Jolly Mom: Recipes | Crafts | Atlanta Mom Blogger | Brand Ambassador | Product Reviews

Heads up! Totsy is having a Twitter party tomorrow (Friday 1/27) from 2-3pm EST hosted by the fabulous Sara Fisher (aka: @SelfMadeMom)! Party deets below....





Party Details:

When: Friday, January 27, 2012 from 2-3:00 PM ET
Where: Twitter hashtag #TotsyParty
Who to follow:
Hosts: @TotsyFan, @MyTotsy, @SelfMadeMom

Prizes:

• Hevea Baby
• Today's Baby Featuring Oggi and maybe Today's Mom
• My Brest Friend
• Baya
• Generous giveaway by Hostess Sara Fisher of $300 of Totsy credits she's earned

No RSVP necessary--just join the party by Tweeting with the #TotsyParty hashtag!

Link up your giveaways!

Please make sure to link directly to the giveaway and list the name of the giveaway along with the expiration date. Don't forget to stop by Go Graham Go to link up over there as well!

My mom taught me to wash my laundry in cold water whenever possible. Her reasoning is that cold water is gentler on your clothes than hot water. For instance, hot water has a tendency to shrink clothing, permanently set some stains, and cause colors to fade. I have listened to my mom's sage advice and as a result, our clothing lasts much longer. Another caveat of washing with cold water is that it is also more energy efficient than using hot water, which is better for the environment and your pocketbook. The only drawback? Washing with hot water does get laundry cleaner than cold water...until now.

Let me introduce you to Tide Coldwater...

 

 

Tide Coldwater is specially formulated to clean in cold water conditions better than the next leading regular liquid detergent in warm. And, with Tide Coldwater, you can save money on your energy bill. Tide claims that you can save up to 80% of energy in every load. That's quite a savings!

Thanks to the SheSpeaks Tide Coldwater Program, we've been using Tide Coldwater for the last couple of weeks. I have to say that it is a very effective detergent and does an excellent job of getting laundry clean with only using cold water. Check out the before and after results on a chocolate milk stain...

 

 

The stain is gone and the shirt smells lovely and feels soft! Two thumbs up from me!

 

The featured product{s} in this post were provided to me free of charge by SheSpeaks and Tide. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information.

If you've ever been on a diet, then you have probably heard of the Cabbage Soup Diet. It has literally been around for ages and still gets talked about today. I remember hearing about it for the first time when I was in high school. So what is the Cabbage Soup Diet? It is a 7 day diet that promises up to a 10 pound weight loss by the end of the week. It's a strict diet with a short list of allowable foods that change every day. What doesn't change is the cabbage soup, which you are encouraged to eat in copious amounts throughout the week. It is not a long term diet plan at all and should not be followed for more than 7 days at a time. It is intended to be used as a jump start to healthy eating.

Cabbage Soup 7-Day Plan
Day 1: Cabbage soup and all the fruit you want except bananas. Drink unsweetened tea, black coffee, unsweetened cranberry juice, or water.
Day 2: Cabbage soup, all the low-calorie vegetables you want (except beans, peas, or corn), and a baked potato with butter for dinner.
Day 3: Cabbage soup and a mixture of the above fruit and vegetables (except bananas and potatoes).
Day 4: Cabbage soup, up to eight bananas, and two glasses of skim milk.
Day 5: Cabbage soup, up to 20 ounces of beef, chicken or fish, up to six fresh tomatoes, and at least 6-8 glasses of water.
Day 6: Cabbage soup, up to 3 beef steaks, and unlimited vegetables.
Day 7: Cabbage soup, up to 2 cups of brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices, and unlimited non-starchy vegetables.

Over the years, I've tried the diet a couple of times and always gave up around day 3. However, after a holiday season spent eating way too many treats and a very sad end to the year, I have been feeling like I needed a detox and a jump start to my weight losss goals. I decided to once again try the Cabbage Soup Diet. I started last Monday and finished the plan this past Sunday.

My Results:
I lost 5 pounds, which for me--a very slow loser--is a huge amount to lose in one week. Granted, some of that is probably water weight, but that's ok because I was surely retaining a lot of unneeded water after over indulging over the holidays, etc. I'm just happy to see the number going down, which gives me the motivation that I need to continue on the right path.

The Good:
After the seven days, I feel much more in tune with my body and able to assess whether I am actually hungry or just bored. I was able to cut out late night snacking and eat smaller portions than what I was eating before beginning the diet. I feel much lighter and ready to start a long term healthy eating plan now.

The Bad:
It is definitely a boring diet--especially on the non-fruit days. By Day 4, I couldn't stomach anymore cabbage soup. It wasn't the taste, really. The soup is actually quite good. It was a combination of the smell of the soup, which is very sulfury due to the cabbage and also eating anything for that many days in a row is very difficult. I powered through though and had the soup all the days except Day 7.



Speaking of soup, there are many versions of the Cabbage Soup on the internet. All of the recipes that I read said to dump a bunch of vegetables into a pot and cover with water and some seasonings. However, as in any soup, I find that it really pays off to put a little love into it by sauteing the vegetables first to develop a better depth of flavor. So I tweaked the recipe to my own taste and it turned out really delicious--even Mike liked it. I made two batches--one at the beginning of the week that was broth based and a second version at the middle of the week that included canned tomatoes. Recipe is provided below.

Cabbage Soup Recipe


Ingredients:
1/2 head cabbage, roughly chopped
2 large onions, chopped
2 green peppers
4 stalks celery
6-8 large carrots, sliced
1/2 pound green beans, sliced on diagonal
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley, roughly chopped
Quart of chicken stock (I use Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base to make my stock when I don't have homemade on hand.)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Cooking Spray
OPTIONAL: 16-28 ounces canned tomatoes, chopped



Directions: Spray a Dutch oven or large stock pot with a little cooking spray and saute the mushrooms until they are golden brown.



Remove the mushrooms and add the onions, green peppers, carrots, and celery. Saute for 5-7 minutes until vegetables are softened.



Add the cabbage, mushrooms, green beans, parsley, salt and pepper to the pot and cover with chicken stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn burner down to low and allow the soup to simmer for 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are just tender (not mushy).

For version 2 of the soup, add the canned tomatoes when you add the stock. Serve hot with a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

If you've never had homemade marshmallows, you are truly missing out. They are nothing like the store bought ones. Homemade marshmallows are soft and fluffy and delicious. They are also surprisingly easy to make and make great gifts! Wrap them in clear cellophane bags and give them out to loved ones on Valentine's Day.



Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
3 (1/4-ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Liquid or gel food coloring
Confectioners' sugar, sifted, for dusting the marshmallows

Directions:
1. Lightly spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line pan with plastic wrap or parchment paper, making sure to leave an overhang on all sides.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water; let stand for 10 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; boil rapidly for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and with the mixer on high, slowly pour the boiling syrup down the side of the mixer bowl into gelatin mixture. Add salt and continue mixing for 12 minutes.
3. Spread marshmallow mixture evenly into pan. Squeeze a few drops of food coloring into the pan and swirl around using a wooden skewer. You will have to work fast at this point and swirl the food coloring before the marshmallow sets. This will give you a "swirl" marshmallow. If you want to tint the entire marshmallow, then add the food coloring during step 2 after the mixture has been in the mixer for a few minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight.
4. Carefully remove marshmallow from pan. Remove all plastic wrap and/or parchment paper. Lightly dust the top of marshmallow slab with confectioner's sugar and cut marshmallows into 2-inch squares using a sharp knife. A pizza cutter also works very well. If you find that the knife is sticking to the marshmallow, you can spray it with non-stick cooking spray OR dust it with confectioner's sugar. After marshmallows are cut, lightly dust the entire marshmallow with confectioner's sugar to keep from sticking. Store in an airtight container.

Link up your giveaways!

Please make sure to link directly to the giveaway and list the name of the giveaway along with the expiration date. Don't forget to stop by Go Graham Go to link up over there as well!