Suncastle News

Preparation

1. Rinse salmon and pat dry. In a bowl, mix brown sugar, cumin, chili powder, and 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Place salmon in bowl and rub pieces all over with spice mixture. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.

2. Lay salmon on a barbecue grill over a solid bed of hot coals or high heat on a gas grill (you can hold your hand at grill level only 2 to 3 seconds); close lid on gas grill. Cook, turning once, until a thermometer inserted in center of thickest part reads 140°, 6 to 8 minutes total.

3. Meanwhile, divide salad mix equally among four plates. Place a piece of salmon on each mound of greens. Mix all Tomato Vinaigrette ingredients together and let sit for 15 min to meld the flavors. Drizzle salads equally with tomato vinaigrette and sprinkle evenly with goat cheese, green onions, and pine nuts. Add salt and pepper to taste.

#Greenstuff

Featured Article

What's All This Green Stuff?

Pine trees are reacting to the warmth. Just as we shed our layers, they start bursting out all their large, green pollen spores all over North Florida. It's like being in a volcanic ash storm with the spewing of spores that dye lakes, cars, pets, and nearly every exposed surface outdoors. It even clings to the air, with the rainfall being the only occasional reprieve... before it starts all over again.

With the pollen comes an increase in sneezing, itchy and watery eyes and running noses. 

But don't fear the green stuff you can see...However annoying it is, it’s not the major cause of allergens. It’s a cover, a front, a green herring aimed to distract us from the real culprit.

Blame the deciduous trees.

People attribute their allergies to pine pollen because it’s visible, but the spores are actually too large to cause allergies; it’s a marker for other pollens.  Other trees blooming at the same time, like maple, oak and birch, are more common causes of allergies, but they spread their pollen more inconspicuously. So next time you are wiping layers of pollen dust off your patio furniture don't worry about holding your breath. 

Featured Article

8 Spring Cleaning Tips

Spring may officially start on March 22, but for many of us, it begins with the first whiff of fresh grass and melodic sing-song of birds. Ah, spring. And there’s no simpler way to start fresh than by the cathartic act of cleaning, purging, and organizing.

To do so, though, you first have to change your thinking. Try to  see cleaning not as a chore but as something that’s really good for them; we underestimate how important our home environment is.

A cluttered home often equates to stagnation at work and in life. Chaos in the home equals chaos in other areas of life. I know that when I get up in the morning and walk into my freshly cleaned living room, it makes me happy. People will have a completely different experience during the day based on what they’ve woken up to.

Cleaning can be as simple as organizing bookshelf content, arranging coffee table clutter, or can be as drawn out as getting into every little nook and crevice. Either way, use these 8 tips to help cleaning go a little bit smoother:

Here are a few tips for a cleaner, more organized living space—and a better life—this spring and beyond.

• Be wise about your time. “If you have 15 minutes, wipe down the counter. Organize magazines and mail. If you have more time, organize the closet. It’s not about perfection. It’s about being practical and more realistic. Take that 5 minutes before bed and grab the clothes that were thrown around and put dinner dishes in the sink to soak. A little less scrubbing when you do wash those dishes will be a time saver, too. 

• Clean briefly, but regularly. Letting disorganization and dirt accumulate is the biggest mistake that people make, say both Deanna Hains and Thelma Meyer. “Get to a stain quickly and clean as you go. That works for clothing and for your house. Cleaning a little every day is far more manageable than attacking three months worth of mess.

• Get efficient. Everyone knows to clean from top to bottom, but many forget. Remember so that you don’t have to redo your hard work. “If you have a desk with shelves above it, clean the shelves first, then the desk,” Hains says. And invest in a few cool tools that get tasks done better and faster. For example, there are toothbrush-like apparatuses to clean tile grout and extendable Swiffers for hard-to-reach areas so you don’t have to go up and down a step ladder. The biggest mistake is using too much product.

• Buy healthy cleaning products to make chores a touch more enjoyable. We love green products for their absence of harmful chemicals and their soothingly divine scents, which come naturally from essential oils like lavender, geranium, and orange blossom.

The use of eco-friendly cleaning products, which reduce indoor air pollution, create a healthier home for everyone, and are just more pleasant to use. You are conscious about the food you put in your body, but what about what is all over your home and inhaled and touched regularly? 

• Organize with savvy. “If you have anything that has to be seen, whether it’s spices or items in an office area, the best way to minimize the clutter and make the room look better is to organize by height -- tallest to shortest,” Hains says. Get some beautiful or funky storage boxes for stuff like magazines and toys. There are a plethora of creative storage boxes—as well as storage coffee tables and ottomans—so finding one that fits a room’s color scheme shouldn't be tough. Storing sweaters in wood boxes is helpful for preventing moths and mildew and is a great way to eliminate the bulkiest items in your closet.

• Learn how to purge. Adopt the Zen philosophy of less is more. “If you haven’t used an item for over a year, get ride of it Don’t hold on or become attached to things that you really don’t use—other people may use it with pleasure. Donate it or give it to a friend. Or, make a few easy bucks—not a bad thing in this economy—by having a garage sale or dropping off clothes at a consignment store. 

• Organize closets according to color. Though it sounds OCD, it’ll add a mood-boosting rainbow splash and make finding pieces and selecting outfits easier. Plus, you’ll be more likely to keep the closet organized.

To permanently prevent mustiness, check out a new organizing system by Febreze® called Closet Renewables™. The system consists of 12 different organizers, such as an over-the-door shoe refresher and hanging sweater refresher, with built-in freshness inserts that keep clothes smelling laundry-clean for a full season (up to 90 days).

• Enlist the kids!  We can’t emphasize this enough. Even young children can be taught how to wipe up a simple spill, pick up toys, and make their beds. Older ones can dust, vacuum, and help with dinner.

Everybody had to pick up their toys at the end of playtime or before they went to bed. Kids should be able to learn to do those very quickly and at a young age. I also remember doing the dishes—but if you helped with the cooking, you didn’t have to help do the dishes.”

Make a short chore list for kids and reward them when they complete tasks. It teaches them to learn how to be responsible and take a place in life.”

And if you get overwhelmed? 

Take some really long, deep breaths until you can handle the situation a little better. It never hurts to walk away and break it down into more manageable pieces.