Your Favorite Charity Wins When You Shop!

Do you make most of your online purchases on Amazon.com? Even if it’s just periodically, how would you feel if buying yourself something or sending someone a gift, could also help your favorite charity?

Each time you want to make an Amazon purchase, instead, type smile.amazon.com first.

Here’s what that will get you:

Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice.
AmazonSmile is no different than your regular Amazon. You still have all of the same selections.
You’re required to do nothing but go to smile.amazon.com and shop!

Now you can SMILE when you make a purchase knowing you’re helping your favorite cause!

Citrus Garlic Vinaigrette

I won’t even buy dressing in a bottle anymore. For one, they put a lot of preservatives and crap in it…2, I don’t really like the taste anyway. Making your own is the way to go, and it’s not that difficult! I prefer vinaigrette anyway, so they are often pretty easy to throw together. This one is great for a nice summer salad to take to a BBQ.

Total Time: 10 mins

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 0 mins

Ingredients

Servings 6-8

Units US

2 medium oranges
1 medium lemon
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
Sea salt to taste

1. Click the photo below to learn how to cut that lemon the right way (yes, I said RIGHT way) and squeeze the juice into a small bowl or ramekin.

2. Cut the oranges in half and use a citrus juicer over the bowl/ramekin. My hand held one works just fine.

3. One of my favorite kitchen tools is the grater plate. It turns garlic into a paste. More details about it here and where you can buy it: Kitchen Must-Have: Grater Plate. Add it into the juice mixture.

4. Add olive oil.

5. Add salt to taste.

What Is A Must-See In Every City You Visit?

The local outdoor markets, that’s what. Whether it’s an open market, farmer’s market, flea market or swap meet, it’s the place to go to find some local culture…and usually at a discount! I always find that you can learn a lot about the region by doing this. Not to mention delicious eats from pop-up vendors too. I enjoy going to the swap meets and farmer’s markets in San Diego, so why wouldn’t I want to find them in foreign lands or cities? My main focus is usually food and jewelry.

Here is a market we discovered in Florence, Italy.With plenty of tasty treats. Too bad we had just eaten and the cruise ship doesn’t let us bring food back.

Mmmm, mini crepes…

The produce in Rome, Italy is simply amazing. All of the colors and freshness.

Free Grappa samples…don’t mind if I do…Our new scarves. Unfortunately, I think these were made in China.

Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Lots of these charcuterie counters OUTSIDE. There isn’t a lack of patronage here, that’s for sure.

I purchased several pieces of this volcanic rock jewelry…rock bottom prices!

And right here in the good ol’ US of A, at the Portland Saturday Market.

Skip the shopping malls and get outdoors. The exception, of course, is if you’re traveling during cold winter months, you’re probably not going to find these little spots of heaven.

Good ‘Til the Last Drop

by No, I’m not talking about coffee here. I don’t need drugs to get me through the day. I’ve got a natural high (or I just tough it out). I’m talking about buckypaste, or better known as toothpaste.

This is a photo of my and Mr Beaverelli’s toothpaste. Our vanity consists of 2 sinks, so each side is stocked with our own personals. I’ll give you one guess on which tube belongs to whom.

You guessed it, the neat one on the left is the Mister’s. Not what you expected?! Yeah, I wouldn’t have guessed it either.

It is now time for me to take a tip from him on the waste front…not to mention the tidy front. I think it’s pretty self explanatory: grab a bobby pin (that is probably already laying at the bottom of a drawer in the bathroom somewhere) and nicely roll up your tube, moving it down as you go.

This is a good representation of just how lazy I am. It really doesn’t take that much effort to make sure the tip is cleaned off. In fact, I probably ultimately work harder because I have to twist and turn the tube to get the paste out.

I will try to be more non-wasting next time.by

Trash or Not? Save ALL Those Plastic Bags You Bring Home

Okay, so yeah, plastic bread bags actually ARE trash when the bread is gone…but they don’t need to be thrown away just yet.

Do you ever have that awful, spoiled food smell in your garbage can in the kitchen? You don’t notice it at first. You go off to work, then you come home to the lodge smelling like a dumpster? There aren’t a whole lot worse smells that I can think of.

I also take the produce bags and save them separately to use for discards when I’m cooking. We normally try to keep bread from entering our front door because Mr. Beaverelli will go through an entire loaf in a sitting if he isn’t monitored. His folks were visiting, so we bought some for them and this is what was left in the end. I filled it up with the Beaverelli’s Healthy Breakfast Cheeseburger Casserole discards, tied it up and threw it away. No more rotten food sitting in the garbage to make us gag!

Achiever Beaver

The Buck$ $aved Here

Archives