Are You Pining for a Great New Handbag?

Instead of a bag in a car, a car in a bag

Good Housekeeping and SheBuysCars have partnered on a giveaway of designer handbags.

When my oldest daughter graduated from college, my husband and I wanted to get her something special. I suggested her first ‘real’ pocketbook and he balked - what a terrible gift, he said.

Reader, she loved it. We gave her carte blanche to choose a bag and she even chose me as her shopping partner. It was a great day of mother / daughter bonding, and my husband got to share her joy when she came home with what she deemed the perfect designer bag.

The Toyota Camry looks great with a designer bag

Some parents mark milestone for their kids with a car, but Hallie didn’t even learn to drive till she was 19 (we live in New York City, and for much of her life didn’t even own a car) and when she graduated, she moved back to the city to work for a couple of years. A car would have been a ridiculous gift.

And I remember when I had my first job, a crummy, low-paying servitude publishing job, but my boyfriend (now husband) and I were couch surfing before it became a thing, so we had disposable income to blow on the more essential items, like travel and expensive handbags.

Good Housekeeping and SheBuysCars understand that pocketbooks and cars go, well, hand in hand. I mean, what woman doesn’t throw her car keys into her pocketbook, and then think about where to place said bag once she gets into the car?

The environmentally friendly Prius

The Toyota Camry is a great car for a style-conscious woman who doesn’t want to spend everything on her drive (maybe she wants to have a few bucks leftover for, say, a nice spring bag?). The car isn’t cheap; fully loaded, it’s in the mid-30s, but it offers a lot of luxury bang for the buck. It features soft leather seats, heated steering wheel, and a wireless charging pad so you don’t have to clutter up your car or handbag toting a power cord.

For the eco-conscious, the new Prius has many luxury touches too, along with upgraded technology and safety features - and you still get amazing mileage. So you don't have to feel guilty taking it to the mall, where you can shop for, you guessed it, a new handbag.

See these cars and more at the New York Auto Show, which runs from today through April 3. And be sure to enter SheBuysCars’ promotion with Good Housekeeping, giving away a handbag a day the entire time. Just take a picture of your handbag in your car (or a photo of with one you love at the car show and tweet or post on Instagram with the hashtag #GHDrives.

There is no purchase necessary, and you can only win one bag.

Oh, and as for my daughter? When she started grad school, we bought her the car.

Note: this is sponsored post. Opinions expressed are my own.

Brown Rice vs Basmati: Which is Better?

Basmati rice from The Real Co

When I was younger, convenience foods reigned and instant rice was a hit. This packaged, precooked rice was tasty and pretty disgusting, but rice didn't really shine in dishes back then; on Long Island in the 1970s, ethnic food was frowned upon.

Then my mother started making brown rice, but this was also punishment food; she made it with no seasoning, no even salt, and no one I knew even liked rice. It was just there.

But no one denied the health benefits of brown rice, and as a vegetarian, I learned that brown rice plus a bean was a complete protein (thank you Diet for a Small Planet!).

I recently sampled The Real Co aged basmati rice and I wondered why this rice was white, not brown. Since The Real Co promotes the benefits of its single-origin, organic, non-GMO products, I wondered why it had white rice, but it turns out that the aging process, which enhancing the flavor and bouquet of fine basmati rice, is done after the grain is de-husked.

Beer is best with curry

Basmati rice is highly aromatic and the basmati rice, from Pakistan, cooks up light an fluffy - and in only 10 minutes.

I used the basmati rice to accompany a curry.

And for ardent brown rice fans, a brown rice from Argentina will soon debut, along with quinoa from India.

Let the grain wars begin.

Simple Spinach Curry

4 teaspoons canola oil

1-14 oz. package of firm tofu, cut into 2" cubes

3/4 teaspoon of salt

1 onion, sliced thin in half-moons

1 red pepper cut into 1" thin strips

2 cloves of garlic, finely diced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely diced

1 teaspoon mustard seed

1 pound baby spinach

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1/4 teaspoon cumin

Cooked basmati rice

In a medium skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat. Add tofu and half of the salt. Cook for 6-8 minutes gently turning every 2 minutes until lightly browned. Transfer tofu to a separate plate and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and add remaining oil to the skillet pan. Add onions, garlic, red pepper, ginger and mustard seeds. Cook until onion is clear, about 5 minutes. Add spinach a handful at a time and cook until wilted through. In a small bowl mix together yogurt, curry, cumin and remaining salt. Temper yogurt by adding some of the spinach mixture until it is warmed through. Add yogurt to skillet. Add tofu; reduce heat to low and stir gently for 2 minutes.

Serve over warm basmati rice.

Do You Need Gorgeous Exercise Clothes?

Marika exercise outfit

Staying fit not only makes you healthy, it makes you look better. So beautiful exercise clothes can be just gilding the lily; if you already look good, ratty old clothes should be fine.

Except...

There is something empowering about pulling on a well designed workout ensemble, one that has been engineered specifically for exercise. And while I do feel those endorphin highs after a run, if I start out tugging on my shirt, or feel my running tights bagging at the knees, I get annoyed and then I have a terrible work out.

So I was pretty psyched to try out Marika's Jordan leggings. These black and gray leggings had mesh panels so my knees stayed cool. There is a little hidden pocket and the wicking material kept me dry.

I also got a wicking hoodie that coordinated nicely with the leggings and had those sleeves you could pull down over your hands. What was interesting about these was that when you pushed them up after your hands inevitably got hot, the sleeves didn't look weird. I have other running tops that pool around my wrists when I don't have them pulled over my hands.

Since I am training for my first marathon, these workout clothes were a great incentive to keep me on my work out program

Who Says Muffins Can't Be Healthy?

The Garden Lites chocolate muffin

Healthy muffins for travel, for kids, for hoarding at home.

In today's New York Times, there is a recipe for a healthy muffin, with whole grains and reduced sugar. While I love to bake, I know many people don't like to, or are too busy to light the oven, let alone buy all the ingredients to make these themselves.

But there is an even healthier, and easier option. Garden Lites sells frozen, vegetable-focused muffins that somehow taste as decadent as those from a coffee shop.

The Queens, NY company mades three varieties of muffins that all have vegetables as their first ingredient: Blueberry Oat, Banana Chocolate Chip and Chocolate. They are ideal for kids since they are a reasonable two ounces, not the gargantuan muffins at bakeries.

But they aren't just for children. They are great for anyone who needs breakfast on the go, packed with fiber and other nutrients.

Enjoy your muffin from your window seat

All of the muffins are made of 1/3 vegetables; those chocolate muffins have zucchini and carrots as the first two ingredients. I have made zucchini bread with just a few scattered chocolate chips in it and my kids gobble it down like any other sweet bread; zucchini has this magical ability to disappear in baked goods.

The Banana Chocolate Chip is equally kid friendly; though the Blueberry Oat may read too 'healthy' for children, I thought it was perfect for breakfast in the car.

The gluten, dairy and nut free muffins are sold frozen and you heat them in the microwave. You can also just bring a frozen one along and eat it when it defrosts; I took one on an early flight and was happy to have a much better meal than the bloated corn muffins I saw at the airport.

The Ultimate Fitness Challenge - Survivor!

The cast of Survivor

Survivor Kaoh Rong is the 32nd! season of this CBS show

One of the perks of exercising is looking better; another is feeling great. But imagine the ultimate benefit of of being fit - winning the Survivor competition and netting a cool $1 million.
I recently attended the premiere of the new season, Survivor Kaoh Rong, where host Jeff Probst and a couple of previous winners, Parvati Shallow and Stephen Fishbach, chatted about the show and the current crop of cast-aways.

Imagine this - you are on a remote, gorgeous island - in this case, in Thailand, with a bunch of strangers, all competing and strategizing to be the last one standing. I enjoyed my inaugural mud run, but this is way more intense - a grueling 39 days of competition.

Live streaming with Parvati Shallow, Jeff Probst and  and Stephen Fishbach

In this Survivor edition, the competitors are broken into three groups, or tribes: Brains, Beauty and Brawn. The one contestant who looked to be about my age (let’s just say, shall we, “of a certain age”) was in the Brains group but I loved Jeff Probst’s answer to a question about what group he would want to be placed in.

He said that he felt he would be equally at home in any group, and that most people would probably feel the same way. Though the one self-professed ‘skinny guy’ with Eugene Levy eyebrows questioned his placement in the Beauty tribe.

This reality show requires a mental toughness that could elude many contestants- in the first episode, a Brawn tribe member is reduced to tears when an insect burrows deep in her ear. The challenges in Survivor reminded me of the movie The Revenant, where Leonardo DiCaprio had to escape murderous fellow trappers, murderous native Americans, murderous French, extreme cold, a bear mauling and a premature burial. And that was in about the first 10 minutes.

Besides having to swim, dive, and haul a boat up a huge hill, the Survivor contestants had to put together a puzzle. So my crossword puzzle should really count towards my fitness regime.

Thanks to Beth Feldman and CBS Radio for this opportunity to meet real Survivors.

Vegetarian Frito Pie: Why Can't Super Bowl Food Be Healthy?

Frito Pie in Santa Fe

My southern friends brag about their trashy Frito Pie, which often consists of greasy meat chili dumped over a bag of chips, lots of high fat cheese and sour cream.

That won't fly in my vegetarian household. We enjoy our trashy food, but we have to have a few healthier twists.

When my kids were little, they loved the canned Health Valley chili. I developed a recipe based on the favor profile:

Vegetarian Chili

2 T olive oil

1 yellow onion - diced

2 cloves garlic - crushed

1 tablespoon salt

2 cup dried pinto beans, rinsed 

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 carrots, diced

1/2 C textured vegetable protein (TVP)

1 T cumin

Freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (more if your kids like spicy food)

In a large saucepan add olive oil and add diced onions. Cook until onions soften.  Continue cooking while adding pinto beans, crushed garlic and 4 C water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and stir in salt. Cook for 1 hour, covered, then add tomatoes carrots, TVP and cumin and cook till carrots and beans are almost tender, about 45 minutes.

Stir in pepper and cayenne to taste, and add more salt if needed.

Serve over brown rice, with a dollop of tofu sour cream if desired.

It's also good with guacamole.

For Frito pie, pour Fritos into a large baking dish (11 x 9)

Top with chili, grate low fat cheddar on top and dot with tofu sour cream. Bake for 10 min at 350, until cheese is melted.

What Parents Do When the Kids Go Away

Dog approaching WubbleX. 

My nest has been empty since September, though 2 of my kids came home for Thanksgiving. But we have a dog that (sort of) fills the void, and we've replaced our cereal shelf in the pantry with an overflow liquor cabinet.

I satisfy my urge to play by engaging the dog and we recently had good times with WubbleX, a ball that you inflate with helium. It looks like a giant bubble and I can just imagine how thrilled my kids would have been with this when they were little. 

She brought the ball into her already to filled bed.

Since it is filled with helium, WubbleX is for indoor play only - it will float away outside. Once you get it to optimal size, about 9 inches in circumference, you have to pull the straw used to inflate out and quickly cover the hole with a sticky patch. This is really a 2 person operation, and for adults only, but once we got the ball inflated, our dog chased it till she collapsed.

Our labrador is known for destroying her prey - er, toys - so we put the WubbleX away for those cold days when we don't want to spend hours in the park tossing her ball.

Whether you are playing with this with a child or a dog, don't let anyone play with this unsupervised. The ball is supposed to be quite durable, but I wouldn't trust a kid with it alone.

If the WubbleX starts to deflate, you can pump more helium in; we used up most of the can filling it the first time. You can buy the toy at Target or ToysRUs.

Note: this is a sponsored post. Opinions expressed are my own.