Yes, You Can Goes to School

It’s FREE! All materials are available for download free. Just look under the Educatortab where, once you register, you’ll find lessons with interactive components, plus projects, assessments, PowerPoint® presentations and Adult Dialogue Activities. Web-based calculators called FIT (“Financial Independence Today”) tools include the Debt Reducer Calculator and Savings Goal Calculator.

While learning to handle money is serious business, the curriculum includes fun and games, too. The Whaddayaknow? Game Show lets teams answer questions on a game board, and the Yes, You Can BINGO game highlights financial vocabulary terms.

 

 

It Works!
How do we know the curriculum will be workable for educators and students? We started by designing materials that adhere to the accepted 3 C’s of learning strategies: Constructive, Contextual and Collaborative learning.

Then we conducted a pilot in urban, suburban and rural middle schools and high schools to “test drive” the curriculum and get input from educators and parents.

It works! One of the pilot educators concluded: “I want to have the curriculum ready on day one. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.” A parent said the curriculum “helped begin the process of teaching my child about personal finance.”

Many schools offering the new curriculum are sending parents a letter by mail or e-mail. If you haven’t heard anything, contact your child’s teacher to encourage use of the program.

“It is important that your children learn what they can do with money early in life so they will apply the lessons learned as they face the real world in future years,” recommends Jim Stowers, founder, American Century Investments. Through the support of the company he founded, every child now has the opportunity to learn these life-enhancing lessons.

Reference: Financial Education From American Century Investments, Issue Yes You Can, Summer 2012, Website: http://yesyoucanonline.info/Earning/Earning-Articles/Leverage-Your-Summer-Internship

 

 

Staying Fit by Running!

Get in Shape by Running

Running is a great way to get in shape. It can burn quite a bit of calories and help you build and tone muscle easily. Not only that, but you don’t need an expensive gym membership to do it. On the contrary! You actually need to spend very little money to get good exercise while running. If you’re planning on taking up running to get in shape, read below for some great advice!

Look at investing in a good pair of running shoes. Any pair of sneakers will do, but if you buy a good pair that are designed for running, you’ll be able to get the most out of your workouts. Running shoes are designed to minimize the stress on your feet, ankles, and legs as well as effectively tone your leg muscles. A good pair of shoes will also help keep you from getting blisters during your runs.

Make sure you wear clothing that won’t chafe. You want something that’s comfortable and won’t restrict your movement. It’s also recommended that your clothing be somewhat reflective. This will help you be seen by any cars, especially if you’re running early in the morning, at night, or any other time when visibility may be limited.

Make sure you’re running in a safe area. You want to run somewhere where you won’t have to worry about getting run over by a car. Running around your neighborhood or a park can be great; running on the side of a highway not so much. You should also avoid any areas that are high in violence or criminal activity for your personal safety.

You should look into getting something to track your workout. You can either buy a small device designed for runners to log their runs or most smart phones have an app you can install to do this as well. This will give you an easy way to track how far you’ve run and even how many calories you’ve burned.

Try and run a similar route for a while and see how long it takes you to run that specific route. Each time you run, challenge yourself to beat your previous time. Once you think you’ve maximized your time, try increasing the distance and repeat the routine. Keep doing this until you’re running farther, faster.

Try and vary up your runs a bit. If you normally run on a flat, even area, try going somewhere to run that has a lot of hills. You can even go to a trail and try running on dirt. Running a flat mile is a lot easier than running a mile up and down hills or on a natural trail. This can be a great way to change up your workout and increase the pace at the same time.

Running isn’t hard. It’s cheap and can be a great way to get in shape. If you’re looking into running as a form of exercise, keep these pieces of advice in mind. With these handy tips, you’ll be well on your way to looking great.

Chicken Soup For The Soul

Do you have all the early signs of a cold / flu coming on- achy, runny nose, sore throat, and cough? Well it’s the “Time of the season”, we’re not talking about The Zombies, even though we think it’s a beautiful song. Be preventative and make yourself some chicken soup for the soul!! For this recipe please email us at info@beorganicllc.com. Remember to order any of our organic finishing sauces by clicking on the “Add to Cart” button and look out for our new recipe ebook coming soon!

Winter Park Florida Blue Center Health Wellness

This weekend we had the honor to be invited to the Florida Blue Center in Winter Park Florida for their Health Wellness Summit. Thank you Blue Cross Blue Shield for allowing us to share our culinary art with your staff and guest.

“Way 2 Go Green”: Iris Fields Event Planning & Marketing

Today we like to say “way to go green” to Iris Fields!! Iris Fields is a “green” boutique event planning firm based in New York City and Miami, founded by entrepreneurs Ariana Gordon Stecker and Melissa Raskin that services clients on a global scale. Iris Fields produces weddings, social, business and non-profit events. We had the privilege of working with them while we were on our Organic Takeover Bicycle Tour in 2009. The tour was about us, Roosevelt Desir, Kirk Nelson, and Andre Walker riding bicycles to raise awareness about healthy-yet-tasty organic cooking alternatives. Iris Fields spire headed a team to promote each of our stops for us while we rode our bicycles. The turn out was great for each of our stops. Some stops more than others were quite overwhelming, given that fact that we had to cook for all in attendance!!

We wanted to take a moment to show our appreciation of Iris Field taking responsibility and initiative of being “green”!! Iris Fields recognizes and believes that environmental management is one of the highest corporate priorities and that they conduct all aspects of their business as responsible stewards of the environment. They will integrate the principles and practices of conserving our natural resources and reducing pollution as essential elements of management, corporate culture, and community relations. We are truly proud that Iris Fields assumes responsibility for protecting the environment, complying with relevant laws, regulations, and other requirements, and committing themselves to continual improvement primarily in the following areas:

- Resource Conservation & Recycling
- Energy Conservation
- Pollution Prevention
- Consumer Education

Iris Fields offers unique Wedding, Business, Non-Profit and Social event planning and social media marketing services. The company caters to clients who have busy schedules but will settle for nothing less than the best service out there. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a working professional, an executive or a stay at home mom, a professional athlete or a celebrity, Iris Fields will save you time, eliminate stress and produce a fabulous event or marketing strategy for you or your firm. Great work on being stewards in your field on being “green” and eco-conscious!

	http://www.irisfields.com http://www.irisfields.com/facebook http://www.twitter.com/irisfields http://www.livingmygreenlife.com http://www.diaryofaneventplanner.com

“Grillin’ Like a Villian”- Grilled Whole-Wheat Flatbread Bruschetta Pizza

This past weekend was one of our favorite friend’s birthday, Janah Adickman,  and we wanted to feature one of her many amazing dishes. We want to wish you a Happy Birthday Janah and now please take it away.

I decided that I haven’t been showing my grill pan much love lately.  Since I’m an equal opportunity chef, I decided that I better put my favorite pan to use.  I’ve been wanting to make grilled pizza, since time began I think, so last night I got to grillin’ and banged out a delish bruschetta grilled pizza!

What You Need:

1 Prepared Pizza Dough (homemade or store bought)

Cornmeal (for dusting)

1/2 Cup Sundried Tomatoes (julienned)

2 Small Heirloom Tomatoes (seeded and chopped)

3 Roma Tomatoes (seeded and chopped)

1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1/2 Cup Fresh Basil (chiffonade)

Balsamic Vinegar (to taste)

Arugala (optional)

2 Large Cloves Garlic (rough chop)

2 Scallions (fine chop)

1. Heat greased grill pan on medium/high heat.  Roll out your pizza dough to your desired thickness.  Dust some cornmeal under the dough and press down so the cornmeal sticks to the bottom of the pizza.  Then, place the dough onto the hot pan.  Allow the dough to cook on both sides until its crisp and shows beautiful grill marks.  Remove the grilled pizzas and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, toss the tomatoes, basil, garlic, scallions, 1/2 mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar in a medium bowl.  Allow the mixture to marinate while you cook your doughs.

3. Then, take the pizza doughs and top them with the bruschetta mixture.  Turn the heat on your stove down to medium and place the pizza back on.  Allow the dough to cook until the cheese begins to melt (you may need to cove the pan with a lid to melt the cheese.  If you like, add some fresh arugala to the pizzas while they are heating.

Slice it up and serve!

A Small Tip of Dangers in Processed Foods

But before we start we must first give you this quote of the day to help aid us through the process of change:

“If you resist change, you will face challenges on a daily basis. If you consciously refocus your attitude to see the benefits of change, your outlook becomes positive and life becomes easier.” Catherine Pulsifier

For the past week a friend of ours, Willie, has been a little under the weather (more like in the middle of a 300 mile/hr super tornado). First started off with strep throat, dislocated left shoulder which ended up with torn ligaments (MRI then surgery doctor says), and at the end of the week finished off with an ear infection!! Not bad of a week huh? Oh did we forget to add that some of those days he had to work? Just wanted to give a little insight of how busy our lives can be on a daily basis with expected and unexpected events. That alone can and will cause a ripple effect on the rest of our lives like for example the choices of foods we consume.

For your information Americans spend a good portion of their food budget on processed foods or like we call them “plastic catch up” foods!! Why you ask? Convenience, convenience, convenience!!

Most of you know these scenarios; rushing out the door in the morning to beat traffic, dropping the kids off at school, stopping by Kinkos to make copies for company presentation, oh yeah can’t forget have to stop by and grab that coffee!! That’s the busy lifestyles that forces our health down this ever seemingly bottomless pit of a path. And we ask ourselves why is obesity at an all time high?

There are several reasons why you should avoid processed foods but for today we wanted to home in on only three. We do want to overload you with too much information.

1. Trans -Fats.

Trans fats are the real fat substitute in our modern diet and are in ALL fast food and processed foods. Trans fat has been linked to heart disease, cancer, digestive disorders and degeneration of joints and tendons. Consumption is also linked to skin issues, learning disabilities, stunted growth in children and auto immune disease.

2. High Fructose Corn Syrup.

This has become a controversial ingredient recently. The corn and processed food industry has begun an aggressive marketing campaign trying to undo the damage that has been done to this prevalent processed food ingredient.

Essentially, High Fructose Corn Syrup increase your triglyceride levels and your LDL (the bad cholesterol) within 60 minutes of ingestion. It’s also the cheapest and most prominent ingredient in the American food chain. The average person in the U.S. consumes 68 pounds of HFCS per year!!! In 2005, if one looks at the actuarial curve on cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypoglycemia and diabetes, they all parallel HFCS increase in the food chain. But the corn and processed food industry will continue to argue that there is no difference in HFCS and natural sugars.

3. Monosodium Glutamate or MSG. MSG is essentially concentrated salt and is an excito-toxin, which means that is overexcites your cells to the point of damage, acting as a poison.

MSG can also be hidden in food labels under names like broth, casein, hydrolyzed, autolyzed, gelatin, hyrdolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), yeast extract, malted barley, rice syrup or brown rice syrup. Monosodium Glutamate has also been linked to vision loss and causing nerve damage.

The next time your running through your busy, crazy, hectic, planned filled day remember to stop and ask yourself “Is this really good for me?” One of the hardest things to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. Together let’s cross the bridge to a healthy lifestyle

Jamaican Chicken Wings

This is foodie Nelson with this week’s recipe of the week; spicy, caliente, hot, fire, whatever you want to call them, don’t call them boring. Everyone knows us for the perfect marinade/sauce, but in 2010 we are dropping our new line, “Dried Seasoning.”  For those who don’t know what dried seasoning is here it goes: after you clean and wash your meat/poultry, you begin the process of seasoning it to be cooked; this is where a lot of people run into trouble.

Trouble! Foodie Nelson, what do you mean? Well some people are heavy handed, so they tend to over season the meat: making it too salty or too spicy without any flavor. Then there are those who just are afraid of the meat; they are afraid to add spices and salts, so they never add the right amount of spice to enhance their food.

Foodie Nelson, cooking sound sooo hard! No, it isn’t at the BYU (Back Yard University). We make it easy on all our” foodie cadets” by providing him/her with our pre-package organic Dried Seasoning. Every spice is hand picked by the 3 founders of Be Organic and is measured to perfection to keep our clients best interest at heart. So now that you know what “Dry Seasoning” is, on to our menu for the week: our Jamaican Cayenne/Scotch Bonnet Pepper chicken wings.

Ingredients as follow:

1 table spoon of Cayenne pepper

1 table spoon of chill pepper

1 whole scotch bonnet pepper ‘seed or add for the spicy’

½ table spoon of sea salt

½ table spoon of black pepper

2 clove of garlic Pinch of season salt

½ table spoon of paprika

1 table spoon of honey

Cooking instruction:

1. Pre-heat oven 350 degrees

2. 5lb of organic chicken wings. Wash and clean chicken thoroughly with organic lime juice or vinegar

3. Make sure chicken is damp when applying seasoning 1 oz. of Be Organic Dried Season

4. Rub each wing until fully coated. Place coated wings in oven safe pan.

5. Place in oven rotate wings to make sure they don’t stick to pan or burn after 15 minutes.

6. Serve with mashpotatoes or favorite vegetables

What’s in Season? Your Fresh Fruit and Veggie Guide of Course.

Now we know how tough it can be to go grocery shopping let alone trying to read labels to decide whats good for you. But one thing we do like for you to keep in mind is; are you buying the freshest fruits and veggies that are is season? We wouldn’t want you to be buying quote unquote “fresh” green beans in the winter when they’re not even in season. Because that would mean that those green beans traveled far far away from where they are from to get to you, took a lot of energy to get it to you, and it isn’t fresh as it could be because of the time it took to get to you. Furthermore, the produces might even be from another county where the standards of growing produce aren’t as strong as the standards in the great U.S. of A.

Today we have  a list of fruits and vegetables to look for when in season to make sure your getting the fresh and best tasting produce for your next meal. And remember what will a meal be without one of our great line of Finishing Sauces to finish it; it would be ludicrous of course! Don’t forget to order yours and remember to be organic and be local.

Summer Fruits	Summer Vegetables
Apples Apricots Avocados Blackberries Blueberries Boysenberries Cactus pears Cherries Figs Melons Mulberries Nectarines Peaches Plums Raspberries Tomatoes Tomatillos Watermelon	Asparagus Basil Beets Broccoli Corn Cucumbers Eggplant Green beans Okra Peas Radishes Rhubarb Spinach Summer squash Zucchini

Fall Fruits	Fall Vegetables
Apples Avocados Bananas Clementines Cranberries Dates Figs Grapefruit Grapes Kiwi Kumquats Mandarin oranges Melons Oranges Pears Persimmons Pomegranates Raspberries	Beans Beets Bok choy Broccoli Broccoli rabe Brussels sprouts Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celery root Collard greens Garlic Jerusalem artichokes Kale Leeks Lettuce Parsnips Pumpkin Rhubarb Rutabaga Snow peas Spinach Sweet potatoes Swiss chard Turnips Watercress Winter squash

Winter Fruits	Winter Vegetables
Avocados Bananas Blood oranges Clementines Cranberries Grapefruit Grapes Guavas Kiwi Kumquats Limes Oranges Passion fruit Pears Persimmons Pomegranates Tangelos Tangerines	Artichokes Bok choy Broccoli Broccoli rabe Brussels sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Celery root Jerusalem artichokes Kale Lettuce Parsnips Radishes Rhubarb Rutabaga Snow peas Sweet potatoes Turnips Watercress Winter squash

Spring Fruits	Spring Vegetables
Apricots Avocados Carrots Cherries Grapefruit Kiwis Kumquats Lemons Mango Pineapple Navel oranges Strawberries	Artichokes Arugula Asparagus Beets Fava beans Fennel Fiddleheads Greens Leeks Lettuce Morels Nettles Spring onions Parsley Peas Radishes Rhubarb Scallions Spinach Sweet onions Swiss chard Turnips

Which Is Worst Red Meat or Processed Meat?

As we all know it Memorial Weekend is quickly approaching and most of you plan on doing some grilling. A friend of mine asked me a really good question; “Which is worst red meat or processed meat?” Hate to ruin it but the fact is that they are both bad. Now before you fire up that gas grill and throw those thick juicy Ball Park Franks or T-bone steak on; let’s take a look at which one of these is the less of the two evil.

First, I would like to tell you that there’s some pretty nasty stuff in your hot dogs and bologna. You will find all the parts of the animal that usually would get thrown away (depending on your cultural background) like the facial muscle, tongue, and lips! But besides containing a lot of fat, the really ghastly stuff doesn’t get put in until the meat is processed. What could be so awful that it is processed with you may ask? The main ingredient you will find in processed meat is sodium nitrate, another word for Chile saltpeter or Peru saltpeter (due to the large deposits found in each country) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate.

The salt peter primary function is to prevent bacterial growth and preserve the meat so it can be stored for a long time. This is the same ingredient that they use in smoke bombs, solid rocket propellant, in glass and in cigarettes to make them burn longer. Now I’m no rocket chemist but that sounds like a time bomb ready to go off in my stomach! Studies have shown that eating a limited (keyword “limited” my foodies) amount of fresh meat, beef included, doesn’t pose a major health risk.

However, processed foods on the other hand can pose a really large risk. Sausages, hot dogs, bacon, and processed lunch meats are the worst things you can find behind your local meat counter. According to CNN, “Eating unprocessed beef, pork, or lamb appeared not to raise risks of heart attacks and diabetes, they said, suggesting that salt and chemical preservatives may be the real cause of these two health problems associated with eating meat. The study, an analysis of other research called a meta-analysis, did not look at high blood pressure or cancer, which are also linked with high meat consumption.”

For my entire carnivore foodies try to stay with the meats like minimally processed chicken, roast chicken, and roast turkey. Not only do the processed meats pose a great risk of cardiovascular problems because of the salt and fat, they increase the risk of colon cancer as well. And surprisingly there was no evidence showing increased risk of heart disease in people who ate unprocessed red meats…hmmm. Don’t take my word for it. If you feel the urge to indulge in red meat just keep in mind to eat it sparingly. (Just a little FYI it takes 14 days to digest beef and 4 hours for it to begin rotting!!) Your foodie “Roo” signing off.

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