Food Tip: Winter Produce: How to Freeze Fruits and Vegetables

Winter Solstice, December 21, 2024, was shortest and darkest day of the year and the first day of the winter season. It's the time when fresh winter fruits and vegetables are available at the supermarket.

Seasonal foods refer to the times of year when certain foods are at peak, either in terms of harvest or its flavor. This is usually the time when the item is the least costly at your local market. The food's peak time at harvest usually means that the flavor is at its best.

Kitchen Tip: What Spices to Use

Use fresh herbs from your herb garden
or grocery store spice rack spices

One of the first considerations when cooking is what spices to use. You want to get them out and measure the amounts into your small prep bowls.

Spices are expensive, and they don't last forever. Some lose their potency for the flavor, and some get rancid. So don't buy one of those racks or pre-ready spinning table filled with spices in bottles. Who knows how long they've sat around.

Food Tip: What is Bad Food

Is there such a thing as bad food? Does bad food mean food that's not good for you? Not healthy? Contrary to a health condition you might be struggling with? What is bad food. What does it mean?

Well, good morning, blog. Since pouring myself into cooking, I have discovered a few things about food. Eatable food, that is. That stuff we pick up with our hands, a fork, spoon or some other utensil and put in our mouth. Food.

Kitchen Tip: Is Chocolate Bad for Your Blood Pressure or Cholesterol?

Do you think that chocolate is so yummy and delicious, that it must be bad for you? Well, as a diabetic, I thought so. But not so. Chocolate is made from plants, which from what I've learned, means that chocolate has many of the health benefits of vegetables.

These benefits range from flavonoids which act as antioxidants. [Antioxidants as we know, protect the body from aging caused by free radicals… which causes damage leading to heart disease.]

Food Tip: Cook Food Properly

There are common sense rules that go along with being a home kitchen cook, such as proper cooking temperature. Another rule is about reheating and storing food so it doesn't make you sick.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) links eating undercooked ground beef with a higher risk of illness and states that "color" is not a reliable indicator of when food is safe to eat.

Kitchen Tip: How to Make Perfect Gravy

Today is full of smiles. It's how to make the perfect, lump-free gravy. It's a wonderful side dish to mashed potatoes or as a go-over for a main course of meat.

This classic all-purpose gravy is made by first cooking flour and butter together (that’s called a roux, pronounced roo) and then adding cold stock and cooking it until it's thickened and is smooth as silk.

This recipe makes four cups of gravy which is great for most meals.

Food Tip: Choose and Buy Fresh Fall Fruits and Vegetables

The first day of Fall (Autumn) is when night and day are of equal length. This year that happened on September 23, 2024. It's the day surrounding a whole new season of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Seasonal foods refer to the times of year when certain foods are at peak, either in terms of harvest or its flavor.

Kitchen Tip: Is Salt Really Bad for You?

I harp to my honey about not adding salt to his dinner plate of food. But is salt really bad for you? He says no because he doesn't have a problem with cholesterol or high blood pressure. Is he right?

Since completing my cooking course and preparing many recipes during my cooking lessons, I did notice that a spoonful, dash or pinch of salt seemed to be a common thread in every single recipe.

The reason to add salt to food is typically explained as adding "flavor" meaning that salt, as well as fat, help determine "taste" in food. Hmmmm I had to know more. After a few days of research on the subject of salt, I made a few startling discoveries.

Food Tip:: Meal Planning

When meal planning, choose a portion from each food group. Typically, most adults need 6 to 11 servings of grain products per day; 3 to 5 servings of vegetables; 2 to 4 servings of fruit each day; 3 cups of dairy products every day; and 2 or 3 ounces per day of meat which equals 2 servings.

Health and fitness professionals claim that chicken has fabulous health benefits. It’s low in fat and calories and high in protein, which makes it ideal for weight maintenance. Not to mention that this bird is jam-packed full of essential nutrients and vitamins.

Kitchen Tip: List of Awesome Helpful Kitchen Tips You Will Use

Here are SEVEN kitchen cooking tips that have helped me many times. I especially like to keep apple slices from browning when I make and pack my honey's lunch. I rely on these 7 kitchen tips more and more.

To keep apple slices from browning after peeling them, dip them in lemon juice or 7-up. If you’re preparing apples in advance for a later snack, keep them in water with a bit of lemon juice or vinegar added, drain well before serving.

Food Tip: How to Wash Lettuce

It takes little time to wash your greens for a salad or sandwich. I love my salad spinner, but it's not necessary. Just convenient.

The important part of any food you consume is to make sure it's clean of dirt and insects and chemicals, and dry when you store it, right?

That varies with the type of lettuce you purchase. There are many varieties.

Kitchen Tip: How to Get Rid of Germs in the Coffee Pot

Ignorance is bliss when it comes to brewing coffee at home.

Most java junkies are only concerned with flavor and strength, utilizing their preferred coffee maker and gourmet beans to achieve the perfect cup. Add creamers and flavorings. Taste is the number one concern among coffee drinkers, after all.

Food Tip: How to Store Summer Fruits and Vegetables

Summer Solstice, June 20, 2024, was the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. Summer brings fresh fruits and vegetables for your table. 

Seasonal foods refer to the times of year when certain foods are at peak, either in terms of harvest or its flavor. 

Kitchen Tip: Do You Wake Up With a Morning Headache?

Eating good food and exercise is the right path whether you're fit and fine or just getting older. But... if you're like me, I slip into bad habits after a nice stint doing good. I guess I get lazy or maybe I take life for granted a bit too much, too often.

Something Different: What's Better, Butter or Margarine?

Good morning and happy cooking day to you. Today is all about butter or margarine and which is better for good health.

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water. Butter comes salted and unsalted in many forms such as in a bar, stick or tub.
You can even buy it whipped or not.

I buy a lot of butter when I buy butter. I get both salted and unsalted butter (now that I am officially a "taught" cook:)

I use the sweet salted butter as a condiment, and I use the unsalted butter for cooking. Using unsalted butter allows me to control the amount of "salt" I add to food in the prep stage. I keep the butter I am not using in the freezer.

Food Tip: Make Mealttime Unforgetable

Some of the best times in life are memories of food. Aromas from the kitchen you can taste in the air. A pot roast steaming from the oven. The chitter chatter of voices and dishes clinking and clanking. I was only seven, but I remember it well.

The one meal most families share is dinner. You don't have to spend a lot of money on food, drink and decorations. You don’t need to spend money to make meals unforgetable. Start with the dinner table.

Kitchen Tip: Put the Jolly in Your Jolly Holidays

I am constantly reminded that I need to be organized. Save more money. Shop smart. Every year before a holiday, I like to take stock and get organized to make the holiday happen without headaches… and without blowing the food budget. Especially, at Christmas, I want to start the new year with a feeling of clean, non-clutter, home, not-to-empty wallet and a happy heart.

Kitchen Review: Eco-Friendly Kitchen Wood Cutting Board

What kitchen doesn't need a wood cutting board. It's a marvel for cooking and baking and it saves wear and tear on counters. Many home kitchen cooks have two or three cutting boards in varying sizes.

Wood cutting boards are the best, although often thought not. The benefits today may surprise you.

Wood boards are often referred to as self-healing, because shallow cuts close up, and help prevent the spread of bacteria.

Wooden boards have also been shown to have anti-bacterial properties. They’re knife-friendly, and when properly cared for, a wood cutting board can last for years and years.

Food Tip: Serving Size vs Portion Size

Once I reduced the amount of some of the food I ate, I discovered I could eat anything I want, and being a diabetic, I proved it by eating and testing my blood glucose. Now, I still use common sense, but I can eat whatever I want as long as I am careful with portion size.

First, it's important to know the difference between "serving" size and "portion" size.

A serving size is a recommended measurement of food. A portion is how much food you put on your plate and eat, which isn't to mean an obnoxious amount of food.

Kitchen Tip: Visualize The Size of A Baseball

Think about how much food you have on your plate. When you know the difference between a serving size and portion of food, you can make the right choice to good health.

First, don't forget that a serving size is a standard measurement of food.

Compare a portion of food, which is how much food you place on your plate and actually eat, The "portion" you spoon onto your plate could actually be several serving sizes.