What would salad be without the toppings?

Is anyone doing anything fun this weekend...maybe having a party and stuck for ideas on what to serve? It is Labor Day you know. That means 3 whole days off! How about inviting some friends over and doing something simple like Hamburgers on the grill? Maybe a choice of Hamburgers or Hot dogs? My husband is convinced that you can serve people just about anything as long as you have lots of toppings! About a year ago we were making some Black Beans and Rice. Pretty simple meal but we ended up inviting some of our friends over and we had about 10 people for a real simple dinner but everyone agreed it was all in the toppings! For toppings we had crumbled Mexican cheese, jalapenos, onions, hot sauce, sour cream, tomatoes, and avocado. It sure makes the meal. What would salad be without the toppings? A bowl full of lettuce!

I guess in all of my rambling what I am trying to say is be a little creative with your toppings. If you are serving Hamburgers try putting out some sliced avocado, BBQ sauce, different types of cheeses (blue cheese burgers are big right now), different types of mustard, tomatoes, maybe bell peppers sliced. Just try something different. Your guests will just really appreciate being invited and all the special attention to toppings will truly make the meal!

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

P.S. My FREE monthly newsletter will be going out the first week of September. You don't want to miss it! Sign up now at http://www.nofearenertaining.com/

Almost Done!!!

I am almost done my 1st newsletter!!! It will be going out to all my subscribers the first week of September. If you haven't checked out my website yet at www.nofearentertaining.com go there now and be sure to sign up for my FREE newsletter. It has a menu, recipes, shopping list, hints, tips and much, much more! Don't miss the 1st issue! www.nofearentertaining.com

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Anyone who knows Tony and I know that we are pretty health conscious and have both lost a significant amount of weight. Usually the first questions is "how did you do it?" No big secret there. We are always willing to spout out how we did it! We have taken on a low carb lifestyle. I was just reading in a Consumer Reports, On Health magazine that there is now a new rule for Carbs: If it's white, don't bite.

" "Bad" carbs are generally white in color. Think: Sugar, white flour, white bread. If you avoid bad carbs you may reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and weight gain."Good" Carbs come from fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Eat "good" Carbs to keep your cholesterol level healthy...your blood pressure and blood sugar stable...and extra pounds off. It's as simple as that."

We never quit eating carbs totally. We have a salad with every meal and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Another thing that we did was to start taking high doses of pharmaceutical grade Fish Oil and daily multivitamins. Click on link to learn more. http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=1980069 If you have been following any health news at all you will know about fish oil. The key is though that you need to be taking pharmaceutical grade fish oil so that you are not getting all of the heavy metals (mercury etc.) and toxins that are in the fish and regular fish oil. They are ultra purified so that even if you were to bite into them they don't taste fishy. No fish burps (I know you know what I am talking about) or anything! For more info on fish oil email me through my website at http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

To your health!


Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Want a fun thing to do?

I have to tell you that I am so incredibly excited about my website (http://www.nofearentertaining.com/) I am so proud of myself for being able to build and get it out there on the web! I have new people looking at it every single day. What a huge accomplishment for me. Also for trying blogging which has turned out to be very therapeutic. I thought that I would really miss the people contact that I had while working in an office but through blogging I am able to keep it up! All of my accomplishment can be pointed to one thing though and that is The Faster Webmaster! If I had not gotten that product there is no way that I would have been able to do what I have done. I am now making more money than I was when I was going to work every single day and my site has only been up for less than a month!

Anyone can do this. I had no technical experience at all. Yes I could figure out how to email and search for things I wanted on the web but beyond that I had nothing. The Faster Webmaster will walk you through everything step by step. It is like having someone holding your hand throughout the whole process. I was directed on how to choose a domain name, where to buy it from, how to set up hosting and where to set it up, then I was shown how to create the website itself using a free product!!! Way too cool! You owe it to yourself to check it out. All you need is an idea for a website and the product can be bought for a one time fee of less than $50.

The Faster Webmaster

Happy Entertaining!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Can you see the fear in my eyes???

So we have about 4 days until our party on Sunday. Am I afraid? Can you see fear in my eyes? Not a chance! We have decided on a menu. Started shopping and gathering all of the supplies we will need. It is nice to have this head start. Sometimes we decide to do this just a couple of days before and we don't get all of this extra time!

We will be serving Smoked Pork Butt, Baked BBQ Lima Beans, Dirty Rice, Italian Salad and Golden Margaritas (and Beer) as the beverage. For the children we will have PB & J roll ups and juice. Sounds pretty good huh? Almost all of these items can be made ahead so we aren't having to cook while everyone is here. We have over 30 people (children are included) coming. I ordered some extra chairs from our local party rental company. You can get these for about $1.50 a piece and I figured seeing as we are in SW Florida and the temperature is about 100 degrees come late afternoon I needed to give people a spot to plop their bottoms. We have a water slide and a bounce house as well as the pool to keep the kids going. It should be a good time for everyone! I will be featuring these recipes in my October Newsletter. Sign up now at www.nofearentertaining.com.

Check back for new posts to see how we are doing as we get closer and closer to party day!

Happy Entertaining!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

High Fructose Corn Syrup?

I just read an article about High Fructose Corn Syrup or HFCS that I think everyone should read. I stopped having anything in my house with HFCS about a year ago because everything that I read kept saying how horrible it was. They have now found that it is linked to Diabetes in children. To think that something that is in so many products can harm a child for life is so sad. If you have any interest the article was on the Fox News Website (www.foxnews.com). I have included a link below.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294882,00.html

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

The preparation has begun!

This is when it starts to get so exciting. Labor Day is just around the corner and I am already starting to prepare for our party. You do not have to start as early as I have but I like to know what I have and what I am going to need. Once you have your menu figured out you can then start figuring out what you will need. Here are the steps that I usually go through to get all of my supplies:

• I make a master list of all items that I am going to need.
• Go through that list and cross of all of the things that I already have on hand.
• Make a new list of the things that I know I don't have from the other list.
• Separate that list by store (I know what I can buy at Costco and what I will have to get at Publix)

My Monthly Newsletter (sign up now at www.nofearentertaining.com) will have all of this information figured out for you. Each recipe has a shopping list and then there is a master list of all the items you will need for the menu of the month. This Shopping List is separated into a Shopping List and then a separate Pantry list which is items that you may already have on hand.

Today was the day that I normally go grocery shopping so I was able to buy all of the non perishable items that I needed from there. I will wait until Saturday to get all of the perishable items. I will also get lots of ice so I can fill up coolers that I will use to hold the food until the party on Sunday.

I also called out local rental center today to order some extra folding chairs. If you are having a lot of people over this is something that I would recommend. I was able to get as many extra chairs as I wanted for less than $2 a piece! I never worry about there being enough table space but most people like to it when they eat.

Keeping checking back for more updates and tips!

Happy Entertaining!

Judy

http://www.nofearentertaining.com/