Hibiscus Flowers

December 10, 2019 By Anne

We bought some hibiscus seeds a while ago and planted them in the garden. I thought they were just hibiscus bushes like I’ve always had. But these are much different. The plants took off and grew quite large but no blooms. Then about a month ago we received hibiscus seed pods in our Local Fare Jax food bag. I wasn’t sure what there were. We looked it up and then went in our back yard to see our hibiscus bushes were full of pods!

We tasted them straight off the bush and found them to be tart, a bit like rhubarb. We chopped some up and put into a salad. We dried some out to see what the pods and seeds looked like.

Last weekend I decided to make a pie. I used Granny Smith and Fuji apples and diced up hibiscus petals.

We also boiled the petals down into a simple syrup to use in mixed drinks.

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

Cooking Healthier Meals For The Family

December 10, 2019 By Anne

If you are the person, or one of the people, who cooks for the family in your household, there are a number of main concerns that you are generally going to need to focus on. An important one is always going to be ensuring that you are cooking meals which are as healthy as possible for your family, so that everyone is going to be in good shape, but that in itself can be surprisingly hard to stick to at times. It is, however, entirely necessary to make sure of. In this post, we’ll take a look at how you can make sure of cooking healthier meals for your family starting today.

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Reduce Fat & Sugar

One of the main things that most of us need to try and do is to reduce the amount of fat and sugar we eat. There is far too much of both of these in our diets, and it essentially just means that we are often eating empty calories. In order to try and avoid that, you should think about what you can do to reduce the amount that you have in the meals you cook – which is much easier to control than the meals you don’t cook yourself, and so they are a great opportunity. This could be as simple as seeking out recipes for cornbread with less fat and sugar that can still be delicious, or even changing the entire way you approach cooking at home. As long as you are keeping these down, you are doing everyone in the household a favor.

Keep Portion Sizes Down

One way in which most of us don’t do ourselves many favors is by dishing out huge portions to the entire family every time we cook. By doing this, you are essentially just ensuring that your family are going to put on weight, and keep putting it on until you do something about it – or unless they are actively working off a lot of calories every day. Even then, however, it is much easier to simply make sure that you are not feeding them too much in the first place. Keeping the portion sizes as low as possible is going to be one of the very best things you can do for your family, and it is likely that you are going to find it easy to keep on doing it once you have started. So start today, and see how much of a difference it really does make to everyone’s diet.

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Careful With The Salt

Too much sodium is not good for anyone – in the long-term, it can cause a lot of dehydration, and that in turn is related to many problems with one’s overall health. It is wise to try and keep the usage of salt to a minimum too, as this is something that can have a profoundly negative effect in the long run. As long as you are careful with the amount of salt you use, you should find that you and your family are going to be in much better shape overall, so this is a hugely important thing to do. At first, you might feel that your meals don’t taste quite right, but the taste buds actually get used to less salt after a while, and then you will realize that you have been using far too much for far too long.

Dish Up A Rainbow

So far, we have only been looking at what you should avoid – but it’s just as important to think about what you should actively be serving up for your family. There are so many things that you need to make sure your family are eating, and one thing you might want to focus on in particular is that you are ‘eating a rainbow’ as they say. This simply means that you should be trying to incorporate as many vegetables of different colors into your food. If you do that, it means that you are getting many of the nutrients and minerals that you need in your diet, and that is most of the battle here. Dish up your family a rainbow every day, and you will really be doing a lot for them indeed.

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As you can see, there is plenty that you might want to try and improve upon if you are keen to make your meals healthier, and so improve the health of your family on the whole. If you focus on these things, you should find that you are going to be able to make that a reality in no time.

Anne

Mini Master Chefs – 6 Essential Kitchen Skills to Teach Your Kids

May 6, 2019 By Anne

Image by laridra from Pixabay

There is no age limit for a good cook. Children are now competing in televised cooking, and baking competitions creating dishes and treats that many adults could never assemble. If you don’t need a mini Master Chef but would like to get your child more comfortable in the kitchen, below are six essential skills you can teach them.

1. How to Use the Stove

Your child may have been fascinated by the stove since they were a toddler, but around age six you can start teaching them how to cook with it. Help your child with turning the stove on and off and explain the various levels of heat available. While you are there, make sure to enlighten them about the correct position of handles so that they avoid heating them up or knocking them over. When they start cooking, increase the odds of a successful meal by providing the best cookware available.

2. Measuring Ingredients

Learning how to measure ingredients correctly is something some adults have never done, but an essential skill if you want to teach your child how to follow a recipe accurately. Liquids are measured in a different way than dry ingredients, and some ingredients you pack down into a measuring spoon while you gather others lightly. You can begin to demonstrate how to measure each component when your children are as little as three.

3. Knife Skills

It is essential that children not only understand how a knife should be used but also develop the appropriate respect for the tool. At about age five, you can begin to teach your child how to hold a soft fruit such as a banana with a claw-like grip to keep their fingers out of the way while cutting with a forward-rocking motion. During your training sessions, you can also explain how knives should be carried and by whom they should be used.

4. Meal Planning

Help your child get a healthy understanding of food by allowing them to plan meals as early as seven years old. Explain that a meal needs to include a source of protein, a type of carbohydrate and a vegetable or fruit, then allow them to assemble their own lunch to start with. As they become more comfortable with the concept and grow older, challenge them to plan a meal for your family.

5. Grating, Zesting, Kneading, Folding

By age 8 kids should be able to distinguish between the types of actions a recipe calls for and perform them safely with the required tools. Work with them through both cooking and baking, asking them what the different instructions mean and how to perform them. The more repetition, the better.

6. Recipe Math

Around the age of 12, your child should be comfortable with math concepts like addition, multiplication, and fractions. Invite your little math whiz into the kitchen to help you double a cookie recipe and practice all of the different math equations that challenge contains. Once they feel comfortable, try cutting a recipe in half. Teaching your child that recipes are not static will allow them to become more adventurous as they approach recipes because they will understand that they are flexible.

Your child may never aspire to be the next Master Chef, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be competent in the kitchen. Don’t be afraid to show them how to use the stove, measure ingredients, perform the various actions a recipe calls for, and the correct way to use a knife. If you encourage them to plan meals early and help you with recipe math, they will be unstoppable!

Anne

How to Find Local Eateries That Cater for Your Dietary Requirements

September 29, 2018 By Anne

Finding a place to eat in your area is as easy as opening Google Maps on your phone and filtering it to just restaurants. However, this won’t show you eateries that can cater to your specific dietary requirements.

Finding places to eat that meet your dietary restrictions can actually be really hard. This is in part due to the fact that many restaurants want to appeal to everyone, so they don’t really think of specific dietary needs. With a little research and effort though, you can find a great local restaurant that meets your dietary needs.

Common Types of Dietary Requirements

There a number of dietary requirements that people adhere to. They eat certain things for a variety of reasons including: moral beliefs, biological responses, or religious teachings.

A few common lifestyles that require restrictive diets include veganism, vegetarianism, pescatarianism. These food requirements are some of the most common ones, so many places do cater to those who adhere to them.

Another reason you might be following a regime with your eating is you have an allergy. Allergies to foods are extremely common. Common foods for which people have allergies
include peanuts, milk, soy, gluten, and shellfish. Restaurants are pretty good about advertising the ingredients in their products and catering to people who have allergies. However, it can be disappointing to get to a restaurant and find out they have nothing for you or you have to drastically customize your order.

Many religious teachings also restrict food that people can eat. These restrictions are probably the hardest for eateries to cater to. Often times, you have to go to a place that is known to practice these religious food requirements and restrictions. Some people who follow Hinduism won’t eat garlic or onion, which are two extremely common additives to recipes. Some Jews keep Kosher, which restricts them from consuming quite a few things. This includes pork, which is a common ingredient in a lot of Italian dishes. Muslims wondering where is there Halal food near me? can’t go to just any restaurant. Regardless of what your reasoning is, you need some way of knowing which local eateries are best at catering to your dietary needs.

Take a Peek at Their Menu Online

The easiest way to see if a place has food you can eat is to go online and check to see if they have a website. If they do, they usually layout what menu items they offer and the ingredients in them.

However, this isn’t always the case. Some only list the name of an item with no further information, and other smaller businesses may not even have a website to visit.

Ask Those Friends Who Have Similar Dietary Restrictions

The chances are good that you have a family member, friend, or even coworker who follows the same diet as you. Use this similarity to your advantage. You can ask them what local places they enjoy eating at and inquire about what they get to eat there.

If you’re traveling to somewhere new, see if anyone you know has been there. Perhaps they can offer you a recommendation on somewhere good to eat that is also considerate of your dietary needs. If you don’t know anyone who’s been to the place your traveling, the hotel staff and locals can serve as friends with recommendations.

Look at Customer Feedback

Customer reviews are a great way to get a feel for what to expect when you visit a restaurant. This feedback is most useful to understand the quality of the food and service a place offers. However, this feedback can sometimes tell you if they have food that you can eat.

If there isn’t feedback, certain websites allow you to ask questions, and people who have visited these eateries can answer your concerns.

Call the Place You’re Interested In

If you’re still unsure whether a place caters to your dietary requirements, then you can just call places you’re interested in. They’ll be able to tell you everything you need to know. While it may seem like no one cares about your dietary requirements, when you do a little research, you’ll find that many places are willing to cater to you.

Anne

Five Tasty German Foods Your Family Will Love

July 23, 2018 By Anne

Are you anxious to spice up your kitchen with new dishes for your family but are getting a lot of backlash?

Wanting to create diverse meals while still pleasing picky kids is a challenge for any parent, especially when it comes to food they might not be used to like sauerkraut or schnitzel.

If you want to try out German recipes, here are a few that are familiar to kids already and guaranteed to satisfy even the most difficult-to-please eater.

1) German Pancake Bites

Not many children know that many of the delicious American foods they’re so used to enjoying can be served with a European twist.

These pancakes are petite and deliciously covered in fruit. They’re very easy to make and include all the same ingredients as homemade buttermilk pancakes: eggs, milk, flour, and butter. What makes German pancakes unique is the use of an Air Fryer.

Interested in this recipe but don’t have an air fryer of your own? There are several models that are very popular in Germany and not too expensive. If these pancake bites are a hit with your kids, an air fryer might just be a worthwhile addition to your kitchen.

2) Kasespatzle

This rich and creamy dish is Germany’s version of macaroni and cheese. Made with soft egg noodles and covered in melted cheese (this dish gets its name from the German word for cheese), Kasespatzle is a very popular German meal and considered a German specialty. It’s a great side that pairs well with meats, but could also be served on its own if your kid is a strict mac n’ cheese eater.

3) Rote grutze

This is a refreshing dessert that’s considered to be a pudding and popular in north Germany. This pudding is popularly made with black and red currants, raspberries and, depending on the season, strawberries and cherries. To mellow out the tartness of the berries, the dish is served with a later of cream, a glass of milk, or vanilla ice cream. It’s the perfect treat for a summer’s day and simple to put together.

4) Eintopf

This dish is perfect for any meat eater that’s looking for a hearty stew, or on a cold winter’s day after playing in the snow. This dish is a German stew that means “one pot,” because of the way the stew is cooked. Ingredients sit in a large pot for several hours, including meat, vegetables, and a thick broth. Eintopf is delicious, flavorful, and will warm up any child on a cold day.

5) Brezel

Your kids are already used to the famous German pretzel at a carnival or fair, so it’s a perfect dish to make from scratch because they’ll already be interested in eating it.

Made from flour, water and yeast with a dash of salt, Brezels are perfect for a light snack or on the go. In Germany you’ll never see a street corner without a Brezel carrier or a bakery that specializes in their buttery goodness. You might also want to try pairing cheese or cold meats with this dish for a well-rounded lunch.

Even if your kids are content eating their favorite foods, it never hurts to take them slightly out of their comfort zone to get them interested in a new menu. German food hosts many accessible substitutes for American foods, so there’s bound to be a few your kids will like.

Try getting your kids to cook these dishes with you as a way for them to see what they’re going to eat and realize it doesn’t look so foreign after all. It’s also an opportunity to spend time with your kids and teach them about the fundamentals of cooking if they don’t normally step into your kitchen unless it’s to eat. If you try to incorporate these foods into your cookbook, perhaps your kids will become fond of new and exciting European dishes.