Crock Pot Cooking In The Summer

When the weather outside heats up, the kitchen can be a terrible place to be. There are lots of things you can do however, when it comes to cooking a nice home made meal that does not require traditional stove top or oven cooking.

Learn to utilize some of the less heat-creating equipment in your kitchen, such as the crock pot, in order to truly beat the summer heat and keep your cool while making a nice hot meal for friends and family.

So, how does crock pot cooking really help overcome the heat? Simply put, the crock pot in and of itself gives off far less heat when cooking than an oven or stove top. This is the first and possibly the best reason to make the most of the crock pot in your summer meal planning.

You should also take into account the fact that by not heating the house by using your stove top or oven you are also lessening the load on your air conditioning (or other cooling methods) so you are not obligating it to work overtime in order to compensate for the additional heat that other cooking methods introduce.

This makes crock pot cooking a win-win situation as the costs involved in operating a crock pot are far less than the expenditure involved in operating a stove or oven. Whether electric or gas, your stove and oven are serious energy users. Add to that the fact that you are not increasing the temperature in your home by traditional means of cooking and you are using even less electricity.

Unfortunately, the general consensus has been that crock pots are meant for comfort foods and hearty winter meals. The truth is that the crock pot should be one of your best loved and most often utilized cooking methods. When it comes to cooking with a crock pot, the choices are almost limitless. Almost anything that can be baked can be made in the crock pot and many, many more wonderful and enticing meals and treats as well.

Benefits of Crock Pot Cooking

In addition to the cost benefits mentioned above, when it comes to crock pot cooking there are many other advantages that are worth mentioning. For a start the bulk of the work involved in crock pot cooking takes place early in the day when you are fresh rather than at the end of a hectic work or play day.

The result is that you are less likely to forget an ingredient or make some other mistake, which can easily happen when trying to cook after a hectic day.

Second, many great crock pot recipes include the vegetables that make certain that we get the vitamins we require. So often, when preparing a meal at the last minute, vegetables and other side dishes are left out for the sake of expedience. Crock pot cooking, on the other hand, is a meal in one pot.

Another good reason to use a crock pot for your summertime cooking is the simplicity of washing up. Unlike conventional cooking with several pots and pans, most crock pot meals are completed in one pot. This clearly reduces the hardware needed to be washed up or loaded into the dishwasher (or if you are the same as me – both) afterwards.

So, you spend less time cleaning up, just as you spent less time slaving over a hot stove. Well, make that no time slaving over a hot stove and after the washing up is finished, you can get back to making the most of the sun set, mucking about with with the dog or kids, or just waiting for the first stars.

While there will never be a method of cooking that suits everyone, crock pot cooking comes very close. So, if you have a crock pot collecting dust somewhere in the back of your cupboard it is time to get it out, dust if off, and dig up some appetizing summertime crock pot cooking recipes.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the 2 quart crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

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Blueberries – Super Fruit Or Hype?

Some individuals have always stated that some fruits, nuts or vegetables are super foods. This is a controversial issue, but it must be true that some foodstuffs are better for you than others, but whether it is reasonable to hype up a foodstuff for a quick buck is another topic. Blueberries are a case in point. Are blueberries a super fruit or not?

Advocates of blueberries say that they are rich in antioxidants and that they are able to improve vision and reduce eye strain; enhance brain and memory functions and combat urinary tract infections (UTI’s). Blueberries are said to be rich in antioxidants and anthocyanins, but what are they?

Well, antioxidants are said to counteract the effects of oxidation and free radicals, which are often associated with the development of cancer and anthocyanins are a kind of flavonoids, which are also an anti-carcinogen.

Blueberries are also in the bottom category of the Glycemic Index. The Glycemic Index employs white bread as the marker against which every foodstuff is calculated. Above 70 is considered high; between 56 and 59 is medium and below 55 is low. Blueberries, at 53, is at the high end of low. This is not vital information for many individuals, but it is important for dieters and diabetics.

Blueberries are said to improve eyesight because of the anthocyanins, which reinforce the capillaries, which would assist the flow of blood to the eyes, which may help conserve vision. This would improve eye strain or eye tiredness

If this assists preserve vision, it would also delay hair loss, because hair loss is normally associated with a lack of blood/nutrition to the hair follicles which then simply die of starvation, as in male pattern baldness.

Blueberries are a fruit high in flavonoids which are antioxidants as stated above. Some individuals claim that flavonoids can improve the connections between neurons in the brain, which would probably increase mental capacity.

It may also slow down the degeneration of brain cells and so also the traditionally-perceived degeneration in mental capacity that is associated with old age. If this is a fact, then the consumption of blueberries would also help slow down the progression of lack of motor control: that is, it could help the elderly move more smoothly, less inelegantly.

However, the same people will admit that to create a 5-6% improvement in motor skills would probably take a daily consumption of around 100 grammes per day, which is naturally not an inconsequential amount, even if you like them and cultivate them yourself.

It has also been stated that the daily consumption of blueberries reduces the quantity of LDL in the blood, which is popularly called ‘bad cholesterol’.

If you want to test the effects of eating blueberries on yourself, here are a few suggestions on how you can incorporate them into your diet.

Fresh blueberries: eat while in season and freeze as much as you can get hold of.

Frozen blueberries: cook in pancakes, muffins and put in home-made ice-cream.

Dried blueberries: eat like raisins as a snack or coat in chocolate.

In this manner, you will be able to resolve the question for yourself : blueberries are they a super fruit?

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with detox diet menus. If you want to know more, please visit our website at http://vegetariancasserolerecipes.com

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Choosing The Best Foodstuffs

Every stage of cooking is vital: meal planning, meal preparation and presentation, yet before any of this can take place it is essential to pick the things that you are going to cook. The ability to pick high quality products is also very important. Food deteriorates after a particular length of time so knowing which signs to look for is the art to this specific aspect of cooking.

There are a number of considerations to produce selection. For instance, the cook has to judge whether the product is fresh, ripe or over ripe. Is the amount of waste associated with this product acceptable? Will this produce provide the necessary amount of nutrients? Do the destined consumers like it or will they like it? Does the price validate choosing this alternative?

Balancing all these considerations is really some feat that perhaps a billion individuals carry out each day and perhaps a number of times a day. It is quite remarkable. However, the best cooks or household managers need experience to do it well most of the time and you can only acquire experience by ‘doing’ and doing involves making gaffs from time to time. There is nothing wrong with that – making errors is a normal part of the learning process.

There are basically three elements to the successful selection of food. These are: 1] the material of which it is composed; 2] its worth or potential to supply energy and or nutrients and vitamins and 3] how easily these qualities can be extracted in a digestible way.

It is only when you have answers to these three questions that you can know whether a product is worth the money. In other words, while you may always know the price of an item of food, you may not always know its value.

It is obvious from the above that the cook who takes his or her job seriously has a mammoth quest on hand to know what human bodies require at the various stages of growth, illness and even just recovery from regular wear and tear; to know what items of food can supply those needs; how to select foods that are at the peak of condition and how to prepare those foods so that you gain the most of that foodstuff’s potential.

Then there are the other considerations of whether you or your family will eat those products at all or whether they will only eat them if prepared according to particular recipes and finally, whether you can afford those foods.

As far as preparing children to eat or at least try different foodstuffs is concerned, it is important to get started as soon as possible. Children do not know what is healthy for them so allowing them to eat hamburgers and chips every day, because it is ‘all they will eat’ is nonsense. Children have to be trained to eat what is put in front of them until they are competent to make their own choices.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on many subjects, but is at present concerned with French dip sandwich recipes. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Vegetarian Sandwich Recipes.

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Recipes For Reducing High Blood Pressure

A large number of individuals in the West suffer from high blood pressure brought on by being obese or/ |and the high degrees of stress that modern life generates. Most sufferers are told to lose weight, take up yoga or hiking or take tablets for life. This means that most people end up taking tablets for life, because lifestyle alterations are so hard to accomplish.

However, there is one enjoyable manner of reducing your blood pressure and that is eating tasty food that does not need additional salt, because it is flavoured by other means. Here are three such recipes.

Recipe One: France

Leeks Vinaigrette (Poireaux En Salade)

Serves 4

12 leeks 1/4 cup olive oil 4 tspn vinegar of your preference black pepper, fresh ground 1 tbls fresh parsley, chopped mustard to taste

PREPARATION: Clean the leeks; cut off most of the green parts and wash meticulously, split if necessary, under cold running water. If they are large, split them lengthways; each piece ought to be around the size of a big stalk of asparagus.

Tie them into bundles in two places, place them in boiling salted water just enough to cover, and cook gently for 25 minutes, or until they are tender but not limp. Drain them well (but be certain to save the water to add to a soup).

The leeks may be presented in a serving dish or arranged on individual plates. Create your vinaigrette in a bowl, adding mustard to taste, and whisk the dressing well until it is almost opaque, or emulsified; pour it on top of the leeks.

Recipe Two: Germany

Birnensuppe (Pear Soup)

Serves 2

2 tbspn raisins 1 tbspn dry sherry 2 small pears, cored, peeled and sliced 1 1/2 cup water 1 inch cinnamon stick 1 pinch crushed aniseed 2 tspns granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

In small bowl combine raisins and sherry; set aside.

In 1-quart saucepan combine pears, water, cinnamon stick, and aniseed; bring to a boil and cook until pears are very soft, around 15 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and let cool. Transfer to liquidizer and process until smooth; pour into bowl or container and stir in raisin mixture, sugar, and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

Recipe Three: Greece

Fried Swordfish With Mediterranean Spices

Serves 4

1/2 cups white wine vinegar 1/2 tspn paprika 1/2 tspn red pepper flakes, dried 1/2 tspn oregano 1/2 tspn cumin, ground 1/2 tspn thyme 3 cloves garlic, crushed 1 bay leaf 1 1/2 lb swordfish, cut in 1″ pieces olive oil for frying 1/2 cup white flour

PREPARATION: Mix first 8 ingredients in a medium non-reactive bowl. Add swordfish pieces; toss to coat. Cover and leave stand at room temperature at least 1 hour. (Can be marinated for up to 3 hours.)

TO COOK: Heat oven to 200F. Heat oil in a frying pan or an electric deep fryer to 365F. Transfer swordfish from marinade to a sieve. Drain swordfish; discard marinade. Pat swordfish pieces dry with paper towels, then toss in flour.

Working in batches to prevent overcrowding, fry swordfish until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain swordfish pieces on paper towel; transfer to a heatproof dish but keep them warm in the oven until ready to serve. (Can be kept warm in the oven up to 1/2 hour.)

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several of subjects, but is currently involved with work on high blood pressure charts. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at High Blood Pressure Recipes.

What Is High Blood Pressure In Adolescents?

High blood pressure, which is also known professionally as hypertension, is a condition where the pressure of the blood coursing through your arteries is considerably higher than normal. Most medical professionals will state that the beginning point for individuals over eighteen years of age is 120/80. However, there are causes that could make those numbers not normal. Age is one of them.

The first figure is the systolic arterial blood pressure, which means that it is the pressure read while the heart contracts, beats or pumps out blood. The second number is whilst the heart sucks in blood, ready to pump it out again.

These statistics are given in millimetres of mercury and are written as mmHg. Higher readings of either of these figures can indicate a difficulty. One thing to make patent here is that it is impossible to guess or estimate the pressure of your blood without using either a sphygmomanometer ( the one your physician uses in the surgery), which is the gold standard for blood pressure monitoring devices or a home blood monitoring machine.

Blood pressure can be affected by numerous items such as: time of the day, age, weight, height, mood, fitness, diet, degree of activity and stress, which may or may not be part of ‘white coat syndrome’ amongst others. ‘White coat syndrome’ is the worry experienced by individuals when they have to get examined by a medical doctor. This applies to children more than to any other age group.

Blood pressure also varies during the day, so in order to acquire an precise reading, it is necessary to take several all at the same time of day. It is also prudent to wait 45 minutes after drinking caffeine or ten minutes after arriving before taking a reading.

So, what is normal? The real answer, although it is annoying, is that only a medical doctor can tell you, however for an adult, they say that it is 120/80, for an adolescent it is 110/70 and for an infant it is 80/45.

However, while measuring and evaluating the blood pressure of adolescents, you have to remember that age, sex and height count. Therefore, an adolescent is said to have high blood pressure if the blood pressure is more than that of ninety percent of people of his/her age, gender and height.

The causes of hypertension are classified as primary or secondary. Primary means that it is all your body’s fault and secondary means that the reason is something else, say, medication. Hypertension can also be the result of race or other hereditary reasons. Males of African ancestry are especially at risk.

One of the items you can buy to keep you knowledgeable about your family’s blood pressure concerns is a home blood pressure monitor. These devices are fairly cheap yet are very accurate, so buy an automatic digital monitor and take it to your GP to be sure that it is accurate and get the readings that are pertinent to all the members of your family.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several of topics, but is currently involved with work on the cause of high blood pressure. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, just go to our website at High Blood Pressure Recipes.

Everybody has to have heard that garlic is very healthy for you by now. In spite of that, there are still sceptics, but that is usually because it is difficult to identify a difference. Garlic is more preventative than curative.

You have to build up an amount of ‘garlic’ in your body before it can do you a great deal of help. Garlic will be much less effective if you try eating it after the event, because it takes so long to make up the quantities you need, depending on how much you eat, obviously.

Once you understand that, it becomes obvious that you ought to be eating garlic every day, not only when you are already sick. Some cultures are pleased to smell of garlic all day long, but others are not. For these people, there are garlic supplements and even de-odourized garlic supplements.

Garlic has been utilized as an antiseptic for centuries, if not longer, but contemporary studies have proven that it is also useful in the battle against cholesterol – the bugbear of the Twenty-First Century, as populations all over the world, but especially in the West inflate into obesity.

If you are the type of person who would rather eat the real thing than a supplement, but are not keen on being known for your garlic breath, there are things that you can do to minimize the smell. Thais cook garlic very quickly and it goes into every meal, but you would not know it.

Cooking it quickly seems to kill the smell on your breath. Chewing parsley or gargling with and then drinking lemon juice are ways of minimizing the smell of garlic.

However, you could eat fresh garlic on the weekend but take supplements during the week, while you have to go to work. If you are looking for garlic supplements, you will come across dozens of different types. However, all you actually need to know is whether the pill is odourless or not and how much alicin is in it. Alicin is the active ingredient that you are interested in.

Cold-pressed garlic is said to be odourless, so you might look out for that on the label. Alicin is also sometimes coupled with other general system boosters or tonics like echinacea. You will have to carry out some research before you purchase, because ‘specialists’ disagree on everything except that garlic is good for you.

Eating garlic on a daily basis ought to make a difference to your cholesterol levels over time – a month or two -, but will also offer longterm help. If you are already being tracked for cholesterol by your doctor, tell him or her what you are doing and then you have a point of reference to judge how effective garlic is in lowering cholesterol in your case

Garlic will almost certainly never be sufficient on its own to protect you from high degrees of cholesterol, but that would be expecting too much anyway. Instead, you should see garlic as another foot soldier in the battle.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on numerous subjects, but is now concerned with lowering cholesterol without medication. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at What Foods Lower Cholesterol?

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Rapid Weight Loss Myths

There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be slimmer just to have a sexier body. Many people have moulded their bodies to make them look more healthy and more desirable. However, there is no way to attain this new appearance in a day of two. The problem is that most people do not want to wait, they want it now.

This can lead to these people making rather rash and, it has top be said, rather silly decisions. They are not willing to wait and they are not willing to work for what they want. This is why so many people turn to rapid weight loss diets. Some ‘guru’ brings out a new fad diet and a good proportion of the ‘I want it now’ crowd jump on the band wagon. Only to be disappointed again within the year or less.

Speed diets or rapid weight loss diets tend to put out great advertising copy that is very hard to resist. However, all diets, no matter which one you choose, Weight Watchers, Atkins or fad diet, depend on overweight people making lifestyle changes in order for them to work permanently.

There is a very apposite saying: if you always do what you always did, then you will always get what you always got. That says it all. You can lose weight with all but the stupidest of diets, but if you go back to your old ways when you hit your target weight, you MUST slowly, but gradually creep back to your old weight.

If you give your body more calories than it needs, it will store them for when it does need them. The problem is that that day never comes for too many people, because they never exercise themselves. This is especially true of fad diets like the ‘cabbage water’ diet. Yes, you will lose weight on it, but you would lose weight by fasting whatever you did. For a while, and then you might get sick. For a diet to work, it has to be adaptable and enjoyable enough for you to be able to stick with it for the rest of your life. Make no mistake, dieting is long-haul.

Many rapid weight loss programs actually only squeeze the water out of you. Just like a wet sponge. But a good dieter maintains his or her grip on that sponge, not letting it soak up water again. The problem with short term dieting, is that you let go of the sponge underwater.

This is why serial dieters first lose weight and are delighted; then finish dieting, go back to their old weight and become depressed. In that state of depression they are suckers for the advertisers of the next latest craze diet. In other words, they are being manipulated and literally squeezed dry, but of their cash too.

These silly rapid weight loss programs also include fat loss pills. They are not making you lose fat, well, maybe a tiny amount gets washed out with all the surplus water you are carrying. They are only diuretics under another name. How many pills would I sell if I called them diuretics? How many more would I sell if I called them miracle fat loss pills?

Type the word diuretic into a engine and find out more about them. They are all around you in mild healthy forms. A diuretic will essentially cause your body to lose more fluid than was in the diuretic. Tea is a diuretic, for instance.

This list of these dopey dieting aids to rapid weight loss goes on and on, but someone must be buying them and you can bet your bottom dollar that it is the sad, depressed dieter who let go of the sponge.

Slimming soap! Slimming soap is being advertised as being a rare Eastern remedy for corpulence. Well, let me tell you, I live in the East and I have never seen it here. Asians are slim because they do a lot of physical work and do not come under the pressure to eat junk food that Westerners do, although that situation is changing rapidly too.

Magnetic weight loss earrings, I ask you! Even being drunk without a present for your wife ten minutes before Christmas Day is not a good enough excuse to fall for this one, surely? The advertisers say that the secret of this set of earrings is that they are magnetic.

Well, if you believe this, why not get a pair of $1 children’s toy magnets or even a pair of fridge magnets and put one in each hip pocket? Two? Well, after all, you would not want to lose weight from only one side, would you? You would be lop sided.

Just remember, when you are looking for a rapid weight loss diet: there ain’t one ( that will work for life). If you are putting on weight, then your lifestyle is wrong and it is up to you alone to change it.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with how to lose weight online. If you have an interest in losing weight too, please go over to our website now at Why Can’t I Lose Weight?

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Crock Pot Recipes

In the USA, most people call these electric cookers crock pots, whereas in the Great Britain they are normally called slow cookers. Crock pots by Rival, DeLonghi, Hamilton Beach, Cuisinart and Toastess are particularly good examples of advanced crock pots. Some of these crock pots are programmable, which allows the cook the flexibility that the slow cookers of twenty years did not.

The first crock pots had only an on/off switch and no temperature control. This meant that the meals you could cook with them were limited, if you used your crock pot for cooking food while you were out of the house or work for eight hours or more. Modern slow cookers like those crock pots mentioned above have changed all that. These days, modern crock pots are programmable.

These modern crock pots are very flexible and with the finest of them, you can set the temperature that the slow cooker should function at and the duration of time it should cook for just like a microwave oven. For example, you could program a modern slow cooker to cook at, say, 180c for an hour and then 100c for two hours

Most people do not appreciate the features that modern crock pots have. Regrettably, there are still a lot of individuals who still believe that slow cookers are only any good for cooking rice, boiling soup or preparing cheap cuts of meat like scrag end of mutton. This is just not true any more, although manual crock pots were capable of more than that as well. Modern variable slow cookers can be used to make bread, cheesecake, custards and even sponges.

In fact, it is a good suggestion to get away from the old fashioned concepts people have about slow cookers and attempt to see them as an oven, which does not need a pot to cook in. Try the recipe below and judge for yourself.

BANANA BREAD

1 3/4 c flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/3 c shortening 2/3 c sugar 2 eggs, well beaten 1 1/2 c banana, well mashed, overripe 1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the electric beater on low, fluff shortening in a small bowl, until it is soft and creamy. Add the sugar gradually. Beat in the eggs in a slow stream. With a fork, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, ? the bananas another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the rest of the bananas and then the last of the flour mixture. Fold in the walnuts. Turn into a greased and floured baking unit or a 2 1/2 quart mold and cover.

Place on a rack in your crock pot. Cover the crock pot, but prop the lid open with a toothpick or a twist of foil to let the excess steam escape. Cook on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Serve Warm.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the crock pots by Rival. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

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How To Lose Weight Quickly

Apart from physical appearance, weight affects a person in many ways. It could be the overall quality of life, self-confidence, depression, health risks, or physical incapabilities. There are a lot of advantages to weight loss, which is why lots of people are searching for a weight loss technique that will slim down those excess kilos and get a great, jaw-dropping body.

First of all, an overweight person ought to do is find a doctor to recommend the best weight loss regimen for you. This will only be done after a full physical examination, which leads to the determination of a proprietary weight loss technique. To lose excess weight fast and efficiently, four aspects of your life should be changed: what to eat, how to eat, behaviour and amount of exercise.

Here are a few quick recommendations that can affect an over-weight individual’s whole life:

1: Quick weight loss is achieved by a multi-faceted technique that is made up of mindset, exercise, and, in some cases, dietary supplements. Commence by following a food plan that can be easily adopted into your current way of life. Start an exercise plan that includes at least fifteen minutes a day brisk walking, running, swimming and/or dancing.

2: Set yourself achievable goals. The ability to focus and have a proper mental outlook enables a person on a diet to rapidly lose those extra kilos. You have to develop discipline and a proper mind set, a dieter will never become discouraged and give up.

3: Listen to your body. everyone’s metabolism reacts differently to different fast weight loss plans. Try swapping one program for another to gauge the body’s reaction. An exercise program ought to be suited to your body, as some can not exercise as rigorously as others. If walking is all that you can do, then walk, since this is one of the best exercises. Remember that muscles burn calories so it’s definitely a good idea to put on a little more muscle – it looks sexy too.

4: Eat more fibre since it makes you feel fuller sooner and takes longer to digest, making it longer before you will be hungry again. For instance, a couple of slices of whole grain bread will remain in the gut longer and put off hunger longer than white bread, which turns in to sugar more quickly. giving you a quick, sugar spike, which soon passes, leaving you hungry again.

5: Stay away from fried food especially deep-fried, since it contains a large amount of fat. However, although fish and chicken are considered to be far leaner than beef, these white meats can retain even more fat than beef if it is fried. It is recommended that those on a strict diet opt for grilled food, as it does not have much fat after the food has been cooked.

6: Take in lots of fluid. Drinking at least six to eight glasses of water a day keeps the body ‘flushing’ and since weight loss depends on how the body gets rid of bodily waste, the body has to stay hydrated.

So, all in all, discipline and consistency is the way to rapid weight loss. Light dieting, exercise and the correct nutritional supplements taken regularly everyday will result in a faster weight loss than having a massive, but short-lived campaign followed by a return to the bad old habits, because this only results in adding more weight than before the diet was started.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with our blog why can’t I lose weight? If you have an interest in losing weight, please go over to our website now at Why Can’t I Lose Weight? This article, How To Lose Weight Quickly is released under a creative commons attribution licence.

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Basic Preparation Of Foods: Dairy Produce.

EGGS: Part 1

Eggs can be fresh or dried, the latter being only hens’ eggs without the shell and water. Dried egg should be stored in a cool, dry place – not in the fridge! Store eggs for a few days – up to a week – in a cool place away from strong-smelling foods. An egg stand is ideal for this. If the eggs are dirty, wipe them clean – washing will remove the natural oils which help preserve the eggs.

Pickled Eggs: eggs laid in the Spring keep longer than those laid in other seasons. Eggs that can not be cleaned-up, must be refused. Waterglass or the special preparations should be used. if an egg floats to the surface, use it immediately. Try to maintain the ambient temperature between 2 and 8 degrees C and they should keep for 6 to 9 months.

Preparing Eggs for Cooking: break each egg separately into a cup, before adding it to the other ingredients to ensure it is not ‘off’. If you wish to separate the white from the yolk, tip the egg back and forth between the two egg shell halves and the white (albumen) will separate off. Beat eggs with a whisk or a fork in an appropriately sized bowl, but whip egg whites with a knife on a large plate – a pinch of salt will help.

Raw eggs used to be prescribed for invalids as they are easily digestible, however, this not advisable these days due to the ubiquity of salmonella. One method, presented here for the curious was to strain a beaten egg into a mug and slowly add a cup of hot milk (or tea, coffee or lemon water; add sugar to taste. Sherry was often added too.

Cooking Eggs: eggs should be cooked slowly because the white cooks at a temperature lower than that of boiling water and becomes ‘tough’ at higher temperatures. By the same token, if you use raw egg to thicken a sauce and the liquid is subsequently allowed to boil, the sauce will ‘curdle’, i.e. the egg will solidify into small specks, ruining its texture.

Coddling: produces easily digestible egg-whites, making it an ideal method for invalids and children. Lower eggs into 75mm boiling water; place lid and remove from heat. Stand for: 7 mins for medium-, 5 mins for soft- and 20 mins for hard-boiled eggs .

Boiling: lower fresh eggs gently into 75mm 3″ boiling water with a spoon. Cover and boil gently for 3-3″ mins for soft-, 4-5 mins the medium- and 10 mins for hard-boiled eggs.

Place in egg cups and tap the shell to crack it, allowing the steam to escape, thus preventing further cooking. For sandwiches, salads etc: boil the egg for 12 mins and plunge into cold water. This allows the shell to be easily removed and prevents a black ring forming around the yolk.

If you would like to read more about food in general or Traditional Welsh Recipes in particular, please visit http://welsh-recipes.the-real-way.com/ This article, The Traditional Use Of Dairy Produce: Part 3 – Eggs has free reprint rights.

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