#which goes well with almost any type of meat. bbq sauce

[kasumichow]

Hot Pepper Jelly BBQ Sauce - Side Dish - Sauces

[finger2fist]

Hot Pepper Jelly BBQ Sauce Making homemade barbecue sauce is simple when you use this recipe for hot pepper jelly barbecue sauce, which goes well with almost any type of meat.

[shelbywanders]

Less than $100/wk on groceries?!

If you’re anything like me, you don’t like wasting your money. You have to get your money’s worth, or it’s not worth it at all. One of my biggest struggles was grocery shopping. I HATED spending so much money on food that would just be gone in a couple of days! Dropping $200 on food a week was NOT my cup of tea, but hey, you have to eat! And grocery stores are just so tempting...

Right now, it’s just me & my fiance that eat the food. We have a four-month-old who is exclusively breastfed, and we also use cloth diapers, so we literally don’t spend any money on her when it comes to groceries! I know, love it while it lasts, right?! Even though it’s just the two of us, we were still spending way too much for my liking on groceries. But now I’ve gone from paying almost $200 a week on groceries to less than $100. And when I mean groceries, that includes all household items and toiletries. So really, I spend about $50-$60 on just food a week! How do I do it? Well honestly, there’s not a lot of tricks to it!

First things first, what are we eating this week? That’s the first question I ask myself when I go to make my grocery shopping list. Wait, back up. You don’t make a list? There’s your first problem! 

Lists are VITAL to spending less money at the grocery store. Lists aren’t just great to remember things that you need to get. They serve other purposes too! I easily spend 50 bucks over my budget if I go into the store without a list prepared so now I won’t be caught dead without one. You might think that it’s silly to need such a thing, I mean come on. You’re an adult. Lists are for children. No! Listen, lists help keep my life together! When we go to the store, our eyes wander everywhere. They land on things that tempt us. You really didn’t plan on buying donuts at the store, but you spotted some, and they look soooo good..now you want them! When you write down only the things that you need, it’s easier to bypass the things that tempt you in the store. When you’re shopping from a list, your attention is focusing on the things on the paper. Therefore, you spend money on only the things you need this week and less on random items that just catch your attention when you don’t know exactly what you need. It might seem crazy that just a simple task like making a list can save you money, but you would be surprised! If you currently don’t make a list before you shop, I highly suggest to try it out and see how it goes for you! 

So now we know we need to make a list. But what goes on it? It’s time to make a menu! It’s easy to forget things when we just make a list out of thin air. This is where Pinterest comes in so handy. Pinterest is a social media platform where people share recipes, home decoration ideas, inspiration for crafts and so much more. The first thing I do is get on over to Pinterest to help come up with new and easy recipes for dinners. I plan out my days and decide on what we’re going to have each day. 

I am a sucker for cheap and easy meals. I mean, I have a baby, and I don’t have time to cook a dinner that takes an hour to prep and then another hour to cook. I have come up with so many dinners that are less than $10, and pretty much all of them take less than 30 minutes to make from start to finish. Some dishes take an hour to cook, but only a few minutes to prep. Those types of meals are my favorites! The only reason why I suggest Pinterest is because if you’re like me, I am not creative in the kitchen. I can cook just about anything, but if I don’t have a recipe, I have no idea where to start! I also hate having the same things over and over again, it just gets boring! It’s so easy for me to go onto Pinterest, search cheap dinner recipes and find so many different recipes to try out that don’t break the bank and help switch it up a bit to keep things fun and exciting in the kitchen! 

Once I find my 7 dinner meals, I go to each one of them, and that’s how I form my list. I figure out what I need for each meal, take out what I already have at home and configure a shopping list from that. This way, I’m not just buying random things that I think I might or might not use this week. After I make my list from the recipes, I go back and add the rest of the foods I know we’ll need and then all the rest like household items and toiletries. Things that I usually add for example would be like eggs, milk, and bread. Cereal for breakfasts and lunch meat for lunches. You know, things that we use every week and that I know I need to buy no matter what the menu is. 

I do realize that many people do this with their shopping lists. They know what they want to make, so people make a list of things that they need to get so that they can make it. It’s not unheard of! I used to do this too, but I would never make an actual menu for the whole week and plan my entire day out foodwise. Until I started to do that, I was still spending more money than what I wanted. 

Making your menu

It doesn’t stop there! When I make my menu for the week, not only do I try to find cheap and easy recipes to follow, I try to find things that the items that I buy for one recipe will be used in another recipe too. For example, if I plan on making chili one night and I need to buy say, tomatoes, onions, and ground beef for it, I know I want to also make tacos another night so that I can use half of the tomatoes, onions and ground beef that I bought for chili for tacos too! I can buy one bigger can of tomatoes for .89 cents and split it and use it for two different meals. It’s all about looking at different recipes and seeing how you can save yourself a couple of bucks by buying bigger packages of items but using them for multiple meals. 

Doing your shopping

Stores are different around the world. In my city, the biggest grocery stores that we have are Walmart, Kroger, Meijer and Aldi’s. I have shopped at all of them to compare them, and I always come back to Kroger and Aldi’s. When I do my shopping, I buy everything except protein (all the meats) at Kroger and I buy my protein at Aldi’s. Why? Because have you been to Aldi’s before?! Their protein is super cheap! Sure, it might sound annoying having to go to two different places for groceries, but I save $50 bucks easily by getting my protein at Aldi’s rather than just getting them at Kroger. So don’t be afraid to check out other grocery stores in your area and compare and contrast the prices! It might be worth it to go to two different places if you’re saving money! It is to me. 

When I shop, I always buy the generic version as they are pretty much always the cheaper option. I know, the word generic sounds ugly. But honestly, most of the generic versions are still basically the same as the fancy name brand stuff! Besides, I just can’t get myself to buy something that is X amount of money when I know there’s a cheaper option available. But that’s just me! I mentioned earlier that I don’t do any couponing. Every now and then, I’ll have a coupon that I’ll use but other than that I don’t use any. Should I? Probably! But what I do pay attention to is sales. Sales! Sales! Sales! Kroger has a lot of great deals which helps my budget a lot. Never ignore the sales! 

Getting home

Wait, you mean there’s more to saving money after the shopping is done? Yes! You’ve done your shopping, you’re tired, you’re ready for a bath & some wine, but you have more money saving things to do! When I used to grocery shop, I would buy one of those big things of chicken breasts (you know, the ones that look like this)

And I would just keep it like that. It wasn’t until I started portioning out my meats (therefore portioning all my meals out) that I started saving a lot of money. Not only do I portion all my meats out, but I also cut them in half. I mean those chicken breasts are HUGE! I buy the big thing of chicken, take each chicken breast and slice em in half and make twice as many meals as leaving them whole! And trust me, they are still big enough for a meal! I portion them out for two in a freezer bag. When we need to buy pork, we always buy a pork loin and then I cut them into chops if I need them or just leave it as a loin. I do the same thing when I portion them. Each meal gets its own bag. With a pork loin that costs 5-10 bucks (depending on the sale that week), you can make 3-4 meals out of it! When I need to buy ground beef, I buy the big 5 lb rolls and cut them in thirds or in half, depending on what I am using the beef for.  These are just some examples of what I do with the meats I buy! 

The last time I went to Aldi’s, I spent $11 on a pack of chicken breasts. They are huge, so we cut them in half, and after portioning them out, we had 11 meals! 11 meals for $11?! Yes, please! Not only does portioning the meals out help save you money, but it also makes thawing and preparing meals a lot easier too because all you have to do is take a bag out the freezer and into the fridge to thaw. No sorting out your meals or having to think about how much of what you’ll need. 

So there it is! How I spend less than $100 a week on groceries! No tricks or couponing. Just planning and organizing your week makes such a difference in the money that you’re spending! To end this blog off, I wanted to include an example menu & list that I would use at my house to give you all a visual. 

Menu

Mon- Oven Baked Meatball Sandwiches

Tues- Creamy Swiss Chicken Bake w Buttered Noddles

Wed- Garlic Rosemary Pork Loin w Green Beans & Mashed Potatoes

Thurs- Chili

Fri- Chicken Enchiladas w White Sour Cream Sauce 

Sat- Pulled Pork Sandwiches 

Sun- Lemon Buttered Tilapia over Rice 

List

Bread for subs, pasta sauce, mozzarella, ground beef. Noodles, butter, mayo, parm cheese, sour cream, swiss cheese, chicken. Garlic, rosemary leaves, green beans, mashed potatoes (instant), pork loin. Tomatoes, onion, tomato sauce, ground beef, cheddar cheese, chili seasoning packet. Chicken broth, green chilies, tortillas, butter, mozzarella, sour cream, chicken. Hamburger buns, bbq, Worcestershire sauce, onion, chicken broth, garlic, brown sugar, pork. Lemon juice, butter, rice, tilapia. 

As you can see, there are several items for each recipe that repeats itself. I’ll use the big ground beef for both meatball sandwiches and chili. I’ll use sour cream in the swiss chicken and chicken enchiladas, also use the mozzarella with the meatball sandwiches and enchiladas, also the butter in a ton of dishes... you get the picture! All these recipes are very different from each other yet contain a lot of the same ingredients that you can use for multiple purposes.

I’ll add on any extras like cereal, milk, eggs, bread, and other drinks. Add the household things that I might need like laundry or dish detergent and then toiletries, like shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant. And then there’s my list! This was actually my grocery shopping list a few weeks ago. I spent less than $100 on it all! 

Other comments & tips! 

I realize that many people have bigger families to feed, but that’s okay! All of this can still help you. Most of the meals that I make, while there are only 2 of us, they could definitely feed more like 4 people. I make a lot so that I have leftovers that I can quickly heat up for lunch the next day! 

The thing I like the most about making lists from menus is that it is super customizable. If your budget is $200 a week, you can make a more extravagant list. If you have time in your life to make more time-consuming recipes, you can change up your menu with more ingredients too! Just because I personally like to stick with simple but tasty and fast recipes, doesn’t mean you have to! 

While I tend to buy generic items, there are plenty of ways to spice them up! I almost always buy instant mashed potatoes (I know some will cringe at this) but just add some salt & pepper, butter, garlic & sour cream & a tiny bit of cream cheese, you would think it was homemade! I buy the $1 jars of pasta sauce, add some garlic, Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese & bam! So much tastier and it’s so easy to do! 

If you’re interested in the recipes that I love to make (All under $10 and 30 minutes or less to cook!) make sure to follow me on my Pinterest to see what I pin! 

https://www.pinterest.com/shelbywanders

Thank you so much for reading! I love saving money and love to help other people do it too! After all, saving money = happy life! 

[cuisinecravings]

What is the Best Substitute for Barbecue Sauce?

Best Substitute for Barbecue Sauce? It's nearly hard not to have barbecue sauce in your kitchen. Many people like it since it can instantly bring flavor and spice to a cuisine. But what if barbeque sauce doesn't work for whatever reason? There are times when you just need to try something new, and barbecue sauce is no exception.

What is the Best Substitute for Barbecue Sauce What is the greatest barbecue sauce substitute? While there are many possibilities, hoisin sauce is often regarded as the greatest replacement for barbecue sauce. Hoisin sauce is similar to barbecue sauce in many aspects, although there are notable distinctions in flavor. However, if you want a savory flavor that will instantly spice up your food, hoisin sauce is ideal.

An Introduction to Barbecue Sauce

Barbecue sauce is a culinary staple. It is a significant ingredient that has been utilized in a variety of dishes for millennia. Interestingly, there are several types of barbecue sauce – as well as genesis tales for each. Many people think that the usage of barbecue sauce for meat eating goes back to 700 B.C., while others say it is more modern. Regardless, one thing we can all agree on is that barbecue sauce is nearly a must-have if you want to smoke or grill dessert. Barbecue sauce, with its powerful and savory flavor, instantly spices up a food. It also has a powerful aftertaste, and you may discover many versions of the sauce according on your heat and flavor preferences. Best Substitute for Barbecue Sauce Some folks prefer to prepare their own barbecue sauce from scratch. A wonderful 5-minute barbeque sauce recipe is shared by Cheap Recipe Blog.

Why Should Barbecue Sauce Be Replaced?

Barbecue sauce is quite popular, hence it is often unavailable. However, you may not always be able to obtain it fast. As a result, a replacement will have to suffice. Too much heat: Some people may not be able to tolerate the extreme heat of barbecue sauce. As a result, they will want a replacement to compensate for the loss of heat in your food.

Alternatives for Barbecue Sauce

- Best Overall Barbecue Sauce Substitute: The Hoisin Sauce - You may not be familiar with it, but hoisin sauce is a must-have. Consider this if you enjoy stir-fry recipes or simply ordinary sauce. - Hoisin sauce is a Chinese condiment. In fact, it is so close to barbecue sauce that it is sometimes referred to as "Chinese barbecue sauce." - For years, it has been used to marinade various meats, as well as as a dipping sauce and stir fry pan sauce. This gives the sauce a caramelized and thick appearance similar to barbecue sauce. While it has a similar appearance and texture to barbecue sauce, its flavor isn't nearly the same. So, if you're searching for something different to try, hoisin sauce is a good option. - Hoisin sauce, in general, has several components in common with barbecue sauce, including honey and vinegar. Sesame paste, chile, and soy sauce are among the other components present here. You don't want to be anywhere near this sauce if you can't stand the heat. It's also worth noting that hoisin sauce differs from regular barbecue sauce in terms of salt concentration. - Hoisin sauce complements any grilled or smoked dish. It's a great voice for anyone who like spicy food, and it sounds a lot like various barbecue sauces.

Mustard Sauce is the best non-savor substitute.

Mustard sauce is one of those items that almost everyone has in their pantry. However, you may not be aware of what it does. Most people associate mustard sauce with burgers, hot dogs, and other foods. However, in recent years, the sauce has been utilized in savory foods as well. Because of its golden appearance and savory flavor, some people refer to mustard sauce as "golden BBQ sauce." The trick in many recipes is the dijon mustard, which provides enough heat for the sauce to stand out. Most mustard sauces that may be used in place of barbecue sauce contain components such as ketchup, honey, apple cider vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. These elements bring out various attributes like as color, flavor, and texture. In general, mustard sauce may add much-needed acidity to your cuisine. It works for a variety of meals, including beef, pork, and even chicken. While mustard sauce may not be as delicious as classic barbecue sauce, it is a good replacement.

Dry Spice Rub is the best non-sauce substitute.

If you're bored of using sauces in general, you may try a dry spice rub. This is particularly true if you enjoy chicken ribs. When you've got dry spice rub, you don't need all the sauce. The flavors of dry spice rub and barbecue sauce are comparable. Both have a delicious flavor that you'll enjoy, and they may quickly improve a meal when added. Your beef dish won't have the classic shimmering shine with dry spice rub, but it will taste better. There are various elements in dry spice rub, including salt, pepper, paprika, and brown sugar. However, certain foundation recipes may use extra dry spices, such as chili powder and red pepper flakes. If you're truly ready to mix things up, opt for dry spice rubs that include garlic powder and onions. However, regardless of the mix, a dry spice rub will add a lot of flavor to your cuisine. It works well with meat, seafood, and even certain grilled meals, and it will provide a memorable dinner. Related Articles :- - What is the Best Substitute for Sunflower Seeds? - What is the Best Substitute for Black Beans? - What is the Best Substitute for Kaffir Lime Leaves? - What Happens If You Forgot Baking Powder? - Is Chicken Considered a Meat? - Cereal With Water Instead Of Milk? Read the full article

[thenervouskitchen]

Poppin’ Fresh BBQ Cups

This recipe is as delicious as the name is corny.

This is one of the first recipes I ever learned to cook for myself. It was passed down from my grandma to my mom, and then to me. I have zero idea where the original recipe came from, if there ever was one.

Why are they poppin’, you ask? Also no idea. But what I do know is that they freeze really well. After a 24-hour (or 8-hour if you forget the night before like me) defrost in the refrigerator, I cut each BBQ cup in half and microwave it on the reheat setting. Perfection.

With a small amount of prep and just a quick moment of dealing with raw meat, this recipe comes together with very little stress or mess.

Ingredients (makes 8 BBQ cups)

3/4 lb ground chicken or beef (to save myself from having to not only figure out 3/4 of a lb of a 1 lb container, but also deal with a random small amount of raw meat, I cook the full pound so I can toss the germy container it came in and wash my hands)

1/2 C your favorite BBQ sauce (I use a local favorite called Cookies)

1 Tbsp minced onion (I am the slowest chopper in the world, and I hate having onion-smelling hands, so I generally opt for dried minced onion instead)

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 can baking powder biscuits (I usually avoid the kind that “flake” and stick to the solid biscuits)

3/4 C shredded cheese (I’ve used colby jack and cheddar with success)

Cooking Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Measure out the BBQ sauce, onion (which ever type you choose) and brown sugar and set aside.

Brown your chicken or beef in a large skillet and then drain most of the fat. Don’t worry about it being cooked all the way through. It will finish cooking in the oven later. The important part is that you don’t see any pink in the meat.

Add the BBQ sauce, onion and brown sugar to the skillet and stir until combined. Remove from the heat and let it sit and incorporate together while you work on the biscuits.

Open your biscuits and press a single biscuit into a muffin tin, stretching the dough a little so it goes up the sides of each cup. You will only fill 8 cups, so spread them out. (My cat and I both hate opening these, but I haven’t found a good solution for that yet.)

Fill each biscuit cup with your BBQ meat mixture (you won’t use all of it). Be careful if you need to use your fingers because the meat will still be hot.

Top each poppin’ BBQ cup with a sprinkling of cheese.

Bake, uncovered, in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

During the baking process the biscuits will puff up, so don’t be alarmed if some of the meat falls out on to your muffin tin. It makes for a good pre-meal snack.

I have on occasion kept the extra filling that didn’t fit in the muffin tins. I almost always end up throwing it away. Do with that information what you will.

Give me a shout if you try this recipe, or if it’s already in your recipe arsenal. I’d love to know what you did to make it work best for you!

[copypastadeabobrinha]

Gochugaru Substitutes That You Can Try For Your Next Korean Dish

Are you craving for some spicy Korean food? If you want to create Korean recipes in your kitchen, then one of the ingredients that you need to have ready is gochugaru. This is a Korean spice that is made of gochu or red chili peppers. The gochu is usually sun-dried, but other brands use machines to dry this spice. Sometimes, gochugaru is confused with gochujang. While both of these spices are used to give a spicy flavor to dishes, they are different when it comes to their form. Gochujang is a chili paste that is used for marinating, and making a base for stew.

On the other hand, gochugaru is in powder form and has two types. The first kind, maewoon gochugaru has a stronger flavor compared to the second type which is deolmaewoon gochugaru. Even though this is a Korean chili powder, you should be careful when purchasing one in some Asian stores. Keep in mind that red pepper powder is different from gochugaru.  

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Uses of Gochugaru

One of the most popular uses of Gochugaru is as an ingredient in Kimchi. It gives this dish the perfect spicy flavor. Aside from this, gochugaru can also be used for various kinds of Korean stews such as sundubu jjigae.

This Korean chili paper also goes well with meaty dishes such as Korean BBQ Jackfruit tacos, Bulgogi, and Tempeh Steaks. Gochugaru’s unique hot, spicy, and smoky flavor makes it a really great spice for Korean dishes. If you want to put a new twist in your recipes, then you can experiment by adding some gochugaru.

The Health Benefits

If you are someone who loves adding nutritious spices in your meals, you’ll definitely fall in love with gochugaru’s health benefits. This Korean spice is packed with vitamin E and A. With just two teaspoons, you’ll get the recommended vitamin E intake per day. It’s also a great source of fiber, iron, and copper.

Having regular consumption of gochugaru will allow you to prevent diseases such as prostate cancer, heart diseases, and diabetes. Chili peppers like gochugaru are great in lowering a person’s blood cholesterol, preventing prostate cancer cells from spreading, and controlling the blood sugar.

The Best Gochugaru Substitutes

While gochugaru might be the perfect spice for your recipe, you might not be able to find it in your local grocery store. But there’s no need to worry because there are some good substitutes that you can use in case you can’t find gochugaru. Here are some of them.

Chipotle Powder

Spicy dishes are definitely more exciting than non-spicy ones. There’s always an extra kick of flavor that a lot of people enjoy when their food has that extra chili powder. While you can achieve a great level of spiciness using gochugaru, you can also have almost the same flavor using chipotle powder.

Chipotle powder is not really a kind of pepper. It is actually jalapeno peppers that have been dried out and smoked, which gives it a similar smoky flavor as to gochugaru. In fact, these two spices almost have the same level of spiciness. Gochugaru usually falls between 1,500 to 10,000 SHU, while chipotle is around 3,000 to 10,000 SHU.

However, it’s important to take note that chipotle can have a smokier flavor compared to gochugaru. This might not be ideal for your recipe. So to balance the flavors, you can add some crushed red pepper to your chipotle powder. This would increase the spiciness and lower the smokiness. The great thing about chipotle powder is that you can find it easily in a lot of supermarkets and grocery stores. Plus, you can put the leftover chipotle powder aside for when you want to create Mexican-American dishes later on.

Cayenne Pepper

The texture of the spice is one of the things that you should consider when you are looking for a good substitute. Cayenne pepper flakes is your best bet if you are not just after the spicy flavor of gochugaru.

Cayenne is also used in various Korean dishes, so if you buy this spice, you can still use it for other kinds of Korean recipes that you want to explore. Cayenne has the same texture but a little bit spicier. You can either buy the powder or flakes form of Cayenne. The flakes are extra spicy, but you might want to take into consideration the seeds that come with this type of cayenne pepper.

And since Cayenne is already a common ingredient in Korean dishes, you can definitely use this when you’re making Kimchi, and you don’t have a gochugaru in hand. However, be careful when adding this to your dish because it has a spicier flavor. You can control the spiciness better by adding the pepper into lukewarm water before putting it into the Kimchi.

In addition to the excellent flavor brought by Cayenne, it’s also a good source of vitamins A, E, and C. It has flavonoids as well which is a great antioxidant that would prevent your cells from getting damaged by free radicals.

Chile Pasilla

Not everyone has a strong tolerance when it comes to spicy foods. If you are planning on serving your Korean dishes to those who are not big fans spicy dishes, or even kids, then you can use a gochugaru substitute that may have a milder flavor. Chile Pasilla is the perfect choice for this kind of situation.

Chile Pasilla originated from Mexico and is known for its dark color. It is a popular ingredient for salsas, adobo sauces, and tortilla soups. While its 1,000 to 4,000 SHU is comparable to gochugaru’s spiciness level, it’s still not as strong as the Korean spice. Therefore, you would be able to control the spiciness of your dishes better.

The only downside that you might have to worry about is the color of this spice. Chile Pasilla has a very dark color that is far from the bright red color of gochugaru. This could affect the appearance of your dishes. So if you don’t want to compromise the appearance of your recipe, this is not the best substitute to choose. However, flavor-wise, Chile Pasilla has a more similar taste to gochugaru compared to other spices that could offer you a vibrant red color such as fish pepper, paprika, and chungyang red pepper.

Paprika

Gochugaru has a bright red color that also gives Korean dishes such as Kimchi its vibrant color. Those who want to give the same appearance to their recipes even without gochugaru can try using Paprika instead.

Paprika is one of the easiest spices that you can find in grocery stores. You might even have it in your own pantry right now. But do you know that Paprika also has various kinds?

Paprika is made by grinding dried peppers. The result of the whole process is a bright, red and almost orange color. It has three types: The Sweet Paprika, Hot Paprika, and Smoked Paprika. It’s important to know the differences between these three so that you can choose the best one that would fit as a gochugaru substitute.

When you go to the grocery store, the easiest kind to find is the basic or sweet paprika. This type has a mild flavor. Meanwhile, Hot Paprika is also called Hungarian Paprika, and it’s known to be the most superior out of the three. This is commonly used in Hungarian cuisines like Goulash. Last but not the least is Smoked Paprika. This one is smoked and dried to give that sweet and smoky flavor. Paprika comes in powder form so that you won’t have any hassle substituting any of these for your gochugaru.

Gochujang

Since gochujang is also a popular Korean ingredient, it’s one of the best substitutes for gochugaru. Both of these spices are from gochu pepper so you’ll have almost the same kind of flavor. However, they differ in their textures. Aside from being in thick paste form, gochujang contains other ingredients such as salt, sticky rice, and soybeans.

If you use gochujang instead gochugaru in your recipe, expect it to have a saltier flavor. It’s a great substitute as well for when you are making sauces, stews, and kimchi. Just remember to adjust the saltiness of your recipe before adding gochujang. It’s also important to know that since gochujang is a chili paste, it can give a wet and sticky texture to your dish.

The heat level of gochujang varies depending on the brand that you will buy. To be safe, reduce the amount that you will put in the recipe. It has a spicy and pungent flavor that is also great for marinating meats. If you prefer a salty over sweet flavors, this one is the best substitute. This chili paste should be stored in the refrigerator so that you can still use it for other kinds of Korean recipes.

Chile De Arbol

Another versatile spice that you can use as a substitute for gochugaru is Chile De Arbol. Those who are looking for an extra strong spice for their recipes can achieve the perfect kick with this substitute.

The hot red color of Chile De Arbol will give your dish some serious level of spicy and smoky twist. The heat level of this ingredient ranges from 16,000 to 31,000 SHU. It’s a lot hotter than gochugaru so you might want to put less amount if you don’t want to hurt your tongue.

Chile De Arbol is available in powder, flakes and paste form. Therefore, it can be used in a lot of ways. It’s easy to find this ingredient since it’s widely available in grocery stores around the country. It’s also a lot cheaper than other spices, so if you are looking for a budget substitute for your gochugaru, this one’s your best pick. Aside from gochugaru, this one is also a great substitute for Paprika because it has a nutty flavor.

Guajillo Powder

If it’s really difficult for you to find some Korean ingredients like gochugaru, you can borrow this Mexican spice that will complete your recipe. Guajillo is a popular ingredient for Tex-Mex cuisines. While these two spices are from two different cultures, they both have a tangy flavor and moderate level of spiciness. Guajillo also have a bright red color that would go well with Korean recipes. It comes in both powder and flake forms, and you can use either types, but the powdered Guajillo is a better substitute because there are no seeds mixed into the spice.

Aleppo Pepper Powder

If you are in the Middle East, but you still want to try out Korean dishes, it might be challenging to find gochugaru in your area. But don’t let this stop you from exploring! Aleppo Pepper Powder is another suitable substitute for your gochugaru. It has similar characteristics to guajillo powder, but more common in Mediterranean countries.

Just like guajillo and gochugaru, Aleppo pepper has a red color that would make your dish look lively. However, be careful when adding this to your recipe since it can be slightly spicier than guajillo. Aleppo also has a stronger aftertaste so try to put only a moderate amount of this spice. You can just add more later on when you think you can handle more of its flavor in your food.

Final Verdict

Korean dishes are tasty. If you want something exciting to cook and taste for your taste buds, then dishes like Kimchi and Bulgogi are just some of the food that you can try making in your own kitchen. However, it can be a struggle to find ingredients like gochugaru especially when you’re not in an Asian country.

You might only find it in special Asian stores so try to buy in bulk when you can. But if you really can’t find one and you feel like satisfying your cravings today, then these gochugaru substitutes can still give that spicy and smoky flavor to your dishes. It’s always best to start with small amounts when adding spicy ingredients especially since not everyone can tolerate the heat levels of these spices.

[neriad13]

How I Write

It’s only very recently, after a lifetime of wrangling, that I’ve gotten my writing process down to a science. It feels good to get the method on paper and if it helps someone else, well, here it is.

1. Immersing Myself in Research

There’ll be a period of at least three to six months or perhaps even longer in which I will be totally absorbed in the subject I've decided to embark on. I'll come home from work, immediately sit down, pull up two dozen articles about it and spend the next four hours reading. I'll barely read anything but that subject. If it isn't about Vikings, it doesn't matter. If it isn't Skyrim lore, precious little can even get me interested. The goal is to drown myself in the world I want to write, to know what I can about it from top to bottom, to be able to look through the eyes of someone long dead and know exactly what there was to be seen.

In my experience, it is also a very good idea to go into your research with only the vaguest of plot threads ready to go. The insights your research will probably yield are in all likelihood going to be a far cry from the things you assumed to be true.

Case in point: I spent a good chunk of my teenage years writing and rewriting a grim tale of witchcraft and demon possession. At one point I figured that I should probably know something about historical witchcraft and got every single book I could possibly find about it from the library. This is what led me to the insane asylum that is "The Hammer of Witches" and a dozen other books about the terrifying human costs of witch scares. And after I'd learned about all that, everything I'd ever written into my story looked like such horseshit. There was no conceivable way that I could portray witches like that any longer, not with my conscience intact. That work never got off the ground and all the labor I'd put into it amounted to nothing. There's probably a good story about witchcraft somewhere in there, still. But it'd be entirely different from the one I went into my research with.

And finally, how do I know when enough research is enough? Mostly, I'll find myself reading the same things over and over in different books. I'll be getting increasingly bored by the persistent lack of new information that I'm butting up against, day in and day out. I'll be sick at the thought of reading one more solitary word about Vikings. And most importantly, the path that the story will take will be shining clearer every day, beckoning me seductively to start.

When I'm in research mode, I see myself as something of a silkworm - eating endlessly, digesting thoroughly, sifting through the parts of the meal that matter most and finally, excreting a fine thread that is the distillation of what it is that's most important about everything I have learned.

2. First Draft/Sketching

I recently discovered that my writing process is almost an exact mirror of my drawing process. It was a realization that really helped me, as I have always struggled with revision and worried a bit too much about getting things right on the first shot. But the truth is that every drawing I ever did, no matter how much I thought I was procrastinating at the time, was a miniature exercise in editing.

The first step is the roughest of sketches.

I've used two different approaches to writing first drafts and can recommend both, depending on how you feel about the story that you're telling. The first (and the one that I used for most of my life, oftentimes with a great deal of frustration when applied to the wrong type of story) involves writing down events in linear order as they'd appear to a reader. The best use of this for me was when I was writing about a long, dangerous journey with very little idea of what the endpoint would be. It was imperative that I experienced the story as the character was going through it. His shock at weird turns of events was the same as mine. His trauma at the sudden onset of disaster was just as rare and red as my own, a fact I needed to exploit to the fullest to make this first-person narrative work.

The second model is entirely excitement-based. Quick! What's your favorite scene? You know the one. The one you're aching to get down, that drives the heart of the story, that makes everything else matter, even though it takes place awfully close to the end. WRITE IT NOW! Scrawl it in the dirt, write it in foggy window, just get it down THIS INSTANT. So what if you don't know details? I don't give a shit. You gotta fart this stuff out while it's hot. Ideas are cheap, passion is not. Don't force yourself to go through the boring stuff to get to the things you're passionate about right this moment. Write that good scene. And then write your second-favorite scene. Don't worry overmuch about chronology. The more you write, the easier it'll all fall into place on its own.

And don't forget that the first draft is just a sketch. Go off on strange tangents, try out that stupid sideplot. No one's watching. No one cares. I'll use the same adjective five times in a paragraph, I will and you can't do a thing about it.

I don't concern myself with coherent sentences in this stage, descriptive detail or terrible amounts of logic. The object of the exercise is to get it down, make it real. You're laying down the outline for what you're going to write in the future. Everything you can get down at this stage is helpful in the long run.

3. Marinating

Okay, we're switching from a drawing metaphor here to a cooking one. I have a day job as a chef. What do you want?

I think a good window for first draft marination, for me at least, is a month or two (or more if you feel like procrastinating, but nobody does that, right?), though the mileage may vary widely on that one. The main thing is that you have to be able to look at the draft with something of an objective eye, but not one quite so far gone that you've entirely forgotten about what you wrote.

Going back into it too soon tends to result in me thinking that the first draft is absolutely fine as it is and refusing to change anything. This is not fine.

4. Second Draft/Inking

When I ink a drawing, I remove what is extraneous and bring the form of the subject to the surface. I decide what lines can accomplish this task and what cannot. Something that looked cool in pencil may not necessarily work out in ink.

The second draft is primarily one where the cutting takes place. I'll hack a manuscript to bits and paste every moderately good hunk I slice off into a separate document for safekeeping. Just in case.

Realistically, I never open that document again.

Mainly, I'm looking for inconsistencies, plotholes, segues that don't make sense, moments where my aim fell off the mark, unappealing details that somehow made it in when I meant to say something else entirely. The end goal of this draft is a functional story that makes logical sense and follows the rules of grammar. By the end of it, you should have a version of the manuscript that reads well enough and doesn't leave you hanging at any one point.

But is it something special? Not yet.

It's getting very close though. Looking at it this way, you also get to examine the structure as a whole and see bigger things that you may not have noticed in the close view. The ending was never quite finished after all, was it?

There. Much better.

5. Marinating Part II

Be sure to marinate your meat for another month or so for maximum flavor and tenderness. Get your favorite BBQ sauce ready in the meantime!

6. Third Draft/Detailing

Details are pain. Drawing realistic hairs is pain. Spending five hours on a background with 50 gazillion overlapping ferns is not something I would recommend. I'm still not sure why I decided to draw an entire series of plant people, each and every one of which needs to be covered in intricate moss and flowers. Someone needs to hit me. Anyone, please.

So it goes with detailing a manuscript. But is this the part that I procrastinate the most on? Nahhhh, I'm better than that (no, you're not).

This is where neglected backstories get filled in, hence-ignored visual details are given life, characters begin to gesture rather than merely speak. Emotions are no longer stated, but implied through body language that I didn't have the patience to write in earlier. Backgrounds are no longer just background noise, but a living part of the world itself.

This is the draft where buds burst into bloom. It's hard, slow work, not without its frustrations. I have been known to stare at a paragraph for twenty minutes before I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it. I spend a great deal of time wishing I could go faster on this.

But that's okay. It's still a work in progress for me. There's precious few stories that I have ever gotten this far with in my life and the ones that do make it are more than worth it. Be kind to yourself here. It'll happen. And it'll be breathtaking.

[lsesu]

A foodie’s guide to exam procrastination

Ah, ‘tis that time of the year again! Spring is here – the flowers are blooming, the sky is blue, the sun is shining and the air is oh-so-fresh! Or, if you’re like me, you’re camped out in the library, eyes glued to a book, exam notes in hand, and a fading memory of what the sun actually looks like. One coping mechanism I fully endorse to get you through the exam period is the use of food as a procrastination tool. 

Which brings me to the point of this blog post! Here are 5 reasonably priced restaurants, where you can fill yourself up for under a tenner.

Viet Eat (48 Kingsway, WC2B 6EP)

First thing to note here is the service...well it sucks! But when you do get served there is one type of dish that is well worth the wait: anything that involves their BBQ Pork is worth ordering. This means BBQ Pork with Rice, BBQ Pork with Vermicelli, and their BBQ Pork Banh Mi. The prices for these three dishes will range depending on whether you eat in or take out, and which dish you order (the cheapest would be the take away BBQ Pork Banh Mi – £5.95). The BBQ Pork is excellent – tasty, moist, melts in your mouth. Plus it goes well with a variety of sauces and generally everything… Mmmm. Damn it, now I’m hungry. But I don’t want to leave my spot in the library. Hmm….

Belgo (67 Kingsway, Holborn, WC2B 6TD)

Opposite the NAB on Kingsway, Belgo seems like a super swanky place until you realize they have a lunch menu! From 12-5pm, you can eat your heart out. They serve up a mean bowl of mussels (by which I mean huge bowl) and fries (or salad - whatever floats your boat). Perfect if you want a nice lunch complaining about exams, without breaking the bank!

Thiwanya Thai (10 Gate Street, WC2A 3HP)

OHO! This hidden gem – I was almost reluctant to reveal it because it’s one of my absolute favourites but, for the greater good, here it is! Thiwanya is a Thai restaurant right by Fleet River Bakery, LSE Campus and Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Their express lunch menu gives you a plate of yummy stir-fried pork with chillies, and veg & rice for £7.50. If you’re feeling hungry, get the two-course Lunch menu. You can get a platter of mixed vegetarian starters and some Pad Thai for the grand sum of £10.95, or £11.95 if you want meat. Good food, good prices, good service – my favourite!

Japanese Canteen (83 High Holborn, WC1V 6LF)

A little further than the rest, this no-frills restaurant is right by Holborn Station and Gymbox (or Krispy Kreme, depending on how much you value your health). Ignore the donburi menu and go straight for the Bento: the chicken katsu curry bento will set you back £8.70 but it will come in such a humongous portion you won’t have any complaints - also comes with the usual bento add-ons like rice, salad and miso soup! 50p extra if you want extra curry.

Fields Bar and Kitchen (Right in the centre of Lincolns’ Inn Fields – hard to miss!)

This eco-friendly, delightfully beautiful café is my favourite place which is why I put it at the end. It gets crowded at peak hours so during these times you’ll either have to sit outside or take away (breakfast and lunch). But if you’re willing to go at odd hours, there will be plenty of seats! I’ve tried most things on the menu and have never been disappointed. Their breakfast menu has a wonderful combination of sourdough, poached eggs and avocado with bacon / smoked salmon. Other options include things like porridge and scrambled eggs. Their lunch menu has a range of wood fired pizzas, burgers, a really tasty pulled pork sandwich, salads and some daily specials. Their coffee – oh, their coffee❤️Admittedly, it looks pretty swanky. But because of the generous LSE Student Discount (25% off!), dishes usually come to under a tenner, a little more if you add on a coffee or tea. But you can stay here for hours, study here, and you get loads of natural light thanks to the vast windows all around.

So there you have it! A foodie’s guide to intense procrastination. Go forth and fill your bellies, and until next time, good luck with your exams (don’t burn out!). 

Claire, 2nd year undergraduate

[michellelewis7162]

Just how to Pick a Barbecue Cigarette Smoker

Just how to Pick a Barbecue Cigarette Smoker

 There are actually virtually limitless varieties in strategy hing on tools, the design of BBQ or even smoker grill and also personal tastes. Having said that, here are some common tips for selecting a barbeque cigarette smoker grill. Bbq Rubs Australia

 Price

A cigarette smoker needs to be a long-term assets. As a general rule, purchase the most ideal cigarette smoker you may afford and justify. Right here are actually some points to consider.

 Energy

Look at gas or even electrical if you just do not have time to preserve a charcoal or even wood fire for long burns. Smoke is actually generated through home heating waxings or sawdust. You will certainly lose the genuine hardwood smoke cigarettes taste and the feeling of honor as well as accomplishment stemmed from taking care of a fire effectively for a long time to generate exceptional bbq 6021.

 Good-One Patio Smoker/Grills are portable and also easy to use. Charcoal is going to give some smoke taste which might be actually nutritional supplemented through incorporating chunks of lumber throughout the get rid of. The more affordable water smokers require a bunch of fire usually tending and are actually often customized to boost functionality BBQ Spare Parts.

 The Good-One Smoker/Grill is actually a lot more costly but is effectively constructed, heavy duty, and also controlled, holds temp for a number of years as well as is actually put together and all set to Smoke quickly the sales flooring. Kettles and also barrel smokers can be made use of however exclusive precautions as well as procedures are called for to preserve the correct temperature level and avoid outbursts.

 Ability

Are you only heading to prepare for loved ones and a few good friends, or have sizable gatherings or even perform some food catering?

 Transportability

This is actually exactly how very easy it is actually to relocate the cigarette smoker about, all Good-One Patio versions possess 10? pneumatically-driven tire for very easy transportability WA.

 Metal Thickness as well as Quality

Examine the thickness of the metallic construction, likewise seek Smokers that are actually welded with each other not escaped. The Cheaper the smoker the more screws to hold it together, thereby inducing heat reduction amongst the bolt joints BBQ Spare Parts.

 Temperatures as well as Smoke

Temp is actually what sets apart Smoking from other types of cooking food with fire Cigarette smoking is actually a kind of smoke cigarettes cooking food however smoke cooking (that includes greater temps) is certainly not essentially barbecuing. You might utilize a grill to help make barbecue however it is not barbecuing (additionally a heat preparing food strategy). Cold smoking cigarettes is done at temperature levels of lower than 120º F.

 Actually, there are actually simply two regulation in Smoking on Good-One Smoker/Grill barbeques ...

 Slow and low: Long cooking opportunities of four to twenty four hrs, hing on the meat product, at temps varying coming from 200º to 275º F. gauged at the meat degree allows difficult pork to receive tender without drying. 225º to 250º is actually perfect WA.

 Maintain your smoke wonderful: Stale or even acrid smoke results in a strong, harsh as well as unpleasant taste BBQ Spare Parts.

 Keep a tiny however energetic fire.

Preserve airflow by means of the tobacco smoker. Always keep the uppermost article spinner open 1 1/2 turns as well as regulate the fire along with all-time low rewriters Carry out not let the fire deprive or smolder for sky.

 Usage excellent quality wood for smoke cigarettes

Lumber ought to be well seasoned, only use green lumber if you actually recognize what you are actually doing.

 Use merely hard woods for smoke cigarettes. Peach, oak as well as cherry are great conventional hardwoods and quick and easy for amateurs to use. Prevent timber from conifers or even needle bearing plants including ache WA.

 Barbecue Smokers And How They Came About

 Barbecue is actually an often used method of preparing food meat with making use of a bbq smoker while incorporating flavor along with a variety of seasonings and sauces to the chicken. Bbq is actually usually cooked outdoors and at times taken into consideration to become a motif for festivities including bbq gatherings. Having said that this idea of bbq is recognized to differ from one component of the planet to an additional.

 The beginning of cookout in the United States dates back to the 19th century where it primarily hinged on preparing food pork. Today bbq revolves around all types of chicken including meat, hen etc. The key concept of a barbeque is to cook the chicken slowly so that it covers the all-natural taste. Prior to the core is cooked, it is marinaded with flavors to boost the significance. A variety of dressings are actually made use of to additional add flavor BBQ Spare Parts.

 Interestingly in the United States, the form of barbeque sauce varies according to the region. For e.g. it is understood that in North-Carolina mostly utilize white vinegar located dressings while locations such as Alabama as well as Tennessee are well known for their wonderful tomato-based sauces.

 The method of barbeque is well popularized around the United States. Often barbeque includes preparing food chicken along with smoke made away from charcoal. Today this procedure of cooking food pork is actually made easier along with specialized equipments WA.

 A barbeque smoker is a device which utilizes a temperature level control and also a smoke regulator to smoke food items. They can be of a variety of styles. This could be in regards to its measurements which can easily differ coming from a tiny family size to a large size which may nourish a section of 100 people. Barbeque cigarette smoker grills are actually also a common style. It works with a variety of source of power such as electrical energy, natural gas as well as simple timber depending upon the type. The best amount of heat to become maintained in a barbecue tobacco smoker grill is actually 230 degrees Fahrenheit. , if the temperature level is actually certainly not kept suitably is can easily lead to burning the chicken BBQ Spare Parts.

 .

 The price of a barbeque smoker are going to mainly depend on the kind, dimension as well as brand. Investing in a barbeque cigarette smoker can easily cost a handful of thousands based upon the above components. If one may not manage such pricey devices, constructing your own at property is not a challenging activity. The key perk of developing a cookout tobacco smoker in the home is its economical. A simple barbeque smoker can be built for a common price of $fifty. It should be kept in mind that it is actually certainly not simple to regulate the temp. Thus if one uses a homemade barbecue cigarette smoker to smoke core, it ends up being crucial to pay for cautious interest on the temperature as well as the level of smoke to guarantee that the core is cooked perfectly Balcatta.

 Barbecue Smokers Grills - How to Choose the Right One For You If You're Just Starting Out!

 So you're exhausted of dropping lots of cash at your nearby barbeque dining establishment as well as you're prepared to begin appearing some scrumptious barbecue of your very own and also right now you need to identify exactly how to opt for a barbecue cigarette smoker grill. Deciding on a barbeque cigarette smoker grill might seem like a hard selection however I am actually hoping this post is going to assist cut your discovering curve so you can easily create a quite informed getting choice.

 Now if you're simply smoking chicken in your lawn for your family and friends you can utilize almost any type of kind of grill you prefer. Hell, you can easily also utilize a barbecue grill! Basically you only need to have a Barbecue grill that maintains your secondary fire opting for a long period of time for your slow-moving as well as reduced preparing food experience.

 So without any further delay, listed here are some general cookout stoves I highly recommend if you're just starting. I will additionally like you to always keep in mind when opting for a barbeque smoker these cigarette smokers can also be actually made use of if you want to enter into a barbeque competition BBQ Spare Parts.

 Pot Style Charcoal Grill

A Weber Kettle Grill is one of the most fundamental resource you can easily use to smoke core. I recommend you acquire the 26 inch style if you can easily find it since its own easier for you to smoke much larger cuts of chicken. You'll be utilizing charcoal to start your fire with a number of your beloved wood portions included for smoke cigarettes. You'll likewise intend to make use of an aluminum pot cheek by jowl or in the facility with your charcoal on either edge of the frying pan thus your meat is actually not over the blaze. You'll likewise wish to browse through a hinged type cooking food grate so you can easily flip the sides up as well as simply incorporate added charcoal or even timber chunks to keep your fire going Balcatta.

 Upright Bullet Style Smoker

If you're only starting out yet additionally functions wonderful if you are actually a professional pro, I really advise this little bit of oven. The charcoal enters all-time low third of the cooker in the fire band along with a water pan directly on top. Your meals at that point cooks on pair of degrees in between and also the leading. This tobacco smoker grill is quite simple to use and it preserves it is actually temperature levels very well in the course of lengthy prepares. If you're barbecuing for your family members in the yard but you'll yearn for to acquire a few of all of them if you're utilizing it as your competition cooker, its best. This goes with all 3 of these stoves I'm going over with you.

 Electric "Bullet" Smoker

This stove is very identical to the charcoal style yet uses magma stones rather than charcoal. The lava stones hinge on electrical coils which produces the warm. This type of oven is a little easier to use given that you don't must fret about tending a "true" fire. You'll wish to soak your hardwood chips as well as put all of them in an aluminum skillet so they do not burn up. Likewise, you do not yearn for the timber actually touching the heating coils to create your smoke Balcatta.

 Always remember, these smoker grill tips are actually well utilized for garden cooking yet you can easily also utilize them in a barbecue competition. There you have it, If you've been actually having a hard time making an effort to think out just how to decide on a barbecue smoker grill you now possess three kinds of tobacco smokers to decided on from all under $200.00.

 Four Tips on How to Buy a Barbecue Smoker

 You will definitely require a real authentic barbecue cigarette smoker if you yearn for to make real genuine smoked Barbecue. Listed below are actually 4 effortless and also easy suggestions to assist you determine what sort of bbq tobacco smoker is actually most ideal for you. The 4 variables to take into consideration are actually, first, what kind of cigarette smoker do you want to have. Second, what sort of fuel perform you desire to burn. Third, what are you heading to use your tobacco smoker for. Fourth, what is your spending plan BBQ Spare Parts.

 Kind of smoker. There are essentially 3 sorts of barbeque cigarette smokers, as well as they will definitely all make great smoked meat product if you recognize just how to utilize all of them. The 1st kind is actually an Offset Smoker. This type of smoker possesses a fire carton offset from the preparing food enclosure, and prepares stringently along with smoke cigarettes and indirect warmth. The fuel is scorched in the fire heat, smoke cigarettes and also carton flow in to the smoke cigarettes enclosure, neighboring and also cooking the meat product at that point leaving via a fireplace. The second style is actually an upright tobacco smoker. An upright tobacco smoker has just one enclosure, with the fire box near the bottom, as well as the meat put on hold over the smoke cigarettes resource on an unit of racks. The third sort of smoker is a "pot smoker", really comparable to a Weber Grill that practically everybody that has ever smoked meat outside has actually either observed or used. A Weber grill may be established to function as a cigarette smoker, utilizing indirect heat energy and also lumber smoke to appear some great barbecue Balcatta.

 Type of fuel to melt. The key to smoke barbeque, is naturally, timber smoke. You must scorch some type of timber to offer smoke cigarettes for the meat. Types of hardwood are actually either entire log, timber portions, charcoal, wood charcoal, or perhaps lumber pellets. Additionally an aspect is how to supply warmth to create the smoke. Some tobacco smokers are actually fueled along with lp, which sheds the lumber, and supplies smoke. Some tobacco smokers use power which gets rid of the timber and also delivers smoke cigarettes. Some smokers only shed wood or charcoal to provide smoke cigarettes. There are actually lots of choices.

 Use the smoker. If you are actually strictly going to utilize your cigarette smoker just to smoke chickens, at that point you would certainly wish to select a cigarette smoker that is going to merely function as a cigarette smoker. If you want to also have the capacity to grill on your cigarette smoker, than an even more multi-purpose device, such as the kettle grill/smoker would be a better option. With correct method, it is feasible to smoke on a lp or gas grill, and also that might be actually a better option if you intend to grill meats more than smoke all of them BBQ Spare Parts.

 Lastly, you must consider your budget. There are actually great smokers offered for less than one hundred bucks which will smoke entirely fantastic bbq if you use the suitable approaches. There are actually additionally bbq smokers that set you back upwards of ten many thousand dollars if you assume you require such a tool Balcatta.

 Discover How a Barbecue Smoker Lets You Add Just the Right Amount of Smoke to Your Meat

 A barbecue tobacco smoker is the tool that qualified barbeque chefs and also barbeque competitors teams use to convey only the appropriate amount of smoke cigarettes in to their barbeque meat product. A barbeque tobacco smoker is different than a gas grill. A grill is actually the cooking food resource that a yard cook utilizes to grill hamburgers, hot dogs or even hens. Genuine barbecue is actually incredibly different, and also what creates it thus different is just how the core is prepared.

 A gas grill prepares making use of straight warm. What is suggested through straight heat is that a fire is actually constructed in the pot of the grill, and also the chicken is actually prepared directly over the fire or even coals. A small amount of smoke flavor may be actually included throughout this cooking technique because of smoke generated due to the occasional outburst.

 A barbeque tobacco smoker is actually a totally different animal. A bbq smoker prepares the meat product using secondary heat energy. This suggests that the target pork is actually not straight over the warm source. The chicken remains in a chamber, subjected to low heat and is surrounded by woodsmoke. This woodsmoke is what shares the taste located in really good bbq.

 Wood smoke cigarettes is what is made use of to add the fantastic smokey taste attribute of good cookout. Wood, in the form of entire logs, hardwood parts, timber chips or even timber pellets could be utilized t develop the smoke cigarettes. various sorts of timber may be used to generate the smoke, commonly what is actually easily accessible to the cookout cook. In the southeast the lumber of choice is most likely peach. In the Texas location, mesquite is the timber that is actually made use of. Some component of the country rely upon fruit product timbers, including apples or even cherry lumber. It is actually the burning of these woods that provides smoked barbecue it is actually delicious preference BBQ Spare Parts.

 Barbecue Smoker Maintenance Guide For Extended Use

 There are numerous points that you need to have to get involved in the routine of finishing with your brand new barbecue tobacco smoker so that it are going to last for years. Some tobacco smokers and also grills are a notable assets for the yard barbecue fanatic, and a great, high quality smoker needs to have to provide the family just as long as achievable. Observe these straightforward barbeque tobacco smoker upkeep ideas for expanded use to receive the most effective usage away from your barbecue cigarette smoker.

 A brand new tobacco smoker ought to consistently be actually skilled, similar to a new iron skillet or even grill. To time your grill, coat the inside of the system as well as the grates along with cooking oil. Peanut oil functions effectively for this due to the fact that it delays effectively in heat. Vegetable oil additionally works, and also canola oil will definitely do great. Olive oil is going to not stand up in the high temperatures created through a cigarette smoker or grill BBQ Spare Parts.

 Lighting a fire in the fire package. Deliver the temperature approximately regarding 500 levels for twenty to 30 minutes and also allow the fire to stress out. This will certainly close the oil in to the interior of the grill and also tape out the wetness, maintaining it from decay 6021.

 Never ever leave charcoal sitting in the grill up until the upcoming time you utilize it. Make it possible for the charcoal to melt completely out till you make certain there are no more hot coals. Never ever leave them in the tobacco smoker a lot longer than overnight. When it is risk-free to carry out therefore, dispose the awesome charcoal into a garbage can or even an additional compartment. Charcoal holds humidity, and also leaving it in the smoker between usages will create the tobacco smoker to corrosion.

 When the cooking food is done, utilize the steel comb to cleanse every one of the food items off of the grates. When the cigarette smoker is totally trendy, clean the grates down with a newspaper towel or wiper. You can likewise use a business grill cleaning product to clean off the shed food. The steel brush is actually all that you ought to need to have if the grill is actually effectively skilled.

 Be sure to close the vents and the smokeshaft air vent if it rains prior to the smoker is cool enough to deal with. After the tobacco smoker is actually totally amazing, clean it with a completely dry dustcloth and also cover it well. The different investment is worth it if your tobacco smoker performed certainly not happened with a cover. If you need to utilize a damp or damp cloth on the smoker outside, permit it dry completely just before covering it 6021.

 The 3rd type of cigarette smoker is actually a "pot smoker", extremely comparable to a Weber Grill that virtually everybody who has ever before barbequed core outdoors has either viewed or used. If you are actually stringently going to utilize your cigarette smoker just to smoke chickens, then you would yearn for to choose a smoker that is going to merely function as a cigarette smoker. Some smokers and grills are actually a substantial assets for the lawn barbecue fanatic, and also a really good, top quality tobacco smoker needs to provide the family members as long as possible. Comply with these easy barbeque tobacco smoker maintenance suggestions for prolonged use to obtain the greatest use out of your barbeque tobacco smoker.

 Charcoal keeps wetness, and leaving it in the smoker in between uses will certainly result in the tobacco smoker to decay.

[gethealthy18-blog]

7 Tips to Eat and Stay Healthy on Vacation

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7 Tips to Eat and Stay Healthy on Vacation

Ahh, vacation. Just saying the word usually evokes visions of relaxing by the pool, drinks with tiny umbrellas, a plethora of succulent foods, building sandcastles, and a beach-ready body.

(At least it did before kids!)

While traveling somewhere new is (almost) always lots of fun, trying to eat healthy on vacation can be a challenge.

Staying Healthy on Vacation?

It’s funny, but rarely do you ever hear talk of post-vacation syndrome — you know, needing a vacation to recover from the vacation? Some of the symptoms are sunburned skin, chlorine-damaged hair, very little sleep, and ten extra pounds that magically appears.

Vacation is typically about indulgence and it can be very hard to pass up delicious brownie sundaes or deep-fried… well… ANYTHING. I’m not against the occasional treat but vacation can also turn into treat after treat after treat…

We’re only human, but for the most part we try to put good things into our bodies even on vacation. At the end of our hectic day real food helps our bodies to function properly and give us energy (and may also help protect skin from the sun).

I don’t know what it is about sleeping in a hotel room or condo, but somehow on vacation, it is easy to leave our rational, nutritionally savvy selves at home and replace them with wide-eyed tourists without any regard for healthy eating. With limited ability to cook and store food, convenience often wins. Plus there is often a tempting local cuisine to try! (My downfall: anything smothered in BBQ sauce).

After years of trial and error, I’ve found some tried-and-true tips that allow us to enjoy ourselves on vacation, without falling into overindulgence or a gluten-induced hangover.

1. Plan, Plan, Plan

My husband is fond of saying that “proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance” and never do I find this more true than in the kitchen!

Meal planning is the single best thing I do each week for my sanity and for our food budget. Since I started using this meal planner (the best one out there, period), I am able to plan seasonal meals in less than 5 minutes a week (and save money doing it). I use this system regularly at home, but realized that there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t use it on vacation too!

The beauty of meal planning is that my computer (and my phone with the app) go everywhere I go, so I have them when we travel too. I can plan around regional foods, like seafood while at the beach. I can also set the plan to skip certain meals that we plan to eat out so we buy only what we need without wasting anything or leaving food behind when we leave.

Most of the time when we travel, we drive to our destination, so I’ve also started pre-making as much of the food as possible. I batch cook and pre-make entire meals like casseroles, pre-cook meats, and make big batches of chicken salad so that I don’t have to cook much on vacation (which makes it an actual vacation for me!)

The pre-planning allows me to only bring what is needed and not have to pack things like spices and condiments since meals are pre-made.

2. Pack (Healthy) Snacks

Whether your destination is a short car ride or a 3-hour flight, having an arsenal of healthy, non-perishable snacks on hand can be the difference between processed airport (or gas station) food and a fresh alternative. Most hotels only offer continental breakfasts with highly processed foods (like cereal and pastries) and having better alternatives on hand saves time in the mornings and keeps us from feeling terrible.

These are some of the snacks I bring for the kids (or buy there) so we can eat healthy on vacation:

If we’re flying, I pack many of the same healthy snacks in my carry-on and make sure to boost our immune systems before the flight since we’re sure to be exposed to a lot.

3. Pretend You Are Eating at Home

For some reason, many people (me included in the past) feel like vacation is a time to completely disregard normal eating habits and budget constraints. For too long we spent enormous amounts of money eating processed foods at overpriced restaurants.

If I wouldn’t put it in my mouth at home, I probably shouldn’t put it in my mouth while in another state or country… but this is easier said than done.

Pre-making food helps a lot with this, since I don’t want to have food leftover that goes to waste. I also realized that much of the reason I like to eat out on vacation is that I want a break from cooking, so pre-making food helps with this as well. Most of all though, I just don’t think of vacation as a time to eat junk and mentally plan ahead of time to eat as we do normally (with occasional healthy treats).

If you’re really serious about your diet for health reasons, maybe even consider taking a staycation instead!

4. Skip the Sugar (or Limit to One a Day)

Though I think rules are important, it’s also important to know how to break or bend them without completely falling off track! If you are going to have a treat after a long day of sightseeing or laying on the beach, make an event out of it! Maybe it’s at the end of your trip or even in the middle, but pick one day where you plan on eating a special treat. Just don’t make it a regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner event the whole vacation and you’ll be OK!

I’ve also found that especially in summer months, I prefer a fresh smoothie (that may or may not also include rum) to any type of processed dessert anyway. If our family does go out for a special treat, we limit it to one meal.

5. Have a Picnic

Nothing says vacation like packing up a cooler or basket filled with delicious foods and copping a squat on a blanket overlooking a beautiful view. Instead of hitting up a local restaurant, go to a grocery store and have your kids help pick out what they’d like to eat (with your final approval of course). It will be just like eating at home, but in between yummy salads and sandwiches the kids can toss a football or play tag, all while soaking up some vitamin D.

6. Pack the Remedies

Unfortunately, bug bites, sunburns, and earaches can happen just as often on vacation (or even more often) than they do at home. I’ve learned the hard way the remedies I always need on vacation and now make sure to pack a small kit with all of these:

7. Don’t Stress

So you’ve fallen off the proverbial real food food wagon, filled with all its antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and proteins? Before you figure all is lost and take a running dive, face first, into the processed food cart, remember… Don’t stress! Just take stock of how your body is feeling and employ a few of these tricks to get back on track.

Remember, stress is the ultimate enemy and vacation is supposed to be a time to relax and rejuvenate. Don’t beat yourself (or your kids) up if you don’t adhere to your usual fantastic regimen. Just try to make the best food choices you can and above all ENJOY YOURSELF!

Do you have any tips to eating healthy on vacation?

Source: https://wellnessmama.com/4646/eat-healthy-on-vacation/

[twoguystrybbq-blog]

Back Porch Bar-B-Q

Leo:

It’s in a hotel!

When Ben said that we would be meeting up at a hotel for barbeque, I had some concerns.  From previous outings at hotel restaurants and bars, I knew that they tended to be more expensive.  And how good could hotel barbeque be, anyhow?  Would they even be able to smoke their meat at a hotel?  Maybe this would be our first so-so barbeque experience in Kansas City (spoiler alert: it wasn’t!).

I drove out to meet Ben at the Adam’s Mark Hotel (near the stadiums and just off 70).  It was not a holiday weekend or anything like that, but the parking lot was packed!  I went inside and there were hundreds of people in the lobby.  I knew that there were fight weigh-ins going on, but it looked like there were also a couple sports camps and family reunions; it was craziness!  

I somehow found Ben in all of this madness and we headed to the hotel bar.  As we entered the bar, there was a stand that said “Back Porch Bar-B-Q” and we headed over.  No one was around the stand, but we saw several other tables with numbers and assumed they were waiting for orders.  

After a couple of minutes, a woman showed up and asked us for our order.  “Uhhhhh,” I kind of stammered, “where’s the menu?”  “Right here, sweetie,” she said patiently and pointed to a piece of paper.  I examined the menu: it wasn’t even laminated, it was just a simple, one-sided, no nonsense piece of paper listing the available options.  Of course, someone had shown up behind us, so I immediately felt a ton of pressure to order.  “I’ll have the ribs,” I blurted out without really thinking.  “Okay,” the woman smiled, “what’ll be your two sides?”  “How about potato salad and fries?” I responded.

“Uh-oh,” I thought, “how much did I just spend?”  She rang me up on an iPad (I’m still always so impressed by technology) and I braced myself for the bill.  With tip, it was under $20!  Which I didn’t think was too bad for a rib dinner (that’s about what a rib dinner usually costs, in my experience so far).  Ben ordered and we headed to the bar to get a drink.  Because it was a hotel bar, I knew it’d be expensive, so I leaned into it and got a KC Bier Co. Dunkel.  Surprise of surprises, it ended up being on special!  We grabbed a table and waited for our food.

Because it was a bar, they had a pool table, but Ben was not interested.  So we sat and talked about weigh-ins and the fights that Ben was going to cover the next day.  Interestingly, Ben had told a team that he’d be eating at Back Porch and they showed up right after we did.  The fighter on the team was a vegetarian or a vegan, though.  “Not a lot of options for vegetarians/vegans at a barbeque joint,” I thought.  But it ended up being really cool because the cook came out and worked with her on what she could order and still stick to her diet.  

The wait for the food was a little bit longer than usual, but it came out hot and steaming.  It was a bit of the opposite of what I’d expected from a barbeque restaurant in a hotel!  [Note: This was another restaurant that didn’t have sauce on the table, so if you like lotsa bbq sauce, make sure to order extra!].  

I’m noticing that, for some reason, I always dig into the sides first; maybe it is a bit of preparing my palette for the main course?  I started with the potato salad.  Hands down, it was divine.  This potato salad was everything that I wanted in a potato salad: chunky, mayonnaisey, rich, and without a lot of crunch (i.e. not loaded up with vegetables).  Needless to say, the potato salad was gone before I realized what had happened.

The ribs were amazing as well!  I got five long end ribs (meaning huge freakin’ ribs) covered in sauce.  As I had come to expect from KC ribs, these ribs were succulent and almost perfectly prepared.  They had just enough char on the outside to give the skin a smoky delicious flavor.  This also kept the tender meat together, but as soon as I took a bite, the tender meat melted and flooded my mouth with deliciousness.  Paired with a Dunkel, this was a perfect meal.

As kind of a side quest in our journey to try all of the barbeque joints in Kansas City, I’ve been taking note of the restaurants that provide you with moist towelettes for you to clean your fingers after eating barbeque.  And Back Porch Bar-B-Q is the first restaurant to provide moist towelettes.  I don’t know what it means, but I will continue to keep track and maybe at the end of all of this, we will be able to figure out if there is a distinction between the restaurants that provide moist towelettes and the restaurants that don’t.

We finished up and headed off to a Friday night of fun, but it was a great way to start the evening.  In fact, the next time I go to a Chiefs’ game or a Royals’ game and I’m not tailgating, I plan to go to Back Porch Bar-B-Q.  I think that it would be a really fun afternoon or evening to park and eat at Back Porch and then walk over to see some top-notch Kansas City sporting events.

Also, Back Porch is a step closer to Independence than we’ve gone before, so if you are reading from east Kansas City, we are making our way to you!

All-in-all, I was very pleasantly surprised by a great experience at Back Porch Bar-B-Q!  So, why not get some tickets to a home Royals’ game or a Chiefs’ game and stop by and grab some great barbeque.  Or if you don’t live in Kansas City, make a trip over here and stay at a great resort (I’m guessing) and eat some terrific barbeque.  Or go there for lunch today!  So many options, but all of these great options involve eating at Back Porch Bar-B-Q as soon as you can!  I know that you will enjoy it!

Ben:

I know we’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: the beauty of this project is that it gets us (and vicariously you, the reader) to try barbecue joints around the city that we would have never stumbled upon otherwise. That’s the case about a million times over for our Friday night dinner at Back Porch Bar-B-Q, because this fine establishment is currently operating out of the Adam’s Mark hotel just across from Kauffman Stadium. So unless you’re in town to root on an away team against the Royals or Chiefs (gross), it’s easy to miss Back Porch Bar-B-Q. But have no worries, friends; Leo and I are here for you.

First, some background about what brought us to Back Porch on this particular Friday night. When I’m not scarfing down barbecue, writing about barbecue, or thinking of where to find my next barbecue meal, I cover and write about fights for CombatDocket.com. Yeah, that gruesome, brutal, anything-goes cage fighting you’ll see on your blood-splattered TV screen from time to time. I kind of think it’s the truest, most beautiful sport in existence, but that’s a 20,000-word essay for another time. Of importance here, I was at the Adam’s Mark on Friday evening to cover the weigh-ins for pro fights that were set to take place the following night. Fighters strip down to their skivvies, stand on a scale for a hot second, then raise their fists and stare at each other in a show of intimidation; it’s fun all around.

Back Porch Bar-B-Q is on our list as a barbecue joint located in KCMO, and from what I gather from my internet sleuthing, it recently relocated from its standalone location to inside the Adam’s Mark hotel. Perfect, I thought. I can kill two birds with one stone: catch these weigh ins, then immediately stuff my face with barbecue, all without leaving the Adam’s Mark.

And it’s a good thing I had done my research, because other than a single sign in the outrageously busy Adam’s Mark lobby, I couldn’t find any clear signage leading me to Back Porch. On my way to the weigh-ins (which went off without any pre-fight shoving or drama), I took note of the sign and my growing hunger.

Leo met me after the weigh ins were complete, about 6:30. Following the sign in the lobby, we made our way to… the hotel bar? Are we in the right place? But before Leo and I could look any more lost, we noted a host’s podium with a couple Back Porch Bar-B-Q menus on it, and a few seconds later, a nice woman (who I assume is the owner) greeted us, assured us we were in the right place for barbecue, and took our orders.

Back Porch doesn’t have a huge menu by any means, but it hits all the notes you need for your barbecue joint. Brisket, pork, ribs. Fries, beans, potato salad. Obviously there’s more, but this isn’t a Top Chef competition; Leo and I are here to try the best barbecue you have and not much else. I went with the pork sandwich with fries and beans. As we were ordering, I took note of some of the fighter-types in the room: a fighter set to compete the next night (she told us she was a vegetarian… but we later saw her speaking to the cook about getting something special), the TV commentators for the fight, and the number 14-ranked middleweight fighter in the world. It made me happy to see my two worlds -- fighting and barbecue -- coming together.

Since we were in a bar, we naturally ordered beers as we waited for our food. In fact, given how busy Back Porch seemed to be, we assumed we’d be waiting for a while (several beers-worth) to get our food. But it arrived quicker than I expected, brought out by an incredibly personable server -- something that’s the norm at barbecue joints, I’m finding.

My sandwich, fries and beans came in hearty portions all together on a plate. Outside of the normal rush of endorphins that hit when barbecue is put in front of me, the first thing I noticed about my sandwich was a floss pick (rather than a toothpick) sticking out. I pointed this out to Leo, and our server was quick to jump in: “You’ll need it. Gotta get every bit.” So, you’re saying the food will be so good that I need floss it out from in between my teeth to get another taste? Sign me up.

To be honest, the sandwich obliterated my expectations. The toasted bread, rather than soft white bread, was a welcome change that added a bit of crunch to the sandwich. And that crunch played perfectly against perhaps the most tender pork I’ve had yet. Looking closely at the sandwich, it’s piled high with sliced pork. But biting into the sandwich was like biting through butter. I didn’t find myself tugging on fatty pieces of meat or working around tough individual slices of pork. Oh no, my friends, this pork was the kind that melts in your mouth -- just incredibly smooth, tender, and moist pork that’s no doubt been smoking for hours upon hours. Throw that together with buttery toast and some light, sweet sauce, and you have an ideal bite of sandwich. I have no idea if Back Porch Bar-B-Q really started on someone’s back porch, but if it did, this would be the best back porch barbecue I’ve ever had.

The fries were huge and hit the spot. The beans were my favorite variety -- extra thick, with no shortage of meat, and certainly on the sweet side. They’re the type of beans that you could realistically eat as an entire meal; they’re hearty, filling, and bursting with barbecue flavor.

As we wrapped up, Leo and I discussed our expectations going in and how it compared to our experience at Back Porch. How is this place just hidden inside this hotel? Do all these guests have any idea that there’s some excellent barbecue in their hotel lobby? It all feels par for the course -- a relatively hidden gem in Kansas City that’s turning out some of the best barbecue you’ll ever taste. So even though it might mean sitting elbow-to-elbow with some random fans in town to cheer against the Royals or Chiefs, I’d happily recommend Back Porch Bar-B-Q to any Kansas Citian.

[aowanders-blog]

Camping Food

One of the easiest camping foods to pack is trail mix, and when it comes to camping food…..simplicity is king.  Especially if it has flavor,  didn’t require any cooking or washing any dishes. DEAL, right?!?!

Camping food like trail mix is an excellent alternative to traditional camping foods because its versatile, cheap, lightweight & lasts forever.  You can buy it pre-made or make it from scratch. It only costs a couple of bucks, and over the years my trail mix recipes have saved me thousands of dollars in camping food supplies and thousands of hours from washing dishes.

From tropical to downright nutty I have a trail mix recipe for every camping occasion, but most of my creations come from spur of the moment in-store cravings.  Budgets beware when I’m hungry I just don’t care.  Click the following text if all you want is my latest camping food trail mix recipe OR usual camping food trail mix ingredients.

When I was growing up camping was our families vacations. We didn’t stay in fancy hotels, all-inclusive resorts or even campgrounds for that matter. My mom would do the grocery shopping, and my dad would do the packing. The last item we always loaded was the cooler or coolers depending on the time of the year or length of trip.  These camping chests would be loaded with burgers, hot dogs, buns, condiments and a few treats.  Then topped with sodas & ice.  Which was always my job.  If my brother & I were fighting at the time his soda’s wouldn’t get covered in ice, and well shaken.

Healthy trail mix wasn’t stashed in our bags or secretly hiding under the car seats. We were a burger & brat camping family.  That relied heavily on BBQ sauce to bring some excitement into our campfire food.

Trail Mix Hobby

Trail mix wasn’t even on our radar, but besides being a great alternative to your traditional campfire foods.  Healthy homemade trail mix can turn into a hobby. From smoking or dehydrating your own meats & fruits to creating your own marinades & seasoning recipes.  You can take it a step farther by candying your own candies and hiding your own little treasures under a candy-coated shell.

I haven’t taken it that far yet, but I am courting. So if you have any dehydrator tips leave them in the comments below. Specifically for off-grid or backcountry lifestyles like mine.  Or if you just want to share stories of sibling torment those are always fun to read too.

What ingredients are in trail mix?

The most common ingredients in trail mix are nuts, dried fruit & chocolate.  Walnuts, cashews & peanuts dominate most trail mix recipes.  Cranberries, bananas & raisins are usually the dried fruit of choice.  When it comes to chocolate………….. M & M’s take the crown.  This is what I call a Walmart Trail Mix.  Basic, affordable & functional.  And you can make an incredibly tasty trail mix from big box stores like:

  Walmart Trail Mix

Target Trail Mix

Costco Trail Mix

Amazon Trail Mix

Dollar Store Trail Mix

By buying pre-packaged trail mix flavors and mixing them all together you can create your own homemade trail mix concoction.  Big box stores generally carry four trail mix recipes: Cajun, Mountain, Indulgent or Tropical.

Cajun Trail Mix

Maybe your the type of person that likes Tobasco sauce with your cereal, or cuts your own hair with a lighter.  Well, you’re probably a Cajun trail mix fan then.  This healthy camping food is usually a blend of sesame sticks, peanuts, almonds & buttered toffee nuts coated in a bold spicey salt.  Other variations will also include chex, toasted corn & wasabi peas. Be careful though of those wasabi peas they pack a punch, but if you want to have some fun with your younger sibling tell em ……………a fat lie on how awesome they are.

  Mountain Trail Mix

Maybe wasabi peas aren’t your thing but you like to kick bananas & stare down crickets while still craving a healthy camping food.  Give the pioneer of store-bought trail mix a try then.  The usual suspects include raisins, M & M’s, cashews & peanuts.  It’s not going to win any awards for its exotic flavor profile, but it travels well and keeps your energy up.  The mountain trail mix is a gateway to healthy camping foods, and your kids will love it.  Well, they’ll probably just love the M & M’s but they’re better for you than playing with a flamethrower in a tent right?

  Indulgent Trail Mix

Have you ever done any fan kicking? Or dancing in the rain?  Not all trail mix is healthy for you, but neither is fan kicking or bacon & french fries.  And almost every restaurant in America serves up both these ingredients.  Sometimes you just want to indulge in your camping food, and the Indulgent Trail Mix will let you let you dance in the rain.  I promise.  Maybe

With a blend of white chocolate, dark chocolate & peanut butter drop chips its no mystery why this is a popular choice.  Regrettably, this trail mix finishes off with golden raisins, cashews & peanuts though instead of ice cream & a Netflix Original series.  Pick out the raisins –still goes great with ice cream, and makes a great non-cook campfire food treat that everyone will love.  Seriously who doesn’t like ice cream?

Tropical Trail Mix

I have a friend that is padded room crazy, but loveable.  Which is exactly is how I feel about tropical trail mix recipes. The healthiest trail mix is the mountain mix.  Particularly if you pick out the M & M’s, but a lot of people think the tropical trail mix is the healthiest on the market because of the dried fruit.  Unfortunately, because companies add a lot of sugar to their dried fruit the tropical mix is one of the unhealthiest trail mixes for you.  Don’t get me wrong I am a big fan of the flavor profile of tropical trail mix recipes, but it’s just not the healthiest camping food for you unless you make it yourself.

A traditional tropical mix recipe will include a lot of dried fruits like papaya, mango, pineapple, peaches, and apricots.  As well as coconut shavings and your usual ingredients like golden raisins, cranberries, banana chips, honey roasted peanuts & toffee brittle.  Tropical trail mix recipes are full of exotic flavor profiles and are the most unique homemade recipes.

Homemade Trail Mix

For years these four trail mix recipes found their way into my backpacks, cupboards, and tuppaware.  I would buy various quantities of each one.  Sometimes mixing them together and sometimes not.  It wasn’t until an adventure in Utah went horribly wrong that I discovered the ultimate homemade trail mix method.  I came across a climbing group that spends 6 months a year in the backcountry and the only camping food they pack is three 50 gallon drums of homemade trail mix to snack on.  One they buy.  One they make and the third is a combination of both.

Being the trail mix superfan that I am. I felt like a rock band groupie stumbling backstage by “accident.”  wink wink.  This group of dirtbags (what climbers like to call themselves) is what I like to call trail mix hobbyist.  They dehydrate all their own fruits & meats.   Wish I would have paid more attention to their dehydrator, but I guess we’ll just have to chalk that up to another travel regret.  They also make all their own chocolates & granola bars.

Learning Homemade Trail Mix

I was lucky enough to get an invite when they went on their resupply field trip.  Instead of buying pre-packaged trail mix recipes like I had been doing.  They bought items in bulk.  Five pounds of cashew.  Twenty pounds of almonds.  Three pounds of pumpkin seeds.  Two pounds of this; Eight pounds of that.  Bags & bags of oats, raisins, pistachios, coconut flakes, sesame sticks, pretzels, wasabi peas & so much more.  The big surprise for me was hundreds of boxes of cereal.  Cocoa puffs, chex, corn flakes, cheerio’s, Golden Grahams, cookie crisps & mini wheats.  The check out lady probably thought this was our first time out of the bunker in the last 50 years.  We almost needed to rent a box truck to get our trail mix supplies back to camp.

When we got back to camp the music was turned up.  Bags were ripped open, and the creation party began.  I’ve been to keg parties, bong parties even sushi-rolling parties in Montana, but I had never even heard of a trail mixing party.  Twelve hours & 10 cases of beer later these dirtbags had restocked their camping food supply for another 6 months of climbing adventures.  All the barrels were full.  Everyone had their own bucket, basket or ziplock bag filled with their own unique trail mix recipe.  It was like going to Colorado’s Microbrew Festival.  Where you go from booth to booth trying each trailmasters’s mix, and voting on who’s was best.

That moment in time with strangers in the desert of Utah showed me how to pursue a passion I never even knew I had.  Traveling alone with strangers will open your eyes like this.  Might even unlock personal mysteries, but most of all travel will turn you into a sponge.  Everywhere you go and everyone you meet will have you soaking up information, mannerisms & viewpoints.  I tell you this because before meeting this group of climbers I made trail mix from the “big four” recipes that big box stores carry, and now I am on the hunt for a dehydrator.  Did I mention that yet?

My “pre-travel” self would have imploded trying to figure out a solution to my situation.  Where my “post-travel” self just rolled with the punches, and by doing so found a solution, entertainment, great friends & a hobby I can do anywhere in the world.

How do I make Camping food trail mix?

Those gravity-defying hippies opened my eyes to a way of life &  new trail mix recipes.   I don’t take it to the lengths they do yet, but if I find the right dehydrator …..never say never.  Knowing that I could create my own healthy homemade trail mix with an exciting flavor profile combining both taste and texture was a game changer for me.  So when its time to pack camping food for a backcountry trip I can now bring more then brauts & burgers to the table. These days my go-to camping food is trail mix for a number of reasons. It’s a great social snack around the campfire at the end of a long day of hiking. Has a long shelf life. Healthy, versatile & customizable. Plus, I would be willing to bet there are more trail mix recipes then there are websites in the world.

For me, I don’t have a “structured” method when creating my trail mix.  I mean come on I don’t even have a structured life let alone measuring cups and spoons.  But I did go to a friends house and try to create a “structured” trail mix recipe for you.  You can find that further in the reading, but for me, I just throw it all together.  If I bought too much like I did in the pictures above.  I just wait a few days, and then add the remaining ingredients. In this case, I had no room for the cereal, but a few days later I did.

That’s why I love trail mix.  You can add anything you want at any time to your recipe.   My original recipe wasn’t my end recipe.  Because not only did I add cereal a week later, but two weeks after that I also added chocolate truffles & teriyaki chicken jerky.  Eventually, I added honey roasted peanuts & cocoa puffs too.

I don’t always do healthy or indulgent recipes. Sometimes I call an audible in the middle, end or even the beginning.  Which is why I love trail mix because of its versatility.  I have never had meatloaf and dried fruit trail mix before, but I am sure there is some drunk decision making still left in me.  So never say never.

So it is safe to say I don’t have a “go to” camping food trail mix recipe, but my usual suspects include:

Gluten Free Honey Nut Chex Mix(mainly for filler)

Dried Mangos, Apricots, Strawberries & Cranberries 

Bulk Nuts salted/unsalted/honey roasted/chocolate covered (almonds give me a stomach ache but I still throw em in there)

1-2 Indulgent items (peanut butter filled pretzels, candy covered burnt peanuts or something else covered in chocolate)

Wasabi Peas or something spicy

Nature Valley Granola Bars (chocolate 1st choice) break em into bite-size also makes a great cereal)

dried veggie chips

1-3 wild cards (triscuits/wheat thins, coconut flakes, toffee brittle, beef jerky, popcorn, dried green beans, dried peas, etc etc)

Back to the beginning of Camping Food Post

Is Trail Mix Healthy?

Trail mix ingredients have earned a reputation of being a healthy nutritious camping food designed to fuel your body and give you the energy you need to be physically active, and while most trail mix ingredients live up to this reputation some ingredients do nothing more than drive up the calorie count of this camping food.  The answer to “Is trail mix healthy?”  Is most likely no.  It has nuts and fruit, two major ingredients that do technically belong under the healthy camping foods umbrella, but store-bought trail mix recipes bring along saturated fats, artificial flavors, and added sugars.  So finding a trail mix recipe in stores with health benefits and no unhealthy benefits might be a bit frustrating.

But if your playing chess with a unicorn, the nutritional value of trail mix is probably the least of your concerns.  Peanuts, raisins & dried fruit carry a lot of nutrients and protein, but they also provide a lot of calories and sugar.  If your a healthy person trail mix is healthy for you, but then again if you are an active person what isn’t healthy for you?  If trail mix was good for weight loss corporate America & affiliate marketers would be all over this cash cow camping food.  If trail mix was heart healthy & lowered cholesterol TV ads would be saturated with products.

The ingredients in this camping food are good for you, but the way the ingredients are manufactured is what triggers the unhealthy alarms.  Serving size also contributes to this equation.  Something I believe I am immune too (not really but I can dream right) because when I break out this camping food its generally an hour later before I pack it back away.

How Do You Ensure A Healthy Camping Food Trail Mix Recipe?

To make a healthy trail mix recipe all you have to do is remember three things: Raw, Unsweetened & Unsulfured.

If done right a trail mix recipe can be nutritious & healthy.  Alternatively, if you buy from stores to make this camping food healthy and nutritious you will need to avoid the unhealthy ingredients.  It takes a little more effort and a few more dollars, but if you’re after healthy camping food all it takes is awareness & effort.  Farmers markets are great for finding raw healthy trail mix ingredients.  Particularly, vegetables and fruit you can dry your self.

Healthy Trail Mix Recipe

The homemade trail mix version you can tweak and clicking the links below will take you to the exact ingredients I use:

2 Cups Cheerios 

2 Cups Granola (crumbles or bars)

1 1/2 cups raw nuts (almonds, pecans, cashews, peanuts etc..)

1 cup raw seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds etc..)

1 cup unsweetened, unsulphured dried fruit (apricots, mangos, papayas, cherries, cranberries, raisins etc..)

Fun stuff (amounts vary)  (beef jerky, chopped dark chocolate, wheat thins, triscuits, rice cakes, dried strawberries, popcorn,  pretzels etc..)

Spice i.e. 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg (optional)

**Some of these items will require a Prime Membership to get lower prices.

My Go-To Camping Food Trail Mix Recipe:

1 cup raw almonds

1 cup raw pecans

1 cup raw walnuts

1 cup raw cashews

1 cup chocolate granola

1 bag of rice cakes

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup of raw coconut flakes

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 cup dried strawberries

1/2 cup unsweetened, unsulfured  apricots

1/2 cup unsweetened, unsulfured mangos

1 bag of ramen noodles( i don’t use the salt)

1 box of gluten free honey chex cereal

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon,

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of garlic

**NOTES** I toast the pecans and cashews for 10 minutes at 350 degrees before adding to the rest of the ingredients.  I also crumble up the rice cakes & granola bars.  Sometimes I will put the granola bars in a separate container for easy cereal making access.**

Back to the beginning of Camping Food Post

Is Trail Mix Good For Weight Loss?

I get this question all the time.  I want to say yes, but then I look down at a bowl filled with chocolate, candies & gas station store bought dried fruit. Trail mix is associated with outdoor adventurous activities.  Which makes people assume this camping food is healthy and good for weight loss.

Unfortunately, this camping food isn’t focused on weight loss.  Mainly because nuts are pretty high in calorie count.  Unless you are engaged in a physical activity these calories will be stored and turned into heart-healthy fats by the body.  This transforms this so-called “healthy” snack into a high-calorie dessert. A small handful can easily contain 300+ calories.  Not what you want if weight loss is your goal.

Speeding up your metabolism and energizing your body are two factors everyone needs when trying to lose weight.  Proper portion size and combing trail mix with another appropriate diet will help you lose weight fast. I wish I could tell you this is the magic bullet where you could eat as much as you want, and the pounds would start to shed quicker then it began.  But weight loss requires activity, and no matter how healthy or unhealthy this camping food may be it is not a substitute for activity.

Is Eating Trail Mix Bad For You?

Eating trail mix as your camping food for 6 months straight is most likely extremely bad for you.  Eating this camping food for 6 months straight while climbing mountain faces for 10 hours a day is probably necessary.  Trail mix is high in fats, sugars & calories.

Three things active people need to sustain their energy.  Eating trail mix isn’t bad for you it’s just not good for you if you’re not active.  Trail mix is a camping food.  Nothing more nothing less.  Eat it in moderation and you will be just fine.  Unless your allergic to nuts then I suggest you delete everything you learned from this post.  In fact, why are you reading this post?  Don’t drink almond milk either.

Trail Mix Stole My Heart

I love trail mix.  I love creating it, and the people I go camping with love inviting me because they know I am bringing trail mix as my camping food.  Its a great social snack around the campfire at night.  It’s the perfect camping food because of its lightweight.  Travels well and keeps my energy up.  Does that mean I am going to fill my cupboards full of this camping food?

Well, probably, but I also camp 350 days a year. Ski 100+ days a year.  Kitesurf  ~ well I have the gear but have only used it once.  My lifestyle might be different than yours, but trail mix is wonderful.  Especially for people like me that hate doing the dishes.  Or spending an hour cooking for five when I only have one.  I love to snack all day every day.  Specifically, if it doesn’t require a trip to the store or prepping.  Trail mix may not be good for you in large doses, but what it is?  I’ve tried to give you as much knowledge & background information as I can about trail mix, but at the end of the day the only thing I can guarantee you is this:

Trail Mix Is Highly Compatible With My LIifestyle

  My Camping Food Trail Mix Recipes Camping Food One of the easiest camping foods to pack is trail mix, and when it comes to camping food.....simplicity is king. 

[mostly-plants]

One month of eating vegan

Day 29: We headed out for brunch with a friend at Light Years Cafe which is becoming a fast favourite for us because of their delicious food, great coffee, beautiful space, and flexibility with vegan options. The menu has a few dishes already labelled as vegan, but the staff were very patient in checking with the kitchen when I asked about whether other things could be made vegan too. And Voila! I got the Pixel Avocado, minus the poached egg:

The fancy stuff on the right includes kale and cabbage chips, pickled radishes, roasted edamame, and edamame hummus. YUM! I really enjoyed this, and as avocado on toast goes, it’s definitely the tastiest and most interesting version I’ve ever had. I also tried their mango smoothie with Ribena pearls. The smoothie was very refreshing, but I couldn’t taste the Ribena flavour in the tapioca pearls. Still, credit to Light Years for making it vegan-accessible by leaving out the gelatine.

Day 30: Since I’d got into the habit of batch cooking and was working from home on Monday, I was able to forage from the fridge for meals. I had some leftover soup for lunch, and leftover lentil shepherd’s pie for dinner. Having ready-made food available has made it way easier for me to stick with a vegan diet this month without having to think “what can I eat?” at every meal. These last few days of the month went so quickly!

Day 31: The final day of my month-long challenge! I’d ordered a fruit and veggie box and a few pantry staples from CERES Fair Food for delivery today. This service has been great for the times when we’re both working a lot and have too many social things on the weekend to be able to fit in a trip to the local markets. I also like CERES Fair Food because it’s organic, supports local farmers, and provides employment for recently arrived refugees. The quality of produce is really good and the variety of receiving whatever’s in season means that you get to eat a range of different veggies, and be creative in your cooking.

My boyfriend had been craving fresh veggies, so on Tuesday night we made this noodle salad adapted from the first My Darling Lemon Thyme cookbook by Emma Galloway, a trained chef who creates vegetarian gluten-free recipes. Instead of rice noodles, we used zucchini noodles (just raw zuchhini put through a spiralizer - you can also use a peeler to create long strips, it just takes a little bit longer). I added some cubed cooked firm tofu and sriracha sauce, and it made a very satisfying dinner:

As I reached the end of my month of eating vegan I was trying to decide what to do once the month ended - whether I felt able to continue eating mostly vegan, or whether I felt like I needed to add anything back into my diet to maintain adequate nutrition, or to have some flexibility in terms of adapting to the different circumstances of daily life/social events etc. The main issues for me in weighing up the decision of what to do after this month ended were:

1. Is this a nutritionally balanced and healthy way to eat in the long-term? 2. Will eating mostly plants reduce my impact on the environment and animals?, and 3. Can I eat a plant-based diet and still do things that are important to me, like sharing food with loved ones?

1. Health After doing a bunch of research and reviewing dietary advice from credible sources such as dieticians, Australian government healthy eating guidelines, and in-depth recommendations from University nutrition departments based on the current nutrition research, I do think that it’s possible to eat a nutritionally balanced vegan diet by planning meals with care, and supplementing key vitamins like B12 that aren’t available in plant foods. Other nutrients that are important to pay attention to include Vitamin D (which can be deficient on any diet when people don’t get enough from sunlight), as well as iron, calcium, iodine and Omega 3 fatty acids.

I would definitely encourage anyone considering a plant-based diet to first do your research, and talk to your doctor and a university-qualified dietician to ensure that you aren’t missing any key nutrients. If you simply cut animal products out of your diet without understanding what foods to add in to replace the nutrients you need, you will be putting yourself at risk of nutrient deficiencies. That said, as I mentioned before, I was iron-deficient for years on an omnivorous diet - so planning your diet for optimum nutrition is important for anyone! Eating vegan has actually encouraged me to pay more attention to getting the nutrients I need, and this means I am ultimately eating a more healthy and varied diet than I was before.

2. The environment, and impact on animals

I had less questions about this aspect of eating a plant-based diet, because overall the evidence seems pretty clear and consistent that reducing consumption of animal products is better for the environment and for animals. Of course, within the range of plant foods produced, there are also differences in resource requirements and environmental impact depending on what exactly you eat. A 2015 study claimed that eating more plants could actually cause greater environmental impact if you analyse emissions per 1000 calories rather than per kilogram. The authors argued that since some plants (such as Broccoli) require more resources to produce 1000 calories of energy, some types of animal products may ultimately cause less impact when compared this way.  However, no-one is eating 3 kilos of broccoli at a time instead of 330 grams of pork. We eat broccoli for its nutrient density, not because it’s a great way to stock up on calories, so this is ultimately a pretty nonsensical comparison to make. Even if you do look at the comparisons for emissions per 1000 calories, the best plant protein sources such as lentils, nuts and dry beans produce anywhere between 10-20% of the amount of emissions caused by animal products. Again, reputable sources of information seem to stack up in favour of the “eat less animal products” argument, regardless of factors such as whether animals are pasture-raised.

3. Sharing food with loved ones

I am very lucky that my partner, family and friends are very supportive and open-minded. I know that the people in my life will make their best effort to offer vegan options where they can, but I’m sure there will also be times where this might be a bit more challenging. I’m sure there will also be times when I want to share different foods with loved ones, for example, a piece of birthday cake, or a dish that is part of a yearly family celebration. Everybody is different, but for me it makes sense to be pragmatic in considering my impacts on a micro/daily level, and doing the best I can in a realistic way.

Overall, I feel I can definitely continue making choices that minimise the demand for animal products. Where animal products already exist in my daily life (e.g. shoes, foods or vitamins I’ve already bought, or occasions where it’s not possible to have specifically vegan food options) then personally I feel more at peace with accepting and appreciating what is already there, rather than throwing things away or letting them go to waste.  For example, while doing my month of eating vegan I accidentally bought muesli bars that contained honey, so I will use these up and buy different products in the future.

The vegan challenge wrap-up

Q. What do you do to celebrate the end of a successful month of vegan eating on World Vegan Day? A. You buy yourself vegan roast duck rice paper rolls for lunch from Mr and Mrs Banh Mi. Nom! I will definitely be back to try their vegan BBQ pork Banh Mi.

This month has been really interesting, and I’m really glad I did it. Here are my highlights of eating vegan:

I had lots of fun trying lots of different foods and recipes and finding new favourites (miso glazed eggplant, chickpea shakshuka, apple pie pancakes, peanut butter & maple granola, the list goes on...)

Plants tend to have less calories but heaps of nutrition, so you can eat very well and get plenty of vitamins and minerals without excess energy.

I’m much better informed about my nutritional requirements and am consciously making more effort to eat a balanced diet.

My digestion is amazing, because fibre.

I feel like my energy has been more stable.

My skin started to clear up towards the end of the month.

My weight stayed exactly the same, but I’m pretty happy with that given the range of delicious food I’ve eaten over the last month (including quite a few baked goods and my new favourite snack - peanut butter granola!)

 When it came to lowlights, there were fewer:

Restaurants/cafes that don’t know how to vegan - e.g. there are little to no vegan options, or asking for things to be made vegan results in confusion and being served dry toast with a beaker of oil. #foodfails.

Accidentally overdoing the batch-cooking, and ending up with more quinoa and chard than any human could reasonably be expected to ingest.

Going from eating almost no legumes to eating heaps of legumes does result in being little bit gassy at first, but your body adjusts pretty quickly. The positive of this experience is that the fibre-rich plant foods are feeding your good gut bacteria, and they are helping support your health in lots of ways. So I’d say it’s all worth a bit of bloating in the end!

All of the above is just my own experience, and yours may be different, but for me this has been an overwhelmingly positive change. I was surprised that I didn’t really miss dairy or meat over the month. Still, I decided that rather than telling myself I had to continue eating 100% vegan from there, I was open to re-including minimal animal products in my diet if I felt like I needed to. This kept the pressure off so that I could be free to let things evolve rather than forcing change too quickly.

Since finishing the vegan eating challenge, I have eaten a small amount of dairy a couple of times (which made my skin break out quite noticeably), along with a mouthful of the scrambled eggs my partner ordered when we went out to breakfast. It’s been interesting, because I had thought I would either be a bit grossed out by these things after avoiding them for a month, or the opposite - that I might think “now I remember why people love eating this stuff!”

In fact, I just felt (in an extremely strayan way) “Yeah.. nah.” Like... I get it, but I just don’t really feel like I want it anymore. It’s kind of nice to feel a sense of calm acceptance about that, because decisions that I’ve made from a place of calm acceptance tend to work better for me in the long run than those that are all-or-nothing, or highly emotionally charged.

So, here’s my plan: KEEP CALM AND CARROT ON! :D

By this I mean I will continue eating mostly plant-based, supplement B12 to be on the safe side, and not freak out if I make mistakes or can’t manage to be 100% vegan 100% of the time. Being more conscious of my choices and eating a diet that is 95% plants is still a huge step forward from the probably (sub)Standard Australian Diet I was eating before, and will still reduce my negative impact on animals and the environment.

I will keep posting my vegan food adventures on Mostly Plants, and use it as a way to keep track of my favourite recipes, and share these with other people who would like to eat their vegetables (and enjoy them too!) On that note, I’ll finish with one of my recent favourite dishes - Vietnamese style noodle soup with tofu, inspired by The Viet Vegan’s recipe for Homemade Vegan Vietnamese Pho.

[vigorvitality]

Why Sugar is Bad for You

No doubt you already know sugar contains a lot of calories, but did you know too much sugar in your diet can have detrimental effects on your health? Many people don’t realize how much sugar they consume since added sugar is in almost all prepared food products including ones from the store and foods you order when you dine out. You May Be Consuming More Sugar Than You Realize One of the problems with sugar is that it is high in calories yet offers no nutritional value. One teaspoon of granulated white sugar contains 16 calories. That may not sound like much, but consider most 12 ounce sodas contain 13 teaspoons of sugar. That translates to 208 calories from sugar in a 12 ounce soda. How many sodas do you drink per day? A recent study showed the average American drinks 2.6 servings of soda each day. If each serving is 12 ounces that comes to almost 541 calories just from soda. For a woman who eats 2,000 calories per day and drinks two sodas per day, over 20 percent of her calorie intake is from just the sugar in the sodas she drinks. And that’s not counting the sugar in coffee, on cereal, and sugar in the food we eat. Hidden sugar can be found in BBQ sauce, ketchup, pasta sauce, and many other processed foods. In fact, the average American eats a whopping 66 pounds of sugar each year! As you can see the average diet contains a lot of sugar. It’s Not Just Table Sugar While it’s easy to keep track of how much sugar you put in your coffee and on your cereal, sugar comes in many forms. Sugar goes by many names. Corn sweetener Corn syrup Dextrose Fructose Fruit juice concentrates Glucose High fructose corn syrup Invert sugar Lactose Maltose Malt syrup Raw sugar Sucrose Sugar syrup Cane crystals Cane sugar Crystalline fructose Evaporated cane juice Corn syrup solids Malt syrup Other ingredients This list is not a complete list of names sugar goes by. One thing to look for when looking for hidden sugar is any ingredient which ends in the suffix “ose”. This is usually a form of sugar. Manufacturers add sugar to foods to make them taste better and to appeal to our palette. Always read the list of ingredients on the foods you buy and look for the many names of sugar.  What Sugar Does to Your Body Sugar enters your bloodstream through your digestive tract. But first your body needs to break it down into two types of sugar; glucose and fructose. Sucrose is in every cell of your body and if our diet doesn’t provide it our bodies produce it, but fructose can only be metabolized by your liver. Fatty Liver The liver stores the fructose in the form of glycogen. If you eat too much fructose (fresh fruits and vegetables don’t count) the liver converts the glycogen to fat. This can lead to a fatty liver, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), and many serious health issues. Insulin Resistance Another serious health issue caused by the consumption of excessive amounts of sugar is insulin resistance. The body uses the hormone insulin to metabolize glucose. Insulin enables the cells to burn glucose for energy. Studies have shown consuming sugar is associated with insulin resistance. If your body is resistant to insulin it can lead to serious health conditions including cardiovascular disease, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and especially type II diabetes. Type II Diabetes Type I diabetes, which usually presents in childhood, prevents the body from producing insulin. People with Type I diabetes must take insulin each day to survive. Type II diabetes occurs when the body can’t use the insulin it produces. The cells become resistant to insulin and cannot process the sugar you eat. This causes the sugar in your blood to rise and puts you at risk for the complications of Type II diabetes. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), people who consume sugar-sweetened drinks have an 83 percent greater chance of developing Type II diabetes than those who do not. The good news is Type II diabetes can sometimes be controlled by diet and exercise. Eating a healthy diet and limiting sugar combined with an exercise program counteracts the effects of Type II diabetes in some people. Sugar is Highly Addictive Sugar can be addictive because when you eat it the brain releases dopamine in the pleasure center of the brain making you feel good. You consume more sugar looking for that “sugar high” much like a drug addict looking for the high from drugs. Junk foods and foods high in sugar cause a massive dopamine dump. If you are susceptible to addiction, this can be bad news and lead to a sugar addiction. While everything in moderation is a good mantra, for some of us abstinence is the only answer. Sugar Adds to the Obesity Epidemic Added sugar is nothing but empty calories. Unlike the natural sugars found in fruit and other natural foods, it only adds calories to your diet. Your body only needs a certain number of calories to maintain your weight. Any more and it is stored as fat. If you consume a lot of sugar your body won’t need all the calories and will begin to store it as fat. According to a recent paper published by Dr. David S. Ludwig, MDa., Karen E. Peterson ScDb., and Steven L. Gortmaker PhDc published in the Lancet, sugar is the number one cause of obesity in children and adults. Obesity puts you at greater risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, certain types of cancer, and stroke. Healthy Choices Sugar can lead to many health issues, but you can make better choices and lead a healthier lifestyle. Fresh fruits are always an excellent choice. Your body can use the fructose found in fresh fruit and it does no lead to a fatty liver. Fresh vegetables and lean meats and dairy as well as whole grains round out a healthy diet and lower your risks from consuming too much sugar.             And if its too late for you and you are already inflicted with Diabetes here is a program to right the ship. Click Here. http://exerciseandhealth.net/why-sugar-is-bad-for-you/

[hunterssauces-blog]

Hunters Sauces

Chinese Cooking - Sauces & Spices

Sauces and spices are the input any cooking. They would not be tasted great without by any meals. The only exemption is the fact that some beach creatures might be boiled or merely steamed before serve. Because they're salty already in their body well, that's. Imagine eating water shrimp that is steamed? I'dnot bother!

I'd like to introduce some of spices and the hottest sauces that daily is used by us. You could possibly already know a number of them, but I guess you haven't heard of others.

Sauces

Bean Curd Sauce (Dou Fu Ru):

Fermented bean curd, full of meats. Could possibly be maintained for time that was fairly long. Is available in two sorts - red. Crimson is usually used to make Braised Chicken. Bright preferences hot and is commonly employed like a side dish along with noodles, buttocks, or congee. Some want to offer with vinegar and soy sauce for beef dumplings, hotpot recipes, yet others. Well-liked by north and northwest of China.

Shrimp Sauce:

Gas from baby shrimp dried and fermented. Use for dishes that are sauteed. Employed seriously for recipes from south of China.

Sauce:

Fat from oyster. Heavily salted. Use for dishes. Popular in Hongkong, Cantoon (Guang Dong, to be correct), and a few regions in south of China whilst not employed at all in northern and west of China with the exception of hotels and some restaurants.

Sesame Sauce (Zhi Ma Jiang):

Ground sesame seed with flavor that is strong. Used for cold meals.

Hot Pepper Sauce:

Hot sauce produced from combination of beans and warm spices. Red or brown in-color. Use sparingly in meals or dishes. In north, people frequently blend this sauce to stir fried minced meat and offer with noodles (ensure it is Crackers with Meat Sauce).

Oil:

Taste is too powerful for use in ing that is frying. Utilize limited to boosting taste of cold and baked dishes, noodles, hot pot marinade, soups, etc.

Pepper Oil:

Created from sesame oil and red pepper. Assist with meat dumplings, buttocks, etc.

JiangXi Vinegar:

A particular vinegar stated in JiangXi province. Lighting amber in-color using a distinct smell. Use for recipes that are cold and beef dumplings.

Spices

Salt:

Mixture of pepper dust with sodium. Offer with fried chicken, meat, and bass.

Raw-food sauces are (you have noticed this term before) delightful and healthy. For instance, my formula for organic Fettuccine Alfredo dresses clear ribbons of light green zucchini using a gravy made from a delicious spice blend and soaked cashews. Trust me; you may not miss the cream or perhaps the butter (or perhaps the fat and calories).

One among my personal favorite raw food sauce dishes could be the Fake Peanut Sauce that I made for Organic Food Made simple for one or two People. Typically, this sauce demands roasted peanuts, but organic butter is used by me instead. As well as keeping more vitamins, I do believe the menu is truly tasted better in by raw almond butter.

Try my organic Pesto if you prefer your sauces inexperienced in the place of white. Such as the initial, my recipes calls for pine nuts , olive oil, garlic and leaves. The distinction is the fact that the nuts are natural as opposed to roasted.

Pepper:

Dry brown round tart. Included infrequently in poultry and beef could take away the uncomfortable smell (bad smell). May also be employed for making even or pickles some deserts.

Five Powder:

Celebrity fennel, a mixture of pepper, clove, cinnamon, and dried peel. Modestly found in beef and cooking seafood.

Celebrity Fennel:

Fashioned brown incolor, like nine cornered star. Use for cooking with offal, meat, chicken and seafood.

You can make Your own almond butter it in shops. Only ensure you select natural almond butter.

Mock Peanut Sauce

* 1/2 glass natural almond butter

* 1/4 cup water

* 1 tablespoon lemon juice that is fresh

* 2 tablespoons pure MARINADE SAUCE maple syrup

* 2 teaspoons tamari

* INCH/2 teaspoon crushed garlic

* 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh cinnamon

* Rush cayenne

* Dash salt

* place-all the components in a blender and procedure until smooth

This natural gravy that was basic might be retained for five times within the refrigerator. Drizzle it at your next celebration at lunch or dinner or utilize it as being a dipping sauce to include Asian flair towards the crudites your serve over your preferred veggies.

Jennifer Cornbleet is an internationally known raw-food instructor and cooking, as well as the composer of the top-selling cookbook Raw Food Made simple for 1 or 2 People. She presents hands-on, talks, sessions courses, and consultations nationwide. She's at Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in Fort Bragg, a faculty coach.

The food that is trick to Thai count on two things, Thai Herbs and Thai Gravy. Herbs are about the fragrance nevertheless the mouth-watering style comes from the sauce. Tasty Thai dinners originate from Spanish sauce dishes that are excellent. You are on the road to preparing ideal Spanish Food, in case you get the combination right.

The next time you will find on your own in a Thai diner, lookover to your neighbors' table. Generally occasion, you will discover small extra British sauces in those recipes, unless your distinct British restaurant provides exclusively to low-Thais. I imagine what I am saying is, the more Spanish sauces the more reliable Japanese food you'll get is found to the tables by you. It truly is often an indicator that is good if these sauces while in the tiny dishes taste great. You'll be able to believe that other sauces possibly arises from a well-built marinade dishes. In addition to this, if you notice condiments with herbs and Japanese gravy on the table, you realize this diner is rather genuine. Thai cooking is all about sauces , spices, and mixing herbs . There is no greater solution to provide all the types that are intense than Thai marinade. Indian sauce is divided into two group, sauce and cooking sauce.

Sauces:

Sauce

* Prik Naam Pla (fish sauce with sliced soup and lime juice) - a worldwide sauce that goes with almost every grain meals. Some restaurants included it while in the condiment.

* Prik Naam Som (chili & vinegar marinade) - condiment used to flavor crackers

* Naam Prik Pao (roasted chili paste) - condiment found in selection of dishes (sauces, salads, stirfries). Some Thais use Prik Pao as jam exchange to distribute on toast.

* Aa-jaad (pickled cucumber Salad) - excellent dipping sauce for fried fish cakes, satay, as well as other fried snacks

* Naam Jiem Saate (peanut gravy) - one of the most widely used British sauces out side of Thailand. It likes so excellent folks don't simply utilize it to swim Satay but put it to use as much more, pizza sauce substitute, pad-Thai sauce substitute, and salad dressing. The American must contact it " Notice " sauce, what ever food you view you soak in this sauce.

* Naam Jiem Talay (Fish Marinade) - yes, you've thought it. Jiem Talay is actually a dipping sauce for all you seafood need. Transfer melted butter! Get ready for a fiesta in your mouth. This badboy is saturated in taste and when you take a bite, the intense mix of hot, poisonous, salty and special will knock-your socks off (if created right).

* Naam Jiem Buoi (plum sauce) - common among baby and individuals who cannot handle spicy food. Jiem Buoi is Great for any fried dishes.

* Lure Choe (vinaigrette soy sauce) - use for making warm and bad soup and dipping sauce for potsticker and Dim-Sum.

* Naam Jiem Gai (chicken dipping sauce) - sweet and hot sauce. Good with BBQ chicken

* Naam Jiem Seir Rong Hai (crying lion gravy) - Crying Lion is among the popular dinners in the US. Seared medium rare meat served with sauce, consists of soy sauce, ground-roasted almond fish sauce, and limejuice.

Sauce

* Nam Pla (seafood marinade) - for putting salty flavor. Used in soups, stir fry, and creating sauces. You will find seafood marinade in meals like Tom Yum (warm and bitter soup), Tom Kah (coconut soup), and station krapow (stir fry sacred basil).

Use within sauces, wrong and special stir fry.

* Pad Thai Sauce - use for cooking station Thai. Pad Thai menu will be offered inside our post that is later.

* Phu Khao Tong (Natural lid soy sauce) - flavored soy sauce. one of the critical gravy which included in several Indian stirfry sauce recipe

* Notice iew Dum (Nice black soy sauce) - for making Station Discover iew (Special friend fried noodle with chinese broccoli and meat). Compound in Khao Mun Khai (Broiled chicken beef over tasting grain) dipping sauce

* Observe iew khao (gentle soy sauce) - significant sauce in many dipping sauce.

Juice - significant component in pad thai sauce. Contained in some dipping sauce and Thai Khang Som soup (Bad soup with tammarin based)

Gravy - ingredient in lots of Thai stir fry sauce recipe including bad and lovely stirfry.

* Curry substance - All curry pastes have spices and similar herbs but unique percentage.

Thai menu is going to be granted in our guide that is later.

* Green curry paste

* Orange curry paste

* Reddish curry paste

Curry paste

* Panang curry paste

* Khua Kling curry paste (Southern Thai food)

* Khang Pa curry paste (Not preferred in international place)

* Khang Som curry paste (Not popular in foreign state)

Actually the recipes, unique percentage that is same produce a big difference in flavor. why marinade menu could be the key to separate superior Spanish food from excellent Indian treat, this is exactly.

Japanese food count generally on Indian marinade, while you can see from your record above. If you combine and match sauces, they become many different dinners.

Like I mentioned " you're on your way to preparing perfect Spanish Food, in case you got that combination right ".

Why Food?

That's a problem that is great. Now here's a good remedy: we like Japanese food. Well basically, we love Japanese food. And we enjoy Indian food so much that individuals feel you ought to think it's great also. Therefore it really is our goal to provide everyone who enjoys Indian food - or anyone who enjoys food in general - with an easy and fast way to discover the food they appreciate.

What is Regional Thai Food?

The answer is rather basic: delightful and hot Indian food close you'll be able to smell it! Well, not that near to load oneself on food that is excellent, and fast. You notice, the work of LocalThaiFood.com would be to assist you to pick the one which best fits your Japanese food needs, and also to assist you to find British restaurants which can be in your immediate location, or as close that you can.

Who Loves Food?

We do! And hopefully you are doing - or, at the very least develop you will shortly! Anyways, LocalThaiFood is run of us people here in California by simply a number and we might want to satisfy with you!

[twoguystrybbq-blog]

Smokehouse Barbecue

Ben:

We’re starting to branch out a little, and I don’t hate it one bit. To be certain, we still have some barbecue in KCMO left to try and a handful of places in KCK we’ll visit, but we’re beginning to exhaust all of our very local barbecue options. And for me, this will be one of the best aspects of this project moving forward: getting into new parts of the KC Metro area, visiting suburbs I didn’t know existed, all while sampling the best barbecue in the world.

With that said, we visited Smokehouse Barbecue in Gladstone on a Sunday. If I recall correctly, we had tentatively planned to grab barbecue on Saturday, but we unexpectedly over-served ourselves on Friday night, which spiraled into a full day of needed recovery. It seems the reality that my hangovers are never getting any better is finally sinking in. I can’t prepare for these bad boys any more. It doesn’t matter how much water I drink on Friday night, or even how little alcohol I drink on Friday night (seriously, just three drinks does the trick for me), I’m donezo on Saturday.

So, knowing that barbecue deserves our full, not hungover attention, we postponed the feast on Saturday and re-scheduled for Sunday. After combing through our comprehensive list of all barbecue in Kansas City, I settled on Smokehouse, which has three locations in the metro area. The location in Gladstone was about a twenty minute drive, but still the closest of all three. We met at Smokehouse in that sweet spot of barbecue feasting: mid afternoon. After the lunch rush, but before they’ve run out of any important items (tell a man “we’re out of burnt ends” and I’ll show you a man in despair).

I first drove right past Smokehouse, but when I circled back, I’m not entirely sure how I ever missed it. It’s a huge restaurant with -- as you may guess -- beautiful barbecuing smoke billowing out the roof.

I met Leo inside; he had already been seated and ordered an appetizer of burnt ends. I’m totally fine with burnt ends as an appetizer. Or an entree. Or, hell, toss some extra charred burnt ends on some vanilla ice cream and have them for dessert. We don’t discriminate.

As we caught up on how brutal our hangovers were, I took note of Smokehouse’s huge interior. This place is no hole-in-the wall, it’s a big restaurant made to accommodate large groups. I imagine graduation parties, company lunches, and family reunions eat here all the time. Indeed, if you’re visiting Kansas City with a large group of people and want to check out some quality barbecue, I’d probably send you to Smokehouse.

Our burnt end appetizer arrived and we ordered our main courses; I went with more burnt ends (don’t judge), sausage, baked beans, and cheesy corn.

The burnt ends at Smokehouse are fantastic -- certainly more on the meaty side than the fatty side, and still with plenty of char in each and every bite. These aren’t the type of burnt ends that just fall apart in your mouth because they’re all fat; these are the burnt ends that deliver all the flavor you need between the char and the sauce, but come in a hearty chunk of meat. The burnt ends here are substantial.

Our appetizer, as well as our entrees, came pre-sauced -- something both Leo and I have decided we don’t have a problem with. For starters, pre-sauced meat almost always come with hot (temperature, not flavor) sauce. Rather than drizzling some room temperature sauce on your ‘cue, the sauce goes straight from a warmer in the kitchen to melting into your meat. It feels… fancy? Maybe. And what’s more, pre-sauced meat allows us, as eaters, to just sit back and trust the choices of the cooks and pit master. Instead of guessing which sauce mixes best with which meat, we’re letting the professionals handle that business.

In short order, our main courses arrived. The burnt ends, I should note, were still fantastic. Smokehouse also offers pork burnt ends -- something I’ve never tried -- but I was more than happy with the traditional beef/brisket burnt ends.

The sausage was a traditional dinner-style sausage, with finely ground filling and a smooth exterior. Smokehouse’s sausage is on the mild side in terms how strength of flavor, but for me that really means I can pair it with other items and sauce without the sausage over-powering anything.

The sides at Smokehouse are what I would confidently describe as… strong. The cheesy corn was a first for me, and did not disappoint. It’s rich and creamy -- like mac and cheese. But instead of pasta, you have packets of sweetness with the corn. And while it may look a bit like that creamed corn they fed you in elementary school, this is a quality side dish that’s been prepared fresh and with care. The same can be said of the beans, which were thick, smokey, and tasted like they had been prepared low and slow for the past few days.

Even though I came into Smokehouse hungry as ever, I found myself slowing down at the end of this meal. Was I losing my fastball? Was I struggling to put away truly disturbing amounts of barbecue in one sitting? We’ll find out, I suppose. In any event, it’s safe to say that Smokehouse delivered in the portions department; I’m not easily stuffed on barbecue.

If you live in the city, make the short trip to Smokehouse Barbecue, particularly if you don’t feel like waiting in line and you’re jonesing to be waited on. The barbecue -- as you should expect -- delivers.

Leo:

A big plate of delicious food!

This experience starts on Friday night.  A legal organization that I am in had an anniversary party from 4pm to 7pm.  There was a buffet and an open bar, both of which I visited.  Around 7pm I called Ben who was just about to go to a movie on the Plaza.  “Well, don’t do that,” I said.  “Well, what should we do instead?”  Ben asked.  “Let’s meet up at O’Dowd’s on the Plaza, have a drink or two, and decide.”  

So, about thirty minutes later, we were at the bar at O’Dowd’s.  After a couple of tasty beers, we headed upstairs to the balcony because it was a semi-nice night.  Oh, and throughout all this, I’m still in my lawyer get-up: nice pants, nice jacket, and suspenders.  We are sitting up on the patio and Ben and I get to talking about other cool spots in Kansas City that we had not been to.  I mean, we’ve frequented Westport a lot, but we’d never been to the Crossroads.  So, let’s go to the Crossroads, we decided!  There’s no time like the present, right?

We Ubered to a bar called “Ruins Pub” and what is awesome about this pub is that it has a serve your own beer station.  You get a card from the bartender that keeps track of how much you spend and then you can sample from over different beers.  Ben and I ran into a group of friends celebrating a birthday and shared a Lunchbox shot, which may be responsible for how we felt the next day!  In celebrating, I remembered seeing on Facebook that one of my friends had a birthday, so I texted her.  Turns out that she was out and about at Dave’s Stagecoach Inn in Westport.  So, to Westport we went!

This all ended with me explaining to a group of my friend’s friends all about this blog and handing out our business cards (yes, we have business cards, have I mentioned that before?).  I figured I would give them a shout out in case they read this article.  So, if you see Ben and me out and about and as us, you too could be featured in our blog!!  After having some amazing street tacos, Ben got me an Uber home.

We had planned to get barbeque on Saturday, but we were both…recovering.  We would not have been in a good position to have a barbeque experience, so we postponed going to get bbq until Sunday.

Getting barbeque on a Sunday is difficult because many barbeque restaurants are closed on Sunday.  One that was open was Smokehouse Barbeque, another Kansas City barbeque restaurant that I had not yet heard of.  It is a bit of a drive for Ben and me, but hopefully we have or will have some readers in Gladstone who will appreciate our going to a restaurant outside of the city.  So, still feeling it a little from Friday night, I headed up to Smokehouse BBQ in Gladstone.

I was the first to arrive.  When I entered, I was a bit confused (imagine that).  On my right was an ordering station and in front of me was a counter that looked a lot like other barbeque joints’ ordering counter.  “Was there not dine-in seating?” I thought.  I was apparently next in line and I had no idea what I wanted to order!  The pressure was really mounting up!  I think the hostess noticed my “distress” and asked me if I’d like to be seated.  “That would be great,” I said.  She led me around a corner into the dine-in area that was quite expansive, you just can’t see it immediately from the door.  I did notice as she sat me at a booth that a group was celebrating a birthday (must have been the theme of the weekend) and we sang happy birthday to an older gentleman.

Our waiter told me that Smokehouse served sweet tea and I knew that this was going to be a great experience!  I don’t know many places that offer sweet tea, but I am always elated when I go to a restaurant that does.  The waiter came back with my sweet tea and I ordered a burnt ends appetizer.  As Ben arrived, the appetizer came out and we dug in.  The burnt ends were “fresh-out-of-the smoker” hot and steaming.  The sauce was unique in a great way: I’d say it was more vinegary/tangy, but still thick and definitely with a little bit of a kick (oh, and just an fyi, Smokehouse does not have sauce on the table, so if you are a big sauce lover, be sure to ask for extra!).  And the burnt ends were terrific little chunks of goodness.

As we finished up the burnt ends, our waiter came back to take our orders.  I got the Chef’s Special: pork spare ribs, baby back ribs, bone-in chicken and burnt ends with French fries and potato salad.  For some reason, this did not register as a lot of food, but when it came out, I was overwhelmed by the amount of food that I had gotten.  Again, you could tell that all of the meat was fresh out of the cooker and it was all slathered with a generous helping of sauce.  

I dug into the pork spare ribs first.  They were huge!  And they were so delicious.  These ribs had a perfect coating of char/burntness from the smoker that gave way to some of the most tender meat that I’ve yet to experience.  And the meat had a distinctive sweetness from the smoker that complimented the tang of the sauce very well.  

Next I turned to the chicken and I remarked to Ben my realization that I had not yet gotten bone-in barbeque chicken from a barbeque restaurant!  It was great!  The skin was a perfect firmness to hold the tenderized chicken together.  Again, the meat had that sweet, sweet flavor from the smoker; not overwhelming, but just a hint, to leave you wanting more.  

It was at this point that the realization that I’d gotten too much food hit me.  For the first time in a long time (I’m a big guy), I had to get a takeout box.  But the ribs and burnt ends I saved were a splendid dinner!

So, if you are in Gladstone, or anywhere in Kansas City for that matter, I highly recommend Smokehouse BBQ.  I hope you’re hungry and I hope that you go try some new barbeque today!!!