Benefits Derived From Canning and Preserving Food

There is much that can be said about storing foods and preserving them in the manner used by our ancestors. Traditional methods of food preservation have slowly been fading from our modern life and it is essential to remember that once these routines are gone they will be lost forever. It is left to our own devices to learn and to perpetuate these traditions revolving around canning, freezing, drying or smoking for the benefits of our grandchildren and for their children as well.

Our life would undoubtedly be boring if we were to follow the exact habits of our forefathers and merely consumed that which was currently in season. It is imperative than that we reflect upon the processes of preserving food to allocate some variety into our daily menu selection. We could very easily step out our door and leap into the front seat of our car and hastily make our way to the local grocery store to fetch several cans of corn or to visit the frozen food department for a medium bag of spinach to complete the evening meal but would you not feel better reaching into your home pantry shelf and withdrawing a quart jar of this or of that?

The foods which we can or preserve by any accepted method has specific benefits associated with it. We can rest assured that the efforts which we place into preserving these foods are not wasted but will provide a needed benefit to ourselves and to our families. Let's briefly review several of these benefits at this time.

The first entry which I would like to cover involves the environmental. With increased frequency many of my fellow Americans are becoming truly concerned about the damage placed upon the environment by mankind. These impairments are usually non-reversible and will often bequeath our future generations with a deficit of valuable resources. By employing the principles presented for food preservation we can reduce this undesirable footprint greatly.

Local farmers markets have been springing up all across the nation as more and more city folks are beginning to realize the advantages of purchasing locally produced vegetables and fruits. This return to locally grown produce has evolved into a new name for those who support such a venture, they are affectionately known as "Locavores", and most of these people would now prefer to consume the foods grown in their specific area as opposed to importing them from across the nation. Not only does this policy instill a boast towards environmental concerns but the provisions obtained will retain its flavor and taste much better in the long run.

For many folks keeping the tradition alive is an important step towards leaving something to future generations of a family. Although they could easily rush to the grocery store for their needs, they would prefer the old fashion method of "doing it themselves". These moments provide inspirations of great pride and represent cherished moments for bonding with family members which ultimately generate wonderful memories to look back upon in future years.

Of all the benefits attributed to preserving food at home we can not overlook the benefit of enjoying fresh preserved produce or the associated health benefits which come with fresh foods. Few grocery stores can compare with the taste and the value of fresh picked vegetables or fruits. Canning and preserving permits us all to enjoy these foods while they are at their peak of freshness.

Lastly, we encounter the advantage provided to our dwindling pocketbook. There are certain economic benefits associated with canning and preserving your own foods which are not found in relying upon store-bought provisions. We live in a time of troubled economic periods where every penny counts. Some families have managed to expand these pennies as they preserve and process their own foods.

Make Tomato Sauce Like A Pro Not Like Grandma

If you still make tomato sauce like Mom or Grandma does, you might be missing some of the key elements to take it from fair to fantastic. The difference between a home cook and a professional chef is a focus on the METHOD for sauce making, not the recipe.

You might think this mother sauce is very easy. After all, you just simmer some tomatoes until you have a sauce, right? Perhaps, but the object is to build many levels of flavor more than just tomato. Layering tastes takes more effort than chopping and simmering tomatoes like past generations did.

To make tomato sauce like a pro, you need to start with concasse'. Tomato Concasse is seeded and skinned tomatoes created by poaching the fruit in simmering water and then shocking them in an ice bath to loosen the skins.

I don't consider myself a "snotty" chef, I don't think my way is the only way, and I'm not here to insult your Mom's sauce making skills. However, I do have a few pet-peeves when it comes to cooking. One of these is when home cooks leave the tomato skins in their sauce. Without concasse, tomatoes are just chopped and the skins shrink into rolled up "quills" that stick between your teeth. They are tough, chewy and you don't digest them very well.

"But the recipe doesn't tell me to skin the tomatoes," you might respond. Of course it doesn't! Recipes often leave out important methods in favor of the list of ingredients. A recipe won't teach you to cook anymore than sheet music will teach you to play piano. If you followed the written notes to a famous Beatles song, would it sound exactly like the original? Certainly not, you're not Paul McCartney and your interpretation of the notes on a page will be different from everyone else.

When you make tomato sauce with peeled and seeded tomatoes, vegetables and seasonings, you're starting to build one flavor on top of another. In a truly classic sauce, you'd add a beef bone or ham hock to simmer in the sauce, giving yet another dimension beyond just tomato. However, in a contemporary sauce, flavorful beef or vegetable stock is added instead of the bones.

Keeping in mind that method is more important than a written recipe, the best sauces start with sauté. Using direct heat along with oil or fat will start to build levels of flavor as the onions are sweated, then celery, then carrots for sweetness. Tomatoes should be the last ingredient added to this sauce because they will accept all the flavors that came just before them.

Rather than just simmering tomatoes, what if you started with rendered bacon fat? The meatiness of the bacon will give yet another dimension to the sauce. The Japanese call this "Umami", a sixth sense on the tongue. Achieving a deeper, more savory aspect to the sauce immediately takes it from amateur to professional because of the method used.

If you want to make tomato sauce like a chef, follow this procedure. I didn't call it a recipe because you can use any ingredients you'd like. It's the method that gives you freedom of choice to change onions to hot peppers or ground beef to sausage. The recipe doesn't allow this artistic expression.

First, prepare tomato concasse by removing the core and making an X on the bottom of all the fruit you'll use for the sauce. They should be poached in simmering water until the skin starts to split and recede. Upon seeing this, immediately remove them from the hot water and stop the cooking by plunging in ice water. The object is to remove the skin while NOT cooking the flesh underneath.

Second, choose a fat to begin sauté. Olive oil is usually the best choice but as I stated above, bacon fat, ground beef, or sausage are also excellent choices for a non-vegetarian sauce.

Third, sauté onions, carrot and celery in that order. Always choose the toughest ingredient to sauté first, as it will be in the pan the longest and needs to tenderize. First onions, then carrot, then celery to begin the foundation of flavors in your sauce.

This combination of starchy vegetables will eventually become the thickening agent. Tomato sauce is thickened by pureed vegetables, tomato paste and the process of reduction as moisture evaporates during a long simmering process.

Then, you might decide to use red wine or a broth to deglaze the pan, just like a normal sauté procedure. Reduce this liquid until it is almost all gone, evaporated and absorbed by the ingredients.

Lastly, add the blanched tomatoes, either in a smooth puree or roughly chopped for a chunkier sauce. Don't worry that your sauce looks too dry; all the ingredients will continue to release moisture that will combine flavors into many levels and dimensions that can't be achieved by just simmering one ingredient on its own.

After adding your favorite seasonings, usually basil and oregano, it's a matter of patience. This sauce will be mostly thickened through reduction; the evaporation of moisture so that it sticks to food, has an appealing consistency and doesn't leave a watery puddle on the bottom of the plate.

I challenge you to make tomato sauce like Grandma, and then make it like the chefs in my culinary college class. Compare the two. You'll find that a concentration on the method over the ingredients will result in a tomato sauce that has more depth, more flavor, and compliments more foods than just pasta. You can still love your Grandma, but you'll love my tomato sauce more than hers, I'm sure.

See the video on how to make tomato sauce.

Chef Todd Mohr has a passion for helping people improve their cooking with simple cooking techniques that work! His online cooking classes, transform home cooks into confident home chefs. "Burn Your Recipes" and your cooking will be transformed!.

A Foodie Tour of the North: The Best Dishes Not to Miss

The north of England is notorious for its food: dishes from all over the world have been truly incorporated into the traditions of northern cities, and made firm roots, where they can now call home. From deep-fried Mars Bars in Scotland, or chips with curry sauce in Newcastle, traditional foods in northern cities differ greatly. Different kinds of food in the north are loved by locals and visitors alike - they are now as much a part of the cities themselves as they are reasons to visit each city in their own right.
The city of Manchester is famed the world over for its so-called 'curry mile', thought to be the largest concentration of South Asian restaurants outside of the Indian subcontinent. Here, take-away restaurants, curry houses and kebab outlets specialise in Asian cuisine, from India to Pakistan and back again - more than seventy shops sit side by side in this small stretch of the city.
In recent years, the Middle Eastern influence on the area has increased, with Arabic food now enjoyed alongside alongside the well-loved and popular curries of the stretch. With the Arabic influence have come a number of restaurants embodying the tradition of smoking Shisha pipes, allowing visitors to take a relaxed attitude to eating, spending time relaxing with some Shisha over supper.
Across the city sit more than three hundred different restaurants to choose from, with every kind of food imaginable - as in any other cosmopolitan city in Europe, and incorporating the flavours of many neighbouring countries. At the other end of the scale from the curry houses, Manchester is home to a number of excellent restaurants, where well-known chefs cook outstanding food for their guests.
Dropping south-east to Nottingham, the variety and quality of the food remains. Café culture reigns supreme here, with the local Nottingham people enjoying nothing more than a cup of tea and a slice of cake at one of the city's many cafes - especially when the sun is shining, and tables spill on to the streets, and a convivial atmosphere rules.
Double Michelin-starred Sat Bains sits at the top of the spectrum, the crème-de-la-crème of Nottingham dining, while many other cuisines star in different parts of town. The iconic Lace Market shows visitors the creativity of tapas at Iberico, intricate Chinese creations at Opium, and classic British delicacies at a real mix of restaurants for all occasions.
Dropping slightly further south again - yet still relatively in the north - Birmingham is a further food capital for the UK: Birmingham's history has been intertwined with food and drink for many years.
It was in Birmingham that Thomas Ridgeway first started trading tea in the 1830s at the Bull Ring - today, one of the most important hubs in the city - and William Sumner, founder of Typhoo Tea, also had his earliest business roots in the city.
From this point forward, Birmingham was an important place for food trading throughout the nineteenth century. Limes and cocoa were two of the most significant imports into the city: the influence of the latter can still be seen today as the city is still home to the Cadbury chocolate empire.
You might be having lunch with a group of friends in one part of town, sipping coffee on a sunny pavement in the afternoon, and then donning your glad-rags for a Michelin-starred supper - all within a few hours of each other. Northerners like their food, but most of all they love to share it with their guests - so all that remains to be seen is to pick which city to be whisked away to first...

Savor Every Bite Of Your Frozen Yogurt

There are many different types of frozen desserts available for you to enjoy today. One of the most popular of these is frozen yogurt, which comes in many different flavors and varieties. It is typically made with fermented milk and a combination of other dairy products. It has a more tart flavor than ice cream, since it is made from milk rather than cream.
Frozen yogurt has a fairly short history and first became part of the American culture in New England in the 1970s as a soft serve, known as Frogurt. Then, in 1978, the first packaged one began appearing on shelves by various companies in various forms. These were thought to be great low-calorie alternatives to ice cream. Initially customers did not like its tart flavor, however, so more sugar was added to make it a little sweeter. This resulted in a new decade of business, leading to the re-introduction of it on the market today, usually in small stores inside strip malls.
How is this dessert made? The fermented milk, the sweetener, the bacterial cultures, and the milk solids are mixed together with both the natural and artificial flavors and colors. The milk fat is then added to help add richness to your yogurt as it is right around 10% of the volume. Some manufacturers use cane or beet sugar for the sweetener as well as additives from either plants or animals to allow for crystallization so that it stays smooth.
If the manufacturing company is large enough, it will have an assembly line that performs all the adding and mixing of ingredients. It will need to be homogenized and when it reaches 32 degrees celcius, the probiotic cultures are added, then the yogurt mix is cooled to 0 degrees Celsius and allowed to age for 4 hours. At this time, the preferred sweetener is added to the mix. To get extra volume to it, you will then need to cool it below -5 degrees. Air is then added to the mixture and once the right amount is added, it is quickly frozen to prevent it from growing ice crystals. You can also make it in a soft serve machine. When you are making it this way, you can add as much of any ingredient as you want.
Today, frozen yogurt is often enjoyed on the same scale as ice cream and is available in many different flavors and styles. Some companies allow you to choose from a buffet of toppings to accompany your dessert, while others allow you to choose to enjoy it either in a cup or a cone. While some dessert stores offer yogurt that is more on the tart side, others make it taste more like ice cream. No matter how you like it, there is a delicious dessert for your taste.

Why Companies Organize Corporate Events

There are quite a number of reasons why companies hold corporate events. A lot of companies invest their resources in organizing these events, knowing fully well that they produce positive results in terms of achieving their goals. The work that you and your co-workers do can be exhausting or just downright monotonous, so you need to take a pause every once in a while.

Here are some of the reasons why business organizations put together corporate events:

Celebrate successes and triumphs - It's always good to reward those who go the extra mile to achieve or even surpass their goals. These are the hardworking employees who put in everything they have to deliver the results that are expected from them. Awards and prizes can also be given out to recognize individual or team efforts during this event.

Product-launching - Introducing a new product can be an opportunity for the company to strengthen its relationship with its stakeholders. This is a very crucial corporate event, so it's important that every aspect is carefully planned for and organized - from the corporate catering company you choose down to the choice of venue.

Team-building - Designed to improve the team spirit and performance within the organization, team-building activities facilitate not only the enhancement of the employees' skills, but can also bring out other abilities that may have previously been untapped. It's also a way of reinforcing the company's objectives. Fun games and exercises are certainly good for the weary worker, so be sure to include them in the activities that you're going to conduct.

Conferences and seminars - Of course, a business organization has to organize an event that will focus on specific areas of interest for the employees. Companies usually invite resource speakers who are experts in their own field to share their knowledge and insights. This gives the employees an opportunity to increase and even improve their skill sets via workshops.

Customer appreciation - Certainly, without its customers, a business organization is nothing. Corporate events can be held as a way of thanking them for their support and for patronizing the company's products or services. Prizes are usually raffled off and given to the attendees.

Honoring retirees - When a senior member of the organization who has been with the company for decades decides to retire, it would be a nice gesture on the part of the company to honor him with a special event like a testimonial dinner.

Whatever the nature of your corporate event is, consider it as an opportunity to get yourselves re-acquainted so you can rekindle your personal and professional relationships. It is important then to take time to plan all the aspects of such events - from the corporate catering company you'll hire to the ideal date and venue - so you can put together a successful gathering that will reap excellent results in the end.

A New Healthy Lifestyle Made Possible By Pizza

Would you now want to start your track towards a healthier lifestyle? You will have to start with a change in your eating habits. The healthy lifestyle is an eating style that is devoid of chemicals and pesticides. It is a way to reduce the risk in the growth of cancer cells in your system. This is going organic in the foods that you eat, including pizza.

You will often hear today about people wanting to go organic. They are wary about eating foods that had been grown with chemicals and pesticides. Yes - many people believe that among the culprits in cancer are the different chemicals that had been infused in the foods that we eat.

Would you now want to start your track towards a healthier lifestyle? You will have to start with a change in your eating habits. Should you be giving up sweets, cakes and ice cream? Or perhaps, you would totally keep away from the fatty burgers and fries. The healthy lifestyle I am referring to in this article is one eating style that is devoid of chemicals and pesticides. It is a way to reduce the risk in the growth of cancer cells in your system.

You can now start your great pledge of avoiding non-organic foods. What are organic foods then? These are foods that were produced without the involvement of synthetic inputs, namely chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides. The soil was made fertile through natural animal and plant wastes. The organic foods are more preferred because of some health issues about the non-organic kinds. Your meal that is free from the synthetic feeds for animals, pesticides and fertilizers for plants is your new healthy lifestyle.

Pizza lovers who are very health conscious have something to rejoice about. There are different pizza restaurants that serve healthy options. All the ingredients used in the preparation and concoction of the pizza are organic - from the meat to the vegetables, seasonings and crust.

The crust of the pizza is made from organic wheat and flour. The wheat has been grown with natural fertilizers, processed in a natural way to avoid contamination with chemicals. For the meat part, the animals were only fed with their feeds that are devoid of chemicals. This means that the foods of the swine and cows have no chemicals in them

The remaining ingredients are the vegetables as well as the cheese and other seasonings. All these had also been produced organically. As for the taste, you should never think that these are tasteless. They have the original flavor - what you have been used to. The crust tastes like ordinary crust, the meat is just the same, the vegetables are fresh and crisp. There is nothing lacking in the taste; there is nothing amiss in the ingredients.

If you are really concerned about health issues, you can start on keeping a healthy lifestyle through the pizza that you eat. Make sure that every piece of meat or cheese or crust or vegetable in the recipe had been produced organically. Then and only then can you say that you have a healthier lifestyle. Your pizza is absolutely free from the health hazards brought about by chemicals and pesticides.

A Caterer Prepares and Serves Great Meals for All Occasions

When you are in charge of planning a large celebration or party of some kind, planning the food is one thing that you should not do yourself. You should hire a caterer and let that company be responsible for that aspect of the party. There are several reasons that you should do this. For one thing, the food is one of the biggest parts of parties. People come to visit and for support, but they are also there for the food. You will not want to be responsible if the food is bad or if people get sick from it. You will also not want to be responsible if there is not enough food. Planning the food for a large event also takes a lot of time. You must plan it, prepare it and then bring it to the hall or location of the party. Next, you will have to worry about keeping it hot or cold, and then serving it. When the party is over, who will be responsible for cleaning all of it up? Yes, you guessed it: you.

By hiring a caterer, you can eliminate all of these worries, problems and duties. They will be responsible for all of these things, and that is what they are good at. Catering companies are known for serving excellent food and for being efficient at serving it. They are great at planning too. When you give them a count of how many people will be there, they will have plenty of food to serve these people. If your count is off and an additional 50 people show up, there might be a problem then, but that is your responsibility to give an accurate count.

When you hire a caterer, you will be given a menu. This menu offers the options that you have to choose from. Certain options might be more costly than others, and there are usually different menus for different purposes. For example, if you are planning a brunch gathering, they will give you a specific menu that contains the food options for brunch meals. They may also have dinner menus, lunch menus and appetizer menus. You will be given many options when it comes to the food choices and drinks.

The other option that a caterer will give you is how the meal is served. You have three primary choices for this. It can be served buffet style. This is where people come up to a line, grab a plate and take what they would like. The second option is family style. This is where a plate of each of the meal entrees are served to each table. The people at the tables take what they would like and they then pass the plates or bowls around the table to the other guests. The final option is to serve the meals by the plate. Each guest would receive a plate of food, and every plate would look exactly alike.

Best Biltong Snacks Made the South African Way

With most people looking to save money on just about every purchase at the moment, many retailers have to try harder than ever to tempt their customers - even when it comes to the impulse buy. British tastes have changed radically in the last twenty years, with a focus on health and well-being, meaning that snacking and snack foods have a bad press amongst many consumers. For those retailing in the food and hospitality industries re-positioning their snack offerings is essential to continue to maximise a profitable turn over.

The good news is that although many areas of retail are struggling to survive in the recession, the snack industry is still growing relatively well. Even where domestic food budgets are being squeezed, it seems the temptation to snack continues to, well, bite! Besides, it offers comfort and is often the centre of a social occasion with friends at home. For pubs, bars and convenience stores finding the right products to market to their ever peckish clientele is also easier as the range of products available on the market is much wider than in the past. One rapidly growing market and popular consumer trend lies in the direction of biltong, which is gradually spreading its reach around the UK. Biltong originates in South Africa and is a healthy, air dried meat product marinated in a traditional blend of herbs and spices. It has, in recent years been produced in the UK, to cater for the growing ex-pat community.

In terms of marketability it's a great product to aim at the health conscious consumer. Low in fat, high in protein and essential vitamins, it has long been popular with the more sporty outdoor type. Produced using lean cuts of meat, normally beef but including game and even ostrich, biltong falls among the savoury snack category. Jerky has been better known in the UK until recent years and has already proved to be a popular substitute in pubs and other eateries as an alternative to the usual suspects. Biltong is a similar product, but without the sweetness of jerky and is a healthier alternative to most traditional savoury snacks.

Biltong distributors and manufactures in the UK are generally of the ex-pat variety, creating this authentic meaty snack to their own traditional South African recipe. The actual import from South Africa is not allowed under UK and EU regulations, but with the number of small businesses producing and distributing the product it's not difficult to source. In addition to the range of pubs and bars now stocking biltong products, Morrisons, Tescos and a range of smaller outlets are now helping to raise the profile of biltong in the UK. It's also increasingly found in small butchers around the country and proving equally popular here as it's a great base for a whole range of recipes. For those looking to stock the South African snack option, there are biltong distributors in the UK specifically focussed on supplying trade outlets. Variety is considered the spice of life and in the case of this beefy meat product it can offer a very affordable way to flavour up any menu.

Milton Keynes based biltong supplier sells locally produced beef biltong made to a traditional South African family recipe. Offering a healthy alternative to many traditional snack foods, biltong is finding increasing popularity within the UK market.

What Is a Full English Breakfast?

Breakfast is the first meal consumed after fasting an entire night. A nutritious breakfast will keep the hunger pangs away during the day. Small lunches and light dinners are enough to help you get through a full working day. Traditionally in Britain and Ireland, a full English breakfast was popular. Today the importance of a full breakfast has taken a step back. Life has become so fast and quick that eating a good breakfast is a luxury these days. It is now eaten only on weekends, holidays and vacations. It is unclear about the origin of the English breakfast. However, it is believed to have originated in rural England. It was a sustaining meal for workers to help them through a long morning of hard labor.

Menu of the breakfast

An English breakfast generally begins with orange juice, cereals and fruits. But the heart of the English breakfast is bacon and eggs. Breakfast is incomplete without them. Sausages, devilled kidneys, porridge, kippers, mushrooms, toast and marmalade and grilled tomatoes are some of its accompaniments. Breakfast is then rounded off with a good cup of tea.

The choice of accompaniments in each county of the United Kingdom can be different. While the breakfast may include fried bread, black pudding and baked beans, the Scottish may include potato scones and oat cakes. The Irish will substitute with white pudding and soda bread. The Welsh prefer the laver bread or laver cakes. They are a combination of seaweed and oatmeal.

Cooking and eating the English breakfast

The breakfast is cooked fresh, except the tomatoes. Though frying is not a healthy option, grilled food lacks grease and may not have the required moisture. Slowly friend bacon and sausages can really be lip smacking. Its flavors are not too spiky but are familiar. Though the full breakfast is served with a large mug of tea, these days coffee is also being served.

Since the full breakfast is a rare treat these days, most people enjoy it well cooked, with plenty of moisture. Eggs are an essential item on the menu and no one wants the rubbery poached eggs. The scrambled or fried eggs are preferred. Cooking the fried egg the right way is important.

Healthy Eating for One

Healthy eating for one can be a pain. It's tempting to buy ready meals when you are eating on your own, but these can be laden with hidden fat and salt.

Unfortunately, healthy eating for one is rarely promoted in the media, and often the images given to us singletons are those of Bridget Jones' eating ice cream in her pyjamas, but healthy eating on your own doesn't need to be depressing.

The most difficult thing when cooking for one is that it is hard to make single size portions, and you don't want to end up eating the same leftovers for a whole week. The second hurdle is motivating yourself to cook after a long day at work, when you get on from a hard day the last thing you want to do is spend an hour rustling up a healthy meal.

There is also the question of space, many of us singletons live in studio apartments with limited fridge and worktop space, which can make cooking a nightmare.

So how can healthy eating for one be achieved without too much fuss and hassle? Here are a few tips that can make eating on your own a healthy and enjoyable experience:

    Learn the basics

There are many online resources to teach you the basics of cooking. Video blogs are ideal, but simply searching 'learn how to cook' will provide you with numerous options. For the technophobes, there are many easy to follow cookbooks, pop into your local bookshop and let them know you are looking for the basics!

    Adapt to your environment

Although the chefs on TV all seem to be cooking in warehouse sized kitchens, it doesn't mean you can't make delicious meals with limited space and tools. Look out for 'one pot' recipes and resources aimed specifically at small spaces. Again there are many blogs out there specifically for smaller kitchens, simply tap 'cooking in a small kitchen' into your search bar.

    Make your own ready meals

When you have a bit of spare time, perhaps on a Sunday when you have exhausted all the trash TV, make some meals that can be frozen in individual servings. You can buy the foil containers for individual portions, and stews, soups and casseroles are perfect for freezing and can be knocked up relatively easily. They are also easy to make in one pot, so perfect for that tiny oven!

    Choose healthy

Healthy eating doesn't need to be difficult, by simply replacing ingredients for healthier ones you can cut saturated fat in half. Opt for white meats over red, for example, replacing beef mince with turkey mince in bolognaise will cut the fat to almost nothing.

    Buy plenty of Tupperware

One of the most frustrating things about healthy eating for one is wasting food. Supermarkets don't sell many things in single portions, so make sure you have plenty of Tupperware to hand for freezing and storing things in the fridge. It's also a good idea to buy some labels to date all your stored items so you don't end up with year old meals festering in the back of your freezer.

Hopefully these simple guidelines have given you a bit of inspiration to avoid the ready meal aisle on your next shopping trip. Happy eating!

James Carrington lives in London, UK - and provides nutrition advice for sport and general health.

All About Maxillofacial Treatment

Maxillofacial and oral surgery is the health care process of removing teeth, and performing surgery treatment on the mouth area, jaw, and gum. Accidents and penile deformation may also be treated. The goal of the dentist is to provide ultimate patient comfort during any oral procedure by utilizing out-patient general sedation applied by trained personnel in a comfortable office setting. This will include using a squeeze bag after the surgery and also proving Zip n squeeze bags to make feeding even easier.
This place of oral health care may also include the diagnosis, surgical and related treatment of diseases, injuries and problems involving both the functional and aesthetic aspects of the soft and hard tissues of the gum, mouth place, tooth, gums, oral cavity and throat.
The teeth are some of the most delicate parts of the body and need highest health care. You can thus use a squeeze bag to promote dental health after oral surgery as well as being a feeding bag. The squeeze bag as a feeding bag is important for a convenient and comfortable recovery period.
You don't have to wait until you are diagnosed with oral melanoma or serious gum illnesses. You will discover that healing these illnesses will be very expensive regardless of whether you are in a financial position to cater for it or not. It is therefore advisable to visit your dentist regularly. If some of these conditions are discovered early enough, healing them becomes easier. A high number of people in America die of oral melanoma annually. That's very concerning and should make you start viewing your dental professional again for those examinations.
Complications that can result in having affected wisdom tooth can be serious and can lead to development of growths and also cancers. Other type of tooth demanding eliminating are bicuspids and cuspids which if pressurized can be a problem. Professional oral treatment is also required in case you require work in the oral cavity and face.
Maxillofacial is the area of surgery treatment that deals with issues related to, the gum, throat, jaw and head. A maxillofacial surgery treatment is required when there is serious damage to the experience muscle tissue or bone that will require a squeeze bag. These can be triggered due to injuries, illnesses, or any penile deformation which are there since birth. This surgery treatment is also very helpful for the after effects of melanoma. Treatment of melanoma especially by use of surgery results deformation. Maxillofacial surgery treatment allows eliminating such deformities and returning the shape of the gum, jaw and mouth.
This oral surgery is also strongly recommended in those cases where there needs an elimination of seriously broken wisdom teeth, or for solving muscle tissue problems causing discomfort. It is also useful in solving overbites and many kinds of jaw penile deformation. It is a kind of rebuilding surgery treatment, in which the experience can be renewed by the surgery procedures. The use of this surgery treatment is also made in cosmetic surgery procedures. Since it deals with rebuilding the damaged cells, it can be used for providing aesthetic and functional relief.

10 Tips on How to Throw an Eco-Friendly Cocktail Party

Thinking of having a few friends over this weekend? Or maybe you're planning a full blown fiesta! Either way, why not incorporate a little green into your theme? Check out the list of tips below for ideas on how to throw an eco-friendly cocktail party that is sure to impress:

    Evite your friends: Save paper, time and money by inviting guests through email or social media. Snail mail invitations are lovely but they're really only necessary for very formal events.

    Look like a million: Half the fun of planning a party is deciding what you're going to wear. Treat yourself to a 'new' outfit from your local thrift store. Or if you're not into second hand, opt for items made from eco-friendly textiles, such as organic cotton, hemp or bamboo fiber. When your friends ask where you got your gear be sure to talk up the environmental properties of your new look.

    Stay class with glass: Serve snacks and beverages in reusable dishes instead of the disposable variety. If you're worried about cost, check out your local second hand shop for inexpensive wine glass sets and appetizer plates. Not only does this look better but it's also a sure fire way to cut back on waste. You can also cut back on dishes at the end of the night by providing your guests with wine glass charms so they can easily keep track of their glass instead of taking a new one every time they go for a refill.

    Turn down the heat: Encourage your guests to dress warmly if you're hosting your event during the colder months. Better yet, tell them to bust a move and make their own heat! But just in case you've got a couple party poopers in the mix, make sure to have some extra throws and/or sweaters on-hand.

    Think globally act locally: Serve snacks and beverages that are produced in your local area. By doing so you will be helping out your local producers in addition to cutting back on the carbon emissions required to transport your party favours to a distributor near you. If local is too much of a challenge, do your best to incorporate some organic wines, beers and veggie platters into the mix.

    DIY: If you can make it yourself, please do so. For instance, cut back on wasteful packaging by making your own cocktail mix instead buying it pre-made at the store. Same goes for decor. Balloons and streamers are lots of fun but unfortunately they're no good for the environment. If it's a fall party, for example, consider decorating with some pumpkins or gourds from your local market. Whatever the season, be creative and come up with your own eco-friendly decorating ideas to create that party atmosphere!

    Turn the lights down low: Set the mood with some dim lighting and save on electricity while you're at it. Candles are always a nice idea. Just make sure they're away from high traffic areas and not left unattended.

    Linens 'n things: Resist the urge to buy paper napkins and plastic table covers. Cloth napkins and table linens are much classier and they can be reused time and time again.

    Give back: This one is less for the environment and more for the good of society. Instead of bringing a host/hostess gift, ask guests to bring a non-perishable food item that can be donated to your local food bank. Afterall, it's good to give!

    Stay clean & green: In case of spills throughout the night, make sure to have lots of reusable cloth rags on hand. Old t-shirts and towels can easily be repurposed for the job. When it comes to clean up the next day, opt for a natural household cleaner such as white vinegar and water mixed together. White vinegar cuts grease, removes mildew, fights odors, removes most stains and even helps with the removal of wax build up!

Tips On How to Decorate Christmas Cupcakes

Thinking of having a few friends over this weekend? Or maybe you're planning a full blown fiesta! Either way, why not incorporate a little green into your theme? Check out the list of tips below for ideas on how to throw an eco-friendly cocktail party that is sure to impress:

    Evite your friends: Save paper, time and money by inviting guests through email or social media. Snail mail invitations are lovely but they're really only necessary for very formal events.

    Look like a million: Half the fun of planning a party is deciding what you're going to wear. Treat yourself to a 'new' outfit from your local thrift store. Or if you're not into second hand, opt for items made from eco-friendly textiles, such as organic cotton, hemp or bamboo fiber. When your friends ask where you got your gear be sure to talk up the environmental properties of your new look.

    Stay class with glass: Serve snacks and beverages in reusable dishes instead of the disposable variety. If you're worried about cost, check out your local second hand shop for inexpensive wine glass sets and appetizer plates. Not only does this look better but it's also a sure fire way to cut back on waste. You can also cut back on dishes at the end of the night by providing your guests with wine glass charms so they can easily keep track of their glass instead of taking a new one every time they go for a refill.

    Turn down the heat: Encourage your guests to dress warmly if you're hosting your event during the colder months. Better yet, tell them to bust a move and make their own heat! But just in case you've got a couple party poopers in the mix, make sure to have some extra throws and/or sweaters on-hand.

    Think globally act locally: Serve snacks and beverages that are produced in your local area. By doing so you will be helping out your local producers in addition to cutting back on the carbon emissions required to transport your party favours to a distributor near you. If local is too much of a challenge, do your best to incorporate some organic wines, beers and veggie platters into the mix.

    DIY: If you can make it yourself, please do so. For instance, cut back on wasteful packaging by making your own cocktail mix instead buying it pre-made at the store. Same goes for decor. Balloons and streamers are lots of fun but unfortunately they're no good for the environment. If it's a fall party, for example, consider decorating with some pumpkins or gourds from your local market. Whatever the season, be creative and come up with your own eco-friendly decorating ideas to create that party atmosphere!

    Turn the lights down low: Set the mood with some dim lighting and save on electricity while you're at it. Candles are always a nice idea. Just make sure they're away from high traffic areas and not left unattended.

    Linens 'n things: Resist the urge to buy paper napkins and plastic table covers. Cloth napkins and table linens are much classier and they can be reused time and time again.

    Give back: This one is less for the environment and more for the good of society. Instead of bringing a host/hostess gift, ask guests to bring a non-perishable food item that can be donated to your local food bank. Afterall, it's good to give!

    Stay clean & green: In case of spills throughout the night, make sure to have lots of reusable cloth rags on hand. Old t-shirts and towels can easily be repurposed for the job. When it comes to clean up the next day, opt for a natural household cleaner such as white vinegar and water mixed together. White vinegar cuts grease, removes mildew, fights odors, removes most stains and even helps with the removal of wax build up!

TV Dinners and Health Concerns

In a perfect world, all frozen dinners would not only taste good, but they would also be good for you. In the real world, however, this is not the case. Most frozen TV dinners are filled with preservatives, fat, and calories. The marketing teams for these products do a great job in making it look healthy and tasty, but typically that is far from the truth.

Next time you're out at the supermarket, flip those frozen dinners around and check out the nutrition facts. More specifically, look at the amount of sodium in any given package. In the USA, products cannot be labeled as "healthy" if the amount of sodium exceeds 480 milligrams per serving. If it exceeds 600 milligrams, it can't even be called a single serving size! Make sure you check how much sodium is in the meal before buying it, as too much sodium is very harmful to your health.

Lots of people look at the overall fat content, which is OK. However, you really want to look at what people call "the bad fat content." That is the saturated fat and transfat contents, which can lead to heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and elevated levels of cholesterol.

Lots of marketing groups will try to sell you on a product being low in calories in sneaky ways. Some might say "LOWER CALORIES" in huge block letters, only to have something like "than a huge hunk of lard" in tiny font just below it. Of course, they don't actually say that. However, they are able to boast about lower calories if their product has just slightly fewer calories than a similar product. That amount of calories might still be very high, so please make sure you understand what is a high level of calories for you before purchasing something.

Lastly, serving sizes are typically smaller than what you actually eat. If you have a box of wheat crackers that are smaller than an inch by an inch, the serving size might be 10 of those tiny crackers, but that can be two mouthfuls for some people! If I have a bowl of Wheat Thins, I typically eat anywhere between 2-3 servings on average without even knowing it. They are very addictive, and the serving sizes that they have measured out are a lot smaller than what I believe the average person consumes in one sitting.

So next time you are in the supermarket shopping around for something convenient and quick, make sure to read the nutrition facts. Keep in mind, however, that low sodium, fat, calories, etc. typically means low flavor. They won't taste as good, but your body will thank you!

Thanks for checking me out! I also have a couple of healthy food blogs that I update frequently:

The Natural Way (Going Back to Our Grandparents Time)

I live in Spain; we moved here some six years ago, and one of the many reasons for doing so was that the climate was so much better than the one we had previously enjoyed in the UK. My lasting memory of our final winter in Manchester was of grey skies, and prolonged showers from September until we left the following February.

We did not come here for the sun, although it played it's part, we came here because the growing season is so much longer. What does not grow well in the heat of the summer, flourishes in the winter, and vice-versa. Lettuce for Christmas Day = no problem.

We could not have hoped to be able to grow all the vegetables that we wanted to in the climate, and also in the amount of land that we could afford in England. Here, we have seven acres to go at. Admittedly, it is not all arable, being covered for the most part in olive trees, but you can grow a lot on half an acre of well-irrigated deep beds.

Seems a long way and quite an upheaval just to grow vegetables when we could just buy them. Yes but, I have a strongly held belief that all vegetables have a season, and that they should be consumed within that time. Not for me the 'cardboard' tomatoes in January, picked green and artificially ripened during their costly journey from warmer climes. This sort of food is bereft of nutrients and vitamins, and taste.

I also firmly believe that modern commercial methods of farming are not sustainable for the planet, and are storing up problems for later. The aggressive use of weed-killers, fertilisers and pesticides are creating crops that are weaker than their less-dependent ancestors, and furthermore are a container for an extremely hazardous mixture of chemicals. These cocktails are not only finding their way into our bodies but also the natural ecosystems surrounding the land on which they are grown. Not to mention the amount of fuel that is consumed in the process.

"Grow-your-own" is where we are now. When we have to buy fruit and vegetables, then we buy from local grocers, who in turn have been supplied from local farms. The less food miles the better, both in freshness and also in cost. We compost as much as we can; 200 olive trees, although evergreen, still produce a lot of leaves. The olive farmers here burn their fallen leaves and they spray weed-killer two or three times a year on their land. Studies have shown that land covered with weeds retain much more moisture than those clean olive fincas of which the Spanish are so fond.

When the rain comes (and boy, does it ever), the whole lot shoots off the clean farms and into the rivers. It seems to hang around a whole lot more on our land.

One of my friends here has told me that he has spent over €1000 on chemicals for his olive farm this year, and we have not reached the harvest yet. If you add in the time spent actually treating the trees with this potent brew, then it is much more. His profit will be greatly reduced this year. He was surprised when I mentioned that I do not spray for anything. What about pests? What about leaf drop?

I do have problems with pests and leaf-drop but not on the scale that he would like to believe. Furthermore, whilst I may have less fruit from my trees, it is not going to be €1000 worth, and I am not poisoning the environment, and myself into the bargain.

If you leave these pests alone, and they become too many, then Nature will send a 'bigger bug to bite them'. If you spray some chemical on them, it may alleviate the problem for the moment, but may well hasten in something worse. Let Nature sort it out, it has been doing quite well for a number of years.

We do not spray anything on our land, plants or bushes. Our weed-killers are a family of five goats, who cost almost nothing to feed and fertilise our land wherever they roam. They may well eat their weight in olives at the moment, but in time they will provide for even more fruit from the trees with their excretions.

We are beginning to see a small shift away from the dependence on these chemicals here, but it is 'poc a poc', or bit by bit. There are however more people beginning to consider that maybe the days before chemicals were simpler and less costly.

Our hens eat the scraps and greens that we throw out, as well as some grain; we have to buy this in at the moment, but have trialled some sweetcorn this year, and will growing it mostly for the hens next year. We compost their 'dirty straw' full of nitrogen and this in turn helps grow more greens for them. A nice, neat circle. Oh and we have fresh eggs every day.

In John Seymour's Guide to Self-Sufficiency he states that the most fertile farms were those using the 'high farming' methodology of the 18th Century. Good crop rotation, and each crop or animal contributed to the fertility of the whole. Without the addition of fertilisers brought in from elsewhere, mono-cropping cannot hope to achieve anything comparable in production per acre.

In our own small way, we are beginning to see the benefits of this 'high farming' and it costs nowt!

La Dieta Mediterranea contributed greatly to the health of this nation in days gone by but increasingly faster food is beginning to replace it. The slow foods of their grandparents are being superseded by the supermarket shoppers of today. "Why cook a tomato sauce from scratch when you can save time by buying our ready-made tomato sauce" was the main thrust of an advert on the television recently. Why indeed, well if you do not know, just read the list of ingredients.

There is another advert for a popular pizza company which appears to stress the home-grown element of all the main ingredients of their pizzas "just like mamma made", but what is not shown is that the majority of the ingredients are all sourced from large concerns; the inevitable face of global consumerism and growth.

Take a moment to have a look at the contents of the salt that you put into your salt cellar. Here in Spain, it almost universally comes with an anti-caking agent, in our case E536.

Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticaking_agent ) informs me that E536 is in reality Potassium Ferrocyanide - but it's OK as "Potassium ferrocyanide is nontoxic, although upon contact with strong acid it can release toxic hydrogen cyanide gas."

Nice having that in your body. Don't put too much vinegar on your chips if you have added salt!