Avacados

In my continuing attempt to expand my culinary horizons, I thought it would be fun to pick something that I've used a lot and try to find a new application for it. Since avacados were on sale at the grocery store this past week, I thought that would be the perfect ingredient to try to experiment with.

First, a lot of people don't know how to choose a rip avocado. The trick to getting one that's delicious and creamy is to simply give it a small poke. A ripe avocado should be soft, but not squishy. The outside should be black or dark green and bumpy. If the avocado still has a stem nub on the top, you can flick it off and check out the color of the avocado's flesh. Bright and green means good, while black or dark brown meals over ripe. Of course, if you're not the one flicking the stem bump off, this rule doesn't apply.

Anyway, I went and picked out a nice rip avocado and brought it home with me to experiment. I am a sucker for guacamole, so I thought that would be a good place to start. I mixed up my avocado with salt and lime juice, then added in some diced onion, diced tomato, chopped cilantro and a couple dashes of hot sauce. I know a lot of people use jalapenos in their guacamole, but I am partial to using Tabasco for the heat. Not to mention it instantly distributes the heat throughout the guacamole so you can enjoy it right away. :-)

So then I started wondering where I could use said guacamole. While I pondered this, I enjoyed some with chips.  Ok, so it was more than "some"... it was more like half of it. That was my best brainstorming session to date.

I know I like guacamole on sandwiches, so I started thinking about the next logical step up... hamburgers. Ah, my quest was finally starting to take shape.  I quickly Googled the combination and found that I wasn't the first person to have this idea.  With the knowledge that others had tried the combo and lived to blog about it, I went ahead with my experiment. I wasn't really sure what to put on the burger besides the guacamole, so I went with cheese, guacamole, lettuce and tomato. I omitted the other condiments as well as the pickles because that just seemed yucky. I know my guacamole already had tomato in it, but I really heart those red globes of deliciousness.

The end result was nothing short of a victory. Guacamole not only makes a good sandwich condiment, it also makes an excellent burger condiment. Try it the next time you get a craving for a hamburger and see what you've been missing out on!

Dinner Rut

I've been in a dinner rut lately. Its been an endless cycle of the same foods over and over again and my family is getting a little sick of the lack of variety. With that being said, I decided it was high time to get a little more adventurous in the kitchen.

Before the kids were born I used to have "fun food Fridays" and "Easy Wednesdays". On fun food Friday I would try a new recipe, a new main ingredient or a new take on an old favorite. It didn't matter, as long as it was new.  On Easy Wednesday it was my day off. We'd have something easy like chicken nuggets, sandwiches or leftovers. The mid-week break was a nice way to re-start my system and keep me from getting burned out.  I don't know why these things stopped when the kids were born, but they did.

So I'm bringing them back!  This Friday we'll be experimenting with Perch. It's a type of fish that we've never had, so it'll be interesting to see what I can come up with. If anyone reading this has had Perch, I'd love to hear what you did with it. Leave a comment and let me know!

Now, I'll leave you all with a challenge. If you find yourself in a food rut, challenge yourself to try something new every week. It doesn't have to be anything exotic, just a new dish, a new main ingredient, a new vegetable or a new style of preparing the food. Keeping your meals exciting will help keep cooking from being like a chore and it'll keep your family interested in eating.

Home Canning and BPA

The newest worry to hit the internet is the threat of BPA in food containers. It seems like everything is now labeling itself as being BPA free, even though the average consumer has no idea what BPA is or why it's bad for them.

BPA stands for Bisphenol A.  It's a chemical that is used to harden plastic or coat metal to make it rust-proof. Understandably, both of these traits are desirable in food grade containers. Unfortunately, when food comes in contact with a surface treated with BPA, the BPA can leak into the food and be taken into the body.

Once BPA enters the body, it acts like estrogen. This can lead to a variety of health problems in both men and women. It's especially dangerous for children that are still growing and developing.

So what does any of this have to do with the picture above?  Well, for years people have thought they could escape the evil food industry by growing and preserving their own foods. It seems that those people might not be as safe as they thought. Canning jars like the one pictured above have metal lids. Those metal lids are treated with BPA to make them rust-proof, so you can boil them without fear of them rusting. Where there's food and BPA there is contamination.

Before you freak out and throw away all of your hard work, know that the risk of BPA contamination from home canned foods is extremely low. If you handle your jars correctly and always store them in an upright manner, the number of times food comes in contact with the lid can be limited. This will also limit the amount of opportunities BPA has to leak into your foods.

Home canning is still safer than commercially prepared foods, but if you are still worried about BPA contamination, you can always use a reusable lid made of another material, such as Tattler canning lids. These types of lids are BPA free and they will last for the lifetime of the jar. They cost more initially, but after a few seasons, the cost evens out.

If you're concerned about BPA, you should educate yourself as much as possible and then look for alternative ways to minimize the risk to your family. Vigilance now will pay off with a future of good health.

If you would like to learn more about home canning, please visit http://www.balljellyjars.com or http://www.howtocanning.com.

Party Planning

So this weekend my husband and I are hosting yet another party. This time it's just a casual gathering with college friends, so I don't feel the need for a real formal meal. That being said, I thought I'd toss out some ideas that I have for my party to inspire others looking for some easy (and cheap) food options.

Hot Appetizers

• stuffed mushrooms
• buffalo bites (chicken nuggets coated in hot wing sauce)
• spinach and artichoke dip
• 7 layer dip/taco dip
• crab dip
• bruschetta
• cocktail wieners in a BBQ/pineapple sauce

Cold Appetizers

• veggie tray
• fruit salad
• chips & dip
• shrimp ring
• chex mix
• crackers & cheese 

 Like I said, I don't plan on doing a formal meal, but I may throw together a turkey to 1.) keep the oven going and 2.) provide a source for fresh meat for sandwiches. It all depends on the price of turkeys at the store. Not to mention, I didn't get a chance to cook a turkey last year.  :-) If I do make a turkey, I'll probably serve it for hot open-faced turkey sandwiches with plenty of yummy gravy.

Another thing that happens when we have parties is that at least a handful of people wind up crashing in our living room.  That means I have to serve breakfast the next day.  Continental style breakfast is usually my preferred choice, with fruit, scrambled eggs, toast/bagels, sausage, bacon and fried potatoes.  Setting the oven to 250 degrees is the easiest way to keep the meats & potatoes warm while you cook the eggs. It also dries the grease off the bacon and finishes crisping it up.