Cooking For Kitty And Fido Too

Americans love their pets. It's evident in what we spend on them per year and the lengths we go t to keep them healthy and happy. Some pet parents are now even creating their own pet foods. This is a sweeping trend - not unlike regular parents making their own organic baby food. Making your own pet food does have pluses. However it does have one or two drawbacks too.

The entire concept was explored in today's New York Times Dining section. Samantha Storey wrote an interesting piece that included pet parent interviews and vets regarding this new trend. Cats and dogs receive a mix of organic veggies and grains mixed in with free range meats such as chicken, beef and lamb. It is costly in some cases with just one meal costing anywhere from $12 to $15 to make. Cat food sells for about a quarter a can (depending on where you shop)pet parents do have to be schooled in creating their companions food. Animals require calcium and cats taurine for their bones and eyesight. Some kind of calcium supplement such as Tums have to be added.

Is it worth it?The pluses are you know where the food is coming from. Unlike pet food companies that use leftover slaughter house "mystery meats" pet parents turn to their local butchers for the meat. it;s fresh and freshly ground, especially for them. The extras such as veggies and grains come from the kitchen pantry and grocery store. Home made food also clears up some health problems and in one case turned a cat's personality from cranky to sweet. However cats and dogs do need a sufficient dose of vitamins and minerals for well being and for good bone health. There's also a pet salad (a side piece written by Jeff Gordinier) . This is nothing more than wheat grass that cats love to eat it does nothing for their health, however it keeps them away from toxic plants (and also gets them to throw up easier)

If you can create your own pet food, do it. I would recommend a better blend of store bought and homemade foods. The little four legged ones will get the best of both worlds. - home cooking and specially formulated. They'll enjoy both.

Diners Not Just Short Order Anymore

Live in New Jersey and you eat at a lot of diners. My state has the most of these eateries than any other state. Almost every town has at least one. Some even have three or four in the bigger cities and towns. What makes them so much fun is that they're diverse. Diners here serve everything from breakfast to cordon blu, from hearty stacks of pancakes to just cottage cheese filled melon halves.. That's what makes for varied eating here in t he Garden State.

One of my favorites is the Coach House in North Bergen The Coach House has been there seventy years and always has a busy crowd. I love spending my Sundays and even a few holidays here. (it's perfect for Christmas Mass service brunch).What I love about it is its' diversity of different dishes. One week I'll just have a filling appetizer , the next week , one of their tasty homemade soups and salad bar. Like other diners, it has a wide range of steaks, roasts and pastas. It's also known for its' Greek specialties too. Another plus about diners is that they can serve these dishes at any time. Order a dinner at 3 AM and or a brekfast at noon. A diner is there to cater to you!

Another great thing about Jersey diners is that most of their pastries are homemade. The Coach House is known for it's cupcakes, large muffins like creations topped with a dollop of butter cream frosting. Other diners throughout the state are well known for their melt in your mouth fruit topped cheesecakes as well as their seven layer cakes. Many of them even bake their own cookies and they're just as good as any bakery's . A little known fact - some diners can even make birthday and special occasion cakes for you if you ask. After all, a diner's bakery is located in the basement and it's responsible for all the rolls , buns and other baked items that are served.

New Jersey diners are not just onion rings and burgers along with an egg cream or a Coke. They can provide you with delicious homemade soups, top of the line sirloins and roasts and fresh baked sweets. They can cater to your every whim every day all day through rain and snow; any season, or holiday. That's what makes them great to visit.

Happiness Is A Hot Instant Meal

There;s nothing like coming home to a hot, steaming pot pie or lasagna. Unfortunately these take a lot of time and effort to make, not to mention having all the ingredients at hand. Luckily this is the modern age where we can cook wholesome meals in just minutes. They're still the same as what our moms and grannies made - but quicker. Much quicker.

A good dinner (or even lunch) here in the States is pot pies. This American classic was one of the first TV dinners back in the Fifties and it's still going strong. Pot pies are wonderful because they has everything, They're basically meat, veggies and even bread all rolled into one crusty, yummy, juicy pie. Serve them with a salad and it's a full meal. Some fast food chains such as Boston Market offer a delicious, homestyle version that's the size of a small pizza.Another instant favorite is pizza itself. A lot of brands such as Red Baron and California Kitchen offer individual ones that you can buy in your freezer section. Nowadays they have so many different toppings, from the exotic artichoke to the much loved pepperoni, Again add some salad to instant pizza and even a glass of red wine and you've got a great meal to come home to.

Comfort food can be made in a sec these days too. There are plenty of instant baked macs out there. One of my favorites is Stop and Shop's house brand.It's a perfect blend of tiny elbow macaroni with a creamy cheddar sauce. The cheese is thick and it evenly coats every piece of pasta perfectly. I just love it and for me it's the best dinner after a tough day. Potato pancakes, another soothing comfort food are easy to make now thanks to so many brands offering instant versions. Gone are the days of grating potatoes and onions and then mixing them with eggs to form the perfect round. These are just pop into the frying pan or microwave and then serve with sour cream or applesauce.

Happiness is coming home to a hot meal. More happiness is making it in just minutes. Nowadays it's easy thanks to all the great instant dinners out there. It's nice to have homemade things if you have the time. However the frozen stuff can offer the same sort of comfort without all the fuss and bother.

Foodie Blues

Even foodies get the blues. it;s that doldrums time when holiday goodies are now just a memory and the Super Bowl feasts are just a dream. Winter stews aren't just hearty anymore. They're boring. All those soups and grilled cheese sandwiches are becoming flat. What to do?

Liven up your diet. Better yet liven up the whole culinary experience

i;ts January , time to try new things. Eat stuff you've never dared eat. If you've always had reservations about cuisines you've never tried, now is the time to do so. Make them yourself or visit restaurants. Eat foods that aren't normally associated with winter. A lot of people just crave a big green salad in the middle of all this ice and snow. Go for it. There's something refreshing about a lunch of Cobb or Caesar salad with a glass of iced tea. or do the fun breakfast for dinner route. have pancakes a long with bacon and eggs for supper . Or just serve appetizers like wings or pigs in blanket for a lunch or dinner.

Another fun foodie idea is take cooking and baking courses.Many community schools offer some great four to six week ones that you can learn everything from cake decorating to Italian cooking.They're fun to take plus you get to eat your projects.Of course if you ave the money you can fly to Italy or France and enroll in a winter cooking course there. Overseas culinary studies are a great way to hone your skills plus soak up a culture too. Some will certify you or give you a degree, perfect if you're thinking about entering the restaurant business afterwards.

Don't let the foodie blues get you down. Experiment with different cuisines. Try something new. Take that baking or cooking class you always wanted to take. Get out of your dull culinary existence and go for the unexplored! It'll be quite an adventure!

Good Jersey Pizza

Anyone living in New Jersey can tell you we have good Italian food here.days I have had more . Our diners, already laden with a million different foods now have a large pizza and pasta list. I've bneen dining on all sorts here from pizza bagels to the thin crust oven baked kind. Our neighboring state, New York may claim they have the best however I think there is some competition from the Garden State here.

I recently ate at botht he HEritage Diner and Brooklyn Pizzeria in Hackensack , NJ. Hackensack is one of the state's oldest, having been a trading post between the Dutch and th e Indians during th e 1600's. Who knew that over 360 years later it would known more for its' food than anything else (beisdes a mention in a Billy Joel song). I have had the pizza bagels at the famed Heritage Diner on River Road, This is one of the towns' oldest diners (over forty years in existence) It;s known for a large variety of different types of cuisines from the standard burger and fries to Greek. However it has an extensive Italian menu . I tried their fun pizza bagels which is a jumbo size bagel laden with a ton of sauce and mozzarella. it was too huge to eat and has t be shared. I'm looking forward to their pizzas in the future along wit some of the regular diner fare.

Down the road from the Heritage is Brooklyn Pizzeria. This is a small cozy kind of place that's perfect for date night. Their pizza is phenomenal, being equal to that of th e famous John's down in New York City's Bleeker Street. The crust is super thin and crisp while the sauce is rich with spices and garlic. I love th e fact that they are so may topping.s I chose olive and my individual pie was covered with them. I plan on going back to Brooklyn Pizzeria to try their antipasto . This is done in the traditional style with cold cuts , veggies and cheeses as well as their penne in butter sauce.

The Garden State has small culinary meccas dotted through it. Hackensack is one of them, known for it's Italian food. If your;e in the area , stop into the Heritage Diner or Brooklyn Pizzeria. You'll have the best Italian food in the state!

The Return Of Good Cocoa

Foods from a century ago were supposedly were the best. They were more organic, more flavorful and created with craftsmanship and care. At least one food may be going back to its; root .Chocolate. A new discovery of the extinct cocoa beans used a century ago are coming back. This is true excitement in the chocolate world.

This was a small but captivating article in yesterday's new York Times Dining section. Dining regular , Florence Fabricant penned the piece about the Nacional cocoa beans,.The plant produces 100 per cent white beans as opposed to the usual purple. This is not where white chocolate comes from, (that's made of cocoa, sugar and milk solids). A white bean means a less acid , more mellow flavored cocoa. Unfortunately there is one slight problem. The beans are located in seeds within the pod hard to tell when they will be white or purple. Another thing that makes the beans so special is that they're grown at an altitude of 3,500 feet above sea level. This is rare because cacao grows only at 2,500 miles above sea level.

Nacional chocolate is the processed , first in Ecuador where it is , dried, fermented and processed . They are then shipped to Lima and from there - where else Switzerland . It is in the chocolate capital of the world where they are are processed into a concoction called Fortunato No 4. It's a 68 per cent high butterfat chocolate that's easy to use. The article mentions that Moonstruck Chocolatiers of Portland Oregon user Nacional chocolate. I've checked it out. The truffles and caramels made with it are expensive but they look sooo good.

Finding the Nacional cacao pod is a great treasure, indeed. It means a return to a purer, richer form of chocolate. Hopefully, through modern botany, the plant can be reproduced or at the very least bred with a lesser cacao plant to produce a good hybrid. It would definitely bring back the age of elegant chocolate and be a boon to chocolate lovers worldwide!

It All Started With A Hasp

Not many people would use woodworking tools for kitchen prep. There is the occasional hammer pressed into service when you need crushed ice but maybe that's it. Yet The Grace family discovered that their line of hasps turned into a foodie;s must have almost overnight. Their Microplane line is well coveted by bakers and cooks in the professional and amateur worlds.

The Grace family was featured in today's New York Times Dining section with an interview by regular contributor, John T. Edge. Richard Grace founder of the company started out by first producing printer parts which had extremely Sharp edges. Mr Grace and d his children , Chris and maria, felt they could create something more and the idea of woodworking tools came into being. Their hasps were an overnight sensation - not with carpenters and craftsmen as originally intended but with food enthusiasts. Foodies loved these finely wrought smoothers that created perfect, feathery lemon zests and fluffy clouds of Parmesan cheese. (There is also a hasp that is used for pedicures as well to slough off dead skin). Foodies also loved their sharp cutting tools for dicing and chopping too. These produced finely cut edges and were perfects for veggies and meats.

I have seen Microplane graters in use at many restaurants. They do produce almost filament fine shreds of Parmesan which blend in perfectly with a steaming bowl of pasta. Bartenders also use them to grate star anise and gingers for drinks as well as adding zests. There is talk of adding one that shaves ice which intrigues me -a huge fan of Hawaiian shaved ice. I would buy that save for one problem . Unfortunately Hawaiian ice does require one good foot long , half a foot thick block of ice to create a fluffy, almost snow like treats. Where would I get that and where would I store it during the hot summer weather?

If you're a food enthusiast, then definitely consider buying the Microplane graters. They 're a good addition to any kitchen and help to create perfect restaurant type dishes. Look into them today