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.

I’ve always been obsessed with blenders for some reason but my family rarely ever uses one so I didn’t really have an opportunity to create all of the things I would dream about – awesome milkshakes, tasty smoothies, and so on.  This week I decided to take matters into my own hands and correct that.  I found the blender in the basement (it wasn’t hard because it was in a box that said “Mom’s Blender to Keep”) and began to daydream about the great things I was going to create.  Well, after I found the blender, I realized that I knew nothing about what I could and couldn’t blend, what combinations were good together, and how much to make.  That posed a slight problem.

I did some research on blenders and blending recipes to gather the information I needed.  I was able to get some really great information but I didn’t have any of the resources to put it into action.  I kept reading about strawberries, protein mix, and vegetables.  All I had was milk, oranges, and bananas.  Allowing my inner genus to come out, I decided that was all I needed.  Let me tell you, I wasn’t disappointed.

As the week progressed, I began to formulate a small shopping list of all the items I wanted to buy at the local farmer’s market for my blended concoctions.  I added strawberries, more oranges and bananas, lemons, and limes.  I also realized that I could include non-fruit items including oatmeal and peanut butter.

I’m still shifting from blender newbie to experienced mixer but I’m enjoying the journey.  I can honestly say that I am feeling more alive and more energetic as my days progress due to my shakes that I have been making in the morning.  I have yet to purchase any sort of protein or glutamine supplement but it is on my list of things to do.  In combination with my shakes, I’ve been trying to exercise or work out each day.  I have a lot of friends who regularly work out and they are giving me some tips that I should try over the next few weeks.

I realized that this is the only body that I’m ever going to get so I need to take care of it while I can.  Heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol run in my family so I need to be extra careful of what I eat and how I treat myself.  I think that my blender mixes are going to lead me to be healthier person.  In the process, I’m going to be treating my body better, gaining more energy, and getting a higher level of self-confidence.  My final goal is to be healthier and more fit person by the start of the new decade and I think I’ll be able to meet that goal.

If you’re interested, here are some of the drinks I’ve created in the blender over the past week…

1 cup of orange juice (fresh squeezed is the best)
1 cup of milk
1 banana
2 scoops of non-fat ice cream
————————————
1 cup of orange juice
1 cup of milk
1 banana
6 strawberries
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 tsp of peanut butter
1 tbsp of honey
(This tastes like a peanut butter and banana sandwich)

I love action movies.  I recently saw Taken and wanted to be just like Liam Neeson, busting down doors, kicking people in the face, and, most importantly, saving the day.  I guess you could say I became obsessed with this lifestyle after seeing the Jason Bourne movies.  After watching the movies, I would say, “How did he escape undetected?  How did he get into country after country without leaving any traces?  I want to be like Jason Bourne.  He’s so cool.”  Well, now I have my chance.

Author Neil Strauss (of no relation to Levi…at least that I know of) set out to live like Jason Bourne and he wrote how he did it.  In his latest book, Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life, Strauss writes about how a person can obtain multiple passports, foreign bank accounts, and set themselves up for success in other countries without breaking the law.  I first heard about Emergency after I stumbled upon an article titled, “How to Be Jason Bourne: Multiple Passports, Swiss Banking, and Crossing Borders.” (Since I’m a Bourne freak, this seemed like a perfect fit.)  In the article, author and blogger Tim Ferriss gives a preview of Strauss’ book and all that it has to offer.  I read the selections that he posted in his article and immediately began to yearn for more information.  So, I spent the $14.99 on Amazon to grab myself a copy of the book.

The book is being released today and it sounds like it is going to be a great read.  I’m eagerly awaiting my amazon package that should arrive sometime in the middle of the week.  If you want to learn to be like Jason Bourne, whether or not you are going to use the information, this would be a great place to start.  I’m interested to see all of the information disclosed and if I decide to become practically invisible and untraceable, I’ll be sure to write about my experiences her on ericalpin.com.  If I don’t, it’s no big deal.  At least I’ll know how it could be done.  So, rush out and get your copy of Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life today (or just click the link to order it from Amazon)!

I was scanning some of my RSS articles and came across an article disclosing today’s free rental code from Redbox.  If you use the code F3T9L6 at your local Redbox before midnight tonight (CST), then you will have your movie for free until 9:00pm tomorrow night.  Each night after the free period is the normal rate of $1.00/night.  Enjoy and look for another free code on Wednesday!