Ten Best Veggies for the Grill

Curated from Mary Ann Esposito @ Healthy Living on HuffingtonPost.com who writes:

It is going to be a long, hot summer if the weather forecasters are right, and that means who wants to cook over a hot stove and heat up the kitchen when the grill will do very nicely, thank you.

Grill preferences and their cooking techniques vary a lot. I am partial to a gas grill because even though it may not impart that true smoky flavor that a charcoal grill produces, it does do a respectable job without the hassle of starting a charcoal fire. Call me lazy.

I use the grill a lot; I have even baked cookies on it! Vegetables are my forte, though, and I have learned through trial and error which vegetables take kindly to grilling and which do not.

I define vegetables that are hard to grill as those that slip through the grill grate or those that are too soft with a juicy texture. They would include asparagus and tomatoes. I define the best veggies for the grill as those that stay put on the grill grate, need minimal fussing — just a light olive oil spray — and whose flavor is enhanced by grilling.

The vegetables listed below are ideal for the grill.

1) Eggplant: Slices char nicely without burning because the flesh is dense and the slices stay nicely on the grill top whether they are sliced in thick rounds or lengthwise slices. Do not peel before grilling.

2) Zucchini: The dense flesh of young zucchini without a lot of seeds are perfect for the grill. It is best to cut them in lengthwise slices to avoid them falling through the grate

3) Red Peppers: A serious vegetable for the grill; char the skin until blackened all over; when cool remove the skin and enjoy the sweet and lush smoky taste with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and salt.

4) Leeks: Remove the deep green leaf tops and discard them; trim off the roots and cut the bulb in half lengthwise right through the core. Brush with olive oil.

5) Sweet Potato: The trick here is to microwave the potato first; let cool, peel them; cut into thick planks before grilling

6) Fennel: Remove the feathery leave tops and save for soup. Cut the bulb into wedges right through the core. Grilling makes this vegetable taste super sweet.

7) Bok Choy: Place small heads of baby bok choy on a large sheet of oiled aluminum foil; sprinkle with coarse salt and a grinding of black pepper. Close the foil and place on the grill. Cook total of 4 minutes, turning the foil over once.

8) Corn: Forget about wetting the husks and wrapping the whole thing in foil; strip off the husks; place corn directly on the grill and brush with your favorite barbeque or pesto sauce, oil or butter. Keep it light so there is no flare up. You can always slather on more butter or sauce at the table.

9) Radicchio: Cut heads into thick wedges right through the core; grill as for #7 bok choy. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Delicious!

10) Portobello mushrooms: Often called “the poor man’s steak,” Portobello are meaty and take to just about any seasoning. One bit of advice though: before placing them on the grill, scrape out those black gills on the underside of the cap. They do nothing for the flavor.” via Mary Ann Esposito: Ten Best Veggies for the Grill”

June 11, 2012 0

Do You Play the Blame Game?

SimpLee Serene » Empowering you to Shine Bright & Steady. Get more here: Do You Play the Blame Game?.

June 11, 2012 0

Own Your Day With A Morning Ritual

Curated from FinerMinds:

Morning Rituals are not difficult to define – it’s basically something you do every morning after you wake up, as part of your daily schedule. This alone may sound trivial, but you’d be amazed at how a simple ritual could impact the rest of your day, and ultimately – your life.

What’s awesome about morning rituals is that you’re in control of whatever you choose to incorporate into it. What matters is deciding why you want to add a ritual into your morning and how doing it repeatedly will boost your spirit. See it as the opening credits to your day’s TV show starring you as the main character. Are you a stage owner like X-Factor, quirky but witty like 30 Rock or part of a lively bunch like Modern Family?

Morning Rituals give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning, and helps to prepare you mentally and physically for the day’s tasks and challenges. It also plays as the more tolerable (and likable) sidekick to your alarm clock, helping you to develop the habit of waking up at a certain time every day and going through an enjoyable routine until you leave your house.

Morning rituals are about you, and, depending on how well you’ve allocated your time for it – are also about indulging in the luxury of not having to rush to work or wherever it is you have to be. Organization is key!

Don’t have a morning ritual yet? To develop your own and stick to it firstly pick an appropriate wake-up time. How long would you need before you have to surrender yourself to reality? Next, pick your objective for your ritual – do you want to use it as a mood lifter, as a mean to improve your health, an opportunity to catch up with or a hobby, or extra quality time with your family?

Test your new ritual for a week or two to make sure if it sits with your personality and your schedule, and if you are able to practice it consistently. Allow time to experiment with what works best. Here are some great ideas we found online for a little inspiration:

1. Welcome the day at sunrise. Even if you don’t have to be up that early, just drag yourself out of bed and watch the sunrise whilst absorbing the stillness around you. Use this opportunity to have your alone time with you and the universe. The first break of light, the slow wakening of traffic, the morning dew – bask in the moment and breathe in this start to a positive day.

2. Start the day healthy. Take advantage of the morning quiet to meditate, which will help you connect with yourself to better prepare your body and mind for the day. Or break into a quick sweat with some yoga or exercise. Morning exercise jumpstarts your metabolism and will instantly energize you, not to mention regulate your appetite so you can make better food choices and not fall to the hands of irregular eating and bad snacking. In fact, exercise can improve brain power and protect against memory loss as you age. And who said you needed a whole hour to meditate or exercise? 15 minutes is all you need!

3. Include your loved ones in the ritual. Snuggle up together with your children and exchange dreams from the night before. Engage in a loving or relaxing chat with your partner (you may need to encourage them to participate but it will be worth it!). Open the door and let your cat or dog in; they are always happy to greet you in the morning! Or even spend 10 minutes mentally planning the day ahead and ensuring that all family members and tasks are accounted for (we recently read Victoria Beckham left her son Brooklyn at home as she drove to his school to drop him off…)

4. Dance the grogginess away. Pick an anthem for yourself, put it on and dance around in your bedroom or anywhere in the house. Even if you don’t dance or sing along, a little background music is sure to put a little bounce or pep in your steps as you prepare for your day.

5. Take breakfast outside. Or by the window. Or wherever you can get a decent view. Sink your feet into the grass as you walk around your garden, sipping on a mug of coffee. Have your cereal on the porch. Walk to the nearest cafe to get a freshly baked pastry or a smoothie. Watch your neighborhood come to life, and you will come to life too ;)

Do you already have a morning ritual? If yes – share it with us! If you don’t have one yet, what do you think yours could be, and would you be willing to start it soon? We’re all ears, and eyes!” via FinerMinds

June 11, 2012 2

Can One Coin Make a Person Rich?

“If ten coins are not enough to make a man rich, what if you add one coin? What if you add another? Finally, you will have to say that no one can be rich unless one coin can make him so.” via Trick Question: Can One Coin Make a Person Rich? « The Happiness Project.

June 11, 2012 0

Thanks for the tip of the hat to http://e1evation.com!

The Inspired Verse

Have you ever consciously noticed or ‘felt’ a very positive impression about someone after having met them? It’s almost as though they emit an aura of energy that you can sense not only when they are physically present, but also even when you simply are thinking about them.

For me, thinking, acting and being positive has become a way of life. I constantly search for the ‘good’ in every person, experience and thing. I have become a much more resilient, content, peaceful and happy individual as a direct result of approaching life with a positive mental attitude. This includes reacting to everyday occurrences (good or not so good), meeting others, responding to things I encounter (reading a book, listening to a song, watching a movie, observing nature).

The concept of Free Will plays a major part in this approach, i.e., acknowledging that each of us has and makes a…

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June 11, 2012 4

Winged Wonder

Winged Wonder | Pops Digital.

June 11, 2012 0

A Primer for Blogging; thoughts on 3,000 posts…

Just in time for this ‘milestone’ post, Chris Brogan provided this handy list that I’ll use as a preamble to what it is that I already wanted to share with you…

If you would like to get further into blogging, here is a brief primer:

Get a blog. (Easy: tumblr.com, wordpress.com, blogger.com. Better: host your own -affiliate link.)

Pick an area of focus, but one that has broad sides. (Mine: helping people do digital business in a human way.)

Start writing.

Start by planning to publish 1 post a week.

Get daring and try for 2 posts a week (eventually).

Make the posts more than 100 words and less than 1000 words most days.

Spell-check.

Delete the sentences that don’t matter.

Realize that posts that are helpful to others get shared more than posts that are merely interesting.

Never write a “sorry I haven’t written” post. Ever.

Posts that just comment on other people’s posts and sum things up aren’t all that interesting.

Do NOT get hung up on the tech. Get hung up on passion.

The best way to write better is to read more. Second best: write more (often).

Don’t try to copy other people’s style. Try to copy their proliferation.

My best (most popular) posts were the ones I spent the least time writing.

My least popular posts were the ones that took me more than a half hour to write.

Pictures are a great place to start a post idea.

Inspiration is a verb and a muscle.

Lazy is, too.

You’re doing it wrong. So is everyone.

There’s not a single rule on this list that isn’t breakable. Break all the rules you want and enjoy yourself.

There. Write. Stop what you’re doing. Don’t comment. Don’t even share this post. Go write. On whatever came to mind. Delete it, if you hate it. But write. Now.

Source: A Primer for Blogging

Far be it from me to take issue with the great Chris Brogan, but regarding #1 I’ll say choose WordPress.com if you’re just getting started. Tumblr and Blogger are nice, but if you’re looking for traffic, nothing is better for Search Engine Optimization [SEO] than WordPress.com. You can always graduate to the self-hosted version of WordPress later if you want…

Regarding #2, sooner or later, you’ll have to face up to the fact that if you want to get good at it, your blog will have a brand. What is a brand?

“A brand is a “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Branding began as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A modern example of a brand is Coca Cola which belongs to the Coca-Cola Company.” Source: Brand – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Simply put, if you’re going to find faithful readers, you’ll have to curate or create information on a narrow scope of topics so that people will know what to expect from you – what they come to expect of you is your brand. A blog gives you a share of voice on the internet which gives you a share of mind which may ultimately give you a share of market if you pursue it. You might even become a thought leader like Chris Brogan if you work your blog well enough! Thought leader? To me that’s a recognized expert that can be found in Google search. To become one you only need to do two things well; deepen your expertise [continuously learn – stay on top of your craft] and document your expertise [blog and engage in social media].

Regarding #11, I think curation is an important part of thought leadership and I think Chris ‘sums up’ more than he realizes! In this age of information proliferation, you have the ability to become a source that people trust through your blog by consistently curating and creating information that is useful to them. Also, I’m following rule #21 by breaking rule #11 and quoting Chris himself twice in this post! Here’s another great post he did this weekend about having a plan and working it;

“It’s a gorgeous and sunny day as I write this. I would like to be outside, maybe grilling up some steaks and drinking a beer or 12. But I’m working because that’s the plan. I have a short window of time to get a bunch of things done before I hit the road again, and because part of my business is to create media, that means writing and creating information that might be useful to you. Work the plan. That’s the message of the day. Work the PlanMy media plan says I should be writing one of six types of posts:

How to

Vision/Perspective

Promotion

Interview

Do it Better

Review

In this case, I’ll call this post a “how-to.” It’s not the best I’ve ever written, especially because it’s so self-referential, but it proves the point. If your goal is to reach into the heads of the people you hope to reach, you’d best have a plan. If your goal is to make money, and this digital strategy is part of the plan, then what are you doing to stick to it?” Source: Work the Plan.

Only you can decide if my post is ‘not all that interesting’ because I ‘summed up’ Chris’ post — obviously I think it’s beneficial or else I wouldn’t do it…

btw, yesterday I passed the 3,000 post milestone on my personal blog and I’m fast approaching 5,000 on my business blog but these are just the posts that have been published! Counting other blogs that I’ve done since I started 7 years ago I conservatively estimate I’ve created over 20,000 posts. I’m no Chris Brogan, but I have developed an efficient ‘lather rinse repeat’ cycle of blogging using Google Reader and WordPress. This screencast shares some of my best blogging secrets with you – I promised you’ll learn at least one time-saving tactic if you watch the whole think…

June 11, 2012 3

Bend Over! Why The Downward-Facing Dog Is Good For You

Bend Over! Why The Downward-Facing Dog Is Good For You via Bend Over! Why The Downward-Facing Dog Is Good For You | FinerMinds.

June 11, 2012 0

Love this quote! Thanks, Stephanie…

The Comm Entrepreneur

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” Lao Tzu

So often in life, nature is something we first try to change and then try equally as hard to replicate. I might be among the worst offenders of this. I’m always looking for ways to be more efficient with my time, cut-out the waste and cram in just one more hour’s worth of work somewhere, somehow. But time and time again, this haste has led me to mistakes, accidents and set-backs that in the end required more of my time than if I had just tried to do things right in the first place. Just a few days ago I was inspired by the Lao Tzu quote, “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” Ancient philosophers have quite a knack for making the most obvious statements while lining them with an intensely deep meaning that changes your world in…

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June 11, 2012 2

Too Fabulous To Settle!

“A relationship isn’t going to make me survive. It’s the cherry on top.” Jennifer Aniston. via Dash Of Sass – Too Fabulous To Settle!.

June 11, 2012 0

Sadness

Melody Beattie via:

“Ultimately, to grieve our losses means to surrender to our feelings.

So many of us have lost so much, have said so many good-byes, have been through so many changes. We may want to hold back the tides of change, not because the change isn’t good, but because we have had so much change, so much loss.

Sometimes, when we are in the midst of pain and grief, we become shortsighted, like members of a tribe described in the movie Out of Africa.

“If you put them in prison;’ one character said, describing this tribe, “they die:’

“Why?” asked another character.

“Because they can’t grasp the idea that they’ll be let out one day. They think it’s permanent, so they die:’

Many of us have so much grief to get through. Sometimes we begin to believe grief, or pain, is a permanent condition.

The pain will stop. Once felt and released, our feelings will bring us to a better place than where we started. Feeling our feelings, instead of denying or minimizing them, is how we heal from our past and move forward into a better future. Feeling our feelings is how we let go.

It may hurt for a moment, but peace and acceptance are on the other side. So is a new beginning.

God, help me fully embrace and finish my endings, so I may be ready for my new beginnings.” via June 11: Sadness.

“That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It” – An Interview with Melody Beattie (wheretheclientis.com)
Coping With Grief: How to Handle Your Emotions (everydayhealth.com)
I’m Grieving and I’m Healing (bellableue.com)
Group Uses Art Therapy to Work Through Grief (fox4kc.com)
Grieving Dads Interview with Kelly Farley (miscarriedmom.wordpress.com)
sitting with our sadness [daily om] (truelovejunkie.com)
Coping With Grief (seedsofempowerment.wordpress.com)
Teaching Children the Skill of Grieving (psychcentral.com)
How can you be happy after someone you love with all your heart has died? (angelabrentharris.com)

June 11, 2012 10

The Relationships We Wish Would Improve

“When you stop trying to change others and work on changing yourself, your world changes for the better.” Unknown. via Tiny Wisdom: The Relationships We Wish Would Improve | Tiny Buddha: Wisdom Quotes, Letting Go, Letting Happiness In.

June 11, 2012 0

LOL! Thanks for sharing…

Live & Learn

Photo Credits: fairy-wren. The White-backed vulture is an endangered species breeding in trees on the savannah of west and east Africa, laying one egg. The vulture weight 9 to 16 pounds and has a 6-7 foot wingspan. Like other vultures, it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of animals which it finds by soaring over savannah. It also takes scraps from human habitations.

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June 11, 2012 0

Five Best Internet Radio Services

I love to listen to Baroque music while I blog [stimulates the brain, other physical benefits, etc.];

“Streaming music sites are a dime-a-dozen, but internet radio services—the kind where you press play, sit back, and enjoy music that you know you’ll love and only interact if you hear something you don’t—are a rarer breed. Sometimes you’re in the mood to just listen to music, not be a DJ. This week we’re going to take a look at five of the best internet radio services, based on your nominations.

For those times when you don’t feel like searching for something to hear or curating a playlist, internet radio services deliver on the promise to press play on a genre or song-based radio station and know you’re going to hear something you like. Sometimes you can interact with the station, other times you can’t. We asked you which internet radio services you thought were the best, you weighed in with dozens of nominations, and now we’re back to look at the top five.” Get more here: Five Best Internet Radio Services.

I usually use Pandora but lately, I’ve been trending toward Spotify because it’s more social and it integrates well with WordPress when I want to share music [although I do feel it’s too high priced!]. Follow the link to get the rundown on the top five — my recommendation? Pandora is the best value…

June 11, 2012 0

Be truly artistic

“The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” Vincent van Gogh via Anderson Layman’s Blog via more truly artistic………………..