Transparency

When it comes to your company and being “transparent” I think it is important to be transparent.  To me it says that the company is trustworthy and has nothing to hide.  For those companies that you are sure if they are trustworthy or not, most likely you will automatically will think they are not trustworthy.  Humans naturally have trust issues and do not want to get “back stabbed.”  Being transparent tells your customers what kind of company you are.   That you are fun, humorous, serious or caring.  By being transparent you are showing the customer what type of company you are so that you are not misleading them. This helps the customer relate to you and your company.  This way they will know if you are the company they are looking for or if you are not what they are looking for at all.

Obama Video

this video got me thinking about how I want to use social media and the internet.

I think that I should make it available for users to use the social media that is convient for them. While making it logical to be using that type of social media. Social media can be used to update users about articles or upcoming special editions. It can also be used for customer service for users to address their problems and for the company to find issues that customers may have so that they can address it and fix it.  This is easier said then done, there would need to be someone who would be dedicaited to finding issues that need to be address and willing the do something about those issues.

One thing the video asked was how are you different from the competition? There are many health or fitness magazines out there. I believe mine is different because it targets the life style of those looking to exercise and eat better and also those looking for useful tips that is plausible for them to do. Another thing they addressed is finding out a client of your went with your competition and you didn’t try to get them to buy because they were not looking to buy. Social media helps in this way by keeping the client or customer up to date on what you are up to and when they are in the market you will be on their list.

more research

How Magazines Use Social Media to Boost Pass-Along, Build Voice

• On Twitter, “when people really like something, they join in bursts. With Facebook, people join slowly and steadily, but continue to join all the time.”
• “With a content brand, your business is mostly driving traffic to your site, but Twitter users don’t necessarily want to be driven to your site,” she says. “They want what they’re finding in those 140 characters to be useful.”

twitter:

50 Twitter Tools And Tutorials For Designers and Developers

How To: Run Multiple Twitter Feeds on the Same Page

Jetpack: has some useful widgets to add to wordpress including a twitter widget that allows you to view twitter feeds on the sidebar

Facebook:

32 Ways to Use Facebook for Business

How to Use Facebook for Business and Marketing

Facebook For Business.org – not much stuff to go off on this site but was useful in finding some useful links.

Social Plugins: plugins to use on your site where you can add a like button, activity feed, recommendations,like box, login button, registration, facepile, comments and live stream

GettyFans: total Facebook Marketing - this is a company that markets companies that want to market facebook. By looking at their portfolio it gave me a visual idea on facebook pages for companies

Facebook for Business: Opportunities and Limitations

Social Media

• 4 Myths About Social Media & Business
• Small Business News: Embracing Social Media
• The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration
• 4 Ways Social media is Changing Business
• 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses
• Social Media for Business – Who’s Doing it Well & How
• From SXSW: 5 new corporate rules for avoiding social media legal woes
• Live from SXSW: 5 rules for being funny on a corporate twitter account
• 8 Tips for Embracing Change in Social Media

Healthy?

For me it is difficult to stay healthy and keep eating healthy things. I see the delicious food and just cant help myself but to eat it. Since I have started to exercise more, I am trying to eat healthier. So my diet will be to eat healthier where i can and to eat those things more. Most people do diets where they are practically starving themselves and eating things they would never that are gross. Then when they get their desired weight or goal they stop and go back to their old ways, and they are back to were they started. I want mine to last and to stick with me for the long haul.

I will first start by eating only things I like and enjoy and eat those more. Those will not be the only things I will eat. I have decided that while at home, I will eat the healthier things. Then, when I go out to eat I will be eating almost what my heart desires. If I am going to pay money for it I am going to eat something good. I will try my best to cut out desserts, candy and soda. The occasional reward is ok, but only one in a while.

I will start by going to the grocery store and sticking to mostly healthy foods, fruit, the little vegetables I actually like, and snacks. I am a very picky eater, so for me this is a challenge on its own. I have decided to get bunches of fruit because I love fruit. I have also got the vegetables I actually like.  Now when it comes to salads, I can be picky. I have to slice Romaine lettuce myself to get the lettuce the way I like it. Most places you get a salad from the lettuce is browned and they sometimes serve iceberg lettuce, which to me is gross and it has no nutritional value its like water. Next I got the dressing, Caesar and vinaigrettes are good. I then grab a few ingredients I like to eat with my salad and some meat to spice the salad up. Thing of different way you can mix up the salad so it does feel like the same salad or it will get old and you won’t want to eat any of it.

Now for prepping the salad. I like to premix the lettuce and dressing so I am only dressing the lettuce and not all the ingredients when it is unneccessary. Then I add the ingredients to the top. I like to add Feta cheese, shredded parmesan cheese, croutons, bacon bits, etc. Then I like to add the meat if I have prepared any. Sometimes your salad will not need all these ingredients but something simple and minimal. I plan to make a caesar salad with salmon mixed in it. I love salmon and its good for you. So this will will be a healthy delicious meal for me.

Take the actual healthy things you like and amplify it!

FroYo

Just about everybody loves Ice Cream. Most of us tend to crave it and must go out and get some. Ice cream is great, except that it is not good for you. Lately it has been getting trendy for healthier options. One of which is frozen yogurt or “froyo” instead of ice cream.

Most go to the store to get ice cream, but where do you get frozen yogurt? You can get some at the store. The best way to go is to find one of the hundreds of frozen yogurt places around your town. These places have tons of flavors of yogurt to choose from. Along with a large selection on toppings to go with, such as fruits, sprinkles, candies and more.

There are two types of frozen yogurt places, self serve and one where they serve you. The one where you are served, you will go in and choose the items you want, usually have a choose between one or 2 toppings. If you want more, it will be an extra cost. In my opinion self serve is the best way to go. I love it! When you go in you get a cup and you will charged depends on the weight. When you go through the line first there will be a line of frozen yogurt machines and you can taste them to see if you like them. You can mix and  match which ever flavors you want. Next will be all the toppings and you can also mix and match to your desire. You can get as many of a topping or as many toppings as you want. Then when you are done, you put your cup on a scale and the price for your yogurt will appear.

Another alternative you could try, is to make your own frozen yogurt. This will need to be done by buying a ice cream maker. You can normally find recipes online or it will come with your ice cream maker. Basically you will need yogurt and will be adding a few other ingredients. The ingredients will need to be refrigerated for a while. The mixer bowl for your ice cream maker will need to be in the freezer for at least 8 hours. Here is a recipe for frozen yogurt from the Food Network:

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
• 2 cups plain nonfat or reduced-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• Fresh fruit or other toppings, for garnish

Directions

Whisk both yogurts, the sugar and corn syrup in a bowl until combined. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

 

For a soft consistency, serve right out of the ice cream maker. For a firmer texture, transfer the frozen yogurt to a covered container and freeze for up to 2 hours. Serve with assorted toppings.

 

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/almost-famous-frozen-yogurt-recipe/index.html

Sausage Cheese Balls

During Christmas break, I took a little road trip on a RV to Tennessee, where my grandparents live. While on the road my dad’s girlfriend made some sausage balls. They were the size a pretty good sized cookie. They didn’t turn out all that great. Later on at my grandparents house, I had a small marble sized sausage balls. Even though they had to be reheated, they were very good. I couldn’t stop eating them.

Later on I discovered that my grandma gave my dads girlfriend the recipe, so these both came from the same recipe.  They both used the same ingredients but my grandmas came out better. Maybe it was grandmas special touch.

I got the recipe from my grandma before I went back home, so that I could make these delicious sausage balls myself. I finally got around to making these sausage balls. on the recipe it even indicates to create marble sized balls. So, now I have come to the conclusion that the size of the sausage balls is very important.

The recipe is very easy to do. You will need 1Ib of sausage the kind in the tube that is not precooked or pre shaped. You will also need Bisquick mix, 3 cups and cheddar cheese shredded, I bought it pre shredded You will need to put a whole package or 2 cups of it in the mix. You need to put it all into a large bowl and mix it by hand together. All the ingredients need to be very well mixed expecially the sausage. Pre heat the stove to 350.  Next will come the most time consuming part. You will need to roll small marble sized balls and place them on the cookie sheet. You need to keep it in the stove until they turn a light brown, this will not take long at all. Then you pull them out and they are done. I rotated cookie sheets because it did not take long I had some that were done before I was done making all the mix into balls.

 

 

Whip together a meal!

Have you ever been low on money and hungry? Or just didn’t feel like going out to eat or grocery shopping? In times like these you need to find something you can quickly put together from things you may have in your cabinet.

First look in your cabinet for things you may have that could be combined to create a meal. I usually have rice or pasta in my cabinet. Most people always have bread or eggs. I also have canned vegetables. These are all things that can be used and combined to make a nice little meal.

Take the pasta or rice and combine it with any vegetables you may have laying around. If you have some sauce or meat, you should add it to the mix. If not go through your spice rack and add some butter with some of those sauces.

You can get creative with other things you may have in your cabinet that I do not have in mine. You could use other left overs and combine it with some of these items. But before calling it done, I would taste it to make sure it is good. If you don’t you may go to eat your food and discover it is nasty or bland. For me if I’ve decided I am done cooking and it doesn’t take right instead of fixing it, I tend to just don’t bother and don’t eat it.

Making the Bread

You can make bread with and without a bread machine. I am fortunate enough that I received one, a while back. This being said, the ingredients I will be using will be a little different than if you make it by hand, without a bread machine.

When making bread every ingredient you use matters. If you use bread flour it will make better bread with more protein, but however all purpose flour will work for most recipes. However, you should not use cake flour, the protein is not high enough. I found a simple bread machine receipe and I will be going over the ingredients. This recipe is very simple, that I found on allrecipes.com(http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/best-bread-machine-bread/Detail.aspx). For the most part all you are doing is putting all the ingredients together in the bread machine pan and letting the bread machine do all the hard work.

First you will need to buy the ingredients. Some of the ingredients you may already have in your house like white sugar, vegetable oil,and salt. You are also going to need a package of bread machine yeast. You will need to make sure the yeast is fresh. You are also going to need warm water(110 degrees F/ 45 degreed C). The waters temperature is very important, and should us a thermometer especially since it will be my first time making the bread. As I mentioned before, bread flour will give you more protein and a better bread. I also mentioned that all purpose flour can be used for some recipes, however this is not one of those. Since I do not have bread flour, I will need to purchase some at the store.

Now all I need to do is make sure I have a clean bread pan. Then add the warm water, sugar and one bread package yeast. Wait 10 minutes so that it can dissolve and foam. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the yeast; 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, teaspoon of salt and three cups of bread flour. Press the bread setting and press Start. The bread machine will do all the work. When it is done, I will have a new loaf of homemade bread. I can then let it cool, cut it up and have a slice. Last thing to remember is to, wash the bread pan to get all the bread crumbs off.

Here is the recipe:

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 (.25 ounce) package bread machine yeast
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

 

Directions

1. Place the water, sugar and yeast in the pan of the bread machine. Let the yeast dissolve and foam for 10 minutes. Add the oil, flour and salt to the yeast. Select Basic or White Bread setting, and press Start.

 

 

http://busycooks.about.com/od/howtobake/a/bread101.htm

Using a bread machine

A while back I got a Williams Sonoma Bread Machine from Freecycle. I have not touched it since I placed it on my counter in my kitchen. Since I have no idea how to use it, I think it is about time to figure it out.  From what I have gathered using a bread machine is the same as if you were to do it all by hand. Since I have not made bread by hand, I will be starting from the beginning.

First thing I should do is clean the bread machine. Don’t want any dirty or dusty bread. First what I need to do is take the pan out and wash it.Normally, I would need to make sure that any bread crumbs have been removed using a cloth wet with water and soap. Under no circumstances should any sharp or metal objects should be used. The pan is coated with non-stick and hard objects will scratch off the non stick. The paddle will also need to be soaked in soap water and cleaned before using. Clean the rest of the inside and maybe the outside of the bread machine with a wet cloth.

Every bread machine has different settings. Figuring out what things my bread machine can do will become beneficiary later. Since the bread machine does all the hard work for me I need to figure out what will go inside the bread machine. With the bread machine I will be able to add dry ingredients together and let the machine mix and cook the bread.

When using a bread machine you will need to know what kind of yeast you are using so that you can set the time correctly. Bread machine yeast and rapid-rise yeast are made for the bread machine since they become active faster. Bread machine yeast can be mixed with dry ingredients while Active Yeast must be dissolved in water first. To determine if your active-yeast is still usable you must proof it. To do so you will need to get a bowl and put 1 cup of warm water that is 110 degrees F. Then you will need to add 2 teaspoons of sugar and stir it to dissolve. You will then need to sprinkle 2 and half teaspoons of yeast on top. Let it sit for a few minutes then stir until dissolved. The bowl will need to be covered with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft- free place. After 5-10 minutes if the top does not turn creamy or foamy then there is no activity and should be thrown away and replaced with new yeast.

Cleaning:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2329724_clean-bread-maker.html

getting Started:

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5405354_do-bread-makers-work.html

Reciepe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Basic-Sourdough-Bread/Detail.aspx