Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Ratatouille

1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 small eggplant
2 tomatoes
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 Tbls olive oil
1 cup water
1 cube bouillon
pepper
Italian seasoning

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Wash and cut the zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant into cubes.
In a medium seize pot warm up the olive oil.
Mince the onion and saute in olive oil, add the zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant.
Cut the tomatoes into small cubes, crush the garlic and add all to the pot. Season with pepper and italian seasoning.
Add 1 cup water and bring to a boil, add the bouillon cube and reduce the heat.
Simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes.

Serves well over boiled rice or pasta with grated cheese.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Cooking Art Picture of the Day (2009)

Cooking Art Picture of the Day (8-7-2009): "Picnic Pleasure" by Rian Withaar
Cooking Art Picture of the Day (8-5-2009): Swiss Cheese Shop, Accordion Players
Cooking Art Picture of the Day (8-4-2009): Three Chefs by Alberto Godoy
Cooking Art Picture of the Day (8-3-2009): Array of Pots and Pans Used for Cooking Incl. a Baking Dish for Turkey
Cooking Art Picture of the Day (8-2-2009): Cooking and Cleaning

Sunday, August 16, 2009

August 23rd 1792: Invention of the Camembert Cheese

Nobody wants to buy these little ugly yellowish greasy cheeses made by Madame Harel. And she is trying so hard to comply with her duty of making cheese as it was written down in her prenuptial. She just lacks the talent. In the evening of August 23 1792 somebody is knocking at her door. Abbe Gobert, a young priest, is running away from his followers. Rebellious priests live dangerously during the French revolution. To thank her for the asylum that she had granted him, the holy man shows her a few tricks.

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Monks have always been gourmets, and Gobert grew up in an area where the monks know how to make good brie cheese.
As a result Madame Harel's little cheeses have become more flavourful and lighter until one day the today known "Camembert" cheese resulted from this agricultural-clerical co-production. The cheese with the silky mold outside layer is named after the little village of Camembert situated in the Normandy. And from this windy northern town the cheese started its triumphant culinary journey around the world.

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By the way... a slice of freshly baked Basic 1/2 Whole Wheat Bread goes very well with Camembert cheese.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Smiley Proverbs



A smile is the shortest distance between two people. (German proverb)

A smile that you send out returns to you. (Indian proverb)

Satire recognizes a smile, irony invents it. (Helmut Arntzen)

A smile is the most elegant way of showing your opponent your teeth. (Horst Fink)

A smile on the face of somebody who is hungry is a lie. (Polish proverb)

One can't hit a smiling face. (Korean proverb)

A smile evokes another simile, just like love evokes love. (Mother Teresa)

Humor differentiates itself from a joke just like a smile differentiates itself from laughter. (Paul Alverdes)

The smile of a plant is its flower. (Peter Hille).

A smile is nothing but a well-dried cry. (Albert Paris Gütersloh)

A smile is the chub change of happiness. (Heinz Rühmann)

It's possible to produce a fake smile with real teeth. (Gabriel Laub)

The one who chooses to smile over to rage is always stronger. (Japanese proverb)

A smile of a beautiful woman can ruin an entire castle. (Japanese proverb)

Humans smile until they understand each other. (Erich Kästner)

A friendly smile is worth more than a fine feast. (African proverb)

Men talk their soul out of their bodies, women smile their soul out of their bodies. (Karin Michaelis)

Humor is to endorse life smiling with a tear in one eye. (Friedl Beutelrock)

One smile rarely stays single. (Klaus Klages)

A smile is as important to beauty as salt to soup. (unknown)

One smile can let the sun rise. (Else Pannek)

Our faces should always be a runway of a smile. (Thomas Romanus Bökelmann)

If you encounter somebody who doesn't own a smile, give him one of yours. (Jörg Rothe)

A day without a smile is a lost day. (Charlie Chaplin)

A smile is often the whole point. In life one is revitalised or rewarded by a smile. (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

If a greeting is not accompanied by a smile, it is pointless. The smile is the radiance that gives the handshake its blaze. (unknown)

In each of us is a beautiful smile just waiting to appear. (unknown)

A smile is a light showing itself in a face's window and when it does, it's a sign that the heart is home. (unknown)

A friendly smile can warm up three winter months. (Japanese proverb)

Whenever you meet somebody, ensure that when the person parts he is richer by your smile. (Romana Prinoth Fornwagner)

The smile of a mother is a blessing to the house. (Konrad Lorenz)

Smile when it rains, because if you don't... it still rains. (Karl-Heinz Söhler)

Our weaknesses should cost us a smile, not our humor. (Oliver Tietze)

Beautiful days; don't cry that they have passed, but smile because they happened. (Rabindranâth Tagore)

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Sample Burgers


1 lb hamburger meat
1/2 lb bread
milk
2 eggs
chives
1 clove of garlic
salt
pepper
flour
oil or fat
beer

Break bread in crumbs and soak briefly in a little milk.
Mix hamburger meat, soaked and drained bread, eggs, minced chives and crushed garlic, season and kneed well.
Form small (sample) burgers and flip briefly in flour.
Put the burgers on the grill, after the first flip brush them with beer. Keep brushing them with beer until well done (or done to your liking).

Friday, August 7, 2009

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Juggling a 17 month old toddler, a husband, a full-time job which includes commuting, hobby-blogging and of course maintaining a household makes me sometimes wonder how in the world can I keep all of this together.


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The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1989, is a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. It has sold over 15 million copies in 38 languages since first publication, which was marked by the release of a 15th anniversary edition in 2004. The book lists seven principles that, if established as habits, are supposed to help a person achieve true interdependent effectiveness. Covey argues this is achieved by aligning oneself to what he calls "true north" principles of a character ethic that he believes to be universal and timeless.

The chapters are dedicated to each of the habits, which are represented by the following imperatives:

Habit 1 - Principles of Personal Choice: Covey emphasizes the original sense of the term "proactive" as coined by Victor Frankl. You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive, you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Being proactive means taking responsibility for every aspect of your life. Initiative and taking action will then follow. Covey also argues that man is different from other animals in that he has self-consciousness. He has the ability to detach himself and observe his own self; think about his thoughts. He goes on to say how this attribute enables him: It gives him the power not to be affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between stimulus and response, we have the power of free will to choose our response.

Habit 2 - Principles of Personal Vision: This chapter is about setting long-term goals based on "true north" principles. Covey recommends formulating a "Personal Mission Statement" to document one's perception of one's own vision in life. He sees visualization as an important tool to develop this. He also deals with organizational mission statements, which he claims to be more effective if developed and supported by all members of an organization rather than prescribed.

Habit 3 - Principles of Integrity & Execution: Covey describes a framework for prioritizing work that is aimed at long-term goals, at the expense of tasks that appear to be urgent, but are in fact less important. Delegation is presented as an important part of time management. Successful delegation, according to Covey, focuses on results and benchmarks that are to be agreed in advance, rather than on prescribing detailed work plans. Habit three is greatly expanded on in the follow on book First Things First.

Habit 4 - Principles of Mutual Benefit: An attitude whereby mutually beneficial solutions are sought that satisfy the needs of oneself as well as others, or, in the case of a conflict, both parties involved.
Habit 5 - Principles of Mutual Understanding: Covey warns that giving out advice before having empathetically understood a person and their situation will likely result in that advice being rejected. Thoroughly listening to another person's concerns instead of reading out your own autobiography is purported to increase the chance of establishing a working communication.

Habit 6 - Principles of Creative Cooperation: A way of working in teams. Apply effective problem solving. Apply collaborative decision making. Value differences. Build on divergent strengths. Leverage creative collaboration. Embrace and leverage innovation. It is put forth that when synergy is pursued as a habit, the result of the teamwork will exceed the sum of what each of the members could have achieved on their own. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Habit 7 - Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal: Focuses on balanced self-renewal: Regain what Covey calls "production capability" by engaging in carefully selected recreational activities. Covey also emphasizes the need to sharpen the mind.

Taken from Wikipedia.com

Prices for a brand new copy:
BookCloseOut: $7.99
Amazon: $9.57
Barnes and Nobles: $10.36 Online price, $9.32 Member price

Thursday, August 6, 2009

First Meals

Have you ever thought about cooking for your baby instead of buying baby and toddler foods? At least that way you know for sure, what is in your baby's food. And needless to say, it is very inexpensive. The importance of learning how to eat right and which foods to choose can not be stressed enough. The earlier we start to make healthy food choices, the better it will be.
I was turned on to cooking for my son by the owner of my son's day care who had been cooking for her own daughter and she gave me the book "First Meals - Recipes little kids can sink their teeth into." The book is filled with fast, healthy and fun foods to tempt infants and toddlers and needless to say, I was immediately hooked.
Annabel Karmel does a wonderful job to provide the reader with information about how to wean your baby and how to prepare meals for different baby/toddler ages. One of the most valuable lessons I learned is to cook in batches. I designated one day a week to cook all of the foods and then froze them. Ice cube trays are just the right size for each portion for the first 12 months. Another handy tool is of course some basic food processor or blender.

The book is well structured and divided in chapters based on age groups starting from 0 all the way up to 7 years.
One simple baby breakfast my son enjoys up until today is
Banana Yoghurt Muesli:
Mash 2/3 of one ripe banana, add 2 tablespoons of whole milk plain yoghurt and 2 tablespoons of baby rice powder (can be any grain powder for that matter).

And another one of my son's favorites is
Avocado with Cottage Cheese:
Mash 1/2 of a ripe avocado and mix with 1 tablespoon of small curd whole milk cottage cheese.

That's how simple it is. Well, other meals can be cooked in advance and frozen. Here are just a few of the most delicious recipes:
Fish with Carrots & Orange Juice
Annabel's Pasta Salad
Fruity Chicken with Carrots
California Chicken
Baby's Bolognese

A wonderful recipe book for the little ones!

Additional reading suggestions by the same author:













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BookCloseouts.com – Books at Blowout Prices
Super Foods for Babies and Children ($6.99) Lunchboxes ($4.99)

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Summer Food Quiz Answers

Is it true or false?

1. Green Salad is very healthy.
False. In comparison to other vegetables salad contains a lot of water but very little vitamins and minerals.

2. Salt increases the blood pressure.
False. According to the "Intersalt" study which took place in 26 countries and 10000 participants no clear correlation between salt consumption and higher blood pressure could be established.

3. Bacteria causing food related illnesses thrive in temperatures over 104 degrees.
False. Most bacteria thrive in temperatures between 68 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Teeth shouldn't be brushed immediately after a meal.
True. Better to wait for half an hour until the acidity in the saliva has neutralized.

5. Citrus fruits contain the most vitamin C.
False. 100 g oranges contain 50 mg vitamin C, 100 g black currants 177 mg, 100 g peppers 120 mg or 100 g broccoli 115 mg.

6. Eating late causes weight gain.
False. For weight gain it's not important when you eat, but how much you eat. A ten year old American study with 7000 female and male participants showed that there was no difference in weight gain between early and late eaters.

7. Rose wines are a mix from red and white wine.
False. Rose wines can be made from either red or white grapes. The coloring of the wine is dependent on how long the juice was exposed to the skin of the grape during processing.

8. Sherbet (or Sorbet) has practically no calories.
9. Cockroaches like it warm and dark.
True. A small sherbet (or sorbet) consists practically of sugar, water and food flavoring which adds up (depending on brand and seize) to about 50 calories.

10. Oysters increase you sex drive.
False. Oysters contain a lot of iron, calcium, vitamin A and B and zinc. However, an increase in sex drive has not been proven scientifically.

11. Raw fruits and vegetables are healthier.
False. Some vegetables such as potatoes can't even be eaten uncooked because they contain poisons that are being neutralized through the cooking process.

12. The number one place to get food poisoned is a restaurant.
True. Most likely one gets infected in restaurants, followed by hospitals and nursing homes.

13. Hamburgers contain more fat than sausages.
False. A sausage contains about 30 grams of fat per 100 grams, a hamburger only 12 grams per 100 grams of fat.

14. Ketchup contains the same amount of sugar than many sweets.
True. The sugar content in ketchup can reach up to 23% (varies with each brand).

15. Grilled meat can be carcinogenic.
True. If the meat juice drops on to the hot grill while BBQing, carcinogenic elements can develop and rise with the smoke which then attaches itself onto the meat. This risk can be reduced by catching the juices in a grill pan before it reaches the hot grill.

16. The effects of freezing temperatures kills bacteria.
False. Lower temperatures don't kill bacteria however bacterial growth is slowed down. In frozen foods bacterial growth comes to a complete stand-still.

17. Bread, pasta and potatoes make us fat.
False. Carbohydrates such as found in breads, pasta, potatoes, etc. are very filling (particularly if whole grain) and contain only have as many calories as fat.

18. Green tomatoes are poisonous.
True. Green tomatoes contain solanine which is poisonous if eaten in large amounts.

19. Salmonella is the most common cause of food related illnesses.
False. Salmonella are often talked about however Escherichia coli (e-coli) and staphylococcus enterotoxin (staph) are much more common.

20. Chocolate makes you happy.
True. Cocoa contains analeptic substances such as caffeine and amino acid which are being metabolized in the brain to serotonin. And serotonin puts us all in a great mood!

21. One should never drink water following eating cherries.
22. Mushrooms should never be reheated.
False. It's no problem if the leftovers of a mushroom dish are being cooled properly in a refrigerator and consumed within 24 hours.

23. Too much beer causes beer bellies.
False. A "beer" belly can also originate from consuming too much wine. In fact, wine has twice as many calories as beer. And I haven't really seen a "Cabernet light" lately.

24. Frozen French fries contain more vitamin C than fresh potatoes.
True. German chemists have found that previously frozen fries contain more vitamin C than fries made from fresh potatoes.

25. Green asparagus is healthier than white asparagus.
True. Green asparagus grows above ground and can therefore develop chlorophyll which makes green asparagus richer in flavor and vitamins. I still like white asparagus better...

26. Brown eggs are healthier than white eggs.
False. The egg color depends on the chicken species.

27. Sugar is a vitamin killer.
False. It is true that our body needs a lot of vitamin B1 to get rid of the sugar, however a healthy adult usually has no problem replenishing with vitamin B1.

28. Coffee withdraws water from the body.
False. This effect can only be observed if the individual consuming the coffee is not a regular coffee drinker.

29. Always drink beer before wine.
False. Important is the amount of consumed alcohol, not the succession of the consumption.

These food facts can be found in the book "Lexikon der populaeren Ernaehrungsirrtumer" (encyclopedia of popular food errors) by Udo Pollmer and Susanne Warmuth. Unfortunately the book is not available yet on Amazon so I listed an other book with similar topics by the same author.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Food Summer Quiz: Test Your Food Knowledge

Is it true or false?

1. Green Salad is very healthy.

2. Salt increases the blood pressure.

3. Bacteria causing food related illnesses thrive in temperatures over 104 degrees.

4. Teeth shouldn't be brushed immediately after a meal.

5. Citrus fruits contain the most vitamin C.

6. Eating late causes weight gain.

7. Rose wines are a mix from red and white wine.

8. Sherbet (or Sorbet) has practically no calories.

9. Cockroaches like it warm and dark.

10. Oysters increase you sex drive.

11. Raw fruits and vegetables are healthier.

12. The number one place to get food poisoned is a restaurant.

13. Hamburgers contain more fat than sausages.

14. Ketchup contains the same amount of sugar than many sweets.

15. Grilled meat can be carcinogenic.

16. The effects of freezing temperatures kills bacteria.

17. Bread, pasta and potatoes make us fat.

18. Green tomatoes are poisonous.

19. Salmonella is the most common cause of food related illnesses.

20. Chocolate makes you happy.

21. One should never drink water following eating cherries.

22. Mushrooms should never be reheated.

23. Too much beer causes beer bellies.

24. Frozen French fries contain more vitamin C than fresh potatoes.

25. Green asparagus is healthier than white asparagus.

26. Brown eggs are healthier than white eggs.

27. Sugar is a vitamin killer.

28. Coffee withdraws water from the body.

29. Always drink beer before wine.

I will publish the answers in tomorrow's blog.

These questions and many others can be found in the book "Lexikon der populaeren Ernaehrungsirrtumer" (encyclopedia of popular food errors) by Udo Pollmer and Susanne Warmuth. Unfortunately the book is not available yet on Amazon so I listed two other books with similar topics by the same authors.