Blog Posts by Oprah.com

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

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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;

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.

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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

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.

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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

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.

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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

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:

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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

Photo: ThinkstockBy Candace Braun Davison

Whether You Value Your Time More Than Anyone Else's
You think you'll show how eager and prepared you are by arriving 15 or more minutes early, but the manager--who's usually notified of your arrival shortly after you check in with the front desk--suddenly feels pressured to meet with you, and the receptionist has to figure out what to do with you in the meantime, explains Jenny Blake, Life After College author and former career development manager at Google. Most hiring managers are overworked, overstressed and overscheduled. By showing up five to 10 minutes before the interview, you're demonstrating not only that you understand that, but also that you're doing your part to be one less thing for him or her to worry about.

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Whether You Know How to Pass the Test
You've scanned the company's mission statement and "About" page on the website, but have you translated those vague messages about the importance of "teamwork"

Photo: ThinkstockBy Corrie Pikul

The Breakfast That's Better (and More Filling) Than Midol
A large Columbia University study found that PMS sufferers who took 1,200 mg of calcium per day noted an almost 50 percent reduction in symptoms like cramps, bloating, cravings and irritability. (This study supported earlier research suggesting calcium may be an effective treatment for PMS.) Our bodies can only absorb about 500 to 600 mg of calcium at a time, so take your first dose early in the day. 



Best bet: Low-fat milk (8 ounces has 300 mg calcium) with bran cereal. Look for a brand fortified with stress-reducing magnesium and folic acid as well as iron, which was recently found to be associated with a 30 to 40 percent lower likelihood of PMS by a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

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The Lunch That Will Level Out Your Mood
Snapping at your coworkers? Break for a lunch high in omega-3s. These polyunsaturated fatty acids are one of your best defenses