the planet. Generally veggies, rice, and beans (the staples of vegetarian diets) cost much less than meat products. In this economy as fuel prices and food prices rise we can expect meat to become an expensive habit. Reduce your meat consumption and save a little.

There are many similarities between green living and frugal living and both can be practiced together for monetary benefit and the benefit of the planet.

The Significance of the Menorah

The Menorah signifies the Feast of Lights which commemorates the miracle of the oil in which one day’s supply lasted eight days. Before Hanukkah begins, the Menorah is taken out as well as nine tapered candles. The ninth candle is normally set apart from the rest as it is a Shamash or master light used to ignite the other eight.

Simulating the miracle of the oil, it is recommended to use olive oil to light the candles. In addition, it is customary for the candles to burn for 30 minutes after they are lit at sundown and always in the presence of everyone in the home. However, there is one exception. The Menorah must be lit before sundown on a Friday afternoon.

Starting from the right, the first candle is inserted into the Menorah and lit with the use of the Shamash or ninth candle. After the Shamash candle is lit, the first two blessings are recited before the first Hanukkah candle is lit. In addition to the two blessings, there is a third which is only recited on the first
night.

Similarly, on the second night, place two candles in the Menorah at the far right. Repeat the first two blessings after lighting the Shamash candle and then light the Hanukkah candles using the Shamash candle. Light the left-most candle first and then light in order, from left to right. This procedure is followed for each subsequent night of Hanukkah.

The Menorah is usually lit outside your home, to the left of your front door before entering. The Menorah can be placed in the window facing the front of the house. A third option is to light the Menorah on the dining room table, which is the center of activity as all family members gather for the celebration.

The tradition of lighting the Menorah is a custom in which Jews not only remember the victory over Antiochus and his suppression over the Jews but their restoration of the Holy Temple and the oil that burned for eight days, even though there was only enough oil for one.

7 Things I’ve Learned From Watching Rachael Ray

By Wendy Wallace

I have to confess, up until a few years ago, I knew nothing about cooking. I owned two pots, a cookie sheet and a toaster. The main staples of my diet were Chinese food, pasta, pizza, burgers and Cool Ranch Doritos.

Late one night, completely by chance, I happened to come across an episode of Rachael Ray’s show 30-Minute Meals on the Food Network. From that night on, my life changed. I began to finally understand and form an appreciation for cooking.

After watching hundreds of episodes of the show (including multiple re-runs), this is what I have learned from watching Rachael Ray:

1. Soup does not take all day to make.

Who knew you could make soup in less than an hour? I thought homemade soup took six or more hours to make. I was pleasantly surprised to learn you can add vegetables, meat and spices to ready-made stock and there you have a soup!

2. Olive oil makes everything taste good.

I always thought of olive oil as a delicacy and never used it. But since watching Rachael Ray, I put olive oil (or as she calls it, “EVOO”) on everything. From dipping bread in it to coating chicken breasts to drizzling olive oil over frozen French fries before putting them in the oven, olive oil has awakened me to how good food is supposed to taste.

3. Homemade pasta sauce and salsa can actually taste better than store-bought.

At first, I couldn’t believe making pasta sauce or salsa could be easy to make let alone taste as good as the jars I bought. When I first made salsa, it took less than ten minutes. It was exactly as spicy as I wanted it to be and it was much thicker than what I was used to. It was the first time I ever made something I liked more ready-made.

On several shows, Rachael Ray claimed homemade pasta sauce was better because it was cheaper and you could make it any way you wanted to. Like soup, I thought making pasta sauce would be a long, drawn-out process. It wasn’t! I took Rachael’s advice and added parsley to a can of crushed tomatoes and got creative with the other ingredients I added. It always turns out surprisingly well.

4. The little details make all the difference.

There are tips Rachael repeats that are drilled into my memory:

-“Need it twice, chop it once.”

-Squeeze a lemon turned upright so the seeds don’t get into dish you are making.

-Wash herbs after you get them home and wrap them in a paper towel.

-Have a garbage bowl handy.

-Heat your pan first so, “…it’s waiting for you and not the other way around.”

-Always use a separate, plastic cutting board for meat.

5. There are a million ways to make a burger.

Rachael has turned making burgers into an art form. For me, a burger used to be made up of a beef patty, cheese, lettuce and ketchup all in a bun. Now, I’m making turkey, tuna and lamb burgers topped with cheeses and vegetables I would have never envisioned on a burger (like spinach). For me, it’s not just about getting creative with a familiar food that won me over. It’s being able to take a typical takeout dish and make it my own that I have grown to love.

6. “Take a little help from the store where you can get it.”

I used to think of cooking as an all or nothing task. Either you worked with all fresh food and made dishes completely from scratch or  you heated up completely processed food. Rachael Ray taught me you can compromise. You can use things like frozen or canned vegetables, pre-made biscuit and cake mixes and stocks. The trick is to add spices or herbs to give the processed food its own, unique taste.

7. If you cook healthy, you can eat more.

When I started experimenting with Rachael’s recipes, I was surprised at how at easy it was to start eating more vegetables. It was nice to be able to have a second helping of Ginger and Lemon Steamed Vegetables and not feel guilty about it as I would when I’d have another piece of pizza. Not only that, but I started to crave fresh, healthy food. I can now understand why she has such a passion for food and why, for Rachael Ray, eating is such an enjoyable thing.

With a never-ending list of interests and a great deal of experience and knowledge, Wendy Wallace is an intuitive counselor offering sessions which combine psychic reading, life coaching and counseling all to help heal your mind, body, and spirit. What changes might you make in life if you could know what the future holds? Sign up for a chance to win a free session. Gain the insight you need. http://www.ifyoucouldknow.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wendy_Wallace
http://EzineArticles.com/?7-Things-Ive-Learned-From-Watching-Rachael-Ray&id=289527

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