Photo Friday: Cheese & Kittens

Below are photos of my latest iGourmet conquest. The 1.5 litter wine bottle and 2 cup measuring cup are just there to put the size of the box in perspective. Perishables are shipped in reusable foam coolers with reusable ice packs. (If I don't quit buying their products I'll need a new storage shed JUST for the free coolers and ice packs). I bought over 4 pounds of imported and domestic artisan cheeses on sale - including my beloved Cotswold. And received freebies - besides the cooler and ice packs - like an Italian Spongata, water crackers, ginger snaps, and a cheese knife.

The second set of photos are of the kittens new den. They outgrew their old space and needed more room to romp. Bruno can fit inside with them! The last photo is of their Grandmother Lexi standing guard on their 'roof'.

After I got the kennel cage assembled and decked out, Jerry said, "If anyone can build and run a cat house it's you. And you can quote me on that." Years ago my teenage cousin was visiting me on our horse farm in California where I had seventeen cats, some of which came in the house. She innocently said, "This is a regular cat house!" I laughed and she looked at me funny. I had to explain what 'cat house' meant.

More photos coming...

Frugal Shop-a-rama

"Say what? Cheese? How about tuna."
















Every 3 or 4 months our local Smiths grocery store has a case sale. Buying in bulk saves a lot of money and right now just about everyone I know is cutting corners someplace. Well, by stocking up on non-perishables like tuna, peanut butter, chili, and soup, we saved $158.30 today! We bought a case of Bumblebee tuna, a case of JIF, a case of chicken noodle soup, a case of tomato soup, and two cases of Hormel chili. See photos of my plunder below.

Gasoline was $3.52 a gallon this morning. Groceries are higher than even a few months ago. The price of hay cubes went up, and so did our satellite television and water bills. Amazingly we're not feeling it too badly. We've made minor adjustments like we eat out less (yeah for my waist line!) Instead of once every weekend we eat out once every three or four weeks. (Partly because the last time we ate out Bruno pouted most of the time and didn't eat his food. We can watch him pout and waste food just as easily at home. Not to mention the food and atmosphere is almost always better at home).

I've started using coupons again - mostly because Smiths prints them out and shoves them at you and they're tailored to our usual purchases. I saved another $5.50 today alone from they're targeted coupons on stuff I buy anyway. And I'm buying less unnecessary items like magazines, books, and DVDs.


But I refuse to cut corners when it comes to cheese!

And of course after purchasing all that food Bruno demanded the one case sale item I passed on - macaroni and cheese. Luckily we had nearly a case in storage.

Eeeeuh! It's not even real cheese! It says "real cheese" on the package, but it looks like orange powder. Soylent green, Soylent orange...Soylent GROSS. Soylent Green was my favorite movie in junior high. (Not to mention Charlton Heston was hot back then).

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My cats don't even like tuna flavored cat food, let alone tuna despite oggling the cans. But, do not regularly feed your cats canned tuna intended for humans. It can cause a vitamin B1 deficiency and even death.

Foodie Friday - Cheesy Goodness

I got the idea for this post because I'm staring down the week ahead at my scheduled cheat day on Wednesday via the Cheat To Lose Diet plan. I'm shopping for my cheat foods today at iGourmet. And I'm buying this bargain because if I don't get some Cotswald - which I haven't had since Christmas - I'll die. Besides that much cheese, properly stored, will last me two months. I have a Seal-A-Meal and if you reseal cheese in an airtight bag cheese lasts up to 9 months as opposed to a week or so in a regular baggie.

(Joel Marion, author of The Cheat To Lose Diet, says not to shop ahead because you may not be craving on cheat day what you bought ahead. Too bad, Joel. I live 20 miles from the store and I'm not wasting $10 in gas to do an unnecessary shopping run on a Wednesday. Ain't happening, baby. Besides I KNOW what I want, cheese and chocolate).

If you're into diet, nutrition, weight loss, and fat loss, chances are you're also a foodie. Some of us foodies are gourmets, love to cook, own and use every herb and spice known to man, and prefer imported English Stilton to plastic wrapped slices of plastic tasting American cheese any day. Other foodies are not purist and don't know Cotswold from coriander. These foodies love McDonald's, Frito Lay, Oscar Meyer, and Banquet microwave dinners. Whichever side of the foodie fence you sit on, even if you're a fence sitter, there's something below that should tickle your fancy.

My very favorite place to buy food is iGourmet. They have excellent customer service and the biggest selection of American and international gourmet food. Also, if you're signed up for their newsletter you receive great deals including customer appreciation free shipping days. And they have sales, today I got a daily special, one pound of Royal Blue Stilton for $6.00 off.

Can you tell I'm crazy for cheese?

Here's some great food, cuisine, and cooking sites (in no particular order):


Gourmeted.com - The Adventures of Two Desperate Foodies

Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes

The Restaurant Hopper

Healthy Cooking Recipes

Jenn Cooks - Adventures From The Kitchen

The Grill Man

Fruit Species

Suger & Sweets - Find Something Crave Worthy

Mouthing Off

Articles


Immune System Needs Food To Function Well


Pimp My Meal - 8 Instant Ways to Make Healthy Meals Delicious by Josef Brandenburg

Gail Simmons 10 Best Spring Dishes

The Best Pies In London

Foodie Videos

Food Wars



The Hippy Gourmet Makes Veggie Sushi



Extra Cheese: The Rap



Fast Food Freestyle

Thanksgiving Vacation, Mooning Over My Hammy, & Links To Get Fit and Healthy

Autumn In Mills Park, Carson City, Nevada















Thanksgiving looms and I’m about to get really busy. I finish up my shopping tomorrow and start cooking on Monsday to get a head start on the whole process. We’ll have turkey and ham as well as all our favorite fixings.




















Check out this delicious imported gourmet ham we bought last year and again this year, and at 99 percent fat free – a 2 ounce serving has 50 calories, 0.5 grams fat, > 1 gram carbs, and 10 grams protein - you get a good dose of delicious protein for less calories. And this ain’t your momma’s store bought ham, it’s oh so delic-i-o-so.

iGourmet.com Le Cochon d'Or Smoked Ham

This premium Canadian ham is prepared in the classic French tradition in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, a small town that lies between Quebec City and Montreal. The hogs in Cap-de-la-Madeleine are naturally raised with no growth hormones or steroids, which is a rare occurrence these days.

Their premium-quality hams are hard-carved from the leanest, most tender part of the animal and are 99% fat free. They are delicately coated with unique blends of herbed and spiced marinades and slow cured to develop a full rich flavor and uniform pink color. We offer three popular flavors - Baked Black Forest, Honey, and Cracked Black Pepper. Each ham weighs approximately seven pounds, making one perfect for a Sunday dinner for the whole family, a party on the weekend, or a team picnic. Varieties sold separately.

Price: $34.99
Size: 7 pounds

Assuming I don’t find time to blog in the coming week I’m leaving you with this super sized list of links chock full of information on fitness, nutrition, and a reminder to check out the website Wellness For Nancy and donate if you can.

Giving Thanks for All Our Blessings and Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving! Carol



7 Fat Loss Strategies For Busy Moms
Michael Jordan
November 16, 2007
Would you like to "jump start" your metabolism and lose your ‘mommy belly' once and for all? If so, the following seven tips are exactly what you need to improve your workouts and ignite your metabolism. Try some or all of these tips, but beware, the result may be a number of admiring second glances and the need to pull your ‘skinny jeans' out of the closet.

Bodybuilding Fat Loss Tips for Women
From Hugo Rivera

Lose Fat With IFBB Figure Pro Pauline Nordin
Everyone knows what to do to lose fat, right? Then how come so few reach their goals and achieve that lean look if it's so damn easy to get ripped?

I could tell you the very same things as everybody else does, but I definitely won't. It's not only about the perfect diet plan and the right amount of exercise, the best supplements and so on; the most important part of a fat-loss strategy is your mental approach to it.

That's what I'm going to tell you about. Basically, what you've got to do is stick to your plan. Period.

The Most Unusual Way To Build Muscle
By Mark McManus

Can you build muscle without touching a weight?

Imagine the possibility of using your mind to reshape your body size and strength!
Strange? Indeed.

I recently remembered reading about a study a few years ago in Men’s Health in which the subjects increased the size and strength of selected muscle groups by simply ‘thinking‘ about working them out.

They simply visualized the process and their bodies responded in the same manner as if they’d actually hit the iron!

It’s well known by a lot of people in psychology and exercise physiology that the brain cannot distinguish the difference between a ‘real’ event i.e. one that is observed objectively, and a vividly imagined one i.e. one that is created subjectively. The implications of this could be quite exciting for bodybuilders.


Tony Horton’s 11 Laws For Lifetime Fitness

4 Tips To Fat Loss by Gregg Gillies

“Can You Burn Fat And Build Muscle At The Same Time?”

How To Lose Weight By Eating More


Holiday Weight Management Survival Guide
From Paige Waehner


Holiday Pounds Forever - Consistent Eating for Long-Term Weight Control


7 Day Fat Loss Meal Plan


Fat Loss For Beginners-8 Tips For Getting Started

The No Weight Gain Holiday Guide

Harvard School of Public Health On Fruits & Vegetables

Increase Your Metabolism and Curb Your Appetite With This Fat Burning Food Group


99 Tips For Family Fitness Fun