Phantom Cooks

Times have certainly changed.
Home cooking used to involve thawing meat, peeling and slicing vegetables and planning on the time it takes for everything to cook.

These days - so many recent television commercials would have us believe - home cooking is as easy as pouring a bag of frozen “Pot Roast with Vegetables” into a frying pan to reheat.

Or pulling a package of freeze-dried “shelf” noodles out of the pantry and heating some water.

Have We Really Forgotten How to Cook?

The answer is, in part, “yes.”

According to “Supermarket Guru” Phil Lempert, the food consumer in 2003 is “a shopper with no time and no cooking skills.”

In spite of increased sales of gourmet ingredients, kitchen gadgets and cookbooks, almost 2/3 of the American population (representing a variety of ethnic groups, backgrounds and generations) can no longer tell the difference between “cooking” a meal and “assembling” it.

Why?
There was no one to teach them.

The average shopper today, Lempert says, likely never learned to cook or saw a parent make a meal from scratch.

And with so many meal options - fast food, supermarket meals, and “healthier” fully-prepared restaurant meals available for delivery - why would anyone learn?

IN THE HOLE! Golf

Healthy eating

Make healthy eating and physical activities fun!

Take advantage of physical activities you and your friends enjoy doing together and eat the foods you like.

Be adventurous - try new sports, games, and other activities as well as new foods.
Try some of the recipies from other cultures, French cooking with different wines as well as Italian, Asian, and from other countries you have never tried. It can be fun as well as educational.

You'll grow stronger, play longer, and look and feel better!

Set realistic goals - don't try changing too much at once.

Eating is like a Puzzle

A healthy eating style is like a puzzle with many parts.

Each part, or food, is different.
Some foods may have more fat, sugar or salt, while others may have more vitamins or fibre.

There is a place for all these foods.
What makes a diet good or bad is how foods fit together.
Balancing your choices is important.

Fit in a higher-fat food, like pepperoni pizza, at dinner by choosing lower-fat foods at other meals. And don't forget about moderation. If two pieces of pizza fill you up, don't eat a third.

Carbohydrates vs proteins

If you have been watching the new lately you will have seen that another fad has bit the dust, the High protein Diets has fallen into disrepute and the promoter is going bankrupt.
This Diet has done a lot of damage to a lot of people, health wise.
They had a great Marketing scheme going and a pile of people looking for the quick fix to weight problems got caught in the hype.

It seems that we have to go back to the old tried and true method.

Eat more grains, fruits, and vegetables.

These foods give you carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Besides, they taste good! Try breads such as whole-wheat, bagels, and PITA. Spaghetti and oatmeal are also in the grain group.

Join in physical activities at school or where ever you are.

Whether you take a physical education class or do other physical activities at school, such as intramural sports, structured activities are a sure way to feel good, look good and stay physically fit.

Nutrients for your Body

Balance your food choices

Don't eat too much of one thing.

You don't have to give up foods like hamburgers, french fries, and ice cream to eat healthfully.

You just have to be smart about how often and how much of them you eat.

Your body needs nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, fat, and many different vitamins and minerals such as vitamins C and A, iron, and calcium from a variety of foods.


Stay in shape, get out with friends or family.

Being active is much more fun with friends or family.

Encourage others to join you and plan one special physical activity event, like a bike ride or hiking, with a group each week.

Healthy Life Choices

Snack Smart

Snacks are a great way to refuel.

Choose snacks from different food groups - a glass of low-fat milk and a few graham crackers, an apple or celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins, or some dry cereal.

If you eat smart at other meals, cookies, chips, and candy are okay for occasional snacking.



Work up a sweat

Vigorous work-outs, when you're breathing hard and sweating, help your heart pump better, give you more energy and help you look and feel your best.

Start with a warm-up that stretches your muscles. Include 20 minutes of aerobic activity, such as running, jogging or dancing.

Follow-up with activities that help make you stronger such as push-ups or lifting weights. Then cool-down with more stretching and deep breathing.

Healthy Life Style Tips

1. Start Your Day With Breakfast

Breakfast fills your "empty tank" to get you going after a long night without food. Eating a good breakfast can help you do better in school.

Easy to prepare breakfasts include: cold cereal with fruit and low-fat milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt with fruit, whole-grain waffles or even last night's pizza.

2. Get Moving

It's easy to fit physical activities into your daily routine.

Walk, bike or jog to see your friends.

Take a 10 minute activity break every hour while you read, do homework or watch TV.

Climb stairs instead of taking an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for a total of 30 minutes every day.

Shop For Groceries Alone

There are pluses and minuses to shopping with your kids.


Do most of your major shopping with out the kids, but make a point to take them on short shopping trips to teach them which foods are healthy.

Teach them the value of healthy foods and which foods to ignore.

It takes time and effort to do this but you will be surprised at how fast they learn what is good for them and what is not so good.

This does not stop them from wanting the latest thing seen on TV.

Teach them how to read a label and what to look for, they will enjoy the use of this new skill but be patience with them as they will take some time.

Make sure they are well fed before you take them shopping, this is a good job for dad.

If possible take them early saterday morning, for a period of no more that 30 minutes.

When You Take Your Groceries HomeTo keep your foods fresh, take them home and refrigerate or freeze your purchases right away. Be sure to throw out any food that is too old to eat.

Red Meat and Poultry Shopping

When you shop for meat, choose wisely.

Seafood and fish contain the healthy oils we need. Fish should have a fresh smell and firm flesh.

Read the labels of packaged red meats, some may be "enhanced" with injected water, flavorings, and preservatives that you don't need.

Poultry is often a good choice, but remember that grocery store birds usually have a lot of fat.

Meat color is not the best indicator of it's freshness. Pay attention to the odor and the feel of the meat.

It should smell fresh, and not be sticky or slimy. Check the date on the label as well.

You may wish to check out the local butcher shops. Look for shops that carry organic meats, or at least meat from animals that were raised on grass or free-range.

If your grocery store has a bakery, chose real whole grain breads, not white breads. Leave the pastries alone. Stay away from the snack aisle and the soda aisle.

did you know?

When a source of Vitamin C (orange, lemon, grapefruit, strawberry, tomato, potato, etc.) is eaten with meat or cooked dry beans, the body makes better use of the iron in the protein food.

Fruits and Vegetables

Choose fruits and vegetables that are firm, ripe, and unblemished

Look out for mold, especially on berries and produce packed tightly together in small boxes.

Avoid potatoes that have a green tint to their skins. Store them in a cool dry place.

Buy only the amount of produce you need for a few days so the fresh produce does not go bad in your refrigerator.

If you can't find the fresh produce you need, or you need to store for a longer time, you should buy frozen fruits and vegetables rather than canned foods.

Frozen foods hold their food nutrition better, and contain less sodium than canned foods.

Healthy Shopping

Eat before you go Shopping.

Make a list and take it with you to the store (sometimes we make the list and forget it, then we try to remember what was on it and come home with some of the stuff we already have).

If you shop when you are hungry, you are more prone to make impulse purchases that may not be healthy.

Having a list when you shop is good because it keeps you focused on the healthy foods you need.

When you make your list, plan the meals you want to prepare for the next few days.

Look around your kitchen to see what you have on hand, and write down all the healthy foods and ingredients you need.

The healthiest foods such as fresh produce and unprocessed meats tend to be placed around the perimeter of the store, while the unhealthy processed foods are usually in the middle aisles.

Cooking, is it done?

Many factors affect baking times:

The temperature of the ingredients. Whether the pan is shiny or dull. The accuracy of your oven. (buy an oven thermometer and check at low, medium and high temps, note the results in your favorite cook book)

Since it's impossible to give exact baking times, a good recipe gives a range of time.

Check early.

A few minutes of extra cooking can make the difference between brownies that are moist and those that are dry and crumbly.

Or a roast that's moist and tender, and meat that's tough and chewy, simply because it has been overcooked

So cookbooks are wonderful, but there's much that recipes don't tell you about cooking.

Understanding how ingredients interact and the logic behind techniques helps you cook successfully.
Once you know what makes a recipe work, you can fill in the gaps yourself.

If you are already accomplished in the kitchen, understanding the science behind cooking is the ideal foundation for making changes and creating new recipes.

Cooking Weather

Your surroundings may affect the final product.

Recipes for meringues, for instance, made by beating egg whites with sugar, look simple. They go together very easily.

It also helps to know that they're best made on dry days.

Sugar dissolves into the egg whites as you beat them.

Then as sugar attracts moisture from the air, you'll notice little beads of syrup form on the surface of the baked meringue.

If meringues sit on the counter on a humid afternoon, or if they're stored in the damp atmosphere of your refrigerator, they can become as sticky as the weather.

Low Fat Muffins

Those low-fat muffins look great in the photo and the instructions simply say to "stir the ingredients together." And so you do.

In fact, you give the batter a little extra stir so those muffins will be even better.

What the recipe doesn't tell you is that stirring develops gluten, which gives strength and elasticity to batters and doughs.
While these qualities are important in doughs made with yeast, strength and elasticity are not desirable in quick breads.

Muffins and biscuits need a tender framework that rises quickly as baking soda and baking powder give off carbon dioxide.

Stirring is even less optimal in low-fat, low-sugar baked goods, because both sugar and fat are tenderizers.
When you reduce tenderizers, keep structure-builders to a minimum too. In this case, stir as little as possible after the flour is added.


http://www.exploratorium.edu/

Sugar in baking

Two of the great myths of working with food are that all recipes are good, and that flops are usually the fault of the cook.

It's a relief to learn that recipes often fail for reasons that have little to do with cooking skills.

Let's look at several factors that help guarantee success in the kitchen.
A good recipe is balanced.

In cakes, cookies, muffins, and pastry, the best recipes are cleverly designed so ingredients that tenderize don't overpower those that create structure.

When a cake flops, for instance, it's sometimes because the recipe calls for too much sugar.

While appealing to one's sweet tooth is important, too much sugar creates a batter so tender that it's too fragile to support the volume of the rising cake.

So it falls before it sets, and that has far less to do with your cooking expertise than that of the recipe writer.

Be aware that not all recipes are good recipes.



www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/icooks/7-02_article.html

Potato Soup

Potato Soup with Tarragon
Source: Better Homes and Gardens
Preperation time is about 10 min. and Cook in 20 min.

Ingredients

2 cups water,
2 cups cubedpeeled potatoes
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1 tablespoon instant chicken bouillon granules
1-1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh tarragon or 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, crushed
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup buttermilk
Fresh tarragon or fresh savory (optional)
Directions
1. In a large saucepan combine water, potatoes, green onion, chicken bouillon granules, tarragon, garlic, and pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until potatoes are very tender. Cool.
2. Drain the potatoes, reserving the liquid. Mash potatoes. Gradually stir in the reserved liquid. Stir in the buttermilk. Transfer mixture to a bowl; cover and chill for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
3. To serve, ladle chilled soup into bowls. If desired, garnish each serving with additional tarragon or savory. Makes 6 to 8 side-dish servings.

Nutritional Information

Nutritional facts per serving

calories: 68,
total fat: .5g, saturated fat:
0g, cholesterol:
1mg, sodium:
599mg, carbohydrate:
14g, fiber:
1g, protein:
2g, vitamin A:
1%, vitamin C: 10%,
calcium: 6%, iron:
2%, starch:
1 diabetic exchange

Tips on Leftovers

Always use clean utensils and storage containers for safe storage.

Divide large amounts of leftovers into small, shallow containers for quick cooling in the refrigerator.

Avoid placing large pots of gravy in the refrigerator to cool since it will likely take until the next day for this amount of food to cool.
To store in the refrigerator, wrap cooked meat in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, or store it in a tightly covered container and use within two to three days.
For frozen storage, wrap meat in aluminum foil or freezer paper and use within two to three months.
If you may have kept the food refrigerated for too long, throw it out.
Never taste food that looks or smells strange to see if you can still use it.


Reheating Foods:

Reheat thoroughly to a temperature of 165 °F or until hot and steaming. Soups and gravies should be brought to a rolling boil


BODYBUILDING PROTEIN

SAFETY TIPS FOR MEATS

If you follow these Safety Tips you should have no problem with the meat you prepare and cook.

Cleanliness:

Always wash hands thoroughly with soapy water before preparing foods and after handling raw meat.
Don’t let raw meat juices touch ready-to-go foods either in the refrigerator or during preparation.
Don’t put cooked foods on the same plate that held raw meat.
Always wash utensils that have touched raw meat with hot, soapy water before using them for cooked meats.
Wash counters, cutting boards and other surfaces raw meats have touched.
These surfaces may be sanitized by cleaning with a solution of 1 teaspoon chlorine bleach per quart of water.

Thawing:

Thaw uncooked meat in the refrigerator or in cold water. NEVER thaw meat at room temperature.

Marinating:

Marinate food in the refrigerator, not on the counter.
Discard the marinade after use because it contains raw juices, which may harbor bacteria.
If you want to use the marinade as a dip or sauce, reserve a portion before adding raw food.

Partial Cooking or Browning:

Never brown or partially cook meat, then refrigerate and finish cooking later, because any bacteria present would not have been destroyed.

It is safe to partially precook or microwave meat IMMEDIATELY before transferring it to a hot grill or oven to finish cooking.

Serving:

Hold hot foods above 140 °F and cold foods below 40 °F.

Never leave foods, raw or cooked, at room temperature longer than two hours.

On a hot day with temperatures at 90 °F or warmer, this decreases to one hour.

MICROWAVE COOKING

Safe temperatures for cooked meat

Recommended internal temperatures for Meat

Most pathogenic bacteria are destroyed between 140 °F and 160 °F. However, for best quality, meat and poultry require various temperatures for "doneness."

Ground meats must be cooked thoroughly to kill harmful bacteria.

Unlike whole muscle meat, which is sterile inside, the grinding process exposes the interior meat to bacteria on the surface, in the air, on equipment or on people’s hands.

To kill these bacteria, food safety experts have one major rule of thumb, which is to cook ground meat to at least 160 °F.

This simple step offers the best protection that consumers can have to serve ground products safely.

Rare Hambergers may be what you like, but there is good is a higher rate of food poisoning from not fully heated ground meat.