Blog Posts by Oprah.com

Photo: ThinkstockBy Lynn Andriani

Foodist author Darya Pino Rose started eating healthily while living as a grad student in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the country. Here's how she did it.

The Don't-Tell-Anybody Spice Rack Secret

Cost: $1.19 for an 8-ounce container 



Attention veg-o-phobes: Rose has an insanely easy trick for making even broccoli taste great. Sprinkle a tiny bit of garlic salt on top. She learned about this supermarket staple--which is just a mixture of dried ground garlic, salt and an anti-caking agent such as calcium silicate--from a veggie burrito shop in Berkeley, Calif. "Their vegetables were always so good, and I finally figured out why--they sprinkled garlic salt on top," she says. Just don't confuse it with garlic powder, which is finer and easier to overdo.

RELATED: Dr. Oz's Biggest Supermarket Time and Money Savers

The Super Herb

Cost: Less than $2 for a bunch 



We're not sure when, exactly, parsley got relegated to garnish status, but Rose says it deservesRead More »from 5 Healthy--and Cheap--Ingredients to Put in Your Grocery Cart

Photo: ThinkstockBy Amy Shearn

Setting Yourself Up for a PNB (Pants Nervous Breakdown)

I don't think I'm alone in feeling that, next to swimsuit shopping, there is nothing more likely to induce a nervous breakdown than looking for pants. It turns out there is actually a reason for this, and it's not (just) my freakishly short legs! Fashion blogger Marie Denee, editor in chief of TheCurvyFashionista.com says, "In production, pants are cut in batches of 100s, so the top one in the batch will fit slightly differently--especially in the same size and especially in jeans--so it's important to bring one size up and down into the dressing room when you are trying out bottoms."

RELATED: 24 Ways to Pamper Mom

Avoiding Anything with a Dry-Clean-Only Tag

We've all been burned by a perfect dress that wound up costing a fortune in dry-cleaning bills. But did you know that you don't always have to listen to those washing-instruction tags? Lindsey Boyd, one of the founders of TheLaundress.com and a graduate of

Read More »from The 5 Biggest Mistakes Women Make when Trying on Clothes

Photo: ThinkstockBy Lynn Andriani

The Ideal Scoopable Chili
Why it's good the first night: Many renditions of this meat, beans and veggies dinner take hours, but this one is ready in 30 minutes and brings a Friday-night feel to any day of the week.



Why it's even better the next day: The Tex-Mex favorite tends to thicken overnight, making it all the better for scooping up with thick tortilla chips. (Follow the USDA's guidelines and put the food in the fridge within two hours of cooking.)

Get the recipe: Turkey Chili

RELATED: 6 Cooking Techniques to Master... From the Masters

Lasagna That Stays Where You Put It
Why it's good the first night: This casserole serves a crowd (at least nine people) and is rich and filling but also happens to be vegetarian. 



Why it's even better the next day: Letting the lasagna chill for a day and then reheating it gently (so it's warm but not piping) will make slicing it into neat squares a breeze. One caveat: when you're boiling the pasta, take care not to overcook it;

Read More »from 5 Meals that Taste Better the Next Day

By Oprah.com

Photo: ThinkstockBy Jenny Bailly

Thou shalt exfoliate.
Makeup sitting on flaky skin flakes off. Use a gentle microbead scrub, or even just a washcloth, to buff away any dead cells on the surface of your skin.

RELATED: Val's Guide to Buying the Right Beauty Products

Thou shalt not overmoisturize.
Beautiful skin is hydrated skin, but rich moisturizer will make your makeup fade fast. The solution? Use a moisturizing mask (like Origins Drink Up 10 Minute Mask to Quench Skin's Thirst, $23; Origins.com). Rinse it off and then apply a light moisturizer, avoiding the T-zone areas that tend to get oily. Chanel celebrity makeup artist Rachel Goodwin--who's prepped Jodie Foster and January Jones for the red carpet this season--lets the moisturizer soak in for at least 15 minutes before applying makeup. (The same principle holds for lip balm: Allow it to penetrate for several minutes and then blot away the excess with a one-ply tissue before applying lipcolor.)

Photo: ThinkstockThou shalt take the time to prime.
Applying

Read More »from The 10 Commandments of Long-Lasting Makeup

Photo: ThinkstockBy Amy Shearn

The Art of Beautiful Ws
Whenever I have to actually write something by hand, I feel obligated to make some self-deprecating aside about the results, which resemble hieroglyphics after many millennia of erosion. But our mothers, who grew up in pre-typing-everything times, really know how to write fancy cursive Fs and Gs and Ws, and as a result there is a bit of everyday elegance infused into even their shopping lists.

RELATED: 25 Ways to Pamper Mom

Making Banana Bread Without a Recipe
You used to make fun of your mother for rescuing mushy, overripe bananas from a trash-can fate, but listen, guess where all that delicious banana bread came from? We know how to cook the holiday favorites we helped our mothers make, and probably a cultural biggest hit--hello, noodle kugel! But what about the everyday, unglamorous, using-the-leftovers standbys? We're all capable of transforming rotisserie-chicken guts into a delicious soup, but when do you get that special ability

Read More »from 8 Life Skills Mom Forgot to Teach Me

Photo: Adam VoorhesBy Jessica Girdwain

"Is this test really necessary?" That's the question every woman should ask at her next doctor's visit. According to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 28 percent of primary care physicians admit to overtreating patients, including by ordering potentially unwarranted tests as a precaution against malpractice suits. Unfortunately, excessive screening can open the door to unnecessary surgeries and medications--not to mention needless anxiety. Here, four tests to reconsider.

RELATED: Is Your Home Making You Sick?

Electrocardiogram (ECG)

The purpose: Detecting heart abnormalities that can indicate cardiovascular disease

Why you might want to skip it: If you're in good health with few risk factors for heart disease--older age, high blood pressure, a history of smoking, a sedentary lifestyle--there's no evidence that an ECG will reduce your risk of having a heart attack, according to the 2012 recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

Read More »from 4 Health Checks You May Not Need

Photo: Adam VoorhesBy Mary Roach

She peeked into human cadavers for Stiff, then tackled the science of sex in Bonk. Now, in Gulp, writer Mary Roach ventures inside our bodies to find out what goes on as--and after--we eat. Sound icky? Not to Roach, whose research took her from Northern California (where she learned how to taste-test olive oil) to the Netherlands (where she visited a lab that studies how we chew). "The poor alimentary canal gets no respect," Roach says, "but it does some pretty fascinating stuff." A few of her favorite findings:

RELATED: Dr. Oz Talks to Oprah About Food, Family, and What It Really Means to Be Healthy

Your nose has more to do with eating than you might think.
"You could actually throw away your tongue and still 'taste' a lot of what you eat, because smell accounts for as much as 80 to 90 percent of how we perceive food. In fact, we have two sets of nostrils--the ones we see and a second, internal, set at the opening in the back of the mouth that leads up to the nasal

Read More »from 5 Surprising Quirks About the Way We Eat