Many people savor drinking iced tea, especially on a warm summer day. Iced tea can trace its’ roots back to the heat wave in the year 1904. A tea merchant by the name of Richard Blechynden decided to serve tea over some ice during a St. Louis expo. It was so refreshing that people realized you could enjoy tea served cold instead of the common hot methods. It quickly became a drink for all types of weather.

Iced tea can be sweetened by adding sugar. Many of the bottled iced teas you purchase already have these in them for extra flavoring. Simply open the bottle and enjoy. It is a refreshing drink when the temperatures are rising. Some of the popular flavors are peach, mango, strawberry, and raspberry iced tea. You can drink these either decaffeinated or not for a little boost in energy when you need it.

If you are more inclined to make your iced tea there are two methods to try. The first way is called the cold steeping method. With this method, a dry tea leaf should be placed in a clean container that has the right amount of cold water. It should be refrigerated for six or seven hours, then strained into a second clean container. Sugar and lemon can be alternatively added to sweeten it up even more.

The second method of making iced tea is the hot steeping method. One favorite way of doing this is to double the amount of dry tea leaves you would typically use for hot tea, infuse it for approximately 5 minutes, and then pour over a full glass of ice. For the optimum results, let the tea cool down before pouring it over the ice. Alternatively you can try to steep it for approximately 5 minutes in hot water, then pour into a container with a matching amount of cold water. This method will dilute the strong tea flavor and help avoid clouding.

Iced tea can be mixed with lemonade or your favorite fruit juices to create a fruity flavored drink. Bear in mind that by doing this you should make sure that the juice does not overwhelm the flavor of the tea, but complement it instead. Experiment with the mixing ratios for the most desired results. Once you get it right you will be enjoying your iced drink while soaking up the warm sun.

James McDonald writes for findteaonline.com, a website where you can find findteaonline.com flavored tea products and gift ideas. We have a variety of flavors as well as informative articles on many topics related to tea.

A lot of thought must go into the preparation of a dinner party. Not just in the selection and preparation of food, but also of wine and most importantly, the mix of guests.

Food must be appealing in many ways. Not everybody enjoys exotic recipes with strong flavors, particularly when heavily spiced. Delightful for some, not so for others. Choose food that has general appeal, unless you know and understand the preferred tastes of your guests.

And wines need to be given similar consideration. Most guests will prefer wines that are easy on the pallet and not too heavy. Lighter reds and dry whites have stronger appeal in most cases.

But of critical importance is the guest list. If you are preparing a dinner party for eight to ten people make sure you sit them in such a way that they can chat comfortably together. If you choose to invite guests who are known to have diametrically opposed views on serious matters such as politics, be ready to moderate the conversation at a moment’s notice. Otherwise, the party will simply descend into argument and the resulting chaos. That leaves a nasty taste, not just in your mouth, but in the mouths of your guests, in addition.

I recall, many years ago, my wife and I hosted a dinner party. At one point during the evening one of the guests felt pressured by another guest and, feeling insulted, decided to leave. Only a quick intervention saved the party from impending disaster. However, the atmosphere around the table during the rest of the evening was rather tense, to say the least.

Entertaining at home is a lot of work. But when you get it right, it’s a real pleasure for everybody; guests and hosts alike. Like so much in life, it won’t just happen. It needs careful planning in so many ways.

It’s still the most enjoyable way to spend time together with friends and acquaintances.

1. What is caffeine?

Caffeine is a stimulant to the central nervous system. Scientifically, it is known as a xanthine alkaloid and is found both beans and leaves.

2. Is caffeine really a drug?

Yes. In fact, caffeine is the most popular drug in the world. Although most often associated with beverages, caffeine can also be found in candy and medicine.

3. Is caffeine addictive?

There has been some debate about whether caffeine is truly physically addictive. Although a recent study by doctors at Johns Hopkins Univ. confirmed that caffeine withdrawal is an official disorder, others claim that since the withdrawal symptoms are usually not very severe and rarely last longer than a week, it should not be characterized as truly addictive in comparison to other drugs such as tobacco or heroin. While it may not be as difficult to quit the caffeine habit as to quit the smoking habit, most people who’ve been forced to go without their coffee for a day will agree that caffeine is most definitely addictive.

4. How does caffeine work?

Caffeine works by…well, the chemical process involves such concepts as adenosine receptors, epinephrine, and cAMP-phosphodiesterase. If you are in any way familiar with those words, then you’ve probably already skipped past this part of the FAQ. Suffice it to say that caffeine enters the blood stream upon consumption and makes the trip to all parts of the inner universe that is the human body. The effects include a faster heart rate, an increase in urine, facilitation of the digestive process, relaxation of the body’s smooth muscles, and stimulation of the brain cells.

5. Does caffeine have a taste?

In its natural form, yes. In a word: bitter. Although the caffeine content itself typically can’t be tasted in a beverage, it is often used as a flavoring agent in soft drinks. Can you taste the difference between caffeinated and non-caffeinated versions of the same soda? Decaffeinated coffee is typically made from beans of inferior quality so that may account for the difference in quality of taste, but many people notice a significant difference in flavor between caffeinated and non-caffeinated soda so, yes, caffeine may be a factor in taste. Then again, it could be all psychological. Do a blind taste test and see if you notice a difference.

6. Are there any benefits to caffeine consumption?

Yes. Caffeine can temporarily improve mental alertness and provide a physical jolt of energy. Caffeine is also an ingredient in most pain relief medications and is often especially effective in treating headaches, including migraines. Caffeine is used in some treatments of sleep apnea in newborns because of its ability to stimulate breathing. In addition, it has also been used to stimulate breathing in people who have overdosed on opiate-based drugs.

7. Is caffeine safe for children?

Soft drinks are the beverage of choice not only for adults in America, but most children as well. The research indicates that most kids consume more caffeine than recommended, but moderate amounts have thus far not been proven to produce any long term health problems. On the other hand, since continued use of caffeine produces a tolerance to its effects, kids who consume daily doses may find themselves needing more as they grow older to stave off withdrawal.

8. What happens during caffeine withdrawal?

Regular consumption of caffeine increases the body’s tolerance to its effects. The more caffeine consumed, the less sensitive one becomes to its effects, creating a need for more caffeine to enjoy the positive aspects. Unfortunately, that sensitivity works in reverse when the body is denied its caffeine fix. Terminating or suddenly reducing the amount of caffeine you normally ingest results in a hypersensitive reaction that increases blood flow to the head and causes a drop in blood pressure. Although a massive headache is the most common symptom of withdrawal, most people also experience one or more of the following: irritability, nervousness, anxiety, jitteriness, fatigue, drowsiness, and depression. Extreme cases may produce nausea and/or vomiting.

9. If caffeine is a drug, does that mean you can overdose on it?

A caffeine overdose is known as caffeinism. The amount require to produce this effect varies according to the individual and the symptoms include restlessness, headache, problems sleeping, nausea, and lightheadedness. Extreme overdose, usually resulting from ingestion of over 750mg in a short time may produce anxiety, vomiting, diarrhea, and breathing difficulties. A fatal overdose would require drinking about 100 cups of coffee at one sitting.

10. Are there any serious health risks associated with caffeine?

There have been no scientific studies proving that caffeine is a serious contributor to any major health risk. It has not been found to play any part in causing any kind of cancer. However, there is some debate over whether cutting down on caffeine consumption may help women who are at a high risk for developing osteoporosis. Pregnant women should always check with their doctor first, but the general consensus is that moderate consumption either during pregnancy or while breastfeeding has no ill effects upon infant development. Excessive consumption during pregnancy, however, is still not recommended.

Darren Williger is an over-caffeinated, low carbohydrate eating, winemaking enthusiast who writes for caffeinezone.com caffeinezone.com, mylowcarbpages.com mylowcarbpages.com, and homemadewine.com homemadewine.com

Enchiladas are good but a little variety helps. Here is how to make chicken, steak, and cheese enchiladas all at the same time. Oh, did I forget pork?

Meat Selection

Beef: I like steak enchiladas but you need good beef that is tender and flavorful. Some of the restaurants around here use ground meat in their enchiladas. These are the restaurants I never visit twice.

When I first started working as an engineer in Colorado (about a zillion years ago), an old industrial engineer told me this: Never buy a breaded piece of meat!

He went on to say that any old piece of meat could be breaded and you just don’t know what you are getting. It could be as old as the hills, unrefrigerated, contaminated, dropped on the floor and stepped on, or fetched out of the grease trap as far as you know.

The same goes for ground meat. Who knows it’s real history? In enchiladas it gives the wrong texture and the wrong flavor.

So buy a good piece of beef. You don’t need much because there are other things in the enchilada. Most of the good Mexican restaurants around here put in too much meat. You don’t need it.

For that matter, they use too much cheese. My heart surgeon doesn’t like that, but my wife does.

Pork is a good substitute for beef or chicken for those who prefer the flavor of pork. In 1956 when, with a fellow engineering student, I drove to Massachusetts to work for the Norton Company for the summer, we passed through Iowa. The hogs there were just like the hogs on our church welfare farm. They looked more like elephants than hogs.

I moved to Iowa in 1966 to teach in the engineering department at Iowa State University. By then, the hogs were lean and mean, still long but not fat. That change made pork an acceptable lower fat meat. And pork has a great flavor for enchiladas.

Meat and Poultry Preparation

Fresh, frozen, or canned meats can be used to prepare enchiladas. If you use frozen meats or poultry, thaw it out at room temperature or in the refrigerator. If you are like me and at times in a big hurry, then place the meat or chicken in the microwave and thaw it out. I have a freezer full of Omaha Steaks® products sold me to the nice folks there by telephone. I can’t say no! So I usually get my meat from the freezer.

I like to use a whole dead chicken so I let it stew in pomegranate juice until the chicken is ready to fall of the bones. Pomegranate juice seems to penetrate the chicken better than other juices and give a fabulous flavor, especially the next day.

If you use chicken breast, they are easy to slice even when frozen. For me, I want some brown meat so I use the whole critter.

When I say use a “dead” chicken, I mean it. Years ago my dad decided to buy a live turkey for thanksgiving. He killed it in the basement where it ran wild for the longest time and spurted blood from hell to breakfast finally creating a bloody feathered mess. When I was a kid, we chopped the heads off chickens and let them flutter hither and yon in the yard. Who needs that?

I buy Kirkland® canned chicken at Cosco®. It has a nice tecture and flavor and is very good in soups and chicken salad when you are in a hurry. I’m not much for canned meatsm but they are different now days, and there are some good choices to make. Spam® is still available but I’m not sure I would want a Spam® enchilada. Canned or prepared in the frying pan, season the chicken with poultry spice, creole spice, teriyaki sauce or whatever you want.

For other meats, slice the meat in to short strips. Keep each meat separately from the other ingredients. (You can use left over meat from that Sunday roast too and other than slicing in to short strips or small cubes, no other preparation is needed.)

Put some canola oil in a frying pan with a clove of garlic. Make sure the oil is hot. (You probably do not need much oil, so you may be able to just spray the pan and not use the garlic.) For steak, I like to use Omaha Steaks® All Natural Steak Seasoning. Another seasoning I like for about everything is Spice Island® Beau Monde seasoning. Tampa Spices® have a full range of low-cost spices (packed by M.I.S., POB 2081, Gibsonton, FL 33534). I like their creole seasoning and their meat and poultry seasoning.

Prepare each meat separately and put each in a separate bowl. Have one bowl with just grated cheese. (More about cheese below.)

Preparing the Enchilada Mixture

In a frying pan with hot olive oil (or your favorite oil) fry slices of bell pepper, green chilies (You can add the green chilies from a can if you like. They are a nuisance to clean and slice.), onion, a small hot pepper variety (remove the innards and seeds if you don’t want the enchiladas to be too hot), cumin, and salt and pepper. Add a trace of cayenne pepper if so inclined. You also can add chopped black olives; which I do because my wife likes them and I can tolerate them. Drain the mixture and place it in a bowl.

Now, mix some of this stuff into each bowl of meat or poultry. Leave some for cheese enchiladas.

The Tortillas

I have a tortilla maker along with the floor. It was a Christmas gift from my daughter who is married to a great enchilada maker. I used it once. Now, I go down the street to the panderia (Mexican bakery) and buy corn or flour tortillas. (Note: I also buy those round loaves of bread. I cut a circle out of the top, remove the filler bread, and fill them with hot soup. I take the top circle and toast it, then put garlic butter and Parmesan cheese on top. That is called a home-made soup bowl.)

You can also buy tortillas at any grocery store. Before you use the tortillas you may need to soften them. Mine are fresh so I can just roll the ingredients into the tortilla. When they are not soft, or if I want to just roll up a tortilla with the ingredients and eat it, I drop them into a frying pan with hot oil, flip them, and take them out. It takes about two seconds on each side. Don’t burn yourself. Usually, I am going to cook my tortillas in the oven so I just drop three tortillas on the rotating glass platform in my microwave oven and cook them for less then a minute to soften them.

Preparing the Enchilada Sauce

The way I usually prepare enchilada sauce is go to the store and buy Hatch® brand enchilada sauce made in Deming, NM. There are two varieties to choose from. I like the green chili style, but the red or tomato style is equally good. All brands are not the same so you may have to test the brands to see which sauce you like. Here is what I suggest: ask a clerk or stock boy which brands are hot. No, not that “hot.” Which brand is the top seller.

When you read the label on the can, see if it is “mild,” “hot,” or “holy jamoly!” I always buy mild. I can always make it hot if I want to which is never because of my wife and Idaho guest.

Enchilada sauce is expensive. You can easily make your own if you are not lazy like me. Here is how you do it:

1. Put a tablespoon of oil in a hot frying pan.

2. Stir in 3 tablespoons of flour. Stir until brown. (Cajuns call this a “rue.”)

3. Add 6 tablespoons of chili powder to 2 cups of water or meat stock (beef or chicken broth would work). When the powder is dissolved in the water or stock, add it to the flour and oil rue. Add ½ tsp of garlic powder (why not just garlic?)

4. Bring the mixture to a bubbly boil, stirring frequently. Simmer for 5 minutes.

That will make you 1 2/3 cups of sauce.

Note: Chile powder is a mixture of cumin and cayenne pepper. To cut back on “hotness,” cut back on the chili powder and add more cumin. Cumin is what makes chili taste good but not “hot.”

Putting it All Together

Spray oil onto the surface of a baking pan or casserole dish. Soften a tortilla. Place
one of the meat mixtures into the tortilla and roll the tortilla. Place it into the pan or casserole dish. Do it again and again until the mixture is gone. Repeat for the next chicken or meat mixture.

For cheese tortillas, mix grated cheese with the basic enchilada mixture and roll it and place it into the pan or casserole dish.

Remember where you place each type of enchilada. They all look the same when cooked.

Now, pour enchilada sauce all over the place—over, under, and between the enchiladas. Top with shredded cheese. You can try a Mexican mix of cheeses, Colby, Monterey Jack, Parmesan, Mild, Cheddar, or whatever.

Cover your dishes with aluminum foil.

Preheat the oven to 325oF. Place your fantastic creations in the oven and cook for 35 minutes. When the cheese is melted and all looks great, take them from the oven and let them sit for a while before serving.

THAT’S IT! Good eating!

Just a note: yesterday we had guest, but some couldn’t show up because of sickness. I had enough enchiladas left over to feed an army. So that’s what I did. I took them over to my son’s house to feed his 13 kids.

The End

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: tjbooks.com tjbooks.com

Business web site: internetbusinesstoolcenter.com internetbusinesstoolcenter.com

We may define a food to be any substance which will repair the functional waste of the body, increase its growth, or maintain the heat, muscular, and nervous energy. In its most comprehensive sense, the oxygen of the air is a food; as although it is admitted by the lungs, it passes into the blood, and there re-acts upon the other food which has passed through the stomach. It is usual, however, to restrict the term food to such nutriment as enters the body by the intestinal canal. Water is often spoken of as being distinct from food, but for this there is no sufficient reason.

Many popular writers have divided foods into flesh-formers, heat-givers, and bone-formers. Although attractive from its simplicity, this classification will not bear criticism.

Flesh-formers are also heat-givers. Only a portion of the mineral matter goes to form bone.

Water forms an essential part of all the tissues of the body. It is the solvent and carrier of other substances.

Mineral Matter or Salts, is left as an ash when food is thoroughly burnt. The most important salts are calcium phosphate, carbonate and fluoride, sodium chloride, potassium phosphate and chloride, and compounds of magnesium, iron and silicon.

Mineral matter is quite as necessary for plant as for animal life, and is therefore present in all food, except in the case of some highly-prepared ones, such as sugar, starch and oil. Children require a good proportion of calcium phosphate for the growth of their bones, whilst adults require less. The outer part of the grain of cereals is the richest in mineral constituents, white flour and rice are deficient. Wheatmeal and oatmeal are especially recommended for the quantity of phosphates and other salts contained in them. Mineral matter is necessary not only for the bones but for every tissue of the body.

Organic Compounds are formed by living organisms (a few can also be produced by chemical means). They are entirely decomposed by combustion.

The Non-Nitrogenous Organic Compounds are commonly called carbon compounds or heat-producers, but these terms are also descriptive of the nitrogenous compounds. These contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen only, and furnish by their oxidation or combustion in the body the necessary heat, muscular and nervous energy. The final product of their combustion is water and carbon dioxide (carbonic acid gas).

The Carbohydrates comprise starch, sugar, gum, mucilage, pectose, glycogen, &c.; cellulose and woody fibre are carbohydrates, but are little capable of digestion. They contain hydrogen and oxygen in the proportion to form water, the carbon alone being available to produce heat by combustion. Starch is the most widely distributed food. It is insoluble in water, but when cooked is readily digested and absorbed by the body. Starch is readily converted into sugar, whether in plants or animals, during digestion. There are many kinds of sugar, such as grape, cane and milk sugars.

The Oils and Fats consist of the same elements as the carbohydrates, but the hydrogen is in larger quantity than is necessary to form water, and this surplus is available for the production of energy. During their combustion in the body they produce nearly two-and-a-quarter times (4 : 8.9 = 2.225) as much heat as the carbohydrates; but if eaten in more than small quantities, they are not easily digested, a portion passing away by the intestines. The fat in the body is not solely dependent upon the quantity consumed as food, as an animal may become quite fat on food containing none. A moderate quantity favours digestion and the bodily health. In cold weather more should be taken. In the Arctic regions the Esquimaux consume enormous quantities. Nuts are generally rich in oil. Oatmeal contains more than any of the other cereals (27 analyses gave from 8 to 12.3 per cent.)

Vegetable Acids are composed of the same three elements and undergo combustion into the same compounds as the carbohydrates. They rouse the appetite, stimulate digestion, and finally form carbonates in combination with the alkalies, thus increasing the alkalinity of the blood. The chief vegetable acids are: malic acid, in the apple, pear, cherry, &c.; citric acid, in the lemon, lime, orange, gooseberry, cranberry, strawberry, raspberry, &c.; tartaric acid, in the grape, pineapple, &c.

Proteids or Albuminoids are frequently termed flesh-formers. They are composed of nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and a small quantity of sulphur, and are extremely complex bodies. Their chief function is to form flesh in the body; but without previously forming it, they may be transformed into fat or merely give rise to heat. They form the essential part of every living cell.

Proteids are excreted from the body as water, carbon dioxide, urea, uric acid, sulphates, &c.

The principal proteids of animal origin have their corresponding proteids in the vegetable kingdom. Some kinds, whether of animal or vegetable origin, are more easily digested than others. They have the same physiological value from whichever kingdom they are derived.
The Osseids comprise ossein, gelatin, cartilage, &c., from bone, skin, and connective issue. They approach the proteids in composition, but unlike them they cannot form flesh or fulfil the same purpose in nutrition. Some food chemists wish to call the osseids, albuminoids; what were formerly termed albuminoids to be always spoken of as proteids only.

Jellies are of little use as food; not only is this because of the low nutritive value of gelatin, but also on account of the small quantity which is mixed with a large proportion of water.

The Vegetable Kingdom is the prime source of all organic food; water, and to a slight extent salts, form the only food that animals can derive directly from the inorganic kingdom. When man consumes animal food?a sheep for example?he is only consuming a portion of the food which that sheep obtained from grass, clover, turnips, &c. All the proteids of the flesh once existed as proteids in the vegetables; some in exactly the same chemical form.

Flesh contains no starch or sugar, but a small quantity of glycogen. The fat in an animal is derived from the carbohydrates, the fats and the proteids of the vegetables consumed. The soil that produced the herbage, grain and roots consumed by cattle, in most cases could have produced food capable of direct utilisation by man. By passing the product of the soil through animals there is an enormous economic loss, as the greater part of that food is dissipated in maintaining the life and growth; little remains as flesh when the animal is delivered into the hands of the butcher. Some imagine that flesh food is more easily converted into flesh and blood in our bodies and is consequently more valuable than similar constituents in vegetables, but such is not the case. Fat, whether from flesh or from vegetables is digested in the same manner. The proteids of flesh, like those of vegetables, are converted into peptone by the digestive juices?taking the form of a perfectly diffusible liquid?otherwise they could not be absorbed and utilised by the body. Thus the products of digestion of both animal and vegetable proteids and fats are the same. Formerly, proteid matter was looked upon as the most valuable part of the food, and a large proportion was thought necessary for hard work. It was thought to be required, not only for the construction of the muscle substance, but to be utilised in proportion to muscular exertion.

These views are now known to be wrong. A comparatively small quantity of proteid matter, such as is easily obtained from vegetable food, is ample for the general needs of the body. Increased muscular exertion requires but a slight increase of this food constituent. It is the carbohydrates, or carbohydrates and fats that should be eaten in larger quantity, as these are the main source of muscular energy. The fact that animals, capable of the most prolonged and powerful exertion, thrive on vegetables of comparatively low proteid value, and that millions of the strongest races have subsisted on what most Englishmen would consider a meagre vegetarian diet, should have been sufficient evidence against the earlier view.

Indigestible Matter?

Food is never entirely digested. As a reason against confining ourselves solely to vegetable food, it has been stated that such is less perfectly digested than animal food and that it therefore throws more work on the digestive organs. It is also urged that on this account a greater quantity of vegetable food is required. We have shown elsewhere that, on the contrary, vegetarians are satisfied with a smaller amount of food. Man requires a small quantity of woody fibre or cellulose in his food to stimulate intestinal action and prevent constipation.

Selina Cormin and Jaynne Nichols have partnered to put this research on food chemistry together. Read more at altcooking.com/books/ Alt Cooking. While you are there check out the resource and books sections.

Jaynne Nicols has done a lot of research into illness and why we get ill. One of the things she came across is that almost all illness starts in your colon. Sign up for her free newsletter juhealth.com/newsletter/subscribe.shtml Health and Wellness in the 21st Century and learn more in and through her series on health issues.

Cooking is something very special, it is a basic human need, without food one can not survive and the right kind of nutrition will have a great effect on your health and quality of life, as bad kind of food or nutrition will also show itself in poor health and many other complications.

Humans have perfected cooking and eating into an art form, the combination of tastes and flavors, the adding of contrasting spices and creative combinations of flavors as well as the cooking presentation and special preparation have made cookery a form of art, and in some part a science too, as cooking uses more and more elements which require precision and exact repetition.

Most of us do not want to cook in the highest levels, and are not interested in becoming restaurant chefs or kitchen workers, but most of the people who do cook would be very happy to learn new techniques and new recipes, add some ideas of their own and generally be creative in the kitchen, almost anyone who cooks like to hear the appreciation from the people who eat the food, it is a very basic need of feeding people and providing them with nutrition.

In the last few years professional cooking has become more accusable to the general public, it started when chefs gave some private courses in homes or to a selected group of people that wanted a kind of break form the routine and quickly became a fashion in which women and men alike are participating in all kind of cookery courses, not for a qualification as a cook in a public institute or business but for the joy and pleasure of their own family and friends, and the further cookery education and experience for them.

Cooking lessons are something you can find today in many different levels, from the complete beginner to the expert cook, every one can find a new and exciting course in many different places. Some of the places that offer these cooking courses are private, some are made in private houses of one chef or the other, and some are held in culinary institutes, even though these usually serve the more professional aspirated cooking community.

A cooking lesson or course will provide most of the participants with better knowledge of cooking techniques and better ability to cook different kind of foods, combine flavors and dare to experiment with all kind of products that were probably never used before the cooking lesson, there are many things you can learn from a chef and one of them is the panning and simultaneous cooking on a few flames, which is a skill by itself.

There is also the element of fun, cooking is a hobby and even by learning to be a better cook you can find yourself having a lot of fun, meet new people and discover new things, learning how to cook can also open a lot of social doors to you, get you to know a lot of other people who share your passion, some even form cooking clubs, where each member cooks for the rest on rotation.

Celia Namart an avid traveler and cook, she is writing her travel and cooking notes, collected from experiences around the globe. Read Celia’s cooking.advice-tips.com/ Cooking Lessons notes at cooking.advice-tips.com/ cooking.advice-tips.com/

Did you know…jerky made from fresh, lean meat is low in cholesterol, low in fat and very high in protein? This makes jerky an excellent and nutritious snack! Jerky is excellent for sustaining energy when biking, skiing, playing sports, backpacking, hiking, or anytime! There are excellent packaged and bulk jerky products out on the market. Great American Style® beef jerky (available at www.greatjerky.com) provides high quality meat products that are packaged in various convenient sizes. This makes for an easy and convenient snack option when you are on the go, or when you are doing just about anything. You can also find an extensive recipe section for making your own healthy, low fat, high protein jerky. In this article, we will include some expert tips used by Great American Style® beef jerky to help you create the best jerky in your own home! That’s right - make it yourself!

Jerky can be made from various kinds of meat, at Great American® Jerky lean beef is the primary meat of choice, but chicken or turkey breast, and wild game also work extremely well for jerky. Quality meat means quality jerky, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay high prices for it! A great at-home tip: Watch for local supermarket sales! Sales are great for getting high quality meat at a lower price, and the meat can always be frozen for later jerky making! Lean ground beef makes great jerky, and can be shaped with cookie cutters for fun jerky!

Flank steaks are one of the best buys – it’s all lean red meat that’s easy to prepare because of its consistent grain. Chicken and Turkey breasts make for even lower fat jerky snacks. Deer, rabbit, and other wild game meats are great for jerky making, too! Just make sure the meat has been handled properly.

Jerky meat should always be cut with the grain, otherwise it will crumble and fall apart when you cook it. Beef and Deer meat should be cut into ¼ inch thick strips about 1 inch wide. If you are making jerky from poultry, slice it thinner (about 3/8 inch). Be careful! If the meat’s too thin or too thick it won’t cook evenly! Season your meat strips with your favorite seasonings and recipes – many of the steak and chicken marinades already on the grocery store shelves work wonderfully for jerky as well. Store the meat in a zip lock bag or sealed container over night. The meat will absorb all your favorite flavors.

Jerky has to be cooked! This can be done with a dehydrator, on the grill or a smoker, or even right in your own oven! For basic oven cooking, pre-heat to 200 degrees and place strips of meat on a cookie sheet (make sure they don’t touch each other) and cook for an estimated 1 hour and 20 minutes – turning pieces regularly. Test after one hour to determine doneness and desired consistency.

Again, jerky is a healthy snack for all ages! Take it outside – take it anywhere! Jerky makes an excellent gift as well! It’s a fun activity for kids to help out in the kitchen. Get the whole family involved. Jerky recipes can be customized to tatse - Hot and Spicy to Sweet and Tangy…whatever your tastebuds desire! Just be sure to check your meat often, to avoid over cooking and overly dry jerky. Wash your hands and surfaces after handling any meat products, and make sure the Jerky is sufficiently cooled before tasting.

For more great jerky tips, recipes, and excellent jerky products and opportunities…visit www.greatjerky.com now! You can also call toll free (800) 574-1288 or (208) 359-0590 for more great jerky information and ordering! And remember – Jerky is Healthy!

Great American Beef Jerky has been providing high quality meat products to consumers for over 15 years! To learn how you can receive Free Jerky, visit greatjerky.com greatjerky.com now!

The wine store of today sells more than simply bottles of wine. Services and accessories are part of the common offerings as well. Consumers who love wine are looking for a place where they can buy a full entertainment package including glassware, openers, and decorative accessories. Of course a vast selection of the finest wines is a given.

Serious wine sellers offer older vintages with some hefty price tags for the most knowledgeable wine enthusiast. Newer varieties and boutique wines are also a necessity as a new group of wine drinkers enter the scene. Sparkling wines and champagne as well as non-alcoholic versions must also be carried in any well rounded wine shop.

Successful wine stores now stock wine accessories that are both food and non-food related. Food items such as cheese, crackers and other accompaniments are a must. Corkscrews, glassware and other entertainment items are usually carried as well. And you may have noticed, the modern-day wine market has evolved into a gift shop of sorts. If you’re in need of a last minute gift, just drop by the wine shop and you’ll find some remarkable items for sale.

Common services extend well beyond normal store sales. Many wine stores offer wine tasting events, classes wine pairing dinners and other community events. An excellent wine marketer will become and integral part of its surrounding community.

Now, don’t feel left out if your town lacks a local wine shop. While you won’t find community events online, you will find some outstanding wine stores. You can buy wine, gifts and every accessory you can imagine at really great prices. The world wide web offers window shopping at its finest along with a wealth of educational information about wine so that you can enjoy your new interest.

Brandy Smith loves sharing information about wine. For more information about buying-wine.the-wine-review.com/Articles/Stick_To_Safe_Choices_When_You_Buy_Wine_Online.php how to buy wine online, visit buying-wine.the-wine-review.com buying-wine.the-wine-review.com

It is of vital importance that a farmer or dairy processor have access to the precise amount of milk and cream that go through their facility. Cream takes a very high price on the open market and even slightly wrong calculations can cost the processor thousands over the course of a month. In the same vein it is important that they can calculate the remaining milk after the cream is taken off. The following calculation will help.

Theoretically: 1000 liters of milk(this is the volume
that you start off with)

40% fat in resulting cream (this is the % of fat in the cream
taken off, you can substitute it with the fat 5 of your cream)

Problem 1: What volume of milk remains when I take 3.8%
butterfat milk down to 3.3%?(FULL CREAM)

3.8% - 3.3% = 0.5% 0.5% x 1000 liters = 500 parts of Fat removed
500 parts ÷ 40% cream = 12.5 Liters of cream 1000 - 12.5 = 987.5
liters milk remaining

Problem 2: What volume of milk remains when I take 3.8%
butterfat milk down to 2%?(LOW FAT)

3.8% - 2% = 1.8 1.8 x 1000 = 1800 1800 ÷ 40 = 45 1000 - 45 = 955
liters of milk remaining

Problem 3: What volume of milk remains when I skim milk
completely?

3.8% - 0% = 3.8% 3.8% x 1000 liters = 3800 parts of Fat removed
3800 parts ÷ 40% cream = 95 liters of cream 1000 - 95 = 905
liters of milk remaining

About the author:
Leon the Milkman is the owner of LeontheMilkman.com LeontheMilkman.com and offers a free dairy dictionary for subscribers at Dairy-Info.org Dairy-Info.org

What is THAT!” hollered my young daughter when I opened the box we’d just gotten in the mail. Floating in the plastic bag inside was a whitish disk with brownish threads hanging from it that looked more than a bit like a very flat jellyfish.

“That,” I said, “is a kombucha…thingie,” I finished lamely. How to explain to a child what a symbiotic collection of bacteria and yeast (aka “scoby”) is? Because that’s what we’d just gotten in the mail, a “thingie” commonly called a kombucha mushroom, even though it’s not a mushroom at all.

“It looks like an alien!” yelled my daughter. Maybe it is, added her father. One thing led to another, and we named our scoby Gonzales–Alien Gonzales, get it? Never mind. Suffice it to say that as quickly as we could, we put Gonzales to work in a gallon jar of strong sugared tea on the counter, where a Gonzales descendent has been happily brewing ever since for the last two years.

Why, you may be asking yourself, do you have an alien-like organism floating in a vat of sweet tea in your kitchen? Ah, so that it will turn the tea into kombucha, a drink with both amazing flavor and amazing powers for healing. Or at least so its adherents (and a couple of studies) say.

I’m one of its adherents. When I’m regularly drinking kombucha, my digestion is better, my skin improves and my blood sugar seems more stable. When I first started drinking it, my gray hair even started coming back dark, but that was a passing trend at best. All of this is completely subjective in my case; I have no clear proof that drinking kombucha did any of this definitively and of course Your Mileage May Vary. But I can tell you definitively that kombucha is delicious and cheap to make yourself. You can pay upwards of $3 for a small bottle of it at the health food store, or for the price of five plain old tea bags and a cup of sugar make a big batch of it yourself for pennies a bottle.

Making Kombucha
The first step in brewing kombucha is to obtain a scoby. I bought Gonzales mail order, but here’s the thing about scobies: Every time you brew kombucha you get a new one. (That’s not actually Gonzales; it’s something like Gonzales XXIV.) It should be easy if you live in a larger area to find someone with a spare scoby to give away through Freecycle or Craigslist–heck, just email your friends and I bet you’ll turn one up. If, however, you’re out in the middle of scoby-less territory, I bought mine at Kombucha.org, which is also a good source of information. You can also try the International Kombucha Exchange, where you’ll find people who will give scobies away. When you get your scoby, make sure the person gives you at least a cup of kombucha as well.

Once you have your scoby, you’ll want to keep it in the fridge in the kombucha it came in until you’re ready to use it. Store it in glass if at all possible; plastic can leach into the kombucha, and metal is reactive with its acids. I have a Corningware container I keep mine in.

To brew your kombucha you need:

* 3 1/2 quarts of filtered water–the chlorine in tap water can hurt your scoby! Filter the water through a Brita or other water filter, let it sit out overnight to let the chlorine evaporate (happy thought, no?) or use bottled water. Doesn’t have to be distilled, just non-chlorinated.

* 1 cup regular old white sugar

* 5 regular old black tea bags–you can get as fancy as you like with the tea, but I use garden variety restaurant supply tea bags. Red Rose, Lipton, whatever. AVOID ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED TEAS like Earl Grey or Constant Comment. If you want to experiment with flavor, try different kinds of tea like green or white, or substitute a bag of herbal or spice tea for one of the black tea bags. I like putting in a bag of Yogi Tea. Just make sure the bulk of the tea is camellia sinensis–the plain old tea plant–in some form.

* A large pot

* A gallon-sized glass jar

* A piece of cloth that will cover the top of the jar

* A rubber band or something similar that is big enough to go over the mouth of the jar

* Your scoby and at least 1/2 cup of leftover kombucha from your last batch

Be sure your hands and equipment are very clean. Bring the water to a boil in the large pot. Once it’s come to a boil, turn off the heat, dump in the sugar and add the five tea bags. Set your timer for 15 minutes and take out the tea bags once it goes off. Put the lid on the pot and leave it to cool. I usually leave it overnight.

Once your tea is cool, pour it into the glass jar. Wash your hands well, take up your scoby gently and slide it into the tea. Add at least a half-cup of already-brewed kombucha. If you don’t do this, the tea won’t be acidic enough and it’ll mold. Cover the top with the cloth and fasten the cloth with the rubber band. It’s important to put the rubber band on to keep out fruit flies, and the kombucha needs air so don’t be tempted to just put a regular lid on. Put the jar in a dark, warm place in your kitchen. I don’t go out of my way; I have a hallway pantry where I do all my ferments and it’s not especially warm but it is out of the sun. Cooler places mean a longer ferment time, that’s all. Forget about your kombucha for at least a week.

After a week, check on your jar. You should see a new scoby forming at the top. If you see green mold, your tea wasn’t acidic enough. Take out the scoby and start over. If the mold is just on the tea, not the scoby, you won’t have to throw the culture out too, but if it’s on the scoby, you’re back to square one. This has only happened to me once in two years.

Your kombucha is through brewing when the new “baby” scoby is at least 1/8″ thick. You will know in time how long to leave your kombucha on to brew; the longer you leave it, the more sour it gets, and you’ll learn how long to leave it to get it just right for your taste. We like it half-sweet half-sour and fizzy.

Oh yes! The fizzy part. Or:

Storing Your Kombucha
Yes, kombucha is naturally carbonated! To keep the carbonation in, I use bottles called EZ Caps. Some imported beers come in bottles like this–Grolsch is one–so if you know any beer connoisseurs see if you can talk them into drinking a case for you and saving the bottles. Freecycle might also be a source for these bottles. If not, you can buy them at most wine and beer brewing supply houses. They’re not too expensive and you’d be amazed how handy they are; I don’t know what I did without EZ Caps around.

In any event, whatever you decide to do, store your kombucha in glass. Metal is reactive and plastic can leach into the kombucha. If you don’t want to use EZ Caps I’d suggest mason jars with plastic lids, but I can’t say that it’d keep the fizz in very well. Keep it in the fridge. It stores pretty much indefinitely. Over a long time it may grow a tiny scoby at the top of the bottle, and it may get more sour, so keep that in mind. If it gets too sour, it makes a good vinegar substitute in salad dressings. (DO NOT use it in pickling/canning; it has too variable a pH.)

Drinking Kombucha
Some people find that they’re sensitive to kombucha at first; it can give you stomach rumbles and be fairly, uh, cleansing to the bowels shall we say. It’s suggested you drink no more than two ounces a day until you know how your body handles it. I have worked up to being able to drink a whole 16 oz. EZ Cap bottle at a go, mostly in the summertime because it’s so dang refreshing, with no ill effects, though when I first drank it I did have a bit of a rumbly tummy–not bad, and not at all painful, but my internal flora were definitely adjusting. That’s to the good; properly brewed kombucha is one of the best of the probiotics.

But mostly, kombucha tastes great! It’s healthy, delicious and cheap. What more could you want from a science project?

Lynn Siprelle is the editor of The New Homemaker ( thenewhomemaker.com thenewhomemaker.com)–a secular source of news and support for stay-at-home parents and caregivers since 1999. The New Homemaker covers parenting, homeschooling, elder care, managing money, home cooking, healthy living, crafts and more, and hosts one of the most caring, supportive and FUN communities on the Internet. Come join the conversation!

© 2002-2007 Lynn Siprelle, some rights reserved under Creative Commons, Attribution-No Deriv 3.0: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/ creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/