Healthy Chicken Cacciatore

Here's a good recipe for something that is healthy and tastes great at the same time.
 

Chicken Cacciatore-serves 4

1 1/2 pounds bone-in chicken breasts

1 28-ounce can Italian-style diced tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium red bell pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 Parmesan, freshly grated

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons capers, drained

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, crushed

If desired, season with salt and pepper to taste.  Roll chicken in flour until lightly coated. 

Using medium-high heat, heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or deep skillet. Add chicken bone-side-up to pan and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and set aside. Reduce heat to medium and saute the onion and bell pepper until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add capers, tomatoes (undrained) and red pepper flakes and loosen up brown bits. Add the chicken and turn in the sauce to coat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 35-40 minutes. Put the chicken onto a serving plate and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with Parmesan and basil and serve.

What Happens When You Quit Smoking

I know I'm harping a lot on smoking. It's just that there aren't any benefits of smoking that can't be found elsewhere. There are other ways to relax; there are other ways teenagers can make friends or look "cool"; there are other things to spend your money on. If you're considering quitting and need another motivator, here's an infographic about what happens when people quit smoking. This says it much better than I could.

http://dailyinfographic.com/what-happens-when-smokers-quit-infographic

What The Media Does To Women-Video

We've probably all heard about the role of Photoshop in establishing standards of beauty, but here's a great talk about why we shouldn't let it dictate our looks or self-esteem.

http://www.upworthy.com/5-minutes-of-what-the-media-actually-does-to-women-8?c=reccon1

Word puzzle for kids-the human body

I used to love doing puzzles as a kid. Word puzzles were my favorites because they allowed me to practice spelling and reading while also learning about a particular topic. If your kids also like puzzles, print this out and give it to them next time they need something to do.

Unscramble these words relating to the human body.

Terha

Glusn

Enotleks

Lescum

Resot

Nbiar

Dhans

Grifnes

Lanek

Syikdne

Vterl

Rdalbde

Lsmla etnitsine

Agrle etnitsine 

Chastom

Scaerpan

Dapxpeni

Answers: heart, lungs, skeleton, muscle, torso, brain, hands, fingers, ankle, kidneys, liver, bladder, small intestine, large intestine, stomach, pancreas, appendix

Do You Get Enough Sleep?

How I feel most mornings.

We might think not getting enough sleep is no big deal.  Sure, lack of sleep makes us grumpy and tired, but we think that can be cured by drinking coffee or catching up on sleep on the weekend. This might be true for occasional sleep deprivation, but many of us have a much bigger problem than that. We don't realize how much our sleep affects the most basic of activities.

For instance, it can affect driving. I can't imagine anyone here driving a tanker or working on a space shuttle (lack of sleep played a role in both disasters) but we often do drive cars.  I've driven after little to no sleep and it's definitely not something I'd want to do again. I certainly wouldn't want me to drive my kids around or even be on the road. It can affect your memory and ability to do your job, as well as physical problems. I could go on forever, but here's a gra
phic that can give a lot more information than I could.

http://www.mphonline.org/sleep/

Depression In Pictures

I've been trying to explain depression to certain people in my life for years. It's not that I have anything to be depressed about or that I'm dissatisfied with life.  I don't "just need to think positive" or "have faith".  Believe me, if it were that easy, I'd have done it a long time ago. Rather than trying to go into the details again, here's a great comic that explains it much better than I can.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/comics-that-capture-the-frustrations-of-depression

Here's another comic about depression, this time in the form of a personal narrative. There's a little bit of bad language, but it's done in a relevant way; sometimes those are the only words that work.


http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/05/depression-part-two.html

I can relate to feeling nothing.

Hopefully these comics have been helpful to you; sometimes just knowing that someone *understands* makes a big difference. 

Exactly What Are You Afraid Of?

We all have fears. But do we all have phobias?

The main difference between a “regular” fear and a phobia is the degree. For instance, someone with a “regular” fear of dogs will get nervous if their neighbor's German Shepherd or Husky barks at them. In contrast, a person with cynophobia won't take their children to the park because there might be a dog there.

Counseling and/or "exposure therapy" can go a long way in helping someone manage their fears.

Here are just some of the interesting and sometimes-odd phobias I've heard of. Some of them have more than one name, but I'm giving the name I've heard most often. I know this list is rather long, but I hope it will prove to be interesting.

Acrophobia-fear of heights (guilty!)

Agoraphobia-Fear of open spaces or being stuck in crowded outdoor places like markets or fairs

Ailurophobia-fear of cats, also called elurophobia, felinophobia, galeophobia and gatophobia.

I found it interesting that there are many more words for the fear of cats than for the fear of dogs. I would think more people would be afraid of dogs than cats because of the sheer difference in size, but that's just me.

Algophobia-fear of pain

Androphobia-fear of men

Anthropophobia-fear of society or people in general

Arachnophobia-fear of spiders (again, guilty!)

Astraphobia or Astrapophobia-fear of thunder and lightning

Astrophobia-fear of stars or celestial bodies in general

Autophobia-fear of being alone

Aviophobia or Aviatophobia-fear of flying

Bacteriophobia-fear of bacteria.

Barophobia-fear of gravity

Bathmophobia-fear of stairs or steep slopes

Batrachophobia-fear of amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders etc)

Belonephobia-fear of pins and needles.

Carcinophobia-fear of cancer

Carnophobia-fear of meat

Chiraptophobia-fear of being touched

Cibophobia-fear of food

Claustrophobia-fear of closed-in spaces

Clesiophobia/cliethrophobia-fear of being trapped in an enclosed area, such as being buried or trapped inside your car

Climactophobia-fear of stairs, both climbing and falling down

Coulrophobia-fear of clowns

Cynophobia-fear of dogs. Depending on what you read, it's also the fear of rabies. I've had rabies shots, so this is a quite valid fear!

Demophobia-fear of crowds (a type of agoraphobia, also called enochlophobia)

Dendrophobia-fear of trees

Domatophobia-fear of houses in general

Dromophobia-fear of crossing the street

Dysmorphophobia-fear of deformity or abnormal appearance in general

Entomophobia-fear of insects

Enissophobia/enosiophobia-fear of criticism or having committed some sort of mortal sin or unforgivable offense

Eosophobia-fear of sunlight or sunrises

Ephebiphobia-fear of teenagers

Equinophobia-fear of horses

Francophobia-fear of France or French culture.

Frigiophobia-fear of cold or cold things

Gephyrophobia-fear of crossing bridges.

Glossophobia-fear of public speaking

Gerontophobia-Fear of growing old or of old people.

Hemophobia-fear of blood

Herpetophobia-fear of reptiles or other "creepy-crawlies". 

Heterophobia-fear of the opposite sex in general

Hopolophobia-fear of guns

Hylophobia-fear of forests

Hypochondria-fear of illness in general

Iatrophobia-fear of doctors

Ichtyophobia-fear of fish

Insectophobia-fear of insects

Iophobia-fear of poisons

Mysophobia-fear of germs

Nosophobia-fear of having a specific disease. For instance, sometimes a medical or nursing student might study a disease and somehow become convinced that they have it. A person may also opt for unnecessary medical procedures (i.e. removal of uterus or breasts) if they're convinced that they'll get a genetic disease, even if they haven't shown any symptoms in the past.

Nyctophobia-fear of the dark

Ophidiophobia-fear of snakes

Orinthophobia-fear of birds

Paraskavedekatriaphobia-fear of Friday the 13th

Stenophobia-fear of narrow spaces or things

Siderophobia-fear of stars

Thanatophobia-fear of death

Triskaidekaphobia-fear of the number 13

Trypanophobia-fear of needles

Xenophobia-Fear of strangers or foreigners

Xenoglossophobia-fear of foreign languages

Zeusophobia-fear of God or deities in general

For more phobias, visit http://phobialist.com. If nothing else, you'll find it interesting.