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Category: Conscious Consumerism: Shopping & Reviews

Pinterest for Dummies: Review and Giveaway
You may have noticed me adding more photos like this one lately.

They’re called “Pinterest-ready.” If you’re already on the site, you know what I’m talking about. But for the uninitiated…

Pinterest is basically eye candy/internet crack for the visually oriented. A visual collection of bookmarks that you organize into virtual pinboards. If you love something you find on a blog or a store website, you can pin it to one of your Pinterest boards for future reference as long as it has a photo included. You can even pin photos directly from your smartphone.

You can keep your Pinterest private, but you’d be missing out. Pinterest is social; the more people you follow, the better the eyegasm. The more that follow you, the more you can share the beautiful/interesting/educational things you pin yourself. I use it to keep track of articles I want to write about later, recipes I want to try, fashion finds, nature photography I just want to see again and again, renovation ideas for the house, practical how-tos. And I share my favorite photos and posts there for others to (hopefully) find. You can follow my Pinterest boards here.

On Pinterest you can find recipes, DIY projects of all stripes, amazing photography, beautiful fashion, internet tutorials, workouts and playlists, inspirational and motivational posters… everything visual. It’s like every glossy, decadent magazine spread in the world carefully curated into one place: for free. And clipping the best articles and indexing them for later is as simple as a click.

If you’re not on Pinterest yet, you need an invite. Email me and I’ll get you one.

Source: someecards.com via Reina on Pinterest

Kelby Carr has written the first book on using Pinterest, Pinterest for Dummies. (Disclosure: I’ve known Kelby for a while— on the internet, not in real life yet— , have written articles for her website, Type-A Parent, and was briefly the Green Editor on her previous website Type-A Mom.)

Within the pages of Pinterest for Dummies:
- How to set up your profile (and how to keep it out of Google Search, if you want to pin on the down low)
- How to find and invite friends
- How to pin easily from your browser toolbar
- The best apps for and navigation help with mobile Pinterest surfing
- How to (and how not to) share your pins to Facebook and Twitter
- and lots of other helpful hints.
For those of us who have been pinning from the beginning and impatiently waiting for everyone else to get on board so we have more to repin, Kelby has included more advanced tips as well. Some of them were completely new to me, and some I’d seen but really appreciate having all in one book (and with an awesomely clear index).

Tips for the power user included in Pinterest for Dummies:
- The best plug-ins for Pinterest sharing from your website
- Finding time for Pinterest (this amused me greatly, but seriously Pinterest can be ADDICTIVE)
- How to find pins from a specific website (like your own)
- Embedding pins and optimizing images for pinning
- Pin etiquette and how to properly credit sources
- How much self-promotion is too much
- Avoiding copyright infringement and how to report someone infringing on YOUR copyright
- How to block others from pinning your images
- Adding Pinterest widgets and finding Pinterest linkups
- Tracking Pinterest traffic referrals
That’s not even all. And it’s all very clearly laid out, with lots of pictures and step-by-step tutorials, in the usual manner of the “for Dummies” series (side note: I LOVE THIS SERIES. When I first started blogging, no joke, I started by reading Blogging for Dummies and I think WordPress for Dummies and look where I am now).

Giveaway!

I’ve got a copy of Pinterest for Dummies to give away. You know you want it!

Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. As usual, there are up to 12 entries possible but you can do as many or as few as you like.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author: Kelby Carr (Candler, NC) is the founder and CEO of Type-A Parent, a social network and online magazine-style blog founded in 2007 for digital moms and dads, and Type-A Parent Conference, an annual blogging and social media conference in its fourth year that attracts major corporations and hundreds of parents who blog. She was an early adopter of Pinterest, and is active there daily with thousands of followers and hundreds of pins.

I was provided a copy of Pinterest for Dummies for review purposes. No other compensation, and opinions are my own.
May 23, 2012
Trimming the Fat with Actifry: Review and Giveaway

#39

Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

-Michael Pollan, Food Rules

Partly in an effort to move away from overly processed foods and the fast food chains that are homogenizing America, and partly because I’d love to see my abs again, I’ve been really trying to keep an eye on my diet, particularly my fat intake.

Now, some fats are good. You should always go ahead and spoon a bit of full fat dressing on your salad— it helps you absorb the nutrients. I think full fat dairy is better than dairy that’s been processed. And the fats in olive oil, almonds, etc are beneficial.

But the fats in french fries, Chinese food, anything cooked in heavy oils or drenched in butter… yeah, not so much. Heart disease is America’s #1 killer, guys, and preventable. We need to move more, eat better, trim those bad fats.

I love Michael Pollan’s Food Rule about making your own junk food. It’s just plain sensible: potatoes, in and of themselves, are actually not bad for you. You could live off potatoes for a long time. Chinese food has a lot of good stuff in it. There’s nothing inherently bad about an onion ring until you drop it into a vat of heavy oil.

That being said… making french fries can be a time-consuming process. This is why the Food Rule works: you’re just not going to be willing to take the time every day, so the indulgence gets balanced out over time.

But what if you could make the process easier and healthier, but still tasty?

What if you could do it in a way that’s no muss, no fuss, no nasty hot oil splatter burns? (I have NEVER deep fried anything without burning myself slightly.)

What if you could do it without that lingering smell of cooking oil that takes seemingly days to go away?

What if you could do it without the waste/expense of using large quantities of oil?

And perhaps most importantly, what if it was so easy you could delegate it to the kids?

Oh hai. Allow me to introduce you to my nifty new friend the Actifry.

The Actifry uses a pulsating heat system on a T-Fal ceramic non-stick (PTFE and PFOA free) pan. A revolving paddle (reminiscent of an ice cream maker paddle) continually turns the food so oil is evenly distributed throughout as it cooks, making for a crispy exterior.

One tablespoon of oil (I used olive oil) is all you need to make 4 servings of french fries.

OK, OK. I also added Italian seasoning to make them supah tasty. But with only one tablespoon of oil, we’re talking 3% total fat per serving, compared to 16% in fast food fries.

Chicken wings? Just throw them in and hit the ON button, and you’ll have wings that are crisp tender in 30 minutes. IT’S REALLY THAT EASY.

I used to make both fries and wings in the oven, which works but doesn’t get that crispy texture. Plus, the oven uses way more energy than the Actifry (not to mention, heats up the house: a big deal as we head into summer).

Cleanup is easy: all the major pieces come off and are dishwasher safe. No more scrubbing grease off the cooktop! (Jeffrey’s pet peeve. Well, one of a million.)

Got kids? One of the easiest ways to get a kid to eat (and understand why it’s upsetting when they don’t eat foods YOU’VE cooked) is to let them prepare meals themselves. With Actifry, you can do that with much younger kids: help them chop, let them season and place into the Actifry. Then let them set the timer and hit ON. They can watch the food cook under the clear steamless lid (no need for stirring) and serve it from the removable pan. “I made it all by myself!”

Check it out:

The Actifry comes in white and black to match your decor or wardrobe (only sort of kidding). I think of it as my slow cooker’s husband; they will make a great team this summer, keeping the kitchen cool and the kids cooking. I’m also thinking it will work great to keep those wings coming on the 4th of July.

It retails for about $200, depending on vendor (all the usual suspects carry it), and comes with a handy-dandy booklet of good-looking basic recipes. The website helpfully includes community-submitted recipes.

Keep up with Actifry on their Facebook page and on Twitter (@Actifry). They post good stuff like recipes, Twitter events and blog giveaways.

LIKE THIS ONE!

Giveaway!

Actifry has supplied me with one unit to give away to a lucky health-conscious reader. Just follow the directions in the Rafflecopter widget to enter. Up to 12 entries are possible, do as many as you like. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure:
I received an Actifry for review purposes and one to give away, as well as compensation for my time. All opinions are my own.

May 23, 2012
Nature’s Hand Granola: Review and Giveaway
Be sweet, be good, and honest always.
Emma Bunton

I’ve become pretty conscious of the sweet stuffs I eat. This is mostly because I’m entering the homestretch with my braces and I worry about not brushing effectively enough, and partly because I don’t want to undo the good work I’ve done with my weight and shape.

Generally speaking, I don’t crave sweets too much anymore. It’s funny how your palate adjusts; even when I do indulge I don’t really enjoy it as much as I did, especially things like candy and soda. I prefer a bit of ice cream or maybe a cookie. Real food.

But I’m faaaaarrrr from perfect. The cravings still come.

In my almond post, I mentioned that making smart snack swaps is an excellent step to general healthiness. What’s working for me lately is some tasty granola, usually mixed into my favorite yogurt but sometimes just straight up from the bag.

Now, granola can be tricky. Read your labels: some are chock full of preservatives and sugar. Some are just bland. Some have too much going on and feel more like eating survival food.

I received some Nature’s Hand granola to try, in Maple Pecan and Wild Blueberry, and I can’t even tell you how yum it is. Perfectly sweetened, light, tasty. Real freeze dried blueberries, not blueberry flavored crunchy bits (which is what passes for “blueberry” varieties of a lot of products). Both of these have sunflower seeds in them too, which I like.

I think they pair perfectly with yogurt and a bit of flax seed or chia, satisfying my craving of sweet and love of crunch and really keeping me full for a a while. But if a yogurt snack isn’t your thing, the Nature’s Hand website has a page of recipes that look well worth trying (I think I need to make the Granola Muffins tomorrow, now that I’m thinking about it).

100% natural, Nature’s Hand granola has:
- no artificial colors or flavors
- no preservatives
- no sodium
- no trans fats
Granola is one of those things that I haven’t yet rendered perfectly by making at home, I just haven’t found the right ingredient/baking time combination to like. So I’m always looking for granolas that are tasty, not loaded with sugar, and hold a crunch.

Nature’s Hand granola makes the grade.

While not organic, it’s an honest sweet snack food that feels like an indulgence without undoing your hard work. So delicious the kids will like it too!

Nature’s Hand is the official granola of Outward Bound, by the way. This has no effect on the taste but is full of awesome. Love Outward Bound 🙂

Giveaway!

Nature’s Hand is providing TWO bags of granola to one lucky reader— winner’s choice of flavors (check out your options here). Just follow the directions in the Rafflecopter widget below; you have up to 12 possible entries, do as many as you like.

Good luck! Be sure to ‘like’ Nature’s Hand on Facebook to keep up with future flavors and promotions.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. All prizing for MSM giveaways is handled by a third party unless otherwise noted. For this reason prize fulfillment can take up to 90 days after the winners information is received.
May 22, 2012