Filosofi Memanah

Alkisah, di suatu senja yang kelabu, tampak sang raja beserta rombongannya dalam perjalanan pulang ke kerajaan dari berburu di hutan. Hari itu adalah hari tersial yang sangat menjengkelkan hati karena tidak ada satu buruan pun yang berhasil dibawa pulang. Seolah-olah anak panah dan busur tidak bisa dikendalikan dengan baik seperti biasanya.

Setibanya di pinggir hutan, raja memutuskan beristirahat sejenak di rumah sederhana milik seorang pemburu yang terkenal karena kehebatannya memanah. Dengan tergopoh-gopoh, si pemburu menyambut kedatangan raja beserta rombongannya.

Setelah berbasa-basi, tiba-tiba si pemburu berkata, "Maaf baginda, sepertinya baginda sedang jengkel dan tidak bahagia. Apakah hasil buruan hari ini tidak memuaskan baginda?"

Bukannya menjawab pertanyaan, sang raja malah beranjak menghampiri sebuah busur tanpa tali yang tergeletak di sudut ruangan. "Pemburu, kenapa busurmu tidak terpasang talinya? Apakah engkau sudah tidak akan memanah lagi?" tanya sang raja dengan nada heran dan terkejut.

"Bukan begitu baginda, tali busur memang sengaja hamba lepas agar busur itu bisa ?istirahat'. Jadi, ketika talinya hamba pasang kembali, busur itu tetap lentur untuk melontarkan anak panahnya.
... baca selengkapnya di Filosofi Memanah Cerita Motivasi dan Inspirasi Nomor 1

Thanks Giving Dinner Recipes

by Kalidas


Thanksgiving features food. It's a celebration of the Pilgrim's early successes in America, won through hard work to tame the land in what was for them a new world. It's a pretty standard menu. Turkey, sometimes ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls or bread, pumpkin pie and apple pie, and a variety of other trimmings adorn the holiday table. Families gather not only to celebrate the historic event, but just to catch up with everyone's lives. Thanksgiving dinner recipes can be quite different, as there are many ways to cook a turkey.

How about this recipe for a delicious appetizer? Move the pumpkin from the pie to the soup. Add butter and oil to a pan over medium heat. Add leaks to saute, only the white portion, until soft. Now throw in some pumpkin puree along with cloves, cinnamon, ground ginger and some salt. After that's all mixed, add 32 ounces of vegetable broth. Next comes brown sugar. Use low heat to simmer it for 10 minutes. Cream or half and half are optional, along with a pinch of cinnamon on top of each bowl. That sounds good.

A turkey can be fried instead of broiled. You may think it's greasy but it isn't. The oil is so hot it doesn't flow into the meat. Get a big drum and a propane burner, otherwise known as a deep fryer. A meat thermometer is also needed, along with a deep fry thermometer to check the oil for the correct temperature. Hot oil may spatter so do this in an open outdoor space. Heat the oil to between 325 degrees and 350 degrees F. The turkey takes about three minutes per pound to fry to about 170 degrees F in the breast. It's common to inject spices into the turkey during frying, but the dressing is usually not fried along with the turkey.

Try hazelnut pumpkin soup or a butternut squash stuffing. But there are other good appetizers for the meal. Cheese wrapped asparagus is delicious. This calls for both a sliced cheese and a soft cheese spread. One idea is swiss cheese slices with a softer blue cheese spread. Wrap the asparagus with the slices spread with the soft cheese, then bake until tender at 230C. Sure wrapping cheese around asparagus turns a pretty healthy food into something a little more fattening. Thanksgiving is a time for a little fun. So live it up.

Many more delicious Thanksgiving dinner recipes are available on the Internet.

Putting a modern twist on traditional Thanksgiving pie recipes

by Susan Hamilton


The fun begins at the food sorting process. You walk in with still warm dishes in hand, and you are told instantly the location in which your food will reside for the remainder of the day, like Thanksgiving neighborhoods. There is the main dish drive, the side dish street and canned congealed cranberry circle. However, your mind is already racing down the dessert highway.

You glance over the familiar offerings of pumpkin pie, pecan pie and something with meringue on top. Typically, I am a traditionalist and park myself near the pecan pie. A pecan pie that I will eat on all day, in varying slice sizes, depending on how full the tank is.

However, last year, my world was rocked by an unfamiliar addition to the usual suspects, a chocolate pecan pie. What? I resisted this mutant pie for most of the day, snubbing this anomaly for my traditional favorites. Until, with wide eyes, my grandmother asked if I had tried her chocolate pecan pie. An internal struggle brewed. I would never deny my lovely grandmother the yearly satisfaction of watching her grandchild enjoy her homemade pie, however this was new, different and in fact more fright than I had anticipated on the lazy November day of eating.

With her help, we cut a over sized slice of the darkly colored pie and with fork trembling, I gave it a taste.

It. Was. Delicious! The combination of chocolate and oven topped pecans was a scrumptious surprise. I ate the entire slice, and the drive home was a fidgeting, button endurance challenge.

So, now I am in the process of evaluating delicious alternatives to our tried and true Thanksgiving pies.

I have found quite a few recipes and am torn on which to try. There is an Apple-Pumpkin Pie, a Caramel Pumpkin Pie and a Bourbon Pecan Pie. I think I will go with the Bourbon Pecan Pie this year!

Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes Key to Keeping Calories in Check

by Jim Mackey


It's that time of year again. The time of year when calories are in total abundance and everyone is having some sort of holiday party or potluck dinner. You bring your favorite dish and hope that others are cooking healthy like you are trying to do. You know the days are coming when you'll have a house full of people and a fridge full of leftovers. You know it's ok to indulge once in a while, but having so much high calorie food on hand can only lead you to overeat. And then there are the gatherings. Around the holidays, offices, churches and schools all typically have some sort of gathering where they want to celebrate by having people bring food. The problem with this is you never know what everyone else is going to bring, and you never know how many calories are in each item.

If you're someone that's trying to lose weight, the holidays can wreak havoc on your diet. Calories are usually overflowing from holiday food. Some of the classic holiday dishes include macaroni and cheese, turkey, stuffing, ham, casseroles and desserts galore. One of the staples that might help dieters make it through the holidays is having healthy Thanksgiving recipes. Thanksgiving is the holiday that kicks off the holiday season, so starting off on the right foot can pave the way for healthy eating. Having some healthy Thanksgiving recipes at your disposal will allow you to enjoy some of your favorite dishes without the guilty feeling of blowing your diet. Having these recipes will also allow you to try some different things. There are certain dishes that are standard for Thanksgiving, but it never hurts to bring something new that will draw excitement.

Trying out a new healthy Thanksgiving recipe can make you the hit of your next holiday potluck. Most of your classic recipes can be made into healthy Thanksgiving recipes by simply switching out some of the higher fat key ingredients. For example, if you replace heavy cream and regular cheese with low-fat or skim milk and low-fat cheese, your macaroni and cheese receives an instant makeover. For cakes you can use applesauce in place of oil. By simply looking around you can find thousands of low-fat or healthy Thanksgiving recipes that you may have never tried before.

Select a few that sound interesting and you'll find yourself trying new things and wowing your friends and loved ones at your next potluck dinner. You might even find that by trying these new healthy Thanksgiving recipes, you have some new favorites. It's common knowledge that the holidays are the worst time of year to attempt to lose weight, but if you substitute just a couple of your traditional favorites with some healthy Thanksgiving recipes, you'll be well on your way to staying on track with losing weight. The holiday season doesn't mean you can't indulge. The important thing to remember is that Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day are each just one day. If you stick to limiting your indulgences to those specific days, you'll find it much easier to stay on track.

How To Make Healthy Thanksgiving Leftovers

by Blair Baxter


It's been said the average American eats an extra 3,500 calories at the annual Thanksgiving meal. For those of you who do not know, 3,500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound of fat. No wonder Thanksgiving is considered the unhealthiest meal of the year. Fear not, I'm here to show you how to your use leftover Thanksgiving turkey to build muscle and burn fat!

The Thanksgiving feast is amogst us again. When people think of this time of year, they think of heavy fat-laden meals followed by additional pounds on the scale. Now you can blame stuffing, mashed potatoes with loads of butter and gravy, and pumpkin pie for that, but leave the turkey out of it! Turkey is one of the staple foods of any fat loss program. Besides the fact it is mostly lean protein, it's one of those foods people don't mind eating cold which gives it an extra convenience factor as well. Just be sure to remove the skin to cut back on the fat calories.

So why is protein so important? For starters, protein is the building block for lean muscle tissue. The more lean muscle you have, the faster your metabolism or fat burning power. Individuals who perform strength training activities have a higher protein need than couch potatoes. It is recommended that protein should be consumed in adequate amounts every 2-4 hours to ensure the repair process of the damaged muscles from training. Protein is also the least likely macronutrient to be stored as body fat. The thermic effect of digesting protein is about twice the energy to digest carbohydrates and about six times that of dietary fat. So if there is any food choice that you can truly get away with overeating this holiday season, it will be turkey.

Another key benefit to eating turkey is that it is easy to prepare in bulk and thus will save you much needed time in meal planning and preparation during the busy holiday season. You can roast a big old turkey and then have tons of meal options for days. Just think of what you can do with all those Thanksgiving leftovers! To inspire your turkey consumption efforts I've put together some awesome better body recipes that you can create with turkey as your lean protein foundation. Enjoy!

Turkey Salad

Ingredients:

6-8 oz. Turkey Breast chopped into small cubes 1⁄4 red bell pepper 1⁄4 green bell pepper 1⁄4 red onion 2 Tbsp canola or olive oil mayo

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy over a bed of greens.

Makes one male serving and two female servings.

Turkey Cranberry Cream Cheese Roll-up

Ingredients:

6-8 oz. Sliced Turkey 1 Tbsp Fat Free Cream Cheese 1 Tbsp Dried Cranberries 1⁄2 Clove of Roasted Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste 2 Whole Grain Tortillas

Directions:

Soak cranberries in water for 20 minutes or microwave until soft if you are short on time. Mash the 1⁄2 clove of garlic. Mix cranberries, garlic, and cream cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the mixture into the inside of the tortilla(s). Add turkey breast. Fold up sides, roll up, and enjoy!

Makes one male serving and two female servings.

Turkey Medallions With Cranberry Glaze

Turkey Medallions: 6-8 oz. Turkey Non-stick spray Turkey Seasoning

Cut Turkey Breasts into small medallions, sprinkle lightly with seasoning. Reheat in a pan sprayed with non-stick oil on medium heat until lightly browned on both sides. Drip Cranberry glaze (below) over the medallions.

Cranberry Glaze: 1 Cups Dry white wine Turkey or chicken stock, as needed 1 1⁄2 Cups Dried cranberries 1⁄4 Cup of Pine nuts, toasted Pinch of Salt

Add 1⁄2 cup of white wine and 1⁄2 cup of turkey stock to pan. Add other 1⁄2 cup of turkey stock, cranberries, pine nuts and pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat until reduced in volume by half, about 4 cups.

Makes one male serving and two female servings.

Turkey Shepherds Pie

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed cooked turkey 3⁄4 cup turkey gravy 1 small can whole kernel corn drained 1 cup of chicken stock 1 cup of water 3 cups steamed cauliflower 2 cups celery, chopped 2 cups carrots chopped 1 onion chopped 2 cloves garlic minced 1 bell pepper, any color chopped Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. First you must make the gravy. Take the garlic, 1 cup of celery, carrots, onion, bell pepper, chicken stock, water, vegetables, salt and pepper to taste. Add to a pot, boil until vegetables are soft and blend in a blender or food processor.

Next, you will take the steamed cauliflower and mash it, or place it in a food processor until the consistency is like that of mashed potatoes.

Next, in a baking dish, layer the turkey, gravy, corn, remaining celery and mashed cauliflower. Bake, uncovered at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Makes 2 male servings and one female serving.

Turkey Florentine

Ingredients:

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach 2 tablespoons smart butter 1 cup cooked whole grain fettuccine 2 cups diced, cooked turkey 1 cup turkey or chicken stock 1 (8 ounce) package fat free sour cream and onion dip 1⁄2 teaspoon onion salt 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese Non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

Cook spinach according to package directions; drain. Stir in smart butter. Place noodles in a non-stick sprayed baking dish; top with spinach. Combine turkey, stock, onion dip and onion salt and spoon over spinach. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees F for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Turkey Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen green beans 6-8 oz. of cubed cooked turkey breast 1 can of organic cream of mushroom soup 2 cups Kraft all natural fat free cheese Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients into a casserole dish and bake for about 30 minutes or until completely hot. Makes one male serving and two female servings.