Posts Tagged ‘healthy eating’
Caring for your Knifes
Whether you use professional chef knives at work or simply round the home or garden, then it is important that you look after your knives and understand how to care for them. This article provides some simple but handy tips to increase the life of your kitchen or chef knives!
Importance of Knife Care
Knives, especially chef knives, can be very expensive so obviously we want to keep them in top condition. A small investment in time to treat your knives will save a lot of money in the long term.
All types of knives will diminish in performance the more that they are used. However, with the right knife care you can bring them back to their full potential. Below we shall look at three of the best knife care tips.
Knife Sharpening
Knife sharpening is the most important way to take care of your knives. The blade of the knife is what makes it do its job, so if you allow it to go blunt you will not be getting as much out of your knife as possible.
Chef knives in particular can become dull and blunt quite quickly, as they are used constantly on a daily basis. Your chef knives should be sharpened every day to ensure maximum performance. Knife sharpening is very simple, and you can purchase portable electric knife sharpeners from a range of outlets and it takes just a few seconds to perform knife sharpening.
There are several ways to sharpen your knife, both chef knives and general purpose knives. You can choose between sharpening stones and manual sharpeners or use an electric sharpener.
Remember that a blunt knife can be more dangerous than a well sharpened one.
Washing your Knife Carefully
Knife sharpening isn’t the only tip you need to remember when dealing with knife care. Washing your knife both regularly and using the correct method is essential for looking after your knives.
It’s best to take the extra time to hand wash your expensive knives rather than using a dishwasher. Dishwashers can damage handles including dulling plastics and increasing wood rot. Wooden knife handles can be rubbed with furniture polish to keep them shiny and clean. Brass polish is ideal for brass knife handles.
Regardless of quality there is always a risk of rust setting in. Rubbing a few drops of oil over the blades and in the joints can help prevent rust. When washing knives make sure that you dry them as well as possible to avoid getting water in the joints and to minimize the chance of rust forming.
Salt water can badly affect knives, particularly chef knives that are used in fresh seafood, so if your knife comes into contact with salt water always wash immediately afterwards and rub with a bit of oil.
Use Only for its Purpose
Knives should only be used for the purpose for which you bought them. Use your knife only as intended and don’t use them for other uses such as a screwdriver substitute, can or bottle opener. This can be very dangerous for all involved as well as damaging the knife blade.
You should be able to make a good knife last a lifetime by following this rule in conjunction with proper cleaning!
Article by Richard at LimeLight Digital. Get the most from your kitchen and maintain a healthy lifestyle by chopping up more fruit and veg to lose weight
Great Cooking Tips for Main Course
Cooking is something we do everyday in one way or the other. Whether we are making breakfast, lunch or dinner, making a sandwich or baking a cookie, we need a recipe to follow. Sometimes we may not follow a written recipe because the food is one that is very easy to prepare and we have it memorized, like making a sandwich, but in actual fact we are still following a recipe even though it is one that is in our subconscious. People are also more health conscious these days. More and more people are on a healthy diet and they want to cook healthy diet food. They know that a complete meal should consist of every food group including meat, carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, and so no. The healthy diet pyramid tells you what you should have in your ingredients.
Here is a very good crockpot recipe for a pasta dish main course that has ingredients from almost every food group. This pasta dish is chicken lasagna. The name might sound like a simple dish but it is exceptionally tasty. This recipe serves 4 people and takes approximately 5 hours to prepare. It is not complicated to make but not too easy either. However, the end result is so tasty that it is well worth the effort.
What you need to Make this Chicken Lasagna
You will need approximately 1 pound of cooked, shredded chicken breasts or more if you are a protein person. Then, you need 1 large onion, finely chopped, 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped, 2 jars (17 oz.) of spaghetti sauce, 1 package (18 ounce) “no-cook” lasagna noodles, 1 package (9 oz.) of shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 container (9 oz.) of ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup milk, and 1 egg. Now, if you have a type of vegetables that you really like, such as eggplants, you can add some too but make sure they are finely chopped.
How to Make this Chicken Lasagna in a Crockpot
First you may want to brown the onions, any other vegetables, and garlic in a non-stick pan. Then you will add the spaghetti sauce and mix everything together very well. In a separate bowl, you will mix the cheeses, milk and egg. Grease the crockpot a little. Place 1/4 of the meat sauce mixture in the bottom of your crockpot then, 1/3 of a layer of noodles. You can break the noodles to fit your crockpot. After that, you can place approximately 1/3 of the cheese mixture on top. Then, repeat the process of: sauce, noodles, cheese for two more layers. Put the remaining meat sauce on top. Cook in the crockpot on low for roughly 6 hours until the noodles are soft.
Crockpot Cooking Tips
Cooking is something we do daily in one way or the other. Whether we are making breakfast, lunch or dinner, making a sandwich or baking a pie, we need a recipe to follow. At times we may not follow a written recipe because the food is one that is very simple and we have it memorized, like making a sandwich, but in actual fact we are still following a recipe even if it is one that is in our subconscious. People are also more health conscious nowadays. A large number of people are on a healthy diet and they want to cook healthy diet food. They know that a complete meal should have every food group including meat, carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, and so no. The healthy diet pyramid shows you what should be in your ingredients.
Here is a great crockpot recipe for a pasta dish main course that has ingredients from many food groups. This pasta dish is chicken lasagna. The name may sound like a simple dish but it is wonderfully tasty. It serves 4 people and takes about 5 hours to prepare. It is not hard to make but not too easy either. However, the resulting dish is so tasty that it is well worth the effort.
Chicken Lasagna Ingredients
You will need about 1 pound of cooked, shredded chicken breasts or more if you like more protein than an average person. Then, you need 1 large onion, finely chopped, 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped, 2 jars (17 oz.) of spaghetti sauce, 1 package (18 ounce) “no-cook” lasagna noodles, 1 package (9 oz.) of shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 container (9 oz.) of ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup milk, and 1 egg. Now, if you have a type of vegetables that you really like, such as eggplants, you can add some in your ingredients too but make sure they are finely chopped.
Let the process begin..
First you want to brown the onions, any other vegetables, and garlic in a non-stick pan. Then you will add the spaghetti sauce and mix everything together very well. In a separate bowl, you can mix the cheeses, milk and egg. It is best to grease the crockpot a little. Place 1/4 of the meat sauce mixture in the bottom of the crockpot then, 1/3 of a layer of noodles. You can break the noodles so that they fit into your crockpot. After that, you can place approximately 1/3 of the cheese mixture on top. Then, repeat the process of: sauce, noodles, cheese for two more layers. Put the remaining meat sauce on top. Cook in the crockpot on low setting for about 6 hours until the noodles are soft.








