What if you could make healthy fried foods?

Maxi-Matic 3 Qt. Stainless Steel Deep Fryer

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 Who doesn't love fried foods? French fries, chicken tenders, jalapeno poppers, and onion rings. Does it get any better than that? Too bad fried foods aren't healthy.... But, wait. What if you could make healthy fried foods? You probably think there's no possible way you could prepare your favorite snacks without feeling guilty about it. But, in this article, you'll learn all the tricks on how to make fried food healthy.

The first step to making healthy fried food is to buy a large deep fryer with an immersed heating element. This ensures that your oil heats to the proper temperature. Deep fryers that have a heating element outside of the pot, heat the pot and then heat the oil. Also buying a large deep fryer ensures that your oil stays hot once the food goes in.

The second step is to ensure that you use healthy oil. It's always better to choose oil, such as canola oil, rather than shortening. By choosing healthy oil, you ensure that your fried foods have less fat and calories. But, if you follow the next step, hardly any oil will penetrate your fried foods at all.

The third step is to make sure your oil is hot enough. This is one of the most important steps you can follow when preparing healthy fried foods. For many fried foods, this means keeping your oil at 375 degrees. When you keep your oil at the proper temperature very little oil penetrates your fried foods. The reason is as soon as the food hits the oil the outside of the food is seared preventing oil from getting inside. It's easy to keep your oil at the proper temperature if you follow the first step and this next step.

The fourth step to making healthy fried food is to not overload your deep fryer. When you add too much to your deep fryer, the temperature of the oil falls drastically. When this happens, your fried food doesn't immediately sear and the oil gets in. If you want to fry a lot of food in one time period, do so in batches. That way the temperature of your oil remains consistent.

The fifth step to making healthy fried food is to make sure you use enough healthy oil. This doesn't mean that more oil will get into your fried foods. What it does mean is that your fried foods will be healthy. Why is that? When you have enough oil, you ensure that your oil temperature doesn't drop. You also ensure that all of your fried food sears immediately rather than pieces sticking out of the oil.

The last step is to drain your healthy fried foods. While the above steps will keep things healthy, you still need to follow this step. As soon as you take the fried food from the oil, place it on paper towels and season. All the oil that was clinging to the outside of your snacks will be removed.

If you follow all the steps, you'll have healthy fried foods. The truth is, you could fry enough snacks for four people and, if you measured your oil, you would see that you only used 1 teaspoon of oil. Only 1 teaspoon split among four people. What you need to realize is that deep frying isn't unhealthy. There are just people who don't fry foods in a healthy way.

 

Thanks to Amy Brantley at Yahoo Voices

Perfect Homemade Pasta

 150mm Hand Operated Pasta Machine

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Recipe: Perfect Homemade Pasta

Home-made pasta is so easy and tastes so much better than shop bought.

Ingredients

• 200g (7 oz) “00″ type flour
• 2 Large organic eggs
• Salt

1. Make a heap out of your flour on a chopping board with a hollow well in the middle.
2. Crack your eggs into the hollow and begin to mix around by hand. Warning; at first it will form crumbs and won't look like it will ever come together. Keep working and it will.
3. Now time to knead; I find the easiest way is to squash it with both hands and then stretch the dough away from me with one of them while holding it with the other, pushing with the base of my hand near my wrist. I then simply fold it back on itself, give it a little twist and repeat. Keep doing this until the dough feels smooth.
4. Wrap your ball of pasta dough in cling film and leave somewhere cool (the fridge is fine) for 1 hour.
5. Remove your pasta from the fridge and flour a rolling pin and chopping board and as you’re using a machine roll out to about 1/2 a cm thick.
6. Using the machine you can now pass it through on the widest setting; do this a couple of times, before reducing the width by one setting and passing through.Repeat the passing / reducing width process until the desired thickness of pasta is reached. Once done cut your pasta with a knife or cutting device on your machine into the desired shapes.
7. Your pasta is ready. You can now either hang it to dry or cook it right away in salted boiling water – it’ll only take a couple of minutes, unlike dried pasta, so keep an eye on it.

Preparation time: 1 hour(s) 30 minute(s)

Cooking time: 3 minute(s)

Thanks to Real Epicurean

Why the Worm Factory® 360?

Worm Factory 360 Composting Worm Bin

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Why the Worm Factory® 360?

Americans throw away 34 million tons of food waste into landfills each year, more than any other type of waste (www.EPA.gov). While traditional backyard composting has its place, the process can take up to two years and rotating it can become a chore. Worm composting uses worms to do the work of breaking down waste and is more efficient and easier to manage than a traditional backyard compost pile. In addition, its compact design makes it perfect for use in any household.

Worm composting makes it easy to recycle kitchen scraps, paper waste and cardboard into nutrient rich fertilizer for your plants, creating a more sustainable lifestyle by recycling and improving soil quality. The Worm Factory 360 houses thousands of composting worms in a compact space. These worms work 24/7 to efficiently produce highly beneficial, rich compost packed with microbes and water soluble plant nutrients.

This eliminates all the work of traditional composting and yields a much more valuable end product. Worm compost has been proven to have ten times the nutrients of traditional backyard compost. The more nutrients that are available to your plants, the larger they grow and the more bountiful your harvest is. This system allows you to enjoy ORGANIC vegetables, fruits, and flowers grown with the help of your kitchen scraps.

At a Glance

The Worm Factory 360 is simple to set up and operate. Managing your Worm Factory 360 takes less than 15 minutes a week.

Included with each Worm Factory 360 are a comprehensive instruction guide and DVD that make setup easy and give detailed tips on how to best manage your new Worm Factory 360 year‐round.

Start with just the bottom tray and bedding material included. Add 1lb of composting worms and start filling the tray with household waste. The worms will process and recycle the waste into fine compost full of nutrients. When the first tray is full, stack another on top. Each tray has a grid bottom, so worms migrate upward as new food is added.

As waste is broken down, moisture filters through the system, taking nutrient‐rich particles with it. This makes it possible to harvest organic liquid fertilizer right from the spigot.

Adding Food &Waste

Adding household waste to the Worm Factory 360 is easy; just open the lid and toss the food in. Fruits, vegetables, grains, paper, egg shells, leaves, coffee grounds and more can be added. Three foods to avoid are diary, meat, and citrus items; these can be harmful to the worms and are difficult to compost. Feed your worms about 50% food scraps and 50% fiber and paper. This creates the optimal environment for worms and finished compost. The goal is to recycle what you usually throw away.

Don't worry about feeding your worms every day. Some people feed them a handful a week; some people feed them a handful a day. The general rule of thumb is worms can eat about half their weight in food per day. This means that if you start with 1 lb of worms, they can eat a half pound of food per day. Worms can survive up to two weeks without any additional food. Just feed them a bit extra before going on long vacations.

In a healthy environment composting worms will maintain their population without over or under populating.

Odorless Year‐round Operation

Your waste production isn’t seasonal and your composting efforts shouldn’t be either! Composting is no longer limited to the warm months. The Worm Factory 360 can be used indoors or outdoors,

allowing year round operation. When managed correctly, the Worm Factory 360 is odorless, making it the perfect composter for apartments, kitchens, condos, garages, porches and more! Because of its unique design, the Worm Factory 360 allows oxygen to flow through the system, discouraging stinky garbage odors.

It is important to note that worms are living creatures, and cannot tolerate extreme temperatures. Keep the Worm Factory 360 so that the bedding remains between 40 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, or where you would personally feel comfortable.

The Worm Factory 360 is expandable vertically, allowing a high compost capacity while maintaining a very small footprint. When full, each tray weighs 12.5 pounds, making lifting and arranging  trays effortless.

The Worm Composting Cycle

Your first tray will take about three months to become fully composted by the worms. After the first tray is composted the other trays can take as little as a month depending on the waste added. Once you harvest your finished compost from the bottom tray, you will have an empty tray to stack on top again.

The nutrient‐rich finished compost can be used in your garden, raised beds, container gardens, or on houseplants. Even if you’re not a gardener, the Worm Factory 360 helps you reduce your impact and provides an alternative to throwing your waste into the landfill.

Worm compost not only adds vital nutrients to your soil, it also conditions the soil to hold water longer, prevent plant disease, and promote healthy root growth.

Take one step in the green direction with the Worm Factory 360 and create a healthier, happier environment.

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Also check out The Urbin Grower to help you  use your compost.

Hand Held Immersion Blender/Mixer Smoothie Recipe

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Hand Held Immersion Blender/Mixer Smoothie Recipe

Frozen berries and an immersion blender help satisfy a smoothie craving in minutes. The pudding mix is optional, but it adds a satisfying richness that elevates this smoothie recipe to dessert status.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen mixed berries
• 1/2 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup low-fat or skim milk
• 1 teaspoon non-fat, sugar-free vanilla pudding mix (optional)

Preparation:

1. Combine ingredients in a small bowl or the blending jar of an immersion blender.
2. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.
3. Garnish with whipped cream and fresh fruit, if desired.

Serves one.
Note: This recipe can also be made using a regular blender, although an immersion blender makes cleanup easier!

Many Thanks to:  about.com

Steel Santoku Knives

MasterChef 3 piece Santoku knifes red, white and black handles

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The Santoku bōchō (Japanese: 三徳包丁; "three virtues" or "three uses") or Bunka bōchō (文化包丁) is a general-purpose kitchen knife originating in Japan. Its blade is typically between 5 and 8 inches (13 and 20 cm) long, and has a flat edge and a sheepsfoot blade that curves in an angle approaching 60 degrees at the point. The top of the santoku's handle is in line with the top of the blade. The word refers to the three cutting tasks which the knife performs well: slicing, dicing, and mincing. The santoku's blade and handle are designed to work in harmony by matching the blade's width/weight to the weight of blade tang and handle, and the original Japanese santoku is considered a well-balanced knife.

Design

Santoku blade geometry incorporates the "Sheep's foot" tip. A sheep's foot design essentially draws the spine ("backstrap") down to the front, with very little clearance above the horizontal cutting plane when the blade is resting naturally from heel to forward cutting edge. Providing a more linear cutting edge, the Santoku has limited "rocking" travel (in comparison to a German/Western-style Chef's knife). The Santoku may be used in a rocking motion, however, very little cutting edge makes contact with the surface due to the extreme radius of the tip and very little "tip travel" occurs due to the short cantilever span from contact landing to tip. An example of this limitation can be demonstrated in dicing an onion - a Western knife generally slices downward and then rocks the tip forward to complete a cut; the santoku relies more on a single downward cut, and even landing from heel to tip, thus using less of a rocking motion than Western style cutlery.
The Santoku design is shorter, lighter, thinner, and more hardened (to compensate for thinness) than a traditional Western chef's knife. Standard Santoku blade length is between six and seven inches, in comparison to the typical eight inch home cook's knife. Most classic kitchen knives maintain a blade angle between 40 and 45 degrees (a bi-lateral 20 to 22.5 degree shoulder, from cutting edge); Japanese knives typically incorporate a chisel-tip (sharpened on one side), and maintain a more extreme angle (10 to 15 degree shoulder). A classic santoku will incorporate the Western-style, bilateral cutting edge, but maintain a more extreme 12 to 15 degree shoulder, akin to Japanese cutlery. It is critical to increase the hardness of Santoku steel so edge retention is maintained and "rolling" of the thin cutting edge is mitigated. However, harder, thinner steel is more likely to chip (pushing through a bone or dry herb stock, for example). German knives use slightly "softer" steel, but have more material behind their cutting edge. For the average user, a German-style knife is easier to sharpen, but a santoku knife, if used as designed, will hold its edge longer. With few exceptions, Santoku knives typically have no, sometimes incorporate "scalloped" sides, known as a Granton edge, and maintain a more uniform thickness from spine to blade.

Variations 

Some of the best blades employ San Mai laminated steels, including the pattern known as suminagashi (墨流し literally, "flowing-ink paper"). The term refers to the similarity of the pattern formed by the blade's damascened and multi-layer steel alloys to the traditional Japanese art of suminagashi marbled paper. Forged laminated stainless steel cladding is employed on better Japanese santoku knives to improve strength and rust resistance while maintaining a hard edge. Knives possessing these expensive laminated blades are generally considered to be the ultimate expression of quality in a genuine Japanese santoku.

Many copies of santoku-pattern knives made outside of Japan have substantially different edge designs, different balance, and softer steels (thus requiring a thicker cutting edge profile) than the original Japanese santoku. One trend in some non-Japanese santoku variations made of a single alloy is to include kullenschliff, scallops or recesses (known as kullens) hollowed out of the side of blade, similar to those found in meat-carving knives. These scallops create small air pockets between the blade and the material being sliced in an attempt to improve separation and reduce cutting friction. However, manufacturing limitations generally restrict such features to mass-produced blades fabricated of softer, less expensive stainless steel alloys.

Thanks to WIKI for this information

The Advantages of Bamboo Cutting Boards & Spatulas

The Advantages of Bamboo Cutting Boards & Spatulas

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When purchasing a kitchen cutting board, you want to look for one that is fairly easy to clean, that won't slip around frequently and that won't ruin your knives or harbor bacteria. Spatulas should also be relatively easy to clean and shouldn't ruin your pans from scraping. Cutting boards typically come in plastic, wood, glass, composite and bamboo. Spatulas are commonly types of wood, bamboo and metal. Bamboo cutting boards and spatulas are beneficial to your kitchen experience. Does this Spark an idea?

 Moisture

Bamboo does not absorb moisture very easily. Since the water and juices from anything you cook don't enter the board or spatula, they are less likely to crack or warp due to water separation.

Bacteria

Bamboo's nonporous surface prohibits bacteria from entering through the surface, making it easier to clean and making it safer for your family, especially when it comes to cutting and cooking raw meat for which salmonella can be a concern.

 Durability

Bamboo is durable and withstands hard wood. Although bamboo is technically a plant, the shoots that grow up to 8 feet wide are harder than common woods, including maple and oak. Since bamboo is so hard, there is a less likely chance that your knives will leave marks on it. Bamboo spatulas are less likely to absorb water while cooking as well, meaning they'll last much longer than other options. They also won't damage metal pans.

Renewable 

 Bamboo grows much faster than wood. While a tree can take up to 50 years to grow, bamboo is harvested three to six years after it is planted. The cost of a bamboo board is a bit higher than some other woods, ranging from $10 to $50 in March 2011, depending on its quality.

Thanks to ehow.com for this information Read more: The Advantages of Bamboo Cutting Boards & Spatulas | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8058637_advantages-bamboo-cutting-boards-spatulas.html#ixzz2LnM1oXDc

Create a better cup of Coffee

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Better Chef Red 12 Cup Coffee Maker

At Whole in One Sales we try to sell all of our customers quality merchandise but at the same time we want you to enjoy what we sell you so here are a few tips on how to create a better cup of coffee from http://www.ehow.com/.

 Start with a clean coffee pot. Remove the filter, discard the coffee grounds and wash the carafe in hot, soapy water after each use. Run vinegar through automatic coffee makers periodically to clean the inside.Use a natural or gold filter.
Don't use filters that are bleached white paper, which can add unpleasant tastes.
Invest in a coffee-bean grinder and grind your own beans. Use the freshest coffee possible. Buy fresh-roasted and don't grind the beans until you're ready to make the coffee.

Add 2 tablespoons of coffee for each 6-ounce cup. Use a medium grind for a filter with a flat bottom.

Use a finer grind in a cone filter.

Brew your coffee with cold bottled water. Don't use distilled water or water with added vitamins. Distilled water lacks the mineral qualities good coffee needs, and vitamin water can add flavors.

Drink the coffee within 20 minutes, or store it in a vacuum carafe for a few hours.

 If you use paper filters, rinse them in hot water first.

Don't store coffee in the refrigerator or freezer. Keep it in an airtight container in a cool place and don't buy more than you can use in a week.

 Thanks to eHow