Do You Know the Difference Between Gelato and Ice Cream?

Gelato is Italian for ice cream, right? Well, not exactly. True, they are both dairy, they are both cold, and they are both desserts, but the similarities end there.

For starters, they look different, with true gelato resembling something more like frozen yogurt than ice cream, and in many displays, it looks like flavored whipped cream. Here’s some more detailed, delicious insight into the two treasured desserts:

American vs. Italian Ice Cream

American ice cream, we all know, has a pretty high milk fat content. Legally in the United States, a product must have 10% fat to use the label “ice cream.” Higher quality brands of ice cream have about 18% fat, which makes for a delicious ice cream, but a pretty pathetic gelato.

Gelato has a much higher milk to cream ratio. This means that the milk fat content …

Winterizing Your Yard: Better Late Than Never

I look forward to gardening season like kids look forward to Christmas, and I always feel a bit melancholy when winter comes and I’m stuck indoors looking at seed catalogs. However, the season doesn’t end with the first hard frost.

How you prepare your garden for winter will have a huge bearing on how easy and successful gardening is the following spring. There’s still time if you haven’t already winterized your garden. Plan to spend a few hours outdoors the next time it’s mild and dry, even in the dead cold of winter you do get a few scattered warm days. Here’s the to-do list that I follow each fall and winter:

Trim back damaged or diseased plants and tree branches. Do heavy pruning any time between early and late winter, when the tree is …

3 Ways to Cut Food Costs and Get Back to Basics

From the small restauranteur saving a dollar per case of shallots, to the largest car manufacturers getting a half-cent off each gallon of paint, all businesses benefit from cost-cutting. Getting just a little bit more bang for your buck is in your best personal interest, too–ever pass by a gas station because the one down the street sells gas for three hundredths of a penny less?

Being frugal does not mean you have to sacrifice every little thing that helps you get through the day. It just means using your creativity to maintain your lifestyle as best you can through any economic turmoil. Even if there’s no turmoil, what does it hurt to have a little extra money lying around?

When it comes to keep your food habits, you can absolutely get imaginative without sacrificing quality. With …

Yoplait Frozen Smoothies New Chocolate Banana Flavor and $1.00 Off Coupon

Smoothies are an excellent, wholesome option to indulge your sweet tooth without running to the cookies, cakes, and candies. Instead of copious amounts of sugar and a whole lot of things your body doesn’t need, smoothies are delicious and sweet and packed full of calcium and fruit.

As much as I love a good smoothie, I don’t always have the best and freshest ingredients that I would like. In those cases, Yoplait Frozen Smoothies are a great backup plan that I have gone to again and again, without losing one ounce of nutritional value. Yoplait Frozen Smoothies contain real fruit, live and active cultures, and 50% of your daily value of calcium, and can be enjoyed by just adding milk and blending.

Yoplait Frozen Smoothies have just recently introduced the newest flavor, Chocolate Banana. …

We Put a New (Easier!) Spin on the Traditional Cookie Exchange with a Chex Party Mix-Change — Prize Pack and $20 Gift Card Giveaway [Closed]

Cookies are a time-honored holiday tradition for most of us. Some of the best cookies made all year by anyone are those made in celebration of the holidays, and it is during this time of the year that we collectively throw our weight management plans out the window–hence all of those weight loss-oriented New Year’s resolutions. When I was a kid, I knew it was time to start getting really excited for Christmas when my grandmother started the holiday baking. By the time she was through, we would have several containers full of a variety of different cookies, and they lasted well into the new year.

The art of baking the perfect holiday cookie is pretty much lost on me as an adult. Me and baking is very hit or miss, but I still wanted …

Become a Fan of Gift Card Weekend on Facebook and You Could Win a $20 Sephora Gift Card

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gift Card Weekend. All opinions are 100% mine.

Gift cards have long been the most popular holiday gift, and they are sure to rank number one yet again this year. It’s really no wonder why; gift cards take the hassle out of holiday shopping. No longer do you have to recruit a family member or friend of the person you’re shopping for to play junior detective to try to figure out what is on someone’s holiday wish list or spend hours wandering around store after store in search of a gift that will be enjoyed instead of returned for something else. Gift cards allow the recipient to choose their own perfect gift and every time they use it, they’ll think of the person who gave them the gift …