For those with a green thumb and a love of unexpected outdoor decor, try making a “living wall.” A wall-mounted garden is also a great solution for plant-lovers with limited outdoor space.

Learn how to make a wall mounted garden:

It can seem inevitable. The holidays are coming up and so is the possibility of gaining a few pounds—a mini-Snickers here, a cocktail party there—and before you know it, your jeans feel a size smaller.  But you can stop the snowball effect before it starts with Susan B. Roberts, Ph.D. and Betty Kelly Sargent’s The Instinct Diet. Here are their tips on how to enjoy high-calorie treats, without overdoing it:

Never eat your treat alone: Always eat your treat accompanied by a low-calorie food. For example, if your treat is chips, try eating them with a low-fat yogurt dip and some red pepper slices and celery.

Apply the “sandwich” technique: Sandwich your higher-calorie mealtime and snack foods between two lower-calories foods.  As an example, for the top of the “sandwich” have something bulky and filling such as a green salad with legumes, seafood and dressing or a vegetable soup. For the middle of the sandwich, have your entrée and a small rich dessert. The bottom of the sandwich should always be low in calories and signal the end of the meal.

Follow the “once-a-day” plan: When you have a handle on your limits, enjoy a 100-calorie snack every day, or a 200-calorie snack every other day.

Make indulgences less indulgent: By finding enjoyment in lower-calorie, higher-fiber foods, there’ll be greater pleasure in everything you eat.

A time for everything: Establish regular times to eat. By doing so, your brain will know that you’ll be having a special dessert every Saturday night, and will subsequently stop bothering you about dessert on every other night of the week.

While her owner, Cassie Murdoch, lays out photos and writes captions for next year’s DOG Gallery Calendar, Eloise, a petite Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, lends a paw. Maybe next year we’ll even give Eloise a writing credit!

Frosting a cake is a task that seems straightforward, until you put that first dollop of icing on with a floppy spatula and end up with a crumb-filled, lumpy mess. A stainless-steel spatula and rotating cake-stand are wonderful, but allowing the cake to cool completely and using plenty of icing will make a huge difference. Here’s a video to help your frosting technique.

You always hope no harm will befall your faithful canine companion, but if something unexpected does happen, you want to be prepared. Dogs, just like their supposed nemeses, are curious…they will explore, rummage and investigate with complete disregard to the possible consequences.

So if you’ve ever found your pet with mysterious goo stuck in their fur, a scrape on their nose or an upset stomach, The Complete Healthy Dog Handbook by Betsy Brevitz, D.V.M., offers reassurance, as well as a helpful guide to first-aid basics and poison control. To deal with any routine mishaps, you might want to have the following on hand:

• Ear-cleaning solution, cotton balls and cotton swabs, for cleaning ears
• Plain saline eyewash, for cleaning discharge or flushing debris from the eyes
• Mild dog shampoo, for general clean-ups
• Dog nail clipper, for broken nails
• Tweezers for removing ticks and splinters
• Electric hair clipper, K-Y jelly, chlorhexidine or povidone-iodine (Betadine) wound cleaner, and gauze squares, for clipping and cleaning wounds
• Roll of 2-inch-wide gauze and roll of 1-inch-wide bandage tape, for bandaging leg or tail wounds
• Antibiotic ointment, for minor wounds
• Hydrocortisone spray or ointment, for itchy wounds or bug bites
• 3cc oral medication syringe, for giving liquid medication
• Muzzle, in case you need to handle your dog when she’s frightened or in pain
• Diphenhydramine (Benadryl), for insect bites or hives
• Baby thermometer, for taking your dog’s temperature
• 10cc oral medication syringe, for flushing wounds, rinsing caustic substances from your dog’s mouth, or inducing vomiting; a turkey baster can substitute in a pinch but is messier and harder to aim
• 3% hydrogen peroxide, for inducing vomiting only when appropriate

I’m a long-time fan of The Cake Mix Doctor–it was with Anne Byrn’s recipes that I first experimented with making icing from scratch (believe me, once you try it, you will never buy canned icing again). As soon as The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! landed on my desk, I was already picking out which cake I was going to make first.

I went with the Fresh Orange Birthday Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. The freshly squeezed orange in the cake and zest in the icing had my kitchen smelling incredible before I even got the pans in the oven. The result was a decadent icing paired with a light and refreshing cake so good that we ended up eating a generous slice for Sunday brunch! One of my favorite things about the Cake Mix Doctor books is how easy it is to mix and match the cakes with different icings, and I’d love to try this one with a chocolate frosting or glaze with some orange zest sprinkled in, but I’ve got 159 cakes to get through before trying repeats!

Fresh Orange Birthday Cake

Vegetable oil spray, for misting the pans
Flour, for dusting the pans
1 large orange
About 1 cup orange juice from a carton
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)
12 to 15 fresh orange slices, or candy gum drop
orange slices, for garnish

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