A crock pot or a slow cooker is an instrument which makes the process of cooking food more convenient and also helps to reduce the time involved in performing the process of cooking. The ingredients required to cook the meal can be placed in the cooker in the morning and the food is cooked and ready to be served once you return from work in the evening. This slow cooker also helps to retain the nutritive content of the food that is being cooked. Since the food is being cooked slowly, the vitamins, minerals and the other nourishment contained in the food is not lost.

Food will be even tastier when it is cooked inside a slow cooker or a crock-pot. The flavor of the food that is cooked can be enjoyed since it still contains the goodness of the herbs and the stock that have been used for cooking the meal. The meat that is cooked in a crock-pot also becomes nice, soft and tender due to the moist heat. The cooker should be functioning in a proper manner and the rules regarding cooking using a slow cooker should be followed correctly. This makes the food that is cooked perfectly safe and bacteria free.

Cheap cuts of red meat and white meat get cooked in a much better manner when they cooked in a slow cooker. They also help in saving money compared to expensive cuts of meat. The fat content in cheap cuts of meat is much less than that of expensive cuts of meat. This reduced fat content makes them suitable to be cooked in a slow cooker. A time period of eight hours is required to cook meat properly in a slow cooker.

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Pizza can be a high-fat item if it’s loaded with cheese and meat. The Center for Science in the Public Interest found that a typical slice of pizza with pepperoni or sausage has about the same amount of salt and calories as a large burger or a breakfast egg sandwich. Three slices of the most popular pizza at Pizza Hut - the Pan Pepperoni Pizza - clocks in at 690 calories, 1,620 milligrams of sodium and 33 grams of fat.

“More cheese on your pizza means more crust in your arteries,” said CSPI nutritionist Jayne Hurley. CSPI, the group that warned us about the fat in movie popcorn, also isn’t fond of stuffed crusts. “You need cheese stuffed into a pizza crust like you need reverse liposuction to force more fat under your skin,” the center warned in its newsletter. So nutritionists probably won’t be any happier about Papa Murphy’s new Deeper Dish Take ‘N’ Bake Pizza, which boasts more cheese and toppings than regular pizzas.

Pizzas that rated the group’s approval include Hand Tossed Veggie Lover’s pizza from Pizza Hut, Papa John’s Original Crust Garden Special and California Pizza Kitchen’s Tricolore Salad Pizza. Some tips from CSPI and the American Institute for Cancer Research for putting your pizza on a diet:

• Pick healthy toppings. Veggies are best. Second best is chicken or ham. Pepperoni has less fat than sausage or beef.
• Order your pizza with half the usual amount of cheese - or no cheese at all.
• Order a side salad so you can cut down on the amount of pizza you eat and have a healthier meal.
• Shirk the side orders. Other than salads, side items like cheese bread and buffalo wings do more damage.
• If you’re making a pizza at home, sprinkle on part-skim mozzarella or another low-fat cheese.
• Make a Mexican pizza with beans, salsa, low-fat cheese and chopped oregano or cilantro.

Sixty-five to 85 percent of cancers are believed to be caused by lifestyle choices, including alcohol and tobacco use, sun exposure, physical activity level and the quantity and kinds of foods we eat. What you eat can influence your risk of getting cancer. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, up to 35 percent of all cancers may be related to diet. Thus, you can reduce your risk of developing certain types of cancer by simply changing your eating habits.

You don’t have to give up the foods you like to help protect yourself from cancer. Instead, choose “more often” the foods that might reduce your risks of cancer and choose “less often” the foods that might increase your risks of cancer.

Keep in mind, no single food can prevent cancer; no single dietary slip will cause cancer. However, making positive choices in your diet every day can promote good nutrition and good health and can reduce your risk of some types of cancer.

The American Cancer Society publishes nutrition guidelines to advise the public about dietary practices that reduce cancer risk.

• Choose most of the foods you eat from plant sources.
• Eat five or more serving of fruits and vegetables each day. Scientific research shows that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of cancer of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts.
• Eat other foods from plant sources, such as breads, cereals, grain products or beans several times each day. Eat 6-to-11 servings a day of grains (breads, cereals, grain products, rice and foods made from them).
• Choose whole grains in preference to processed grains, and select beans as an alternative to meat. Grains are an important source of many vitamins and minerals, which are associated with a lower risk of colon cancer.
• Limit your intake of high-fat foods, particularly from animal sources. High-fat diets have been associated with an increase in the risk of cancers of the rectum, prostate and endometrium.
  Choose foods low in fat. If you eat luncheon and variety meats, choose those that are labeled “reduced fat content”.
• Limit consumption of meats, especially high-fat meats. To reduce the fat in your diet, choose more often the lean cuts of beef, lamb and pork and less often the high-fat cuts. Trim away all the fat you can see before you cook the meat and again before you eat it.
• Be physically active: Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
• Be at least moderately active for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week.
• Stay within your healthy weight range.
• Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages, if you drink at all. Risk of cancer increases with the amount of alcohol consumed and may start to rise with as few as two drinks a day.

Potassium works with sodium to regulate muscle contractions and nerve impulse transmissions. What this means is potassium helps your heart to contract, your lungs to breathe in and out, your eyes to blink, your stomach to digest and your fingers to touch-tone a phone or Palm Pilot. Pretty important stuff!

The major sources of potassium are fruits and vegetables. Nature was kind enough to provide guidance in this area. The deeper orange a fruit or vegetable is, the more potassium usually is contained. Many people think they must eat only bananas or orange juice to get their daily potassium. Not so! The list includes sweet potatoes, winter squash (such as Hubbard or banana squash), raspberries, cantaloupe, mango and mango nectar, fresh and dried peaches and apricots, honeydew, Casaba and Persian melon and tomato, tomato salsa and tomato juice.

However, nature is allowed to be a bit deceptive. Sometimes natural advertising is subtle. Mushrooms, cooked beans and dried peas, peanut butter, figs, avocados, salmon and dairy products are also good sources of potassium, though they lack orange or red coloring.

Potassium is a water-soluble mineral. This means it is easily washed out of your system. To keep your heart beating and your eyes blinking, eat several servings of potassium-rich foods every day.

Get your fill

These foods have 300 or more milligrams of potassium per serving:

- 8 ounces whole, low-fat, nonfat milk and buttermilk
- 3 ounces cooked beef, liver, pork, canned salmon, chicken and veal
- 4 ounces dried apricots, raisins or prunes, 1 medium banana, 1/2 small cantaloupe or honeydew, 2 ounces dried dates and figs, fresh peaches and apricots, 1/2 medium avocado
- 4 ounces cooked beans
- 10 fresh mushrooms
- 3 tablespoons peanut butter
- 1 baked potato
- 1 baked sweet potato
- 1 medium tomato
- 6 ounces canned tomato juice
- 1 cup cold all-bran cereal

Consider the typical restaurant meal: a large piece of meat draped over the plate and an 8-ounce potato swimming in butter and sour cream served on the side. Other vegetables and fruits appear as a garnish - if they are present at all.

This is America’s concept of dinner. Small wonder we’re growing larger by the minute.

What if you could sit down to a full plate and get up from the table satisfied, yet still lose weight? That is the promise of the Perfect Portions Diet Dish, a weight-management tool invented by Akron-area dietitian Kim Gorman and her partner, Jaime Brenkus, a Willoughby personal trainer who is spokesman for the product.

“I lost 24 pounds with it after the birth of my second son,” says Gorman, whose before and after photos appear in the product’s promotional materials. She used the dish to control the “grazing” she
did at home with two small children.

The product consists of a segmented see-through plastic dish, base, cover and preprinted discs that fit between the dish and base. The diner selects a disc for breakfast, lunch or dinner - for a beef or Italian meal, for instance - and then fills the compartments based on instructions on the disc. The lid ensures that food is not heaped up too high. Properly filled, each plate provides about 500 calories, with portions and proportions consistent with the food pyramid and U.S. dietary guidelines.

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If you want to make rice the right way every time, you may want to invest in a rice cooker. But even if you don’t have one or can’t afford one yet, don’t worry! Here’s a fail proof recipe for cooking perfect rice. It’s perfect when cooking seasoned rice dishes, because a broth or soup can be used instead of water, and various ingredients can be added to it before boiling.

This recipe makes 4 servings (4 rice bowls).

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 short pot (or 1 large saucepan)
2 cups of white rice (preferably glutinous, Persian or converted - depending on how sticky you want the rice)
2 tablespoons of margarine, butter, vegetable oil or rendered fat
3 or 3.5 cups water or broth
salt, to taste

Preparation:

1. Place the rice at the bottom of the saucepan and rinse it by washing it with cold water, and then pouring off the cloudy water. Repeat for a few times, until the water is clear and you can recognize the rice grains through the water. Pour off the last rinse.
2. Put your middle finger in the saucepan until it touches the bottom. Pour in broth or water until it reaches the second line of your finger.
3. Add the oil/butter/margarine and salt to taste.
4. Place on the stove and cover loosely (there should be about a centimeter of space between the edge of the saucepan and the side of the cover.
5. Turn on the stove at low/medium heat, and leave the saucepan for about 20 minutes.
6.Check to see if the rice is done. If it’s not, leave it a little longer (checking it for every 5 minutes).
7. How to check the rice: stick a spoon in the middle, and gently push to the side. If there’s any water left, move the rice back to cover the hole (trying not to touch it too much).
8. If you run out of water before the rice is completely done (or the level of softness you desire), pour 1/4 cup of hot water in the middle of the well you made for checking, and move back the rice to cover the water.
9. When the rice is done, turn off the heat, cover it completely and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
10. Stir, then serve.

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(NC)—Around this time of year, you can’t help but find deliciously fresh, local red peppers in the market. They’re inexpensive, plentiful and provide the avid cook with endless recipe possibilities. Here is just one of the many recipes you’ll find on www.homebasics.ca for the season’s best peppers.

2 sweet red peppers
1/2 cup Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise
1/4 lb feta cheese, cubed
1/4 tsp black pepper

On a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil, broil peppers, turning frequently, about 20 minutes or until skin is blackened and blistered; wrap in foil and let stand 10 minutes.

Remove peppers from foil; peel and cut into chunks, discarding seeds and membranes. In food processor or blender, purée pepper chunks. Add mayonnaise, feta cheese and pepper; process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Serve with mini pita breads, flatbread wedges, soft bread sticks or assorted fresh vegetable pieces for dipping.

Tip: For a softer texture, allow dip to come to room temperature before serving. Substitute 1 jar (313 mL) roasted red peppers, drained, for broiled sweet red peppers.

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Tags: red peppers, peppers, vegetable, seasonal, fall, autumn, season, recipe, fall recipes, fresh

(ARA) - The start of a new school year means increasingly busy days are here. When your schedule suddenly fills with juggling work, soccer practice, PTA and carpool, the urge to grab dinner on the fly becomes more and more enticing. A few easy tips will help you get simple, delicious and healthy homemade meals on the table in no time.

Plan Ahead.
Devote one afternoon to prep for the week’s meals. Chopping and slicing ahead of time will allow you to quickly grab what you need to cook weekday meals. Trimming the minutes it usually takes to have that delicious meal on the table will leave you feeling less hurried at dinnertime.

Create Homemade Frozen Dinners.
Instead of reaching into the freezer for another expensive, prepackaged processed meal, double your favorite healthy recipes, separate into individual portions and freeze for serving later in the week. The Reynolds Handi-Vac Vacuum Food Storage System is a handheld vacuum sealer that virtually eliminates freezer burn, making it easy to store your homemade frozen dinners. This makes for a less expensive and healthier alternative when dinnertime is tight. These good-for-you meals on the go are also perfect as an easy lunch to take to work.

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(ARA) - Each back-to-school season, parents arm children with tools necessary to build a lifetime of knowledge. But children need to develop more than their minds to lead a long and healthy life - they need to develop strong bones, too.

This year, parents can send kids back to school with the tools necessary to build strong minds and strong bones by following a handful of useful nutrition strategies. Ninety percent of girls and 75 percent of boys ages 9 to 13 do not get the 1,300 milligrams of daily calcium recommended, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. What’s more, the majority of parents (60 percent) aren’t sure how much calcium their kids get each day, according to a 2007 survey by independent research firm Opinion Research Corporation More than 30 percent of surveyed parents mistakenly believed their children needed less than half of the daily recommended amount.

Parents have an opportunity to become better educated about bone health in order to effectively increase their kids’ bone mass. Bringing bone-healthy foods into the home is one simple step parents can take to help their kids build and maintain strong bones.

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(ARA) - The haggling over school snacks and lunches is as old as, well, school lunches.

On one hand, children want to enjoy the foods they eat while in school. On the other, parents - not to mention teachers - want to ensure that students eat the right things to sustain them through a long day, and beyond that, for a long life. Many snack companies are joining with parents, teachers and healthcare professionals to battle the rising tide of childhood obesity. New products, ranging from bagged apple slices to fortified breads, reflect innovations in product development designed to satisfy both finicky kids and concerned adults.

Portion control and calorie counting are key elements of weight control. With this in mind, many companies, including Snyder’s of Hanover, have started to introduce 100-calorie packs. These packs mix the power of portion control with convenience and kid-friendly appeal.

In time for back-to-school season, Snyder’s of Hanover is adding two MultiGrain Sunflower Chip varieties to its line of 100-calorie snack packs: French Onion and Southwestern Cheddar. The wholesome, all-natural snacks provide up to 6 grams of whole grains per serving. Whole grains are the building block of government dietary recommendations.

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