Top 10 Tools for a Stress-Free Kitchen

Awhile back I shared my six favorite kitchen tools. (Watch the video here.) Today I'm going to show you Round 2 of my favorites. Now, you can be a great cook--and a healthy one--without most of these tools and appliances, but boy do they make prepping food a breeze. Put these on your wish list--or treat yourself when you reach a goal! (That's my real-life kitchen in the photo above!) 

1. Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer: My go-to for mixing cakes and kneading breads. This is the machine that can do it all and leave your hands free. I think they should change the name to the "Multi-tasker Master Mixer." Look for a model with the highest horsepower if you are planning on making a lot of yeast doughs. I have the professional model because I didn't ever want to worry about burning out the motor. Have you ever noticed the front plate on the machine? Well, it is magical. I have pasta rollers that fit in the slot and make pasta rolling and cutting a breeze. You can also pick up a grinding plate that will grind meats in a flash. (I use it to make low-sodium breakfast sausage.) Oh, by the way, check out all the cool colors! 

Cost: About $350 

2. Silpat: I bought mine when I was working in France 10 years ago, and I still have the same one. These days, you don't need to go to France to pick one up for your kitchen. This is a must-have tool for the healthy kitchen. When using this silicone baking mat, you don't have to grease your baking sheets, and it's environmentally friendly since you reuse it. (Just be careful to never put it under the broiler or in the dishwasher.) Wipe clean with a damp kitchen towel and let it air dry. 

Cost: about $15 

3. Kitchen Aid Food Processor: Perfect for cutting, shredding, or pureeing foods. My secret, I make all my icings in the food processor. It blends the fat and sugar and does not add any extra air like a regular mixer. This is one tool where you want buy quality. I like the kitchen aid brand because the blades stay sharp and it brings in lots of power. 

Cost: about $150 

4. Staub Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven: When it is cold outside this is the workhorse in my house. This post provides steady even heat. Perfect for stews, soups, and braised dishes. Can go from the stove top to oven to table. You can spend a small fortune on enameled Dutch ovens if you go for the top of the line brand name. I have found Staub to be the best value. Be careful not to take it from extreme hot to extreme cold, it will crack. 

Cost: $30 to 300 depending on the size 

5. Victornox knives: I am going to tell my age! When I attended the Cordon Bleu 27 years ago I was presented with a set of Victornox forged knives. I still use them all today- everyday. They hold their edge and are light to the touch. Hand wash. 

Cost: $3.89-$30 

6. IKEA PS Spraka Pepper Mill: This pepper mill sits right next to my stove for easy access. It has a ceramic grinding mechanism that takes whole peppercorns to a cracked cut in seconds. I love how it looks in my kitchen- usable and functional art work with its stacked circle design. This was my girlfriend gift last year. 

Cost: $19.99 

7. Glass Storage Containers: Steaming or reheating in the microwave using plastic makes me nervous. I invest in glass storage containers just for this purpose. The food tastes so much better! 

Cost: ranges from $2 - $20 

8. Best Whisk: Wonder how it got its name? A French chef that I worked with years ago introduced me to this lovely balloon whisk. He kept saying this is the "best whisk" and I would ask, "what is the brand name"? The company that makes the whisk thought the same thing so they named it the "Best Whisk." It has a nice wooden handle and tines that work to help incorporate air into mixes. Makes whipping egg whites a breeze. 

Cost: $13 

9. Baking Stone: If you want a crisp crust on pizza or golden baked chicken this is the tool for your kitchen. I love mine and use it almost every day. Heat it up along with the oven for preheat mode and food gets cooking the minute it hits the stone. Be careful to clean with a scrapper or stone scrubber only. Soap and water do not mix with this natural stone. 

Cost: $25 

10. "Y" Peelers: These little colorful peelers really do the job and can be picked up for a great price. I have several in my kitchen. I like the way they are designed to be open at the top. I like to peel like one would strum a guitar so this style of peeler suits me best. Caution- they need to be hand washed. 

Cost: $4

http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/top-10-tools-stress-free-kitchen-153500733.html

By SparkPeople.com

The Queen of England faces a pay freeze

The Queen of England may be forced to scrimp on repairs to her palaces and lavish public appearances under a recently passed British law expected to reduce her income over the next several years.

"The squeeze on the monarch's income is likely to delay a backlog of repairs to royal palaces," the Daily Telegraph's Matthew Holehousereported Monday. "There will be no extra money from the taxpayer to pay for the court of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who are rapidly emerging as global stars." (Queen Elizabeth's son, Charles, Prince of Wales, will continue to kick in to pay the salaries for staff for Prince William and his new bride, the Sunday Times, however, reported.)

Under the new legislation, which passed into law six weeks ago, England will employ a new formula for calculating the Queen's taxpayer-funded allowance, as Americans might put it. "Under the new arrangement, the Queen receives 15 percent of the profits made over two years from the Crown Estate, whose portfolio includes Regent Street, Windsor Great Park and more than half the country's shoreline," Holehouse notes.

Last year, thanks to general stagnation in the UK economy, the old calculation netted royal revenues of around £32.1m--down more than half from the £77.3m high-water mark that the Crown Estate enjoyed during the boom years of 1991-92.

The decline in royal income has prompted rare muttering from the royal bean-counters. "Sir Alan Reid, keeper of the privy purse, warned last summer that it would be 'very difficult for overall expenditure to fall much further without impacting on the Royal Household's activities in support of the Queen and the long-term health of the estate,'" Holehouse reported.

But in characteristic fashion, the royals themselves seem to be keeping a collective stiff upper lip about the gloomy forecasts--and exploring options for diversifying their revenue streams. "Buckingham Palace is likely to boost its efforts to raise money from commercial sources, or to cut back on public appearances by the royal family," Holehouse wrote. It's unlikely, in all events, that the Queen and her immediate circle of relations will pursue the revenue-netting strategies that have won no small amount of notoriety for the commoners who have lately strayed into the Royal Family's orbit--reality TV contracts, fashion merchandising endorsements, and the like.

Instead, as Holehouse notes, tradition will once again trump the passing travails of the royals: "The sums the Queen will receive will depend on the Crown Estate's trading performance."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/queen-england-faces-pay-freeze-171306178.html

By Laura Rozen

H&M Satin Floral Dress, $34.95

Charlotte Russe Star Print Mesh Dress, $29.99

FOLD OVER GREY JERSEY DRESS,  $68

H&M Pleated Dress, $24.95

ModCloth When We Met Dress, $47.99

Pixie Market Arrow Belted Dress, $48

H&M Sequin Dress, $49.95

H&M Lace Dress, $49.95

GREY VELVET LEOPARD DRESS,  $249

Zara Dress With Tulle Sleeves, $39.90

Pixie Market Houndstooth Dress, $28

Guy gets tattoo of right-handed Bubba Watson on his leg

Showing support for your favorite golfer can be tough at times. Unlike the casual sports fan who can go out and buy a Dwight Howard jersey to celebrate his favorite player, golf fans don't have that option.

While you can't buy an authentic Bubba Watsonjersey, you can certainly go out and buy all the Ping and Travis Mathews gear you want to support the long-hitting lefty.

Or you could also get a tattoo of his likeness on your leg.

Thanks to a wonderful poster over at GolfWRX, we all get to see that, yes, there are indeed people out there willing to get inked to support their favorite golfer.

But the hilarity of the massive Watson tattoo doesn't stop there. If you take a closer look at the image, you'll notice one small mistake: Watson's using a right-handed Ping driver. That normally wouldn't be a problem ... except Bubba happens to be a lefty.

But those are just minor details, friends. What really matters is that someone took the time and money to celebrate their favorite pro with body art. Now that we know such a tattoo really exists, I can't wait to see a photo of the guy who inked Phil Mickelson in his green jacket eating a Krispy Kreme doughnut on his chest.

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Guy-gets-tattoo-of-right-handed-Bubba-Watson-on-?urn=golf-wp7248

By Jonathan Wall

Sevilla fans paying to have tiny photo of themselves on players’ shirts

Always looking for a new way to squeeze money out of their most loyal supporters, football clubs have found a new racket that could soon become common practice -- letting fans pay to have a tiny picture of themselves worn by the player of their choice.

Taking a cue from the Million Dollar Homepage, Sevilla has become the first top-flight football club to sell small squares within each player's number on the back of their shirts featuring a photo of the buyer for €24.90 ($33.35) each.

The idea of a company called Playing 2, Sevilla fans (or anyone else) can go to its website, select the player they want to wear their mug and the exact spot on the number they want to appear for the entire season.

From Footy-boots.com:

As mentioned, Sevilla are the first team to utilize this money-making scheme and will soon be joined by fellow Spaniards Granada, with the Welsh Rugby Union team set to hand a UK debut to Playing 2 during the Six Nations.

Despite being only a 2 x 2mm picture (yes, that's right, millimetres) Sevilla have reported a positive reaction from fans, commenting "People do seem willing to pay for the chance to be on the back of their idol,"

Clubs will welcome that positive fan reaction, too — as Playing 2 offers a seriously lucrative source of revenue; with 3,142 photos capable of being crammed into a single number, each digit on a player's jersey is potentially worth over 75,000 Euros.

That won't exactly fund the next €50 million transfer, but if your club is in financial trouble, it could help.

As long as fans are willing to pay for this, it seems like a no-brainer for pretty much every club in the world to jump on board. There just better be someone checking these pictures before they get printed onto the players' shirts so no one sneaks a full moon or a rival club's crest on there. Then again, at 2x2mm, no one would notice anyway...

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Sevilla-fans-paying-to-have-tiny-photo-of-themse?urn=sow-wp7137

By Brooks Peck

Florida teen detained by TSA for design on her purse

It's not unusual for 17-year-old to find themselves in hot water with the fashion police. But on a flight from Virginia to Florida, Vanessa Gibbs found herself detained by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) over the appearance of her purse.

And just to be clear, it wasn't the content inside the purse that the TSA objected to. No, agency officials took exception with the design of a gun on Gibbs' handbag.

"It's my style, it's camouflage, it has an old western gun on it," Gibbs told News4Jax.com. Gibbs didn't run into any trouble while traveling north from Jacksonville International Airport. But on her way back home, TSA officials at Norfolk International Airport pulled her aside.

"She was like, 'This is a federal offense because it's in the shape of a gun,'" Gibbs said. "I'm like, 'But it's a design on a purse. How is it a federal offense?'"

After TSA agents figured out the gun was a fake, Gibbs said, they told her to check the bag or turn it over. By the time security wrapped up the inspection, the pregnant teen missed her flight, and Southwest Airlines sent her to Orlando instead. The changed itinerary created no small amount of anxiety for Gibbs' mother, who was already waiting for her to arrive at the Jacksonville airport.

"Oh, it's terrifying. I was so upset," said Tami Gibbs, the teen's mom. "I was on the phone all the way to Orlando trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was terrifying."

Less terrifying is the actual design on the purse, which is only a few inches in size and hollow. "I carried this from Jacksonville to Norfolk, and I've carried it from Norfolk to Jacksonville," Vanessa said. "Never once has anyone said anything about it until now."

Nonetheless, the TSA says the design could be considered a "replica weapon," something that the agency has banned since 2002. Just imagine what would have happened if Gibbs had also been wearing stiletto heels.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/florida-teen-detained-tsa-design-her-purse-221835034.html

By Eric Pfeiffer

5 Strange Predictors of Good Health

When it comes to judging someone's chances at living a long, healthy life, some clues are more obvious than others. Most of us would put our money on the guy who runs two miles a day and eats plenty of vegetables over the seriously overweight smoker, for instance. But some predictors of longevity you might not guess as easily. Here are a few unusual ways that may determine your likelihood of getting seriously sick. 

1. Finger length. Other researchers at ICR compared more than 1,500 men with prostate cancer to more than 3,000 random men. Ignoring family history and other factors, men older than 60 years with an index finger that was longer than their ring finger were 33 percent less likely on average to develop prostate cancer. Younger men with a longer index finger fared even better, with an 87 percent average reduction in risk.

2. Birth order. While there's no definitive proof, several studies indicate that first-born boys are exposed to higher levels of estrogen at birth, increasing their risk of testicular cancer. Older siblings also seem to have a greater risk of developing childhood leukemia. "There are suggestions that it may have to do with exposure to viruses and bacteria. Siblings aren't around to give them as much exposure," Elizabeth Rapley, a molecular geneticist and spokesperson for the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) in London told gizmodo.com.

3. Grip strength. According to a 25-year study of more than 6,000 men aged 45 through 68, grip strength was the best predictor of how well they'd avoid being incapacitated later in life. The weakest-gripping men suffered twice the disabilities of ones with hands of steel. And in a separate study of older men and women, good grip strength was correlated with longer lifespan.

4. Hair loss. Studies done by researchers from the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital have shown that pattern baldness-particularly significant hair loss at the crown-is associated with an increased chance of heart disease. Men who were completely bald at the crown had the most reason to worry-they were up to 36 percent more likely to show signs of trouble than those full heads of hair. "We found men with extensive baldness that involves the top of their heads have the greatest risk of heart disease," said JoAnn Manson, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

5. Religion. The oldest group of people in the country is a community of Seventh Day Adventists residing in Loma Linda, California. They have an average life expectancy of 88 years (a full ten years longer than the U.S. average). One reason may be that Adventists don't drink or smoke, and many follow the vegetarian diet the church advises. But not all members do, and even the meat-eaters live significantly longer than average. Dr. Gary Fraser, a researcher with the Loma Linda University School of Public Health who is researching the community, told the BBC. "At this moment we don't really know, but people who go to church regularly- whatever faith they have- live longer, and there's no question about that."

http://shine.yahoo.com/vitality/5-strange-predictors-good-health-165800438.html

By Reader's Digest Magazine 

Clark Gable’s Secret Daughter Dies

photo by Everett Collection

Judy Lewis, the secret daughter of screen starsClark Gable and Loretta Young, has died at 76. But her fascinating story lives on.

Lewis was conceived while Young was unwed and Gable was married to his second wife, Maria Langham. The two were filming "The Call of the Wild." Their affair resulted in a super secret pregnancy and a hush-hush birth. The actress left her love child at an orphanage for 19 months, returning only then to adopt her. Clearly, this was long before the Internet, DNA testing, or baby daddies.

To add to the mystery, Young kept her daughter in the dark about her family history. Born on November 6, 1935, Judy was eventually raised by her mother and Young's husband, Tom Lewis, whose last name she took. Lewis never did have a relationship with her biological father, although when she was 15, Gable visited her without telling her why. It took 31 years for her to learn the truth, which her mother told her privately but would not admit to publicly.

As Lewis told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1994, when she finally wrote a memoir of her parents' romance and subsequent cover-up: "It was very difficult for me as a little girl not to be accepted ... by my mother, who to this day will not publicly acknowledge that I am her biological child."

Loretta Young and Judy Lewis (photo by Everett Collection)

Young eventually did admit that Lewis was her daughter with Gable in her authorized biography, "Forever Young," which was published after her death in 2000.

In fact, Lewis resembled her dad, and according to the New York Times, she was teased in school because her ears "stuck out like Dumbo's. Or, as Hollywood rumors had it, they stuck out like Clark Gable's." Her mother hid them under hats, and had her daughter undergo plastic surgery at age 7 to make them less Gable-like.

The daughter of Hollywood royalty first followed an acting career, with roles in "General Hospital," but left the theatrical world to become a therapist. By the time she was a young woman, it was an open "secret" that her father was Clark Gable. Even her husband, Joe Tinney, told her before he married her that it was "common knowledge" that Gable was her dad, but she didn't believe him.

In her 1994 memoir, "Uncommon Knowledge," Lewis notes that her mother's career would have ended if she had admitted to the out-of-wedlock birth. In her book, Young, who was Catholic, tells her, "Wouldn't you [be unhappy] if you were a movie star and the father of your child was a movie star and you couldn't have an abortion because it was a mortal sin?"

Lewis is survived by her daughter, two grandsons, and two half-brothers -- and a solid place in Hollywood lore.

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/clark-gable-secret-daughter-dies-203307041.html

By Claudine Zap