Baking Easier Then You Think

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Check out my blogs at punchmeout.ca.. Who has the time to bake? Everyone. Its easier then you'd think, and will save you money. After you bake your first loaf of bread or turn out that first patch of muffins, you will think twice before buying anything from the grocery store.

Recently I made fajitas, and thought twice when I was at the grocery store. It was a good thing too. Homemade fajitas are ten times better than the store bought ones, and take just 20 minutes to prepare, and about 20 minutes to make. As long as you roll the dough as thinly as possible, you'll be okay. If you have a pasta maker, get it out. Its perfect for making fajitas. Visit All Recipes for the recipe.



Preparation time is usually about 20 to 60 minutes depending on what your making. Allot of time is spent waiting for the dough to rise, or rest. The worst part about baking is the cleanup.

The information on how to bake your favorite bakery goods, like muffins, breads, tea biscuits is at your finger tips. Start with the food network site Food Network, and then search around the internet. You will be surprised what you can find. After you try a recipe, print it out and save it in a binder. Make up two binders, one for baked goods, and one for savory dishes.

When you make the same recipe several times, you will intuitively know how to put something together. Its that easy. Every month I buy one twenty pound back of all purpose floor, and use it to make bread, muffins, scones, tea biscuits, pancakes, or as an alternative to corn starch for some meals.

My favourite bread to make is egg and whole wheat bread. Since I've done it many times, I don't have to look at the recipe. I start with the yeast. While its rising, I start putting together the dough. Bread is pretty straight forward, and if you need your dough well, your bread will always turn out.

If you have never made bread, I recommend you visit Food Network. Another site I recommend is All Recipes. Start with a straight forward white bread recipe like this one, All Recipes . Read the recipe carefully, and then start putting the ingredients together. It is not always straight forward, and you may need to use your best judgement. A rule of thumb is to separate the dry from the wet and mix it together. One of the more challenging recipes is cinnamon rolls.

Take the time to learn how to bake. It is easier then you'd think, and your children won't leave home. A tip to the parents out there, get your kids involved when you bake and cook.

My mother always baked and cooked, and I took away some of what she did into my adulthood, and it has served me well. The cooking shows have inspired me to cook better meals. Get inspired and get cooking. You can do it to. Always remember, its easier than you'd think, and you will be eating much healthier.

Websites Referenced in this blog;

i. Food Network
ii. All Recipes
iii. Check out my blogs at punchmeout.ca..

No Respect for Cyclists

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Unlike the majority of people I don't own a car, due to my current financial circumstances. I either walk to get where I am going, or choose to take my bicycle. If I owned a car, I would not be able to live comfortably. I'd be living in an apartment paying rent, looking for spare change on the ground, and making trips to the food bank. These days it seems like everyone with a car thinks their better than anyone without a car, and think that cyclists should get off the road, and ride their bicycles for recreational purposes only in parks, and by-cycle paths, wherever there available.

It infuriates me to think that this may be the case with many drivers. I pay my taxes, and I have every right to ride my by-cycle wherever, and whenever as long as I am following the rules of the road.

Bicycles are not just for recreation, people more and more people are using their bicycles to get to work and school. Many roads are not designed for cyclists. When the roads were built, cars were popular, and no one would dream of getting around without one.

This perception is starting to change. People are starting to realize the benefits to riding their bicycles. It puts more money into their pockets, they don't have to concern themselves with parking, and their is an added health benefit as well. Slowly, city planners are realizing the benefits of planning for more bike infrastructure. It reduces traffic congestion, road maintenance, decreases toxic pollutants, and improves physical activity levels, thereby reducing cases of obesity, and the strain on the health care system.

According to Transport Canada, non recreational cycling is on the rises. Most people use it to get to and from work. According to 2006 statistics only 1.4% of the country's Census Metropolitan Area's cycle to work regularly. The numbers have been increasing though, it was 1.2% in 1996 and 1.3% in 2001. Victory, BC had the highest number of bicycle commuters in 2006 at 5.6%. Kingston, ON, and Saskatoon, SK shared a second place.

Unfortunately, there are many barriers to bicycle use. Most streets do not have proper bike path, streets are poorly maintained, and are narrow. In 2004 commuters in Amsterdam were surveyed for reasons why they did not choose their bicycle to ride to work on their bicycles. The main reasons for choosing not to ride their bicycles to work were speed, discomfort, feeling unsafe, and the inability to carry passengers. (i)

Providing more and better infrastructure is the key to improving commuter perception of cycling to work or school. When new subdivisions are built and new roads are constructed, consideration should be made to accommodate cyclists.

Cyclists have every right to share the road as drivers. It doesn't mean that they don't have to follow the same rules. Cyclist’s must follow the rules of the road just has drivers do; however, there are two rules that cyclists must pay special attention to. Since cyclist’s usually travel at a lower speed they must stay to the right of the road, and must give way to faster traffic when safe and practice. (ii)

If you ride your by-cycle to get around there are a few rules that you need to keep in mind. According to the Ministry of Transportation, cyclists must stay a least one metre from the side of the road or close to the right hand edge of the road, when there is no curb. (Often that is not practical. You may have to ride closer than one metre, within reason according to the road conditions.)

When riding around cars you should ride your bike in a straight line. If your changing lanes you must yield the right away to the other vehicles in the lane. The person moving into the lane, should wait until an opening becomes available, signal, check over their shoulder and then change lanes.

Be aware that shoulder checks are can be dangerous; although. It may be helpful to get a by-cycle mirror. Your eyes should never leave the road when you ride your bicycle. Rely on your per-phial vision, and if you have to look to the side or behind you, be quick and keep yourself steady. Small stones, and pot holes can send you flying over your handle bars, and into the traffic. When buying a mirror, be careful, some mirrors may be too small to be really useful. Look around and see what your options are. If your living in a small town or city, your options may be extremely limited, check out Ebay.

I live in Brockville, Ontario, and take my bike to and from work, and to run errands. I don't own a car, and it is my only way aside from walking to get around in this small city, that is still going no after over 100 years. The buses run on the hour, and end at about 5:30 PM. Streets are just wide enough for cars to get through and pass each other. There is poor lighting on many streets, no crossing lights at some street corners, and some streets have no sidewalks.

I follow the rules of the road, and pay my taxes like everyone else. If your a cyclist, be aware of your surroundings, and follow the rules of the road. Stay out of the way, and find alternative means of crossing busy intersections. Drivers be respectful of cyclists. They have a right to ride the road just like you do.

Websites Referenced in this blog;

(i) Ministry of Transportation
(ii) Transport Canada

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Insurance Companies Squeezing your Food Budget

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Insurance rates keep rising, and my food budget keeps shrinking. Soon there will be nothing left. Every year I go to the mailbox and there's another notice from the Insurance Company that my house insurance has gone up another $10. This is not fair. Five years ago my house insurance was $90 a month, and now I am paying $135 a month, and I haven't filed a claim, yet.
When I shopped around the quotes I got were not much better, DLK Insuance was $145, WC Burgess was worse with $157. This is outrageous. When will it stop? My earnings haven't increased, and I am paying out more and more for my insurance.

I expect it to go up another $10 this year, and the year after that. If it keeps going up without any interference from the government, in another 5 years I will be forking out $185 a month for house insurance on a 1500 square foot house, on a corner lot. I don't have a car, and I haven't filed any claims on my house, since I bought it.

What am I to do? I live in a small city called Brockville with about 50 000 people in total. Its growing but the jobs are a mixture of industrial and retail. The best you can expect is miniumum wage, and part-time hours. I moved here from Ottawa, Ontario to take a job at a local call center now call Transcom, since I am a Anglophone, and couldn't work in french (Times have changed in Ottawa. There are very few jobs for Anglophones.). I worked there about 2 years, before I had to quit to stress.

At that time, I'd worked at call centers for about 10 years, and I reached my breaking point. Its been down hill from that point. I've managed by taking whatever jobs I could get, and working for myself doing web site maintenance and design. (I have a 3 year diploma from St. Lawrence College in Business Administration Information Systems. It is really just an expensive piece of paper on the wall. I only really learned something after graduation, as Technology changed, and I started doing odd jobs for myself.).

I worked for a while as an inserter at the Recorder and Times, until they shut down their operations, and then ended up as cleaner. Since February 2011, I've been working at full time for a company Milestone Industrial Services for about 2 years now.

At the end of the month I had about $100 a month for food. Since the insurance company started grabbing more and more cash from my pocket, I am really at around $60 a month, and it keeps shrinking.

Part-time work and finding additional work for myself are my only options, aside from moving away from Brockville. Its only going to get worse, according to what their doing to grow the city. The city is trying to attract people 50 and up to grow the population. What a joke! More old people to fill the retirement homes.

In 2003 the average Ontario Insurance premium was $1200, by 2011 that figure had $1500, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Good news though. One of the demands New Democratic leader Andrea Horwath made a rollback of 15% in insurance premiums, one of her demands in return to get this years budget passed (See, Ontario Liberals and NDP team up against auto insurance industry).

According to an article on http://financialplan.about.com/od/homeownersinsurance/a/Homeowners.htm . There are some things you can do to decrease your insurance. The main option is to consider increasing your deductible. Your deductible decreases the risk that the insurance company takes on, and lowers your monthly payment. This offers a brief reprieve, until your rates go up again. I've gone from $1000 to 2000 and I am right back where I started. Its like the dog chasing his tail, and who gets stuck in the end. You are. Something happens, and you must pay the deductible. The only thing working for you is the fact that you may get a discount off your deducible, the longer you stay with your insurance company.

Hopefully, there will be some relief in the future. Something has to happen, another minimum wage increase is not the answer. Employers aren't able to pay more to there employees, and every time there is a wage increase, the employers must compensate, by increasing prices for the services and products they provide. Its a vicious circle.

The worst part of it all is the children. The insurance companies are stealing food from your children's mouths. The insurance company increases there rates, and you can't feed your children any more. Government must stop allowing insurance companies from increasing there rates, or people will be forced to try and work three jobs to keep up, sell their homes, and visit the food banks just to survive.

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Pig Pen

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The other day I stood in line waiting for a teller at the bank. Behind the counter
were two lovely ladies, one woman was obviously very nervous.
A pen bobbed up down in her mouth, as she actively chewed the end of her pen. The other woman
was doing the same thing, until it accidentally fell from her mouth on
to the counter. She was obviously aware of what she was doing, and was a bit
embarrassed. It was amusing.


I walked up to the next available teller, and proceeded to deposit a check. The
teller gave me the transaction slip to sign. I reached for the pen, and hesitated.
There it was. The evidence was there for all to see. The official bank pen was
missing, and in its place was a blue pen with a chewed cap. Interesting, I thought.
The woman must of served a customer, and offered her pen when the bank
pen could not be found.

It is very unprofessional for a teller to chew their pen, behind the counter. It
doesn't give a very good impression to the people waiting in line, looks bad,
and is very unhygienic. If you have a habit of chewing your pen, try
chewing gum instead. It looks better then a pen bobbing up and down in front
of your face, and is allot more sanitary; however, that too can look bad.
Just don't suck your thumb like a 5 year old.


One more thing, just don't stick it anywhere, except where it belongs,
in the garbage. The next time you pick up a pen and put it in your mouth,
take some time to think of where that pen has been, or where it will end up.

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Cure Common Aliments with Raspberry Leaves

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Raspberry tea leaves have been used to cure a wide variety of aliments. They include canker sores, cold sores and gingivitis. Believe it or not drinking raspberry tea leaves actually works. 

My spouse recently had a canker sore, and drank raspberry tea made from raspberry tea leaves, I picked up from the local health store. About 24 hours latter, her problem went away.

Raspberries are native to North America and western Asia. It provides a delicious fruit, and in the summer, and the leaves can be made into a non caffeinated tea, that can have some interesting beneficial health effects.

The tea can be used to treat common aliments as cold sores, canker sores, and gingivitis. Some alternative practitioners recommend raspberry leaf tea to treat everything from morning sickness, derriere, to leg cramps and anaemia. According to studies, raspberry leaves contain antioxidants.

Tea leaves are inexpensive and can be found in a variety of health food and bulk food stores. Use about 5 grams (1 teaspoon) of leaves per 250 ml or one cup of hot water. Allow it to steep for 3 to 5 minutes before drinking.



Store tea leaves in an air tight container and store in a cool dark place. To dry raspberry leaves, spread them out on a backing sheet, leave them out to dry, or put it in the oven at 300 degrees.

This will be just enough heat to dry them out, not enough to burn them. Check them every five minutes and use your own judgement to tell when their ready. They should be dry, but not too dry.



Raspberry leaves have a wide variety of medicinal uses. Try them on a sore throat, or stomach cramps. Search the internet, talk with your physician, and find out what other people have to say about drinking tea made from raspberry leaves.

Is Cooking a Lost Art?

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Packaged foods have become the norm. People think that buying a box from the store will save them time, and money. It may save you time but not necessarily money, and is not very healthy.

Packaged foods make it too easy for people to deal with a hectic life. Its just too easy to come home from work and pop something into the microwave. If you grew up with packaged foods you become accustomed to the sight, taste, and look of a frozen meal. When you move out on your own, you may not think twice about walking down the frozen food isles, with their variety of different prepared meals, made in a factory.

If you are one of those people. You may want to stop to think how you are harming yourself and your pocket book.

Everything ads up over time. The average frozen meal costs about $4 to $6. If you eat a frozen meal at lunch and then again one at dinner time, you will spend about $224 to $336 a month.

Aside from begin expensive, frozen meals are unhealthy, and really don't taste very good , if you make your own meals. Packaged foods don't contain many of the vitamins and nutrients, you get from a home cooked meal.



People think that it may take time to prepare a home cooked meal, but this is a common misrepresentation. You can prepare an average meal in about 30 minutes.

For inspiration take a look at "just in time", by Rachael Ray. Get ideas for making meals in as little as 15 minutes, or take your time and prepare 30 to 60 minute meals. These are delicious meal ideas you can do yourself at home.

To get idea's, start following the food network. Buy a binder, and fill it with interesting recipes that can be found on the internet. Think of what you want to make and just do it.

Before you walk down that isle, take the time to think. Walk around the grocery store, and stay out of the isles. Think about what you can do with the fresh vegetables, fruits and meat.

Find a recipe before you go shopping, and it will make it easier. After becoming familiar with the recipe, change it around, and make it your own.



Don't be afraid to try new vegetables and fruits you haven't seen before. Taste everything, and don't be afraid to experiment once you are comfortable preparing your own food, and most importantly, have fun.

Think about your pocket book and your taste buds when you go out shopping. Stay out of the processed food isles.

Other books you may be interested in:

Is Anxiety a Cop Out?

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Anxiety. Everyone has heard the term. It is becoming more common place, and accepted by physicians. It is a real condition; however, some people may be taking advantage of it to get out of working for a living, like everyone else.

Anxiety is a psychological condition characterized by feelings of worry, uneasiness and dread. It should not be confused with fear. Anxiety is described as more of a feeling of impending doom.

The condition is considered to be a normal reaction to stress. It may help and individual to be ready to cope, with a stressful situation. For some individuals it can become overwhelming, and it becomes classified as a disorder.

It is a condition covering many types of illness. These mental illness's only became accepted toward the end of the 19th century. Anxiety is defined by mental apprehension, physical tension, physical symptoms, and dissociative anxiety. Visit, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorder, for more information.



According to and article written by, Kismet Baun with an Introduction By Dr. Taylor Alexander http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/about_mental_health.asp?cID=48249,until recently people diagnosed with mental illness were given little hope of every living a normal life. Today, there is hope for a full recovery.

Everyone feels anxious from time to time. Stressful situations like meeting obligations, deadlines, and dealing with life's small issues, such as keeping up with your house cleaning, making supper, doing your laundry and picking up the groceries, can make people feel nervous, and overwhelmed.

About 1 in 4 people experience anxiety some time in their lives; one, in ten currently have an anxiety order. Many people think they can get over these disorders by themselves. Usually, this is not the case. Fortunately, there are many treatments available.

Researchers don't know exactly what causes some people to have anxiety disorder, but they do no there are various causes involved. Some people may think that some situations are more dangerous than others, like flying, or riding a bus. There are others that may of had a bad experience, like being bitten by a dog, when they were a child, and fear that it will happen again.

More and more, is becoming known about anxiety disorder; however, it can be misunderstood and misdiagnosed. People could convince their doctors that they have anxiety attacks, and not be in the condition to hold a job.

Symptoms vary depending on the type of anxiety disorder. They could be feelings of panic, fear or uneasiness, uncontrollable, obsessive thoughts, nightmares, or ritualistic behaviours. These are just some of the many symptoms that may characterize this disorder.

Getting diagnosed with anxiety disorder can be a an arduous, uncertain process, but a new blood test can detect these disorders in hours, according to scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

After a review of the psychiatric history of over 450 patients, found by checking for a high level of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), a blood protein people release when under stress, they were able to diagnose these disorders about 90% of the time. There are some people that may be honestly trying to fake anxiety attacks; however, the majority of them may indeed be telling the truth about what their feeling. Since there is treatment available, it should not prevent an individual from working.

Before writing this blog, I was unconvinced that anxiety is real. After doing the research, and finding out that there may be a simple blood test , I am much more convinced that this is a real condition, and people are not faking it.