Cooking tasty food with Steaming

Steaming is a great cooking method. It preserves the flavor, color, moisture and nutrients in foods. and requires no added fat. The steam keeps ingredients from sticking and burning, so cleanup is a snap, too.

It's especially important to begin with fresh, high-quality ingredients when steaming, because nothing is disguised in the cooking. Until recently, I only used my steamer basket for vegetables, but I've discovered that nearly any fresh food with a delicate texture -- fish, shellfish, chicken breasts, fruit -- is a good candidate for steaming. Here are more tips on Steam Cooking: • Flavorings can be incorporated into steamed foods by adding herbs, spices, aromatic vegetables, wine, juice, etc., to the steaming liquid, and using it as a marinade before cooking. Try lemon grass, ginger, a touch of toasty nut oil or a splash of balsamic vinegar or pomegranate molasses. • You don't need fancy equipment. One good option is a collapsible steamer basket (available at supermarkets) or metal rack set into a large pot, wok or skillet. • An alternative is to create a platform for the food with a pair of chopsticks or upside-down ramekins. Place the food in a heatproof dish and set it on top. • Whatever your equipment, a tight seal is important. Choose a pan with a tight-fitting lid, or cover the pan with foil and press it tightly around the edges. • The steaming liquid must be at least 1 inch deep and should not touch the bottom of the steamer basket or rack. Too much water and the food is immersed and will boil instead of steam; too little and you risk evaporation and burned pans. • Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat before adding the food. Then adjust the heat so the water simmers briskly. Begin timing at this point. • Keep a pot of boiling water on the stove to replenish the steaming liquid if needed. A few marbles placed in the bottom of the steamer will make a racket until the water is gone; silence means it's time to add water. • If you open the lid of the steamer briefly to check the cooking progress, add a minute to the total steaming time. • Steam is hotter than boiling water, so take care not to burn yourself. Use oven mitts when putting in or removing food from the steamer or lifting the lid. Always lift it away from you and let some of the steam escape before removing the lid entirely. Here's a recipe to try out steaming for yourself: STEAMED PEARS WITH RED WINE AND RASPBERRIES Serves 3 3 firm, not quite fully ripe pears 1 star anise 1 vanilla bean 1 cinnamon stick 1 cup dry red wine 3 tablespoons sugar 1/2 pint fresh raspberries 1. Peel, halve and core the pears. Put them in a shallow bowl, cut sides down. Add star anise, vanilla bean and cinnamon stick. Bring water to a boil in a large saute pan or wok. Place bowl in steamer basket and place in pan. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until pears are tender when pierced with the point of a knife, about 30 minutes depending on the ripeness of the pears. 2. Meanwhile, combine the wine and sugar in a large serving bowl; stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the pears, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick and star anise to the bowl along with the raspberries, and let stand until cool. Serve at room temperature or chilled

Health Benefits of Chocolate

Why is Dark Chocolate Healthy?:

Chocolate is made from plants, which means it contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables. These benefits are fromflavonoids, which act as antioxidants. Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which can cause damage that leads to heart disease. Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times the number found in strawberries). Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure through the production ofnitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body.

Heart Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate:

Dark chocolate is good for your heart. A small bar of it everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system running well. Two heart health benefits of dark chocolate are:

·         Lower Blood Pressure: Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate everyday can reduce blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure.

·         Lower Cholesterol: Dark chocolate has also been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) by up to 10 percent.

Other Benefits of Dark Chocolate:

Chocolate also holds benefits apart from protecting your heart:

·         it tastes good

·         it stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure

·         it contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant

·         it contains theobromine, caffeine and other substances which are stimulants

Doesn't Chocolate Have a lot of Fat?:

Here is some more good news -- some of the fats in chocolate do not impact your cholesterol. The fats in chocolate are 1/3 oleic acid, 1/3 stearic acid and 1/3 palmitic acid:

·         Oleic Acid is a healthy monounsaturated fat that is also found in olive oil.

·         Stearic Acid is a saturated fat but one which research is shows has a neutral effect on cholesterol.

·         Palmitic Acid is also a saturated fat, one which raises cholesterol and heart disease risk.

That means only 1/3 of the fat in dark chocolate is bad for you.

Chocolate Tip 1 - Balance the Calories:

This information doesn't mean that you should eat a pound of chocolate a day. Chocolate is still a high-calorie, high-fat food. Most of the studies done used no more than 100 grams, or about 3.5 ounces, of dark chocolate a day to get the benefits.

One bar of dark chocolate has around 400 calories. If you eat half a bar of chocolate a day, you must balance those 200 calories by eating less of something else. Cut out other sweets or snacks and replace them with chocolate to keep your total calories the same.

Chocolate Tip 2 - Taste the Chocolate:

Chocolate is a complex food with over 300 compounds and chemicals in each bite. To really enjoy and appreciate chocolate, take the time to taste it. Professional chocolate tasters have developed a system for tasting chocolate that include assessing the appearance, smell, feel and taste of each piece.

Chocolate Tip 3 - Go for Dark Chocolate:

Dark chocolate has far more antioxidants than milk or white chocolate. These other two chocolates cannot make any health claims. Dark chocolate has 65 percent or higher cocoa content.

Chocolate Tip 4 - Skip the Nougat:

You should look for pure dark chocolate or dark chocolate with nuts, orange peel or other flavorings. Avoid anything with caramel, nougat or other fillings. These fillings are just adding sugar and fat which erase many of the benefits you get from eating the chocolate.

Chocolate Tip 5 - Avoid Milk:

It may taste good but some research shows that washing your chocolate down with a glass of milk could prevent the antioxidants being absorbed or used by your body.

Apple Fun Facts

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

1. ·         Archeologists have found evidence that humans have been enjoying apples since at least 6500 B.C.
2. Apples are a member of the rose family.
3. ·         The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspian and the Black Sea.
4. ·         Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit. There are apples that have an aftertaste of pears, citrus, cinnamon, cloves, coconut, strawberries, grapes and even pineapple!
5. ·         Planting an apple seed from a particular apple will not produce a tree of that same variety. The seed is a cross of the tree the fruit was grown on and the variety that was the cross pollinator.
6. ·         Apples have five seed pockets or carpels. Each pocket contains seeds. The number of seeds per carpel is determined by the vigor and health of the plant. Different varieties of apples will have different number of seeds.
7. ·         It takes energy from 50 leaves to produce one apple.
8. ·         Fresh apples float because 25% of their volume is air (thank goodness, or none of us would have ever experienced bobbing for apples!).
9. ·         Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. For optimal storage, apples should be kept at 35-40 degrees with relative humidity of 80-90%.
10. ·         A bushel of apples weighs approximately 42 pounds, or 19kg. A peck of apples weighs 10.5 pounds, or 4.8kg.
11. ·         The average U.S. consumer eats an estimated 45 pounds of apples a year. Europeans consumers eat 46 pounds a year.
12. ·         Sixty percent of the 2002 U.S. apple crop was eaten as fresh fruit, while 39 percent was processed into apple products, and 1 percent was not marketed. Of the 39 percent of the crop that was processed, 18 percent was used in juice and cider; 3 percent was dried; 2 percent was frozen; and 12 percent was canned. Other uses include the making of baby food, apple butter or jelly, and vinegar.
13. ·         The apple is the official state fruit of Rhode Island, New York, Washington, and West Virginia. The apple blossom (Pyrus coronaria) is the official state flower of Arkansas and Michigan.
14. ·         The old saying "an apple a day, keeps the doctor away" comes from am old English adage, "To eat an apple before going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread."