Hot Breakfast Hotels

It seems that you can't get anything for free; especially a hot meal while travelling. That has begun to change. For the weary, famished traveller hot breakfasts are now becoming less rare at hotels. It's always great to start your day full and satisfied. Since airlines have scaled back considerably when it comes to in-flight meal options, its worth the time to consider a hotel that will feed you a hearty meal. It is, as they say, the most important meal of the day. Here are 12 hotels that are picking up the airlines slack and offering their guests free hot breakfasts with their stay.

Hilton

• Embassy Suites – boasting their cook-to-order omelets.
• Hampton Inn – featuring eggs, bacon, sausage and waffles as well as the continental breakfast items. There are also On-the-Run breakfast bags for travelers with a tight schedule.
• Homewood Suites – offering a full free breakfast with signature dishes. These include the warm Italian Countryside Farmhouse Frittatas and Orchard Eye Opener Cheese Omelets.

Holiday Inn

• Holiday Inn Express – serving guests a full free breakfast bar, the Free Express Start Breakfast Bar. Plus, they allow guests the option to take their meal to go.
• Staybridge Suites – includes Wolfgang Puck Coffee in their hot breakfast buffet.

Marriott

• Residence Inn – offering guests scrambled eggs, egg burritos, waffles, yogurt parfaits and even turkey bacon at select locations.
• SpringHill Suites – serving guests a free hot breakfast bar.

Wyndham

• Hawthorne Suites – wakes guest up with several hot dishes including eggs, bacon or sausage, French toast, pancakes.
• Wingate by Wyndham – features a full breakfast with Belgian waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes.

Carlson

• Country Inn and Suites – The Be Our Guest Breakfast selections vary by location, but could include waffles, scrambled eggs, or biscuits and gravy. The menu may also feature items like crispy bacon, savory sausage, or hard-boiled eggs, plus breakfast breads, fresh fruit, cereal and yogurt.

LQ Management

• La Quinta Inn & Suites – make-your-own waffles, breakfast pastries, cereals, juice and coffee are all featured with the Free Bright Side Breakfast.

Choice Hotels

• Comfort Inn – offers guests the Comfort Sunshine Breakfast. It includes hot, fresh waffles and more.

The Dukan Diet

If you are like me- like food, want to stay healthy and keep fit- then I am sure you have heard about the new diet that is about to make it's official debut in America. I've done my fair share of dieting- from Atkins to South Beach to Weight Watchers, etc. And that's just naming a few. Never have I been able to keep the weight off as I have by just MOVING my body everyday. I never in my wildest dieting dreams (NEVER EVER) thought that I would be living in the body I am right now. I have met and exceeded all the goals I had originally set in place. Now I aim higher- see post about Jennifer Aniston's abs. :) I eat pizza, I eat pasta, I eat ice cream. I can't even tell you that I do it in moderation- cuz I don't. Exercise every day has made a difference in my life. Anyway, I will get off my soapbox now. Lets talk Dukan.

The Dukan Diet is a French-based weight-loss plan created by Dr. Pierre Dukan. The diet's plan is for you to eat meals high in protein in a four-cycled program.

As the Dukan Diet has gotten more popular (celebs such as Kate Middleton, Gisele Bundchen and Jennifer Lopez have been linked to the diet) is has been criticized for being another 'fad diet' and one that could be dangerous because of how strict the guidelines are.

The Dukan Diet is comprised of four phases (four cycles are: Attack, Weight Loss, Stabilization and Cruise) that cycle the kinds of protein and carbs you eat. The reason for this cycling is to get your body to burn your existing fat.

You could expect to lose about 3 to 5 pounds a week on the Dukan Diet.

As for what you can eat, it does allow for a few starchy carbs as long as they are low glycemic vegetables like lettuce, spinach, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes and broccoli. Plus, oat bran should be consumed each day (i.e. there's how you get your fiber) and you just need to see which phase you are in to see how much you need to eat.

Like many programs, there is a Dukan Diet book and website where you can purchase all the info on what the diets is and how to follow it.

What's To Like...you will lose weight if you follow the diet, it could help to jump-start your metabolism and I like how they give you a daily exercise plan.

Concerns...the strict eating phases will, most likely, cause you to gain weight right back after you stop the diet. It could be dangerous for some with medical and health conditions. If you are considering trying the Dukan Diet, please talk to your medical professional. We all need to be safe about how we diet.

Overall, the Dukan Diet is another high protein weight loss plan that cycles you back and forth between a protein-based diet that allows for certain kinds, quantities and frequencies of carbohydrates. Yes, we've seen this before.

Thanks to it's celeb connections, it's getting a lot of attention. In my opinion, there are way better alternatives- like physical movement. This diet is not a "lifestyle" diet where you can continue to eat a certain way and lose weight. I would say this diet it good for someone who wants to lose weight quickly but I have concerns about eating high-protein diets and the affect on the body long-term.

Veganomicon

This is not a food blog, by any means. There are tons of people out there that have a lot more time on their hands that give the world a much better, more thorough look into recipes and cooking. That, however, does not negate the fact that I love to cook and am a health conscious person.

Today in the kitchen at work, a coworker was heating her lunch. She's a vegan and the meal she was making smelled mysteriously like Sloppy Joes. I built my turkey sandwich about 2 feet down the counter top from where she was building 2 generous open-faced sloppy joe sandwiches. I had to call her out. The mixture looked and smelled so much like the real thing that there was NO WAY this could be anything else.

To my surprise, it is a completely 100% vegan recipe from Veganomicon. A cookbook, and as I have been informed, a vegan cooking bible. The recipe looks easy and the nutritional information- VERY appealing. My coworker explained how it "tastes amazingly like the real thing" and "how easy it is to freeze and reheat". Alright, you've got me- I'm sold on vegan "Snobby Joes".

Snobby Joes from Veganomicon

60 Minutes to Prepare and Cook

Number of Servings: 5

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked lentils

4 cups water

1 tblsp olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, small dice

1 green bell pepper, small dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tblsp chili powder

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce

1/4 cup tomato paste

2-3 tblsp maple syrup

1 tblsp prepared yellow mustard

Directions

1. Pour the lentils and water into a small saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil; once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat and simmer for ~ 20 minutes, until the lentils are soft. Drain and set aside.

2. About 10 mins before the lentils are done, preheat a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion and pepper in the oil until softened (7 mins). Add garlic and saute for one minute.

3. Stir in lentils, chili powder, oregano and salt. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add maple syrup and mustard. Heat through.

4. Turn off the heat and let the pot sit on the warm burner for approx 10 minutes so that the flavors can meld.

Manhattan Microstudio

By choosing a studio that measures just 12 feet by 7 feet, Felice Cohen can afford to live in Manhattan’s Upper West Side where apartments rent for an average of $3,600 per month. She pays just over $700 for her 90-square-foot microstudio.

Granted, she had a bit of a panic attack the first night when she woke up in the loft bed with the ceiling 23 inches from her face. But she’s grown accustomed to the small space and now when she goes back to her childhood home she misses its coziness.

“I think a lot of people have a lot of space that they’re not using. I grew up in a place where my bedroom was 17 feet by 17 feet with two walk-in closets that combined where almost the size of this apartment that when I go home now I go in the closet just to feel like I’m back in New York.”

In this video, Felice shows us her tiny kitchen (toaster oven, hot pot and mini fridge), the toilet where she bumps her knee and her now-cozy lofted bed.

I am all about saving money, especially when the rent is outrageous as it is in NYC. However, I can't see myself being okay with only this much room. IKEA makes it look easy, as does Felice- yet I just can't shake the feeling of being trapped when I watch this.

Cars and Incredibles BluRay Deal

I am a big advocate of getting animated movies for children as gifts. They can get so much use out of these movies and parents are often entertained as well. Here is a deal from Frugal Coupon Living-

Cars and Incredibles Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs will be released tomorrow, April 12th.  They will both contain a movie ticket to see Cars 2 in theaters!

*Note: You do have to have a copy of the DVDs of both of these movies to print these coupons. I did not realize that previously.

Use ‎786936734041 Cars & ‎786936244250 Incredibles as UPC codes to get this deal.

Head to Best Buy for this AWESOME deal:

	Cars Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack $24.98 Incredibles Blu-ray/DVD combo pack $24.98 Get $10 off instantly wyb them together $10 Incredibles printable $8 Cars printable = $21.96 Get 2 movie tickets to Cars 2 worth $8.50 each =$4.96 for both movies!

*Don’t forget to enter your codes on Disney Movie Rewards to get 250 points!

Keep Gas Costs Down

As I was sifting through my usual reads this morning, I ran across an article in USA Today on gas prices. It's insane and personally, my gas budget - which was very liberal just a month ago - feels like it needs to be re evaluated. Here is a blurp-

"With the price of gas averaging $3.77 a gallon Monday, there are signs that Americans are cutting back on driving, reversing a steady increase in demand for fuel.

Gasoline sales have fallen for five weeks, first time that has happened since November, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending at 140,000 service stations nationwide.

Before the decline, demand had increased for two months. And some analysts expected that trend to continue because the economic recovery is picking up, adding 216,000 jobs in March.

 'More people are going to work,' said John Gamel, director of gasoline research for MasterCard. 'That means more people are driving and they should be buying more gas.'

Instead, about 70% of the nation’s major gas-station chains say sales have fallen, according to a March survey by the Oil Price Information Service. More than half reported a drop of 3% or more — sharpest since the summer of 2008, when gas soared past $4 a gallon."

It seems that gas prices just keep rising these days. I thought that it wold be appropriate to post some tips on how to "save" gas by driving smarter. There are tons of little tips out there- here are just a few.

Avoid idling. While idling, your car gets exactly 0 miles per gallon while starting the car uses the same amount as idling for 6 seconds. Park your car and go into the restaurant rather than idling in the drive-through. Idling with the air conditioning on also uses extra fuel. Also, avoid going so fast that you have to brake for someone. Whenever you brake, you waste the gas it took to get going that fast.

Plan your trips in advance. This can prevent wasting fuel and wasting time. Plan to use alternative routes. Often back roads can prevent you from stopping at traffic lights and more importantly sitting in traffic jams. Try to schedule your trips and errands when traffic is lighter.

Use a global positioning system (GPS) to help you navigate and find the fastest and shortest distance to your destination. Avoiding hills and stops will increase your gas mileage.

Drive at a consistent speed. Avoid quick acceleration and hard braking. Cruise control will keep you at a constant speed, even when going up and down hills.

Avoid stops. If approaching a red light, see if you can slow down enough to avoid having to actually stop (because you reach the light after it is green). Speeding up from 5 or 10 miles per hour will be easier on the gas than starting from full stop.

Anticipate the stop signs and lights. Look far ahead; get to know your usual routes. You can let up on the gas earlier. Coasting to a stop will save the gasoline you would otherwise use maintaining your speed longer. If it just gets you to the end of a line of cars at a red light or a stop sign a few seconds later, it won't add any time to your trip. Ditto for coasting to lose speed before a highway off-ramp: if it means you catch up with that truck halfway around the curve instead of at the beginning, you haven't lost any time. In many cities, if you know the streets well, you can time the lights and maintain the appropriate speed to hit all green lights. Usually this is about 35 to 40 MPH.

Maintain a safe following distance. Don't stick to the bumper of the car directly in front of you. You will brake more and accelerate more to keep that unnecessary and dangerous narrow gap. This also gives you a lot more room to play with when you are timing traffic signals. Likewise, ignore tailgaters. They will tailgate you whether you go the speed limit, or 100MPH over the speed limit. Allow them pass when it's convenient.

Slow down. Air resistance goes up as the square of velocity. The power consumed to overcome that air resistance goes up as the cube of the velocity. Rolling resistance is the dominant force below about 40 mph. Above that, every mph costs you mileage. Go as slow as traffic and your schedule will allow. Drive under 60-65 since air grows exponentially denser, in the aerodynamic sense, the faster we drive. To be precise, the most efficient speed is your car's minimum speed in it's highest gear, since this provides the best "speed per RPM" ratio. This is usually about 45 to 55 miles per hour.

Take off slowly from a full stop. This is one adjustment that will have dramatic effects on your gas mileage; don't tear off from a stoplight or stop sign!

Stay well away from store fronts where you will spend significantly more time idling and waiting for pedestrians and other vehicles.

Use A/C only on the highway. At lower speeds, open the windows. This increased the drag and reduces fuel efficiency, but not as much as the AC at low speeds (35-40 mph). Even better, at any speed, turn on the vent when it is cool outside or open windows just a few inches. The air con - when used a lot - is known to use up about 8% of the fuel you put into your car.

Shift into neutral if you are not comfortable with downshifting. Standard transmission vehicles may save gas by shifting into neutral when going down hills steep enough to maintain speed (although engine braking is safer on steeper declines). Do not do this in a Hybrid car, they use this "regenerative engine braking" to generate electricity and charge the batteries. NOTE: This strategy will result in more wear and tear on your brakes. Neither of these strategies is recommended for normal automatic cars. Also, if you own a car with fuel injection, it is more efficient to keep the car in a high gear while going down hills. Simply take your foot off the gas.

Park in the shade. Gasoline actually evaporates right out of your tank, and it does so faster when you park directly in the sun - winter or summer. Parking in the shade also keeps it cooler inside, and you will need less A/C to cool off when you get back in. If there is no shade available, park so that your gas tank (the actual tank under the car, not the valve to fill it) is facing away from the direct sun. Also, today's fuel systems are supposed to be airtight. Your gas cap should have a seal in it. Make sure that the seal is keeping the fumes in and outside air out.

Cheap and Healthy at Work

My office is often stuffing the counters of our shared kitchen with numerous baked goods. These aren’t just any treats. They usually look and smell so good that I avoid the kitchen like the plague. It’s almost impossible to walk past the counter to get to the water cooler without yearning for just one bite. I know me. Once I start it is hard to stop. I bet you can relate.

I have scoured the net for hours trying to find the best way to keep myself on track while at work, without eating away at my budget. Here are some tips that I use.

 

• Reduced calorie packs. Buying "100 calorie" packs can become expensive for the small amounts you end up with. Save money and get more bang for that buck. Make your own!! I buy baggies at the dollar store. It’s hard to find them that cheap anywhere else! And then take time and portion out servings of Reduced fat Cheez-its (one of my favs) and other snacks I like into them. (I buy these items when they are on sale- of course.) Seal ‘em and pop those baggies back into the box. There you go. You just made your very own reduced calorie snack packs. You walk away with more packs than what you’d get in those 100 calorie pack boxes and spent much less.

 

• Baby carrots. The ultimate take along snack. I have these on hand at all times. Better than potato chips, but you still get that satisfying crunch. If you don’t like them plain, use a small Tupperware container for dip/dressing. Try these recipes from Kayln’s Kitchen. Grandma's Vegetable Dip, World's Best Tzatziki Sauce, and Diet Friendly Ranch Style Dip. If you really miss those chips, fool yourself by using a food processor or mandolin to cut carrots diagionally into chip shaped slices!

 

• Apples with nut butter. Apples are almost always cheap and I buy my peanut butter on sale- the BIG containers. I am not picky about my apples, so I go with whatever is on sale. The crisp sweetness of the apple paired with the good-for-you smooth, creamy nut butter is an unbeatable combo. I had never had this as a child and have to thank my friend Judith for introducing me to this filling snack. The amount of fiber in one of those little guys takes my sweet, fruit-loving guilt away.

 

• Cheerios. They aren’t just for toddlers. These things make some of the best little snacks around. They are puffed, giving the illusion of more food. It’s a visual trick for the brain. Plus, they come in so many heart healthy flavors. I am really digging the Cinnamon Burst. Get boxes while they are on sale. My local grocery often has 6/$10 with extras (such as a free gallon of milk.) Plus, cereal coupons come along often in my circulars. Side note- Try mixing them into your own trail mix. Add raw almonds (Target has great deals on their store brand almonds), dark chocolate chips (I have also used chocolate yogurt covered raisins from ALDI) and craisins. It’s a sweet and healthy treat.

• Reduced Fat Cheese Sticks. I swear by these little things. They are small yet pack a huge protein punch. The low-fat dairy fills me up and keeps me going through the afternoon. I am partial to Sargento and the Aldi brand Fit & Active.

• Clementine Oranges. In my neighborhood, the Cutie oranges have bene on sale for god knows how long. They make a great snack, are easy to peel and store easily in your desk drawer.

• Water. I know this sounds crazy, but often I find that I am much more thirsty than I am actually hungry. Sometimes thirst can mask itself as hunger. I keep water readily available on my desk throughout the day. I used to get hungry at certain times of the day. Just taking a sip every few minutes has kept most of those cravings away and saved me tons of calories!

They’re simple, but it works for me. If you have other tips you use- share!

A Traveler's Bestfriend!

We all know that air travel can be a nightmare. Being stuck sitting in a middle seat that doesn’t recline can be torture on a flight. Now there is a way to become more educated on seat selection and outsmart the airlines. SeatGuru.com uses internal research and feedback from fliers to highlight optimal seats and flag the duds.

On SeatGuru.com the green seats are highlighted for their additional benefits. White is a neutral seat selection, while yellow cautions for some drawbacks. Red highlights the poor seating choices available on the aircraft.

The information that SeatGuru obtains is so thorough that even the airlines themselves use the site for information on their own planes. Airline executives have been known to argue over the opinions that SeatGuru has on certain seats. Some even complain that the assessments are inconsistent across the airlines.

For SeatGuru evaluating seats can be a daunting and complicated task. Each airline can customize the interior of their planes, making standardization nearly impossible. For instance, the Boeing 757s in Delta’s fleet can have many different configurations because of its recent merger with Northwest Airlines. Additionally, the A320 in Spirit Airlines’ fleet has 178 seats, while the A320 in JetBlue’s fleet only has 150 seats.

SeatGuru.com may have started as a site to help the weary frequent traveler find a better seat, but now it has become a useful resource for all types of flyers, allowing travelers comfort and those precious extra inches in coach.