The Creator of Cabbage Patch Kids Dolls and the History of Their Success

At the brilliant young age of 21, Xavier Roberts created the first original cabbage patch kid and "adopted" it out for $40.00. As a new entrepreneur, the artist consolidated his love for sculpting and his quilting abilities he learned from his mother to produce one of America's most popular dolls in history. Most likely, the most ingenious idea yet was how Xavier went about marketing his product. Rather than using the traditional term in selling and purchasing toys, he incorporated the theme of adoption into the sale of his items. With this new twist of adoption, the purchase encompassed a new meaning. The parents and children alike sought out the emotional value behind a child in need of a home.

Unbeknown to him, Xavier had staggered onto a wealthy idea that would flourish in the marketplace. Although his dolls are creative and authentic, his prospect of the marketplace was harnessed through the idea of adoption. Also keeping the dolls unique was the idea to incorporate different themes into each dolls character such as the U.S. Space Shuttle cabbage patch kid. This allowed the dolls to incorporate the popularity of times, keeping the eye of the consumer in mind.

You can find the dolls in Wal-mart and other popular toys stores nation wide. This wide availability gives clue to a rather successful history that began thirty years ago. Today the new dolls still sell for a rather high price tag and the resale market of older Cabbage Patch dolls bring a decent price as well. It has been quoted that the older originals bring a new adoption price tag of $190.00 and up and the collectors interested in adopting them have no problems with paying those figures. Whether you are interested in adopting or simply admiring as you walk by, the pudgy faced babies are quite fun to look at and still grasps the attention of the little girl that wants to play mommy.

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Holiday Ham Recipes

A baked ham recipe with flavorful fruity sauce!

Ingredients:
1. 12 slices cooked ham, about 1/2-inch thick
2. 6 slices pineapple
3. 1 cup raisins
4. 1 cup pineapple juice
5. 1 cup water
6. 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Preparation:
Place 6 ham slices in shallow baking dish. Arrange pineapple slices over ham slices; top with remaining ham slices. In a saucepan over low heat, combine raisins, pineapple juice, and water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water and stir into hot juice mixture. Continue cooking, stirring, until mixture is thickened and smooth. Pour sauce over ham slices. Bake 20 minutes at 350°. For each portion, allow 2 slices of ham and a slice of pineapple; serve with sauce and hot cooked rice, if desired. Serves 6.

Nutritional Content:
Depending on the fat content of the meat, hams are great source of high-grade proteins from animals. It is favorably good as compared to beef because of a great energy content of 1,200 up to 2,600 calories for every pound. Aside from this, hams are also great source of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin B1, riboflavin, iron, calcium, phosphorous and niacin.

History:
Hams are made from rear legs of hogs. These are prepared meticulously as food. It can be fresh ham or cured ham. Generally, holiday ham recipes center on the salting, and smoking of the meat, as well as, drying. Approximately 18% to 20% of the weigh to the hog goes to the ham. In the US, aside from the rear portion of the animal, the shoulder hams, the picnic hams, and California ham are also some of the varieties that are marketed. These are some of the varieties of hams that you can purchase in the market today.

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A Healthy Delicious Recipe

I hate to tell you this, but nobody can be healthy if they keep eating donuts, french fries, or burgers. These foods have so much unhealthy fat in them and these fats will eventually cause so much damage to your body, such as heart disease or diabetes. Therefore, to get a healthy body, you should start eating healthy food and avoid bad food at all costs.

Now, the problem people have with healthy food is the belief that all foods that are healthy taste bad. This is not true. I am here to teach you how to cook foods that are not only delicious, but also healthy. Did I mention it's also easy?

This recipe is very simple. The ingredients you will need are brown rice, frozen peas, lean ground beef, and olive oil. Now let me explain to you the benefits of each of the ingredients. The reason I am using brown rice instead of white rice is that brown rice has more fiber and is naturally more nutritious than white rice. The outer layer of brown rice is full of nutrients, while white rice has an extremely small amount of nutrients due to the fact that its outer layer is removed.

Peas are also full of fiber and in fact, it has more fiber than brown rice. Fiber is good for your body because it helps you remove waste from your colon. If you do not have enough fiber in your diet, you would start having constipation problems. In addition, peas are a good source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and carotenes.

Lean ground beef is a good source of protein, which is used by your body to repair and build tissues. It is used by almost every part of your body, even your nails and hair are mostly made of protein.

Lastly, olive oil is good for your body because it has very healthy fat. Unlike the bad fat you can find in donuts, french fries, and burgers, the fat found in olive oil protects you from heart disease and prevents colon cancer.

After telling you all the benefits of the ingredients we are using for this recipe, it's time to teach you how to cook them! First, you cook brown rice with a rice cooker. After 30 minutes, heat up your pan, put in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and make sure that the oil is spread well around the pan. Now, you put in the ground beef and stir it. After the ground beef turns brown, which takes about a few minutes, you then add in 1 or 2 servings of peas. Continue to stir for several minutes.

Next, you can add some salt and black pepper to the peas and ground beef. Stir for one more minute and turn off the stove. By now, the brown rice should be ready to eat. Get a big bowl and mix the brown rice, the peas, and the ground beef together. It's officially ready to eat! It's simple as that!

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The Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe Challenge - Can You Really Lose Weight and Keep it Off?

I'll be the first to admit it - I don't like the Cabbage Soup Diet. But you, like a lot of people out there, are looking for a quick way to lose weight and you heard that this fad diet is the way to do it.

Now as a responsible person who has some knowledge about weight loss, I should talk you out of it. I should tell you that this particular soup diet has been around for ages. Countless people have tried losing weight with cabbage soup diet recipes, and while some have succeeded, others have failed miserably.

So, you're probably thinking that because some people have lost weight on the cabbage soup diet that means that success is possible. And I bet you're also thinking that all diets do not work for all people. Well, you're right about that. Dieting is not an exact science. What works for some won't work for others.

Okay, so what's my problem with the cabbage soup diet?

I think this diet is an extremely short-term solution to a long-term problem. Like most fad diets, you're guaranteed to lose some water weight, which is pretty easy for most people to lose. This fact makes people think that it works miracles.

However, keep in mind that losing water weight is different than losing fat weight. Fat weight is what you really wanna lose. Fat weight is what's making your stomach bulge and slowing your energy down.

The cabbage soup diet is going to zap you of energy and make you feel cranky and tired. Maybe not the first day or so, but stay on it for a while and you'll see. You won't be feeling so well. Plenty of people have done this diet and reported feeling lousy on it, but hey, maybe your experience will be different.

Okay, but does the cabbage soup diet work?

I know you're really excited about this diet right now, but the responsible side of me just has to let you know that there are healthier ways to lose weight. Cabbage soup is tasty and can be added to a healthy meal plan, but overdoing it is not a good idea. A healthy weight loss plan contains many food items that give you protein, fruits, vegetables and yes, carbs.

Your body needs these things everyday in order to function properly. Eating cabbage soup for days on end will send your body a signal that you're trying to starve it of nutrients. This will cause your body to react in exactly the opposite way you want. Your body will retain fat, calories and even water to protect itself from starvation.

After you go off this soup diet, every single calorie you eat will continue to be retained because your metabolism will have slowed down. This reaction may cause you to gain back what you lost and even gain a few more extra pounds on top of that. This is how your body works and there's nothing you can do to get around it. That's why most fad diets don't work.

Okay, I've said my piece. If you still want to do the famous cabbage soup diet then go right ahead. You're perfectly capable of making your own decisions about how you desire to lose weight.

Therefore, I'm giving you a free recipe for cabbage soup diet. I hope you like cabbage because for the next 7 days you're going to be eating a lot of it. The plan allows you to eat some fruits, veggies and drink skim milk. On day five and six you can have beef or chicken.

So what's the challenge?

I challenge you to eat this cabbage soup for 7 days straight and lose 10 pounds. I then challenge you to keep that weight off for another 10 days, without going back on the diet.

If you accomplish this goal, then you will have succeeded in proving me wrong (at least in this case). If you don't succeed, then that's okay too. I hope you visit my website and look over some healthier options for losing the weight you want.

In either case, I wish you good luck in losing those unwanted pounds for good.

Famous Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe

6 large green onions
2 green peppers
1 or 2 cans of tomatoes, diced or whole
3 carrots
1 10 oz. container mushrooms
1 bunch celery
1/2 head cabbage
1 pkg. Lipton soup mix
1 or 2 cubes bouillon, beef or chicken (optional)
12 cups water
1 48 oz. can V8 juice (optional)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, curry (to taste)

Directions

Slice up the green onion and put it in a pot that's been prepared with cooking spray. Cut up the green pepper, cut the stems off and take the seeds and membrane out. Cut the pepper into bite-sized pieces.

Saute the onions and green pepper in the pot.

Take off the outer leaves of the cabbage and cut the cabbage into bite-size pieces. Add cabbage to the pot.

Clean the carrots and cut them into bite-size pieces. Add carrots to the pot.

Slice the mushrooms and add to the pot. Add soup mix.

Add in the bouillon cubes, if desired.

Add in either the water or the V8 juice (do not use both). Cover pot and cook on low heat for 2 hours. Add seasonings to your taste.

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How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Week - Easily and Naturally

If you want to lose 10 pounds in a single week, you need to burn 3500 to 4000 calories per day. You can do this by modifying your diet and activity level. You can achieve this target by following a 1000 or 800 calorie diet. But this diet plan is not recommended for extended period of time. There are many crash diets that promise you to lose weight within short span of time. But unfortunately many are unhealthy and can spoil your health.

You need to rip off weight in a right way. Losing weight requires slight change in diet, you need to cut out few foods or need to eat them moderately. You may also need to incorporate exercise in your day to day life. Once you start experiencing weight loss, you will get motivated and follow the steps without any pain. Please do stay away from crash diet plans or any other unhealthy eating habits.

Don't go for any Fad diets as they are not permanent. "Eat less and Exercise more" should be your motto to achieve this goal. Be realistic with this goal and follow the motto firmly.

Do not starve

No Fasting or Starving is allowed when you want to lose weight. Starving will tempt you to eat more and you will end up in eating unhealthy foods to quench your hunger. Starving will make you unhealthy and weak. When you skip your breakfast, your body keeps more space for the next meal and your body metabolism also slows down. By starving, if you lose 20 pounds, you may gain 25 pounds back. This is the reality.

Drink plenty of water

It is recommended to drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. You can try drinking water before having food. You will feel full and may eat less. Also when you feel hungry, most often it is due to thirst. Drink only plain water to stop hunger, do not drink coffee or other beverages. Also, do not get confused that hunger is always thirst.

Drinking lot of water helps to regularize appetite, drains out the toxins, and keeps the system clean by increasing metabolic rate. Keep in mind that you need to lose at least 3500 calories per day to lose 10 pounds in a week!

Eat less Calories

If you want to lose 10 pounds in a week, eat fewer calories than what you actually burn. You can easily burn more calories by increasing your activity levels and cutting down calories in daily diet plan. You can plan to cut down 400 to 500 calories per day and practise exercise every day to lose weight quickly. Eat highly nutritious food and cut down all the unhealthy foods.

Diet with essential nutrients

Eat foods rich in fiber - this will activate rapid weight loss. Foods like grape fruit, orange, lemon, watermelon, apple, vegetables like carrot, cabbage, broccoli, celery are all rich in Vitamin C and act as Fat burners. Oatmeal, skimmed milk, whole grains, fiber enriched cereals, raw vegetables, whole wheat pasta etc are also considered as foods that burn fat. You can have Oats, wheat or corn flakes low in sugar etc for breakfast rather than skipping it. Low fat yogurt also helps in weight loss as it is rich in calcium. Eat Soy products, Fish, shellfish, egg whites, non fat dairy products, etc to ensure rapid weight loss. Eat salads with tomato, carrot, beet root, capsicum, cabbage, cucumber and lettuce. Protein rich foods help maintain blood sugar levels and stimulate weight loss.

You need to eat at least 1000 calories per day when you are on diet. Make it up the required calorie level by eating smaller and frequent meals. Do not eat at a time. Eat equal portions every time and have a light dinner. When the day is over, you may not need too much energy. End each day with light supper and enjoy your sleep.

Eat only as much as you want and do not eat too much. Over eating is dangerous.

Avoid Sugary foods

Drop sugar from your diet and see the difference. It helps you lose weight quickly. Cut down your salt intake as well. Too much of salt and sugar makes you gain weight. Avoid taking carbonated beverages, corn syrup, cakes, cookies, chocolates, pastries etc. Replace coffee and other beverages with water or fat burner like Green tea, Herbal tea or juices.

Avoid Unhealthy snacks

Do not consume unhealthy snacks like potato chips, cookies, candy, popcorn, cakes etc. Stay away from fried foods as well. You get addicted to these items and keep eating more and more. Stop eating these tempting foods when you are watching TV or movies. Instead you can try eating Snacks like soups, salads, fruits, water-rich foods. They are good source of nutrition and avail weight loss quickly. Include more fiber rich food, fruits, vegetables and other organic products in your diet. Low fat dairy items are also good for weight loss. Reduce carbohydrate intake, this will help you shed unwanted pounds drastically. There are many tasty and nutritious alternatives available without carbohydrates. Try these healthy snacks to lose 10 pounds fast!!

Do not eat processed or packaged foods as they don't contain essential minerals and nutrients. They are higher in sodium and fat content. Go for fresh foods and avoid packaged foods. Researchers predict that people put on more weight when they eat out while their body weight is under control when they eat home cooked food.

Shed pounds fast by Exercise

Run, Walk, Jog, Swim, lift etc to lose weight fast but do not overexert. Include Exercise in your busy schedule. There are many simple ways to burn calories. You can burn extra fat by walking, taking the stairs, dancing, standing, aerobic exercise etc. Practise regular work out routines and track the activity levels in a diary. Be committed, stay positive and remain consistent in your daily work outs.

Many people don't have time for exercise and go for fad diets. They are all temporary and may damage your health.

Have enough sleep and be stress free to maintain your overall fitness. You will see positive changes if you maintain healthy and nutritious diet.

Happy weight loss!

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Vintage Recipes For the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays

Here we are in October and already the Christmas decorations are hitting the stores. It may seem early to be thinking about the holidays but in actuality, we will be preparing holiday meals, or dishes to take to holiday meals, before we know it. If you are looking for something different to prepare this year for Thanksgiving or Christmas, let these recipes help you out. All of these recipes are from my vintage recipe collection. Most are from my mother's estate but I have no idea where she got most of them. If you like seafood, try Oyster Dressing this year. Want to do something different with sweet potatoes? Try this Sweet Potato Apple Scallop. For a different touch to the dessert selection, add this tasty Cranberry Meringue Pie. Be bold, step out, and add a few new touches to your holiday table this year.

CRANBERRY MERINGUE PIE

1 pkg (12 oz) fresh or frozen cranberries (thaw frozen berries)

1 cup orange juice

3/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup quick cooking tapioca

2 tsp grated orange peel, optional

1/4 tsp salt

MERINGUE:

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

1 baked 9-inch pie shell

Place cranberries in a food processor; cover and pulse until coarsely chopped. In a large saucepan, combine the cranberries, orange juice, water, sugar, tapioca, orange peel and salt. Let stand for 5 minutes. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Keep warm.

In a clean, cold mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat on medium speed of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon the warm filling into the pie shell. Spread meringue over filling being careful to seal the edges to the crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 hour. Chill, covered, in refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers.

SWEET POTATO APPLE SCALLOP

2 lbs sweet potatoes (3 medium)

2 med apples, peeled and cored

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp orange extract

2 tbsp butter

Place sweet potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook 20-25minutes or until tender. Drain and cool. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish or pan that has been greased. Cut apples into 1/4-inch rings; cut in half. Arrange over sweet potatoes. Sprinkle apple slices with lemon juice. Combine the brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and orange extract. Sprinkle mixture over apples. Dot with butter. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until apples are tender.

OYSTER DRESSING

1 pint fresh oysters

6 to 7 cups dried bread crumbs

1 cup chopped onions

1 tbsp sage

1 tsp each of rosemary and thyme

Dash of salt and of pepper

2 to 2 1/2 cups turkey broth (or chicken broth)

1/4 cup melted margarine

Wash oysters thoroughly. Combine oysters with remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into a well greased baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

Note: This recipe is from an old complimentary grocery store card.

Enjoy!

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Christmas Recipes: Edible Gifts No.3 of 8 - Gingerbread Decorations

Christmas recipe makes: 2 dozen

Calories per biscuit: 125

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Suitable for freezing at end of step 5.

Christmas recipe ingredients:

flour, plain white 350 g (12 oz)

bicarbonate of soda, 5 ml (1 tsp)

ginger, ground 30 ml (2 tbsp)

cinnamon, ground 15 ml (1 tbsp)

cloves, ground 2.5 ml (0.5 tsp)

butter, 125 g (4 oz)

sugar, soft light brown 175 g (6 oz)

golden syrup 60 ml (4 tbsp)

egg, 1

icing:

egg white, 1

icing sugar, sifted

food coloring


Christmas recipe instructions:

Blend the butter with a mixture of the spices, bicarbonate of soda and flour. Do this until it is breadcrumb like and then mix in the sugar.


Beat an egg into slightly warmed syrup and pour into the mixture from step 1, mixing till it becomes a soft dough. Then knead until smooth.


Make a 5mm (¼ inch) thick dough layer on a floured surface and cut out biscuit shapes using vaious cutters. Pierce a hole in each one for putting ribbon through later on, for hanging.


Put two non-stick baking sheets on two baking trays.


Place the various shaped cut outs onto the baking sheets and bake at 190 degrees centigrade (375 F) until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool and harden for about 10 m inutes before placing on a wire rack till cold.


For the icing add sifted icing sugar to a beaten egg until stiff enough for piping. Add colorings if necessary to brighten up the decorations.


Put icing patterns of your choice on the biscuits. After allowing the biscuits to dry, put ribbons through the biscuit holes, ready for hanging on a christmas tree.

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