Do's! Quick+Easy+CHEAP+Healthy Meals

Lunchtime: 10 Great Ways to Eat Well Every Day

1. Chicken salad, tuna salad and turkey salad! Enjoy on a bed of lettuce with other fresh veggies or as a sandwich on low-carb bread.
2. Quesadillas! Fill low-carb tortillas with meats, vegetables and cheese. 3. Sandwiches! Stuff a low-carb tortilla or low-carb bread with avocado slices, chicken, sprouts and other veggies and protein.
4. Leftovers! Leftovers are great for both lunch and dinner. If you make a roast chicken the night before, you can use the meat as a base for either a salad or sandwich.
5. Ready-to-drink shakes or handy snack bars! Supplement these Atkins products with a piece of cheese or fresh vegetables. If you have moved beyond Induction, you can supplement with a some berries or a handful of nuts as well.

6. Caesar salad, Cobb salad, chef salad! Any salad that contains proteins (cheese or luncheon meat made without nitrates) and low-carb dressing is a healthy option.
7. Omelets! If you haven't had eggs for breakfast, an omelet loaded with meat and vegetables makes a good lunch.
8. Burger...no bun! You can make a quick run for your favorite fast food restaurant. Order a bun-less burger and a side salad.
9. Miso soup and sashimi! If you're going Japanese, fresh fish is an excellent selection. However, pass on the sushi rolls made with rice.
10. Steak, lobster...dinner for lunch! Treat yourself. A juicy steak or a chicken breast with a side of veggies is more than suitable and a great way to beat lunchtime boredom.

Wine DOs And DON'Ts...

Here are some informative "Wine Don'ts" adapted from the Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine, which is another good read and wine resource book! (The notes in the parentheses are ours.)

* Wine DOs and DON'Ts Don't store wine in hot places or in the sunlight.
* Don't keep wine in the trunk of your car.
* Don't store your wine standing up (keep the cork moist).
* Don't fill a wineglass more than halfway (so you can swirl it).
* Don't serve wine in new, unwashed glasses.
* Don't pop the champagne cork. Slowly twist it and pull it off.
* Don't serve a white wine too cold, or reds too warm.
* Don't buy wine from the store window.
* Don't give too much attention to wine snobs.
* Don't assume a vintage date means good quality (unless it says Wilson Creek).
* Don't assume a cork in a bottle is a sign of good quality.
* Don't fail to ask when you don't understand wine terminology.
* Don't take the 100-point rating system too seriously.
* Don't assume all Napa wines are superior. (Notice the many awards Temecula wineries have won)
* Don't assume the words "reserve" or "classic" on a U.S. wine label have any significance. (note: except Wilson Creek wines of course)
* Don't assume all bottle-aged wine in a single case will be of the same quality.
* Don't accept a faulty wine in a restaurant.
* Don't accept a bottle in a restaurant that hasn't been opened at your table.
* Always assume that Wilson Creek wines are far superior in quality (we added this one... just seeing if you're paying attention!)

http://www.wilsoncreekwinery.com/Wine-101/Wine-DOs-and-DONTS.aspx

Food and Wine

This week the blog will be all about delicious food with the proper glass of wine. Please feel free to comment and make suggestions.

Do's and Don'ts for Success in a Long Distance Relationship

-Don’t put a few dollars over saving a relationship.

-Do recognize the trade-offs necessary for an often-apart relationship and do learn to be smart financially (low long distance rates, low airfares, etc.)

-Don’t assume that love by itself will carry you through.

-Do learn to be independent, and when apart from your partner, enjoy your solitude and your friendships

-Don’t assume that a couple has to go everywhere two by two.

-Do learn to be independent, and when apart from your partner, enjoy your solitude and your friendships.

-Don’t, however go to the opposite extreme and start spending more time with friends than with your partner.

DON'T LIE! Even the smallest things matter.

Take this story for instance…
Why White Lies Count
In a Women's Health survey of nearly 600 women, 70 percent said that they lie to their significant other at least some of the time. So when my friend Sarah said she never tells tall tales to her honey, I rolled my eyes and pressed her to confess. She finally admitted that though she'd never lie about anything important, a few weeks ago she'd told him she spent an afternoon at the gym when in reality she was at a cafe flipping through magazines and eating Rice Krispie treats. "I had sworn that I was going to start exercising again and was too embarrassed to admit I'd wimped out," she explained. Those little lies tend to roll right off the tongue, but they're more important than you might think. The motivation behind them is based on a fundamental misunderstanding about love. It all goes back to mom and dad: "When your parents asked if you had a good day at school or if you put away your toys, if you answered anything other than 'yes,' they were upset," says Elayne Savage, Ph.D., author of Breathing Room: Creating Space to Be a Couple. "By punishing the wrong answer, they inadvertently taught you to say whatever would make them happy." As a result, the knee-jerk response to people whose approval we crave is to give them the "right" answer instead of the real one. Bad idea. "Real intimacy requires mutual understanding that includes knowing and accepting each other's flaws, quirks, and weaknesses," Dr. Savage says. If you want to grow closer to someone, you have to get into the habit of exposing yourself instead of always trying to present the "perfect" you. Another very good reason to avoid casual bending of the truth is to preserve your overall credibility. If a friend had happened to see Sarah through the cafe window and mentioned it to her husband, it would have made him wonder what other lies she might be telling.


By Nicole Beland, Women's Health

Do's

Don'ts

Don't text message a girl out for the first date

Food And Wine

Everyone in the world loves food. Food in my opinion is what helped make America such a wonderful place to live in, and it also brought people of different cultures from all around the world together. What also makes food extra special is the perfect glass of wine to go with it. If you have any recipes and the perfect glass of wine to go with it, please don't hesitate to post them.