Today the Lifestyles Channel is inviting readers into their homes by sharing a glimpse of where they blog from. It doesn’t matter where a blogger is chatting to you from, each spot just begs you to sit by your favorite blogger, share a cup of something tasty, and share a deep heart to heart. Before I began here at b5, the bloggers felt like old friends. Now, step into their homes and share a moment of their lives. Sandy Mitchell – All Holidays Cafe Gayla McCord – MomGadget also blogging at Dating Dames – Supernanny Rules and CelebAmour Marye Audet – Baking Delights – also blogging at Kettle and Cup Christina Zola – Solomother Chloe Findlay-Harder – Tangled Thread Tracy Thompson – Foodie Obsessed Peggy... [Read more]

All around the b5 Media Network, bloggers are sharing where they work. Good thing that yesterday was ‘clean the workspace’ day. Seriously, my desk is horribly bare, but this time yesterday, my desk was a cross between a crypt and landfill. With 3 small children ( I call them dirt monkeys) running around, my desk gathers small toys, candy wrappers, and various other odd bits of junk. Right now the top shelf holds a few things. A bottle of home made cleaner, a can of air which my husband purchased 3 years ago, beeswax candle, a glade candle, a transformer (not sure who), and a flower my daughter made at school a few days ago. The second shelf holds the new printer/scanner thing. When the old computer died we finally threw out the printer... [Read more]

For your recipes to become more robust, toss the salt and use herbs. I know, I know, herbs can be expensive. That is one of the main reasons more people do not use a larger variety of herbs in their cooking. Not that I blame anyone, what with the skyrocketing cost of just about everything you have to buy these days. You do have lower cost alternatives, though. Many thrifty cooks purchase their herbs and spices at discount stores. Dollar stores, lower price groceries (i.e.-ALDI), and warehouse clubs. These are great choices, but there is an even more cost effective way to get herbs into your recipes. Grow your own! Almost any herb you would like to drop into a recipe, you can drop into a plot to grow. Even if you do not have enough land for... [Read more]

With the rising price of food, it is probably on everyones’ mind how they can still afford to eat healthy. It seems like the cheapest foods are the ‘junk’ food that line all of the shelves. Is it any wonder that people from lower income brackets are upset when they try to eat healthy, only to find that it costs too much? I can completely sympathize with this. I am the mother of 4 children with another on the way. We find it so tough to shop healthy. It is possible, though. Through smaller portions and careful shopping, anyone can eat a robust meal. I cannot stress enough that the best savings on healthy food come from shopping locally. I don’t mean your local grocery. Shopping locally means to be loyal to local farmers and to eat foods... [Read more]

You read that right, boil your hamburger! Boiling allows you to cook a large amount of hamburger at a time and lowers the fat content in the meat. This is great if you’re planning to begin cooking once a month and want to lower the fat in your diet as well. You are probably already familiar with the concept of frying, then draining and rinsing the fat from your hamburger. Boiling the meat takes this one step further. First fill a stockpot with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat until the water is just simmering and add in the amount of hamburger you need to cook. Bring the heat back up to boiling and stir to help the hamburger crumble. All of the pink will be gone when the hamburger is completely cooked. The time needed will depend... [Read more]