I’ve posted on other blogs about my desire to go solar as far as home power is concerned. This means starting small with things that are affordable, such as solar powered lawn lights, solar battery chargers, and the like. I’d like to cook, light, and heat or cool my home using alternative energy sources. I’d also like our PC networked to our laptops in some way that’s compatible with the solar dream I have, so I wonder if using fiber optic cables might be a good solution.

I want the PC to be in the kitchen since I have so many recipes on it, but routing is currently a problem for me. I’m not the most tech minded person on the planet, but I’m willing to learn!

Technorati Tags: solar, home power, alternative energy sources, kitchen, recipes

I just wanted to point you to Halloween Costume, Chili Recipe, and Crustless Pumpkin Pie. This is my sister’s blog and she’s posted a really funny picture along with the recipes mentioned in the post title.

Halloween was traditionally our family day to get together for chili, caramel apples, and popcorn balls. Sadly, as the years have gone by and children grown and moved out, that tradition has pretty much gone by the wayside for most of the family as they begin their own new traditions. Still, my Sis continues this in her home as she always has since she’s really the one who started it all off for us!

Technorati Tags: Halloween, caramel apples, popcorn balls

Eventually, your refrigerator, and mine, will either quit completely or become such an ineffective appliance to keep around that you’ll be shopping for a new one. Large appliance purchases are not undertaken lightly. I research everything I buy, and this would especially apply to purchasing something like a refrigerator.

First of all, I want to know that what I’m buying has a good warranty against defects, and that the warranty isn’t so flimsy that it will be discarded by the dealer at the first sign of trouble. I also want to know that the appliance I purchase has a good energy rating, so my electric bill doesn’t start to skyrocket. Additionally, I want to purchase locally and save the money I’d have to pay for shipping from some other location.

If I were interested in General Electric Refrigerators, I’d want the above standards met. Finding just the right dealer, though, can be a problem. Krillion.com offers to simplify my search and show me the local stores that sell these refrigerators.

Like most people, while I have good internet access and can research for reviews of appliances, I’d still want to buy them in my hometown, if at all possible. I believe in supporting local merchants. They are our neighbors, after all, and their contribution to the community often extends beyond the front door of their businesses.

Technorati Tags: refrigerator, appliance, shopping, Krillion.com

When Brandon and I sat down to eat lunch yesterday, I discovered I was completely out of butter. To most, that might not seem like a big deal, but it’s a very big deal to me. I did have some margarine, and tried that on my biscuit. Yuck!

What I have is a “light” margarine that comes in sticks. It’s fairly soft right out of the refrigerator. This is possible because some liquid has been whipped into it during processing. However, this margarine won’t even melt on a piping hot biscuit.

I’ve found that margarine, even full fat, is hard to melt. It takes a much higher temperature to melt it than it does to melt real butter. Not only that, but the taste of butter is so much more pleasant than margarine.

Now, I’ve read reports about butter and how bad it’s supposed to be for your cholesterol. My question is, just how much are people eating of it that it causes them cholesterol issues?

A pound of real butter lasts a long time here because I don’t use it for every little thing. However, it’s the only thing I do use on my biscuits and some other foods. Real butter will melt practically at room temperature. I’d much rather have butter in my body than the plastic popularly known as margarine!

Now, margarine is not really one molecule away from being plastic. That is an urban legend that persists throughout the ‘net. The fact is, both are fats and can cause you health problems if not used in moderation. However, it is true that margarine often has trans-fats, where butter does not. This applies to the high-fat sticks of margarine. Newer, softer varieties don’t contain dangerous trans-fats.

The real issue with me is the flavor, and the tenderness that butter lends to cookies and other pastries. Real butter simply tastes better than margarine, in my opinion, so it’s my spread of choice.

I’ll be picking up some butter and some goat milk at the grocery store today.

Technorati Tags: butter, margarine, plastic, trans-fats

Without a doubt, eating at home is my preference. I can maintain more control of the ingredients when cooking at home and sometimes avoid a lot of the additives that are found in restaurant prepared foods or convenience foods. Still, it’s a good idea to only have foods at home that are “close to the earth”. In other words, fresh foods instead of packaged ones.

Now, I do like to eat out so don’t get me wrong. As much as anyone, I enjoy a meal prepared by someone else’s hands from time to time, and I don’t have to clean up the mess. I don’t have to have Las Vegas hotel reservations to enjoy some fine eateries locally. I just have to be more selective in my dining out choices.

Technorati Tags: ingredients, additives, restaurant, convenience foods

It’s extremely difficult these days to avoid food additives. Anything produced commercially is likely to have them, including preservatives.

Preservatives are added to inhibit spoilage or preserve color. This makes the food last longer in storage, on the shelf, and at home. Preservative free foods don’t last as long and must be discarded sooner. While on the surface, this sounds like a good thing to have in your food the preservatives that keep food from spoiling are being put into your body when you eat the food. Some of these preservatives have proved to be dangerous yet instead of being forbidden, they are merely limited.

BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) was found to cause cancer in laboratory animals when dosed at high rates. Related to BHA is BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene). The jury is still out on this because it’s assumed humans cannot consume the high amount of BHA necessary to develop cancer. Bear in mind, it’s still in your foods such as oils, cereals, and other foods. You have to decide if it’s worth the risk to consume foods that contain BHA.

Sulfites have been show to cause severe reactions in asthmatic persons besides stripping food of its nutrients. Some people may have milder reactions and not seek medical help because they don’t associate it with the food they’ve eaten. Sulfites can be found under various names.

• sulfur dioxide
• sodium sulfite
• sodium and potassium bisulfite
• sodium and potassium metabisulfite

Symptoms of sulfite sensitivity can range from difficulty breathing to stomachache and hives to anaphylactic shock. Read the package labels of foods you buy to try to avoid this additive!

The information I gave you is from an FDA publication. Because the FDA is known to be slow in revising regulations and outlawing things that are bad for us, it’s our responsibility to avoid them if at all possible and maintain our own health guidelines.

Technorati Tags: food additives, preservatives, BHA, cancer, BHT, Sulfites, sulfite sensitivity, FDA

Just quickly wanted to tell you about a great cooking blog I just found called The Cheap Gourmet. The first thing you’ll probably notice there is a free download for some delicious pumpkin recipes! I downloaded it and am ready now to make a grocery list for ingredients. Especially for the Pumpkin Dip!

Of course, that’s not all that’s on the blog, but it’s certainly appropriate for the fall of the year.

We love pumpkin. I used to buy two or three every year at this time, clean out the cavity, and bake them until they collapsed. Then it was easy to scoop out the pulp and put it in the freezer in 1 cup portions for use in breads, pies, cookies, and other great treats.

Technorati Tags: pumpkin recipes, pumpkin

Almost every grocery item you buy has some kind of food additives in it. From dyes to preservatives to thickeners, a person can barely buy any food that hasn’t been treated in some way to make it taste better, last longer, have a certain consistency, or have an expected appearance. Foods are full of artificial flavors when they could be full of the flavors from whatever they’re named for.

Did you realize that Lemon Joy dish washing liquid has real lemon juice in it, but lemon pudding has artificial flavoring? Kind of an upside-down way of doing things, don’t you think?

My sister is allergic to yellow dyes found in hundreds of food items. I’m talking about getting hives, intestinal distress, and even to the point of nearly blocked air passages. In fact, she carries and Epi-pen in case she gets some yellow dye unexpectedly and has a severe reaction. You can read more about that on her Sixty Something blog.

Some foods are colored with annatto or turmeric, which are a much safer alternative and still lend the yellow color that may be desired. Grape skins, beets, saffron, carotene, and other natural color producers are available in abundant supply. However, I have to ask why we demand these colors in the first place?

A home made yellow cake gets its color from the yolks of the eggs put into it. But a boxed yellow cake mix, which calls for whole eggs, has yellow dye in it. Why? It’s absolutely not necessary.

Yellow dye, or any other color, isn’t really needed if the food contains the real ingredients it’s supposed to have anyway. The intensity of the color of foods we cook is naturally far less than in foods that are processed into a veritable rainbow of colors through false means.

If my own sister has this problem with yellow dyes, and we all remember the F,D, & C Red #5 fiasco of a number of years ago, then maybe we consumers should be more demanding and selective in our food choices. You can read more about food dyes at the FDA’s own site, including their findings on the allergic reactions resulting from ingesting yellow dye #5.

Technorati Tags: grocery, food additives, dyes, preservatives, artificial flavors, yellow dyes, annatto, turmeric, F, D, & C Red #5

If for no other reason than the name of this blog, Noshtalgia, you should really go visit and read the commentary and recipes. She has posted some wonderful sounding recipes for candies, vegetables, and more there!

One of the most unusual I found was Mashed Potato Candy. I’ve heard of this but never have made it yet. However, it looks yummy and sounds even yummier, so I’m going to have to get busy making some just to try it!

Technorati Tags: recipes, candies, vegetables

I have been a fan of Celestial Seasonings herbal teas for many, many years. I keep a supply of Sleepytime and one of the Zingers on hand all the time. This is the time of year when I especially enjoy them, since it’s getting rather cool at night.

Today, while shopping, I picked up a box of Wild Berry Zinger and was pleasantly surprised to learn that they have partnered with The Heart Truth to promote women’s heart health. Herbal teas are a great way to help your heart since there’s no caffeine in them. Right now, on specially marked packages of the teas, there’s an offer to get a free Red Dress pin. I like the idea that they’ve teamed up with The Heart Truth to help women improve their heart health.

The symptoms of heart disease in women isn’t the same as in men. That’s why a heart attack is often missed when a woman goes to the doctor with complaints of fatigue, sleep disturbances, shortness of breath, anxiety, and other symptoms. Many women never even experience chest pain with a heart attack, and the unusual symptoms may manifest themselves as much as a month before the attack occurs.

Women die of heart attacks needlessly because of the wide variance of symptoms. Do all you can to keep your heart healthy. If you think you have the symptoms of female heart disease, insist that your doctor test you. If you wind up in the ER, have someone intercede to insist that they test you there. You are your own best advocate when it comes to your health.

Technorati Tags: Celestial Seasonings, herbal teas, women’s heart health, The Heart Truth, heart disease