Family * Travel * Food

4 Dishes that the Whole Family is Sure to Love

Making meals for a family is hard, let’s be honest. Not everyone likes the same things, and you may be craving something fancier, while the kids want chicken nuggets. If your family is made up of fussy eaters, then good luck trying to find a meal that will please everyone. Luckily, we’re here to help. We’ll be giving you a few staple dishes that even the fussiest of eaters will enjoy, and that your whole family – young and old – can have together. These are also incredibly easy to adjust according to dietary preferences, and certain elements can be left out if someone in your family doesn’t want to try something new.

Steak
Steaks are a classic dish in most families. Very few people who eat meat don’t like steak. It’s also great for adjusting to each person’s preference, as you can alter the cooking time of each steak to change how the steak is done. There are various ways of making steak, so you can make it several times a month without repeating a meal. While any steak will be a hit, what will really impress your family is if you make them a steak to outdo all other steaks: the Wagyu steak. Wagyu steak is one of the most beloved steaks, and you can even decide on whether you want American Wagyu vs. Japanese Wagyu.


Pasta
Pasta dishes are great. If you add in enough ingredients, you don’t even need to make sides, which means less dishes! Plus, there are so many different kinds of pasta to be found – from the types of pasta, to the sauce, to the key ingredients . . . You can make a different pasta dishes each week and never run out of ideas. We’d recommend sticking to the classic mac ‘n cheese if you want to make everyone happy, but if you’re feeling adventurous, try this baked feta pasta that has been making the rounds on TikTok.

Fish and Chips
If you’re looking for a simple meal that will please young and old, fish and chips is the way to go. Even children who claim that they don’t like fish are unable to resist the crispy golden batter of fried fish. Of course, you can buy frozen fish already in a batter, but if you want to make an impression you can always try one of these basic batters.

Chicken Parmesan
Chicken parmesan is a dish that is so easy to make, but tastes so good that people will think you’ve spent hours slaving away in the kitchen. Chicken parmesan consists of a breaded chicken breast covered with tomato sauce and a cheese of your choice. To make it more individual, you can be modify it by adding different sauces to each family member’s dish, according to what they like best. Chicken parmesan makes a great dinner that will leave the family satisfied and full. To really make it a dinner they’ll ask for again and again, add one of these simple side dishes.
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7 Reasons to Use a Service for Fresh and Ready Meals

Fresh and ready meals can transform your health objectives by bringing nutrition to the front of the priority list, without the hassle and extra time required for cooking and meal preparation. As a result of this excellent nutritional opportunity, it is important to invest time into selecting the best-prepared meal service to meet your needs. Like with other services, not all prepared meal companies are created equally. Therefore, if you seek meals you will eat and enjoy then you must know all considerations and avoidances.

The following will teach you seven reasons why you might want to try a meal service that offers fresh, healthy meals. 

One: Consumer-Friendly Packaging

Packaging that is excessive and not environmentally-friendly should be avoided. Also, BPA plastics are on the “do not use” list for the environment and your body, so you want to avoid them. That means you want to find meals prepared in modern, eco-friendly packaging that is BPA-free. These containers must be well-sealed and recyclable to minimize your environmental footprint. 

Two: Convenience

Some meal kits ship individually portioned ingredients, so you can cook your food easily at home without trips to the grocery store. If you desire convenience, then choose the prepared meal option. These are meals you can have delivered, refrigerate for future use, microwave, and eat out of the dish.

Three: Customer Service

Like with any product or service, customer service can make or break a company and a prepared meal business is no different. If any company does not value its customers and satisfaction over all else, then you must keep looking. 

Four: Easy-to-Read Information

If a fresh and ready meal service doesn’t provide accessible, easy-to-read nutritional information about all meals, it’s time to move. Having access to the nutritional information about what you consume delivers the insights required to meet nutrition and health goals. This is critical if you are following a specific diet, like Keto. 

Five: Flexibility

Many fresh and ready meal provides will not budget on your plan after signing up. However, part of eating healthier is finding what works and doesn’t so you are going to want to make changes. Therefore, if you need to change meal plans or put your plan on hold for a vacation, don’t opt for a service that does not allow changes. Instead, find a prepared meal service that offers flexibility in their plans and meal options. Request customer reviews and testimonials to set the expectation. 

Six: Healthy Ingredients

If you are utilizing a prepared meal service, then never pay for subpar ingredients. First and foremost, a prepared meal company is a business, many of which will compromise the final product for the consumer to save on their bottom line. Therefore, find companies that utilize local and organic produce and other ingredients. Search for services offering whole ingredients to maximize health benefits. 

Seven: Variety of Options

How boring would dinner be if you are eating the same meal three or four times per week? It’s certainly a good deterrent from reaching your nutritional goals. A fresh and ready meal service should allow you to choose the meals and not have them decided for you. That means, the best services provide a variety of choices ahead of time, not just one or two, so you can meet your goals and maintain a healthy biome.

In summary, healthy meal services can be a life-changing endeavor. With their nutritional deliciousness, you can free up time to focus on other healthy activities without ending up in the drive-thru line at 9 PM. To get the most out of a fresh and ready meal service, you must know when to pursue and when to run, while knowing exactly what to expect from the provider.

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TikTok Feta Pasta Recipe

Many of you who use the TikTok app or even Instagram might have seen the viral recipe that originated in Finland for Feta Pasta. Apparently this recipe became so popular that grocery stores were completely sold out of feta. The basic idea behind the recipe is to start with cherry or grape tomatoes, a block of feta cheese, and seasonings that gets baked, and then pasta is added.  If you search the #fetapasta hashtag you will see thousands of videos showing so many variations. I admit I don't normally hop on the bandwagon with what's popular on TikTok, but I knew I had to try this dish. 

I was a tad nervous about the idea of using an entire block of feta and wondered if it would be overpowering. Good thing I didn't let that stop me, because the flavor was absolutely wonderful. It was tangy, but in the best way! I did check out several recipes so that I could get a better idea of what I wanted to do to make this dish my own. I shared my results on Instagram and received a lot of positive comments. It turned out that not too many people had heard about it, so I thought I was share a step-by-step recipe with pictures to show you how to make it. 

Here are the ingredients you'll need: 

Cherry or grape tomatoes (one pint per block of feta)
A block of  Feta cheese (can use vegan feta)
Fresh garlic (if cloves are huge, cut in half)
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Seasonings I recommend: Sea salt, cracked black pepper, red pepper flakes, and dried herbs like Oregano, Basil, parsley or Italian seasoning
Pasta of your choice (I used mini Farfalle)

Optional: 

fresh spinach
Grilled chicken or shrimp

How to make it

1. Heat your oven to 400°. Start by adding your tomatoes and garlic cloves to a baking dish, then drizzle with olive oil and seasonings. Make sure the tomatoes are well coated. Make a space in the middle of the baking dish to place your block of feta cheese. Drizzle more olive oil and add more seasoning. 
2. Once the oven has come to temperature, place your tomatoes and feta in oven and bake for 30 minutes. If want the tomatoes and cheese to get a little brown, you can broil on high in the last few minutes or turn on the convection feature if you have that option. Cook your pasta in well-salted water while this step in being done, and set aside one cup of the cooked pasta water. 
3. Take a large fork or spoon to lightly smash the tomatoes and mix it with the feta. Make sure to smash up your garlic cloves first so you don't forget, otherwise you'll have huge chunks.  

4. Now add your fresh basil and spinach. 

5. It's time to add your pasta and gradually add the pasta water depending on how saucy you want it to be. The pasta will absorb the liquid so I added the whole cup. I promise it won't be watery. 
6. Top with grilled chicken or shrimp and enjoy! 

Tips and recommendations: 

  • Do not skip the fresh basil or red pepper flakes. Both of them add so much flavor! 
  • If you can't get a block of feta cheese, crumbles will work just as well. Add it in the middle of the baking dish the best you can. You might need a larger size container, so keep that in mind. 
  • If you don't like feta cheese, you can use goat cheese or Boursin 
  • If you are making a larger batch, you can double the ingredients. Be sure to use a large enough baking dish to give enough space to add your pasta. 
  • I highly recommend reserving some of the pasta water to keep your pasta from being too dry. Do this by using a glass measuring cup or any heat-proof cup and scoop out some of the water from the cooked pasta before draining. You can add as much or as little as you like. 

Check out these other popular recipes: 

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Getting Engaged with Moissanite Gems

It is no news that sparkling jewelry has been the choice adornment of most women for many years. But changing times result in changes in taste as well as changes in trends. Diamonds over time have become increasingly expensive to where most people cannot afford to buy them. The changing times has caused customers, who would consider nothing short of a diamond some years back, to purchase moissanites. Moissanites are unique in themselves and are not fake diamonds or diamond replicas. Moissanites are increasingly being considered due to its characteristic brilliance and reduced overall cost.


Unlike diamonds, moissanites do not raise ethical concerns largely because they are synthetic. In order to resolve the ethical concerns about diamonds, synthetic diamonds are reasonable alternatives to original mined diamonds. Moissanites are more astonishing to behold due to its bright array of colors. What's more? They come at affordable prices as moissanite engagement rings have eased their way onto ring fingers when diamonds simply have not been affordable.

Does That Make Them Fake Diamonds?

While it is easy to say false things about a competitive product, there is no theoretical evidence to back the suggestion posed by some diamond purists that moissanite is a diamond replica. In fact, moissanite is made up of laboratory produced silicon carbide which differs from diamond, which is composed of densely packed carbon atoms. The obvious different in their composition suggests differences in their properties.

Although moissanites 'diamond' engagement rings can be obtained at a reduced cost in comparison to diamond, it would be inappropriate to consider them an inferior class of jewelry. Moissanites have a hardness of 9.5 while diamonds have a hardness of 10 on a scale that measures the hardness of different gemstones. The refractive properties of moissanite gives off a light spectrum which is twice that produced by diamond. 

Understand Moissanite Discovery

Silicon carbides were discovered in 1906 by Henri Moissan. This carbide was erroneously said to come from space due to its closeness to a meteorite crash site around the time of its discovery. But the silicon carbide has been noted to exist naturally on Earth. Silicon carbide cannot be used as jewelry in its raw form. Subjecting the compound to laboratory procedures yields the jewel known as moissanites. Unfortunately, fraud is prevalent in the jewelry industry. In order to make sure the moissanite purchased is not a fake or stolen product, there is a form of hallmark or paperwork which is linked back to the only company permitted by law to produce moissanites; a company owned by Charles and Calvard.

Should I Spend My Money on Moissanite?

Moissanites is worth the cost. Making a choice between diamond and moissanite seems to be an already made choice. Based on your budget and your concerns with ethical processes, you can choose which gemstone works for you. The violence and environmental hazards involved with diamond mining have long been in existence. Moissanite poses no such threat. Not to mention the excellent brightness, sparkle, and rainbow glow. Undoubtedly, moissanite is a gemstone worth your money.
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Slip and Fall in a Hotel? What to Do Next

Whether you are a guest at a hotel or a visitor, it is the hotel's responsibility to ensure that you are safe while on their premises. This means that the hotel must do its part to prevent injuries to its patrons. If you had a slip and fall during your visit to a hotel, here are some things you should know. 

Determining if a Hotel Is Liable 

Just because you have an accident or sustain an injury while you are on a business’ premises doesn't necessarily mean that the business can be held responsible. When it comes to slip and fall injuries, you must prove that their negligence caused you to be injured for the hotel to be liable. Some instances where a hotel might be negligent would be:
  • Spills left unattended
  • Failure to place wet floor signs
  • Inadequate lighting. 
While many more situations could result in a hotel guest being injured, the above mentioned could lead to a slip-and-fall accident.  

Proving the Hotel Was Negligent 

Because a hotel has a duty to ensure that guests are in a safe environment, they must ensure that repairs are done in a timely fashion, spills are cleaned up, et cetera. If a quick fix is not possible, the hotel must place signs in a conspicuous area so that guests are aware of any dangers. 

When a hotel or even their workers fail to take all reasonable measures to ensure guests’ safety, this is where they could be liable if someone were to be harmed on the hotel premises

Their Negligence Caused the Injury 

Although there might be some obvious negligence on the hotel's part, such as a light being out, a crack in the ground, or a spill on the floor, it must have been the direct cause of your injury. 

For example, if you fell because your shoe was untied while there was also a spill on the floor, your fall was not directly caused by the spill. However, if you were walking and slipped on a wet floor with no wet floor sign in sight, this could fall on the hotel's shoulders. 

There Must Be an Actual Injury 

To have grounds for a personal injury case, you would need to have sustained some substantial injury that required medical treatment, hospitalization, time off work, etc. In other words, the fall must have caused you some kind of loss, such as lost wages, impaired mobility, or disability to receive compensation. 

Find an Experienced Attorney 

The hotel industry is big business, which also means they typically have a lot of money to spend on top-notch legal representation. After sustaining an injury at a hotel, one of the first things you should do after getting medical treatment is to contact an attorney. 

It would help if you chose an experienced attorney dealing with claims against hotels, especially regarding slip and fall injuries. This is because no matter how clear cut you think your case is, you must be able to prove it.

Final Thoughts 

While it is vital to seek legal representation for slip and fall injuries, the first thing you should do is go see a doctor. Not only is this important so you can make sure you are okay, but you will need this documentation later on if you plan to file a lawsuit against the hotel.

Remember, there is no real "injury" unless the loss was substantial, and only a certified medical professional can truly assess the extent of your injuries. 
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