Cookbooks: Soup Recipes

This Thai-influenced soup is made fresh homemade chicken stock. You can use store-bought chicken broth and leftover chicken if you’re short on time, but it always tastes better homemade.

Cook’s Note: This recipe calls for lemongrass. If you can’t find lemongrass in the specialty section of your supermarket or specialty store, you can omit.

The Stock Ingredients:

• 2 chicken thighs and legs or 2 larger chicken breasts
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 oz of fresh grated ginger or ½ teaspoon dried ginger
• 2 lemon grass stalks
• 2 dried red chillies

The Soup Ingredients:

• 2 lemon grass stalks
• 1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
• ½ cup short grain rice rinsed
• Salt and ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 red chili to garnish
• 1 lime quartered to serve

The Process:

Put the chicken into a large deep pan and add all the other stock ingredients. Cover with water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer gently with the lid on for approximately 2 hours, until the chicken is tender and you have a rich stock.

Skim off any excess fat from the top of the stock, strain stock into a large bowl or pan and set aside. Remove the skin from the chicken and shred the meat into a separate bowl, set aside.

Flatten the lemon grass stalks using a rolling pin or the edge of a knife. Pour the stock back into a soup pan and add the lemon grass stalks, fish sauce and rice. Simmer uncovered over low heat for approximately 40 minutes.

Add the shredded chicken after 30 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Slice and remove seed from the chili. Chop into thin pieces. Be careful when handling chili and quickly wash your hands after as it can really sting. Serve the soup into warm bowls and garnish with a little chopped fresh chili and lime wedge.

More Soup Recipes: Soup Recipes

By Aurelia Williams, Certified Life Coach

Let’s Face it, every mom has had one of “those days”. The baby is feed and dry but very fussy, your child forgot to tell you about a science project that is due tomorrow and hands you a list of 10 things that you must get from the store, you forgot the roast in the oven and now it is dry and your husband just called to say that he is stuck at the office… again! After a day like this, it can be very hard to keep your stress level low. With each passing minute you may feel your stress and irritability rising, your patience getting shorter and your fuse about to blow! Calgon Take Me Away!!

When you feel the need to escape and take a few minutes to yourself to de-stress, follow some (if not all) of the tips I share with my own coaching clients below.

Put yourself in time out: Allow some alone time for yourself. Use this time to focus on you. Find a place in your home that you can go to and find privacy. You can ask your partner or a friend to take the family out for a few hours while you enjoy your alone time. Do nothing, sleep, read, watch a movie, and just enjoy your solitude.

Call a Friend: Rather than yelling at your husband or your children, try picking up the phone and vent to a friend. Be sure not to vent AT her, but rather tell her about your day and get it all out. If she offers you some advice, listen and soak it in. This mini-time out session will leave you feeling heard, de-stressed and you will find that by the end of your call some of you anger will have dissipated.

Play: As adults, we sometimes forget the beneficial value of play. Play stimulates our imagination, encourages our creativity, boosts our energy, and best of all, it is fun. Try a game of tennis, a game of cards online or perhaps invite some friends over for an evening of adult board games.

Meditate: Meditation has been proven to reduce your blood pressure, and helps to dramatically reduce your stress level. Meditation and/or prayer will help you to keep in touch with your spiritual side. Meditation is a very effective method of relaxation. To meditate, quiet your mind and allow yourself to focus on one thing, such as your breath. Find a relaxed comfortable position where Try visualizing good health and peace as you inhale. While you are breathing out breathe out all of your stress. Set aside approximately 20 minutes for this exercise. Upon completion, you will see just how much more relaxed your mind and body is.

Take a nap: Find a quiet, comfortable spot and take a nap. Even a short power nap can leave you feeling refreshed, renewed, and more focused. Studies have shown that people who spent 30 minutes each day napping had one third less heart disease than those who didn’t nap.

Eat: Not just anything but certain things. Studies show that certain foods can help reduce stress. Carbohydrates will actually soothe you. Good sources of carbohydrates include rice, pasta, potatoes, breads, air-popped popcorn and low-calorie cookies. Experts suggest that the carbohydrates present in just one baked potato or a cup of spaghetti or white rice, is enough to relieve the anxiety of a stressful day.

Movie Time: If you don’t have anyone to watch the children for you while you de-stress. Put in one of their favorite movies, supply your children with a few healthy snacks, and have them occupy themselves for a little while so that you can take a breather.

Don’t feel guilty for taking time out to rejuvenate your mind and body. Being a mom is not an easy task and it is a full time job. Take a break when you need it and be sure to ask for help to keep the stress at bay.

Next Steps:

If you need an extra hand getting what you want out of life, contact Certified Life Coach, Aurelia Williams. She’ll help you design a life that allows you to reach your business and personal goals; cultivate more fulfilling relationships and that elusive achieve work/life balance you’ve been striving for.

Click here to learn more about her coaching program.

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Would you ever consider giving birth at home, unassisted by a Doctor or Midwife?

While I had 3 of my babies at home, I had a Midwife present. My Midwives were wonderful and I’m so glad I had them there to assist me both during my labors and after the birth. I found their presence deeply comforting. To be fair, my 4th child almost arrived before the Midwife did – only because there was a fire at the entrance to my neighborhood and I waited so long before calling her!

Today on my podcast, I talked with a mother of 6 and author of the book Unassisted Homebirth: An Act of Love. Learn more about why couples might choose unassisted home birth. It may not be an option you choose to pursue, but it may also cause you to question some of your own ideas about birth.

Desirable characteristics of fine wines depend on a combination of soil, climate, variety of grape and the methods of cultivation used in the vineyard. Wine growers are constantly striving to produce award-winning wines by utilizing new and proven growing methods to get the best characteristics.

Some important characteristics that are considered during wine judging include bouquet, acidity, body, crispness and sweetness. Wines with the most desirable characteristics are usually those from the most advantageous location.

Italy tops the list of wines with the most highly appreciated characteristics. The region of Tuscany is especially renowned as producing excellent wines. A combination of location and the ancient culture used to produce the wine is thought to be the key to their quality of excellence.

France is also known worldwide for producing consistently excellent wines. A few of the top regions for growing wines in France are Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and Provence.

Each region has its own style of wine and each bases its reputation on the style and quality of their wines. The quality of French wines is determined by the methods of production used to ensure the quality characteristics that have made French wines distinguishable from others.

A surge in production of quality wines in countries such as Australia, Argentina and the USA has been built largely by the countries investing highly in the study of all aspects of wine making – from growing to bottling.

While judging the desirable characteristics of wine is complex and confusing, most wine aficionados agree that the variety of the grape is a key factor. Labeled by wine judges as “varietal character,” the flavor of the grape used in a specific wine is a considered to be a positive characteristic.

There is an entire language of wine used to describe a wine’s characteristics. When heard for the first time, the language seems to have a poetic quality about it, but in reality it helps wine lovers, judges and growers communicate with each other.

Words such as robust, aromatic and full-bodied are as elementary to a wine enthusiast as bundt, confection and crème frache are to a chef. The fun in discovering the various wine characteristics is to sample wines from around the world and see if you can match the characteristics to the wine.

Who woulda thunk it, but apparently her hairdo has some clout in the fashion world.

Here’s a video from Harper’s Bazaar that proves it true and the 50s inspired songstress inspired 50s style fashion trends.

Watch Beauty and Accessory Trends from New York below. I was horrified by the phrase “eyeliner comes with that”, but wasn’t surprised that a number of the models did seem to have Winehouse’s “figure”:

Compost is the type of soil plants really love to grow in, because it’s made from lots of great organic material. And organic compost is the safest kind of material to grow your plants in.

Start with a base of material that is rich in carbon. Gather things like straw, dead flowers, shredded newspaper, and dried leaves. Some people forget to add these brown materials, but they’re essential.

Next, find green materials that are high in nitrogen. These materials include things like kitchen waste from plants, animal manure, green garden clippings, and grass clippings. You can use all kinds of fruit and vegetable peelings and leftovers, but no meat!

Include a little bit of soil from your garden. It’s important for you to remember that you should actually add a bit of natural soil to your compost to get it started. Start by putting down a layer of your brown material.

This could be straw, dry leaves, or even shredded newspapers if you don’t have anything else. On top of that, add some of your green stuff, then a layer of soil. Then add more of your brown material to the top. Finally, you need to add water to these layers. Just moisten them, don’t drown them!

Continue in this manner to add layers until you have a compost pile that is around 3 feet wide and 3 feet high. You should probably have a ratio of about three parts brown material to one part of green material. If your pile isn’t 3 feet tall yet, just keep adding material to it whenever you have it available.

About once every week or two, you should turn your compost pile. This means using something like a garden fork (a pitchfork) to stir your pile. You’ll want to work all of the stuff in the middle out toward the edges, and move the outer material inward toward the middle.

Be sure to keep your compost pile moist. It should never be soggy, but be sure not to let it dry out. If your compost pile gets too dry, it will stop decomposing properly. If you see steam coming up from your pile when you turn it, you can be pretty sure everything is decomposing properly.

You can add earthworms to your compost pile if you want. They’ll find the pile on their own, but you can speed the process up a big by adding some to the pile yourself. You can buy earthworms at a fishing bait store and use those.

You can also build or buy a bin to house your compost pile. This can help keep your pile neat and tidy, so it doesn’t spread out too much. You can also buy rotating compost bins that you can turn in order to mix your compost. These aren’t necessary, but they can make your job easier.

Once your compost turns into a rich, nearly black material, it will start to smell much better. Your new compost will smell a bit sweet. Once it turns black and starts to smell sweet, it’s ready to be mixed with your regular garden soil. In fact, you can use this rich compost as potting soil, usually with nothing else added. You can even replace most of the soil in your garden with this material, or use it in raised beds.

The song says that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but I say that her best friend is her husband. For those men out there who want to show their wives how they feel, here are seven free ways that won’t cost you anywhere near the price of a diamond that doesn’t really show her how you feel anyway.

1. Make dinner for her. There are plenty of women who work, chauffeur the children, and still make it home in time to prepare a hot dinner. Take the responsibility off of her hands at least one night a week if you can. This may take a bit of planning, but it will be well worth it, trust me. Even if she gets home before you do, offer to take over and finish the meal. As a treat, feed the kids first and save two plates for a romantic dinner after the kids are bathed and tucked in bed.

2. Run a hot bath. Remember hot baths? They are those warm, sudsy experiences we used to have time for before the kids came along. When the kids are ready for a little play with dad or after they are in bed for the night, run a bath for your wife so that she gets a much deserved break from her day. The waters will soak away the cares of the day and leave her ready to change from worker bee and mom to wife. Add a glass of wine and the bath will be perfect.

3. Place notes in unexpected places. Men are not adept at this, so it will come as a complete surprise. Put a special love note in her underwear drawer or write it in the steam on the bathroom mirror. There are a ton of places you can drop little notes of love and appreciation for your wife.

1. Call her throughout the day. She won’t be expecting sweet nothings to be whispered in her ear during the day. Tell her you love her and wanted to make sure she was alright.

2. Give her a back massage. Picking up toys, cooking, driving, and the like take its toll on the back. Playtime in the tub with the kids is a back breaker, too. Use a warming massage gel to cut the pain as you soothe away the aches and pains with your manly touch.

3. Get involved in an activity that she likes. Women like when men show genuine interest in them. This includes their activities. You don’t have to join a knitting circle or sewing group, but attend a meeting to show your support and love. Ask her to explain what she does in her cooking class. Cooking together can be fun and quite romantic when done at home.

4. Pick up after yourself. I pick up socks and shoes on a daily basis. I’ve usually tripped over the shoes first, though. Women are wired to be caregivers. Lighten her load by putting your own things away. She can spend more time focusing on you when she doesn’t have to pick up after you. **THIS IS A REALLY GOOD ONE!!**

Love doesn’t require a big production or lots of dough. If you keep it simple, she’ll still get the message – you love and appreciate her very much.

By Aurelia Williams, author of Understanding Your Teen

If you are the parent of a teenager, you are familiar with mood swings. One minute, your teen is happy and loving, the next they are sullen or angry. These mood swings can happen fast and can seem to come out of nowhere and it’s one of the reasons I created my Understanding Your Teen Guide.

You may find yourself wondering what you did or said to cause this shift in your teen’s mood. The truth is, you probably didn’t do anything wrong at all. Your teen’s mood swings are normal, and there is not much that can be done to stop it.

Your teen is slowly becoming an adult and they are developing the skills the need to handle the pressures of the adult world, but this process takes time. They may have a school project due, have chores around the house to complete, and then they get into an argument with their best friend.

Some of these things may seem silly or trivial, as you have work to do and a lot more housework on top of that. Try to remember that your teen’s brain is still growing and they may simply not have the ability to handle all of those pressures and keep a smile on their face at all times.

While you may not be able to end your teen’s mood swings all together, you can use these techniques to help both you and your teen learn to cope:

· Encourage your teen to talk to you when they feel upset or overwhelmed. Let them know that you are there for them, and that you have experienced those same feelings from time to time.

· If your teen doesn’t want to talk, encourage them to express their feelings in a creative way, such as painting, drawing, or writing. Let them know that they can keep this private, that they do not need to show anyone. Once they get their frustrations out, they will feel a lot better and will be able to move on.

· Try not to react to your teen’s mood swings. Sometimes, they say things just to get a reaction. If you ignore the bait, they may change their attitude.

· If you and your teen do get into an argument, diffuse the situation by getting up and taking a break. When both you and your child are calmed down, you can finish discussing the issue.

At times, it can seem like your teen is from a foreign country. They have different behavior and customs and sometimes, and sometimes it can seem as though they are speaking a different language.

Even though there are difficult times, try to enjoy this period of your child’s life as much as possible, because these years will go by very fast.

Next Steps

1. To gain a little more patience and whole lot more understanding of your teen, pick up Aurelia’s Real Life Guidance to Understanding Your Teen – it’s a lifesaver for so many parents.

2. If you’re gearing up for another summer with your teen and want to dread trying to keep them occupied, happy and out of trouble, check out School’s Out for plenty of expert resources to make it a great summer.

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By Aurelia Williams, Certified Life Coach

Every mom knows the importance of organization; add a business to the mix and organization becomes even more important. As a WAHM, you need to know where your child’s play date is, when your next deadline is due, and what you are making for dinner.

A life coach can help you develop an organization system, set priorities and stay in control of your schedule. You’ll no longer waste precious time looking for things you’ve misplaced and you will no longer miss those important deadlines.

Get the Job Done & Spend Quality Time With Your Kids:

In many cases, women become WAHMs because they want to spend more time with their children. However, when you have deadlines to meet and clients to please, finding time to spend with your children can be difficult.

A life coach can help you develop a work routine that will allow you balance your time between work and family. When you have a routine in place, you will know which hours are for work; and which are for play.

How a Life Coach can Help WAHMS Spend Time with Their Spouse:

It can be easy to put romance on the backburner when you have your hands full. As a WAHM, you are tackling two “more than full-time” jobs. It is important to make time for your spouse, so that your marriage does not suffer.

A life coach can help you and your spouse work out a schedule where you both take on various household tasks. Having your spouse take over some of your chores will free up time on your schedule to create a date night together. You need time to be husband and wife, not just “mom” and “dad”.

How a Life Coach can Help WAHMs Get Time to Themselves:

By nature, women tend to be people pleasers; a life coach can help you learn to say “no”. This will prevent you from taking on more work than you can handle. When you take on too much, your natural response is to limit the time you take for yourself. This can be a big mistake. You deserve to take time out for yourself; take a walk, read a magazine, get a manicure.

You will notice that when you take a break to be alone, get your thoughts together, and recharge your batteries, you will have renewed energy and passion for all areas of your life!

Next Steps:

If you need an extra hand getting what you want out of life, contact Certified Life Coach, Aurelia Williams. She’ll help you design a life that allows you to reach your business and personal goals; cultivate more fulfilling relationships and that elusive achieve work/life balance you’ve been striving for.

Click here to learn more about her coaching program.

(Want to republish this article? Click here to join the affiliate program)