Vegetable Pulp for Baking

             Juicing is an effective way to maximize the vitamins from vegetables, but the leftover pulp is often thrown away. Instead of tossing it, refrigerate the pulp immediately and plan to use it within a couple of days, as it spoils quickly. Thrifty and health-conscious cooks have learned how to use the fiber and flavor from vegetable pulp to make tasty treats ranging from crackers and cupcakes to breads, burgers and even horse treats . You don't need a fancy recipe, just a little ingenuity.

Crackers

Juice-pulp crackers are a tasty and nutritious alternative to preservative-laden commercial chips. In a blender or food processor, combine 3 cups of whatever veggie pulp you have on hand for every 1/2 cup of chickpea flour or flax meal and 1/4 cup of chia or sesame seeds. It's essential that you break down some of the fiber in the pulp so the chips won't be too chewy. Add about a cup of water, a little at a time, and blend until the mixture is the consistency of paste. Spread thinly on a non-stick pastry sheet and bake at 350 degrees F, checking frequently, for about 30 minutes or until crispy. Cut into squares with a pizza cutter or just break the sheet into pieces.

Veggie Burgers

Vegetable pulp can take on all kinds of flavors when incorporated into a veggie burger. Load your food processor with a cup of pulp for every can of beans -- chili beans for a Mexican twist -- some chopped onion, a clove of garlic, an egg and whatever seasoning you prefer. Pulse until the mixture is fairly smooth but with a little texture. Shape into patties and bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes. Serve in a burger bun with your favorite toppings.

Breads, Muffins and Cupcakes

Any banana bread or muffin recipe can be modified to utilize your leftover vegetable pulp. Simply substitute the pulp for the amount of bananas called for, making sure that you blend the pulp with the seasonings first so that the pulp can take on the flavors of the honey, vanilla and cinnamon that are crucial to such quick breads. You can also add 1/2 cup of pulp to a basic whole wheat bread recipe with successful results, but avoid using beet pulp unless you are looking for a bright-red bread. You can most certainly use beet pulp with chocolate in cupcakes for a nice red-velvet look; in a fine cake-flour recipe you must finely puree the pulp or the cake will fall.

Horse Treats

Horses are vegans by nature, so vegetable pulp is a natural addition to any horse treat. Avoid pulp from onions, rhubarb, peppers, broccoli or cauliflower, as they may cause gas. For a quick and tasty treat, combine 3 cups of regular non-instant oatmeal, rolled oats or sweet meal for every 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1 cup of vegetable pulp and mix well. Add molasses and use your hands -- you'll probably want to use rubber gloves for this sticky part of the task -- to knead the mixture. Add pulp or applesauce as necessary to make a workable dough. Squeeze out the excess moisture as you form the mixture into 3-inch cigar-shaped nuggets. Place on a non-stick baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes, turning once, until crispy.

                                                                                 Old-Fashioned Games for Family                          Reunions

Family reunions are a memorable time of family bonding and shared experiences. Cultivate an environment of hospitality and fun by planning a series of games that generations young and old will enjoy. Choose games that will be accessible to all ages and require little explanation on your part. Games that have stood the test of time and have been passed on through the years work well to span the gap.

Board Games

Popular games, such as chess or checkers, can entertain family members of all ages. Set these types of games out on the tables and have them available for guests as they are arriving or to play during lunch. Games will give everyone, especially long-lost cousins and distant relatives, an opportunity to share an activity while getting to each other. If you need a more structured activity to spur conversation, you can set up a board game tournament, with a list of winners. By the end of the reunion, you can announce the winners of each game. Alternatively, you can set up a round robin style effect where guests move from table to table, playing games and talking with relatives.

Action Games

Get everyone up and moving with active games that require strength, agility and skill. Tug of War is a popular games, pitting one group against another. With a long rope and a lot of participants, you can let nearly everyone participate without respect to individual skill or ability. Have a contest between all the men and all the women or set one side of the family against the other. For another challenge, set all the blood relatives against those who have married in. Hide and seek, potato sack races and tagging games are fun for the kids, while the adults take a break.

Ice Breaker Games

Since the most important part of a family reunion is to build relationships, games that break down the barriers and help everyone know each other better are ideal. Put together a trivia game about family history. Break the family into teams, with members from all generations. Have a moderator ask questions to the teams and test everyone's knowledge of one another and the family as a whole. To get everyone talking, you can create a spin on Bingo by filling squares with trivia about family members. Guests have to interview one another to find the person who fits the trivia. The winner will be the one who can make his way around the group the quickest.

How to Discipline Your Teenager Without Hurting Them

All teens need guidance, boundaries and consequences for their well-being and behavior. Discipline does more harm than good, however, when punishments are too harsh, overdone or involve hitting and yelling. The purpose of discipline is not to punish teens, but rather to provide them with learning lessons and opportunities to resolve problems. Learn effective discipline techniques that communicate the right messages to your teen in healthy, positive and constructive ways.

Communication

Clear communication is pivotal to establishing rules and setting limits for your teen to abide by. Dr. Robert MacKenzie advises that parents use firm, specific and direct language when setting rules, limits and expectations and talk about them with teens so that there are no misunderstandings. Allow your teen to express her opinions about your rules -- it doesn’t mean you have to give in, but it does show her that you respect what she has to say. When rules are broken, avoid punishing your teen while you’re angry or frustrated, so that you aren’t inadvertently too harsh or hurtful. Give your teen the opportunity to talk with you about things that might be influencing her behavior. It is also important to enforce rules and limits consistently -- punishing a teen one day for not starting his homework right after school but letting it slide a week later, for example, will only send mixed messages about what’s acceptable and what isn’t.

Loss of Privilege

When punishment becomes necessary, revoking a teen’s privileges is an effective way for a parent to teach her child about acceptable behavior through consequences. When revoking privileges, it’s important to keep the consequence relevant to the offense. If your teen is found texting during school, for example, punishing her with additional chores won’t help her to respect phone rules in any substantial way. Instead, take the cellphone away for the remainder of the week to send the message that the phone is an earned privilege, not an entitlement, and must be used in accordance with your rules.

Grounding

Grounding is another common discipline approach that helps teens directly correlate misbehavior with consequence. The type of grounding should be relevant and appropriate to the misbehavior in order to be fair and constructive for teens. If your teen stayed out past curfew, for example, don’t forbid him to attend any event or function, but rather, ground him to a much earlier curfew for the remainder of the week.

Restitution

Restitution is a form of discipline that helps teenagers to rectify a situation or correct their wrongdoing. This disciplinary method encourages teens to take responsibility for their misbehavior and work toward a resolution. If your teen damaged someone else’s property, for example, he might need to save up enough money to replace the item or have the money docked from his weekly allowance. Consider restitution for other misbehavior, such as hurting a sibling’s feelings or talking back to Mom and Dad.

Don’t Lose Your Temper

                                  DON'T LOSE YOUR TEMPER

 “Anyone can become angry -- that’s easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is not easy,” taught Aristotle.

With all the stress and pressure in our lives, it is easy to lose our cool at the slightest irritation. While we are rushing home from work at the end of another exhausting day, we scream at the slow driver in front of us who apparently has all the time the world. While we shop at the grocery store, we get annoyed with the stock clerk who sends us to the wrong aisle when we are in search of the ingredients for tonight’s lasagna. And while we are eating our dinner, we yell at the telemarketer who has the nerve to interrupt us in an attempt to sell us their latest wares.

The problem with losing your temper on a daily basis is that it becomes a habit. And like most habits, it becomes second nature. Personal relationships start unraveling, business partnerships begin to fall apart and your credibility decreases as you become known as “a loose cannon.”  Effective people are consistent and, in many ways, predictable. Tough times call for cool people and they are always cool and calm when the pressure is on. Keeping your cool in a moment of crisis can save you years of pain and anguish. Hurtful words unleashed in a single minute of anger have led to many a broken friendship. Words are like arrows: once released, they are impossible to retrieve. So choose yours with care. An excellent way to control your temper is simply to count to 100 before you respond.

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and help them become what they are capable of being,” said the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. These are wise words to live by.

             Youngest Child Behavior

  

The notion of birth order affecting your personality is debatable in academic circles, but the topic is a perennial favorite of pop psychology. According to the Psychology Today website, accurate 

predictions can be made about a person's behavior and personality based on birth order.

Personality of the Youngest

Because the youngest child tends to be more adventurous, according to the Good Housekeeping website, you may view your youngest as a bit of a loose cannon. When the youngest grow up, they tend to gravitate toward the arts, comedy or adventure fields, according to an article on birth order in "Time" magazine. Youngest children also tend to be the most agreeable, but not always. Sometimes, last-borns can be the provokers, Richard Zweigenhaft, psychology professor at Guilford College in North Carolina, says in the "Time" article. Psychologist Kevin Leman says in an article on the CBS News site that last-borns can also be a bit irresponsible with money, and they can become spoiled easier or even manipulative.

Last-Borns Play Rough

In sports, last-borns are more willing to take risks. They choose the riskier sports--rugby or ice hockey versus tennis, for example. Even if the first-born and the last-born play the same sport, baseball for instance, the last-born will be more likely to take the riskier position of catcher.

Truth Behind the Stereotype

Although much of birth order and its effects on human behavior is anecdotal and stereotypical, the stereotypes very often are spot on, Delroy Paulhus, psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, says in the "Time" article. The point Paulhus makes is that, over time, people figured out the birth order and behavior connection largely on their own.

Power Struggle

One reason the youngest are more agreeable or funny could be to gain some power or attention in the family. The eldest hold 100 percent of the parents' attention for a while, but when other children come along, parents have to stretch their attention more. Look at old photo albums, for example. You will probably see many more pictures of first-born children and fewer pictures of later-borns. This does not go unnoticed by the later-borns, according to "Time."

Finding Their Niche

The youngest children in the family try to shake up the status quo. They see the eldest as getting all the goodies their parents have to offer, and the youngest want their share, too. Because they are smaller--being the youngest--they resort to low-power strategies. If a high-power strategy is being physically intimidating, low-power strategy is to be funny or charming. Many families tell stories about their youngest being the clown of the family or the outrageous one, according to "Time."

Famous Last-Borns

Some famous youngest children are satirists Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain. TV comedian Stephen Colbert is the youngest of 11 siblings. Billy Crystal, Drew Carey, Goldie Hawn, Steve Martin and Jim Carey are all the babies of their families.

                                                                     Positive Discipline for Toddlers &             Preschoolers

Discipline is a form of teaching, not a type of punishment. There is a fine line to disciplining children---you want to give them freedom to explore and be kids but you also need to reinforce reasonable behavior. Knowing when to butt in and when to step back is never easy. Positive discipline involves being respectful of children---their freedom and their developmental levels---while setting limits and teaching them about the do's and don'ts of life.

Function

Think of discipline as a way to teach self-control, rather than a way to reprimand your toddler. Positive discipline teaches children to become respectful, reasonable (at least for their age level) and caring members of society. Children are not born knowing how to fit into the world at large. It's the parents job to teach them how to act properly.

Effects

Positive discipline nurtures self-worth and teaches children how to properly deal with emotions. Children are never ignored or shamed. If they are upset, parents teach them how to cool down. If your toddler falls apart in a playgroup, take her to an isolated, quiet area and let her cool down. Let her know that you're listening to her but that she must cool down in order to be allowed back into the group. Children raised with positive discipline, rather than with authoritative parents, become effective communicators and are confident and better able to make their own decisions.

Misconceptions

Other views of child-rearing claim that children need to be punished and receive consequences, like spanking, for their actions in order to learn right and wrong, but this type of parenting may cause more harm than good. A 2002 study conducted by a psychologist from Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty linked spanking to aggression, antisocial behavior and mental problems.

Considerations

Always consider your child's developmental levels before you attempt to discipline. It's normal for toddlers to do things that adults could never get away with. All toddlers become assertive and rebellious as a way to differentiate themselves from you and discover their independence. It's also normal for young children to throw tantrums, which usually stem from the frustration of not being able to clearly express themselves. When you understand what's normal for your child's age level, you'll stop taking everything so personally and be able to diffuse the situation.

Prevention/Solution

Your best best is to avoid as many battles in the first place. Childproofing your house saves a lot of stress and frustration. Toddlers in childproof homes are free to explore without being constantly told "no." Reserve saying "no" for serious issues only. Children who haven't heard "no" in a while will perk up and pay attention when hearing that phrase. Constantly reprimanding children creates a negative situation that gives the impression that exploring is bad. Negativity can stifle exploration (learning). This doesn't mean children should get away with everything. If your child gets hold of an "illegal" object, substitute something else in its place or gently remove it from baby's hands. Distraction is key. Make sure to be respectful. Plan ahead to avoid any crankiness.

10 Reasons Kids Get Anxious About School

                           10 Reasons Kids Get Anxious About School

We all expect that our children will be excited and a little bit nervous about the first day of school. The first step to calming fears is identifying them. Here are ten things that make kids anxious about school:

New situations

Whether your child is facing the first day in a new grade or the first day in a new school, it's normal to feel nervous in a new situation. Talk about what the first day of school will be like. “When children know what to expect, they experience less anxiety about a situation,” explains School Psychologist Erin L. Enyart, Ed. S.. Remind your child that everyone feels a little anxious, and allow time for him to adjust. Point out that pretty soon, the situation will be routine and comfortable. If possible, adjust your schedule so that you have extra time with your child, especially right after school, for the first few days.

Failure

Kids worry that their schoolwork will be too hard, they won’t be able to keep up, or they won’t know the correct answer when called on in class. Remind your child that everyone makes mistakes, then praise her best efforts.

Test anxiety

Many kids are scared of testing situations. They worry ahead of time, and are unable to perform on the day of the test. One way to help is to offer to help your child study so he feels well prepared. Remind him that he knows the information, and that you are confident he will do well.

Social anxiety

Kids worry about fitting in, making friends, what others think of them, being teased, and being left out. Encourage your child to face, rather than avoid, social situations, and talk about ways to make friends. According to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), teaching children social skills, problem solving, and conflict resolution supports good mental health.

Grades

Some kids worry about whether or not they’ll be able to earn all A’s in math, make the honor roll, or maintain a certain grade point average. Remind your child that you do not expect perfection.

Stress

Some kids become anxious or stressed out when they feel that their school environment is unorganized, or that classroom expectations are unreasonable. The NASP suggests that parents can help kids learn to deal constructively with challenging situations by offering to help come up with a solution together when your child tells you about a problem.

Making the team

Whether your child wants to make the cheerleading squad, get a part in the school play, or simply not be the last one picked for kickball at recess, it is important to remind him that not everyone succeeds every time. There are always other opportunities to be involved or be a part of a team. Practice together: fluff the pompons, rehearse the lines, or roll the ball to help your child master the skills of his choice. 

Peer pressure

Kids just want to fit in, and they may worry about what their classmates expect from them. Encourage your child to talk about his concerns. Putting his fears into words may be helpful. Listen, but in most situations, the NASP says, “resist the urge to jump in and fix a problem for your child—instead, think it through and come up with possible solutions together. Problem-solve with kids, rather than for them. By taking an active role, kids learn how to tackle a problem independently.”

Being bullied

Kids worry about others tormenting them in some way, and this can be extremely upsetting. Take their concern seriously. Explain that bullies feel powerful when they upset other students, and talk about ways to cool down without giving the bully the reaction he wants. Have your child practice ignoring teasing remarks, walking away, and getting an adult.

Home situation

According to Kidshealth.org, sometimes the reason a child doesn’t want to go to school “actually has nothing to do with the school. They may feel they’re needed at home because a parent is stressed or depressed, or because of something else affecting the family. If that’s the case, the answer involves addressing the family issue.”

Enyart says if the fears persist into the school year, inform your child's teacher. At most schools, a guidance counselor, social worker, or school psychologist are available to talk with children and help them overcome these fears. There are also counseling groups led by these school staff members which address children’s needs.