"1. Inside Your Heaven - Carrie Underwood"

Born Again American

http://www.bornagainamerican.org/

More fun ideas from the folks at Sparkpeople.

I didn't know where I should post this, under the inexpensive Christmas gift ideas or under the healthy eating and fitness blog I have. I decided to share it here, as I love making my own Christmas gifts. I will make a few of these this year too. You can also use corn in your bags, (NOT "POP" CORN)I find a lot of my tips and information, from my favorite site these days, Sparkpeople.com

Just for your own information, if you are looking for a quick ice pack, grap a bag of frozen peas. They work great!
Gail


By: Stepfanie Romine : 12/11/2008 9:06:23 AM : 34 comments

I've written about the miracles of the rice sock.

This handy low-tech gadget eased an excruciating sinus headache I had a few weeks back. Since I made mine, it had soothed sore knees after yoga, loosened a tight lower back and even warmed cold feet as I typed in my home office.

Have a friend who constantly battles aches and pains? Make one of these as a holiday gift!




Buy a new sock or, if you're especially handy, sew a long, thin tube for your rice sock. These rice socks come in handy, and they're an easy craft for kids. Make sure you use a new, clean sock if you're giving this as a gift. (If you want to get really fancy, buy a kit or use fabric scraps to sew a long sleeve for your rice sock.)

Supplies:
1 large (new) sock
1-2 pounds rice (any kind; the amount with vary based on the size of your sock)
Needle and thread
--or--
Ribbon

Fill sock with rice, then sew the top shut or use a ribbon to tightly tie the sock closed. (Make sure you explain to the recipient that they put it in the microwave until it's hot, then place it on the aching body part.)

Bonus: Add a few drops of essential oil to the rice to create an aromatherapy sock.

Make your own gift cup

Find one of those big holiday cups at the dollar store. Fill it with hot cocoa mix, a small gift bag of your favorite flavored Coffee or tea, add a couple of these Ginger Spice Biscotti (recipe follows). Wrap with some colorful celafane, and tie with a pretty holiday ribbon.
I like this idea so much I am going to make some myself.
Gail

Ginger Spice Biscotti
Found this recipe on Spark People today


Ingredients


Canola oil spray
1 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour or whole-wheat pastry flour
4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweented apple butter or applesauce
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped dried pineapple or other dried fruit

Nutritional Info


Fat: 2.5g
Carbohydrates: 10.3g
Calories:68.0
Protein: 1.2g




1. reheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray large cookie sheet with canola oil spray and set aside.

2. In medium bowl, mix next 7 ingredients and set aside. Using electric mixer or food processor, combine eggs with oil and apple butter for 10 seconds. Add sugar and blend for 30 more seconds. Add half of dry mixture and process until smooth. Add remaining dry mixture and process until a soft and sticky dough forms. Transfer dough to a large bowl; fold in dried fruit. Divide dough in half and place on either end of cookie sheet.

3. With damp hands, form each piece of dough into a log 3 inches wide and about 3/4-inch high. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Logs will spread durig baking. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes. With serrated knife, slice each log into 1/2-ich cookies, cutting on a diagonal. Bake 10 minutes.

4. Turn each cookie over and bake 10 more minutes. Turn oven off and leave biscotti in oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Store at room temperature.

Makes 40 servings.

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is the cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer and educates the public about the results.

Another inexpensive gift idea form Spark People

Healthy, Homemade Gifts: Hearty Gourmet Oatmeal
By: Stepfanie Romine : 12/9/2008 2:59:01 PM : 70 comments

In the middle of winter, when the mercury's dropping and the snow is piling up outside, is there anything more comforting than a bowl of oatmeal?

Judging from your answers last week, most of you agree with me. Plain old oatmeal becomes a tedious breakfast rather quickly, but the fancy flavored versions are pricey and full of artificial flavors.

Thankfully, making your own gourmet oatmeal is easy. Flavored oatmeal makes a great gift for the busy professional, a time-strapped mom or anyone who says there's no time for a healthy breakfast.


Stepfanie's Oatmeal Mix
Ingredients
6 cups old-fashioned or steel-cut oats
3/4 c ground flax seeds
3 T cinnamon
1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
Mix all ingredients together. Makes 12 servings (about 3/4 cup each)
Store in the refrigerator as flax seeds and walnuts can spoil quickly.

Nutrition info
Number of Servings: 12
Calories: 329
Total Fat: 15.3 g* (This is mostly heart-healthy fats from the walnuts and flaxseed, both of which contain Omega-3 fatty acids.)
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 1.2 mg
Total Carbs: 44.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 8.8 g
Protein: 8.9 g

Directions
Divide the oatmeal into single servings (1 cup food storage containers work great for this) or deliver the gift in a decorative cookie jar. Personalize this as you'd like. Swap almonds, pumpkin seeds or pecans for the walnuts; use raisins, dried pineapple or some apple rings instead of cranberries. If you prefer sweetened oatmeal: Add cocoa powder and a bit of sugar, toss in some brown sugar or give a bottle of real maple syrup to supplement the gift. You can also use barley, cracked wheat, wheat germ or oat bran.

Bonus: Buy the materials for this oatmeal from the bulk bins at the grocery store to save more money.

How do you top your oatmeal?

Healthy, Homemade Gifts: Chocolate Spoons

A Spark People idea for those of us looking for ways to cut cost on gift this year. I will be sharing more ideas with you. Let's make this a less comercial Christmas and put our hearts and hands into making special gifts this year.

Healthy, Homemade Gifts: Chocolate Spoons
By: Stepfanie Romine (a Spark People contributor)

You might say that chocolate isn't a "healthy" gift. We disagree. Everything is fine in moderation, and dark chocolate (at least 70%) contains antioxidants.

Studies have found that dark chocolate helps prevent heart disease and cancer, and has also been shown to improve mood by boosting the brain chemical serotonin. Some even consider chocolate an effective diet food, claiming that a chunk of chocolate before meals diminishes your appetite.

Just be choosy about your chocolate and monitor your portions. That's one reason we love these chocolate spoons. They're easy to make and are instantly portion controlled.

Chocolate spoons
What you need:

10 Spoons (pick up mismatched ones at the thrift store)

1 cup semisweet or dark chocolate*

Fun extras: crushed peppermint candy, melted white chocolate, sprinkles, shredded coconut

Waxed paper

Plastic wrap

Ribbon

Melt chocolate in the microwave. Set timer for 2 minutes or so, taking care to stir every 30 seconds or so.

Spread out a sheet of waxed paper. Dip clean, dry spoons into the chocolate, then place them on the waxed paper. Allow the spoons to cool slightly, then dip them in the chocolate again. Repeat until chocolate reaches the desired thickness on the spoon. While they're still warm, add the "extras" if you're using them. Place spoons in the fridge to set. Once firm and cool, wrap each one in plastic wrap and tie with a ribbon.

Calories: 43.6 calories, 2.3 g fat (extras not included; you'll only use about 1/2 cup of chocolate.)
*Dark chocolate contains at least 70% cacao.


What's your favorite chocolate combination? Recently, I've become fond of the orange-dark chocolate combination. Would you make these spoons to give to someone?

The Pumpkin Adventure

I just rec'd this email from my daughter. I really have to share it with all of you. I do have her permission. She tells it in such a funny way.

"One of my dearest friends, Landon's godmother Dori, Kelly (Dori's cousin), the kids and I went on a great adventure yesterday and wanted to share our story.

Dori and I had this wonderful plan to go to the pumpkin patch to take the boys on a hay ride and pick pumpkins. This would be her nephews first time to a pumpkin patch. Of course Bryan was relieved, he didn't have to participate in such an activity. We had it planned for atleast a week. We waited out the weather, as it had been raining the day before, and just when the sun started peeking out, we were off.

We drove all the way to Camden, ok, it only takes about 30 minutes, but still.... we had a one year old (Dori's nephew baby Allen, or as she lovingly has named him "Goose") "singing" the whole way, and my two boys who were extremely excited about going to the pumpkin patch!

Let me point out that it was approximately 2:30 when we left. Dori had plans at 6, in Columbia (which is an hour away), and I had a babysitter arriving at the house at 5, so we had a time limit, but surely an accountant and lawyer could pull it off, after all, we are both really intelligent women.

We arrived at the patch, sometime after 3 only to find out they were SHUT DOWN:(

So here we are, with three kids, who were obviously disappointed, well Goose doesn't count, he was still "singing" in his own little world and appeared very content watching all the cows in the fields.

So, Dori being a lawyer and I an accountant had to come up with Plan B, and fast! We decided to turn back and follow these signs to a haunted house, we thought they surely would have pumpkins for sale!

We drove and drove and drove, left turn, right turns, who knew where we were going, but we knew there just had to be some pumpkins there. We did notice, that the signs all had different dates on them some appeared very old, but the lawyer and accountant in the Tahoe were determined to find pumpkins! Kelly, the very intelligent teenager, announced that some of those signs were for pervious years, as the dates were not coordinating with the weekends. Darn smartass teenagers think they know everything.

Dalton began protesting in the back, "Turn around, turn around!" And of course his shadow, Landon, chimed right along!

Finally it was 4 pm, and we found the haunted house location, which was CLOSED, and no pumpkins in site.

At this point we agreed it was time to turn around. We had paid attention to all the signs, and planned to simply follow them pack out of the country roads. So we followed our signs back, or so we thought! Somehow we ended up going in a complete circle and ended up right back at the haunted house, which as you know was CLOSED.

So the lawyer says to the accountant, I think we went in a circle, and the teenager laughs at us! The smart lawyer announces that the accountant needs to pull up along side that Dodge truck over there, which happens to be the only person we have seen in the past hour and half, because the farmer on the tractor didn't count, for directions back to Camden, which will be our last resort for pumpkins.

The polite toothless lady in the Dodge, said "take that road right there, to the stop sign and turn right, and then drive to the next stop sign and turn right again, and you will be smack into Camden." What do you know, her directions were perfect, and we went right past the originally pumpkin patch that was SHUT DOWN, and arrived to a main road in Camden.

Some where along the way, Goose got quite, yep he fell asleep! The lawyer at this point was a little green, apparently lawyers do not do well on country roads driven by accountants. Then the miracle happened, as we turned left, there was a church parking lot, filled with PUMPKINS. Landon proudly announces, "We are finally here, we made it!" Seeing the boys smiles was all worth it. The lawyer's color improved, and six pumpkins later, we were on our way. We arrived back at our house around 4:50, just in time for the babysitter, and for Dori to return her nephew and head back to Columbia.

Hope you all enjoy our pictures, and remember this, never trust a lawyer and an accountant to plan a trip to a pumpkin patch!"