The truth is, sometimes you just can’t know if your summer fling is going to turn into a long term, “real” relationship. For that matter, why should you over analyze the longevity and potential of a new relationship if you are still just getting to know one another?

Image: Newscom

Of course, no one wants to waste their time and start emotionally investing in a relationship that isn’t going to progress past the early new/fun stage. Which is why in order to be smart about your feelings it’s important to enjoy the moment and not get too caught up in what you’re summer fling could turn into down the road. That being said, at some point you are going to have to evaluate where your summer romance is going. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Where did you meet?
There are just some places that you meet great men, while other locations are ripe with guys looking for just one thing. Sure, it’s not out of the question that the shmoozer buying you a drink at the bar is a really great guy looking to settle down, but there’s also a high chance he’s interested in one night only.

Is he responsive?
Taking weeks to get back to you, never calling back and not making an effort to actively fit into your schedule can be clear signals that this isn’t a long term commitment for him. He could just be swamped at work, but if he’s really interested in a relationship, he will always make the time.

Do you find yourself repeating things?
If you’re constantly having to remind him about major details in your life, like what you do or where you live, then he’s either really forgetful or possibly juggling multiple summer flings! But if he asks about how your sister’s exam went or sends your Aunt Millie a get well soon card after she has minor surgery, he’s taking more than just a vague interest – he truly cares about what’s going on in your life.

We…or me?
Even the way he puts sentences together can give you an indication of how he’s thinking. If you start to hear him talking about you two as a confirmed pair, then you know he’s got you in mind. If every sentence is “I” or “me” then he’s probably still only concerned with what he’s getting out of this summer romance.

Still not sure whether he’s really interested in a long term commitment? Relax, enjoy the sunshine and remember – if it doesn’t work out then there’s always next Summer’s romance anyway!

This post was sponsored by Neutrogena skinID™ – The only Personalized Acne Solution made just for you. Take your complimentary skinID™ Evaluation today!

Post from: Blisstree

Summer Fling or The Real Thing?

For every stand opened, Electrolux will donate $1 to OCRF as part of its $500,000 commitment to help fight ovarian cancer. When you promote your stand and sell virtual glasses of lemonade (I’m currently selling Rosemary Watermelon Lemonade, Citrus Lemonade and Sparkling Ginger Lemonade) to your friends and family, 100% of the proceeds will also go to OCRF.

To help spread the word and reach their goal, Electrolux has also donated a newly released French Door Refrigerator with a Perfect Temp Drawer™ as a prize!

When you open a stand, and every day you log on and visit your stand, you are entered to win. People who visit your stand will also have a chance to win the refrigerator.

The French Door Refrigerator is the ultimate entertaining refrigerator. Depending on your lifestyle and needs, you can use The Perfect Temp Drawer™ for storing healthy snacks or stocking up on fine wines….with everything maintained at the perfect temperature.

The Perfect Ice™ ice maker offers twice the ice so there is always enough for impromptu summer parties some delicious cold drinks (lemonade, anyone?).

If you can’t wait to see if you will win your very own French Door Refrigerator by creating a lemonade stand or purchasing a drink from my lemonade stand, Electrolux appliances are available through select independent appliance dealers and at Best Buy, Lowe’s and Sears.

But it’s not all about the fabulous prize – this is a truly fantastic cause. If you’re wondering what your next step is, I suggest you first check out my lemonade stand, make a donation – the minimum is only a dollar – and consider setting up a lemonade stand of your own. All it takes is a little time and you will be doing a wonderful thing for OCRF!

Images: Electrolux

Post from: Blisstree

Get Cool For A Cause With Virtual Lemonade

Post from: Blisstree

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese

I have been challenged to see how much I can save by using A Full Cup. I am excited about using the online printable coupons and the information on coupon match-ups to find the most savings. It’s a thrill to find food and toiletries for almost free! I will be posting my A Full Cup savings later this week, so stay tuned for that.

Here’s a YouTube video that explains a little bit about how the site works. I found it to be beneficial.

Post from: Blisstree

“A Full Cup” Savings Challenge & Giveaway

A couple weeks ago I talked about the Red Square Cosmo for a romantic Valentine’s Day celebration drink. Well, we’re just days away and I have a couple more options if a Cosmo isn’t your style. Cranberries are a great source of good for you nutrients and antioxidants. So you can feel better about your Valentine’s Day indulgences knowing you’re doing your health and body some good.

CRANBERRY KISS

Ingredients
6 ounces Ocean Spray® Cranberry Juice Cocktail
1 ounce orange juice
Club soda
Orange wedge, garnish

Directions
Pour cranberry juice cocktail and orange juice into a glass with ice. Top with club soda. Garnish with orange wedge. Makes 1 serving.

CRANBERRY RASPBERRY FLIRTINI

Ingredients
2 ounces Ocean Spray® Cranberry Juice Cocktail
1 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce raspberry liqueur
1 ounce champagne or sparkling wine
Ocean Spray® Fresh Cranberries and fresh raspberries, garnish

Directions
Combine the cranberry juice cocktail, vodka, and liqueur in an ice-filled martini shaker. Shake gently and strain into a large martini glass. Top with champagne and garnish with fresh cranberries and raspberries. Makes 1 serving.

Images and recipe courtesy of Ocean Spray.

Post from: Blisstree

Cranberry Cocktails for Valentine’s Day

I was intrigued when I heard about FoodieView.com, which aggregates recipes and makes it easy to discover new meal ideas. Naturally, this week you might be interested in some new recipes for a romantic Valentine’s Day meal with your lover. How about…

• Valentine Heart Breadsticks
• Linzer Valentine Hearts
• Valentine Pizza
• Valentine Meatballs
• Valentine’s Day Parfaits
• Valentine’s Day Pretzels
• Valentine’s Day Belgian Waffles with Cherry Sauce

Not your typical Valentine’s Day choices! You can search by ingredient, keyword, dish name, cuisine, chef, dietary restrictions and more. The recipe search results are then sorted both by relevance and user rating, making it effortless to find the most popular, promising recipes. You can also keep track of your favorite recipe links using FoodieView’s free recipe box tool. In addition to recipes, they have some incredible foodie photos to inspire (or just make you hungry).

Post from: Blisstree

FoodieView Recipe Search Engine

But what do you do with a can or bag of chickpeas? Below are some healthy ideas for incorporating chickpeas into your next meal.

1. Make hummus.
2. Toss them in a fresh salad.
3. Eat them out of the can (this one was from a friend – I personally find the idea repellent!).
4. Mix them with tabouleh.
5. Make falafel.
6. Include them in a bean salad.
7. Add them to soup.
8. Roast them with chicken.
9. Incorporate them into a pasta dish.
10. Make chickpea marsala.

Image: sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

10 Ways To Use Chickpeas

Driscoll’s Tuxedo Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Hands on Time: 1 ¼ hours
Makes: 30-40 Strawberries

Ingredients

2 Quarts of firm Driscoll’s Premium Long Stem Strawberries
2 12 ounce bags of milk chocolate chips
2 6 ounce boxes white chocolate

Gently rinse Driscoll’s Premium Long Stem Strawberries and pat dry. In separate pans melt white chocolate and milk chocolate over a double broiler. Melt to between 90^o and 95^o F.

Holding the berry by the stem, submerge 2/3 of the berry into melted white chocolate. Set aside on waxed paper, and cool for about 15 minutes or until chocolate hardens to form a shell. After completely hardened, dip berries at an angle from both sides in milk chocolate to form the jacket. Again, set aside on waxed paper to cool. Be sure to keep the saucepans of chocolate warm.

Using a decorator’s bag, pipe on white chocolate to form a bow tie at the “neck” of the berry. Using tweezers, carefully dip silver dragées* into white chocolate and place, QUICKLY, down center of the berry to form buttons.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

*Dragees – Tiny, round, hard candies used for decorating baked goods. These can be ordered online from www.fancyflours.com

Image: Driscoll’s Berries

Post from: Blisstree

Tuxedo Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Seared Scallop and Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

12 large sea scallops
3 cups cooked Quinoa
½ garlic clove, minced
1 medium cucumber, peeled, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
2 tbs red onion, diced
2 tbs fresh basil, chopped
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Spray a large sauté pan with pan release and heat over medium high flames. Season scallops, on all sides with salt and pepper. Place scallops in hot pan, do not move. Allow scallops to cook without moving or shaking pan for 2 ½ minutes. You will see the edges turn a deep golden brown. Using tongs carefully flip each scallop individually and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until center of scallop is opaque. Mix remaining ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place about 1 cup of quinoa salad onto center of plate, top with 3 cooked scallops and garnish with a sprig of basil. Serves 6

Asian Tuna and Spinach Salad

For Marinade:
½ cup tamari soy sauce
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbs sesame seeds
1 tbs fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp fresh garlic, minced
½ tsp red pepper flake (optional)

Combine and set aside

For Salad:
2 ¼ lbs fresh tuna steak
1 lb fresh baby spinach
36 grapefruit segments
3 tsp sunflower kernels
¼ cup red onion, julienne

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Reserve ¼ cup of marinade for dressing. Place tuna steaks in shallow container and cover with marinade. Allow fish to marinade for 10 minutes. Place fish on Teflon baking pan and bake to desired temperature. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 2 minutes. Place reserved marinade in small mixing bowl and whisk in ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil. Toss remaining ingredients in large bowl and dress. Distribute salad evenly over six salad plates. Slice rested tuna and fan over salad. Serves 6

Special thanks to Chef Owen Tilley and High Liner for permission to reprint each recipe.

Image: sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

2 Healthy Seafood Salad Recipes

Well I don’t know about you, but those are some pretty compelling motivating factors.

General Mills, NBC’s The Biggest Loser and Feeding America have partnered up to launch the Pound for Pound Challenge – an initiative that encourages Americans to lose weight and feed the hungry. For every pound dieters pledge to lose this new year, a pound of groceries will be delivered to a local food bank.

Here is a scary statistic…While 130 million people are overweight in the United States, 35 million Americans are at risk of hunger. The new Pound For Pound Challenge lets you fight the hunger crisis and help families by simply pledging to lose weight and get healthy – simply go to www.pfpchallenge.com or www.biggestloser.com to enter your weight goals and join the challenge.

You should also keep an eye out for lids and seals specially-marked with Pound For Pound branding. For each lid/seal mailed to General Mills, a 10 cent donation (which equals ne pound of groceries) will be sent to Feeding America.

General Mills brand products include:

Yoplait Light(R)
Cheerios(R)
Honey Nut Cheerios(R)
MultiGrain Cheerios(R)
Total(R), Fiber One(R)
Green Giant(R)
Valley Fresh Steamers(TM)
Chex Mix(R) 100 Calorie
Warm Delights(R) Minis
Bisquick(R) Heart Health(R)
Cascadian Farm(R)

To learn more, visit www.pfpchallenge.com

Image: Newscom

Post from: Blisstree

Lose Weight and Feed The Hungry with The Pound For Pound Challenge