Celery Leaf Chimichurri Recipe

I am not a fan, generally, of celery leaves. I'll occasionally put it in soup, but generally, there are too many celery leaves in each package of celery stalks for me to use it all up in soup, and so it often goes to waste. I decided to do something about that and make use of the celery leaves. I thought at first to make it into pesto, then realized I had neither nuts nor cheese nor nutritional yeast needed for that, and so I decided to make chimichurri from the leaves and it came out wonderfully. I plan on using this as a dip/spread for a budget charcuterie board, which I will be sharing shortly. This recipe is vegan, gluten free, allergy friendly, and if you're someone that buys celery for the stalks, it is "nearly free" because it uses up something that otherwise may have been tossed. 

Chimichurri is generally used as a topping for meat, but you can use it as you would any condiment, or as a seasoning. It goes well on toast, in a pasta salad, on eggs, in potato salad, and many more ideas (see here for inspiration).

If you don't have a blender or food processor, you can chop this very finely by hand as is traditional, but I prefer to use a machine to save the work, and I don't mind a more smooth texture for mine.

Celery Leaf Chimichurri Recipe

How Military Divorces Differ from Civilian Divorces?

My parents got divorced when my father was in the American military. Being in the military when divorcing makes things more complicated, especially if there is any deployment involved. Here's some info from a reader on how these types of divorces differ from civilian ones.

Marriage is not always easy. The deployments and other difficulties that military families face can make a marriage with one or both spouses even more difficult. Military divorce rates are slightly higher than those in the general population, so it's not surprising that they're higher (though not as high as many people imagine).

Whatever your military status, there are some things you should know about military divorce if you're going through the process. While state law governs divorce, there are some federal laws in place that will affect your divorce process.

For obvious reasons, deployed service members may not be able to file divorce papers or appear in court on a scheduled date. These men and women would be subject to family court punishment for their military service if they were not protected by special laws. Here are five things you need to know about military divorce and how it differs from a civilian divorce.

6 Reasons Fine Jewelry Make Good Investments

Many people mistakenly think that only filthy rich people can afford fine jewelry. Well, anyone can invest in precious gems and metals. It's just a matter of saving money and knowing where to look for great deals.

Investing in high-quality jewelry and precious metals can be one of the most brilliant moves you can make to grow your hard-earned money. Below are the top reasons fine jewelry makes a worthwhile investment:

Homemade Vegetarian Charcuterie Board with Instructions

 

Confession, I love watching videos by the Holderness Family. They crack me up, talking about things that we all relate to, in hilarious parody format. And they had a video parody song about charcuterie, which I'd heard about but never had before, but that video really gave me a real hankering for some.

 

However, I really had no idea how to make one, but more than anything, I saw that they had crackers, but I am gluten free and can barely find a variety of gluten free crackers locally that I'd need to make one. I also wanted to make one that didn't combine meat and cheese, so either make a cheese one or a meat one. I got some ideas on how to make it, including this great instructional post on how to make an epic vegetarian charcuterie board. Once my friends directed me to where I could buy a few different types of gluten free crackers, I decided to make one. One of my friends told me that I can't call this a charcuterie board if this doesn't have meat on it, as charcuterie means meat in French, and should be called a cheese board instead, but the word has taken on a life of its own (such as poke bowls being called that, even without the fish, called poke, in Hawaiian) and even these types of things are often called charcuterie boards in the US.

6 Ways to Help Your Kids Become Healthier and Fitter

If you are concerned that your children are picking up unhealthy habits, here are some things to do as a family to help your children develop healthier habits.

Being a good parent has probably never been an easy thing to accomplish, but modern-day life has made it even more difficult. Gadgets are everywhere, processed food lines the aisles of our grocery stores, and kids are growing up far more quickly than they used to.

How to Secure Confidential Data From Email to Fax

I hate faxing. It is such outdated technology what with the internet and all. However, some places (hello government offices, like why??) require things to be sent by fax, and then people who don't have a machine from decades ago need to figure out how to send things, and people turn to the internet to send faxes through websites. But just how safe and secure is that? Here is how you can send faxes via the internet without compromising your confidential data. 

Online faxing services are beneficial for all businesses and make faxing more convenient. Instead of buying a fax machine and facing the cost of buying expensive paper, companies save money and obtain secure services. The faxing services offer an easy way to store faxes and documents. By reviewing better ways to secure confidential data, businesses learn safer options for faxing from email accounts.  

Vegetarian Potato Chowder Recipe

It has been really cold lately. Ok, fine, that shouldn't be surprising, as it is winter. But even so, our winters here usually are mild, many days where there is good weather, other days crisp and dry but not too cold, the occasional rainy and cold days, and the very rare snow days. We've been having a lot of those miserably cold rainy days where all you want is something warm to lift the chill. 

The other day was one of those yucky weather days, pouring rain and freezing, and I was hungry but didn't know what to eat. My upstairs neighbor told me she'd prepared some creamy potato soup and it sounded so good for the weather. But that would mean needing to go outside in the pouring rain to get something that would feel nice in the terrible weather, which would negate the whole point of my wanting something warm and soothing. So instead, taking that inspiration, I decided to make my own creamy potato soup. Or rather, vegetarian potato chowder. It totally hit the spot- the soup was absolutely delicious, perfect for the weather, and pretty easy too. Naturally gluten free as well as frugal, I also used home grown wild greens in my soup, but of course, store bought works fine too.

Vegetarian Potato Chowder Recipe

Step-By-Step Guide to Finding Beautiful Retirement Homes for Your Parents

When your loved ones are getting older and needing more care, one is faced with many different options. One of those options is to have them move in with their children so their children can take care of them. This is a lot of work and isn't always feasible in many situations. Sometimes what they neeed is a retirement or old age home. If that is something you are considering, here are some things to keep in mind.

When parents age, they need special care, and if there is no one to look after them, you should consider taking them to a retirement home. Many people take their parents to the first home they come across, but you shouldn’t do this.

You need to take your time and find the right home, such as https://vivanteliving.com/senior-living/newport-beach/ that matches your parent’s needs, lifestyle, and budget.

How do you find such a home? Here is a step-by-step guide on how to go about it:

Step 1: Have a conversation with your parents about moving to a retirement home

Managing Distractions Well: How To Driving Safely With Kids In The Car

I am so tempted to write a joke that starts "Children in the front seat cause accidents..." but I'm going to leave out the rest of it because I try to keep this blog clean, but anyhow... children in the front seat do cause accidents; many car accidents can be attributed to distractions such as kids in the car. Here are some ways to keep safe while driving with your youngins.

Showing children that you’re not prepared to respond to distractions is an effective way to prevent distracted driving, according to Defensive Driving. This is easier said than done, though. 90% of parents admit to being distracted by their children while driving. But as distracted driving is one of the most dangerous things you can do, you need to take steps to drive safely with your kids.