Starbucks Gives Its Customers $0.10 off for Using Reusable Travel Mugs

Starbucks is finally jumping on board and catching up with Peet's Coffee and Tea by giving its customers a discount for bringing in their own reusable travel mugs for drinks!  In an effort to be more green, Starbucks is giving its customers $0.10 off on any Starbucks drink, anytime, for bringing in their own reusable travel mug.  Not that I need an incentive for bringing in my own reusable travel mug, but it's nice that Starbucks is finally rewarding its customers for bringing in their own mugs, especially since Peet's Coffee and Tea has been doing it for years.

Bravo, Starbucks!

http://www.starbucks.com/thebigpicture

Turkey Sloppy Joe's Rachael Ray Style

Racheal Ray's Sloppy Turkey Joe's

Rachael Ray is not lying when she says you can throw together a good meal in under 30 minutes--that's what I love about her recipes!  One night, I was dead tired, but I forced myself to cook up a batch of Turkey Sloppy Joe's Rachael Ray style.  It just required a little bit of chopping (one small onion and half a red bell pepper) and a few other ingredients. This recipe is SO easy and it tastes way better than the canned or jarred sauces out there.  Lucky for me, I usually have most of these ingredients on hand in my pantry (I actually had some buns on hand too!) or refrigerator, so it was a no-brainer dinner for me to throw together at the last minute. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-irgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 1 package, 1 1/3 pounds, ground turkey breast or lean ground turkey
• 1/2 red onion
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon grill seasoning blend (recommended: McCormick Montreal Grill Seasoning or Mrs. Dash seasoning for poultry)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup tomato sauce,( 8- ounce) can
• 4 crusty sandwich rolls, split
• 12 carrot sticks

Directions, According to Rachael Ray:

Place a big skillet over medium high heat. Use some kitchen scissors to cut the turkey package open. Add some extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan in a nice, slow stream. Add the ground turkey to the pan, in case it spatters. Break the turkey up with a big wooden spoon as it starts to cook. If anyone touches the raw turkey, they should go wash their hands.

Chop up some red onion. Remember when you are chopping to keep the fingers that are not holding the knife all tucked in and curled under. You need half a red onion chopped up small. Pull the seeds and white membrane and the top out of a half red bell pepper and chop that up small too. Add the veggies to the cooking meat and stir it all together.

Next, mix in a small bowl: grill seasoning blend, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and the tomato sauce. This will make your special sauce. When all the ingredients are combined, pour the sauce evenly over the meat and stir everything together really well. Turn the heat down to simmer and cook the sloppy mixture for 10 minutes. Blow on a spoonful until cool and taste it to see if you need to adjust the seasoning.

Place a bun bottom on a plate. Use a big ice cream scoop to get a pile of sloppy meat onto the bun. Put bun top in place and serve with vegetable sticks on the side.

I just served mine with some carrot sticks and some organic blue corn chips on the side. I should have toasted these buns, but I forgot--I was in too much of a hurry to eat!  I didn't mind the bread getting a little saucy, but those who are sensitive to saucy bread might want to toast the buns before loading them up!  What an easy breezy meal! 

Thanks, Rachael Ray!

Corn Thins with Bananas and Blackberries

I had to use up a bunch of blackberries and a super ripe banana today, so I decided to whip a quick lunch inspired by those fruits. Talk about a quick lunch--it literally came together in a matter of minutes! 

I used Real Foods Organic Corn Thins with Sesame as the base and then spread a thin layer of Whipped Philadelphia Cream Cheese on each corn thin.  I topped them off with the sliced bananas and blackberries and had a wonderful treat (I'm a sucker for cream cheese)!  I got this idea because I used to spread cream cheese on my bagels and put sliced bananas on that...but let's face it, I can't get away with that many carbs anymore like I did in college!  I have to cut calories and carbs somewhere, so these Corn Thins have come to my rescue! I found them at Berkeley Bowl when I was looking for a nice, crunchy snack alternative to chips. These Corn Thins are crunchy and yummy like a rice cake, but they are thinner (like the name suggests).

Corn Thins Nutritional Information: The best part is that these Corn Thins are only 44 calories for two slices, which is one serving. There is no fat and there are only 8 g carbs and 1 g dietary fiber per serving, so that means there are only 7 g net carbs per serving or 3.5 g carbs per corn thin (not too bad!).  The ingredients are plain and simple too: Organic corn, organic sesame, sea salt.  Nothing funky going on with this gluten free product--awesome bonus!

I love crunchy things and this is a snack that I can feel good about because it's pretty healthy.  I like to eat these corn thins with a piece of cheese too, so it's like a cheese and cracker substitute snack for me. These corn thins are also great with peanut butter! Unlike rice cakes, these corn thins are a lot "stronger" and don't seem to crumble as much as rice cakes, so they are a good substitution for anything you would normally put on bread or crackers.  These corn thins have become a welcome addition to my pantry!

Gosh, you can even buy these Corn Thins in bulk at Amazon.com and get a 12 pack for a discounted price! What a sweet deal! I know I am going to go through my pack fast, so I might have to order a 12 pack soon, that way I won't have to drive back and forth to Berkeley Bowl a million times this month!

How to Make Your Own Photo Paper Notepad

I am going to show you how to make your own photo paper notepad.  It's super easy!  All you need is Elmer's Glue, clothespins, printer paper, a computer, digital photos, cardboard mailer envelopes or other thin cardboard.

If you like paper stationery products like me, then this may be your next project.  I love photo notepads made by companies like Shutterfly and Snapfish, but they can be on the pricey side.  So I decided to make up my own version of a photo notepad that can be used for the myriad of lists that mothers tend to generate (grocery lists, to do lists, wish lists, shopping lists, etc.). 

This project is also a good way to use up old cardboard photo mailer envelopes or other thin cardboard around the house.  I decided to use some old Shutterfly photo mailers for this project to serve as the cardboard back to the notepad.

All I did was make up a template in Microsoft Word with two columns dividing the document in half.  Then I added horizontal lines all the way down.  I inserted a photo at the top and sized it down to about 1" by 1.5" to make a small rectangle.  You can either paste the same picture on both columns or use another picture for the other column.  Then just print out about 15 copies (depending on how many sheets you want for your notepad because this will generate 30 sheets for your notepad). If you have a paper cutter, that will work great for this project, otherwise you can just use scissors and a lot of patience to cut out each rectangle.  I used a paper cutter and just cut 3-4 sheets at a time.  I used to do cut these out by hand with scissors, but my cutting isn't all that straight and it just took too long! The paper cutter is my shortcut to perfectly straight edges and a more finished look to the notepad.  Plus, my son was able to help me cut the paper with the paper cutter, so this was a fun project for both of us!

After experimenting with making notepads for a while, I finally decided to try to put a cardboard back on the notepad to make it look even more finished.  All I did was cut out the Shutterfly cardboard mailer envelope to the size of the notepad and used Elmer's glue to glue it on the back.  Basically, the cardboard backing just became another piece of paper in the pad.  I just glued the top of the pad and used clothespins to hold it tightly together until the glue dried. 

I do not have a color laser printer, so I just printed my sheets in black and white, which is fine for everyday use.  If you want to spruce up these notepads and give them as gifts, you can splurge and use color ink for your photos.

The glue only gets applied to the top of the pad in a thin even layer and it takes a few hours to dry.  When it does finally dry, the glue becomes translucent and looks like a regular old notepad you'd buy at the store! I check on the pad every few hours and just squeeze it tightly with my fingers to make sure the papers are sticking together and the glue is evenly distributed.  I even stuck a few of these in front of the fireplace to help speed up the drying process.

See, that was easy!  I hope this project has inspired you to make your own stationery products and use your own creativity to reuse items, such as cardboard mailers, for your next art project.  

Apple's Next iPhone Leaked by Gizmodo

Gizmodo has just leaked some exclusive images of Apple's next generation iPhone.

According to Gizmodo:

What's new

• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It's unclear if it's the 960x640 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the "Connect to iTunes" screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic

What's changed

• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery

Here is a side by side image of the current iPhone 3GS and the newly leaked next generation iPhone.  Notice how square and sleek the new model looks compared to the current bulbous iPhone.

This is the fake iPhone 3GS case cover that Apple created to "hide" the new iPhone out in the wild, while it is being tested in the field.  Neat look alike from far away!

Read How Apple Lost the next iPhone (courtesy of Gizmodo)

Here's a transcript from the conversation between Gizmodo's rep, John Herman, and 27-year-old Gray Powell, the man who lost the next generation iPhone while drinking at a bar in Redwood City:

Gray Powell: Hello?

John Herrman: Is this Gray?

G: Yeah.

J: Hi, this is John Herrman from Gizmodo.com.

G: Hey!

J: You work at Apple, right?

G: Um, I mean I can't really talk too much right now.

J: I understand. We have a device, and we think that maybe you misplaced it at a bar, and we would like to give it back.

G: Yeah, I forwarded your email [asking him if it was his iPhone], someone should be contacting you.

J: OK.

G: Can I send this phone number along?

J: [Contact information]

If I were to guess, I'd think that Apple is pretty upset about this leak!  No more drinking for Apple employees that's for sure (at least not while in the possession of an Apple prototype)!

YIP YAP GO! Pet sitting and Dog Walking Services

YIP YAP GO! is a new up and coming pet sitting and dog walking business in the Oakland and Berkeley areas.  YIP YAP GO! offers: "dog walks and pet sitting for neighbors and friends in the greater oakland area - berkeley too (and sometimes other places). good rates, good care, good references. good times."

I can personally vouch for the extraordinary woman who heads this business--she will take good care of your pets!  She is an animal lover and will love your pet as her own!  (I've been lucky enough to take care of her pet, Luli, the ever-so-loving and adorable chihuahua in the logo at the top! She's also the cutie lounging on the red blanket above.)


So, if you are heading out on a summer vacation this year and need someone to pet sit, or of you just don't want your dog to get the lonely house blues waiting for you to get back from work every day, then check out YIP YAP GO! and find out how your pet can get have some fun play dates and walking excursions to enjoy this beautiful California weather. 




For more information: 


Check out YIP YAP GO! on Facebook.


phone: 510.893.2884 email: karen@yipyapgo.com

Korean Adoptee on Jeopardy April 22, 2010

A Korean adoptee on TV? Be sure to watch Jeopardy this week on Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 7:30 pm (Pacific time) to watch a Korean adoptee contestant, Christopher Staaf.  Let's cheer him on and see how he does!

Click here if you want to enter the Jeopardy contestant search!