Dicing, Julienning, Mincing

It is time for a vocabulary lesson! Yes, you heard it correctly. Don’t just hit the back button or disregard this because this new vocabulary and knowledge of kitchen techniques will be useful and helpful one day, whether you are looking to be a chef or just wanting to help out around the house.
There are 3 regularly used terms in a kitchen. Some words you may be familiar with, but there are a few that you probably know how to do but never really know how to explain it, or what to call it.
The first form is called dicing. You know what a 6 sided die look like right? The ones you gamble with? Well, this is generally the idea, dicing something is pretty much cutting something into small cubes or blocks. This is useful to cook evenly amongst the dish as well as somewhat faster cooking speed. Dicing doesn’t always mean small so keep that in mind.
The second form is called julienning. (The origin of this name is currently unknown. If you do have some information however, please leave a comment and school me on where this name came from.) Julienne is a name for cutting something lengthwise, otherwise known as hotdog size (kidding). Usually vegetables just as celeries are cut into long (but not always) thin strips.
Mincing is the third form that I will talk about. Mincing is turning something into that pasty texture. Usually done by using the side of the knife, crushing the desired produce and dragging the knife back, repeat this process (please look this up on youtube for a better image of how mincing is done) Mincing is especially useful to bring out the flavor in ingredients such as garlic and ginger and maybe some fresh herbs. This way also helps distribute the flavor more evenly to a mixture.
These are the 3 main forms of chopping, not saying that there aren’t other ways. Teach your kids this and next time you won’t have to explain to them how to chop things a certain way. Just yell into the living room, tell them what needs to be done and hopefully they will do it correctly. This beats trying to explain every time right? Now you can just give them a one word description. Youre welcome.

Published by: Susana

Too Poor To Be Healthy

Obesity is very serious health problem in America. Only here are our people so poor that we are gaining weight living below the poverty line. In most other countries, living in poverty means getting skinnier. So with this information, we can conclude that the real problem lies within the nutrients of the food that we take in. How can we eat healthy when the cost of being healthy is so high? Not everyone can afford it.

Why are we broke? Because the cost of healthy eating is much more than purchasing unhealthy foods like a $1 burger at McDonald's. When we try to eat healthy, it’s like the cost of an arm and a leg. The cost of fresh fruits and vegetables increased 188%. The cost of Soda only increased 20%. Take your kids to Whole Foods and check out the prices of organic foods. Wouldn’t McDonald's prices look better to you?

Places to shop for healthy foods are not something we come across on every corner. Liquor stores are however on every corner and they sell snake stuffs like chips and soda as well as lunch such as the MSG filled Cup o' Noodles. The closes place to shop for us is on the other side of the city. You know how many bus transfers and waiting in the rain that is? I rather drink warm MSG soup that only takes 2 minutes to prepare.

The theory of supply and demand also plays a role. This is like the question of what comes first, the chicken or the egg? If more people consume fruits and vegetables, then there will be more supplies of it because it is in demand. Well, how can we demand something we cannot afford?

Physical activities also play a role in terms of obesity. The more calories you burn, the more this will help decrease appetite. Obviously this means that burger will look less and less delicious. The problem is, I don’t want to leave the house anymore because my homeboy just got shot down the block from where I live. Gang bangers just rented the room upstairs. Where do I get my exercise done? I have to leave the house to get to the gym. I also have to leave the house to purchase a BowFlex machine. Forget that, once I get it someone will break in a steal it.

So how am I supposed to think about getting a gym membership when I can barely pay the bills? I’m so depressed;I think I’m just going to eat my worries a way. This tub of cookies and cream ice cream looks good in the freezer. Stress is directly related to weight gain and who has the most stress? Yep... the poor.

Man, being poor sucks. But what can I do? I have to plan out a set amount of money for food. Am I going to be out on the streets? Probably, but at least I know I won’t die from a disease because my body will be healthy enough to handle it. I get to stay thin and live long enough to enjoy my time on the streets. God bless America.

Salmonella News

Salmonella is classified as zoonosis, a disease that is transferred from non-human animals to humans. In general, individuals are infected with Salmonella via ingestion of contaminated food.

Salmonella are small bacteria that are passed from the waste of people or animals. Lately it has been passed through chicken eggs. The reason why Salmonella is so common at the moment among chickens is due to the mistreatment of chickens. Chicken raised for the market are kept stacked up in small cages on top of each other, and are expected to lay eggs in this environment. When chickens defecate, their fecal matter fall on top of the other chickens stacked underneath them. This is exactly how chicken can pick up viruses and become infected. Infected chickens lay infected eggs, thus the recall on eggs that have been tested positive for Salmonella.

Salmonella symptoms are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. Individuals may also experience symptoms of vomiting, nausea, chills. Salmonella infections can be life threatening to infants and children, as well as elders whose immune systems are not strong.

Once ingested, Salmonella lives in the intestinal track of humans as well as other animals. It is present on poultry and raw meat AND the bacteria can still be present if the meat is not cooked properly.

Wash your hands thoroughly as well as the surface and instruments you use to cook the food on to prevent spreading salmonella. Please be careful with raw food and help prevent the spreading of this bacteria to others.

Published by: Michael Jones

Another Egg Recall??

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm232988.htmI love eggs! That’s how I get my protein in the morning. This whole egg recalling thing isn’t doing me any good but if I want to stay healthy and possibly alive, I guess I’ll have to stay on top of the news.

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. was notified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today November 9, 2010 that in their environment study sample of Ohio Fresh Eggs, of Croton, Ohio, salmonella was found to be present. Why is this important? Because approximately 24,000 dozens of eggs (that's close to 300,000 eggs people!) were purchased by Cal-Maine from Ohio Fresh and repackaged.

So far no salmonella outbreaks have been reported, but that doesn't mean we are in the clear yet! Eggs from Cal-Main have been distributed to food retailers and wholesalers in California, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Iowa. For more information please contact Cal-Maine’s corporate office at 1-866-276-6299 between the hours of 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM CDT. Please be careful in the purchase of Sunny Meadow, Springfield Grocer, Sun Valley and James Farm eggs.

The link below is to give you more information, specific dates and plant numbers.

Published by: Susana

Seasonal Produce Saves My Wallet

(Picture above is not an assessment of what is in season during the Fall. It has been included for decoration purposes as well as to catch the attention of people who are attracted to color)

Why is my family telling me that I should buy stuff when it's in season? I mean, I understand I'm a college student and I need to save money but does it really save a lot of money? What’s so important about buying stuff that’s in season? Everything’s already in the super market anyways! Geez! Oh wait… why is there a big hole in my wallet where my money used to be?!

I’ll tell you what happened, you bought produce that was not in season.

Fall is the season when squash and sweet potatoes are in their prime. What does that mean for you? It means that they are generally farmed locally and therefore, less expensive. Guess what probably cost the most money buying out of season produce? I’ll give you a hint, it’s something you probably complain about everyday: DRIVING to work. Give up? And the correct answer is GAS. Because seasonal produce can generally be found to be farmed locally, we don't pay for extra labor and transportation costs that are required to ship such items from far away. Items are flown in, drove in, shipped in, simply because we want items that cannot be grown year round here, but can be grown in warmer climates in other parts of the world

What else does it mean to buy seasonal produce? Well, we can be fairly sure that a ridiculous amount of pesticides (i.e. toxins) and hormones weren't utilized in growing the vegetables and fruit. I mean really, apples were never naturally that shiny and perfect. They have just been modified through their seeds and through growing 'techniques' that are less than natural, and less than healthy for our immune systems. And to top it off, man-made chemicals that are used to grow those plants cost money too.


And what if we want to make something like carrot cake or tomato sauce but required ingredients aren’t in season? Good question. When a season is about to end, local farmers markets will sell end of season produce at discounted rates to get rid of the excess they have to make room for the new season’s produce. For example, you can purchase a BOX of tomatoes for a few dollars, take a little time and can them. Now you have tomatoes all winter!

For a list of in season produce, just hop onto Google and type in the (season) seasonal vegetables and a list should pop up. If you compare that list to the prices of produce that’s available in stores, you’ll notice that the ones in season are much cheaper than ones that are not.

Publish by: Susana