Tips for Using Honey in Cooking

Honey will enrich and add subtle flavour to dishes such as casseroles, sauces and dressings. Honey can be used as a natural substitute for sugar in most recipes but as it is sweeter than sugar, less is needed. Similarly, as almost one-fifth of honey is water, the liquid content of a recipe should be reduced by the same amount.

Honey with meat:-

Honey-cured ham or baked gammon coated with honey and mustard date back from medieval times.

Marinades containing honey and vinegar make meat more tender and succulent.

In a barbecue sauce, golden honey gives a distinct flavour as it caramelises.

Honey gives a delicious crispy coating on roast chicken.

Honey with vegetables:-

Just adding a small amount of honey can do surprising things for everyday vegetables such as honey glazed carrots.

Orange blossom honey is perfect when added to a spicy vegetable stir fry as the sweetness of honey counteracts the spiciness of chillies, peppers, garlic and spices.

Honey in salad dressings:-

Adding honey to salad dressings and sauces can enhance the flavour and give extra body.
Honey in desserts and cakes:-

Honey is great for keeping cakes and biscuits fresh and moist. It's also sweeter than sugar, so much less is needed to achieve the same results.

Today, honey is appreciated as an unadulterated, natural product, less processed than any other sweetening agent, and with fewer calories.







Resource Sites:
http://www.painease.com/honey_in_beauty.htm
http://www.honeyassociation.com/index.asp?pid=11

Who Says You Are a Victim?- Positive Wednesdays

Who says you are a victim? No seriously, who told you that you are a victim? Yes, I am talking to you. I know that often it might seem like your life is totally falling apart but are you really a victim because of this. Oftentimes, the negative things that are happening in our lives are several learning curves. These are often the lessons we need to learn but we are too pigheaded to acknowledge them. So, does this mean you are a victim? No, you are only a victim when you declare that you are.  Yes, I said it. You are the one who is victimizing your own self. You’re the one who is speaking negativity and hopelessness in your own life.

I am dead tired but this post has been in my heart because this is something that I have been doing without even thinking about it. It is day 17 of my 21 day challenge and it has been a serious learning curve. I was in church on Sunday and right after communion and I was praying, out of nowhere, I was stung by a wasp. I kid you not. Immediately, I started saying to myself, why me. I went on, how can this happen? I was about to start pulling out the victim card when it clicked into focus. Why should I cry, worry or be the victim, when I can pray. So, I prayed and I forgot about the fact that I was stung. Do you know that my face was not swollen (this is unusual for me) and by that afternoon the pain was gone.

My experience just highlighted for me that we often claim and speak the wrong things into our lives. I know I have. If you think back, how many times have you spoken sadness and hopelessness into your own life by the nature of your own words? Therefore, it is like I said, you are victimizing your own life. So I will end like how I began, who told you that you are a victim?  Who did? Who really did?

SOURCE

Ways in which Baking Soda can be used in the Home

As long as I can remember, my mom had a box of baking soda in our home. However, I have never thought about using baking soda until a friend of mine mentioned how it helped to exfoliate her skin. She kept telling me about her morning skin care routine. Yet, my interest was not piqued until I saw her skin looking absolutely radiant. I was in awe. So, the next day I bought my first box of baking soda. 

Here is a list of ways you can use baking soda:

Scrub

You can pour a teaspoon of baking soda unto a damp rag and gently exfoliate your skin. You will find that it leaves your skin nice and smooth. I was amazed at how smooth my skin felt.

Deodorizer

You can pour four teaspoons of baking soda in an open container and place it in your fridge. Over time you will realize that your fridge will remain noticeably free of various odours that accompany various foods.

Brighten colours

You can add a handful of baking soda to your laundry and it will help to brighten the colour of your clothes.

Toilet cleaner

You can also sprinkle baking soda in your toilet and let it sit for one hour before flushing; it will remove the stains and odour from your toilet. You can scrub your toilet if necessary.

How to Pick Up the Pieces after a Tragedy

We are never prepared for a tragedy like the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. Or like the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Or like the attacks on the World Trade Centers. Devastating, horrific events like these are rare, but they do happen. When they do, it is not just those who were directly affected who must learn how to survive and how to live life again. Even the spectators -- even those of us who lived hundreds or thousands away from the events -- can feel the same fear, grief, and despair that these tragedies can cause.

Fortunately, you can pick up the pieces after a tragedy and learn how to move on. Of course, the process will be different depending on how close you were involved in the tragedy -- and if you were directly affected, you will need to do serious work with a counsellor. However, these steps can help you start the healing process:

Don't Dwell on the "Why"

You will want to find answers to explain why a tragedy happened so you can make better sense of it. After the Sandy Hook shooting, people questioned the shooter's motivation, how mental health care treatment have prevented the tragedy, and of course, how different gun laws may have kept weapons out of the shooter's hands. After Hurricane Katrina, people questioned the evacuation procedure and the quality of the city's infrastructure.

Though you may want to question how the tragedy could have happened, answers will rarely be found. You will dwell on asking "why" but will likely never get the satisfaction of an answer. Therefore, you will not be able to move on. Don't focus on why the tragedy happened; focus on what you can do to heal.

Mourn the Loss

Even if you were not directly involved in the tragedy -- even if you were not present or do not know anyone who was present -- you may feel grief. You may feel grief for those who were lost. You may feel grief over a certain loss of "innocence" or hope on your part. You may feel fear, hopelessness, or despair.

Allow yourself to mourn that loss. Experience the grieving process so you can get through those feelings and begin healing.

Get Support

Find others who can understand what you are going through and can offer you support. You may want to find other survivors or others who were affected in a similar way by the events. Or you may simply want to surround yourself with family and friends who can offer you support.

If you have been more directly impacted by the tragedy, your support can be a counselor or group therapy. It is important to get the right kind of support to help you process your feelings and get on the road to healing.

Maintain Your Routine

It is important to continue with your "normal" life as much as possible. Instead of giving in to despair and falling into inaction, you should focus on maintaining your regular routine as much as possible. Get up and go to bed at the same time, eat meals, go to work, see friends, and get some exercise. If you don't try to do these things, you run the risk of allowing yourself to wallow in your grief and become immobilized by despair.

Focus on Positive Action

You may feel angry or helpless after a tragedy because you feel like there is nothing you can do about what has happened. While you cannot change the past, you can focus on positive action to shape the future. You can volunteer with relief groups. You can work with advocacy organizations that are trying to bring about change. You can make a donation to a non-profit organization doing important work on a related issue.

By focusing on these positive actions, you can feel like you are doing something to prevent future tragedies, and that can help you in the healing process.

No one can ever be truly prepared for a tragedy. However, when a tragedy does happen, these steps can help you to pick up the pieces and begin again. Ultimately, you will make it through the healing process and learn how to live again.

Carmen Brettel is a writer and manager for Studentgrants.org. In her spare time, Carmen enjoys gardening and volunteering at animal shelters.