Win this Diono Radian R120 shadow car seat!

I’m honored to be chosen as one of the sponsors of this amazing give-a-way hosted by My Precious Kid.

Here’s how to enter, plus the boring stuff called rules, disclosure and disclaimers.

Open to USA residents 18+ yrs old only. Shipped to USA Physical address only (No PO/APO/FPO Boxes) Ends at 12:01 AM EST on 02/16/2013. At the conclusion of the giveaway, the winner will be selected by Rafflecopter and notified via email. The winner will have 48 hours to confirm.

I strongly believe children, our own, our grandchildren and all children are the most precious people in the world. That’s one of the reasons I was so excited about our new baby line! These baby care products are made with 95% or more natural ingredients (no nasty chemicals).

Watkins Natural Baby care products for your precious bundle of joy.

Good luck and don’t forget to share this give-a-way with everyone you know!

Cayenne Red Pepper

Cayenne or Red Pepper comes from chile peppers, or capsicums. Prepared from one of the hottest chile pods, it’s always sold as a ground spice. Not only does it heat up your meals, it also has a wide range of potential health benefits. Used both externally and internally, cayenne pepper is inexpensive and can be purchased at most grocery stores and gourmet shops. Here are some of the purported benefits of this colorful spice.

Lessen cold, flu, and sore throat symptoms. Cayenne is antibacterial and when eaten or applied externally it causes sweating, which similar to a fever, can help fight infections, especially in the throat and upper-respiratory tract. Try adding 1/4 teaspoon to salt water and gargle. When it’s combined with garlic in a broth or in home made chicken soup, it is a great early treatment to reduce or lesson colds and flu symptoms.

For ulcer prevention. The use of cayenne to prevent ulcers may seem counter-intuitive. However, contrary to popular belief, hot peppers do not cause ulcers. Red pepper may, in fact, protect the stomach lining from developing an ulcer. It has been shown to protect laboratory animals’ stomachs from large doses of aspirin that would normally cause ulcers.

For weight management. An interesting study in England showed as much as a 25 percent increase in metabolic rates – that is, how fast you burn calories – in individuals who ate a teaspoon each of red pepper sauce and mustard at every meal. In addition, if you eat hot and spicy food you will be likely to drink more water, causing a feeling of fullness that will also help prevent overeating. Americans, though, tend to add spicy hot pepper sauces to high-fat foods, so be sure you don’t undermine your weight loss attempts by using cayenne in high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Pain Relieving (Red) Liniment

Ease arthritis pain. How ironic that a spice that when eaten, causes pain that feels like fire in your mouth can actually help pain in the body. However capsaicin, a chemical in cayenne that accounts for its “hotness,” relieves pain by stimulating the body’s own pain-relieving mechanism – namely, endorphins. Cayenne pepper also contains pain-relieving compounds called salicylates. (Aspirin contains a form of salicylate called acetylsalicylic acid.)

You can take cayenne internally in capsules or by adding it to your foods and drinks. Applying cayenne on the skin at the site of pain is also effective, research has clearly shown that capsaicin liniments and creams relieve pain when applied to arthritic joints and sore muscles. It apparently dulls local pain receptors, and it also increases blood flow to the area.

Circulatory benefits. Cayenne increases circulation and makes the blood less likely to clot, according to James A. Duke, PhD author of The Green Pharmacy: The Ultimate Compendium Of Natural Remedies From The World’s Foremost Authority On Healing Herbs. Prevention of clot formation helps avoid scenarios that could give rise to heart attacks and strokes. The aspirin-like compounds “thin” the blood as aspirin itself is reported to do.

Reduce hypertension. As mentioned above, cayenne helps circulation and this can also effect blood pressure. The salicylates act like aspirin, thinning the blood but without the stomach irritation that can occur with aspirin.

When cooking use Cayenne Red Pepper in Italian and Mexican dishes, curries, deviled eggs, seafood, cottage and cream cheeses, cooked green vegetables, Welsh rarebit, cheese soufflés, plus many meats and sauces. In Cajun cooking, it is frequently blended with black and white pepper to make an “all-purpose pepper.”

This humble spice is not just a lively condiment, it may have health benefits as well. You’ll find cayenne red pepper, liniments and more in the US catalog and the Canadian catalog. (Cayenne pepper currently isn’t available in Canada.)

Important Note: Information presented on this site is for informational or entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Always consult your healthcare or medical professional for advise.

69 cancer causing chemicals

Countries world wide are recognizing the health risks of smoking and encouraging people to quit. It’s National Non-Smoking Week in Canada this week, January 20-26, 2013.  Every year, it’s World No Tobacco Day on May 31st, an initiative by the World Health Organization. Pick a quit date and go for it!

The first thing that you need to be is realistic. Every time you light up and inhale nicotine, your brain is getting hooked. When it depends on this substance to be there, it won’t let it go easily.

However, you’ve taken a huge first step when you make the decision to quit. Now is the time to get help and support. Hardly anyone can break a nicotine dependency alone. Just admitting that you need help will go a long way to build a reliable support system for the times when you need it most.

Don’t let a little weight gain stop you from quitting smoking!

It’s not uncommon for people who quit smoking to gain a few pounds. Because you’ll feel the need to do something with your hands, you might snack or nibble more. Drink water or reach for some carrot sticks or keep your hands busy in some other way! Here are a the top five tips to help you quit smoking successfully:

1. Have compelling reasons for quitting! Write down why you want to quit, it’s easier to commit to your goals when you put them on to paper, it gives them life and power. You are bound by them then. Make a vision or goal board, or use a journal to record why you want to quit. Reread those reasons whenever you feel like you are having second thoughts about your decision.
2. Accountability is a big issue when it comes to breaking an addiction so tell others that you plan to quit. They can lovingly encourage you when things get rough. Also, they can hold you to your goals and keep you interested in other activities that don’t involve smoking.
3. Try going cold turkey! While some people believe that you can get away with cutting back on the number of cigarettes you smoke each day, you are still smoking and dependent on nicotine. When you are stressed it is far easier to pick the habit back up this way.
4. Avoid smokers! This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t spent time with family and friends! Simply get together with them in places where smoking isn’t allowed. Be tactful so their friendship isn’t lost forever and ask them for their help.  Just the smell will weaken your resolve to quit especially in the first month.
5. Exercise! It can be as simple as walking the dog or going mall walking with a friend. Exercise releases endorphins that increase feelings of well being, something you will need as you work to reach your goal.

Smoking is a habit that can impact your health and shorten your life. Make no mistake; when you try to quit you will experience withdrawal symptoms just like any other form of addiction. When the brain is deprived of nicotine, you may feel irritable and anxious. Your irritability may make your friends and family want to muzzle you, but if they have pledged to help you, they will get through it too.  Use the tips above to help you leave it behind.

Cinnamon butter

Ingredients:
1 cup/250 ml softened butter (use the real stuff!)
2 cups/500 ml brown sugar
2 tablespoon/30 ml Watkins Cinnamon

Optional, for an added gourmet flavor add
1/2 teaspoon/2.5 ml Watkins Caramel Extract or Vanilla Extract

Directions: Mix all ingredients together with a wooden spoon or a mixer. Store butter in refrigerator, in tightly sealed container. Bring to room temperature 1/2 an hour or so before serving for easier spreading.

Whipping up butter, cinnamon and sugar

Spread on toast, pancakes, waffles, muffins, bagels and other baked goods.

Prefer a healthier version? Try this one, it’s very yummy too!

Ingredients:
1 cup/250 ml softened butter
1 cup/250 ml liquid honey
2 tbsp/30 ml Watkins Cinnamon

Directions: Mix all ingredients together with a mixer. Serve as above!

Wouldn’t this make a great gift?

English: Signs & Symptoms of Anxiety (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s a crazy world we live it and learning to live in the moment can be a very freeing state of mind. With so many things to do and worry about it’s easy to get stressed out and anxious. Understanding that “now” is all you really have can bring you a sense of peace. Here are some ideas on how to ease your anxiety and keep your mind in the moment.

1. Cultivate a sense of gratitude. Train your mind to appreciate everything around you – trees, clouds, your home, food, and so forth. Through practice, you will learn a sense of gratitude for your life and everything in it.

2. Meditate on peaceful concepts and simple thoughts. Meditate on gratitude as noted above, and think about what you are doing at that moment – breathing, sitting, experiencing. Breathe very deliberately and think about each breath. Feel and listen to your heart beat.

3. Let the past go, and recognize that you can not change it. Look at mistakes as learning experiences, and view hard experiences as tools that shaped and honed you.

4. Let the future go as well. You can not control it, and the only influence you have over it is what you are doing in the here and now. Recognize that worrying does not influence the future at all.

5. Exercise is very helpful in generating endorphins and other feel-good body chemicals, and it can help work out anxiety through physical means.

6. Reduce clutter in your living space to help ease your anxious mind. If de-cluttering the whole house is unrealistic, then pick a room or even a corner or special area that is clean and clutter-free. Just looking at this area throughout the day can help ease your mind and keep it focused. Make this your meditation space.

7. Commune with nature, and learn lessons from quietly observing the plants and animals around you. Think only about what you are doing at that moment. Meditate on how the landscape looks right now, and take it in with a sense of awe. Nature helps you recognize how small you are, and thus how small your problems are in comparison.

8. Listen to peaceful, relaxing music or nature sounds on CD. Let the music transport you into a peaceful state. Play music that brings back good memories, and think only of those memories and the music itself.

9. Drink chamomile tea in the evening. Chamomile helps calm fears and anxiety, and it promotes sleep. Getting enough sleep is an important factor in alleviating anxiety.

P.S. If self help techniques don’t seem to be working for you please seek professional care, you are so worth it!

Please use paraben-free on me!

Now you are probably wondering,”Why are some people concerned about the safety of parabens?” Here’s a few of the common concerns with parabens so you can decide for yourself.

Watkins aloe and green tea shampoo, paraben-free, 99% natural ingredients

Breast Health – A 2004 study showed traces of five parabens in cancerous breast tumors. Although the study did not prove the parabens caused the cancer, parabens do have estrogen-like activity in the body, and excess estrogenic activity is highly implicated in breast cancer.

The concern regarding this study is that it clearly shows that parabens are capable of remaining intact in human tissue, and are not necessarily excreted from the body quickly and easily, as was once thought. The 2004 study is inconclusive, but that is the point – the study does not prove that parabens are safe, either. It raises important questions about the safety of parabens.

The Water Supply – When you use shampoo or body wash that contains parabens, those parabens go down the drain and into the public water supply each time you wash your hair. If you have a septic system, the parabens will be excreted into the leach field, and thus into the general environment. Ground water, creeks, streams, springs, and other water supplies are therefore contaminated with each rain.

Municipal water systems are required to sanitize water by killing bacteria and other microorganisms before it is considered drinkable tap water. Parabens, however, are not microorganisms. Like other chemicals dumped into the water supply, parabens can easily go “full circle” in the water supply, going from shower drain to rivers and back to the water treatment facility. Parabens on the skin are one thing, but the effects of actually drinking them is something else to consider.

Watkins baby wash, paraben-free, 100% natural ingredients.

Baby Care Products – There is no limit on the amount of parabens that manufacturers can use in shampoos and baby care products such as baby wash; the amount is not regulated. Babies, with their smaller bodies and less-developed systems, are more at risk than adults for all toxins and chemicals.

So how do you know if your shampoo and other body care items contains parabens? You can find out by reading ingredients listed on the bottles; they are known variously as “methylparaben, propylparaben, benzylparaben and butylparaben,” all end in “paraben,” making them fairly easy to recognize.

Should you be concerned? There is no doubt, parabens are a controversial substance and the studies are not definitive regarding the safety of these chemicals. The US FDA believes that at the present time there is no reason for consumers to be concerned about parabens in cosmetics. However, the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database, which compares cosmetic ingredients to over 50 international toxicity databases, indicates that parabens are linked to health concerns, in other words they have not been proven 100% safe. Due to this doubt, do you feel it is better to be safe than sorry and avoid parabens? If you do, then you’ll want to look for companies who make beauty and body care products with natural ingredients.

Now I could do a shameless pitch for the natural products I sell, but I won’t. If this article was helpful to you, in creating awareness about what’s in the products you use or in some other way, then my mission has been accomplished.  We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

But how can you teach your children about the origins of food? Here are some ideas:

Roadside farmers’ market in Bridgehampton, New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Visit a local farmer!
You don’t have to visit the exact farm where your grocery produce comes from (that would probably be impossible anyhow). But visiting a farm of some sort and seeing how familiar foods are grown can be fun and very educational. Some farmers open their land up to customers who want to pick their own produce, strawberries and apples.

Go to the farmer’s market!
When you take your child to your local market, make a point of talking to the vendors. Most of them love to discuss their gardening and farming experiences. Not only does this help children understand what goes into growing food, but this experience puts a face on food and makes it personal. A child may be more likely to eat food that is connected to an interesting individual, too.

Oakhurst Community Garden, Atlanta GA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Start or visit a community garden!
Community gardens are a wonderful educational and social experience. They teach personal responsibility and foster a sense of interdependence. Those are key elements to teaching our children with regard to the origins of food, they need to see how weather, people, soil, etc. are connected, and that they are part of that interconnectedness.

Start or visit a city allotment!
City allotments are the urban dweller’s answer to a community garden. Vacant lots in various cities in the U.S. have been plowed up and planted, and have proven to be an excellent teaching tool for inner-city children. Helping to plant, tend, and harvest food gives children an appreciation for it. In our instant-gratification, packaged-for-your-convenience culture, cultivating an appreciation for food is vital.

Grow your own!
Before you think you don’t have enough outdoor space, consider container or window gardening. City dwellers have been known to grow lavish container gardens on the roofs of buildings, and still other urban gardeners use sunny windows and home-made growing containers. Even if you just grow some kitchen herbs like basil and oregano, your child can harvest these and make pesto or flavor spaghetti sauce. It still illustrates a connection between the living plants, the child, and the food on the table. And that’s the ultimate goal.

Watch a video! Nothing is growing in the winter months, so cozy up with your child and watch a video about how food is grown. There are tons of age appropriate videos on youtube and other video sharing sites!

I hope this inspires you to think about where your food comes from and you’ll teach the younger generation where food comes from too!

add the noodles

Here’s a quick and easy, heart warming soup that is sure to please chicken noodle soup lovers. It’s perfect for your picky eaters because the vegetables are chopped into small pieces. Plus, it’s easy to swap out or add your family’s favorites to custom make your soup just the way you want.

Ingredients:

3 carrots
1 stalk celery
¾ cup cauliflower
8 cups water
2 tablespoons Watkins Chicken Soup and Gravy base (more or less to taste)
Watkins Granulated Black Pepper, to taste
¾ cups cooked chicken, cut in small pieces
½ cup uncooked soup noodles

Other optional vegetables:
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic pressed or minced or 1/2 teaspoon Watkins garlic powder or Watkins garlic liquid spice.
1/2 cup frozen peas, (add these just before serving)

Tool and utensils you will need; a cutting board, sharp knife, vegetable peeler, measuring cups, large pot and heatproof spoon.

Directions Step 1: Prepare Vegetables

Cut your chosen vegetables into small pieces. For this example we peel and dice the carrots, chop the celery into small pieces and cut the cauliflower into small florets.

Directions Step 2: Start Cooking

Place the water and chicken soup base into a large pot and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to simmer and add the carrots, celery and cauliflower. Add pepper to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the chicken pieces. Then add the noodles and simmer for about 5 more minutes until noodles are done. Serve and enjoy.

My mother always pressed 1/2 a red or green glace cherry in the center of the cookie before baking. I preferred the cookies with the red cherry although they both really do taste the same and I always ate the cherry last.

Homemade shortbread cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

Mix all ingredients together well. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, place on an ungreased cookie sheet, press with a fork or glass. Bake at 325 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes. Cookies should be set but with only a hint of turning golden brown.

Optional garnishes, press 1/2 a glace (candied) cherry or a pecan half in the center of the cookie before baking. Or sprinkle with a little festive colored sugar before baking.

Our grandson helped me bake the shortbread shown in the photo last week. While they might not be as pretty as I usually make them, they are filled with love and pride.

Ingredients:
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup Watkins cocoa
1/2 cup milk
2 & 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon Watkins pure mint or pure peppermint or pure orange extract (or vanilla, vanilla nut, cherry, raspberry, chocolate or coconut extract)
1 cup chopped nuts

Directions: Mix sugar, butter, salt, cocoa, and milk in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in oatmeal, coconut, extract and nuts. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper and let cool until firm.

Which flavor do prefer? Tell us in the comments, we’d love it if you do!