The Hatched Egg

Dinner Diva: How To Best Use Your Refrigerator

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:18:36 +0000

By: Leanne Ely

Chances are, you have a refrigerator in your home. But, if you’re like many people, you don’t put a lot of thought into the what-goes-where process when you get your groceries home from the market.

There is a reason why your fridge has all of those drawers and shelves. Certain areas of your fridge have different temperature and humidity controls, and that’s why different types of food are intended to be stored in specific places.

Who wants to send their produce into the dark recesses of the refrigerator to die? Nobody! So let’s learn more, shall we?

Temperature, ethylene and humidity . . . oh my!

You know how sometimes you’ll find a floppy zucchini at the bottom of your fridge? Or a bunch of carrots that have gone limp after a day or two? That’s because you let them become dehydrated.

To keep your produce fresh longer, you need a certain amount of water vapor in the air or a good level of relative humidity, depending on the type of vegetable or fruit.

A good way to remember which produce requires more humidity is to think of which wilt the fastest. Foods that require the highest levels of relative humidity are your celery, grapes, zucchini, cucumber, beans, leafy greens, asparagus, avocado, pears and berries. Things like citrus, tomatoes, melon and sweet potato can handle medium level humidity, while dried garlic, squash, onions and pumpkins are more suited for lower levels of relative humidity and they don’t really even need to be stored in the refrigerator.

You know that crisper drawer at the bottom of the fridge? That’s where the most humidity is generally found. If there’s a little sliding tab on the front of the drawers for adjusting the humidity levels, use it! That feature closes the vent and keeps dry air from getting to your produce so it can stay nice and hydrated down there. Keep the relative humidity set at 90 or 100%, the setting where most of that produce will be happiest.

Speaking of that crisper drawer, some types of produce don’t play nicely with others and should be stored separately.

As vegetables and fruits are harvested, they will most often continue to ripen. When this happens, the food produces ethylene gas. This gas can negatively affect other fruits and veggies. It can cause green vegetables to yellow, potatoes to sprout, carrots to turn bitter and asparagus to toughen.

Common ethylene producers include apples, pears, plums, peaches and cantaloupes.

Keep veggies in one drawer and fruits in the other and you should be fine.

Storing meat and eggs

Your fridge probably has a meat keeper drawer. That is the coldest part of your fridge, so use it for your meat (which is likely the most perishable item in there anyway). You can keep fish in there, too, as long as you don’t forget about it. Fresh fish really should be eaten the day you bring it home, so you shouldn’t have to worry about keeping it fresh for more than a couple of hours.

Fridges used to come with little egg holders on the door—some still do! But, you should never store your eggs there. Why not? You should never store anything highly perishable or items that are sensitive to temperature changes in the door of the fridge. That’s because each time the door of the fridge is opened, a blast of warm air hits that area. Eggs need to stay deep inside the fridge where they’ll enjoy a nice, even cold temperature. On that note, however, you should always bring eggs up to room temperature before you cook them. This will help prevent your yolks from breaking and it will help them cook more evenly in general.

Condiments

Use the door of the fridge to store those condiments you may use on a regular or semi regular basis.

And there you have it!

________________________________

You can find more from the Dinner Diva in The Coop. Leanne Ely is a New York Times bestselling author of Body Clutter and the Saving Dinner series. The Dinner Diva syndicated newspaper column appears in 250 newspapers nationwide. Learn how to cook great and save significant money with the Dinner Diva’s menus, recipes and shopping lists at www.savingdinner.com

Book Review: “8 Weeks to Vibrant Health” by Dr. Hyla Cass

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:22:35 +0000

Ten years ago when I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder & Panic Disorder. I was lost, scared and felt so alone. The only option I was given by my doctor was a handful of prescriptions and a pat on the back wishing me luck. Knowing that my first panic attack came out of the blue I was convinced that medication was not the right answer for me, I wanted to be free rather than coping.

After lots of reading I found 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health by Dr. Hyla Cass. It just all made sense! I finally felt like I had someone that understood exactly what I was feeling. The possibility that food, body chemistry or lifestyle could change the way I was feeling seemed like a possible answer. After implementing many of Dr. Cass’s ideas my way to freedom was not an overnight change, however my new lifestyle began quickly working! Soon the anxiety lessened and panic attacks were fewer and further apart. Today I am so happy to finally be free & feel like my old self again. 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health is the first book I recommend to all of my friends and website followers to read before moving ahead on their own journey to freedom.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” ~ Hippocrates

-Amy Furbee
www.thehatchedegg.com

Cool Tool: Imagine You’re in a Coffee Shop….

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:11:34 +0000

I ran across this cool free tool earlier this week. An ambient sound website that streams the background noise of a coffee shop. I always love to go hang out in my local coffee shop to surf and drink a cup of decaf. Now when I am frustrated at work I can put on my headphones and imagine I am sitting in a comfy chair with my big warm cup of coffee.

Their site says that through research it is shown that a mix of calm and commotion in an environment like a coffee house is proven to help you get your creative juices flowing. After trying it out last week I did find that I was more focused and calmer during my workday.

Try it out and let me know your thoughts.

coffitivity.com

All the best,

Amy

Interesting Article: “20,000 ER Visits Linked to Energy Drinks”

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:59:46 +0000

New article this morning from ABC news about the epidemic of ER visits in the US caused by energy drinks.

Click here to read the article.

Take care of your body!

~Amy

Rainy Mood

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:50:16 +0000

Brain going a mile a minute today? This website has a free loop of a rain storm. I play it on my headphones and it’s amazing how I can focus & relax while I work. Although I do have the occasional urge to crawl up on the couch for a nap.

www.rainymood.com

Need a Little Motivation?

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 22:08:20 +0000

This video is powerful! I just love anything that has to do with normal people breaking through! I thought I would share this video with you.

Do you really want to stay struggling today or are you ready to emerge? Watch this and then what’s your excuse for not having a plan. For me I knew Anxiety was not going to define me. I was willing to do ANYTHING to find freedom. Are you? We believe in you ~Amy

Serenity Now!

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:07:28 +0000

After suffering from stress, anxiety and panic for years Serenity seemed like something that I had very little of. The other evening I was watching Oprah interview Paula Dean who suffered from anxiety for many years. So fearful to even leave her home she mentioned the one fear that I had never mentioned to anyone. I have struggled for many years knowing that keeping my family safe is not within my control. As much as I want to lock them in the house and never feel the pain of seeing them hurt, or worse I know this isn’t even an option. I do remember many nights kissing my kiddos goodnight afraid of home invasions, fires, illness. Silly to most, but I have the most creative imagination. Paula mentioned that she had to come to terms with losing her family and possibly her own life. After that she said the Serenity Prayer each morning and slowly that healing began to take place. It’s hard to imagine her fearful, she seems to always be laughing and cutting up. I can only hope as my healing continues that someday everyone will see me that way too. Hard to imagine I was ever so afraid.

How are you doing? What scares you so much that you have kept that thought locked inside. Time to shine the light on it and send it packing.

Below is the Serenity Prayer. Join me for the next week reading this prayer every morning before you start your day. Let me know what changes you see.

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

(Although known most widely in its abbreviated form above,
the entire prayer reads as follows…)

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Wishing you all the best,

Amy

Great Way to Occupy Your Brain

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:38:41 +0000

If you are really struggling you don’t have interest in much. It’s a lot of work just to get up and moving. If you really want some of that stuff in your brain to slow down the best thing is to fill it with new stuff.

I remember driving one day thinking ”I wonder if there will ever be a time when I don’t feel this obsessive?” My thoughts were constantly racing and they were usually on “Am I sick”, “What was that feeling in my toes”, “What if I forget to do this, or that”. It wasn’t a simple thought but an all encompassing string of thoughts. It usually wouldn’t slow down until I was completely exhausted.

I found a trick to those thoughts flooding through. Pick up something new to be a little interested in. Download a new book, listen to a podcast in the car, journal, find a group with similar interest. A few years ago while I was in the midst of healing I was interested in how fitness and eating well could help me heal. I wanted to read everything I could. Then I started a list of things I would like to learn more about. I would check out books or surf the internet learning about the topic of the day. To this day I still use this tool.

The thought came to me at the time that the more positive stuff I filled my brain with the less room the Anxiety thoughts had to reside. Think about a few things that you have wanted to learn more about, maybe an adventure you have dreamed about. Dig Deep.

Wishing you all the best,

Amy

Set A Time To Worry

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 02:35:27 +0000

Worry about stuff all the time? Try setting a time to worry. This helped my worried thoughts dwindle little by little.

· Pick a time of the day you are allowed to worry. This might be 5 minutes or an hour.

· Carry a small notbook in your purse/bag, keep a journal by your bed for midnight worries.

· When those obsessive worried thougt show up, say to yourself – “it’s not time to worry”. Then you can make a note of the worry. (You may have to say that many times!)

· When that time of the day comes read over them, allow yourself to think about them. Counteract or make a task plan for the though.

· When time is up, close the book & wait to worry until the next session.

· As you begin to train your brain you might have a few worry times a day. As you work on saving your worries you can start to space them out. You will find most of the time that when you go back to worry, it’s not as big of a deal as you thought it was.

Try it and let me know what you think.

All the best,
Amy

How Are You Breathing?

The Hatched Egg / Amy Furbee — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:13:59 +0000

I have long suffered from being a shallow breather. I truly think this really increased my anxiety & reduced it when I changed my pattern. Here are a few symptoms of shallow breathing: blocked nose, sleep apnea, anxiety, fatigue and constipation.

My goal this week is to watch my posture and continue to work on my breathing. Here’s a great webpage that explains Diaphragmatic Breathing. Best of luck!

~Amy