Food

Are Color-Coded Bread Tabs The Best Way To Tell If Bread Is Fresh Or Not?

We all want to eat fresh bread.

Let's face it, stale bread makes a nasty sandwich. I have (on more than one occasion) either tossed an entire loaf of stale bread or set it aside to use just for toast.

If you're like me, then you squeeze bread on the store shelves to determine its freshness, right?

Well, come to find out, you don't really have to do that anymore for 3 reasons:

#1  Those little twisty ties or plastic clips that hold your bread bag closed are color coded for the day the bread was delivered.

#2  All loaves of bread will have a freshness date or use by date, so you know generally how long it will stay fresh. 

#3  Stores have bread delivered daily, and it's rare that a loaf will stay on the shelf more than a day or two at best.

You're probably wondering how all this affects you, right?

As it turns out, colored bread tabs may not be the best way to determine the freshness of a loaf of bread after all...

Continue reading: Color-Coded Bread Tags

The Anti-Fast Food Diet Is A Healthier Way To Eat

The fastest way to pack on the pounds is to spend your meal time cruising up to the drive-thru window of the nearest fast food restaurant.  At places like Wendy's and McDonalds, the calorie count on most of their offerings can easily wipe out your daily allotment when you're trying to lose weight.

Try the Anti-Fast Food diet and gain a whole new perspective on eating! 

The aim is simple: sit down, take your time, and eat good quality meals.  Make your own meals, while avoiding processed foods.  Concentrate on fresh ingredients and take the time to savor every bite.

When you do eat out, try to make it a locally owned establishment.  When you're not supporting some big corporation you're going to get quality over quantity every time. 

Cake Decorating Has Gone Over The Top For The Sake Of Originality

When it comes to cake, the more elaborate the better. 

Just watch Ace of Cakes on the Food Channel and you'll see what I mean.  It's no longer acceptable to make a cake in a 9"x13" pan, slather frosting over it, and refer to it as a birthday cake.

Everyone wants to be different, original, anything to stand out from the crowd. 

For example, wedding cakes no longer have the traditional bride and groom figurines on top.  These days, unconventional cake toppers are the new norm. 

Thinking of making a cake to celebrate a football game, or maybe a bowling tournament victory? It better darn well look the part!  

As great as they look, I can't help but wonder how good all those wacky cakes made for the Ace of Cakes show really taste after being man handled so much.  Maybe the old cake pan isn't so bad after all.

Quick & Easy Lunch Ideas: Soup & Sandwich Or A BLT

What's for lunch?  Come the middle of the day, that thought flashes through everyone's mind.  Child and adult alike, it's time to think about that empty spot behind your belt buckle.

On a crisp fall day, something hot to warm the soul would be nice though not to heavy as there is still plenty to do in the second half of the day.

Grilled cheese sandwich and soup is a great option.  My personal favorite in this pairing is tomato soup.  Without a doubt, a soup and sandwich is simple quick to fix, yet sufficient to carry you throughout the afternoon activities.

Another good choice is a good old fashioned BLT made on a nice multigrain toasted bread with lettuce and tomatoes right out of your own garden.  Don't forget the bacon.  Make mine nice and crispy please! 

How Do You Keep Cereal Fresher Longer?

The government is cracking down on targeted advertising which has been brainwashing our children to eat less than healthy breakfast cereals.  We all know that whole grains and less sugar are the best ways to avoid childhood obesity.

Of course with the sugary sweet stuff, the box is usually emptied before it gets a chance to go stale.  However, some whole grain cereals may hang around a bit longer.  The answer to keeping your cereal fresh and crunchy, which is obviously more appealing, is to store it in tightly sealed containers. 

Upon opening a fresh box of cereal, empty it into a Tupperware see-through container and your cereal will remain nice and crisp for a long time!  That will please even the pickiest of eaters. I know, because even my wife will eat the cereal all the way to the bottom of the container now.

How Well Do You Know Your Cuts Of Beef?

Everybody loves a properly grilled steak hot off the barbeque.  However, if you shop with the notion that the more expensive the steak the better, you may be disappointed when it comes time to eat that steak. 

Understanding the different cuts of beef and their individual characteristics will help you determine the best way to prepare your meat.  Some are best done quickly on a hot grill while others are better suited for the crock pot or pressure cooker.

Most important is to realize you don't need to buy expensive cuts to enjoy meat so tender that you don't even need a knife to cut it.  Low and slow will make any piece of beef tender and delicious.

10 Ways To Eat Out On A Budget... And Still Have FUN!

My wife and I eat out all most every Friday evening. There's something about the idea of coming home and cooking another meal on that last working day of the week that's just too much to bear. An occasional modest meal at almost any restaurant can be enough to finish out the week on a positive note.

When we go out for supper, 90% of the time we aim to keep the total tab within a dollar either way of a 20 dollar bill. That's a petty cheap evening out even for our midwest city of 85,000.

Here are some tips and ideas that we use. They should work for you too, no matter where you live...

Continue reading: How To Eat Out On A Budget

Super Cook: Save Money & Find Recipes That Use Ingredients You Already Have

Do you try to use up what you have in your panty, before buying more groceries? 

What a great way to make sure your pantry doesn't become full of out-of-date expired food.  Money is tight these days, so it just makes sense to take a break from buying more food and find ways to use what you already have on hand instead.

By doing this, you can eliminate one week's worth of shopping a month and reduce your food expenditures by 25%!  I know there's a lot of stuff in my cupboards that needs to be used up.

Super Cook is another great resource to help you find ways to use up odds and ends that you have in the pantry.  It's a recipe search engine that compiles fun new recipes for you, based on the ingredients you already have. 

Fun Things To Do With Tomatoes From Your Garden

Tomatoes are about the most popular garden item planted in urban home gardens.  Nothing beats the flavor of a tomato grown in your own back yard. 

Up my way in Minnesota you better have picked the last of your tomatoes a few weeks ago.  Green or not, the frost is here to stay now.

Now that all those green tomatoes are ripening in the kitchen windows, do you have a plan?  How about some good homemade salsa.  Another good idea is to make  your own spaghetti sauce. Just don't let your tomatoes go to waste, or you'll be sorry in the middle of winter when all you can buy are flavorless tomatoes flown in from some other country.

Zip Lock Bags Are The Perfect Food Storage Solution

How did it happen that today's kitchen just isn't functional without a collection of different sizes of zip lock freezer bags?  When the original fold and tuck sandwich bag came on the scene, it was pretty much a one trick pony.  Not so with the ever so versatile zip lock plastic storage bag.

They're great for storing such things as individual portions of homemade baby food, or breaking down a flat of fresh strawberries into usable portions.  I keep sections of green or red peppers cleaned and quartered in a zip lock bag in the freezer so I can take out just what I need for a dish.

I've even gone so far as reusing zip lock bags after washing and drying them.  They're just as good for food storage as Tupperware, and they take up a heck of a lot less space in the cupboard.