BBQ Dry Rub for the 4th

 

For the 4th of July instead of using bar b que sauce how about trying a delicious dry rub, these ingredients are just suggestions.  Have fun with your favorite ingredients and create your specialty dry rub.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon paprika

• 1 tablespoons kosher salt

• 1 tablespoon cumin

• 1 tablespoon granulated onion

• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic

• 1 tablespoon chili powder

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 1 teaspoon white pepper

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Healthy Recipes: Fish Tacos with Summer Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 pound halibut or other meaty white fish fillets
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 11 ounce can  whole tomatillos, drained
• 4 small zucchini peeled, seeded and cut into small cubes
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves and stems
• 2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more to taste
• 8 6 inches corn tortillas
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Hass avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees . Place the fish in a medium bowl and drizzle with half of the lime juice. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
2. Using your hands, squeeze the juice and flesh from the tomatillos, 1 at a time, into a medium bowl; discard the skins. Mash the tomatillos with a fork. Add the zucchini, the remaining lime juice, the cilantro and 2 teaspoons of the salt and toss.
3. Spread the tortillas on 2 baking sheets and warm in the oven for about 10 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, cayenne pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Remove the fish from the lime juice, pat dry and cover with the spice rub. Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and cook the fish, about 4 minutes on each side. Break the fish into bite-size pieces and season to taste with salt. Arrange the fish in the tortillas with some of the salsa and avocado slices.

Make the salsa ahead of time and store in the fridge–it’s even better the next day.

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The Four Reasons Why Women Don’t Have Orgasms

 

Here is a very interesting article published on the Huffingtonpost by Pamela Madsen, Sexuality and Relationship Coach For Women, Author, Founder, Back to The Body: Sensuous Retreats For Women.

What is stopping countless women from experiencing the pleasure of orgasm? And is the new female Viagra the answer?

Before you pop your first pill, ask yourself this: When was the last time during a sexual encounter that you were simply focused on being in the moment of sexual expression? That amazing moment where you stop worrying about whether you should be giving or receiving, or what should happen next, or how you look, or if you will “get somewhere”?

I work primary with women around their relationship to their sexuality and their bodies. I literally help women find their pleasure in their bodies, expand their pleasure potential and for some women I help them discover orgasm for the first time.

The reasons why women hold themselves back from receiving pleasure in their bodies and having orgasm are common and widespread. And women can open up to pleasure and change their relationship to their bodies and their sexuality at any age.

Four Common Reasons Why Women Don’t Have Orgasms

1. Women worry about time.

Stop watching the clock — sex is not about who finishes first. Many women are worried that they “take too long” and are being selfish, or that they should be “doing” rather than receiving pleasure.

It’s completely common for women to actually stop themselves from experiencing pleasure because it takes time and they go into self-ridicule and self-judgment mode. There is nothing like focusing on whether or not you are “taking too long” and “being selfish” or “greedy” to stop a delicious orgasm. Women sometimes take a little longer to relax, open and receive pleasure in their bodies. Orgasms can take time and the best orgasms are all about the build up. Let it happen! Aren’t you worth the time? Give yourself permission to have pleasure in your life. You are not greedy to want multiple orgasms, or frankly ANY orgasm. Isn’t it time to raise your pleasure ceiling and make space for them to happen? Forget the clock. Sex doesn’t have a time limit.

2. Women have a hard time receiving pleasure.

Most women are really good at doing for others. I talk to countless women who want me to teach them how to “give” pleasure to their partners. When we go deeper, I find out that the biggest problem is that they don’t know how to receive pleasure! Women are conditioned to give. It’s a radical idea for many women to simply allow pleasure into their own bodies and completely experience that. This can be the hardest thing for many women to do and if you can’t fully receive — it can be nearly impossible to let go and have an orgasm.

You deserve pleasure and happiness. You can give it to yourself and/or your partner may really want to offer it to you. Sometimes, we have to literally “take” pleasure and claim it for ourselves. Take the time to stop giving and open to the pleasure of receiving. Remember, your partner wants to give you something beautiful. Savor and enjoy the gift.

3. Women don’t know how.

Many women really don’t know how to have an orgasm.

It’s hard to believe that a woman with an advanced college degree may not know their own anatomy, but it is extraordinarily common. It’s hard to have an orgasm when you are unfamiliar with your own parts. Way too many women do not know their own anatomy, and have no idea what kind of touch gives them pleasure. If you can’t name your parts and have no idea what gives you pleasure, how can you ask for it? Many women have never experienced wonderful touch. And their partners are as uneducated as they are.

So how can you ask for something you don’t know exists?

Most women do not know that it is very common for women not to climax during intercourse unless their clitoris is stimulated. Both men and women are not taught about female bodies. To learn more about the primary sex organ for women — the clitoris — please read this blog.

The fact is that our clitoris needs to fill with blood and engorge just like a penis does if we want to have amazing orgasms. That takes time and stimulation! So if you are not touching all of the various parts of your vulva — the inner labia and your clitoris — you are shutting off your main portal to pleasure. It can take time to learn and experiment with your own body and it’s a must do if you want to experience orgasms and expand your pleasure.

Getting to know your body and taking on your sexuality requires time and effort. If you are willing to go to the gym, eat right, meditate and see the doctor regularly, why aren’t you willing to put the time and effort into your sexuality? Great sex doesn’t always just happen. We have to create our own incredible erotic lives and give it the time and effort it deserves. Women are taught in many ways to give their sexuality to their male partner and they will take care of everything. We become passive yet not responsive. It’s only when women are willing to own that they want great sex and take responsibility for their own sex lives that amazing sex will happen.

What if your sexuality and your relationship with your body became a priority in your life? I am not alone in believing that our sexual arousal, orgasms and pleasure connect us to our own life force energy. It’s the rocket fuel that connects us to our creativity and the deepest parts of ourselves.

4. Women have given themselves “Pleasure Ceilings”.

Way too many women put restrictions on the amount of pleasure they are allowed to have and that holds them back from experiencing what is possible in their own bodies.

They have this belief that they can only have one orgasm (that’s enough) or that sex can only happen in a particular way. When you do that, you cut off your ability to freely expand your pleasure experience. You shut yourself down. Maybe your “Pleasure Ceiling” has been taught to you by your family, your past lovers or even friends who might have shamed you for the way you expressed your sexuality. Let go of what you think “sex” should be. Forget comparing and contrasting your sexuality with others. Allow sex to be messy and more of a modern dance than a structured ballet.

Orgasm is all about the build up, learning to let go into receiving, and allowing pleasure ceilings to vanish. Fabulous sex is timeless. It’s about letting go into the rhythm of bodies and breath.

Most of us never get to actually see another woman (not an actress) experience sex and have an orgasm. Real sex is too messy for Hollywood. So we are all trying to learn how to have something that we have not entirely ever witnessed.

Having orgasms is not an Olympic sport or a competitive game. Instead, sexuality is all about letting go into your own erotic dance where you can be completely yourself.

What if you could just allow yourself to be open, free and in celebration of the pleasure, miracle and joy that is unfettered sexual expression?

I wonder if you would need a pill then?

Healthy Recipes: Double Tomato Bruschetta

 Makes 12 Servings

 Ingredients:

• 6 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped

• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil

• 3 cloves minced garlic

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• 1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 French baguette

• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven on broiler setting.

2. In a large bowl, combine the roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.

3. Cut the baguette into 3/4-inch slices. On a baking sheet, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown.

4. Divide the tomato mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Top the slices with mozzarella cheese.

5. Broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

 

 

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What Is That White Stuff Oozing Out Of Your Salmon, and How Can You Avoid It?

Have you ever cooked salmon and that nasty looking white gook comes out? Here’s a very interesting article that explains why it happens and how to avoid it.

Huffingtonpost

We hate to be the ones to tell you this, but the white stuff oozing out of your salmon is your fault. It happens to everyone, and it looks gross. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way and we’re going to tell you how to fix it.

First, let’s get to the bottom of what that stuff is. The totally harmless, but wholly unappetizing white gunk that seeps out of salmon filets as they cook is just coagulated protein — also known as albumin. (To clarify, the correct spelling is albumin with an “i.” You may have also heard of albumen, with an “e,” but albumen is the term for egg whites. They’re two different things.) This sounds bad, but it’s absolutely safe. Albumin gets pushed out of the muscle fibers of fish as it cooks, coagulating at the surface. This will happen to all salmon, no matter what you do. It has been hypothesized that the way you cook salmon — how fast and how long — affects how much albumin seeps out, but this is not true.

America’s Test Kitchen tested the cooking theory AND talked to Donald Kramer — a professor of seafood science at the University of Alaska — and concluded that the way you cook fish will not stop albumin from collecting at the surface. It’s going to happen no matter what to some degree. But don’t despair, they did find a way to significantly minimize the collection of albumin: a quick brine.

Just 10 minutes in a basic brine solution (about 1 tablespoon of salt per cup of water) before cooking results in less white stuff. According to America’s Test Kitchen, this is because “the salt partially dissolves the muscle fibers near the surface of the flesh, so that when cooked they congeal without contracting and squeezing out albumin.”

Problem solved.

Nathaniel’s Have a Heart Fund

 

 

Click here or the picture to donate

On May 16th, 2014 little Nathaniel Eugene Nuanes was born. Shortly after Nathaniel’s birth the doctors realized his lips turning blue due to lack of oxygen to his right side of his heart; Nathaniel was airlifted to a hospital from Clovis, N.M to Albuquerque N.M where he later had his first heart procedure. Nathaniel had to have a shunt (a little tube) inserted in one of his valves to help oxygen get to his lungs and heart, Nathaniel was under medical paralysis for the first month of his life, due to being fully under he lost abilities to learn how to drink from his baby bottle which led Nathaniel to get a feeding tube, He is now in the hospital for his third procedure which is open heart surgery, the surgeon had to go in Nathaniel’s heart and remove some of the muscle around the right side of his heart to help blood flow through the heart at four months old Nathaniel is now recovering from his surgery but due to so many surgeries in such a short time his family is on the verge of loosing their home and vehicle and everything they have worked so hard for. They are asking for help to move their son Nathaniel from the small town they live in to Albuquerque so he is closer to medical attention, they thank you for taking the time to read this and possibly help their family in these hard times.  Thank you and God bless.

http://www.gofundme.com/f9m594

Health & Fitness: The health benefits of drinking wine in moderation.

A glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away. Could this be true? WebMD talks to experts to learn how we can get the health benefits of wine or alcohol while keeping our weight in check.

Do Like the French?

The French diet is often used as an example of how wine can improve heart health. The French have a fairly high-fat diet but their heart disease risk is relatively low. And some have attributed this to red wine.

But there are so many differences between the lifestyle of the French and Americans from their activity levels to the foods they eat. You cannot isolate red wine as the magic bullet for disease prevention says Alice Lichtenstein, DrS, Gershoff Professor at Tufts University.

Choose whichever alcoholic beverage you enjoy, drink it in moderation and try to have it with meals, advise Lichtenstein and Eric Rimm, DrS, a Harvard researcher.

Arthur Agatston, MD, cardiologist and creator of the popular South Beach diet, encourages patients who enjoy alcohol to also drink it with meals.

“Alcohol can stimulate the appetite so it is better to drink it with food. When alcohol is mixed with food, it can slow the stomach’s emptying time and potentially decrease the amount of food consumed at the meal,” asserts Agatston. His alcohol of choice is red wine due to the antioxidant resveratrol. However, he agrees that any alcohol in limited quantity will provide the same health benefit.

There is a misperception that red wine is abundant in antioxidants. “It does contain some, but they are not always well absorbed. If you want antioxidants, you are better off eating a spinach salad with vegetables than drinking a glass of red wine,” Rimm tells WebMD

Lower Your Cholesterol

Alcohol also can have a very powerful effect and increase HDL “good” cholesterol by 20% if used moderately and in the context of a healthy diet along with regular physical activity, says Rimm. Higher HDL levels are linked to lower risks of heart disease.

“The research evidence points to ethanol, or the alcohol component, of beer, wine, or spirits as the substrate that can help lower cholesterol levels, increase ‘good’ HDL cholesterol,” he says.

Boost Your Brain

A recent study shows a boost in brain power for women who enjoy a little alcohol. The study, published in the Jan. 20 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, evaluated more than 12,000 women aged 70-81. Moderate drinkers scored better than teetotalers on tests of mental function. Researchers found a boost in brainpower with one drink a day. Moderate drinkers had a 23% reduced risk of mental decline compared with nondrinkers.

Source

Health & Fitness: Did you know that Hungry and Thirsty give the same symptoms?

Hungry or Thirsty? How Water Helps a Diet

It’s very difficult for the body to tell the difference between hunger and thirst. So if you’re walking around feeling a gnawing sense of hunger, you might just be dehydrated. Try drinking a glass of water instead of grabbing a snack.

Research has also shown that drinking a glass of water right before a meal helps you to feel more full and eat less. “Many people do find that if they have water before a meal, it’s easier to eat more carefully,” says Renee Melton, MS, RD, LD, director of nutrition for Sensei, a developer of online and mobile weight loss and nutrition programs.

One study, for example, found that people who drank water before meals ate an average of 75 fewer calories at each meal. That doesn’t sound like a lot –but multiply 75 calories by 365 days a year. Even if you only drink water before dinner every day, you’d consume 27,000 fewer calories over the course of the year.

Source

WRRR Health and Fitness: Sugar a SUPERFOOD?!

 

 

OK, so sugar isn’t 1 of the top super foods, but there are some great qualities by consuming sugar in moderation and yes it’s a super food.  Not every one can tolerate sugar so talk with your doctor and or your nutritionist about sugar consumption before you start consuming more sugar.    ALL food has the potential to be bad for you but in reality it isn’t the food it’s the quantity.   If your body can’t burn it off, your body will store it as fat regardless of what you eat.  I wouldn’t recommend a person who is prone to getting blood clots to eat broccoli, kale or spinach with every meal as they are high in vitamin k.  However, these are extremely healthy but vitamin k thickens the blood.  Sugar should be used as fuel for the body, it is only stored as fat if you eat too much of it.  So grabbing that afternoon candy bar might be a good thing on occasion. Sugar is in everything and we often add more sugar to our already sweeten foods and beverages.  The problem isn’t with sugar, the problem is with consuming too much of it.  If you stop eating sugar I’m sure some people will see results in their bodies, they might feel and look better but I guarantee you it’s because you were consuming too much sugar in the first place.  Just like all food sugar is addicting so consume it in moderation.

Let’s talk sugar:

Refined Sugar:  This has no nutritional value although it does come from the sugar cane.  However, calcium, iron, magnesium, & potassium just to name a few of the nutrients that are removed while processing.

Unrefined Sugar aka Raw Sugar: This sugar is packed with nutrition because the process is minimal.  Raw honey (which is also a super food) and raw maple are great sugar substitutes.   Have you every tried honey in your tea when you’re sick and not sugar?  Why?  The reason we use honey in our tea when we are sick is because honey is packed with antioxidants and anti-bacterial properties which help boost your immune system and your digestive system.   Honey has so many health benefits it will be covered in another article.  However, did you know honey can help with a hang over!  If you’re a coffee and/or tea drinker I challenge you to substitute honey for 1 week and see if you notice changes in your daily activities.

Natural Sugar: This sugar is the best sugar.  It comes from fresh fruits and vegetables.  We all know the benefits of eating healthy foods like fruits and vegetable so I won’t bore you with the details.

If you ever need a boost of energy all of these sugars can help with that.  By eating them in moderation you will enjoy the energy boost that they offer.  However, if you want something with more nutritional value while still giving you that energy boost stick with the unrefined and natural sugars.

Here is a short list of other super foods:

• Oranges

• Blueberries

• Broccoli

• Oats

• Salmon

• Spinach

• Tea (green or black)

• Tomatoes

• Turkey

• Walnuts

• Yogurt

• Beans

• Kale

Eat Healthy – Live Healthy – Be Healthy

WRRR: Health and Fitness – Together we can Stop Childhood Obesity!

 

 

I’m sorry but I have never seen so many over weight children in my life.  Remember the good ol’ days when you went outside and played until the street lights came on.  In this new tech world it’s getting easier to sit around and watch TV, play games on computers, mobile devices, and game stations.  Remember when TV went off late at night forcing you to go to sleep.  A child’s growing body needs adequate sleep, but that’s another blog.  I rarely hear kids playing outside and they are eating too many processed and high fat foods.  McDonald’s shouldn’t be a replacement for going home and cooking for your children.  It’s easy after a long day of work and school to just stop at the closest fast food restaurant but you can prep your kitchen so meals don’t take long to cook.  Plus, you save money by not eating out all the time and you know that fast food is high in sodium, sugar and fat.  I understand that some children are genetically over weight which is the #1 cause of childhood obesity BUT lack of physical activity and over eating comes in a close 2nd.  If you’re concerned about your child’s weight please touch base with a good pediatrician and or a nutritionist if needed.  I found out the following information listed below by WebMD, I never knew children could have high cholesterol and or high blood pressure, really?  We as parents (and I’m guilty too) need to control what food comes in our homes.  We buy the packaged snacks, fast foods and don’t encourage outside activity.  After reading WebMD’s article going forward a fruit snack in my house will be a fresh piece of fruit.   1 out of 5 children are overweight or obese and this number will continue to grow.  BUT, this is something we can fix it.  We have the power to save our children from childhood obesity if it comes from lack of physical activity and over eating.  Start today to change the diet of your child it will instill healthy habits that they will use when they become adults possibly preventing health issues later in life.

Obese children are at risk for a number of conditions, including:

• High cholesterol

• High blood pressure

• Early heart disease

• Diabetes

• Bone problems

• Skin conditions such as heat rash, fungal infections, and acne

 

Eat Healthy – Live Healthy – Be Healthy