Learn to Use Banana Peel

How to Use Banana Peel for Skin Care and around the House

Bananas are a great source of energy and have many nutritional benefits, but the banana peel can have a number of uses.  So think twice before tossing the peel.  Learn to use it for skin care, as well as around the house and you might save a few dollars in the process.

Skin Care

Banana peels can be used for a variety of different skin conditions because they contain lutein, an antioxidant and plenty of potassium. If you have warts, psoriasis or poison ivy, you should always keep bananas on your kitchen counter top and always take them on a camping trip!!

Use to help psoriasis: Rub the inside of a banana peel to the affected area and although it will be red at first, you should notice a difference in your skin within a few days.

Use to heal acne: Again, simply rub the inside of the banana peel over your acne, whether it's on your face or body, and your acne should improve within a few uses. I recommend applying at night so you don't smell like a banana all day.

Take the bite out of poison ivy: Rub the inside of a banana peel onto the poison ivy area and the itching should stop and the inflammation will go down. Reapply as needed. This is a great reason to pack a few banana's on that camping or hiking trip.

Heal warts: Rub the inside of a banana peel on the wart every night for a week and you will see improvement. Plantar's warts have responded well to this, and other warts may as well. If you are in a hurry, try taping the peel to the affected area overnight and you should see dramatic improvement within a week or two.

Removing Splinters: Similar to wart removal, tape a piece of the peel over the splinter. The enzymes will help dislodge the splinter and heal the wound.

Stop the itch from bug bites: Rub the inside of a banana peel on the affected and this should help to relief itch
Pain Reliever: The oil in a banana peel will help relieve the pain from burns and scratches.

Household Uses

Help Your Garden Grow: Bananas are naturally high in potassium and encourages plant growth. Use banana peel or puree entire banana and bury with soil.

Shoe Polish: Use the peel to make your kicks nice and shiny.

Make Houseplants Gleam: Just like peels can shine shoes, they can also be used to make the leaves of plants shine.

Hawaiian Purple Sweet Potatoes – Italian Style

Hawaiian Purple Sweet Potatoes – Italian Style

Ingredients

4 medium size Hawaiian purple sweet potatoes

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion finely sliced

1 clove of garlic

2 tbs fat free Italian dressing (shop bought)

2 tbs of water

Zest of one lemon

½ tsp red chili flakes

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tsp dried parsley

Instructions

Peel the potatoes and slice into quarter inch circles

Sauté onion and garlic in extra virgin olive oil in a non stick pan

Add the sliced potatoes to the pan, together with Italian dressing, water, lemon zest and chili flakes

Season with salt and pepper

Cover the pan with a lid and cook on low heat for about ten to fifteen minutes until the potatoes are done

Garnish with dried parsley (preferably fresh if you have some on hand)

Enjoy this colorful and healthy source of starch with grilled chicken or fish

Why Looks Matter at Work

Why Looks Matter at Work

It is clear, like it or not, PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS (PA) can significantly affect workplace perceptions, treatments and office politics, as well as hiring decisions, promotions and incomes. It can affect areas throughout a person's work-life with its influence exceeding objective and seemingly more pertinent criteria. In fact, PA can certainly overshadow and even eclipse criteria that range from a person's university degrees earned to his or her on-the-job performance goals achieved.

Research studies focusing on PA and particularly its many associated consequences began in the mid-1960s and continue today. The quantity and quality of studies have increased continuously with no end in sight. Disciplines involved in the research span literally A to Z, Anthropology to Zoology, with subfields of psychology providing the most critical mass of research.

The Federal Reserve Bank

Economics as a discipline has not turned a blind eye to the power and monetary values of PA. Nor has the Federal Reserve System. A 2005 issue of "The Regional Economist" made public a study about PA conducted that year by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Conclusions from their research corroborated a principle finding identified repeatedly by separate researchers: People with higher physical attractiveness receive higher pay.

Don't panic. Don't overreact. Diversify your portfolio

Recommendations concerning a person's PA in today's workplace are not unlike mainstream recommendations concerning a person's finances in today's economy. For example: Don't overstress and let fear or anxiety irrationally overpower your thinking about PA, let alone your finances. Don't hastily jump to abruptly overhaul your financial portfolio, or your physical appearance. Expand your portfolio of respective alternatives, both to enhance probabilities of favorable returns for your financial investments and to improve your PA to increase probabilities of favorable career outcomes.

Don't panic each time when the latest publicly reported PA research findings come to your attention. If you do nothing different immediately, the probability is good that nothing dramatically negative will occur. Of course, on the flip-side, doing nothing carries the same likelihood of nothing positive happening.

Don't overreact in pursuit of abrupt enhancement of your looks. Before taking action, take reasonable time with reasonable thought. Remind yourself that you have achieved your current relatively comfortable lot in life with your current looks. Of course, a person's PA changes with each advancing year along with associated assessments in the workplace.

To achieve the highest likelihood of best overall returns, a good financial portfolio should diversify among many investment components and alternatives. Analogously, to achieve your best overall appearance for your workplace and career goals, you should diversify your alternatives among the many components that contribute to a person's overall PA. Expand your thinking, with realistic perspectives about alternatives to improve or at least maintain your PA. Be mindful that appearance is a multi-dimensional landscape, in which PA is a powerful prevailing dimension with many defining features -- some that represent assets and some liabilities.

Small Differences, Big Consequences

Small differences in a person's PA can translate into big consequences for career success. A complete makeover is neither necessary nor likely appropriate to reap benefits of looking better at work.

Although few people admit, or even realize, that they judge people in the workplace by their looks -- much to the benefit of people with higher PA and much to the detriment of people with lower PA -- people are not defenseless. Because many factors (both physical and non-physical) determine a person's PA most people have actions and alternatives available to them.

People should "not do nothing," just because they can't do everything. Measures taken to increase PA can range from routine to non-routine. Basic hygiene, industry-appropriate clothes, fitness, exercise, proper nutrition, good skin care, teeth whitening and optimal sleep represent one end of the continuum alternatives to raise PA. The other end of the continuum includes liposuction procedures, pharmaceutical facial filler injections, face-lifts, hair transplants, gastric bypass operations and other cosmetic surgeries. Of course, technology, ethics, religion, societal norms, social pressures, and financial resources, as well as an individual's own judgment and motivation, define pursuits and alterations acceptable for any one person.

Small physical changes with significant consequences can begin with improvements related to grooming, hairstyle, eyewear, cosmetics, fit and style of clothes, physical fitness and dentistry.

At the same time, improvements in interpersonal styles, attitude, personality, self-esteem or self-confidence, and even education achievements can increase a person's physical attractiveness as judged by others and by oneself.

Devilled Lamb's Kidneys

Devilled Lamb's Kidneys

Ingredients

8 Lamb's kidneys
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs tomato puree
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs honey Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tbs freshly chopped parsley


Instructions

Remove the skin from the kidneys, cut them in half and cut away the cores
Prepare the devil sauce by mixing together the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, lemon juice, mustard, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Set the sauce aside
Heat the oil in a frying pan over a moderate heat and cook the kidneys for about three minutes on each side.
Pour the devil sauce over the kidneys and then quickly stir so that they are evenly coated. Cook for another couple of minutes
Garnish with chopped parsley

Recipe should yield four servings.  This is a traditional British brunch dish. It is best served hot straight off the stove.  Suggsted accompaniments are roasted tomatoes and toasted whole wheat triangles.