Well, today is the last Thursday in April, meaning that it is the last chance to recieve a free spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A.  Simply go into your local Chick-Fil-A restaurant and say “I can take the heat” to the cashier and you will get your free sandwich.  No additional purchase is required.  Enjoy!

This may not be quite an original recipe but it’s something that I have caught onto since I’ve been eating healthier.  One of the things that a lot of experts say is that the health benefits of a house salad often get counterbalanced by the negative effects of salad dressings.  Since humans don’t like bland food, we add unhealthy dressing to provide some kick to our taste buds.  If you’ve never read the back of a salad dressing container, you probably should do so sitting down.  I prefer Italian dressing and the bottle lists that two tablespoons of the dressing has 370mg of sodium.  That is a horrible ratio!  Not only is that a lot of sodium to take in at one time but it comes out to be about 15-20% of your recommended daily value.  Just in two tablespoons of dressing!  To counter the negative side effects of the Italian dressing, I decided to mix it with some freshly squeezed lemon juice.  Here is the simple recipe:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons of Italian dressing
• 1/8 of lemon

Now, you can mix the two any way that you would like.  I prefer to mix them in a small Tupperware container but that is only because I take it with me to work and I don’t want my salad basting in dressing before I eat it.  The addition of lemon juice should add more of a citrus zest to the dressing.  Although I haven’t tried it, I’m sure this would work with other dressings, too.  The citrus juice aids in oxidizing the body, preventing against infections, and is a good source of Vitamin C.  You would obviously need to intake a lot of lemon juice for it to have a significant effect on your body but every little bit counts.

A good suggestion is to slowly reduce the levels of Italian dressing and increase the amount of lemon juice to your mixture until you have trained your taste buds away from the dressing.  Lime juice works too but it leaves a very bitter taste when combined with lettuce so you may want to only apply a tad.

Has anyone else tried this?  What are your thoughts?  How does this taste with other types of dressings?  Let us know in the comment section!

Ladies and Gents…I’m officially back and am ready to provide you all with some awesome blog posts!  It still may be a little hectic throughout the next few weeks as the semester is closing down but a few days off should help me catch with with school and blogging.  Thanks for sticking with me!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am going to be taking a break from updating the site over the next week due to a lot of commitments and priorities.  I have a few posts scheduled for this week already and they will post but nothing will be coming through real time.  I’ll be back in action (hopefully) April 27.  Thanks for understanding!

I was first made aware of this interesting and delicious combination about a year ago and have enjoyed making this quick meal ever since.  It is a great way to get a lot of healthy nutrition and it serves as an awesome idea if you have leftovers that you need to use.

• 1 can of tuna (your choice) in water, drained
• 1 tablespoon of light mayonnaise (Miracle Whip is good)
• 1 tablespoon of relish
• 1/8 cup onion
• 1/4 cup celery
• 1 teaspoon of Old Bay
• 1 green pepper, halved and seeded

1. Combine tuna and mayonnaise in a medium mixing bowl and mix together until the tuna becomes lightly pink.
2. Add in celery, onions, relish, and Old Bay and mix with the tun and mayonnaise.
3. Once you are ready to eat, scoop the tuna into the green pepper half.  Serve immediately.

Since I have started to eat healthier, I have needed to find healthier snacks to eat instead of chips and chocolate.  (While both of those things are great tasting, they don’t help lower your caloric intake.)  One of the first snacks I decided to make was a simple granola and peanut butter recipe I found on Food Network.  I’m going to modify the recipe a bit to include some added ingredients to make it even healthier.  I don’t have exact  nutrition facts but these treats are tasty and good for you.  Digressing, here is that recipe:

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 cup granola
• 1/2 cup crushed oatmeal
• 1 scoop of protein mix (not needed if you don’t have it)
• 2 to 4 tablespoons milk, or as needed

1.  Combine honey and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl.  (Use a rubber spatula for easy mixing and clean up)

2.  Add in granola, oatmeal, and protein mix.  Continue to stir all of the ingredients together in the mixing bowl until thoroughly combined.

3.  Measure 2 – 4 tablespoons of milk and work it into the mix.  Add enough milk to aide in keeping the mixture together but not too much to make everything soggy.

4.  Form mixture into balls or clumps and chill until serving.

This recipe yields 12 – 15 treats and takes about 10 minutes to make.

Has anyone tried this recipe or something similar?  What works for you?  Do you have any healthy treat or meal suggestions?  Let us know in the comments!

I wanted to give everyone the heads up that I submitted an application today to Google’s AdSense program.  I am currently pending approval but will hear back within the next one or two days.  Assuming that I’ll be approved, there are going to start being small ads on the site.  This is an easy way for my blog to generate revenue and to gain more exposure.  Thanks for being patient and understanding!

On a side note, there is a new poll open on the right hand side of the screen.  Check it out and let us know your opinion!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment below or email me.