Whether you forget to eat your green vegetables, or need a reminder to return a library book,HassleMe offers a free service to help you remember things that might otherwise slip through the cracks in your busy life. You give them your email address and they “nag you via email at semi-unpredictable intervals.”

I recently tested it and my reminder said:
“Hi, This is a hassle to remind you to Exercise and eat right. So get to it!
– - – - – - -
You’ll be sent one of these hassles roughly every 3 days.”

As far as I can tell, they don’t spam you with anything, it just seems to be a fun way to remember a few chores and tasks that you need to do.

Up till now, if I wanted to add scallions to my favorite dishes, I’d drag out a cutting board and a knife, but I just thought of an easier way: From now on, when I want scallions, I plan on cutting them with my kitchen scissors. They’re small enough that I imagine just about any kind of clean scissors will cut them up, but if you have kitchen scissors, go ahead and use them.

I’m surprised that I didn’t come up with this earlier. Now that I think of it, scissors could be used for all sorts of food, like green beans, pea pods, etc. It would probably be a lot easier to chop olives in two with them, instead of having them roll around on a cutting board.

Can you think of other foods that would be easier to chop with scissors?

Is this a great idea, or am I the last person on the planet to think of this?

Once a week I make a giant fruit salad, so here’s what I do to save time…When I cut up a watermelon, cantaloupe, or honey dew, I use an ice cream scooper. It gets the job done quickly & makes for larger pieces than the typical melon ball scooper.

For a light homemade dressing, you can thin some fat free yogurt with a bit of orange juice to taste. However, I prefer Newman’s Own Lighten Up Raspberry & Walnut Dressing. Although it has a bit of corn syrup solids, it’s only about 35 calories a tablespoon and it tastes delicious.

Cantaloupes and watermelons may carry bacteria on their outer shell. To try & wash them properly is impossible, just be aware not to allow the hand that holds the melon to come in contact with with the melon meat.

When cleaning fruits such as strawberries, grapes, berries, cherries, etc. do what I do, fill a large bowl with water, then add a few drops of bleach (yes, bleach). Let them soak for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then rinse off. If you have ever priced the spray type fruit cleanser, then you know how costly it is. Many people think you only have to give fruits and vegetables a light rinse, but that does NOT kill off the bacteria often found on fruit. I’ve been bleaching fruits & veggies for years.

Before eating soft skinned items such as apples or tomatoes, I will scrub them with a soapy sponge. I do this more so to wash off all the hands that have handled them. Even though they look nice and fresh in the market, the person ahead of you may not have washed their hands before shopping for produce. BLECH!