Celebrate National Trail Mix Day
September 1, 2010 - Written by Diana
August 31 is National Trail Mix Day – yep, there’s a day for that too. We eat a lot of trail mix, it’s a handy nutritious snack, much better than chips to have on hand.
- My husband likes to take it to work and eat handfuls all day. He also likes to top his yogurt with it.
- We grab a pack when we go hiking to munch on while walking.
- My son packed it for his track meets and band trips in high school.
- I just sent my college daughter some trail mix as a treat when I sent a package to her school. (They will love you for this one.)
- The whole family munches on it at home as a treat when we have a few hunger pangs.
Some fun trail mix trivia:
- Trail mix has been eaten by Native Americans for thousands of years, and originally included buffalo meat.
- Trail mix is featured in Jack Kerouac’s iconic 1958 novel The Dharma Bums.
- Trail mix is the favorite healthy snack of celebrities such as Jessica Biel and Blake Lively.
- Captain Robert Falcon Scott munched trail mix to maintain his energy …
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Cool Kitchen Tools
August 20, 2010 - Written by DianaI’ve been using these kitchen tools, and I’m ready to share what I think about them. When I do a review, I usually try to use it for a while to get used to it and to make sure it’s durable. I would hate to talk about something and find out later it was useless, but I recommended it because I didn’t spend enough time with it. In fact, recently I tried out this great looking shiny peppermill. I loved the weight of it, the look of it, but in reality, it’s useless. The kosher salt dropped through the mill without stopping. I thought it would be different for the peppercorns because I knew they wouldn’t fall through. Well, no, they didn’t, but they weren’t ground down either, they spit out in chunks. I am so disappointed. My poor college student daughter who will be moving in to a house with 5 other girls didn’t even want it.
The tools you see on Cookerati, are the ones I recommend, some highly, some are better than good, and others are just good but I won’t recommend something I’ve tried out and didn’t like. Today’s list is pretty good, …
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Clemmy’s Ice Cream – Creamy Taste and Sugar Free
August 16, 2010 - Written by Diana
Jon Gordon came up with Clemmy’s Ice Cream as a way to have his favorite sweet, while trying to combat pre-diabetes. His doctor told him to knock off the sugar, so he came up with a new sugar free ice cream made with xylitol. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol sweetener and doesn’t have the aftertaste that some of the other sugar free ice creams sometimes have and it has a low glycemic index. That doesn’t make Clemmy’s ice cream healthy, but maybe a little healthier for you than eating ice cream with sugar if you are facing diabetes. Clemmy’s ice cream isn’t low fat though, its made with real cream (and tastes like real cream), and it isn’t a diet ice cream. The family had a chance to try out Clemmy’s ice creams and we give it two thumbs up. The kids especially love the Ice Cream – Os, an ice cream novelty shaped like an O and covered with chocolate. Those are so great for grab and go ice cream treats. My favorite flavor pint of ice cream was Toasted Almond - little …
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Walker’s Shortbread Cookies – A Trip Back to Childhood (& Giveaway)
August 6, 2010 - Written by Diana
For my son’s party, we had a platter of Walker’s cookies out for everyone to share. These cookies are timeless, classic cookies, that took me back to being a kid growing up in my grandparent’s house.When we were kids, we lived in my grandparent’s house. There were three floors and each floor was a separate apartment. When we were really small, we had one of the floors, my grandparents another, and my cousins the third. My cousins eventually moved out, but we didn’t share the extra floor, so it stayed empty. My grandmother had a store, and she and my grandfather ate a late dinner every night after they closed the store for the night. They were smart grandparents, they knew that the best way to get visits from the grandchildren was to have dessert out while they ate. There were six of us, and we went to bed at different times. However, we all knew about the desserts, and we all knew that if we went up to say good night to our grandparents, we would get some dessert. Most of the time dessert was cookies and short bread cookies was one …
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Substituting Ingredients – The A to Z Kitchen Reference
June 19, 2010 - Written by Diana
This book by Becky Sue Epstein is small in size, but so far I haven’t stumped it. It’s bigger than a pocket book, but much smaller than a big cook book or recipe book. It doesn’t really contain many recipes, or photos, but it does fit the handy dandy good to have category. If you have a missing ingredient, or need to figure out conversions between measurements this would be the go to book.Becky Sue Epstein says that after dealing with not always having the proper ingredients on hand, or knowing what it was when given a recipe, she started keeping her own lists. This list grew into a collection, then a project. Let’s be thankful for Becky Sue’s lists, because I don’t have to be that organized now. Usually I hit up a bunch of different cookbooks in order to find the right combination of conversions and substitutions. Here they are in one book.
I’m not sure that the household cleaning formulas belong in a substitution book, but it’s here also. There are recipes for ketchup and garam marsala and garlic butter and some marinades. You get the more …
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Talenti Gelato e Sorbetto – A Cool Summer Treat for the Discerning Palate
June 14, 2010 - Written by Diana
My sister mentioned about how being a food blogger turns you into a food snob. It’s true, and though sometimes you get to try out duds, your palate can get so refined that nothing but the best will do. I am turning into an ice cream snob. I will eat the ice cream from the store, but more and more frequently I find myself picking out some special stuff that’s just for me. Why not the kids too, because they will gobble up huge amounts in two seconds without a thought to price or quality, just as they would the cheap stuff. I work hard for my money, so when I treat myself to some of the good stuff, they get permission to have some, but they aren’t allowed full unlimited access to my stash.Talenti Gelato e Sorbetto is the good stuff, prime pickings, cream of the crop – too delicious to share with my kids on a regular basis. They sent it to me to review and I’ve got to tell you that you need to get some and try it out. My mom …
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Pan-Seared Salmon with Chipotle Honey-Lime Bourbon Glaze
June 9, 2010 - Written by DianaThis recipe was from The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook by Albert W. A. Schmid. My family loves Salmon, though we usually have our dill dijonaise sauce on it instead of a glaze. This glaze was so tasty on the salmon, though a little on the sweet side but that was all the salmon needed. The recipe called for four fillets, but the glaze could easily have covered two or four more fillets. We served it with a side of veggies sauteed in olive oil, the perfect accompaniment.
Pan-Seared Salmon with Chipotle Honey-Lime GlazeThis recipe comes from Chef Jeremy Ryan, formerly of Kentucky, who has returned to his native Mississippi and works at the MGM Mirage at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi. He suggests using bourbon in a glaze for pan-seared salmon.
Ingredients:
- Salt and pepper
- 4 salmon fillets
- 3 tbs butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup Kentucky bourbon
- 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
- 1 tsp lime juice
- Candied lime zest
Salt and pepper the salmon. Melt the butter in a skillet. Place the salmon in the skillet skin-side-up and sear for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove it from the skillet …
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The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook
June 9, 2010 - Written by Diana
Here’s a suggestion for Father’s Day – The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook, by Albert W. A. Schmid, that is if your husband/father likes to cook and likes Kentucky Bourbon. I’m the whiskey drinker in my house, so this is the perfect fit for me. Be forewarned, this is not a book for diabetics, or people on diets.
You know it’s good when a recipe book based on alcohol starts out with a chapter on drinks. Some of the recipes come with explanations, like the Grog recipe. Yes, there really is a grog recipe, and sailors really drank grog, to help keep away scurvy. Classic bourbon drinks such as the Mint Julep, and twists on whiskey drinks such as the Kentucky Whiskey(Bourbon) Toddy and the Old Fashioned are right there for you. The rest of the book is divided up by seasons. I was disappointed in the way it was presented, because if you are going to do it by seasons, then it should be representative of all the major areas. Breakfast is only in Winter – what we skip …
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Covermates & Flings – Great For Your Picnics and Parties
June 6, 2010 - Written by DianaSometimes when you have a review, you think it’s iffy and you’re not sure what you’ll think. Will they really be useful, durable, reusable? In the case of both Covermates and Flings – the answer was yes. Combining these into one review may seem like I’m taking a short-cut, but both of these products seemed like they might not make it to the review stage (and they wouldn’t if it was really bad), or that they would get a so-so review, but the longer I’ve had them, the more they’ve been put to use, and that’s what’s most important.
Flings Bins Pop Up Disposable Containers - These Bins look kind of strange. They fold down to the size of a lid for a tall garbage can, but you can pull them up almost to the size of a tall bin. So, say you are having a party and you want a place to put your recyclable cans – this is …
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CanolaInfo.Org & The Heart Smart Diabetes Kitchen – Great Heart Healthy Cooking Oil Recipes
May 20, 2010 - Written by Diana
Canola Oil is on the list of oils that is good for cooking and preparing your recipes. The two oils I use most prevalently are Olive Oil and Canola Oil. Canola Oil though, has a higher heat tolerance and smoke point. I usually use Canola Oil in my cakes because it won’t change the flavor or take over the cake while being a healthier alternative to some of the other vegetable oils. Canola is great for sautéing, or in dressings, and in most recipes.CanolaInfo.Org is a great website owned by the Canola Council of Canada. There is plenty of information about Canola, from what the plant is, to how it’s processed, how it’s used and recipes using Canola Oil. Canola Oil has the least amount of saturated fat of all the vegetable oils, which makes it a great culinary ingredient.
CanolaInfo.Org joined together with the American Diabetes Association to come up with The Heart Smart Diabetes Kitchen Recipe Book. These recipes all use canola oil, but they’re all very healthy, and delicious sounding. All of the proceeds from the sale of this book go to …
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