Dinner Tonight

Dinner Tonight

Healthy Cooking for a Healthy Texas

Tapioca

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Tapioca is a starchy product made from cassava plants. There are 3 main types of Tapioca, which is your favorite?

Instant:

  • Best for puddings
  • Easy to find in grocery stores
  • Easy to use
  • Coarsely ground
  • Precooked

Pearls:

  • Best for pies or puddings
  • Pearls come in different sizes
  • Pearls must be soaked for hours before cooking
  • Most commonly found in bubble tea

Starch:

  • Also called tapioca flour
  • Can be used as a thickening agent
  • Dissolves quickly
  • Substitute for cornstarch and arrowroot
  • Gluten Free
  • Commonly used in flat breads

 

Check out our recipe for Tropical Tapioca Pudding!

Water

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Take a look at some of the amazing vital functions of H20.

A human body is made up of approximately 60% water and is responsible for numerous vital functions in the body.

  • regulate your body temperature
  • helps your body digest food and absorb nutrients
  • helps flush out waste
  • moistens oxygen for breathing
  • lubricates your joints
  • water makes up 75% of your brain, 75% of your muscles, 22% of your bones, and 83% of your blood

 

To prevent dehydration you need to drink an adequate amount of water per day.

The recommended amount of water per day is EIGHT, 8 ounce glasses which is 2 liters, or half a gallon.  If you are not drinking enough water, your body will begin to give you some warning signs. Some of the most common signs of dehydration are feeling tired, overheated, chronic joint pain, and headaches.  Take a look at other signs and keep hydrated, especially during the summer heat.

  • Feel Hungry? Drink Water! It’s easy to confuse being thirsty with being hungry.
  • Children gain heat faster than adults when the outside temperature is higher than their body temperature.
  • Your body is telling you it’s thirsty when you are dehydrated.
  • Check the color of your urine. The ideal color is a very pale yellow. The more transparent, the more hydrated you are.
  • Drink plenty of water before and during physical activity. Sweat = water loss
  • Research suggests drinking water can contribute to a healthy weight loss plan.

Check out our Watermelon & Lime or Cucumber & Lime Aguas Frescas. An exciting way to make water delicious. Find a complete list of our drinks and hydrating recipes to beat the heat this summer!

Stove and Oven Safety

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Stove and oven Safety

  1. Cook with Care-

-Never leave cooking unattended. Turn pot handles inward so that they are not pulled or knocked over. Position your oven racks before pre-heating to prevent burns.

  1. Keep Loose Items Away

– You should tie back long hair, roll up long sleeves, and remove any loose jewelry.  Keep loose items, like towels or oven mitts, away from your cooking area as these can ignite and cause a fire.

  1. Protect Your Home from Fires

– Purchase a fire extinguisher to keep near your cooking area and install a smoke detector in your kitchen to help keep your kitchen safe from fires.

  1. Create a Child-Free (and Pet) Zone

-Setting a “Kid-Free” or “ Pet – Free” zone or using a baby gate can help keep children and pets away from your stove or oven to avoid injuries or accidents.

  1. Turn Off and Check Cooking Appliances

Make sure your stove burners and oven are off. Remove all items from stop top and inside oven. An oven should never be used for storage.

Banana

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Bananas are a delicious healthy and readily available fruit! Learning more about them can help you incorporate them into your diet in a healthy way.

Do you have last minute plans to bake but don’t have any ripe bananas on hand? No worries! Here’s a trick on how to quickly ripen a banana.

  1. Preheat oven to 300 Degrees F.
  2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  3. Separate bananas and place on the baking sheet.
  4. Place bananas in the oven and let them bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until soft.
  5. Let bananas cool for 5 to 10 minutes before using.

Note: some bananas may leak and time will very on size and amount of bananas.

Grating vs. Shredding

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Recipes can be confusing, especially for those who are just starting to cook.  Cooking terminology is not as easy to comprehend or implement. Thus, learning a few new cooking terms can help improve your cooking skills.  In many recipes, grating and shredding will pop-up.  Even though, both words appear to be the same; they look entirely different.  Grating looks like choppy short fragments while shredding looks like long strips; however, both use the same kitchen equipment/tools.  So no worries, no need to buy another kitchen appliance/utensil. You can use what you have! Plus, knowing the difference between these two cooking skills will help you be more proficient in the kitchen.

Shred Away with These Nifty Tools

Anyway you shred it – gets the job done! A box grater, hand grater, or food processor can shred the vegetables that you need. These tools are best used on root based and non-leafy veggies.

Before shredding,

  • Wash vegetables.
  • Pell vegetables, if needed.
  • Push the veggies along the holes, if using a box or hand grater.
  • Make a top-down notion – starting from the top and moving down.
  • Be careful with your fingers!

When vegetables get too small to shred, simply cut the piece with a knife to prevent your fingers from getting scraped.




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