A Grown-Up Halloween Indulgence

Tweet

Pin It

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Everyone thinks being a kid on Halloween is the best - you get to dress up, go trick or treating with your friends, and collect bags full of free candy.

Sure, it's great. But I'd like to make a case for Halloween as an adult being even better.

Think about it - you still get to dress up, but now you have either (a) the skills to make a cool costume or (b) more than the $4.67 in loose change your piggy bank to buy a cool costume with.

I'm a belly dancer this year! And yes, I'm totally rocking the costume all day long.

You also still get to hang out with your friends, but instead of having to traipse about in the cold, soliciting candy from strangers, you can do it inside at a party with a nice ambient temperature (okay, okay, parties can get a little too hot).

And okay, the candy isn't free. But assuming you have some sort of job, or have had a job at some point, chances are that you have a few dollars to buy your own. And then you can get exactly what you want! It's all about quality over quantity - instead of collecting a bag full of cheap candy that tastes okay, you can order a few of your favorite treats that taste amazing!

I recommend Caveman Chocolates Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups. They're paleo, vegan, and - above all - amazingly delicious!

Every order has five packets of two delicious dark chocolate cups each.

The ingredients list is short and sweet. It's just 70% dark chocolate, almonds, golden honey, organic vanilla extract, and sea salt.

Certainly more wholesome than the generic half-stale chocolate bars of childhood Halloween hauls, and also a million times more delicious.

The chocolate is rich and dark and intense, but not too intense. It's sweet, but grown up.

The almond butter filling is nutty and the perfect amount of salty, just like a really high quality homemade almond butter.



Can we just take a moment to appreciate that amazingness?

Caveman Chocolates is a small company started by two brothers in Pennsylvania, who still make every batch themselves. Pretty cool!

Check 'em out. They make all of their chocolates by hand, so you know every piece is high quality and made with care!

Have a happy Halloween, everyone! Whatever you're doing tonight, be safe :) And don't forget to involve chocolate!

What's your favorite Halloween treat?

What are you doing this Halloween?

What is your favorite chocolate treat?

Read More...

Weekday Wisdom from the Ec Expert: Retirement Investments For Dummies!

Tweet

Pin It

I'm interested in a lot of things - writing, acting, blogging, social media, biology, research, travel, politics, international relations, business, fashion, etc.

Finance isn't one of them.

Unfortunately for me, and everyone else who isn't a finance whiz, it's very important to make smart financial decisions. Making smart financial decisions can mean the difference between a golden age retirement, full of travel and gardening, and not being able to retire at all. Yikes!

Don't let that be you.

Retirement seems far away, especially for those of us who are fresh out of college, but now is the time to start saving for retirement.

Don't believe me? Read on for a straight-forward explanation of why you should worry about your retirement funds now!

***

Imagine two people trying to save for retirement. 

Alice invests $5,000 each year from ages 20 to 29 and then proceeds to not contribute a cent more (not what I would recommend). 

Bob socks away $5,000 every year starting at age 30 but keeps contributing right up until retirement. 

Who has more money in the bank when both retire at age 65, assuming a (reasonable) 7% rate of return? No peeking!

Believe it or not (and I know a lot of people who didn’t until I showed them), Alice is ahead of Bob for retirement!

For everyone who isn't Ben and doesn't love Excel - just focus on the highlighted fields. Alice ends up with more!

Alice contributed only $50,000, but ends up with almost $800,000. Bob contributed $180,000, but retired with a little under $750,000. What happened here?

The key effect here was compounding interest. 

By the time Bob started contributing to his retirement account, Alice’s nest egg was already earning thousands of dollars per year in investment returns. Even though he contributed over three times as much in total, he couldn’t catch up to her early start. 

(Bob’s contributions might weigh more, but his nest egg doesn’t).

In this case, the tortoise and the hare isn’t quite right. 

Alice’s hare fell asleep on the track at age 30 and still won the race! Slow and steady is fine, but it works best if you start early. Every bit counts, and the earlier bits count the most. In fact, by the time Alice retires, the $5,000 she saved at age 20 is now worth over $100,000! 

The $5,000 Bob saved at age 65 is worth, well, $5,000. I bet he wished now that he’d picked her plan!

So get saving, and get your money working for you! It may seem silly to be worried about retirement at age 20, but whatever age you’re at is a great time to start if you want to avoid worries further down the road. 

Your future self will thank you, and be happy that you were so clever when you were younger.  

And, just for those who’d like to see the answer to my question, here are the trajectories of our two guinea pigs’ nest eggs:

In my next columns I’ll cover useful tools for budgeting and how to invest your retirement savings for the long haul (the only way to do it!). 

***

^{Ben Cohen was born in Washington, D.C. and majored in economics at Harvard University. He now works full-time in risk analysis and does academic research on the side. He loves science fiction, sushi, and efficient long-term investing.} 

^{How are you preparing for your retirement?}

^{What finance strategy do you not understand?} 

Read More...

Celebrating National Non-GMO Month with GMO-Free Cookies!

Tweet

Pin It

I love science. In fact, I majored in biology at Harvard. That said, I don't particularly have the desire to eat science experiments.

So GMO foods? Not really my thing.

A lot of people feel the same way, so October is national month to consciously avoid GMOs! It's really not as hard as you might imagine - it doesn't mean you have to go all organic or you can only eat hemp seed shakes and fruit salad (as yummy as those both are).

It's also not difficult to get kids on board! There are lots of delicious non-GMO snack foods, if you look for them. I really like Mary's Gone Crackers Love Cookies!

They come in four flavors, of which I've tried (and loved) the chocolate chip and the double chocolate cookies.

I know, right. I've tried the two chocolate ones - big surprise.

For those who don't like chocolate (how is that a thing?) there are the n'oatmeal raisin and the gingersnap cookies! Why N'oatmeal? These cookies, all four flavors, are gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, nut-free, and GMO-free.

They're healthy, lunchbox-friendly, allergy-friendly, and delicious!

The cookies are made with superfoods, like chia seeds, quinoa flakes, a whole grain gluten free flour blend, and coconut palm sugar.

They're crunchy cookies that are the perfect amount of sweet and both of the chocolate cookie flavors (even the chocolate chip) are very, very chocolatey.

I love it! They're also buttery-tasting, even though they're vegan, and crisp, even though they're gluten-free.

Mary's Gone Crackers did a great job with these! I give them a thumbs up and would definitely include them in C's lunchbox as a healthy non-GMO treat that she can take with to her nut-free cafeteria without worry. Yum and yay!

How are you celebrating National Non-GMO Month?

Do you pay attention to GMOs in your foods?

Are you concerned about GMOs?

Read More...

A Cheesecake Green Smoothie

Tweet

Pin It

I love green tea.

Like love green tea.

It's energizing. It's soothing. It's delicious! Green tea is my favorite warm beverage by a long margin and no other type of tea has yet to come in even spitting distance of my love for green tea.

So when there's an Indian summer, or when the heating comes on too high too early, and I don't want to be warmed even more by a warm beverage, matcha is great. It's energizing and delicious, just like green tea, but can be prepared just as well with cold water as with hot!

I recently discovered Red Leaf Tea and they're my new tea obsession. Not only is their matcha high quality, but it's available in all sorts of absolutely delectable flavors!

I tried three really scrumptious flavors. My favorite to drink by itself was the Caramel Matcha, though the Belgian Chocolate was great, too.

But the Cheesecake Matcha?

Oh my gosh, it made SUCH a mean green smoothie.

Like addictively delicious, sweet, scrumptious, way too good for reality, mean green smoothie.

Just blend a teaspoon of Red Leaf Tea Cheesecake Matcha with a very ripe banana, one cup of vanilla soy milk, a scant tablespoon of agave nectar, and a few ice cubes. That's it!

It's so good.

What's your favorite warm beverage?

Do you like flavored teas?

Have you ever had a matcha smoothie?

Read More...

Review and GIVEAWAY - Enjoy Life Not Nuts! Seeds & Fruit Mix

Tweet

Pin It

Want a snack that's salty, sweet, and crunchy all at once? Want it to be school lunchbox-friendly, in days when many cafeterias are going nut free to avoid dangerous allergy situations?

Enjoy Life Not Nuts! Seed and Fruit Mixes fit the bill perfectly!

They come in two varieties, Beach Bash and Mountain Mambo, both of which are entirely free of peanuts (as well as any other nights!) and all eight of the most common allergens.

Both varieties are delicious and available in both a larger 6oz bag for multiple occasion snacking and an individual pack for convenience!

The Beach Bash features sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried pineapple, dried apricots, and cranberries for a tropical-flavored treat that will warm you right up as the winter approaches and sunny 85 degree afternoons become a distant memory.



The Mountain Mambo is a throwback to old school trail mix, with dark chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and dried fruits - but made allergy friendly!

They're healthy and delicious snacks for a quick pick-me-up at any time of day. Yum!

But don't just take my word for how great these snacks are - try them yourself! We're giving away two big 6oz bags, one of each flavor, and two individual packs, one of each flavor, to one lucky winner!

You have until midnight on the 28 (next Tuesday) to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Good luck!

Read More...

Crispy Green Convenience

Tweet

Pin It

We're well into fall now and into the busy grind of back-to-school and back-to-work.

As schedules pick up and get crazier, it's useful to have some yummy, healthy snacks that you can keep in your handbag for emergencies!

After all, no one wants to deal with Hangry.

My recent favorite handbag staple, along with the usual granola bars and such, are Crispy Green fruit bags!

They come in seven different varieties (apple, pineapple, banana, cantaloupe, mango, Asian pear, and tangerine), but all the varieties are delicious.

And totally healthy! They use high quality fresh fruit and dehydrate it carefully so that it's really just a one-ingredient healthy fruit snack, like the namesake fresh fruit!

The Asian Pear consists only of Asian pears, the tangerine of only tangerines, the banana of only bananas, and so on.

But unlike keeping fresh fruit in your bag, these won't spoil, won't bruise, won't smush and cover your phone in smushed banana, and aren't messy, loud, or smelly to eat.

AKA they're the perfect convenient snack!

I was really pleasantly surprised by the banana (TRY IT) and the pineapple was also one of my favorites. They're so flavorful and sweet, but always without added sugar!

You can find them in these stores or order online!

What's your favorite fresh fruit?

What's your favorite dried fruit?

What's your favorite healthy snack on-the-go?

Read More...

Better Brunching: Easy Spinach Quiche Recipe

Tweet

Pin It

Brunch is a great social occasion and one of the best meals of the weekend!

But it can be pricey. And eating out requires you to get dressed and go out in public. That's generally a good thing, but let's be honest - after a Saturday night of hard partying, the last thing you want to face is the crowded NYC subway or slow LA traffic.

You just want food.

For Sundays when you'd like to save some money, get your food without leaving your house, or just show off your inner domestic goddess, here's a quick and easy quiche recipe!

Easy Spinach Quiche

Serves Six

* 2 Tbsp Margarine
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 10 oz bag frozen spinach
* 1 unbaked pie crust (I used a Harris Teeter brand 9" deep dish frozen crust)
* 2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
* 5 eggs, beaten
* 1/4 tsp. salt
* 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
* 1/4 c. fresh grated parmeson cheese

1) Preheat oven to 350F.

2) Melt margarine in a large pan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and frozen spinach, stirring occasionally. Cook until all the water from the frozen spinach has evaporated.

3) Mix 1.5 c. of the cheddar cheese with the eggs and spices in a large bowl. Add the vegetable mixture from the pan, mix well.

4) Pour eggy filling into the crust.

5) Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese and the parmesan cheese on top.

6) Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until center has set.



7) Cut into sixths and serve warm - or cold! This is also great as leftovers later on in the day, so it's perfect for a Sunday.

Brunching out is fun now and then, but it's just as fun to try doing it yourself sometimes!

What's your favorite thing to make for brunch when you have guests?

What percentage of the time do you go out vs. stay in for brunch with friends?

What's your favorite kind of quiche?

Read More...

Koochikoo - the Cutest Cookies Review

Tweet

Pin It

I would choose sweet over savory any day, but sweet tends to be less healthy than savory.

After all, sugar isn't known for being stomach-friendly in large amounts, nor is it particularly good for your skin, energy levels, or even long-term mood.

Koochikoo Cookies are all the sweet of normal cookies, but without sugar. They're also free of artificial sweeteners and thus actually healthy, as well as free of weird aftertastes (unlike most other sugar-free cookies).



Instead of weird chemicals, they're sweetened with monk fruit and organic agave inulin!

They come in small bags of about four servings each and each serving is multiple cookies, because the cookies are small rounds.

They're nice crunchy cookies and perfectly sweet and rich!

My favorite are definitely the Blissfully Chocolate Brownie Cookies, because they're just soooo chocolatey (they're way more intensely chocolatey than they look). I love chocolate!



Another added nutrition bonus (since the taste alone will more than sell these with kids and really anyone) is that the cookies are made with whole wheat flour!

They're certified vegan, made with organic ingredients, non-GMO, verified kosher, and an excellent source of fiber. YUM.

I'm their new biggest fan, because they're really making healthy delicious. As it should be!

Which flavor sounds best to you?

Do you prefer chewy or crunchy cookies?

Do you like all chocolate cookies or chocolate chip cookies better? All chocolate, but with chocolate chips too (like these), are the best IMO.

Read More...

Weekend Wisdom from the Ec Expert: Financial Planning

Tweet

Pin It

There are many harsh realities that you're hit with once you graduate:

You can't 'game' your work schedule like you could your class schedule - bye-bye, 10am day starts.

You can't stay up to all hours of the night and be fine (see above).

If you forgot to go grocery shopping, there will be no food in your kitchen. This isn't a magically self-replenishing dining hall, like you had at school.

The food mentioned above? It's expensive. Especially if you live in a major city where the supply-demand trade-off is working against you.

It doesn't have to be that dramatic, however, if you're smart about your money! Since we could probably all use some lessons in basic personal finance, I've enlisted a finance guy to teach us the basics!

Ben Cohen was born in Washington, D.C. and majored in economics at Harvard University. He now works full-time in risk analysis and does academic research on the side. He loves science fiction, sushi, and efficient long-term investing. 

***

Saving is important, right? I think everyone can agree that putting a bit away for the future is a good idea. But where do you start? IRA? 401k? Stocks? CDs? There are a lot of odd combinations of letters and numbers flying around, but there’s one thing you probably need to pay attention to first. And it’s got a pretty simple name, too.

The EMERGENCY FUND. Some prefer to call it a “rainy day” fund.

Sounds pretty dramatic, right? But it’s pretty straightforward: unexpected things do happen!

First, your income might drop.  Workers are changing jobs more often, and companies just aren’t made the way they once were. On the upside, we get to try new things! On the downside, sometimes we have to whether we want to or not…

And if that happens, it might take a little while to find your place in the working world again. Here’s where an emergency fund is handy. Your emergency fund will keep the rent or mortgage paid up, the lights on, and food on the table.

For those of us who are visual learners, an emergency fund is the financial equivalent of this guy's gymnastic skills.

On the other hand, your expenses might be higher than usual. Medical costs are a common culprit here. Unfortunately, even the “invincible millennials,” as the media likes to call the 20-somethings who opt out of all the insurance options, can still definitely run into trouble. So, you might suddenly find yourself spending a lot more money than you expected while your income has stayed the same (also really not so fun). 

Speaking of which, joining your company’s insurance plan (or an outside one from an established Fortune 500 company like Aflac), can really help protect your financial future.

Insurance can dramatically reduce the cost of healthcare and helps set up a line of defense even before you get to the emergency fund. Aflac offers additional voluntary insurance to help policyholders focus on recovery not the state of their finances (and has built a stellar reputation doing so over nearly six decades). Plus, the company's policies can also provide cash benefits to cover living expenses during covered events, giving you additional flexibility in your spending.

While it might feel a nice now to have those extra few bucks a month, you’ll be really unhappy if you end up needing that insurance after all. Talk about adding (financial) insult to injury!

Not cool, man.

As a result, experts recommend putting together an emergency fund of at least three to six months of living expenses.

The first step, of course, is to figure out how much you spend in a month!  You can do this a variety of ways, from checking the spending from your accounts to using an app like Mint (which I’ll cover in detail in a later post).  

Figure out what part of this you need to spend and what part you can cut out to reduce your spending if you have to. I’m not saying you should stick to rice and beans for three months, but it might be helpful to cut back a bit on the eating out!

Once you’ve got your target number, start putting money away! Nothing fancy here, please. A simple savings account will do just fine.

The whole point is that you probably won’t know when you’ll need to use it, so you’ll want to be able to access the money on short notice.  Get your emergency fund started and in my next post I’ll discuss another big tool in financial planning: investing for retirement.

***

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Read More...

#TasteSilkAlmond - For Free!

Tweet

Pin It

Do you know what one of the main reasons people who 'dislike' healthy foods don't like the aforementioned healthy foods?

It sounds weird. 

Wait a minute - 'sounds' weird? As in, you don't know what it tastes like?

Well, no...



Sometimes the biggest hurdle really is just giving something a try! Whether it's taking the first bite of an acai bowl (oh. my. goodness.) or taking the first sip of kombucha (you either love it or you hate it) it's ridiculous to say you don't like something that you've never tried.

In my house, we drink a lot of milk and soy milk. We don't drink a lot of almond milk, however. I am a big fan of almond milk, even more so than soy milk or dairy milk, so I convinced little C to give almond milk a try.

We bought a carton of Silk vanilla almond milk and she was a little skeptical about it, but ended up being a really good sport and giving it a genuine try.

C is lucky to be an all-around healthy girl, with no allergies or intolerances that we know of, but a lot of kids aren't. 

Some kids have soy allergies (there goes the soy milk) and some have lactose intolerance (especially among ethnic kids - my own mild lactose intolerance is testament to that!), so there goes the dairy milk. Just because there are intolerances doesn't mean that their nutritional requirements are at all reduced.

That's why soy-free, dairy-free almond milk is a great option for meeting those calcium and protein needs in a healthy way!

But would the 'strange' new drink pass the kid taste test?

It did! 

C made this face after trying the almond milk:

Her immediate reaction was "this is good!"

Yes, yes, that something her kale-pushing big sister recommends could be delicious is clearly surprising. Moving on...

C enjoyed the almond milk and asked if we can have it more often. She said it was just the right amount of sweetness and that it didn't taste weird at all.

Our mom, a huge soy milk fan (but loather of rice milk) really liked it, too. She enjoyed the flavor a lot and loved how "silky smooth" it is. Fitting, since it's Silk Almond Milk! She also really enjoyed how refreshing it was, compared to dairy milk.

Do you want to try Silk almond milk - for free? Sign up for the eNewsletter at silk.com/signup and get a free coupon to try Silk!

Have you tried Silk vanilla almond milk yet?

What's your favorite milk (dairy or non-dairy counts)?

What new thing have you tried recently?

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

Read More...

How to Have A Happy (Diabetic) Halloween

Tweet

Pin It

Halloween marks the beginning of the glorious long 'holiday season' that's really more of a sugar-saturated three month stretch than anything else.

But what if you can't have sugar? Does that mean no treats? One of my little sister's friends is a very active, very healthy ten-year-old - except that she has Type 1 Diabetes. Does that mean she can't indulge in a delicious chocolate bar?



Luckily, it doesn't!

Now more than ever, there are alternatives for those with dietary restrictions (or who simply choose to eat following specific diets - like a low sugar diet). Have a restriction doesn't mean that you can't enjoy everything that everyone else does!



LC Foods Decadent Dark Chocolate Bars are an awesome alternative to your traditional diabetic-unfriendly chocolate candy.

They're even yummier than Hershey's, in my opinion, because they're so creamy and the thick, individually wrapped bars are perfect for getting a nice mouthful of creamy dark chocolate.



Best of all, unlike many sugar-free chocolates there's no weird secondary taste or aftertaste. That's because there are no artificial sweeteners!

Before you run in the opposite direction - no, these are not bitter bars. They're perfectly sweet and delightful! But instead of being sweetened with Splenda or maltitol or another artificial chemical sweetener, they're sweetened naturally with erythritol!



Win!

For those who prefer lighter chocolate (travesty!) there's also a milk chocolate variety.

You can also try making something of your own, if you're more a baked chocolate fan.



I don't mind a great brownie myself.

Have you tried these chocolates?

What's your favorite kind of candy?

What are you going to dress up as for Halloween?

Read More...