Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Easy 20 Minute Start to Finish Stir Fry Recipe- Gluten Free, Frugal

I can't eat gluten. I can't eat eggs. So when I'm hungry and the kids are clamoring for food because I'm already running behind, I can just cook up some eggs and toast for the kids, but then I have nothing for myself to eat, or I can cook a whole meal for the family that I can also eat, but that usually takes time.

 Recently, I was trying to figure out if I could make something really quickly, and then had this idea to make a beef and vegetable stir fry with rice noodles. I knew I could make it quickly, from start to finish, even with the meat and greenbeans still frozen and everything raw. I put on a timer and got to work. 

Originally I thought it would take me 15 minutes to do it, but I kept readjusting the sauce to try to get the flavor right, because I was making it up on the fly, and I also needed to find the ingredients for the sauce and get them out of my stockpile, so it ended up taking me 22 minutes to make, start to finish.

 Then I tried making it again, already knowing what to put in it, and despite needing to wash a cereal bowl for my daughter and find where the sugar went because the kids took it, and even with my kids opening the dishwasher while I was cooking which made me not be able to work at the counter, it still took me only 20 and a half minutes, so I feel comfortable saying this is a 20 minute recipe provided you have mise en place and don't have kids calling you to do other things while you're at it. And even with kids interrupting, it still is a fast recipe.

This meal is pretty cheap to make, providing you buy the minute steak on sale like I do, and it is gluten free providing you use gluten free soy sauce. It is also conveniently a meal in one, so need for a bunch of sides.

And did I mention that it tastes absolutely divine?


This recipe makes 6-8 servings, depending on how big your servings are.

Easy 20 Minute Start to Finish Stir Fry Recipe- Gluten Free, Frugal

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

How Scientists Are Improving Instant Formula Milk

I breastfed all my children and stopped nursing them between 19 months and 38 months. However, if I would ever have another child, I definitely would choose to formula feed, as breastfeeding now is a mental health trigger for me. I highly support every mother's decision how she wants to feed her baby. Fortunately, unlike the original baby formula that was made with cow milk, wheat flour and malt flour, the available formulas today are improved so much to the extent that they are a decent alternative to breastmilk.



WHO or the World Health Organization has repeatedly stressed the importance of breastfeeding during the first six months in the life of a child. Not just WHO, even the American Academy of Pediatrics or AAP has also asked the new moms to breastfeed the infants until the age of 6 months. WHO has also recommended that the mom should continue to breastfeed up to 2 years, and sometimes, even beyond this.

However, according to many pediatricians, it is not always possible for new mothers to breastfeed their infants. There are various reasons for this. She could be on some medicines or might have to return to work after a prolonged absence, for example. The mom may even have problems in producing an adequate quantity of milk. Or, the infant may also face problems in sucking the milk out.

It is good to remember, that moms who are nursing must themselves get 300 to 500 more calories in a day so that they can breastfeed. Also, many infants have medical issues, like a metabolic illness or sensitive stomach, where a special diet might be best. There could be so many hurdles.

Breastfeeding can be difficult, which is many moms have now shifted to infant formula milk products as the main source of nutrition, while others use it for supplementation. They have become very popular too throughout the world.

Breastfeeding is not just convenient, but it even the only option in many instances.

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

How Do Hackers Hack Your Social Media Account?

The concept of being hacked is incredibly scary, and paying someone to fix things for you after you've been hacked, or dealing with the repercussions of your being hacked can be quite expensive, not to mention stress inducing. But in order to stop that from happening, we first need to know how these types of hacks happen in the first place so that we can do our best to avoid them.


Your social media accounts are a treasure trove for hackers. They carry all types of valuable data for a cybercriminal to harvest and commit financial and identity crimes. Hackers can also use your hacked social media accounts to deceive your contacts into divulging sensitive information like banking or credit card data. They can just hack Twitter passwords and get all their desired information.

But how do hackers hack social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok, with all the security measures in place? Here are some methods cybercriminals use.

Saturday, December 11, 2021

DBT Techniques to Help Your Kids at Home

To say that I am a fan of DBT would be putting it mildly. DBT therapy is one of my favorite types of therapy, because it gives people constructive tools to use in their day to day life, in a way that talk therapy doesn't necessarily do. I've done rounds of DBT therapy and my therapist is qualified in DBT as well, and it has changed my life, and I use it regularly with my kids. Here are some ways that you can use DBT skills with your children, but these things also are quite helpful for adults as well.


DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) is a type of counseling that can help children and teenagers manage their strong emotions. It works by combining two different skills:
  1. Using mindfulness to understand and accept their difficult feelings
  2. Using CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) to help them change their negative behavior and feelings
Children who often feel, think, and behave in extremes can be greatly helped through DBT. For example, children who believe everything is horrible can learn that not everything is bad, kids who act quickly without thinking can learn to consider the consequences of their actions, and teens who struggle to move on from negative feelings can learn to just let some things go.

Friday, December 10, 2021

How To Choose The Right Anniversary Gifts For Your Husband

Finding a gift for a partner can be challenging, because a gift for someone that often has different tastes than you do isn't always so simple. Here are some ideas on how you can find a great gift for your partner for your anniversary.


If your anniversary is approaching and you have no idea what to gift to your husband, then you must be at least a little bit frustrated about it. After all, this is the perfect opportunity for you to show your man just how much you love and appreciate him. Well, of course, you are probably showing that on a daily basis, but you still have to do something special for your anniversary, just like you are probably expecting to get something special for that day as well. Perhaps this could help you celebrate the right way.

Thursday, December 9, 2021

Greek Spinach Rice Pilaf Recipe - Gluten Free, Vegan Option, Allergy Friendly


I'm having a lot of guests and made some rice, but my kids were hungry and had some first so I realized that there wouldn't be enough rice left from what I originally made and decided to make another batch. Only I wasn't sure that I wanted to make another batch of plain white rice, and when I passed the door to my backyard, I saw a large amount of wild swiss chard (officially called sea beet) growing there and decided to make my rice with that. 

I googled to get some ideas of how people made this type of dish, only I searched for spinach rice dishes since this tastes like spinach too, and can be used interchangeably, and found quite a few recipes. I loosely based my recipe on this one that I found for spanikorizo, a Greek spinach and rice dish, but they also have a version made with swiss chard, called seskoulorizo. However, this really reminds me of my friend Zhanna's Bukharian bakhsh plov recipe, an Uzbeki greens and rice dish, generally made with cilantro instead of spinach or swiss chard. But because bakhsh plov is made with beef, I decided to use chicken broth in my recipe instead of water, but water works just as well, and is how spanikorizo generally is made.

This dish is delicious and warm and comforting for the winter, and it is pretty cheap to make as well. Hope you enjoy it too!

Greek Spinach Rice Pilaf Recipe - Gluten Free, Vegan Option, Allergy Friendly

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

How To Save Money While Moving

Moving is literally my idea of hell because of all the stress involved. But in addition to the actual stress of moving, there is the stress of the cost as well. Here are some ways that you can save money while moving, so the financial aspect at least won't be as painful.


Moving to a new home can be an intimidating experience, especially if you’re doing this for the first time. The idea of leaving a place where you’ve created some of the best memories and starting a life somewhere else isn’t one that many people take lightly. But that’s not the only daunting factor; there is also the financial aspect.

There is a lot of budgeting that goes into the moving process. For one, you might be forced to pay for professional moving and packing services if you don’t have an ideal means of transport at your disposal. Without a good plan in place, you could end up spending hundreds of dollars that could have been otherwise saved. So how can you cut the cost of moving? Read on to learn more.

Personal Loans Dos and Don'ts

Debt is never good. But when you need to take out a loan, sometimes people really get screwed because they don't do their proper homework. Here's a list of do's and don'ts when it comes to talking out a loan so that you don't get yourself into trouble.


A personal loan is available to anyone for virtually any purpose. Many people take out these loans for sudden expenses or when an emergency comes up and they don't have time to save the money. The short-term loans are easy to pay back, and installment plans are possible. The borrower gets a loan according to their monthly income and household expenses.  

A Very Worthwhile Grocery Shopping Trip


It was pouring rain all day and the weather was really gross, completely uninviting. But I got a message that a local store was having an unbelievably good sale for that day only, and I was so torn. Do I get up and out of my comfortable house and go out into the miserable downpour and risk getting soaked, just to save some money?

And then I got another message about the sale, and got reminded of just how awesome of a sale it was, and decided to put the effort in. 

Just my luck, it stopped raining while I was walking to the store. And it stayed dry until I got home. So it was worth it, after all. No rain and amazing deals.

I got so many things that I couldn't easily put them all into one picture, so divided them up into a few different pictures.

So first, protein. I'm not sure what drew me to the store more, the proteins or the produce. They both were awesomely priced.

Everything had a limit of 3. Either 3 kilos or 3 packages when each item weighed more than a kilo.

Monday, December 6, 2021

How Single Parents Can Benefit From No Credit Check Loans

Listen, not having debt is ideal, but sometimes there are circumstances in which taking a loan is necessary. Single parents have a harder time financially than married people, being on just one income, and they may need a short-term loan. Here are some reasons why a single parent might take out such a loan. 


Single parents are tasked with a wide range of responsibilities, and it is important that they can get help whenever it is needed. From taking their children to school and back safely to buying warm clothing for the winter season, there is a lot that goes into the care of a child. And, at one point in time, single parents are more prone to encounter a financial emergency that they cannot handle without additional aid.

Typically, whenever these problems occur, they may want to consider borrowing a short term loan. In fact, here are 4 reasons why no credit check loans may be a good financial option for a single parent.

4 Reasons to Start Saving in Your Twenties

A lot of people make bad financial mistakes when they first become an adult, and those can haunt them for many years. Young people often just think about living in the moment, not thinking about the long term. But if you start saving already from when you are a young adult, by living below your means and setting aside part of your income then, there will be large payoffs. I know someone locally who worked and saved for most of his twenties, and his wife did then too, and then when they got married in their later twenties, they lived off one salary while saving the other, and in a short amount of time, they were able to have the money for the really large down payment required in my country. All because they started saving young instead of fritting it away.


Your twenties should focus on having fun, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid also making sensible choices. While shopping splurges and some expensive getaways are great ways to make memories and enjoy yourself, you should also consider putting a set amount of money into a savings account every month. Don’t think it’s important? Here are four reasons you should be saving in your twenties.

An Unexpected Save, and Warranties


I'm a klutz. There's no denying it. I regularly drop things. I regularly fall, often flat on my face. Of course, in large part this has to do with my poor proprioception, my body's ability to tell where I am in space. This is a sensory issue and is one I've had since I was little, and isn't going away any time soon. So it isn't really fair to call myself a klutz, because this isn't my fault, but that isn't the point of why I'm writing this.

The reason I'm bringing this up is, to put it simply, my phone gets a beating ib a regular basis. Either from my falling while holding it, or dropping it, or knocking it off something. I have had to replace my phone far too often because of a shattered screen, since repairing the screen usually costs nearly as much as a new phone, at least locally. I can't just go without a phone, or with a barely working one/with a shattered screen since I use my phone for work.

To try to get my phone to last as long as possible, I always use a screen protector. This works by adding an extra layer of protection to the screen, and taking the impact of a fall instead of the screen. Of course this doesn't always work, and sometimes the screen will break in addition to the protector, but at least it is better than nothing.

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Hurt By A Defective Product? Here's What To Do

I ordered makeup for my daughter for her birthday and it arrived all broken, with powder everywhere. We ordered a replacement set and it, too, arrived broken. But as frustrating as it is when something you want arrives broken (and twice is that much worse), sometimes products you get are defective but not necessarily obvious at first and they can hurt you. If that happens to you, here's what you will need to do.



We’re approaching a part of the year where we’ll be getting a lot of gifts and products coming into our homes. While we want to ensure that we have a safe and happy holiday, and the likelihood of you coming across a defective product may seem small, it’s still important that you keep vigilant in case it happens to you.

From Christmas decorations to the gift you give and receive, there are a lot of new items that could cause significant harm to you or your family. One of the most common types of defective products that consumers receive is toys. Unfortunately, consumer electronics are also quite common, especially these days because technology is evolving so fast.

While retailer stores try their best to pull any defective items from their shelves, sometimes these products slip through the net, so awareness is often made to ensure that shoppers have a safe Christmas. However, accidents do happen, so what do you do if you have an injury caused by a defective product? Here are a few things you can do.