Introducing Free Stock Photos 1

I love collections of free stock photos. What could be more useful and user-friendly? So I'm always pleased when somebody sends me a link for a stock photo site I haven't heard of before. If you're looking for free stock photos and/or free HD wallpapers, check out Free Stock Photos 1.

You can browse the site by categories, or do a keyword search. Categories include animals, buildings, cars, food, furniture, and landscapes. There are lots of great uses for stock photos; for example, I always like stock photos related to food as they can be great to use when sharing recipes (check out this great photo of blackberries I found on the site!). For wallpapers, check out the background category.

Even if you don't have a blog or other regular place where you use stock photos, you can have fun with this website as it's a great place to find images you can work with to create fun profile pics or cover photos for sites like Facebook and Twitter. For example, this image of stadium lights would be a fun image to use if you're a sports fan.

The site is new and growing, and I've bookmarked it and plan to keep checking in to see what photos are added.

Author Spotlight: Deborah Dolen

Author Deborah Dolen is the busy author of 29 books. Her work all seems to share a common thread of working with natural ingredients, such as honey, beeswax to make lip balm, bee pollen to make healing salves, and easy-to-grow flowers that are fun to cut and arrange for the home.

For example, Deborah has written about edible flower petals, and she offers tips for making great salads and wowing your guests with sprinkles of bright orange marigold petals and violet impatiens petals. Deborah helps inspire me to garden with her writing about the ways that flowers are meant to do many things. In designing a garden, I like Deborah's advice to choose some plants designed just for making fresh cut floral designs to bring in the home, plus a selection of herbs for making skin care products and medicinal syrups. Beyond putting flower petals in salads, you can also make floral petal extracts for skin care. Deborah Dolen covers all of these--and more--concepts in her books.

If you have even the slightest interest in beekeeping, you may well find that after reading Deborah's book, The Beekeeper's Digest, you'll really want to be a beekeeper and raise honey bees.

Beekeeping has become more and more popular for backyard gardeners. As Deborah writes in The Beekeeper's Digest, honey bees make so many byproducts it is amazing! And you don't have to be a beekeeper to make natural products using things made by the bees. For instance, you can buy bee pollen from a local beekeeper and make "bee pollen oil" by just soaking the bee pollen in macadamia nut oil. Deborah writes that macadamia nut and jojoba oil is most closest to our own skin chemistry, so she uses these two oils for making almost all body care recipes, including lip products, cleansing creams, and even soap. In fact, it was from Deborah Dolen I learned soap is basically oil. Back to bee pollen oil, you simply soak bee pollen in macadamia nut oil for a week, and you'll find that you suddenly have a beautiful orange oil packed with micronutrients and very healing for the skin. Deborah says marigold petals are also dynamic to infuse if you'd like because marigold oil, also known as Calendula oil, is great for anti-inflammatory purposes and circulation. She highly recommends it for people with edema.

Another interesting point in The Beekeeper's Digest is that the source of the hive is very important. The more remotely the honey and byproducts are produced from a major city pollution the better. There are a lot of interesting beekeeping facts in Deborah's book, and she has a wealth of recipes for products like lip balms and soothing creams. You'll never think about beeswax the same way again!

Aromatherapy is another topic dear to the heart of Deborah Dolen. Her work on the topic helps you understand essential oils and what they are known to do, which is a good topic to research if you want to make your own skin care products. Aromatherapy Basics is Deborah's book designed to help you tlearn how nature and botanicals work. &

Many botanicals are natural healers, and essential oils from them can go into a lip balm type recipe and become a healing "salve." One of Deborah's recipes along this line is for a lavender super-healing burn butter. Another example is her bruise balm using blue chamomile. The book helps you create essential oil blends for specific results. It can be a helpful guide if you want to make your own bath bombs and bath salts, as described in two other of her books, The Self Apothecary and The Bathroom Chemist. These books offer a ton of bath and body products to give as gifts for Christmas or other holidays. The cost is very low compared to buying finished body care products, and you can trust the high quality of products you make yourself.

In addition to making bath and body products for the coming holiday season, Deborah Dolen shares a lot of recipes for food items that make great gifts in her Kitchen Arts Collection. This book contains a selection of dry dip mix recipes and loads of "gifts in a mason jar" recipes. For a sample recipe, check out Deborah's .org site: http://www.deborahdolen.org/.

An Informative Blog on Vacuum Packing Your Food

The VacUPack Blog is one of those blogs where you didn't realize what you were missing until you happened to click on it. Located at www.vacupackblog.com, the blog discusses both home and commercial applications for vacuum packing food. But the topics on the blog extend beyond vacuum packing and include cooking tips, recipes, and information on food safety.

The blog is authored by Marinus Hoogendoorn, a professional chef with many years of experience in the culinary and hospitality industries. Personally I found the blog interesting because it gives a behind the scenes view of food safety requirements in restaurants and other commercial/industrial/agricultural settings. And Chef Marinus also has great tips for delicious food preparation--for example, I learned the difference between white and green asparagus and how each are grown and prepared.

If you're thinking about buying a vacuum sealer for your home or commercial kitchen, the blog is very useful in learning how the products work. If you already own a vacuum sealer, the blog will give you some helpful ideas about how to use the product to maximize your investment--and maximize the flavor of your food.

A lot of us start thinking about food preservation during the summer months, but what do we really know about it? Marinus gives us a solid starting point for learning about this topic and emphasizes the importance of food safety. I think anyone with an interest in cooking will find something interesting while perusing this blog.

Meet Arneva Mason, Chef and Guest on Root Cause Radio

Root Cause Radio is an online radio show that explains how to obtain the best health possible. The show is a success because of the featured guest, Dr. Maxwell Nartey. Dr. Nartey is a respected doctor, scientist, and author who has successfully treated a number of people around the world and now has brought his knowledge to the format of an engaging weekly radio show. Each week the 90 minute show tackles a specific ailment, and Dr. Nartey breaks down what has happened in the human body that has allowed the illness to occur. This show is never boring because at the end, the listeners are invited to play a trivia game and win prizes based on what they've learned. The show is live on Wednesday nights at www.rootcauseradio.com.

Arneva Mason is a professionally trained personal chef and wellness coach who emphasizes healthier eating in her cooking and wellness practice. Believing that good nutrition is the key ingredient to good health, Chef Arneva is one of the hosts for the healthy internet cooking show, Delicious Cooking. She supports and promotes taking control of one's own total wellness through diet and healthy living practices.

Below is a cooking video featuring Chef Arneva making a healthy Sweet Banana Parfait.

  

1. How did you first become interested in cooking?

Growing up a "latch-key kid" required that I knew how to cook at least enough to get by until my mother got home from work in the evenings. She started by teaching my sister and me how to boil eggs, fry deli meats for sandwiches, bake frozen pot pies (this was before we had a microwave), etc. The older I got, the more sophisticated my palate became, and my appetite for different cuisines developed. With that came the desire to know how to make these new foods. In 2006 I graduated from the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts program at the Cooking & Hospitality Institute of Chicago. It was there, in nutrition class, that I developed an interest in how food affects the body. After that I completed the health coaching program from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, and have been delving deeper into healthy cooking ever since.

2. What do you see as the relationship between food and health?

Good nutrition is key to good health! It's just that simple. I truly believe that if people were more conscious about what they put into their bodies, they'd be better able to take control of their own health, improving not just their physical well-being but also their mental, emotional, and financial health as well. It seems that sometimes just making changes to your diet can make such a big difference. Food is medicine, medicine is not food, and with the right foods, we can all achieve a lot more peace of mind. This is huge in achieving and maintaining optimal health.

3. Is it easy for home cooks to make healthy adjustments and substitutions in their recipes?

It really is easy. It's as easy as getting on the internet, doing a search for healthy eating, and finding a show like Delicious Cooking. We're offering a satisfying healthy alternative to foods you cannot eat, or have been advised to avoid. We take actual questions from our viewers and listeners of Root Cause Radio, and answer them with an easy, tasty recipe. It just takes a little effort, but hopefully you know that you're worth it!  For example, to feel more grounded I was advised to add certain root vegetables to my diet. After my research, I discovered a whole new world of foods I had never even heard of before. It takes a little effort, but hopefully you know that you're worth it.

4. Would you tell us a little bit about your collaboration with Root Cause Radio?

I was contacted by one of the producers of the show and learned that the goal of the show was to find a new way to help people help themselves. Because of my background in cooking and nutrition, and love of helping people, I was intrigued and excited to take on the project. I enjoy the recipes because with each one I learn how certain ailments are linked to certain foods. We take those lessons learned on Root Cause Radio and turn them into quick and easy dishes so that viewers can see how simple it is to take control of their own health, and learn something new in the process.

5. What is your best advice for people who want to start cooking--and eating!--healthier foods?

I think that many home cooks may be intimidated by trying to cook with foods and spices that they never have before, and I get that. But there is more than likely an online video to show you how to prepare just about anything you can think of. Reach out to us at Delicious Cooking; we'd love to show you how! Also, talk to the folks who work at your local health food store and ask lots of questions. That's what they're there for, and they love to talk about what they know. Experiment! That's what I say. Try new things. You will be surprised and delighted by what you discover.

Thanks, Arneva!

Healthy Green Salads: The New Trend in Global Cuisine

The following is a guest post provided by our friends at www.bestindianfoodcatering.com.

More green foods are being added to the regular diets of an increasing number of people as they have become more health conscious. In this fast paced life, health and food is something that really needs our care, and there should be no compromise at any cost. For instance, artichoke, avocado, purslane seeds, kale, spinach, broccoli and Brussels sprouts are some of the green foods that are being eaten by more people. Worldwide, several cuisines are now including these foods to create a healthy diet for all people.

The Italian spinach and mushroom salad is one such green salad which uses spinach as a green food. This mainly consists of fresh spinach leaves, sliced mushrooms, chickpeas, bacon, and some seasoned croutons and salad dressings. All you need to do is toss all the ingredients, saving the dressings to the end. This has a really low cholesterol content of only 3% and has the other required vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates in the required levels.

The French green salad with white wine vinaigrette is easy to make and has zero cholesterol. The green foods consist of baby spinach leaves, avocado, and green beans. The beans are boiled and whisked with olive oil. The dry ingredients are mixed and then served.

The German spinach salad with hot bacon is low in calories, and the spinach is the green food. In this recipe, the bacon is cooked and shallots are added to it. It is whisked with vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. It is poured when hot over the spinach and crumbled bacon is sprinkled on it.

The spicy Thai salad with avocado is surely a treat. It's easy to make, and the avocado, baby greens, and lemongrass constitute the green foods. The steak is cooked and the spices are prepared by grinding the spices in a mortar and pestle. To the cooked meat the lemongrass, onions, and tomatoes are added. Sauce is added and the ingredients are tossed. The avocados are sliced and added in the end.

The authentic Indian food bean, broccoli, and carrot salad has the required level of nutrients and as the name indicates, beans and broccoli are the green foods. The beans are boiled and the broccoli is cooked along with it. The mustard seed and chili flakes are roasted, and to this the cooked beans and broccoli are added. This can be served with bread.

The Chinese five spice duck salad uses coriander leaves and gem lettuce as green foods. The duck is seasoned in the five spice powder and fried just a little. The seeds are added to it and onions, coriander, watercress, and mango are mixed together. It is dressed with lime juice and seasoned with some sesame oil.

The Mediterranean spinach salad with garbanzos, radishes, tomatoes, and lemon has the lowest cholesterol levels and spinach is considered to be the green food. The garbanzos are cleaned and the dressing ingredients are mixed well. The tomatoes, radishes, and onions are sliced and the ingredients are mixed together.

The American avocado butter lettuce salad has avocado and lettuce as the green food. Having no cholesterol, the salad is prepared by adding onion, olive oil, lime juice, and table salt and mixing them well. Add the avocado and the lettuce in the end.

The Mexican green bean salad is prepared by mixing the green beans and avocado that constitutes the green food. Onions, lime juice, and cilantro are added and mixed well.

A Blog about Online Casinos and Gambling

Last month I posted an interview with the owner of Absolutely Free Sports Bets, an interesting gambling-related website. This interview got quite a few hits, and I've noticed since then that there are quite a few blogs out there on the subject of gambling. As someone who has only played an hour or two on a slot machine in a casino here and there, I learned a lot of new things from Simon's Online Gambling and Casino Blog.

If you're curious about online gambling, Simon's blog is great because he's tested out a wide variety of casinos for you, and he reports back on the findings. His emphasis is more on what works rather than what doesn't, the result being that you get his recommendations for online casinos where your personal information is safe, and where the proprietors make good on their offers of enticing deals and bonuses.

Simon is an online marketer, not a professional gambler, so his blog is a good fit for other gambling hobbyists out there who might want to try different venues for gambling. For example, I didn't know about gambling options on mobile phones/devices before I read Simon's blog. Also, he posts some fun content such as clips from movies set in casinos and recipes for casino cocktails.

Cheers! Or as Simon would say, "Gamble responsibly!"

Meet Giorgio Taverniti of Frank's Pizza House

Frank's Pizza House is a local favorite in Toronto, Ontario. The two chefs at this family-run restaurant are a dynamic duo of mother and son. Maria and Giorgio Taverniti are the minds behind the classic Italian dishes they offer to their clients. The restaurant atmosphere is warm and filled with friendly faces--as well as delicious aromas of freshly made dough, sizzling pizza, and savory espresso.

Giorgio Taverniti attended the Italian culinary progam at George Brown College. The culinary program combined with his mother's vast knowledge paved the way for him to follow his passion for the culinary arts. He now teaches Pizza 101 at George Brown College part-time.

Photo by Albano Martins

1. Why did you and your family decide to open a pizzeria in Toronto?

Choosing Toronto to open our pizzeria was a clear choice because Toronto is where we call home. Plus, Toronto is a mega city with a large culture and ethnic population, three major league sports franchise teams, and locals who have a knowledge of food. Toronto was an easy choice!

2. Could you tell us about your family's background and experience with cooking Italian foods?

My mother being of Portugese background learned her culinary skills in Italian cuisine from my grandmother from Calabria. Myself, I attended George Brown College here in Toronto where I completed the Italian Culinary program. After myself and my mother worked in different restaurants thoughout Toronto, we decided to open our own Italian pizzeria restaurant here in Toronto.

3. What makes Frank's Pizza House a unique restaurant to visit in Toronto?

What makes us different is being hands-on at all times in this family pizzeria.

4. What keeps customers coming back to your restaurant?

I think what keeps our customers coming back is us being part of the community and being visible at all times, showing them that we care about what we put out of our kitchen. Our simple, fresh dishes give dining at Frank's Pizza House a feel of the cultural influence of being in Italy.

5. If you had to choose your favorite three items on your menu, what would they be, and why?

Three favorite items would start with Frank's Salad, which has our special balasmic vinegar reduction to die for. Second would be our pizzas--that's what we're known for, and my favorite is the Toronto Pizza, a classic. Then I would choose our pillow Gnocchi, house-made in a simple tomato sauce that melts in your mouth.

Thanks, Giorgio!

Leap, Live, Learn: A Blog on Personal Growth

I recently happened upon leap, live, learn, an interesting site by a blogger from Australia named Kate. She writes about the different things she's been doing and learning as she focuses on making small yet significant changes in her life. When I asked her about the purpose of her blog, she said, "It is a project of sorts to help myself live as healthy, simply, and freely as I can."

I found useful posts on healthy eating and fitness. Kate has an engaging style where she combines her own experience with links and information from other sources. Recent posts include an easy recipe for coconut mango popsicles. Kate writes about giving up sugar, and she makes it sound delicious with her guidelines for baking a chocolate cheesecake without sugar.

In particular, I like a post from November of 2012 when she discusses her longtime love of Diet Coke, or in her words, "a story... about a girl and a bad relationship."

I can recommend Kate's blog to other readers like myself who find inspiration in other people sharing their own stories of making efforts toward personal wellness through everyday choices.

Meet Elizabeth Dodwell, Author and Speaker

Elizabeth Dodwell is an author, speaker and champion of the under-dog. Inspired by the need of her own rescued pets for healthy treats, she has created a selection of dogtail and pupcake recipes that are delicious, nutritious and served liberally with humor.

For more information about The BARKtender's Guide to Dogtails and Pupcakes, see Elizabeth Dodwell's website, as well as her Facebook page.

1. What motivated you to write a book of nutritious recipes for dogs?

Over the years I've had a number of rescued dogs with digestive issues. Currently, two of my pets have problems, in particular, Angel, who had a brutal start in life and was nearly starved to death. Although she's now a very healthy and happy seven-year-old, two bouts of pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas that prevents the digestion of fat and can be deadly) and allergy problems require that she maintains a strict diet regimen, which translates to "boring." The vast majority of commercial pet foods and treats contain gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye) and tend to be high in fat, so a large percentage of my dogs' diet has always been homemade. The idea for "Dogtails and Pupcakes" sprang from the Cocktail and Cupcake enthusiasm for people. It occurred to me that I could create nutritious and delicious doggy versions that would also be easy and fun, and it worked.

2. How did you come up with the recipes, and how did you test them?

Creating the recipes was tons of fun. I spent a lot of time researching "safe" foods for dogs and then matched ingredients that I thought would work well together. Mixing the drinks is as easy as shaking up or blending a cocktail for yourself. The pupcakes took a little more effort to perfect because some of the ingredients--meat, for instance--are not the sort of thing you'd normally use in a cupcake.

Anyway, my "kids" (Angel, Vinny and Coco) along with several of their pooch pals had a wonderful time as taste-testers. Their number one dogtail pick was the Angel's Kiss--yogurt, peanut butter, carob and vanilla--and there were several favorite pupcakes including Droolin' On a Sunday Afternoon and You Can't Lick It, made with cheddar cheese, beef, and carrot.

I should mention here that some of the pupcake recipes in The BARKtender's Guide... are made with wheat. However, if your pup is gluten free, the flour can simply be substituted.

3. Why don't more people cook for their pets, rather than relying on store-bought foods?

Many of us don't even cook for ourselves, let alone our pets. We lead busy, sometimes hectic lives and the fast food mentality has become part of our culture. Sadly, I must say. Because it takes only a little time and effort to prepare simple foods that are much healthier and tastier than any pre-packaged items you buy off the shelf, and meal preparation is a great time for ALL the family (people and pets) to bond. When I make pupcakes, somehow the dogs just know it's for them, and they line up in the kitchen to "oversee" operations. And when I pull the first batch from the oven, they are beside themselves with joy and anticipation. It makes me laugh every time.

4. As an author, how do you strike a balance between sharing (how-to) information and offering humor to your readers?

Hmm. I've never thought in those terms. I simply love to laugh, and I like to share the humor. And people are far more likely to pay attention to something that gives them a chuckle or two than to read through a boring tome or listen to a dull speech. I actually give talks on lessons you can learn from your dog with subjects like "How to take the ball and run with it" and "How to sniff out the possibilities," and humor is a big part of that.

5. Have you utilized The BARKtender's Guide... to help support pet rescue?

Yes! A portion of all sales is donated to pet rescue. I have a couple of "pet" (ha ha) charities; however, I am always willing to consider partnering with pet-affiliated groups and companies to help them raise awareness or funds for their business or cause.

Thanks, Elizabeth!