Get Cooking!

Recipes, Kitchen Gadgets, Cookbook Reviews, Gluten Free Recipes...

You are here: Home / Archives for foodie infographic

foodie infographic

How to Pick the Freshest Produce (Infographic)

By

How to Pick Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
While I have often tried to focus on healthy eating on Get Cooking, I am really revitalizing my focus. Why? Because I’m revitalizing my focus on healthy eating in my own life and want only the best for you and your family as well!
Don’t worry, I have no intention of completely cutting out desserts and even less intention of completely cutting out carbs (they’d have to pull my potatoes out of my cold dead hands… whoever they are). But cutting back on less than healthy foods while increasing healthy foods only makes sense.
I’m lucky – I’ve always been a fiend for fruits and vegetables. Especially vegetables. I’m not sure if it’s because my parents always had gardens while I was growing up or if I simply enjoy the taste of just about every vegetable imaginable. Probably a little of both.
Below is a very useful infographic from Pounds to Pocket that’ll help you determine when a fruit or vegetable is the freshest.. as in ripe for the taking!
How to Pick Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in the Store

Infographic: 15 Easy Ways to Make Food Taste Better

By

The infographic below (from British friends of the food blog… hence yoghurt instead of yogurt!) includes some great tips for making your food taste even better. I love these tips – several of which I personally swear by.

Below are a few quick tips from my own kitchen:

  1. When making a dish with multiple food components (stew, soup, salad…), chop the individual foods as small as possible. Sure, it’s more work (unless you use a food processor) but each bite will provide more flavor. After all, the more foods that can fit on a spoon or fork at once, the greater the flavor punch.
  2.  Ground Chuck simply tastes better than ground beef. There is no getting around it.
  3. In addition to Kosher salt and black pepper, a few seasonings I keep on hand at all times (as in I’m apt to run out of just about anything before I ever run out of them) are: Cumin, Montana Mex Chile Salt (as well as their Sweet Seasoning Blend), Garlic Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Red Pepper Flakes, Pink Himalayan Salt, Seasoned Salt, and McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning. Experiment with seasonings – go bold! Just do so a little at a time, because you can always add more, you can’t add less.
  4. Use herbs often and use herbs generously. I love growing my own herbs – even though there is a Battle Royale between me and raccoons – and they’re winning. Good thing they’re so darn cute! Rosemary, chives, parsley, and cilantro are my favorites but Basil and Oregano are fast-becoming members of the “in crowd.” Add parsley to scrambled eggs, cilantro to any and all Mexican-inspired dishes, rosemary to soups, and chives to everything else. Well, almost. Chives snipped onto fresh from the oven baked potatoes make all the cares of the world slip away.
Courtesy of: Quid Corner


10 Ways to Make Avocado Toast (Infographic)

By

10 Ways to Make Gourmet Avocado Toast - 5 Types of Avocado Toast
Source: eReplacementParts.com blog
If you don’t like avocados, I challenge you to try them again.  Seriously, give them another chance. Their buttery, delicious flavor is something that (in my mind, anyway) would be impossible not to love. Pick yourself an avocado that’s slightly “soft” – too soft and the avocado is going to be a huge disappointment – too hard and… well… the avocado is going to be a huge disappointment. Find one that is “ripe” – the infographic below gives a cool little trick you can use if, unlike me, you don’t like groping avocados.

Try not to judge.

I always use lime juice with my avocados and guacamole, but a lot of people swear by lemon juice. I also like to add freshly ground Pink Himalayan Salt but sea salt is also really good. My husband likes cayenne pepper on avocados as well as in guacamole – but I’m more in favor of letting the avocado enjoy the spotlight with just a little salt and lime juice.

{For my favorite easy guacamole recipe, click the link. }

Something that’s pretty big right now is avocado toast… DELICIOUS!… and you just have to try it to see how amazing it is.

Keep reading for ways to enjoy avocados and avocado toast!

10 Ways to Make Gourmet Avocado Toast - 5 Types of Avocado Toast
Source: eReplacementParts.com

5 Fast Facts About Stevia

By

Stevia Infographic

 

  1. There are more than 250 species of the stevia plant. Like apple varieties or wine grapes, each type of stevia has a different taste based on its molecular make up and the terroir of where the plant was grown. Most stevia brands harvest a variety of stevia species, blending them together through the production process along with filler ingredients. That’s one reason most stevia brands have a bitter aftertaste. Instead, shop for stevias that only harvest single stevia species and sources its finest leaves.
  2. Stevia is 350 times sweeter than sugar. One grain of stevia does not equal a grain of sugar. In fact, the extract from stevia is up to 350 times sweeter than a grain of sugar. That’s why stevia brands must add filler ingredients to serve as bulking agents that level off the high level of sweetness. Look for ingredients labeled USDA organic and Non-GMO verified to ensure you are getting the highest quality stevia choice for your food and beverages.
  3.  Stevia is ideal for baking, unlike most sugar alternatives. Stevia isn’t just for sweetening your coffee, tea or cereal. Unlike other sugar alternatives, stevia extracts are pH-stable with a very high melting point – similar to sugar. That means there are stevia blends ideal for baking – great news for diabetics seeking more cooking and meal preparation options, and for anyone who loves to bake but is trying to kick the sugar habit.
  4. Stevia is a highly self-sustaining plant. Stevia is a member of the sunflower family – it does not require a lot of water to thrive and is very self-sustaining. It’s a small shrub – typically no more than three feet tall and can grow in climates ranging from arid to humid. It’s a very drought tolerant plant with little need for extra inputs.
  5. While stevia is ideal for diabetics maintaining blood sugar levels, some studies have suggested stevia may also reduce blood pressure. Stevia is already widely known as an ideal sugar substitute for diabetics and others seeking to maintain healthy sugar levels as it does not induce glycemic response when ingested. Studies have also suggested replacing sugar with stevia may be linked to lowering blood pressure.

Being a true Southerner, I love my tea like I love everything else – as sweet as I can get it.  Same goes for coffee.  Unfortunately, sugar comes with unwanted calories and artificial sweeteners are… well.. artificial.

Who wants to put anything artificial into their bodies?

That’s why I’ve fallen head over heels in love with Stevia.  You can actually use less Stevia than sugar in tea (or coffee, hot chocolate, apple cider.. told you, I love things sweet..) and enjoy just as much sweetness.  Personally, I think it’s even better – and that, coming from Madame Sweet Teeth, is quite a statement.

Founded in 2008, Pyure Brands is a privately-held leading innovator of healthy sweeteners and one of the largest and fastest-growing independent stevia companies in America. Under the direction of Founder Benjamin Fleischer, Pyure has successfully established itself as a pioneer of sweetening solutions by introducing the first USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified stevia and erythritol to the market. The company’s commercial stevia extracts and blends provide the reduced-calorie sweetening solution for more than 300 food, beverage, and personal care products. In an effort to help further health awareness, Pyure donates a portion of its proceeds to organizations and foundations that have a focus on diabetes education as well as other social and environmental causes. For more information, please visit www.pyuresweet.com or find the brand on Facebook.