Did you know that honey is a natural preservative? The composition of honey allows it to bind to water molecules. This means that bread made with honey will not get stale as quickly as bread made with sugar. You can get more technical information
here.
Because honey is a natural sweetener, it contains trace minerals and vitamins that refined sugar does not have as well as antioxidant properties. Also, the body takes longer to absorb honey, making it a *slightly* healthier choice.
There is no hard fast rule for substituting honey for sugar in a recipe. It is a matter of trial and error. Honey is sweeter and wetter, so in general, you can use less of it and reduce the liquid content as well.
I grew up being taught that there was two ways to thicken up sauces, soups, gravies... 1) Flour and 2) Cornstarch.
My mom always said Flour = Cold; Cornstarch = Hot. That means, you use flour at the beginning of the recipe in melted butter or sprinkled on potatoes, apples, etc. As it gets hot, it then starts to thicken the liquids. Cornstarch, on the other hand, was mixed into cold water and once the recipe was boiling, the mixture was slowly poured in. This was a general rule, not to be followed religiously.
In the last few years, however, I have discovered a new trick that works wonderfully for thickening chili* and spaghetti sauce**: Cornflour (or Polenta or cornmeal, depending on where you are from). If your spaghetti sauce has turned out too soupy, toss in a couple tablespoons of cornmeal and it soaks the liquid right up, giving the dish a nice, thick consistency without any change in flavor.
* aka: Chili con Carne
** more properly referred to as Bolognese sauce
Photo from http://www.barryfarm.com/
Having put the kids down for naps, all I want to do is sit down and "play" on the computer. It is finally "Mommy Time"... then I look at the chaos around me - the nuclear fall-out of breakfast, lunch, company for supper last night, international phone calls, getting in and out the door for Bible study, a bowel movement that didn't quite make it to the potty chair, laundry that's been begging to be hung up, rice strewn across several rooms and dishes galore... sigh!!
My typical nap time would be: resting if I needed it or setting a time-limit to "play" before tackling the necessary chores. The problem with those time-limits is that I keep adding "just one minute more" to the end. I knew that with all the mess around me, I couldn't afford "just one minute more", so I took a new approach. Rather than setting the timer for play, I set the timer for work. It is amazing what can get done in 20 minutes with that tick-tick-tick urging you on! Clothes hung, floors wiped/swept, table/counters cleared, meat out thawing for dinner, clean dishes put away... Everything got done except the still-large pile of dirty dishes before the timer rang. Now I can sit down with a relatively-free conscious and take a much needed rest from work.
2:30 PM |
Category:
Homemaking,
Kitchen Tips
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Having lived for a few years in "Land of the Chopsticks", I've found out they are very useful little tools. It is pretty impressive watching the Chinese eat spaghetti or hamburgers with them. We used to have challenges to see who could pick up the most peanuts in one pinch. But besides eating, these little sticks can have other interesting uses:
1. Stirring - Two chopsticks make a great whisk (and much easier to clean). Whether it is scrambling eggs, mixing wet ingredients or stir-frying, they can get the job done. A single chopstick works well for stirring hot drinks.
2. Flipping - For most of us, tongs would be the easiest way to turn meat in the frying pan or vegetables on the grill, but those adept at using chopsticks will probably get the job done quicker.
3. Retrieving - After dropping vegetables down inside the fore-mentioned grill, chopsticks are a great way to solve the problem by picking up things just out of reach or in hot places.
4. Serving - There are as many serving uses for chopsticks as there are meals to eat (almost), but one particularly helpful tip I learned in China is to use chopsticks to serve the shredded lettuce in taco meals. (But if you are just at home with your family and not squeamish, then go with the fingers... They're even easier.)
5. Styling - A nice pair of chopsticks look very pretty holding up long hair.
6. Disciplining - A single chopstick makes a good "rod of correction" - especially in the very early stages when you're mostly dealing with little swats to the hand or bottom. I had a friend who kept one in her back pocket all day as she trained a particularly willful child.
So, if it is not a part of your kitchen yet, go buy yourself a pair of chopsticks and get creative with using them.
8:18 AM |
Category:
Kitchen Tips
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As someone who always seems to be cooking way more than necessary for one meal, I often have to deal with reheating those meals again. This always leads me to the same questions:
A.
Should I reheat everything to kill off all the bacteria knowing that we still won't finish it all and must store it in the fridge again?or
B.
Should I just take out a portion that I think we will be able to eat and continue refrigerating the rest of it?What do you think?
My husband and I both thought A, but after some research I have found myself to be wrong, and here is why:
Any heating of food has the danger of growing bacteria. Some of these are able to form a heat-resistant toxin that even reheating won't destroy. The more often you reheat your food, the more likely you are to get food poisoning.The second question I've had is:
A.
Should I leave my food out on the counter to cool before refrigerating - therefore not raising the temperature of my fridge with hot foods or creating a large amount of condensation in my leftovers?or
B.
Should I stick them straight into the fridge to cool down faster and give it less exposure to the bacteria in the air?Again, my practice has always been the former, and I discovered that I am only partially correct in this.
It is good to not put hot foods in the fridge or freezer because it does cause everything else to get warmer as well. However, food should not be left out for more than 1.5 hours before refrigerating (including the serving time).The best practice is to divide your leftovers into smaller portions, cool as quickly as possible and then place in fridge or freezer depending on how soon you think you will use them again.
Many of the websites I went to were giving advice for catering companies and restaurants. They obviously have to hold to a lot higher standards than the average households. Goodness knows, I've reheated the same pot of soup 3-4 times before finishing it all off without any averse effects. But, it is good to know the information and be careful about what we serve our families (especially since my son was vomitting the other day for who-knows-what-reason).
Other tips that were mentioned were:
* Place leftovers in shallow containers and stir to allow faster cooling.
* Eat left-overs within 4 days for best quality. Otherwise, freeze them.
* Don't over-crowd your refrigerator.
* Left-over meats are best served cold (!!)
* Don't reheat food twice.
* Reheat sauces, gravies and soups to a full, rolling boil
* Microwaves heat food very unevenly. It is best to use stove-top when possible and stir frequently.
2:16 PM |
Category:
Kitchen Tips
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