Recipe

Marvel vs. DC - The Super Hero Movie Wars

It’s no secret to anyone out there that super hero films are on the rise as far as popularity goes. Hell, they’ve been kicking butt and taking names for more than a decade now, but the last few years have really shown that if you put a well-known (or even marginally known) super hero into a film, it will likely make hundreds-of-millions of dollars and be a box office success. This wasn’t always the case, of course, and there have been more than a few complete fails along the way. Marvel/Disney has dominated this super hero movie war thus far with huge titles such as Iron Man and The Avengers. But with the Warner Bros./DC release of Man of Steel this last week, things may be changing. And though many had issues with the new incarnation of Superman, if WB looks to compete with Disney on a serious level, they need to do exactly what they’ve been doing with their successful franchises - aim them at mature audiences.

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Tasty Finds: Grilled cheese rolls

Actually, I know a couple of people who don’t like cheese, period—and a few friends who can’t eat it, unfortunately. Cheese is my favorite food, so it’s particularly sad to me! For those of you who do love cheese, check out these super simple grilled cheese rolls.

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What to do with bok choy

My neighbor's garden is coming up crazy with bok choy. She gave me a huge armful of bok choy the other day, and I said "Thanks!" while thinking "What the heck do I do with this stuff?" I'll be honest with you, my first thought was to just throw it all to the chickens and get on with my life. But I struggled through, and guess what? Bok choy can be pretty tasty!

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Using a spice rub

Earlier this week when I mentioned using unsweetened cocoa powder as a meat rub, it got me thinking about all the oddball meat rubs there are out there. Unlike (say) a marinade, the purpose of a meat rub is just to add flavor. Personally, I really half-ass it in the meat rub department. I buy spice mixes, and sprinkle them on the meat right before putting it in the oven.

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Ground beef, that workaday staple

There are a lot of interesting and delicious cuts of meat available at the grocery store meat case. Recently I have raved about pork tenderloin and chicken thighs, not to mention steak. But one of the overlooked staples of the meat department is good old ground beef.

It's not fancy. It might give you a prion disease. It probably has pink slime in it. Do you care? It's so cheap!

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'Man of Steel' won the weekend, but how much did it make?

It should come as no surprise that Man of Steel took the top spot at the weekend box office. After all, it was easily the most hyped movie of 2013. Add to that a Father's Day weekend opening for a Superman movie and well, you've got a recipe for a crazy good take.

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Low-carb cooking with chocolate

Chocolate has a lot of great health benefits, including flavonoids and many other micronutrients. But the fat and sugar content in chocolate makes it a "no go" for those of us on low-carb diets. However, the good news is that you don't have to give up chocolate entirely!

Unsweetened cocoa powder is a valuable addition to many recipes. It may seem strange to use cocoa powder in savory recipes, but remember, cocoa powder is the key ingredient in mole sauce. (And mole sauce is delicious!)

Here are a few ways you can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak.

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Weekday fun

See if you can implement a fun idea into every day of your week from the following list…

Anything from this list of 50 fun summer activities

Make some weatherproof butterflies

Try these Summer Solstice ideas

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DIY Sunday

Here are some herbs that repel flies. These would definitely be worth planting

Here are some really cute ways to make vertical planters out of pallets.

Make your own detox bath. (I bought the stuff for last week’s recipe but haven’t had time to really try it yet; give yourself at least 40 minutes for this!)

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Make some raspberry peach lemonade

Even though I missed Tasty Tuesdays this week, I still have a bunch of recipes and food-related stories to share with you, so I am posting them today. The first is this delicious-looking recipe for raspberry peach lemonade. It looks sooo good, and there are only four ingredients: agave nectar, raspberries, peaches, and lemon juice.

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