Free radicals from the sun and the environment around us can damage our skin. When we eat the right foods we can help minimize the damage done by our environment, and even help repair our skin from the damage of free radicals with important vitamins, essential oils, and antioxidants.

Here are ten of the best foods to maintain a healthy glow for your skin.

1. Berries are a tiny food with a powerful antioxidant punch, helping your skin fight off free radical damage from the sun.
2. Avocados are loaded with B-complex vitamins and essential fatty acids, giving avocados an anti inflammatory property. They’re also great for evening out red or blotchy skin.
3. Salmon and other fatty fish provide essential fatty acids that are important building blocks to healthy skin, maintaining cell membranes for younger healthier looking skin.
4. Whole grains contain selenium which is an important mineral for maintaining healthy skin.
5. Pressed Oils like canola and olive oil also provide healthy fats that are important maintaining healthy skin membranes. Your cell membranes hold water and help maintain the plump healthy look of your skin, and helps prevent wrinkles and age lines. Look for oils labeled cold pressed, expeller processed, or extra virgin. Other processed oils are heated to a high temperature, and may contain solvents which counteract the benefits of the oil.
6. Green Leafy Vegetables are loaded with vitamins, including zinc which are great for maintaining a healthy glow to your skin.
7. Sweet Potatoes are loaded with vitamin A (beta carotene) which does wonders to help create a great complexion.
8. Nuts like Almonds and Walnuts are loaded with essential fatty acids, can you say Omega 3?
9. Lemons and citrus contain vitamin C and bioflavonoids which help your body detoxify, and the support collagen in the skin, to help keep the skin firm and young looking.
10. Green tea contains polyphenols, which have strong anti inflammatory properties to help skin fight off free radicals, and prevent sun damage. Some studies even show that it may help fight off skin cancer.

When you’re shopping for these healthy foods, look for organic versions, with little or no processing. Fresh organic foods will help you get the oils, and antioxidants your skin needs, without adding any additional chemicals your body doesn’t need.

This post was sponsored by Neutrogena skinID™ – The only Personalized Acne Solution made just for you. Guaranteed Results or your money back.

Image via sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

Top 10 Foods For Healthy Skin

(c) L Gerlach

I usually start by boiling my ribs, or baking them in the oven with water in the pan for several hours. Either way I use plenty of seasoning. My seasoning usually includes garlic, basil, and oregano, sometimes other herbs including tarragon, or thyme. Sometimes I use a pre-mixed seasoning like Denny Mike’s Sublime Swine.

While the ribs are cooking I make up a sauce with a commercial barbecue sauce (something sweet and tangy), a little chopped onion, a garlic clove, apple cider vinegar, and some A1 Marinade. Mixing them together until you have a tangy taste with a little kick. Cook the mixture in a sauce pan on a low simmer for about an hour.

When your ribs are cooked until they’re almost falling off the bone, spread them out on a cookie sheet and lather them with the barbecue sauce before you add them to the grill. Take your barbecue sauce with you, and when you turn the ribs, brush barbecue sauce on the other side.

I usually grill them for about 10 minutes on each side. Yum!

So what’s your recipe for great ribs?

Post from: Blisstree

Barbecue Ribs

Fiesta® 5-piece Dinnerware
On sale for $26.99, regularly $48.00

They are available in:
*Turquoise
*White
*Sunflower
*Scarlet
*Cobalt Blue
*Ivory
*Chocolate
*Tangerine
*Black

The dishes are made with a durable chip-resistant glaze that will not absorb food odors. They are safe for dishwasher, microwave, freezer, and oven. Each dinnerware set includes dinner and salad plates, a bowl, cup, and saucer.

Image credit: Kohl’s

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Fiesta Dinnerware Sale At Kohls

The Astor Center is located in NoHo’s historic landmark De Vinne Press Building, and is home to classes and events based around the pleasures of the table with some of the finest mixologists, chefs, educators, oenophiles and gourmands in the world.

The Astor Center features several classes each months, some of the classes you can attend there in July include:

• Vodka - History in Liquid Form! ~A hands on class where you can learn about the history of Vodka and the spirit world.
• Snouts, Trotters, Ears & Tails with Ryan Skeen~ Celebrate the pig, and learn how to use every piece of pork.
• Drinking Stars: Pairing Dom Pérignon with Sushi

The Astor Center is where old and new meet. It’s located in New York’s historical Greenwich Village, but the center itself features state of the art green technology for their presentations and classes.

You can find out more information on their part in the upcoming Gourmet Institute, and their classes at the Astor Center website.

Post from: Blisstree

The Astor Center in New York City

Shrimp Alfredo Pasta (Image © Dexie Wharton)

INGREDIENTS:
angel hair pasta, cooked according to the box, al dente
2 sprigs of scallions, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 bag frozen shrimp, shelled
1 jar of Alfredo sauce
a few capers
3/4 cup of water
a fistful of shredded mozzarella cheese
olive oil for sautéing

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Sauté garlic and scallions. Add the capers. Let the whole flavors cook together for about 2 minutes or so. Stir in the shrimp. Cover and let the shrimp cook.

Pour the Alfredo sauce into the pan. Add water into the jar, cover and shake. Pour the whole thing into the Alfredo sauce, shrimp and scallions mixture. Stir, cover and let it boil. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in a fistful of shredded mozzarella cheese. Continue to cook and stir for half a minute.

Then add the cooked pasta into the sauce. Stir everything gently for a few minutes.

Sprinkle your plate of shrimp-Alfredo pasta with grated Parmesan cheese. Simple meatless dish for meatless day.

Post from: Blisstree

Shrimp-Alfredo Pasta

One side lets you cook pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausages. On another side, you can grill up some steaks, kebobs, pork shops, chicken breasts, burgers, etc. The size is 18 inches long x 10 inches wide. And like I said, it’s on sale for only $25.99.

Double Sided Cast Iron Griddle

Who doesn’t like 2-in-1 cooking gadgets? So even if it’s raining or snowing outside, you can still grill up some meat dishes for dinner or small parties.

(Image : Overstock)

Post from: Blisstree

Double Sided Cast Iron Griddle

Here’s a shot of my tomatoes…

I started my garden early and was all set to go the all-natural GroGood way, but nothing was really happening and my front patio smelled like cow poop. Yuck. Dear neighbors, I am so very sorry.

I broke down and bought the MiracleGro plant food. It always works for me. I have a limited space and there’s only so much you can coax from a container garden. Now we are popping again. It looks like a jungle out there. I’d get a good full-shot, but the boys are outside painting our stair railing and I don’t think they’d appreciate my intruding on their gossip time.

Today, I’m going to make another Caprese Salad with the tomatoes I picked last night. Yum. I’m hooked on that stuff.

Image credit: Michelle Smith

Post from: Blisstree

Wordy Wednesday - My Tomatoes

My favorite book that I’ve found so far is The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet. I actually bought it years ago and didn’t get around to really looking through it until about two years ago. I’ve used several of the recipes for just one-off dinners, though I have doubled up on a couple of them to stash one in the freezer for later.

It’s also taught me a very basic cook-ahead techniques, like dicing up a couple of onions or other veggies at once if I know I’m going to need them later in the week for a different meal, or even browning an extra pound or two of ground beef to use later in the week too.

Aside from initial organization, my biggest issue with once-a-month or even once-a-week cooking is the aforementioned freezer. We just don’t have much room. What do you do in a situation like that? I know you don’t have to keep the meals in the dishes they’re initially prepared or cooked in, and that most of them can be frozen and then packed in foil or baggies, but my freezer space is so limited that even that’s not much of a help.

For those of you who do cook ahead and freeze the prepared meals, how do you deal with freezer space, or lack thereof? Do you end up just biting the bullet and investing in a stand-alone freezer, or just make do with what you have?

[image: flickr]

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Do You Cook Ahead?

Cranberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing 

Ingredients:

1 can jellied cranberry sauce
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup sugar 1 & 1/2 tsps dry mustard
2 & 1/2 cups vegetable oil   

Directions:

Blend the first 6 ingredients,
then in a large bowl, whip oil very slowly into
the cranberry mixture with a whisk
or a hand-held blender until blended.
Makes 1 quart. Keep refrigerated!

Image and recipe credit: The Oxford House Inn and BnBfinder.com

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Cranberry Viniagrette Salad Dressing

Baked Lemon-Scallions Chicken (Image © Dexie Wharton)

INGREDIENTS :
5-6 pcs of chicken thighs
juice of 2 lemons
2 sprigs of scallions, chopped finely
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Put the chicken pieces in a large ziploc bag.

Combine the lemon juice, scallions, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour over the chicken, and massage the chicken and marinade together.

Marinate for 3-4 hours or overnight. Bake it in the oven (355°) after marinating for about 35-40 minutes.

Serve with rice and steamed veggies.

Post from: Blisstree

Baked Lemon-Scallions Chicken