Learn Something New - Working With Yeast

Yeast can be tricky. If you don't handle it correctly, you can kill it.

The first tip is to make sure your yeast is room temperature before you begin. Pour what you need into a bowl, and let it sit out for about an hour or so. I'm speaking about using bulk yeast here, not the freezer kind. I know the directions for those packages are different than the bulk yeast, so keep that in mind.

You also need to make sure the liquid you're adding to the yeast isn't too hot OR too cold. Too hot, and your yeast will die. Too cold, and it won't activate the yeast at all. A good rule of thumb is to put your hand under the running water, and if it's a bit too hot for what you'd feel comfortable showering in, it's at about the right temperature. You really don't have to make it an exact science. I wouldn't bother busting out a thermometer or anything.

Lastly, let the yeast and water stand until the yeast is really foamy, about 5-10 minutes. That way, you know all the above steps worked and that your yeast is activated.

Learn Something New - Making Bread

Moving on to bread-making tips. Making bread really isn't as hard as you'd probably think. The key to great bread is all in the rise. If you let it rise too long, your outside will be charred before your inside is even cooked. If you don't let it rise long enough, your bread will be too dense.

As for allowing the bread to rise, here's the way I do it. I bring a small saucepan of water to a boil on the stove. Then I pour it into a casserole dish and put it on the bottom rack in my oven. Then I place my dough into the oven, still inside my metal mixing bowl, and the warm water makes it the perfect temperature for rising without killing the yeast. This method is the one I've found to be fool proof, as long as you don't open the oven door until the rising time is up.

The first few times I made bread, I botched it. Big time. There's definitely a learning curve. Here are the mistakes I made. The first time, I set the dough onto my counter to rise. Problem was, my kitchen wasn't warm enough to allow for rising action, so nothing happened. Boo. The second time, I decided I'd preheat my oven to the lowest possible setting, turn it off, and then put the dough into the oven to rise. Even the lowest setting was too hot, so I had yet another ruined batch of dough.

I blame my mother. Seriously. She was an avid baker but never made bread or homemade doughs, so I never learned the proper methods. In all honesty, I probably only really ruined 2 batches of dough. Luckily for you, I've outlined my mistakes, so you'll hopefully be successful from the get-go! But don't get discouraged if things don't turn out quite right the first time. Practice makes perfect!

Shepherd's Pie

This is one of my all time favorite recipes. My kids adore it and gobble up second helpings every time I make it. It's cheap, quick and easy AND it's a meal in one - no side dish needed!

Ingredients:
3/4 - 1 pound ground beef
1 can green beans, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
3-4 large baking potatoes or 5-6 small/medium
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper, to taste

Wash potatoes and cut into large chunks. Fill a large pot with water. Drop potatoes in just before water starts to boil to avoid scalding yourself (I learned that one the hard way!).

Cook potatoes until they fall apart when you stick them with a fork, about 20 minutes.

While potatoes are cooking, brown ground beef in a large skillet. When meat is brown, add onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until onions are translucent and tender, about 5-7 minutes.

When onions are cooked, add soup, green beans and corn to skillet. Mix well to combine; heat through.

When potatoes are cooked, drain them and then return them to the hot pot (this helps any excess water to evaporate). Then mash them until desired consistency is reached.

I use a potato masher. I've seen cooking shows where they use a food mill, but I really like the chunky consistency I get from the masher. Plus, it's cheaper and is much easier to clean. Huge bonus points.

Once mashed, season to taste. Tonight I added salt (always use quite a bit of salt - more than you think you need - because potatoes are very bland otherwise), butter, a little sour cream and a splash of half-and-half (I had some in the fridge that I needed to use up). You can flavor them however you want, but you'll always want to add a little bit of liquid to make them moist. I normally just use 2% milk, but the half-and-half sure made them yummy!

Pour meat mixture evenly into a 9x13 casserole dish, and top with shredded cheese.

Spread potatoes evenly over meat mixture. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until potatoes are golden brown and mixture is bubbly.

Let stand about 5 minutes before serving. Then scoop up a big ol' spoonful, and enjoy!

4 Easy Tips : How to Eliminate Your Stress?

Sometimes there is a period when we feel saturated, boring and dizzy that cause to the stress. Of course we all do that experience either stress due work, boyfriend or girlfriend, family etc. I can understand if those stresses can lead to suicide, because mentally they can't face and accept the reality. Why is that? It is because our mind is limited, if there is a situation which is outside of our mind range, of course it will cause shock with our mind and generating "Mind stress" and if is not get solution immediately cause fatal to our life. Then how we can eliminate our stress? Those 4 easy tips that I give to you how to eliminate your stress:

1.What is your hobby that most simple, most favorite that you love, and which you can reach anytime and everywhere you are? If you have one do your hobby without postponed anything if you under stress. You know that actually if you get stress, you always want to immediately forget that thing right? So don't be delaying do your hobby. Of course this action must be in positive which is not disservice you or other people like "Drunk in public place or angry overreact with kids, etc". So what kind hobbies is that? It could be walking around get some fresh air around your neighbor and find those green stuff like trees or you can listen the calm music in your room, or you can play and make a jokes with your children, or you can play with your dog and so on. Mostly must to be remember is don't do hobby which disservice you or others, okay!

2.Prepare your self free spare times for 1-3 hours come if you under stress of which your problem and make promise to yourself that you will be solve that problem once your spare times is finish or done. Because with that promise you will not focus to your problem on your free spare times and you get easier to relax your mind which frees time is running. If your spare time is running out maybe less than 15 minutes, soon prepare everything with mentally or physical or material. Try not to postpone or lengthening your spare time so that your problems come quickly solved. Therefore prepared your spare time maturely which you will take most effective as possible, the point is you have enough time to solve your problem.

3.If your problem causes stress is caused at enragement, like made angry by your boss, you can do self satisfy by hitting something soft in your warehouse or you can scream in the middle of large lonely field until you get satisfied.

4.Make practice everyday to think positive, get the true principle into your life, get the beautiful purpose or destination to your life and feel be blessed what you've got anywhere and anytime. Trust me whenever you get hardly stress if you get those 4 things, it will be help a lot to reducing your stress when it comes.

I don't know you, are you have a complicated problem caused you stress, maybe by work or girlfriend or boyfriend or something else. But believe of one principle that "There is no problem that can't be solved". I personally hope that you have a beautiful destination which is useful to your life or others people life and feel be blessed what you got now. I hope this article more or less can help you, thank you for keep reading.

Ganda Putra is a webmaster and reviewer most useful self improvement products on http://www.gandareviews.com

Did you find those tips on stress reduction useful? You can learn a lot more about how to eliminate your stress here

Learn Something New - Chopping Onions

Hopefully all of you can just skip over this post because you all use, and know how to work with, onions. As with garlic, there's just no substitute for fresh onions. I do have dried onion, but I reserve it ONLY for those nights when I just don't want to hear my 6 year old whine about the onions in her meal. Normally I tell her to deal with it (I refuse to have a kid who doesn't grow up to love onions!), but there are "those days" where I'd just rather avoid the fight. However, she's finally gotten used to them and now says she actually likes them, as long as they're sauted. :)

First, cut off both ends. Then stand the onion up on one end, and cut it in half (from the top down towards the cutting board). Then peel the first few layers of skin and onion off of each half.

Place each half cut side down on the cutting board, and slice vertically.
Now, turn your knife the other way, and slice horizontally.


There you have it - perfectly chopped onions!


Now let's move on to finely dicing. The times you'll want to finely dice is when the onions aren't going to be cooked, like red onion in a salad or salsa, for example. I love raw onion, but I don't want to bite into a huge chunk.

You do it pretty much the same way we talked about before, but there are a few differences. Start by chopping off one of the ends of the onion. Then peel the outer layer of skin off. Leaving one end still attached is the trick to getting a really fine dice. It holds the onion together and gives you a lot more stability.

Next make 3-4 horizontal slices inward, towards the still-attached end, being careful not to cut all the way through.

Now slice 5-6 times vertically, in the opposite direction that you made your horizontal slices. Again, be careful not to cut through the still-attached end. The closer together that you slice, the smaller your dice will be.

Now turn your knife and slice downward in thin slices.

The finished product:

Learn Something New - Mincing Garlic

If you never use fresh garlic, here's your chance to learn how to work with it and stop being afraid of it. I can't remember the last time I used the powdered stuff. Fresh garlic adds such great flavor, and there's just no substitute. I'm honestly not even sure I think the powdered stuff tastes like garlic.

First thing's first - peeling!

Place garlic clove on your cutting board. Put your blade over the garlic, and give it a good whack with the heel of your hand.

This will pop the garlic from the skin. Then you can just easily slide the clove out, and it also makes the next step, mincing, much easier since it's already smashed.

Here comes the second part - mincing!

Keeping the tip of your knife on the board, run the knife over the garlic until it's in very small pieces. If you don't like chunks of garlic, here's a neat trick. Put some coarse salt on your pile of minced garlic.

Then lay your knife flat, put your hand on the top, and "drag" the garlic one direction with the knife and then back the other way. You'll have to do this several times, but it'll make the garlic into a paste instead of just minced pieces.

Another great trick for those of you who don't like pieces of garlic in your food at all. You can drop an entire garlic clove (or 2 or 3....) into your food, let it cook for a few minutes, and then remove the entire clove. The garlic flavor will infuse into your food without any pieces of garlic.

You can do that with garlic bread as well. Toast your bread, and then rub a clove or garlic over the bread while it's still hot.

How Does The Law of Attraction Make Your Life Miserable?

After “The Secret” was produced everyone thought that the Law of Attraction was just wonderful. There are two points, firstly this law is not a recent revelation and secondly what if it was in fact making your current life miserable? How could you be using it to make your life much less than it could be?

Has the media and Rhonda Bryne been lying about the Law of Attraction? No they haven’t, but it depends on how you are using the law that counts.

Consider the following scenario:

Tom wakes up at 6.30 in the morning and rolls out of bed in a bad mood because he is tired and has to go to work. He drags himself into the shower, has some breakfast and heads off to work. He leaves early and misses seeing his children. His car ride, is bumper to bumper traffic before he arrives at work. He performs his job with no real satisfaction and infact does not like being there at all. His day finishes at 5.30 and again he must contend with bumper to bumper traffic before he arrives home. He finally opens his front door, the children are running around and the house is a mess. Unfortunately, his reaction is then one of anger instead of the happiness at being home.

Surely, Tom is not responsible for these feelings? The truth of the matter is that, yes, Tom is solely responsible for how he is feeling and what he is attracting to himself. Have you ever felt like this in any area of your life? If so, what can you do about it? All of this ca change if you start using the Law of Attraction properly.

The Law of Attraction reacts to your vibrations that you emit to the universe. If you are feeling contentment, happiness and joy then the vibrations that go out into the universe will attract the same feelings to you. Where Tom is going wrong is that he is emitting vibrations into the universe that attract negative feelings back to him.

Here are some strategies that will allow you to increase your level of vibration out into the universe so that the Law of Attraction is actually working for you instead of against you.

Listen to half an hour of relaxation music to start of your day so that your mindset is relaxed before your day begins.

As you hop out of bed repeat to yourself ‘Thank you’ and continue for the first five minutes of your morning. It allows you to start the day in a spirit of gratitude for being alive, healthy and with a wonderful standard of living.

Take out a piece of paper and carefully list ten things that are going to happen today that you are grateful for.

On the same piece of paper carefully list ten things that you want to achieve today (no matter how big or small) and rejoyce as you achieve each one.

When you are in the car and the traffic is bumper to bumper make the time count. Listen to motivational music, listen to telesminars, speakers of any kind that can offer you information that will improve your life.

When at your job make the effort to perform to the best of your ability. It is this realisation that you are doing a good job that will allow you to increase your level of vibration and attract more of the things that you want into your life.

If doing your job makes you feel really unhappy then close your eyes and imagine yourself in a situation that fills you with happiness. Maintain these feelings while you are working and your level of vibration will rise.

Before you walk in the door of your house of a night consider what would be a real tradegy in anyone’s life and then think of the things that you have been irratated at previously. Do a comparison and I know for me this really adds a sense of perspective.

Waiting inside the door of your house is a family that thinks you are the most important thing in their lives. Focus on these feelings because they will lift your level of vibration even higher.

This is just one scenario, but these strategies will work for any situation that you find yourself in.

Law of Attraction Action Step
The life that you lead will often come down to the perspective that you place on the events of your life. Always look for a positive perspective regardless of the situation so that you are always maintaining a high level of vibration.

John Edwards is a published author in the field of personal development. He will show you how to use simple, easy and effective

action steps to make massive positive changes to your everyday life using the Law of Attraction. Create financial freedom, have a

wonderful family life and great health by visiting Simple Law of Attraction Action Steps

Employee Motivation - Does it improve performance, productivity, keep them motivated and loyal?

Employee motivation is not always the easiest of tasks, but it does pay off for you, your customers and the employee.

Recognition is ranked the number one motivating factor when it comes to employee motivation in the workplace. If you want to maintain motivated employees, and encourage others to do better, recognizing them publicly may save yourself the time and money of having to find and re-train new staff.

One of the best techniques to build and maintain employee motivation is to make it a practice to have an event or period end staff meeting, followed by a employee, & maybe spouse dinner, staff recognition awards and a closing party. This will build and maintain employee motivation though ongoing sincere recognition and deserving reward.

You may find it hard to believe, but recognition is the most powerful employee motivator of all. Research has shown that there is a stronger need in society today for recognition than there is for sex and money. Now, that says something about employee motivation.

Let's think about it.

We could provide employee motivation through a bonus in the form of money at the end of a period. Sure they'll be happy and thankful. They may even perform better, but what are their expectations at the end of the next period? Right; more money. External employee motivation is temporary - it is never lasting.

Money is an external employee motivator and it is never lasting. It's an incentive that once acquired, leads to expectations for more, bigger or better. But if you have a bad period will they care? They'll want a bonus at least equal to what they got last year, but preferably more, not less.

A survey of thousands of workers around the world compared rankings by supervisors and employees on employee motivating factors. The typical supervisory group ranked the factors in the following order:

1. High wages 2. Job security 3. Promotion in the organization 4. Good working conditions 5. Interesting work 6. Personal loyalty of supervisor 7. Tactful discipline 8. Full appreciation of work done 9. Help on personal problems 10. Feeling of being in on things

However, when employees were given the same exercise and asked what affects their morale and employee motivation the most, their answers followed this pattern;

1. Full appreciation of work done 2. Feeling of being in on things 3. Help on personal problems 4. Job security 5. High wages 6. Interesting work 7. Promotion in the organization 8. Personal Loyalty of supervisor 9. Good working conditions 10. Tactful discipline

Note that the top three employee motivating factors marked by the employees are the last three felt to be important for them by their supervisors.

Do you think it would be any different in your business?

So it is fair to say that money, over and above wages, is not a main motivating factor, but full appreciation of work done is. This is recognition: the number one employee motivating factor in building and maintaining a motivated employee.

Why is it so important?

When someone gives you a compliment or recognizes you for doing something, how do you feel? Imagine, for a moment, being complimented by all your family, friends, staff and customers all day, every day.

What would it do to your self-esteem your self confidence and your self respect? Without it going to your head, how do you think you would perform? Would you be outstanding or what? Is this not the basis of employee motivation?

Employee motivation through recognition is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement of actions gets those actions repeated. Recognition and praise reinforces our beliefs about ourselves and helps make us think we are better than we thought we were. That is what employee motivation is all about.

Employee motivation is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcements is what builds our self-esteem. Our self-esteem is the way we see and feel about ourselves either internally, through our own beliefs, or externally through what we accept as the beliefs of others.

If we feel good about ourselves and we believe others feel good about us, we perform better than we would when we see the opposite side of the coin. Employee motivation starts from within.

People perform in a manner that is consistent with how they see themselves conceptually. So, the key is to help people build their self-esteem. That is the foundation of employee motivation.

Bob Urichuck is an International Speaker, Trainer and Best-Selling Author. Learn personally from Bob in the areas of Sales, Motivation, Leadership and Team Skills. Bob presents a series of great ideas and strategies with combination of facts, humor, and practical concept in a high-energy and self-discovery process that you can apply right away to achieve results. Subscribe to Bob's Free Newsletter, worth $297, visit http://www.BobU.com Now!