Store It Foods

When it comes to preparing food for a diabetic, it’s important to be mindful of the sugar content of the food. Even something as simple as a glaze for meat or barbeque sauce can be detrimental to a diabetic. Diabetics need to receive adequate nutrition, but also should be eating food that is low in sugar. It’s also important for diabetics to eat balanced meals on a regular time schedule, otherwise the diabetic can might take too much or too little insulin and have a diabetic reaction, which is quite dangerous.

Starches are great foods for diabetics in moderation; potatoes, rice, and grains.  Vegetables are also excellent sources of vitamins and fiber; I like using a Roma food strainer to create my own sauces and jucices.  Common recipes for diabetics might include stir fry, baked potatoes, rice and vegetables (light on the teriyaki or soy sauce), grilled cheese sandwiches, and casseroles. If the meal is light or heavy on calories, it’s also a good idea to inform a diabetic beforehand so they can adjust their insulin intake if necessary.

I am one who will never tire of kitchen gadgets.  When shopping, I am always drawn to stores that sell small kitchen appliances.  I have always thought about why I am so attracted to these stores.  I realize that one reason is because they always have something new.  It could be a revolutionary new gadget I have only seen now, or a new form or presentation of one that I had been using for years. I find it such fun to discover new things.

The store that sells small kitchen appliances is also a good place to get gifts for your friends. Who would not love a blender, food processor or mixer? She might already have a coffee maker, cooker or steamer, but new designs look so modern, so up-to-date.

A few months ago, I switched to part-time at my job in order to spend more time at home with the kids. Since then we’ve been busy with dozens of activities, from arts and crafts to learning musical instruments and foreign languages. I want to allow my kids to experience all sorts of practical yet fun hobbies so that they can choose the ones they’d like to pursue seriously.

One such hobby takes place in the kitchen, where we’ve been learning how to make our favorite foods from scratch. It’s proved to be a real money-saver for me as well – many food products are marked up to exorbitant prices in grocery stores. You’re really just paying all that money for packaging and convenience. Just last week we used a Roma sauce maker to create a marinara from tomatoes, onions and assorted herbs.

My grandfather grew up on a farm in the Midwest, where he became intimately familiar with the breadmaking process. He and his parents would sow the seeds, till the earth and eventually reap the wheat. They would then take their grain to a flour mill or occasionally use their own grindstone and mallet to grind the flour from scratch. That hard work and painstaking attention to every detail of the process really inspired me.

I opened a small boutique bakery several months ago, eager to set myself apart from the competition. Remembering my grandfather’s commitment to excellent food, I purchased a grain mill and set about grinding my own flour for baking. While I don’t have the time or resources to plant the wheat, it still makes me feel like I’m connected to a long tradition of dedicated bakers.

In many homes a glass of fresh orange juice is a morning favorite and it is certainly one of the most nutritious beverages available — assuming all of the nutrients are there. If they are, you can be assured that you are consuming something that is truly an excellent source of vitaming C (containing more than 10 times a much vitamin C as apple juice). It is also rich in potassium, folate and thiamin. Compared to many other juices, orange juice is usually higher in protein, vitamin A. B-vitamins, calcium, iron and potassium, placing it front and foremost in the list of nutritious fruit juices. Drinking an 8-ounce glass can be counted as one of your five necessary fruit and vegetable servings for the day. As far as taste is concerned, whether you are juicing oranges, limes, lemons or grapefruits, or whether you are using a reaming juicer or a citrus press, you are producing the best tasting orange, lime, lemon or grapefruit juice. Fresh, indeed, is best. You’ll also find that fresh juice straight from your citrus juicer to be at its nutritious peak. Tests have shown that thos freshly squeezed juices are best used within minuts of squeezing.I does not take long for some vitamin content to be lost and it can be lost by just sitting there.

Does your morning begin with a glass of “Not from Concentrate” freshly squeezed orange juice poured from that carton that was just sitting in the refrigerator waiting for you.  It’s tasty, it goes down smoothly, and it’s good for you.

All that is probably true, but it might not be as fresh as you might think.  It very likely had originally been stored in some gigantic tank.  It had been heated for pasteurization purposes, with oxygen having been removed in order to lengthen its shelf life.   Unfortunately, along with the oxygen went the flavor.  If you were to avail yourself of some of the liquid refreshment taken from that enormous vat, it is said that it would taste much like sugar water.

Weeks later it might appear on your grocery store shelf, but by then the flavor would have been restored - sort of.  Your orange juice supplier would have gone to a “flavor house” where “flavor experts” would have provided “flavor packets” to insert into that orange juice.  So now that orange juice once again tastes like orange juice, or at least like the flavor experts think orange juice should taste.  And, yes, to most people’s taste buds it really does taste pretty good.

This might help to explain, however, why some people have allergic reactions to the store bought orange juice, but not to the freshly squeezed juice produced at home.  It’s not so much the orange juice to which they are allergic, as it is the added ingredients that have been incorporated into that juice.

So if you really want the best tasting juice, the healthiest juice, and most natural juice; perhaps you should simply prepare it at home beginning with the oranges themselves and with the help of your very own citrus juicer.

I’ve been on a health kick of late and wanted to pass along a delicious recipe I’ve been putting into heavy rotation – no pun intended. It combines two of my favorite things: fennel and the food processor. I adore fennel for its rich, aromatic nature and the way it spices up even the blandest of dishes. And there’s no disputing its health benefits, either – the herb contains 20 percent of your recommended daily Vitamin C intake.

Ingredients:
4 fennel bulbs
1 russet potato
2 cloves garlic
2 cups skim milk
4 cups chicken broth
3 Tsp. parmesan cheese
1 Tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
2 Tsp. chopped mint leaves

Directions:
1. Cut the fennel in half, then slice it into thin strips. Peel potato and slice thinly. Plop the fennel, potatoes, broth, garlic and milk in a pot over heat. Simmer and cook until fennel and potatoes have softened. Should take 30 minutes or more.
2. Drain and place fennel mix in food processor and set to puree. Add the cheese, salt and pepper and mix some more. Next, put the mint and process some more. Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

It is common knowledge that pulp is the “garbage” part of juicing.  Right?

Wrong.  Pulp may be a by-product of juicing, it may look unappetizing, and many people do discard it, but they may do so without realizing that there is much food value also going into the garbage.  Pulp is high in dietary fibre or roughage.  It can also contain many vital nutrients. 

Pulp can be used to thicken soups or casseroles, used in the making of carrot and apple or other flavored muffins, or be “layered” into lasagnes or similar dishes.  Fruit pulp might be used as ice cream toppings.  It could even be placed in a bowl, topped with a meringue and baked for a simple dessert.  There are many recipes available, including ones which will probably come with your juicer.  Check them out.  At the very least, pulps can be used as a mulching or composting material.

Just to get you started, here is a recipe using carrot and pineapple pulp, from an online posting by Epicurious:

Carrot Pulp Muffins

Ingredients:

3.5 cups carrot pulp
1 cup pineapple pulp
3 cups whole-grain flour
1 cup canola oil
1 cup honey
6 egg whites
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp baking soda
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup crushed nuts

Directions:Preheat your oven to 350 deg. Mix up the pulp from carrots and pineapple well. Add egg whites, honey, vanilla and oil to the mix. Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg together and add it gradually to mixture, stirring until it’s blended. Mix in the nuts.

A well balanced, well made, finely honed chef’s knife is not inexpensive.  Yet, if you want a good, reliable cutting and slicing tool on hand for when needed, then spending a little more is probably well worth it in the long run.  If, however, you want it to remain a good, reliable cutting and slicing tool, then you need to take care of it.

Part of that care includes proper storage.  A knife block is a good idea, but if you don’t have a knife block you do not want to simply throw it into a cutlery drawer where that finely honed blade can be nicked or marked by the spoons, forks, other knives, or whatever else it hits and rubs up against while in that drawer.

Should that be the scenario you are facing, then a simple solution is at hand.

Take an empty milk or juice carton.  Measure the blade size of you knife.  Then cut from the carton a strip of cardboard at least twice as wide as that blade at its widest, and just a little bit longer. Fold the cardboard lengthwise.  Tape it closed at the bottom, and along the one open side.  Voila!  You now have a knife sleeve. 

It may not look all that attractive, but it will do the job for you.  That job, of course, is protecting the knife blade.  It will still require sharpening from time to time, but now that will only be due to the normal wear and tear of kitchen use.  It will no longer be because you’ve inadvertantly damaged it in storage.

“Ah, there’s nothing like home made, freshly squeezed juice!”

Have you ever heard that before?  Probably you have, although many of us will have to take the speaker’s word for it.  After all, if you haven’t anything around with which you can squeeze that juice, then you’re a lot less likely to have tried it. Admittedly, it might sound tempting, but not everyone has a couple of hundred dollars sitting around with which you can invest in a juicer that would allow you to do that trying. And why spend all that much when you’re not sure just how much you’ll like it.

Hold on though!  Two or three hundred dollars might be what it takes to get a top end, high quality juicer, but you don’t necessarily need to start out with a top end, high quality juicer.  For a much more modest investment, you can obtain a functioning, manual juicer that will allow you to wade into the world of home made, freshly squeezed juices.

Considering the nutritional value and the delicious taste of such juices, this just may be the kind of step that would be very worthwhile to take.  Reconsider that more expensive juicer once the experimentation has taken place and you’re better aware of your own home’s juicing needs and wants.