Lent Arrives Help Others Or Yourself?

Today is Ash Wednesday the start of Lent. Christians and some good hearted people are torn between whether to give up their favorite foods or pastimes to help others.To be honest ,if you can do both that is great.There,s nothing like improving your diet along with making other lives better. if you Re going to give up foods ,give up the ones that you like.These are usual Y the bad ones too like cake, candy and ice cream.For going these also teaches yup to eat healthier Their.You'll be subbing in fresh fruits for dessert and with it added vitamins and fiber.Forty days without sugar also changes your palate and you may find yourself developing a distaste for all thing sugary.This also app Ies to salty and greasy fast food too.A few weeks without fries and chips and yes ,you'll see and feel a difference.Lent is also the time to eat more fishTry moreOmega3 filled salmon or enjoy red snapper.These fish are tasty grilled and good with veggies and a pilaf. Of course some people would prefer to give up their time.You can work at your town or church's soup kitchen.Even if you can't cook, there's always clean up.There's nothing wrong with scrubbing pots and pans.You can even help with cleaning vegetables and cutting them up for sides and soups.You can also help pout at your food pantry too.If yup own a store or bakery,donate what you can to it.This may lead to year round helping.There are also meals on wheels where you can deliver hot lunches to the informed and elderly. you may enjoy this so muc that it could be a year round occurrence. Lent can mean a variety of good deeds. You can be good to your body by giving up the bad foods ruining yourself. you may help others with kind deeds and home cooked meals.Whatever you do think of what will come out of it.

Those Perfect Magazine Pics

Pictures of delicately frosted cakes.Stew sthat are golden brwon and laced with perfectly julienned carrots and browned onion squares. Hot cocoas topped with creamy swirls of whipped cream and sprinkled with chocolate shavings. Yes we;ve all seen them and been seducded by what;s known as food porn.These are those perfect pictures that we see in magazines and on the web. These are the photographs that seduce us into cooking and baking. We think we can recreate the same thing.Guess again.

There are usually armies helping to decorate every little rose and pearl onion. Some magazines even have thier own  decorators on call. As for those perfect dinners some of that food is plastic ,and the gravy is sugar water with coloring. Don't get me wrong .There are some magazines like the quaint TAste of Home hat actually uses real pictures submitted by real cooks.Thes ame can be said for real life blogs sich as Pioneer Woman. These are the ones I would trust the most.

What happens when your perfect dinner doesn't; live up to its' picture?If it;s for a group or party, just imrpovise. Cook extra rice or mashed potatoes along with making extra gravy ot hide the disaster. also if the taste isn;t too hit, then add an extra dash of salt.  The best idea is make a trial run and adjust the taste t the way you want it. The same for desserts. A fun idea is getting the kids to help you make the squiggles and rosesfor the cake.You can also try it on cupckes too..

Yeah, we all fall for food porn. Who wouldn't ?The problem is that what we fall for and what we try to make are two different things. If you want to make a perfect picture of the food , just practice, You may get it right,

Is Butter Better?

We all know butter's tasty it makes unbearable veggies bearable.It adds a richness to sauces Nd baked goos.Yet we also know that it can also be bad for you? Or supoosedly it is.Yet is subbing it with margarine a good thing? can it enhance yup cooking as well as your baking? Butter has been around since the beginning of time. it's been the base of any a sauce for millennia. it laso has been the main ingredient in cakes and cookies, giving both their rich tastes and fine textures. Butter is also a better addition to sauces,creating a silken texture that goes well with any mreat or fish. also , rub butter on a raw chicken. Or turkey and the end result is crisped bird with a crisy, yet tender skin.Let's face it ,a lobster tastes a million times better when it's dipped in a rich butter sauce.Remember butter does burn quickly, and can ruin a dish. Be careful and diligent when working with it, MArgarine does have it's pluses,Many health nuts swear by its' benefits. yes it is low in calories an can add to various dishes.It is great to sauté with and won't burn as much as butter.It can be used in the same baked products as butter. Margarine can be mixed with olive oil as well for various sauces. some people do like margarine on their veggies because they are not as rich then. I tWas created in France in 1813 by Michel Chevrel.Like butter it is an emulsier and was used by the lower classes.LouisNapoleon even created a contest in 1838 With Hyppolyte Meges Mouries.It. Was used vin some dishes but most French dishes require butter. What is the better choice. to be honest it's best to stick with both .Butter and margarine can be used for both tasty dishes that are good for you. Have both in your fridge. This is dedicated to my little butter lover Midnight who we lost last night.He loved licking butter off my chin. I will miss my sweet boy and pray he has all the butter he wants up in Heaven.There will be a time when Mommy will join you, cupcake and we will have butter together again.

The Brown Flour Controversy

Home bakers sometimes have a quandary to deal with when they bake.Do they use the more refined white flour or the whole wheat healthier stuff. Both have their merits but also their detractions too. is one better than the other? There in lies the debate. Most home bakers and even the commercial ones swear by white flour.It is easier to work with along with producing a more tender cAke or bread.White flour also give you a finer crumb cookie and pie crust.Another plus is that you don't have a chewiness to the finished product and what others think of as an intrusive nutty flavor. White flour though does have a bad reputation.It's not as nutritious as whole wheat, causing more problems with diet and weight problems. Many bakers do swear by whole wheat flour. It is better for you because it still has it's minerals And vitamins. while white flour basically has empty calories, whole wheat and other brown flours is chock full of fiber , selenium an iron. It is hard to work with as you'll read in tomorrow's New York Times Sunday magazine section (spoiler alert). Mark Bittman writes about baking baguettes with the flour. It will be hard because brown flour reacts differently with yeast. whole wheat breads and rolls do not have that light, airy crackly crust. the bread itself tends to be thick and dense with a solid chewiness.It can be a difficult medium to work with and it does require a certain amount of patience. There are always are going to be two camps when it comes to using white or brown flour. in the end it really is up to the baker. Use the one that's most comfortable, the one that will guarantee success in baking.

Making Our Favorite Treats

Don't panic if your favorite Hostess treat is discontinued .There is a great new cookbook that has the squiggle cupcakes and Twinkies along with other goodies you can make.Classic Snacks Made From Scratch has them as well as other goodies that only your supermarket sells.These are not only a foodie's fantasy but a baker and cook's Dream. Casey Barber is the author of this book from the famed UlyssesPress which is known for it's fun and quirky cookbooks.Ms.Barber loves her junk food but makes it healthy by creating it, herself. The book has everything from simple puddings. To the more elaborate take on Cheese Doodles. thereb is even the savory cracker Chick- N A Basket along with Pepperidge Farm goldfish.She have even written an entire chapter on ice cream treats!These are surprisingly easy, especially the creamsicles.There are also Good Humor almond and eclair bars to try as well. The recipes can be a bit labor intensive yet the process can go fast if you have help. The best part of Ms. Barber's recipes is that they have no artificial anything.There are favorites such as the Hostess cupcakes, all made with natural goodness as are Twinkies. she also has animal classics which are perfect to bake if you have children. the snacks are much better for you than the commercial kind such as the flavored barbecue and sour cream and onion chips. some recipes such as the ones for homemade TAter Tots and pizza rolls are perfect for a Saturday night dinner. If you are a true commercial food lover then Casey Barber's book is for you . you can go wild making your favorite treats . best of all they're home made without all those artificial additives.

Polenta A Winter Favorite

Polenta is one of those dishes that signifies winter. It can accompany any main dish from chicken cacciatore to a good hunter's gravy filled with pork bits. One of the best aspects of it is that it's super easy to make  and like a fashion basic can go with anything. It's also versatile, going from steamed to grilled, the perfect all around ingredient.

This Northern Italian staple was the star of an article in yesterday's New York Times Dining section A City Kitchen. Dave Tanis, the column's author really wrote a valentine to this simple dish made only from ground corn mush. He gives really good advice (that I ,even growing up with it, didn;t even know)>Polenta comes in three types of fineness. course, medium and fine. Also the longer you cook it the better tasting it will be. The mush becomes too bitter of you take it away from the flame too early on. The longer in the pot th sweeter it will be because the cornmeal swells and basically burst with flavor.

Mr. Tanis gives some pretty good recipes aw well. He grills the polenta into squares and serves it with tomatoes and eggs. The last is classic Piedmontese, adding the polenta gives ti a new twist. He also stuffs it with spinach along with ricotta and fontina, letting the mash  have a crunchy top. For me the best is either stuffed in Savoy cabbage, popular in northwestern Torino where my great grandfather came from or reheated and served as a base with sunny side up eggs. This last is a great way of using leftover polenta (along with the heavenly taste of egg yolk mixing with the corn flavor)

Polenta is a great winter dish anyone can make. Try it a variety of different way to discovers it's creamy texture and taste. Once you;re hooked, that's it. You're a polenta affectionado for life.

Replacement Time

Let's face it. Appliances sometimes have a short life. Any kitchen one is considered ancient if it lasts more than fifteen years. When to replace? That depends on you and what you've bought. Refrigerators and stoves can be with you for decades. When they start smelling funny ,as when a fridge does, then it s time to look at new ones. if a part of your stove doesn't work, then start looking at new ones.Keep in mind though ,if it's under five years old, you will still have it's warranty. Even a ten heard old appliance can be fixed, especially if It's a minor part. dishwashers should be replaced every fifteen years, especially if you used them twice a day every day. What about those other gadgets that make our lives easier? Microwaves take a daily beating. We use them constantly , for almost everything.Sadly enough they 're only good for ten years and Should be replaced then.Toaster ovens are a different affair. the older ones can last for decades while the newer ones fizzle out after only two years. It depends on what brand you buy and the warranty. most should last five to ten years .If it's not heating properly or burning toast then replace it.Blenders can last twenty-five years. Good to know if you're thinking of getting one for a shower, wedding or anniversary gift. Appliances really never last forever. They do need to be replaced no matter what the brand or the quality. if you have it too long, think about replacing it.