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So you threw your friend a cocktail party for her birthday? That’s so sweet of you! And someone spilled all the booze? Or some of it? That’s not sweet at all! Luckily, you can easily clean it up, as long as you handle the spill smartly, says Donna Smallin Kuper, a certified house cleaning technician and author of The One-Minute Cleaner. Here’s what you should do.

Note: These techniques will work on all sorts of boozy stains including spills of whiskey, scotch, red wine, or other dark liquids. Oh, and in the future you might want to consider a white wine and Champagne party instead — both of those things are a lot less likely to stain!

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(Image credit: Christine Han)

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Let me preach the meringue cookie gospel for a moment here. Meringues are light and airy, with a just-right sweetness, and they melt in your mouth with their crisp-tender texture. They are made with just three ingredients, one of which is a leftover byproduct of a kitchen staple.

If you were thinking these pretty, tasty things were made from egg whites, you were wrong. These meringues are made from the leftover liquid from a can of chickpeas, whipped and baked up much like their namesake cousins, but made for vegans. It’s not quite magic — it’s thanks to the starchy science of aquafaba.

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Cornhole is fun and all (especially if you get custom boards like these featured on Diana Elizabeth‘s blog!), but it’s not the best lawn game you can be playing this summer. Yes, I realize this statement might make me relatively unpopular on the internet. I’m glad I said it, though, and I stand by it.

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Back in February of 2015, I went to a health spa in Arizona that I visit once a year. Since I was 40, I decided to get some blood tests done. The results weren’t great. In fact, there were some red flags and I needed to start getting serious about my health and weight loss.

In December of the same year, my husband and I went on a vacation to the Florida Keys and brought our mountain bikes. We were going to start 2016 with exercise and eating right! On the drive home to Michigan, I started looking up different ways to eat right. I had stumbled upon some information that said potatoes are terrible for you and, since I had 23 hours to kill, I decided to dive in and research this new information. That is how I found your website.

I had progressively looked into what foods were good/bad and found that Paleo seemed the best route to get healthy. (I actually looked up “are potatoes paleo” and saw that it was an emphatic NO!) Potatoes were very high on the glycemic index…and all this time I thought they were healthy. I ate them as hash browns or cubed in the morning and had them mashed often with dinner as a side dish. I felt like everything I had ever known was wrong! When we got home, we completely cleaned out the pantry and fridge and restocked them with only paleo foods. The results were instant. I dropped 30 pounds in about 8 weeks and kept it off. After the initial two months, the weight loss was slower but still steady. I had a lot more energy and I actually felt healthier.

Just as an example, I will share with you what I changed for breakfast and lunch:

Breakfast: Wild berry smoothie with an egg and cheese sandwich from Panera (54g carbs)
Lunch: veggie salad with croutons and cranberries from Big Salad with tomato basil soup ( 78g carbs)

Just those two meals alone and I was over 200 carbs for the day. I can’t even imagine what my dinners were when we had pizza, spaghetti and meat and potatoes regularly. I still can’t understand why the U.S. RDA says 300 carbs is recommended.

I went back to the spa in Arizona in May of 2016 and got my blood retested. My doctor asked what I had changed and I told her that I went from being a vegetarian to paleo. I told her for breakfast I was eating eggs and bacon with a cup of cashew milk. For lunch I was having salads (hold the cranberries and croutons!) and having chili instead of soup. For dinner I was having steak and steamed veggies and dessert was fruit or some coconut milk “ice cream.” She seemed very concerned. She wanted to recheck my cholesterol immediately. Here are some of the red flag items and the changes that happened in just 5 months. My doctor was shocked and I hoped my results spoke for themselves.

(Mark’s note: *Recommended normal ranges vary based on several factors. It’s best to talk with your doctor about your particular measures.)

I’m not completely out of the woods yet. I still have a long way to go and I plan on getting another blood test this year. I’m grateful for your website and your knowledge! Although I have strayed a bit a couple of times this last year, I always come back and getting back on track gets easier and easier. My husband (who didn’t need to lose weight being 6’6 and 180 lbs) also commented on how good he feels as a result of these changes.

Our biggest challenges are convenience foods, or rather lack of good grab and go foods. I know that I need to prepare for those moments and I try to but being busy at work and having 3 teenagers, a massive garden and chickens this year, it is proving to be difficult. I need to peruse your website for some more good ideas! Here are a couple of pictures for you. They are pretty close to “before and after” but as I said, I still have a ways to go. Thanks again for letting me share this story.

The post I Amazed My Doctor with My Primal Diet! appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Creamy Orange Date Smoothie

(Image credit: Laura Wright)

I know fruit smoothies can be plenty sweet on their own, but I like a little something more. My sweetener of choice is dates. They add the extra sweetness I crave along with subtle notes of rich caramel, and I feel good knowing I’m satisfying my sweet tooth with something wholesome.

These dried fruits have also changed the way I make smoothies. When I toss dates into my smoothies, there’s always one thing I do first to guarantee the smoothest drink possible. Can you guess what it is?

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From Apartment Therapy → Trust the Crowd: 7 Super High-Rated Cleaning Tools Loved by Amazon Reviewers

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What do you get someone who loves to cook but already has all the gadgets and gizmos she could possibly need? How about a handmade cookbook that contains recipes and anecdotes from all her friends and loved ones?

It’s a great gift for milestone birthdays, going-away parties, and especially bridal showers (it’s been known to bring so many tears!). “I don’t think I received a more thoughtful or practical gift,” says Emily, a recent bride from Michigan.

To make one, all you have to do is contact your fellow party guests and ask them to submit a favorite recipe, then print the recipes and tape or insert them into a recipe book or binder.

Although it’s a tough gift to mess up, here are some things I’ve learned while doing this for multiple bridal showers.

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Del Monte Fresh Produce has been playing around with a strain of pineapples since 2005 that changed the fruit’s color and flavor. Their patented work has manifested in sweeter pineapples that are also pink in color. The genetically engineered pineapple received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last December and is now making its presence known on social media.

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When it comes to weeknight dinners, the stovetop is your friend — it’s fast, it’s efficient, and sometimes you just don’t feel like waiting around for the oven to preheat to get dinner going. Plus, as it gets warmer out, there’s really no reason to turn your kitchen into a sauna.

Whether you’re craving a veggie stir-fry, creamy pasta, or even pizza, these 20 easy vegetarian recipes require nothing but a skillet or pot and your trusty burner.

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