Chia seeds are ancient super foods that have recently made their way into the American diet. Originally a staple in the diet of the Incans, Mayans, and Aztecs, the chia seeds have begun to gain popularity among other cultures too.

Why Eat Chia Seeds?
In the Mayan language, the word “chia” means strength. And this super food has strength in spades! Some cultures say a single tablespoon of the tiny white and black seeds can sustain a person for 24 hours!

Check out all the nutritional benefits of chia seeds:

• Twice the protein of other seeds
• Twice the potassium of bananas
• Three times the antioxidant power of blueberries
• Three times the iron of spinach
• Five times the calcium of milk
• Massive amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids

In addition to meeting our nutritional needs, chia seeds provide other health benefits too. It has been said that chia seeds can:

• Boost energy
• Enhance physical strength
• Increase endurance
• Stabilize blood sugar
• Encourage weight loss
• Decrease side effects of thyroid conditions, hypoglycemia, diabetes, irregular bowel syndrome, celiac disease, and acid reflux

Additionally, chia seeds are stable for an incredibly long period of time – four to five years. Plus, they have a very mild taste. They can easily be added to other foods without drastically changing the flavor. It is common for chia seeds to be added to granola mixes, spread on salads, sprinkled on ice cream sundaes, and mixed into soups.

How Are Chia Seeds Prepared?
There are two main ways to eat chia seeds: as a gel or raw.

To make chia seed gel, combine 1/3 cup chia with 2 cups water. Mix the ingredients, place them in a covered container and store in the refrigerator. This recipe makes about 17 ounces of chia gel. While the mixture is ready to eat after 10 minutes, it is best to wait a few hours (more of the nutrients are released).

If you don’t want to make a gel, you can easily add raw chia seeds to any of your prepared dishes. Or, you can make a recipe that specially features this super food. Here are four great raw chia seed recipe ideas.

Chia Fresca
2 teaspoons chia seeds
10 ounces water
Juice from one lemon or lime
Honey, to taste

Fresca is Spanish for “fresh.” Enjoy this refreshing beverage on a warm summer day!

Chia Fruit Salad
3 small apples, sliced
8 dates, pits removed
4-5 tablespoons chia seeds
¼ cup dried mulberries

Mix apples, 6 dates, chia seeds, and mulberries together. Dice the remaining dates and add them to the mixture. Let the concoction sit for 10 minutes before eating.

Persi-nana Smoothie
4-5 tablespoons chia seeds
1-2 bananas
1-2 persimmons
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Handful pumpkin seeds

In a blender, combine the persimmons and bananas. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Add the chia, cinnamon, and pumpkin seeds. Let the mixture settle for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Raw Rice Pudding
4-5 tablespoons chia seeds
2 cups almond milk
Honey, to taste
Optional ingredients – vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom

Combine all your chosen ingredients to taste. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes before eating.

While chia seeds might have originally been nutritional favorites in other countries, their popularity has definitely spread to America. Grab some chia seeds and give these recipes a try. Your body will thank you!

Jessica Velasco is a health and fitness writer. When she isn’t at the computer, she is trying new recipes in the kitchen or chasing the kids around the backyard.

Kitchen is an important room in every house. From morning’s breakfast to night’s dinner, you may spend most of your time in kitchen in preparing meals. Hence, care should be taken when shopping for kitchen equipment. But, most people spend more money than actually required in buying kitchen ware. Here are the smart ways to buy kitchen ware for less.

Cooking.com: You can buy kitchen ware online by visiting this website. You can select among many popular brands. The kitchen wares you can buy online include tools, cookbooks, cookware, appliances and more.

Chef’s Catalog: Chef’s Catalog has a wide variety of bake ware, kitchen tools and cook ware. This organisation offers a 100% guarantee on the products advertised in it.

Visit regular store: Most people are regular customers of a single store even though they are surrounded by a numbers of options. Visit that store which you stopover regularly for shopping, to get kitchen ware for less, because there is a possibility that you can bargain well and get them at affordable price.

Open sky: Here you can feel a new kind of shopping experience. The company recommends various products to each consumer and make it unique and personal. They present wide collection of cookware, bake ware and kitchen tools.

Exchange offers: This is one of the easiest and best ways to get the new kitchen ware for less cost. Here you are offered exchange of your old kitchen implements with new ones. You might be asked to pay some amount of money in addition. Whenever you are not satisfied with the current cookware, you can effectively make use of this way to replace the older cookware with new ones.

GrillsDirect.com: This is a popular website to choose among various grills and smokers. You can find popular brands such as Thermador, Weber, Kitchen Aid and others in this site.

Buy on discounts: Go for some shop hunting in the city to find the best deals and best discount offers. There are various deals that you might not know. If you buy on discount, you can save some money which you can spend for other purposes.

Buy during off-season: You may be surprised with this fact, but it is true. If you do not have very urgent needs, you can defer the purchase to off season. For example, most people wish to buy a refrigerator in summer or a microwave oven in the winter. Hence there is a possibility that there may be an increase in the price. Likewise in off-seasons, to attract the customers, many companies reduce the price of the products.

One stop shopping: You may have probably heard about the offers like; if you shop above some amount, you might be offered some gifts. You can take the advantage of it wisely. Rather than roaming across the city, shop under one roof to get all. In this way you can save travel charges and even can get free gifts.

Author’s bio: Hi! I’m a blogger from the United Kingdom and my name is Leo. I basically write finance articles about ppi claims, loans and so on. My hobbies include cooking, reading and of course writing.

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1367301

Before even getting into this article (which you will inevitably bookmark) I have to say the goddess of all grape uses is none other than wine itself. And who takes the throne on wine? California. California has the climate to grow grapes for the majority of months throughout the year, and wineries are the second biggest attraction next to Disneyland itself. I can count how many times this year I have bought a pound or two of grapes, but I’d need a whole room of hands to count how many bottles of wine I’ve checked out.

Moving on to the less obvious uses for grapes, here are 10 crafty uses that will have you picking up more fresh grapes next time you are in the store.

Grapes for Health

Grapes contain high levels of antioxidants, which lower levels of bad cholesterol which ultimately aid in the prevention of heart and blood vessel deterioration. Since grapes are mainly comprised of water they are gentle in healing areas of your body. If you are eating grapes solely for the antioxidant benefit then purchase dark red grapes which contain higher levels of flavonoids.

Grapes to Chill

Freeze some green grapes and keep them as ice cubes. Lots of people enjoy frozen grapes on warm summer days, I prefer to pour a glass of white wine and use the grapes as ice cubes instead of diluting the wine with water ice cubes.

Grapes for Dipping

Quit with the unoriginal fondue platter, spice up the mix with grapes. We buy chocolate covered raisins all the time, but dipping fresh grapes under a sea of chocolate will be the crowd pleaser. The best thing is you can fit lots of grapes in their varietal colors with a toothpick on the platter for a beautiful presentation.

Grapes for Grilling Kebobs

Next time you throw together some kebobs throw in grapes between the meat and as you grill it the grapes will release all their juices and add a sweet glaze to the surrounding meats and vegetables. It is best to pick dark grapes to go with red meats and green or white grapes for poultry items.

Grapes for Syrup

This is a delicious low calorie alternative to syrup or chocolate sauce. I use grape syrup over vanilla ice cream for a decadent treat. In a saucepan add a bunch of grapes (I use green) a cup of water, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and a tablespoon of vanilla. Smash the grapes with a potato masher or a fork. Keep the heat at low to medium but never boiling. Allow the mixture to get heated and when the skins begin to separate slowly pull them out of the saucepan with a fork. Wait for the mixture to get slightly thick, cool and serve. If it is not sweet enough add a little bit of honey or more brown sugar until it is sweetened to taste.

Grapes for Learning

Ever had to teach your child something? It’s best done when there’s food involved and you can consume your work. I have used grapes when teaching children different shapes, they use toothpicks to create triangles, squares, rectangles, octagons, and even animals.

Another teaching lesson with grapes is to use them for basic addition and subtraction. Infants enjoy the squishy texture of grapes and love to move them from place to place and surprisingly are learning along the way. The best part is, they are an easy clean up if any mess occurs.

Grapes for Pickling

Pickling grapes is not the most common food choice you will see. It is very easy, tasty, and doesn’t take long for the pickling process to finish. Here’s what you need, go buy a bunch of firm red grapes and a jar of some sort. At minimum, get apple cider vinegar and sugar. Wash the grapes and cut a bit of the end so that the skin does not completely cover the grape and you can see some of the flesh. Place all the grapes inside the jar and pour in a cup of apple cider vinegar, a cup of water, and 1 cup of sugar. If you want to spice the recipe up a little more adding vanilla, cinnamon, peppercorns, and even oranges.

Let the mixture sit for a couple of days, open up and enjoy!

Grapes are one of the most common fruits which are underused. I know I think I get 2 fruits a day in with every glass of wine, but these are some of the best kept secrets for other uses of grapes. It’s not difficult, and it certainly is not messy, so next time you are in the store pick up a few bunches of grapes and see what you can make.

The author of this article is Alisa Carscaden. I love SEO and travelling, new experiences coupled with glasses of wine make life go a little smoother. If you enjoyed this post please follow on Twitter @liquormart for more great updates on online wine. www.Liquormart.com is my favorite source for purchasing wine online.

The modern kitchen offers a nearly endless number of ways to go about preparing food. No longer do the British need to stick to their boiling and roasting when they have cooking insight and invention from around the world made easy and accessible at their fingertips. With all these different kitchen accessories now seen as standard, we sometimes forget where they came from and how they ended up in our kitchens. Here are five you may own yourself:

Fondue

A traditional method of cooking around the Alps of France, Italy and Switzerland, the fondue-set didn’t become a staple of British and American dinner parties until the 1970s. No swinging soirée was complete without the sight of melted cheese on sticks, breads and, inevitably, clothes too! Like all retro classics, the fondue set has been in and out of fashion ever since its first appearance on our shores – with the latest variations offering an even more fattening chocolate and marshmallow option!

Wok

Another traditional cooking staple from abroad – the “wok” has many variations across the East depending on which country you are in and which meal you’re preparing. Becoming popular in the West in the 1980s, British and American designs have favoured the Chinese style, perfect for stir-fries which, believe it or not, were popularised as part of a health-food craze. All these great cooking ideas are not only imported from Britain, however, but exported too; in this case in the form of non-stick Teflon wok designs which have since dominated the Eastern markets, replacing traditional metals for easy cleaning.

Aga

This couldn’t really be called an import, unless you consider its invention in Sweden in 1922 as exotic. However, the Aga has been notable in recent years for its movements through that broad range of cultures that represent the British class system. Once regarded as very much an aristocratic means by which to cook meals such as freshly shot pheasant, the Aga’s adoption by top TV chefs shows like Jamie Oliver or River Cottage has massively boosted its sales and brought this cooker-cum-heater into many a middle class home where it cooks everything from pizza to hot pots.

Microwave

If the Aga is the yuppie of the kitchen, then the microwave has got to be the punk. Invented in 1947 and based on British radar technology invented during the war, the first microwave ovens were known as “radar ranges” or “radio cookers”. It wasn’t until the 1990s that the microwave became affordable enough to become a standard of every kitchen – in some student flats, even coming to replace the kitchen altogether! Beneficial or not, this bad boy of cookery led a revolution in the way we eat, with the UK spending over £5 million on microwave ready-meals a day.

Tagine

Not yet a staple of every kitchen, the North African cooking dish is perfect for slow-cooking stews and curries. A regular feature on programmes like The Hairy Bikers, the tagine could very well be the next big kitchen staple and culinary trend-setters are advised to keep their eyes out for it. Yes, it does take a long time to use properly, but with more and more people working from home it may be that the long and loving preparation involved and the spectacular flavours that result, make the tagine a unique cooking accessory for the twenty-first century.

These are only a handful of kitchen imports, there are many more and their number is growing by the day as the Internet and global travel are bringing the world together. Not only should we stop taking our kitchen standards for granted, but maybe we should think about adding some new standards ourselves!

This Article was Written by Kutchenhaus who are specilists in Modern Kitchen find out more here. www.kutchenhaus.co.uk/Kitchen/Modern-Kitchens

Bread is a staple of the human diet. People around the world enjoy eating bread, and it is usable in many different ways. Some people wish to create bread in their own home. What are the benefits of such an endeavour? Why should a person try?

1. A Person Will Have a Greater Variety with Flavours

It is not always possible to get a particular kind of bread at the store. It may be a popular flavour, and the store may not always have it available for sale. If this is not the case, the flavour may be available only during certain times of the year. To ensure that a household will always have bread, it is a good idea to make bread. A homeowner may create bread without the worry that supply will run out.

2. The Bread Will Be Fresh and Free Of Chemicals

When a person buys bread, it is essential to note that the bread is not necessarily fresh. It may be close to its expiration date. If this is not the case, the store may be selling older bread that is dry and tasteless. If a homeowner wishes to ensure freshness in bread, making bread is an excellent option. Homemade bread will also be free of potentially harmful chemicals and other ingredients. If a member of the family has a particular allergy, he or she may not have to worry when the bread comes from the home. This is a benefit to keep in mind.

3. Friends and Family Members May Receive Bread as a Gift

It can be difficult to choose the perfect gift for friends and family members. If a person carries a small budget, finding something suitable may appear to be an impossible task. However, one option sits with making something for a loved one. While some people may paint a picture or compose a letter, it is also a good idea to bake bread. Bread purchased from the store may be seen as lazy and thoughtless. Homemade bread implies that the giver wishes to send a personal message. It also shows effort.

When a person is dealing with a tight budget, homemade bread is an affordable and fun alternative. Bread does not have to come from a store, and a household does not have to limit what brand of bread enters the living space. The bread will not contain harmful chemicals that may cause a person to have an allergic reaction. If a person is looking for an option that carries many benefits, the information above may help. If a person still has questions, he or she may wish to speak to a person who makes bread at home. It is crucial to know the right steps in order to succeed.

Bec is a waitress at Deckhouse Woolwich Restaurant in Sydney, Australia. Bec is also an aspiring baker, and loves baking her own fresh bread at home. For more information visit: www.deckhousewoolwich.com.au

The nutritional content of Hazelnuts is nothing short of astounding. With Omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and many other healthy advantages.  It is no wonder so many are seeking out this nut. Not only is the nourishing substance of this nut beneficial to everyone, but it can help the body create active radicals. These radicals can help certain types of cancer from developing. Other benefits include regulating blood pressure, promote cell formation, and help with cardiovascular diseases, and other issues with the body. As can be seen here, the humble nut is a phenomenal product produced by nature.

In ancient times many people often consumed this nut for not only the healthful benefits but also for medicinal purposes.  In a Chinese manuscript dated 2838 B.C., the manuscript stated that the filbert nut was among the five sacred nourishment derived from God and bestowed upon the people of the world. In 200 A.D., the Greek physician Dioscorides discussed the healing properties of this nut. Simply saying, the hazelnut has been “in the news” for thousands of years on end.

In the modern world, many of the filberts consumed in the United States grow in the northern regions of Oregon and Washington. The U.S. and many other places around the globe have found the benefits of Hazelnuts. The nut oil has an aromatic smell as well as its cooking benefits. Many items have the perfect taste of filberts within them, including Nutella and even things like coffee creamer and milk additives are now more popular than ever. Take a look around and find something new and different in the world of nuts, it is not just a snack it is a start to healthy eating for life.

Other fun filled information about the Hazelnut/Filberts-

Oregon and the southern part of British Columbia produce 20,000 tons of this nut per year.

Turkey in the leading producer with total outcome of 600,000 tons per year (this accounts for 75% of the world output).

Cultivation has been around since the 16th century. The first recorded written information was the “Kentish Cobnut”, which was documented in 1830.

Scotland holds some of the earliest evidence of consumption. A midden pit found full of Filbert shells, which were radiocarbon dated to 7000 B.C.

It has the only nut bearing tree to bloom and pollinate in the winter time.

These nuts are used in confectionery, to make pralines. In chocolate, this nut is used in different kinds of truffles. The benefits of hazelnuts are endless, and often the taste alone will have people searching for it in the local grocer. Even hazelnut butter is a pleasant alternative to the peanut type, and though much higher in fat content the flavor is admired by many who consume it. The infamous Russian Kiev Cake is made with this nuts flour as well as Dacquoise a French dessert cake. Frangelico is a unique filbert and vodka based liqueur and the Turkish snack Churchkhela uses the nut to flavor it.

Sally Hummer is now teaching her students in New York the benefits of Hazelnuts, and how best to incorporate them in a great meal. Sally is also producing her second e book on that very subject.  Sally may be “nuts on nuts”.

Most of us these days have incredibly busy lives. We work till silly-o’clock in the evening, trying to keep on top of everything that we need to do before we can even think about heading home. Therefore when we finally put down our tools, switch off our laptops and turn off the lights on the office world, the last thing we want to do is cook. After a hard day’s work, cooking becomes if anything, another chore to undertake. Often instead all you want to do is arrive home, put the kettle on, make a cup of tea and relax. Put simply we want to escape and forget all about work and enjoy some down-time.

However, when you get home each day you find you have to endure the same old routine every single day. The preparation, cooking, serving and the physical eating of the meal is one of the most tedious activities to do after a day at work. You complain about how long it’s going to take and you have family members in your ears moaning about the fact that they’re hungry; it’s just unnecessary stress when you’re hungry and tired.

Furthermore many things can go wrong when you are attempting to prepare and cook a meal. For example the oven might decide tonight is not its night and conk out; the microwave often following suit. Often you realize late at night that you do not have the ingredients that you thought you had either because you didn’t have time to go to the shops, or someone has already eaten them whilst you were at work. Other times you leave the kitchen momentarily, only to return and find that instead of it simply simmering as expected; the meal has been burnt to a crisp. Sadly the depressing fact is you have to eat it otherwise it’s a waste of your time and effort; not to mention a waste of food.

Luckily for those times when all you feel like doing is relaxing after a long day at work there is an option which might take your fancy. This option is especially popular for students and is often seen as a treat for families with kids all over the world. Although it is not recommended to be had every night in a week, the takeaway is something to be enjoyed in moderation when you simply don’t have the time or energy to cook.

Instead of taking ages cooking and preparing food, having to think about timings, ingredients and quantities, you can simply grab the phone, ring up the takeaway of your choice and order any kind of food which takes your fancy; whether you want Italian, Indian or Chinese. With a wide range of foods from a wide range of cultures to choose from, eating a meal could not be simpler – because somebody else is cooking it!

The most stressful thing you will encounter is the waiting. It all goes well until the person on the other end of the phone says “Your order will be here in 1 hour.” You do tend to sigh once the phone is down because you know that will be the longest hour of your entire life. You try and make yourself look busy and try and create the illusion of time going faster by doing remedial chores such as emptying the dishwasher or having a browse through your TV Guide.

What seems like hours later, whilst you’re drowning in the bath of tediousness watching Saturday night reality television, there is a quiet knock at your door. You open it to the gorgeous smell of your meal. A pathetic attempt at a smile rises from your delivery man as he presents you what seems like your last meal on earth. Your temptation to kiss him is overwhelming but social protocol restricts you from doing so. You pay him and you’re generosity, mostly fueled by hunger, leads you to allow him to keep the change. You really don’t care; you just want food.

You sit down, open up that bag of heaven and lift your food out of the bag. You feel something cool at the bottom of the bag and you feel like you’re taking something you shouldn’t: two free cans of soft drink. Bonus!

The takeaway is a great way to satisfy your own need for a break and relax whilst also satisfying your family who you often know are thankful by the silence than is only occasionally broken with the sounds of chewing and the licking of lips.

The takeaway allows you to transfer all your worries, pains and stresses of work into the comfy leather sofa underneath you. There is no sweating over the stove with pots and pans and no back pains lifting your food out of the oven – just a simple ‘click and order’ on your computer or a phone call to your local takeaway. No fuss: simply put your feet up and relax.

With this in mind, traveling home from work doesn’t seem no tedious after all, as you know that if you dread the thought of cooking an evening meal then you can order a great tasting meal right from your sofa online or by phone.

Aimee Coppock has a busy lifestyle and often struggles to juggle home life and cooking with heavy work commitments as a busy author. Therefore the ability to order a takeaway from her comfortable and stylish leather sofa is something that they enjoy now and again. If you have a busy working life, then be like Aimee Coppock and take the night off.

For many, a nice meal in a nice restaurant wouldn’t be anything if it wasn’t combined with an equally nice glass of wine. Unfortunately, not only is wine in restaurants typically incredibly expensive, the quality isn’t always stellar either.

Never Order by the Glass

The last thing that you want to do when ordering wine in a restaurant is to order a single glass. Most restaurants like to make enough profit off a single glass to pay for an entire bottle. But it’s not actually the low value that you need to be worried about.

When you order a single glass, you don’t know where the bottle has been or how long it’s been opened. And in most cases, you wouldn’t want to know.

Avoid the Second Cheapest

Nobody likes ordering the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu. Because of this, one of the most popular bottles in most restaurants is the second cheapest. Unfortunately, purchasing this bottle is rarely a good choice.

Restaurant owners are well aware of how the average consumer thinks and because of this, they will typically put an overpriced wine in the second cheapest slot. In most cases, the cheapest bottle is actually a better wine.

Check the Year Closely

With demand for just about everything slumping these days, many restaurants hold on to bottles of wine for far longer than they should. If you’re not careful, this can result in you drinking wine that would have tasted a hell of a lot better last year.

Whenever you order a bottle of wine, make sure that the year on the menu matches the year on the bottle. A year can make a big difference and you have every right to return a bottle that’s long past its peak.

Don’t Order Chardonnay

Chardonnay is an incredibly popular wine in the UK and with good reason. Unfortunately, it’s obvious popularity leads to many restaurant owners leaning away from good value when pricing it.

If you’re looking for good value wine, Chardonnay is therefore the last thing that you should order.

Go With What’s Popular

Some restaurants have wines from all over the world whereas others show a definite preference for a particular region. When you spot such a preference, it’s usually worth going along with it.

The reason for this is simple, whoever created the wine list probably knows a hell of a lot about that region. You can therefore expect that he/she has chosen very high quality wines.

Speak Up About Standards

Finally, due to the somewhat expensive nature of wine in restaurants, it’s obviously important that you actually enjoy it. This means that if it’s not served to your standards, you need to be willing to speak up.

If the wine is too hot or cold, voice your concern. If you’d prefer a larger glass, or you’d simply prefer that the waiter poured less in, never be afraid to let your waiter know.

Maxime Bord is known for his interest in wine making. He has written a number of articles on wine making as well. Recommend the specified link to know more about Telegraph Champagne.

In today’s declining economy, there is a bright spot for families. More and more people are cooking at home instead of eating out. Cooking food at home can bring families together. The enjoyment of a shared meal is an important aspect of our social natures that dates back to the beginning of time.

After you have cut up meats on your counter, be sure to thoroughly wipe the counters and chopping boards down with a disinfectant. You need to disinfect knives also. Keep separate chopping boards for uncooked and cooked foods. Many people get salmonella poisoning each year because they ingested food that was prepared on an unclean counter or chopping board. This is especially important if you prepare food for children or the elderly.

Prevent your pie crust from burning at the edges by wrapping the outer edge of crust in aluminum foil for the first part of the pie’s baking time. The outside edge always cooks faster than the portion that covers the filling, so the ring of foil can help to slow down the browning process.

To get perfectly browned cookies, use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on your regular cookie sheets. These surfaces are not only non-stick, but they lend the perfect shade of golden brown to your delicious morsels. These surfaces also keep your baking sheets clean, so you don’t have extra pans to wash.

After you have drained pasta, add fresh Parmesan Cheese to it while it is still hot. By putting the cheese on this way, the sauce you will be using has something to stick it. Plus, the pasta will have more flavor this way than if you added the cheese after your pasta and sauce are mixed together.

To keep your spices and herbs at their freshest, do not store them above your stove. The steam and heat can alter and weaken their flavors and textures, and may even cause clumping. Try to find a dry, cool place such as a drawer or pantry for storing these items.

When a sauce is too thick or too thin, it’s useful to add either flour or water. Flour should be pre-mixed in a little bit of cold water to prevent it from clumping when you add it to a sauce. Water can just be added and stirred in. This is helpful when you want the consistency of your sauce to combine with your meal. Thicker sauces will tend to stick to noodles better than their watery counterparts.

To avoid sticky rice, wash it before cooking. This is a simple trick to use if you want fluffy rice. Put the rice in a large pot, fill it with water, and stir. Let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse thoroughly. Repeat this once more. Let all of the water drain before cooking.

Freeze overripe bananas. You do not have to throw out brown bananas. If they are overripe before you can eat them, just freeze them for later. Overripe bananas are still perfect for smoothies. You can even use them as an ingredient in baked goods like banana bread or muffins.

When cooking with thick and sticky ingredients like molasses or honey, make it easier with non-stick cooking spray. Simply spray the inside of a measuring cup before adding the viscous liquid. When pouring it will slip out completely and cleanly with no need to scrap the inside of the cup.

Cook your pasta one minute less than the package suggests, then finish cooking it in a pan with sauce. Your pasta will absorb more of the flavor of the sauce without having an over cooked texture. This can be a quick and effective way to prepare a pasta meal.

After you have cooked a piece of food in the oven, you should give it several minutes to rest before serving. The last thing that you will want to do is serve any part of your meal that is too hot, which will ruin its overall quality for the person you are serving.

For pasta that is cooked perfectly all the way through, do not place it the in water until the water is boiling. Pasta cooks from the outside in, so to keep your pasta all one texture you need to cook it at the same consistent temperature from the beginning to the end.

Learn the difference between boiling and simmering, and pay close attention to which one a recipe calls for. A rolling boil means loads of bubbles constantly breaking at the surface of the liquid, while a simmer means that sparse bubbles meander slowly to the top. Boiling something that should be simmered can result in painful splashes, overly reduced sauces, and tough meats.

Food and family are almost synonymous. Whether it’s the holidays, or just the evening meal, it is a wonderful thing to see the return of the home cook. The shared act of cooking a meal can only strengthen our families and improve our overall health in this society.

As a food writer, I always have my eye on the latest cullinary trends and am faithfully on the look out for clever new ideas and things to incorporate into a meal or party.  It seems, this year, that the “tasting party” concept of  “sips and dips” has trumped all others in the entertaining arena.  Cullinary magazines are chock full of ideas and recipes for appetizers and easy finger food to serve at such an event.  Mailers from kitchenware and home decor companies for the past year, or so,  have featured photos of platters and fun-sized dishes  full of  ”serve-yourself ” nibbles and dips.  Personally, I think it is a great way to host a holiday cocktail or “open house” party for friends and family.  The preparation is minimal, much can be made ahead of time, and everyone enjoys being able to “dip” into some new bold flavor sensations.  Not to mention, you as a host or hostess will have some free time to mix and mingle with your guests.