Sip on this!: A Southern Screw

This drink is 15% alcohol and should be served in a collins glass.  A very delicious and fruity drink.

For one drink you will need:

2 oz. Vodka
2 oz. Southern Comfort® Peach Liqueur
6 oz. Sunny Delight® Orange Juice
Ice

Mix in shaker, Pour over ice and serve!

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Recipe of the Day: Cajun Meatballs

Ingredients:


1 pound lean ground beef
1 1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dried Parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup peach preserves


Directions:


1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a medium baking sheet.
2.  In large bowl, mix thoroughly the ground beef, hot pepper sauce, Cajun season, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, onion, bread crumbs, milk and egg.
3.  Form golf-sized balls with mixture and place on greased baking sheet.
4.  Bake for 30-40 minutes
5.  In a small bowl, combine barbecue sauce and peach preserves.
6.  Place meatballs in serving dish, cover with sauce mixture and toss to coat.


4 Servings.





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Cure Menstrual Cramps Without Popping Pills - Excelle

Cure Menstrual Cramps Without Popping Pills - Excelle

Molly Mann | Divine Caroline

September 01, 2010

Most women, during most months of the year, experience menstrual cramps. Some—you lucky lasses—have only mild to moderate pain during their periods. The rest of us, though, get waylaid by discomfort on a monthly basis, sometimes to the point where it interrupts our normal lives.

Sure, we can take over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, like Midol and Tylenol, and prescription therapies, like birth control pills, help as well, but if you’re not into popping pills, there are plenty of holistic remedies that can help you keep period-related pain to a minimum.

Why Is This Happening to Me?!

I ask myself this question every month, as I’m sure many women do. The answer: you’re female. Sorry.

According to the Mayo Clinic staff, women suffering from menstrual cramps, or dysmenorrhea,experience dull, throbbing, or tightening pain in their lower abdomen, which may radiate to their lower back and thighs as well. Some women also notice nausea and vomiting, loose stools, sweating, or dizziness.

This is because the uterus contracts during menstrual periods to help shed its lining. Hormonelike substances called prostaglandins trigger these contractions, and women whose bodies produce higher levels of prostaglandins tend to have more-severe cramps.

Severe period pain can also be a sign of more serious underlying conditions, however. While primary dysmenorrhea, the cramping characteristic of normal ovulatory menstrual cycles, involves no underlying gynecological problem, secondary dysmenorrhea, which tends to involve more-painful cramping, is associated with the following conditions:

• Endometriosis, in which the uterine lining, the endometrial layer, becomes implanted outside the uterus
• Uterine fibroids, noncancerous tumors that grow on the uterine walls
• Adenomyosis, in which the endometrial lining grows into the muscular walls of the uterus
• Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), an infection of the female reproductive organs caused by sexually transmitted bacteria
• Cervical stenosis, a smaller-than-normal opening of the cervix that impedes menstrual flow, causing painful buildup within the uterus

Women who experience very painful menstrual cramps, or whose cramps have suddenly become more severe, should see their gynecologist to rule out any of these underlying problems.

Cramps are also associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), the emotional and physical changes that 80 percent of women experience between ovulation and the onset of their period. Many women are unlucky enough to suffer from both PMS and period cramps, which means two weeks of discomfort every month. Fortunately, primary dysmenorrhea tends to lessen with age and often disappears once a woman has given birth, according to the Mayo Clinic staff.

Move It!

Probably the best medication-free way to ease pain from menstrual cramps is to exercise.

Gina Shaw, writing for WebMD, tells the story of Pam Kelly, who had been suffering from debilitating pain since she got her first period, in only third grade. “I was out of school a couple of days just about every month, the pain was so bad,” Shaw reports Kelly as saying. “The school nurse would give me codeine for the pain, and I was finally put on high-dose birth control pills [to help alleviate pain by maintaining more consistent hormone levels]. Those helped some.”

But when she started junior high school, Kelly found another remedy that was even more effective and required no pill popping: “I joined the basketball team and then the soccer team, and I found that the pain was becoming less and less,” she says. “By ninth grade, I didn’t even need the birth control pills anymore.”

Shaw also reports that as many as 90 percent of young women have severe period pain, making it the leading cause of school and work absences for this demographic. Exercise helps these women because it causes their brains to release internal opioids called beta-endorphins, which Kelly’s doctor, Gustavo Rossi, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia, calls “human morphine.” He explains, “It produces analgesia [pain relief] and helps to burn the prostaglandins … much faster.”

According to Shaw, the best kind of exercise for menstrual pain is aerobic, since an elevated heart rate is what triggers endorphin production. She cites Paula Castano, an assistant clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, who seconds Shaw’s statement by urging women to get aerobic exercise at least three times a week, thirty minutes each time.

Sexual Healing

Of course, there’s another mode of exercise that’s very effective for relieving painful cramps and actually curtailing menstruation: sex. Though many cultures view sex while a woman has her period as unclean, it’s actually a pretty good idea.


Another perk of period sex: it’s possible, but really, really hard to get pregnant while you’re menstruating, because your body is done ovulating. (You can still get anSTD, though, so be careful.) Worried about making a mess? Just stay on your back, lying on a towel. Epigee.com, an online publication focused on women’s sexual health, reports that an orgasm causes the uterus to contract and use up excess prostaglandins. Women who have sex during their periods also notice that their flow gets heavier immediately afterward and then comes to an abrupt halt a day later. This is because all those contractions during orgasm help the uterus to shed its lining more quickly and put a period at the end of that period.

Pop the Right Pills

Reaching for painkillers during your period? You’d be better off going for some vitamins instead—research shows that zinc and calcium supplements are both effective remedies for menstrual misery.

Try some zinc, for example, as a natural non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). According to a study published inMedical Hypotheses, zinc inhibits the metabolism of prostaglandins, and one to three thirty-milligram doses, taken daily for one to four days prior to menstruation, prevent “essentially all menstrual cramping.” Because of these powerful anti-inflammatory properties, the study recommends an increase in the U.S. recommended daily allowance (RDA) for zinc, which “appears to be too low to optimize women’s health and prevent menstrual cramps.”

Calcium and manganese can also help to relieve menstrual pain. According to MotherNature.com, scientists at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota have found that women whose diets are low in calcium and manganese—a trace mineral in nuts, tea, whole-grain cereals, and dried peas and beans—suffer more from cramps than those whose diets include high levels of these minerals.

Don’t Let Cramps Cramp Your Style

Being a woman doesn’t have to hurt—and it doesn’t have to mean swallowing an entire pharmacy every month. Just getting some aerobic exercise, getting the right nutrition, and even having sex serve as holistic remedies for monthly discomfort. Menstruation is a natural function, and there are natural ways to make it a little easier on all of us.

This article was originally published on DivineCaroline.com.



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COUPONS CODES AND DEALS! OH MY!

Domino's: Enjoy one FREE large pizza with purchase of any large pizza of equal or greater value when purchased online.  Just enter coupon code: EBFP at checkout








Papa John's: Any Large Pizza and Cheesesticks or Breadsticks only 
$15.00! Use Code: 92410.  You will save $6.00

On NFL game days, Order an XL Cheese Pizza and get all your favorite toppings FREE.  Use Code: 90210.  Thats a savings of $6.00!


Children's Place printable coupon:  15% OFF purchase IN STORE through September 30, 2010.

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COUPON ALERT!

Do you love NESTLÉ® Tollhouse®?  If you go to their website right now, you can get not one but THREE coupons for your favorite NESTLÉ® Tollhouse® products.  Click below to receive your free coupons!


Save $1.00 on any ONE (1) package of NESTLÉ® Tollhouse® Refrigerated Cookie Dough of any variety.










Save $.50 on any TWO (2) packages of  NESTLÉ® Tollhouse® Morsels of any variety.  








Save $.75 on any ONE (1) package of NESTLÉ® Tollhouse® Mini Morsel Toppers of any variety.

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Sip on this!: Flying Grasshopper


You will need: 


2 fl oz chocolate liqueur
2 fl oz creme de menthe
1 fl oz vanilla vodka
1 fl oz vodka
1/2 cup half and half cream
1 teaspoon chocolate syrup


Directions: 

  1. Pour first 5 ingredients into shaker over ice.
  2. Cover and shake until outside of shaker has frosted
  3. Strain into chilled martini glasses rimmed with chocolate syrup.
  4. Enjoy!
Makes 2 Martini's

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Recipe of the Day: White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

You will need:


1 cup Oreo® cookie crumbs
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 (10 oz.) package of frozen strawberries
2 teaspoons of white sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
2 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 cup half and half cream
3 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions:
1.  In medium bowl mix cookie crumbs, 3 tablespoon sugar, and melted butter.
2.  Press mixture into bottom of 9 inch springform pan.
3.  In saucepan, combine raspberries, 2 tablespoon sugar, cornstarch, and water.
4.  Bring to boil an continue to boil for another 5 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
5.  Strain sauce to remove seeds.
6.  Pre-heat oven to 325º.
7.  Melt white chocolate chips in metal bowl over simmering water with half and half, stir occasionally until smooth.
8.  In large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth, beat in eggs individually and then blend in vanilla and white chocolate.
9.  Pour half of the batter over the crust then spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the batter. Continue by pouring remaining batter into the pan and spooning another 3 teaspoons of raspberry sauce on top.
10.  Swirl batter with tip of knife or toothpick to create a marble effect.
11.  Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until filling is set.
12.  Cool and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours.
13.  Remove from pan and serve with remaining raspberry sauce.


16 servings.
412 Calories
28.3g of fat
101 mg Cholesterol







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Today's Recipe - Classic Chinese Pepper Steak


This recipe I pulled up from the Kikkoman website, because I love their sauces and marinades.  I found this recipe and had to try it, and when I did, WOW. Serve this delicious dish over a bed of jasmine rice.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb ground beef
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 medium zucchini or crook neck squash cut in half length-wise, then cut across until u have 1/4 inch thick slices
1 small chopped onion
1 can tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup rice uncooked
1/4 cup Kikkoman soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled basil leaves
1/2 cup water
Directions

  1. Crumble beef into 2-quart microwave safe baking dish, sprinkle with garlic powder and cover.
  2. Microwave on high for 3 minutes
  3. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover
  4. Microwave on HIGH for 27 minutes, or until rice tender.
  5. Serve, makes 4 servings.



Try your own variations of this recipe and share!



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Today's Freebies

Calling All BJ's Wholesale Members:  
BJ's is giving away free samples of Triple Paste Diaper Cream AND a $3 coupon.  Simply CLICK HERE  and fill out the form and the brief survey!


Scholastic WiggleWorks is giving away free Demo CD's for their Pre-K through Third Grade beginners reading and writing program.  Simply follow the link and request your free copy.


Tide® Plus Febreeze Freshness™: Receive a free sample and $1-off Coupon, fill out the form on the site and reap the benefits.  











Everyday from 4-10 p.m. treat the kiddies to a free meal when you purchase an adult entrée.  Also stop by their Official Facebook Page and sign up to receive a free meal! 

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