By Corrie Pikul
Blog Posts by Oprah.com
Cleaning Mistakes that Could Land You in the Hospital
By Oprah.com | At Home – Tue, 18 Jun, 2013 5:29 PM EDT
Read More »from Cleaning Mistakes that Could Land You in the Hospital
Photo: ThinkstockBy Valerie Ross
Mixing Bleach with Pretty Much Anything
If your mother told you not to mix bleach with ammonia, listen: The two combine to create a toxic gas called chloramine, which at low levels causes wheezing, coughing, nausea and watery eyes, and at higher concentrations can do irreversible damage to the lungs. But mixing bleach with any acidic cleaner (regular old vinegar as well as many drain cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, dishwasher rinses, rust removers and more) is just as dangerous. It also produces a toxic gas, chlorine, which can cause dizziness, coughing, and burning in the nose or eyes when you're exposed to a small amount and can be fatal at higher levels.
RELATED: Is Your Home Making You Sick
Photo: ThinkstockFalling Off a (Tiny) Ladder
You know that mucking out the gutters comes with a serious risk: Ladder-related injuries send 164,000 people in the U.S. to emergency rooms each year. But did you know that over 35,000 people were hurt while using stepladders in 2010?
Photo: ThinkstockCasually
Photo: Guy AmbrosinoBy Lynn Andriani
The One-Bite App
Use: Cherry tomatoes
These pesto-stuffed tomatoes are bright and beautiful, and offer a fresh alternative to tomato-basil-mozzarella skewers. Use cherry and not grape tomatoes; otherwise, they won't stand upright and the filling will spill out.
Ingredients
1 cup fresh basil leaves
3 to 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 Tbsp. pine nuts
1/2 tsp. sea salt, or to taste
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional as needed
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 pound cherry tomatoesDirections
Place the basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, salt, olive oil, and Pecorino in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. If the pesto is too thick for your taste, add a little more olive oil.
Cut the tops off the tomatoes. With a small spoon (I use an espresso spoon), scoop out the seeds and pulp, taking care not to puncture the skin. Fill the tomatoes with the pesto and serve at room temperature.
Read More »from Summer Tomatoes, 7 WaysBy Jena Pincott
Read More »from Your Must-Haves for the Perfect Picnic
Photo: Marko MetzingerBy Kate Arnold-Ratliff and Abbe Wright
Wendy Weston, founder of Perfect Picnic NYC, explains everything you need to ring in International Picnic Day (it's June 18).
Clockwise starting top left:
1. Upgraded H20
"To drink, just bring water flavored with lemon and mint. Refreshing, healthy, cheap!"
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2. A substantial salad
"I see people picnic with lettuce salad all the time, and I'm like, Guys, it's baking in the sun. Wilted salad is a picnic catastrophe! Bring more filling, grain-based salads--things like quinoa or farro are great. If you must do a green, go with kale. It's a hearty leaf, so it won't end up tragic."
3. Sandwich fixings
"Make your sandwich on-site, because soggy bread is a drag. Bring a baguette, a good cheese--Maggie's Round is the best--and a variety of ingredients so you can experiment with different combinations. I like Serrano ham with chives, but it's also good with blue cheese and pears--like, change-your-life good."
Read More »from The Killer Body Workout for Summer
Photo: ThinkstockBy Corrie Pikul
Improve Your Fitness (and Your Physique) in Less Than 30 Minutes*
Too many studies to ignore have shown that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can boost muscular and cardiovascular fitness as effectively as steady-state cardio--in half the time. This HIIT routine was created for Oprah.com by Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and includes strengthening exercises that target the parts of you soon to be exposed in a swimsuit (i.e., almost all of your parts). Matthews recommends doing each move for 30 seconds, followed by 30 seconds of walking in circles to bring your heart rate down. After completing all seven exercises, rest for one minute. Repeat the circuit two to three times.
Warm Up
Matthews is a big fan of a dynamic warm-up to get the muscles psyched to work (remember, this is going to get intense). She suggests doing 5 minutes of arm circles, Frankenstein walks, half squats and any other moves that
Photo: ThinkstockBy Lynn Andriani
Wilted or Drying Herbs: A Savory Spread for Just About Anything
Blogger, writer and producer Rebecca Lando loves to eat seasonal, organic and local food but is determined not to waste any of it--even a $5 bunch of herbs. In The Working Class Foodies Cookbook, she explains that herb butter is a great way to give that bundle of not-so-fresh thyme, oregano, basil (or any other herb, really) one last chance. You can mix it into a stick of butter and heap the result on thick slices of baguette and broil it for a twist on garlic bread; toss it with hot pasta and Parmesan for a quick dinner, or with just-cooked fish or shellfish; slip a pat of it into a baked potato or on grilled or roasted vegetables or steak; or just spread it on toast.
Get the recipe: Herb Butter
Photo: ThinkstockRandom Bits of Cheese: A Dish That's Way Better Than a Sad-Looking Snack Platter
We've been there, too: you've got a small chunk of Gouda, a 2-inch piece of Swiss and a wedge of something you
Read More »from 5 Tasty Recipes Using LeftoversThe Best Time of Day to Do (Almost) Anything
By Oprah.com | Healthy Living – Fri, 7 Jun, 2013 3:44 PM EDTBy Jena Pincott
5 Delicious--and Healthy--Iced Tea Combinations
By Oprah.com | Shine Food – Thu, 6 Jun, 2013 5:24 PM EDTBy Jessica Girdwain
To upgrade summer's coolest brews, lose the sugar and stir in these extras instead.
Photo: Oprah.com"Instill in your kids the idea of visualizing who they want to be. My mom used to do this with me all the time; she would point to the Romper Room hostess and say, 'You have the personality for that.' She had these specific career ideas for me that I thought were hilarious." -- Jenny Rosenstratch, author of Dinner: A Love Story
RELATED: How to Unleash the Magnificent, Unstoppable Energy Inside You
Photo: Oprah.com"Mothering is partly the daily practice of living my own life, so that my daughter is free to live hers." -- Sil Reynolds, coauthor of Mothering & Daughtering: Keeping Your Bond Strong Through the Teen Years
Photo: Oprah.com"Calm down, people. I used a special baby shampoo that I later learned had carcinogens in it, and I freaked. Then I found out that it causes cancer only if you feed several bottles of it to your child every hour." -- Jenny Lawson, author of Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Read More »from 6 Ways to Nurture Happy, Healthy Kids
Photo: Oprah.com"Get outside! Have a picnic, climb a tree, make a fort, watch the clouds move through the sky.
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