Protein: what do you know?

What do you know about Protein other than you need some? There are so many different diets and theories that get tossed around it's difficult to know what you are really supposed to eat. Here is a great page from UCLA that breaks down everything you need to know about Protein; how much you need, where to get it and how much is too much. The UCLA page is very easy to read and contains none of the boring diet-calculus that most writers make you slog through. Hope this is helpful. Bon Apetit!

Some Spicey Advice!

We've all been there. You spend 1/2 the day at the grocery store only to get home and realize you are out of a spice you need for that new recipe. Don't panic and don't run back to the store! Here are some substitutions you can make with items you may already have in your pantry.

Instead of….	Use…..
1 tsp Apple Pie Spice	½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg, 1/8 tsp ground allspice and a dash of ground cloves or ginger  (in a pinch you could use just cinnamon and any one of the others listed)
Ground Allspice	Ground cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves
Ground Cardamom	Ground Ginger
Chili Powder	Dash bottled hot pepper sauce, plus equal measures of ground oregano and cumin
Ground Cinnamon	Ground nutmeg or allspice (use only ¼ of amount called for in the recipe)
Ground Cumin	Chili Powder
Garlic, 1 clove	1/8 tsp garlic powder or granulated garlic
Ground Mace	Ground allspice, cinnamon, ginger or nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered mustard	1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
Ground Red pepper	Hot pepper Sauce
1 whole Vanilla Bean	2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Sharpen Your Knives! Right now :-)

While preparing to teach a cooking class last week, I was reminded that most people have no idea what it's like to prepare food using a sharp knife. Every time you use your knife, it gradually gets duller and duller, especially if you are using a hard surface to cut on. For most home cooks, the knife dulled so gradually they don't even notice that they might as well be using a butter knife to chop carrots with.

I found a pretty good website that gives you a good description on how to keep your knives sharp:  http://www.hub-uk.com/cooking/tipsknives.htm  If I can find good diagrams or a video, i will post those.

These tips are good for keeping sharp knives sharp, but what if your knife is dull? (Don't even wonder, it is.)  You can take it some place like Bertarelli'sif you are close to the Hill, otherwise Dierberg's has a calendar for when they do knife sharpening at various stores or Schnucks will sharpen up to 3 knives at a time for free at their Meat Counters. There is usually a display on top of the meat counter that has cardboard knife protectors you can take home, write your info on and bring back to the store with your knife in it. Hope this is helpful!