Suzanne Schaffer

Hav e you walked past the spaghetti squash in your supermarket, wishing you knew wha t to do with it? Confession: Less than two years ago we had a neighbor who would gift us with veggies fr om his garden. I'd wake up to a random squash on the front porch. Sometim es spaghetti squash and I didn't know what to do with them so I'd throw them in the trash.  After we moved across town I decided to look into it more. I've decided to not be intimidated by any food or recipe. He seems innocent enough: The first thing you want to do is to pierce him with a knife a couple of times. Then you simply place him on a pan (glass casserol e dish, or cookie sheet) . Bake him for one hour at 375.   After he's done , cut him in half lengthwise. Be careful, he's hot.  Let cool and then gently scrape out t he seeds and goo (s imilar to the insides of a pumpkin).  Next , flake the insides out with a fork. It will separate into long spaghetti-like strands. Thi...

  Is there anything more re freshing on a h ot summer day than a glass of lemonade ? One of my favorite summertime me mories is of going to the Washington Count y Fair and indulging in a big tall glass of ice-cold lemonade made with fresh lemons, right there in front of me. I loved watching them shake it up and make sure it was mixed just right. Then , that fi rst sip, there was nothing better.  While a t the store last night I snapped some pictures of so me lemonade in the re frigerated section. I didn't take any of the powdered kind , because, well if I need to explain that to you then we better start all over. Ha ha ha. There is nothing in pow dered form that you should drink. It is all artificial. And it doesn't taste good. Here are four examples :  This one is Newman's Own . The ingredients look pretty good, similar to what I'd use if I was making my own at home. This one is Simply Lemonade. It doesn't look ba d either. I'd still choose ...

Here are some ideas of things to add to your water that will enhance the flavor without adding che micals or calories: Lemon juice Lime juice Cucumber slices Orange slices Mint leaves The cucumber slices make the drink refreshingly different. I couldn't drink it daily, but once in a while it's very good.   Can you think of anything else to add?  

This is a hard o ne to write because it's really hitting everyone . The first thing I want to share with you is that your body is 50- 6 5% water, depending on your size. It makes sense after knowin g that, that you need water.  Let me say that again. You . N eed. Water. It cleans you, helps you move (in more ways than one....), hydrates you, keeps you alive. You can live for a long time without food, but not without water. What is the first thing that h appens when someone is taken to the hospital? They're usual ly ho oked up to a n I.V. with a saline/water solution. It's been reported that disoriented people will perk up soo n after this. This is because they were dehydrated. If your brain needs a boost, drink water.  Water is also one of the quickest ways to get oxygen into you r system. Se veral years ago we took a trip to Pike's Peak, we slowly drove up and once at the top went into the gift shop/rest center so the men in the family could use the bathr...

"What shirt should I wear?" was the quest ion asked of my husband to me the morning that CBN was sending a reporter and cameram an to our church to film the happenings of our youth group.  I told him to wear this one:   He didn't like my idea . He chose this one instead :   I'm not sure when it'll air, but as soon as I f ind out I'll let you know!

I love all-natural foods, even breath mints. These taste wonderful and are made with quality ingredients (no high fructose corn syrup) . I'm just not sure I like the name. I think they're trying t o be proud tha t they're made in Vermont, but VerMints? Really? A mint with vermin in the tit le? Weirds me out a little every ti me I eat one.

I love chips and salsa. Or chips and (homemade) dip. A small c hange that you can make when cho osing corn chips is to simply choose the unflavored variety. Instead of reaching for the bag of Dorito's (pictured above) with that horrible long l ist of ingredients (including MSG which i s one that should always be avoid ed--Google it, scary stuff!) reach for a bag of plain corn chips. This is a bag of plain old Tostito's. Corn, vegetable oil, salt. You know what those are.  Now, if you want to choose even better then you can reach for a bag of organic c or n chips, which are guaranteed to have no GMOs ( Google it) and have corn that was g rown organically without pesticides, herbi ci d es or anything else that could harm your body. I prefer the organi c ones, but that doesn't stop me from indulging in my favorite snack when we go out to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Remember, just because they sell it in the store does not mean that you shou ld eat it.  

Yes, you read that right, craft store. And I w as in one. Course, this is a weekly o ccurance for me since one of my many jobs takes me to said store. I was wan dering around the store, an d came upon the scrapbook paper section. I will admit, this section does cause my heart to race a bit.    Look at the myriad of colors! Every color imaginable, and then patterns, and then glitter. I could spend hours here just drooling. The thought came to me that some of these papers would be perfect wallpaper pictures for my phone. The prints are small enough to make a good background. I 've tried taking pictures of other things (like my favorite tea mug) but the patterns are to large. These scrapbooking pa pers are the right size. Here are two I snapped today: You may not like these prints, but I know you'll find one there that is perfect for you. I chose a Hello Kitty one that is just darling. Too much fun in that aisle!  

Have you seen the commercials for State Farm with Jake? If you haven't, take a minute:  It's always cracked me up, and my sense of humor wants to run with it. Especially when I get a text like this one: I don't get them often. Usually it's when someone sends out a group text and I just type in a reply, that is then sent to the entire group. Hey, I forget.... Anyway, the other group members don't know who the follow-up texts are from. They usually send a message asking who I am. I so badly want to use that line the next time I get one. Ha ha ha. Do you reply to text messages that you don't know who they're from? I'm guessing that you are smart enough to realize that they are usually a reply to a group message. Not long ago a friend sent a group message of a picture of her new haircut. I replied with something like, "Wow, hot mamma!" without thinking that it went back to the whole group. One recipient was not happy. She replied ...

No one wants food sticking to their pans. W e've been sold on non-stick cooking spray for so long that many people don't know any different. Um, like using plain old oil to grease your pans. Aside from the obvious, there are other choices. You can choose the non -stick cooking spray with those strange ingredients listed below. Silicone? Really? Is that ne cessary? I say no, it isn't. There are products on the market that you can add your own oil to and them pump it with your hand to make it pressurized and then spray it. Thus also eliminating the aerosol. Why spray chemicals onto your cookware, and into the air when it can be so easily av oided. The Misto (pictured below) is on sale at my little local grocery store, so if they have it I'm pretty sure you can find it anywhere.  If you can't find it in your area, then hook up with a Pampered Chef consultant. They carry one similar. I've used mine for years.  Remember, check the ingredients! J ust ...