When deciding on your dining room furniture, there are so many directions you can go. You can have a casual look, modern formal or just something completely uniquely you.
To start with, look in magazines for the home, catalogs and flyers with different furniture. A dining room set is generally a long-term investment, so you want to be sure about your choice. Cut out the pieces that appeal to you and keep in mind the style of the rest of your home. An ultra-modern dining set in a country-style home might look a little out of place.
If your dining set will be made from wood, you might choose wood that appears elsewhere in your home. You might prefer glass because it is less susceptible to scratches and stains, but remember it shows fingerprints more readily, so upkeep may be more work.
What size table you choose, will depend on the size of your room. Don’t overcrowd a small room with a large table. You’ll want a few feet space behind each chair. Also, if you want to add a hutch or a china cabinet, you’ll need to consider spacing for those items. If you have a smaller space, but like to host plenty of people for dinner, you can choose a table with expandable leaves.
If you’re wondering if you should get a rectangular or round table, consider this. A rectangular table can accommodate more people without taking up so much floor space. Still, a round table offers a more intimate atmosphere for a smaller group of people. If you plan to frequently have more than 10 diners, a rectangular table is probably the choice for you.
When you think you’ve found a table that you’d like, make sure there is enough room for the suggested seating. You should have 2 – 2 1/2 feet of space per person seated at the table.
Make sure the table is sturdy and don’t be afraid to lean on it and ensure it can withstand weight and pressure. Make sure the legs don’t get in the way of easily placing the chairs around the table.
The finish you choose for your table will depend on the wear and tear you expect your table to endure. Enamel tables with a gloss or semi-gloss stain, for example, hide the color of the paint, but makes the furniture easy-to-clean and resist scratches.
After you’ve chosen your table and chairs, you can choose complementary pieces. How large they’ll be will be dictated by the size of the room and your need for storage. Don’t forget space to store all that great china!
Avocado Chicken Sandwich Special Recipe
Ingredients:
Makes 2 sandwiches
1/2 avocado
1 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp lemon juice
4 slices of your favorite bread
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped cooked chicken (leftover roast chicken or BBQ chicken)
Method:
Put the flesh of the avocado in a small bowl together with the lemon juice and sour cream and mash with a fork.
Spread one slice of bread on one side with mayonnaise and the other slice with the avocado mixture. Put the chopped chicken on top of the slice with the mayonnaise and top with the bread covered with the avocado. Cut into triangles and put into a lunch box.
The whole family will enjoy this colorful and delicious sandwich.
Herb Seasoned Chicken Recipe
Ingredients:
6 chicken pieces (about 2lbs)
2 tbsp flour
2 tsp dried herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, tarragon etc)
Salt
Pepper
1/3 cup warm water
Method:
Preheat the oven to 375°Fahrenheit.
In a little dish, combine the flour, dried herbs, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Remove the skin from the chicken pieces and wash them thoroughly under cold water. Pat them dry with paper towels.
Grease a shallow baking dish and add the chicken in a single layer. Sprinkle the herb flour over the chicken with a small sieve. Add 1/3 cup of warm water to the side of the baking dish, don’t pour it over the chicken.
Bake in the oven uncovered for about 40 to 50 minutes or until the chicken is done and no longer pink inside. For extra tasty and brown chicken, baste the chicken pieces once in a while with the liquid from the pan. If needed, add more warm water for basting.
Enjoy with rice and a tomato salad!
Rising fuel prices may be the reason why the number of people planning a backyard garden has increased in recent years. The number of pesticides used in commercial farming is another reason why many people are choosing organic gardening. Healthy eating habits including eating locally grown foods can make the difference in how much your children like the vegetables your garden produces.
There are many reasons to choose to grow your own garden and to do so organically. Here are some of them:
* Vegetables you grow out of your own garden are fresher than commercially grown vegetables. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone with a garden leaving the food sitting around for more than a day or two. Commercial produce, however, has been picked before it is ripe, sprayed with chemicals to continue the ripening process during shipping, and then traveled up to 1,500 miles to reach your table.
* Organically and locally grown vegetables are healthier for you and your family. Fresh produce quickly loses nutrients. If you can eat it soon after it’s picked, it retains more of the nutrients.
* You don’t have to worry about any of the vegetables being genetically modified. Genetically modified seeds aren’t currently available to individuals and you probably don’t want to use them in your garden anyhow.
* Should you have more vegetables than your family can eat, you have three options. You can share the vegetables with friends, family, or neighbors. You can sell it at a local farmer’s market or a stand in your yard if that is permitted where you live. Or you can put it up (freezing or canning) for use later in the year.
* Any vegetable, or fruit for that matter, that you grow on your own property is going to taste better than vegetables from other areas of the country. You may actually hear your children say homegrown vegetables ‘taste like summer.’
Another reason to plant your own vegetable garden this summer is that you can use it as a way to teach your children about nature and how to care for the environment. You can also spend quality time with your child if you can get them to help you.
The biggest benefit of growing your own garden, however, is knowing where your vegetables came from. You’ll know what, if any, pesticides were used on them. You’ll also know that you and your children can go out the back door and pick them fresh.
Children who may be picky eaters when it comes to vegetables may be more willing to give them a try if they’re fresh from your garden. There’s no guarantee that your green bean-hating child will suddenly turn into a green bean lover, but there’s more of a chance that’ll happen if they have a hand in growing, caring for, and harvesting the beans themselves.
Organic gardening in your own back yard often leads to healthy eating habits. Let your children go outside, pick some cherry tomatoes and let them pop them into their mouth. You know what went into growing them and that they’re perfectly safe.
If your children are like most, they probably love pizza. What they may not realize, however, is that children can have a hand in making that pizza even better. Let your children create a pizza herb pot and watch their interest in gardening and cooking soar!
Herbs are some of the easiest plants to grow, especially for a beginner. You don’t need a large plot of land to create an herb garden; in fact, you can grow a number of herbs in clay pots. This will enable you to plant related herbs for each different type of cuisine you enjoy. Herb pots can also be grown on patios, porches, or even fire escapes – any place you have a sunny spot will do.
Since pizza is such a mainstay of the American diet, you may want to create an herb pot that grows the herbs you need for pizza. But which herbs would you grow in a pizza herb pot? You may want to plant basil, oregano, thyme, sage, and even cilantro. Here are the steps for making this herb pot -you can choose any other cuisine by changing the herbs being planted:
* Find a spot to place your herb pot that will receive at least five hours of sunlight each day. Place the herb pot on a saucer.
* Pick a large container, one that’s at least 20 inches in diameter. You can choose a plastic or clay pot that has a drainage hole to ensure the herbs don’t remain too wet. Some pots may have been glazed with leaded glaze; it would be best to avoid using this type to ensure you don’t transfer lead to the plants.
* Put a little bit of gravel into the bottom of the pot and covering the drainage hole. Doing this will keep the dirt in and allow the excess water to be released. After you have the gravel in the bottom, you’ll want to fill the container about two thirds of the way full. Sterilized potting soil is best to use.
* Go to your local garden center or home improvement center. Choose the plants you want and then place them in the pot, tallest growing plants in the center, and then placing the shorter plants around it.
* As you plant each individual herb, loosen the dirt around the roots and then put the plant into the soil. Cover the roots with more soil and then continue to the next plant. By the time the planter is full, you should have about two inches of space to the top of the planter. Be sure to water them in by adding plenty of water, although you don’t want water to stand in the planter or the saucer underneath it.
Instead of watering your plants each day, poke your finger into the dirt when you notice the top of the soil looking dry. If the soil is dry up to an inch below the top, it’s time to water your pizza herb garden. In a couple of weeks you can start harvesting your herbs. By carefully cutting the leaves and not pulling the plants out, your herb garden should produce fresh herbs for your home-made pizza all year long.
High school cafeterias are notorious for offering foods that are less than healthy. If your teen is getting sick of hamburgers and pizza for lunch during the week, they may be considering brown bagging it. Here are five healthy lunch box tips your teens may want to incorporate into their bagged lunches.
1. Encourage your teen to pack foods from at least three food groups. This could mean sandwiches, some carrot sticks, and piece of fruit. It could also mean taking leftovers from the night before, a salad, and fruit at the bottom yogurt. The key is to consider what your teen likes to eat and then purchase things you know they’ll like and that are healthy choices. If they pack a healthy lunch they are more likely to have the energy and mental clarity for the remainder of the school day. If they eat cafeteria food, or worse yet – get something from the candy machine, they may have an energy crash from sugar overload.
2. Ask your teen to go with you to choose the food they’d like to include in their lunches. Then, when you’ve returned home, suggest to your teen that they may want to begin preparing their meals for the week. They can place some items in paper bags in the fridge so they can finish filling them the night before school. This way the bagged lunches are ready for them to grab and go.
3. Instead of placing everything in zip top bags, you might suggest that your teen place some foods into small plastic containers. This will help keep those foods fresher as well as contain any liquids that may be part of the meal. One great meal idea for small plastic containers is to chop up left over chicken breasts, add chopped grapes and a little bit of mayonnaise to create a wonderful chicken salad to make any teen jealous.
4. Rather than making traditional sandwiches, your teen can create wraps instead. Use tortilla shells and spread a little bit of cream cheese on it. Cover it with shredded cheese, chopped chicken and shredded carrots. You have a fresh take on a sandwich. They may actually find they prefer the roll-ups instead of sandwiches made with bread.
5. Don’t forget to include fish for your teen’s healthy lunch. They can make a tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat bread or can add the tuna to a tossed salad. Either way they choose to eat them, tuna is a good choice for a healthy lunch.
School lunches don’t have to be boring to be healthy. In fact, your teen can pick and choose healthy alternatives to what is offered in the school cafeteria and make them at home. Maybe they won’t eat a healthy lunch box meal every day of the week, but replacing cafeteria food with a healthy meal from home can do wonders for their health, how well they concentrate in afternoon classes, and the amount of energy they have left when they return home.
