Spice Up Your Diet With These DASH Recipes

Any dieter will agree that healthy foods aren’t always the most exciting. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (or DASH) eating plan aims to incorporate convenient, tasty meals into your healthy diet, using only accessible ingredients that you likely have around the house. This NIH website offers a number of DASH-friendly recipes for every day of the week.

Here are three recipes you'll find there:

Chicken Salad
Just like the summer picnic favorite, this zesty chicken salad can be spread on sandwiches or placed on a bed of lettuce. Unlike its fattening counterpart, DASH’s chicken salad recipe contains less than 200 calories.

Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce
Whether you follow a meat-free diet or not, this delicious spaghetti sauce tastes great over pastas or on other Italian dishes. It also contains only 479 mg of sodium per serving, significantly less than other sauces.

Chicken and Spanish Rice
A traditional dish with a zesty kick of flavor, this Spanish rice recipe contains much less sodium than other versions. By substituting brown rice for regular white rice and adding a variety of vitamin-rich vegetables, this fast and easy recipe can help you stay on track with healthy eating as well.

To find the full week’s worth of DASH recipes, visit the NIH website here.

New Facebook Sweepstakes! Enter to Win an iPad Mini!

To enter the Sweepstakes, Like our Facebook Page and then look for the Sweepstakes tab (image shown below) located on our Facebook Page to enter. Sweepstakes ends December 31, 2014.

For mobile users ONLY, like our Facebook Page, and then click here to enter!

Looking For a Great Place to Watch the World Cup Tonight?!

Are you looking for a great place to watch the World Cup tonight? Well, don't forget to check out Doc's Backyard located at 5207 Brodie Ln #100, Sunset Valley, TX 78745. They have happy hour from 4-7pm, with $1 crispy tacos and $2 Mexican beers.

Tonight Cameroon and Croatia will be playing at 5pm. This could be the perfect place to catch the game!

Business and Economics Lesson Plans for Teachers

Teachers often hear the question, “When am I ever going to use this?” when teaching things like fractions, chemistry or other subjects. Learning about economics and money management, however, is obviously important for the world outside school. These online guides will help educators to develop lesson plans that will keep students interested in business, taxes, and economics:

Understanding Taxes for Teachers
Teaching students about taxes may seem intimidating to anyone who isn’t an accountant, but this helpful guide from the IRS presents it in an easily intelligible form. Here you’ll find a custom resource list, lesson plans, educational standards and even downloads and PowerPoint presentations describing the basic components of filing taxes.

Federal Reserve Education
The educational division of the Federal Reserve’s website offers classroom resources for students ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. You can browse the website by lesson plans, activities or publications, and even search by topics on everything from financial fundamentals to monetary policy.

Investor.gov’s Classroom Resources
Investor.gov states that the best time for kids to learn about money is when they’re young, and that teaching children about managing their finances can help them be wise with money in the future. This website provides key topics and suggested activities for teaching kids about credit, savings and investments to help them make smart money decisions as adults.

Public Domain/Public Domain

Monitor Physical Activity by Determining Your Target Heart Rate

Becoming familiar with your target heart rate can help you to monitor the safety of your workout and track your fitness progress. Target heart rate is different for people of all ages and fitness levels, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created these helpful tips to teach you how to find yours.

  • For moderate-intensity physical activity, a person’s target heart rate should be 50 to 70% of his or her maximum heart rate.
  • Maximum heart rate can be determined by subtracting the person’s age from the number 220 and labeling the resulting number “beats per minute.”
  • For vigorous-intensity physical activity, a person’s heart rate should be from 70 to 85% of his or her maximum heart rate.
  • During physical activity, you can monitor your heart rate by taking your own pulse using your index and middle fingers against your neck, wrist or chest.
  • Count your heartbeats in a 60-second interval and compare them to the target heart rate for your age during a particular kind of exercise.

Find out more by visiting the CDC's website!

Target Heart Rate and Estimated Maximum Heart Rate [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]

Public Domain/Public Domain

Two Fashionable Menswear Blogs

There are countless women’s fashion blogs on the internet today, but now the men are having a moment as well. These chic and savvy men’s fashion blogs will appeal to stylish men, and they might even inspire the less fashion-inclined to trade in those dirty sneakers in favor of something a bit more chic.

The New York Times Style Magazine Men’s Fashion Blog
Inspired by the stylish men in one of the most fashionable cities in the world, the New York Times Style Magazine’s Men’s Fashion blog catalogs the latest trends, designers, and clothing pieces. This blog also features long-form articles describing men’s fashion news, well-curated gift guides, and beautiful photos to give you inspiration for styling each of the looks. 

Menswear Dog
This blog is certainly a unique take on men’s fashion, and it will provide tons of laughs along with its surprisingly stylish photos. Menswear Dog is a blog that features a supremely dapper Shiba Inu dog from New York City modeling the latest menswear trends, as well as thoughtful, informative commentary on everything from tweed for winter to the classic Stetson hat. Menswear Dog also frequently hosts giveaways where loyal followers can win pricey pieces like leather oxford shoes from up-and-coming designers to help make your wardrobe as perfect as this pup’s.

Get New Books Every Month With These Subscription Sites

Give the book lover in your life a gift that will last all year long with a book subscription. These fun and surprising websites give members the chance to read books from authors they may have never encountered otherwise, and receiving a new book every month makes members feel like they’re a part of one big, digital book club.

Oyster
Oyster is an affordable membership site that allows members to download unlimited books from over 100,000 titles. The service works with iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, and it features an easy-to-navigate library and simple layout that makes mobile reading easy and convenient. Oyster costs less than 10 dollars each month, but the site offers a one-month free trial for new members to try out the service without spending a penny.

Open Letter
This nonprofit literary translation press affiliated with the University of Rochester publishes ten translated titles every year from all over the world, giving English speakers access to books from a number of different countries. Open Letter's subscription service delivers one of their new releases to members’ homes every month, as well as a thoughtful letter from the publisher about the book and how it was published. Open Letter offers either a 6-month or 12-month subscription.

Public Domain/Public Domain

Java-Fueled Sites for Coffee Aficionados

It’s the first thing you think of in the morning, what gets you through your mid-day slump, and sometimes even the way you unwind after a long day at work. Coffee is a relaxing, delicious pick-me-up for many people, and these great websites understand your love for that daily cup of joe.

Coffee Geek
Full of consumer reviews, how-tos, informative guides and discussions with other enthusiasts, Coffee Geek is your online source for all things coffee. The site tests out everything from elaborate, at home espresso machines to basic, efficient coffee makers and provides helpful tips to its caffeine-fueled members. It also features articles and columns by coffee experts, baristas and farmers on the state of coffee today. If you’re a coffee lover who always wants to have the latest brewing and serving products, Coffee Geek is the site for you.

Coffee Research
Unlike sites that discuss mainly taste and preparation, Coffee Research is dedicated to coffee education and the agriculture, science, and economics behind the coffee industry. Here you’ll find the history of coffee consumption, information about harvesting, grinding, and roasting, and social issues like fair trade and organic beans. By educating its visitors, the Coffee Research team hopes to improve the quality of coffee on the market today.

Public Domain/Public Domain

DIY Christmas Idea!

Looking for a fun, INEXPENSIVE idea for Christmas presents this holiday season? This could be just the thing for you.

You can decorate Pringles containers will all of your favorite Christmas decorations, fill the containers with tasty cookies, and then pass them out to all of your friends!!

If you have any great ideas for DIY Christmas gifts, please comment below!

Pin It on Pinterest