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Love Home Canning? Read These Food Safety Tips!

February 19, 2015 by

Home canning is a delicious food trend that’s seen quite a comeback in recent years, and it makes a great way to use up fresh produce before it has a chance to spoil. Here are a few safety tips that will help you to can your fruits and veggies safely.

  1. Be aware of the safety hazards. Many first-time home canners don’t realize that there are deadly food poisonings associated with incorrect canning methods. Botulism is the most common one, and it comes from a bacteria found in soil that produces a toxin when sealed in a jar. Luckily, there are preventative measures to kill these bacteria before canning.
  2. Throw out your old canning recipes. Those old family canning techniques are likely a botulism risk waiting to happen. Keep up with the latest techniques to keep yourself and your family safe.
  3. Don’t stray from the recipe. Canning recipes aren’t just created to preserve the taste of your foods; they’re also meant to protect you against illness. Resist the urge to add extra herbs or a pinch more sugar, as this can threaten the pH levels in your jar.
  4. Use a pressure canner. In recent years, it’s become apparent that the only way to stay completely safe while canning meats or low-acid vegetables is by using a pressure canner. This heats the food to 240 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature that can only be reached in a pressure canner.

Don’t Botch It: Home Canning Safety Tips [Home Food Safety]
Home Canning: Keep Your Family Safe! [FoodSafety.gov]
Home Canning and Botulism [CDC]
Safety Tips for Home Canning [About.com]

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Find Local Fare at Food Co-Ops

January 22, 2015 by

A food co-op is a grocery store that is collectively owned and operated by its members, and it normally focuses on local products. Even though you might not realize it, you likely have a food co-op in your area. Here are a few ways that a food co-op can improve your relationship with food.

  1. They’re more convenient than most farmers markets. Although farmers markets are also great ways to shop locally, they’re usually only held once a week (and not at all in the winter months). Food co-ops, on the other hand, are just as convenient as a traditional grocery store.
  2. They help to support local farmers. These days, local farmers are much fewer and farther between than they were in the past, and food co-ops are some of the most important things to help them continue to make a living by farming.
  3. Expect to become a member. In exchange for providing fresh, local produce, meats and baked goods, most food co-ops expect their shoppers to become members. This usually means paying yearly dues and receiving a type of membership card before you’re able to shop in their store. If you’re dedicated to supporting local agriculture or improving your diet, these dues are more than worth it.

How to Find a Food Co-Op in Your Area and Score Some High-Quality, Super-Cheap Eats [Lifehacker]
What is a Food Co-Op? [WiseGeek]
What is a Food Co-op? [Kitsap Food]

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Cereal Is the Secret Ingredient in These Fun Recipes

December 18, 2014 by

If you think that cereal is only meant for breakfast, you’re really missing out! There are many ways to crush, bake, and blend cereal into creative dishes that you would never expect. Check out these three unique recipes that use cereal as a main ingredient.

BBQ Pork Sticks [kelloggs.com]
By blending Kellogg’s Special K cereal with mesquite seasoning and barbecue sauce, you can create a crunchy, spicy coating for baked pork strips. Best of all, the low-calorie cereal is a much healthier alternative to the usual heavy breading.

Refrigerator S’mores Mini Cakes [bettycrocker.com]
The sweet combination of Golden Grahams and Cocoa Puffs cereals blends with marshmallows and chocolate chips to imitate the flavor of everyone’s favorite campfire treat. They also don’t require any baking, which makes this recipe even easier than most.

Apple Cinnamon Cheerios Pancakes [cheerios.com]
Skip the milk and spoon and eat cereal for breakfast in a new and exciting way. This recipe uses Apple Cinnamon Cheerios to make fluffy pancakes that taste delicious when topped with maple syrup.

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Essential Beauty-Enhancing Products You Already Have at Home

December 4, 2014 by

The next time you want to try a new beauty product, you might want to start by browsing your kitchen cabinets instead of heading to the drugstore. Many common foods and oils can double as creams, scrubs, and skin treatments! Here are a few beneficial beauty products that you likely already own.

  1. Tea bags. Instead of investing in a pricey eye cream to get rid of those dark circles after a night out, use some tea bags instead. Soak two green tea bags in warm water and lay them on your eyelids. The caffeine will shrink the appearance of blood vessels, while the antioxidants reduce inflammation.
  2. Oatmeal. Make your own face treatment by using your favorite breakfast oats. Place a handful of whole oats inside of a washcloth and secure it closed with a rubber band. Soak the whole thing in a sink of warm water until the water turns cloudy, and then splash it onto your face. This will create a protective barrier on the skin that seals in moisture and provides anti-inflammatory properties.
  3. Oranges. Use oranges to get rid of pesky dry patches on the skin. Squeeze half of an orange into a bowl and mix in 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Rub the other half of the orange on dry knees or elbows to loosen the dead cells, and then rub on your homemade scrub to slough them away.

Have A Spa Day…At Home! 10 DIY Beauty Treatments! [Seventeen]
Our Favorite All-Natural Home Beauty Treatments [Fitness]
Crazy Beauty Tricks That Really Work [Whole Living]
6 All-Natural Beauty Fixes [Woman’s Day]

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How to Prevent Lost Luggage When Flying

November 20, 2014 by

Just about everyone has been there: You spend hours packing for a trip, get to the airport early to check your bag, and when you get off of the plane, it’s nowhere to be found. When the airport loses your luggage it can ruin your whole vacation, and it can often take weeks to get it back. Follow these smart steps to avoid lost luggage and ensure that your experience at baggage claim is smooth and seamless.

  1. Arrive early. By checking your bags early, you can almost guarantee that airport employees will spend more time tagging and sorting your bag. Studies show that travelers who arrive with less than 30 minutes to spare are more likely to get separated from their bags.
  2. Pack a copy of your itinerary. While flimsy luggage tags can easily get torn off in transit, a copy of your itinerary inside of the bag will always stay put. Because airline employees often open delayed bags to check for information, this may help them reunite you with your luggage and prevent it from going missing.
  3. Add something recognizable to your luggage. Even if the airline keeps your luggage in check, it can be very difficult to tell your suitcase apart from the others at baggage claim. Add a colorful ribbon or a luggage strap to make your bag more recognizable.

Prevent Lost Luggage: 3 Tips [Travel + Leisure]
7 Ways To Prevent Lost Luggage [HuffPost Travel]
7 tips for avoiding lost baggage [Today]

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How to Get More Folic Acid in Your Diet

October 16, 2014 by

Folic acid stimulates cell growth and regeneration, enhances red blood cell creation, and even prevents against depression, which is important for people of all ages. Pregnant women benefit even further from folic acid because it prevents against fetal deformities. If you want to take advantage of the many benefits of folic acid, here are a few of the best food sources.

  1. Dark, leafy greens. Dark green colored vegetables like spinach, kale, and collard greens are some of the very best sources of folic acid, and even just one large salad filled with these leafy foods can provide you with enough folic acid for the entire day. Spinach is especially beneficial, as it contains 65% of your daily value in only one cup.
  2. Citrus fruits. Oranges, grapefruits, and other citruses have more folic acid than all other types of fruits. One papaya alone offers 115 mcg of folic acid, which is about 29% of the average person’s recommended daily intake.
  3. Beans, peas and lentils. While not all of these foods are high in folic acid, there are a few beans, peas, and lentils that contain impressively large quantities of the B-complex vitamin. Lentils are especially high in folic acid, containing over 90% of your daily intake in just one cup. Pinto beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans are also very good sources.

Surprising Sources of Folic Acid [Yahoo! Shine]
Foods High in Folic Acid [Prenatal Vitamin HQ]
15 Foods High in Folic Acid [Global Healing Center]
18 Foods High in Folic Acid to Prevent Cancer & Birth Defects [Bembu]

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Expand Your Vocabulary With These Free Apps for Apple Devices

September 18, 2014 by

Building an expansive vocabulary is beneficial to people in just about any profession. An expansive vocabulary helps you to better communicate thoughts and feelings, and it prevents embarrassment from using a word incorrectly. These helpful apps for your Apple device offer fun, convenient ways to learn new words, even when you’re on the go.

Dictionary.com
The popular online dictionary website offers an app that features a comprehensive dictionary and thesaurus for looking up unknown words. In addition to its most basic features, the app has a Word of the Day section that displays a new word and its definition every time you log on. Check the app each morning and you’ll improve your vocabulary in no time.

VocabDailyFree
This free app is dedicated to helping users improve their vocabularies through definitions, usage examples and even a recording of the pronunciation for various words every day. If you’re a history buff, you’ll also love the opportunities to learn about the history of each word. Vocab Daily’s simple black and white interface is so easy to use that you can even learn new words while multitasking and doing other things.

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Sate Your Craving for Chocolate With These Molten Lava Cake Recipes

August 21, 2014 by

Molten lava cakes are the ideal dessert for a dinner party or other social gathering because their individual sizes give each person a little cake of their own to enjoy. When you cut into these warm, moist desserts an explosion of hot chocolate sauce spills out, which gives the cakes their fun name. If your mouth is already watering, try one of these molten lava cake recipes for dinner tonight.

Molten Chocolate Cakes [Food and Wine]
Food and Wine’s gourmet spin on the dessert classic brings an air of sophistication to the usual molten lava cake. Bittersweet chocolate and unsalted butter provide a rich, complex taste, and the thick chocolate inside is just the icing – or, rather, the lava – on the cake.

Molten Chocolate Cake [Pioneer Woman]
This recipe from the Pioneer Woman is just as indulgent as her other recipes, and the addition of an extra egg yolk ensures that the inside is even more runny than most lava cakes. Serve them with homemade whipped cream for an extra special treat.

Red Velvet Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes [Halfbaked Harvest]
This recipe not only uses a red velvet cake exterior, but a chocolate ganache center as well. If that doesn’t already sound decadent enough, a coconut whipped cream topping should do the trick.

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Love Tennis? Download These 2 Apps!

July 24, 2014 by

Avid tennis fans have tennis on their minds all the time, even when there isn’t a game to watch. If you’re one of those types of people who constantly thinks about tennis, these exciting apps will provide you with hours of fun and enjoyment.

Tennis Channel Everywhere
Watch tennis all day, every day with the Tennis Channel Everywhere app for your smartphone. Unlike sports television channels that only offer tennis occasionally, the Tennis Channel app plays matches from all over the world 24 hours a day. With the app, you can even watch your favorite players while on your commute to work, at the gym, or anywhere else on the go.

Tennis 3D
Instead of waiting for the next big game, play your own game of tennis virtually on the Tennis 3D app. This game offers impressively realistic scenes of different tennis courts within the Grand Slam tournament, and you can even choose the professional tennis player you'd like as your character. Swipe your finger across the screen to move your tennis racket and hit the ball, and the innovative 3D physics system will make it feel just like you’re playing a real game of tennis.

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Party Safe: Tips for Serving a Safe Food Buffet

June 19, 2014 by

When you have a large group of people over for dinner, serving food buffet-style ensures that everyone gets exactly what they want. But how can you be sure that everything stays fresh, from appetizers to dessert? Here are a few tips for serving a safe food buffet.

  1. Buy foods at the proper temperature. Things like fried chicken, casseroles, and ice cream should be kept at the same temperature from the store to the buffet table, as changing their temperatures too much can cause food to spoil.
  2. Know the proper temperatures. Hot food should be kept between 140° and 165° Fahrenheit, while cold food should be kept at 40° Fahrenheit and lower.
  3. Don’t leave food out for longer than two hours. Be sure to include preparation and serving in your count.
  4. Use the proper tools. To ensure that food is kept at the proper temperature, use things like slow cookers, warming trays, and nesting dishes in bowls of ice. To prevent guests from mixing foods, make sure that you provide a separate spoon, spatula, or tongs in each dish. Also provide individual bowls for dips to discourage guests from double-dipping.

Serving Up Safe Buffets [FDA]
Serving Prepared Foods Safely [Whole Foods]
Holiday or Party Buffets [USDA]

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