Fruit Platters

A fruit platter is a lovely addition to any gathering, whether you are hosting it yourself or are bringing a platter to someone else's home, or to a public event. Although it is more economically-savvy to make your own fruit platter, rather than buying one. To help you create a lovely decorative fruit platter I’ve found some exquisite fruit platter pictures.

This is a very simple platter, which is very easy to prepare.


Fruits, being healthy may be hard for some people to eat, but fruit organized in designs like this will make something simple as fruit look very attractive.

Cooking Vegetables

Cooking vegetables takes usually no more than 15 minutes maximum in boiling water or steaming in a steamer. Here are some rough guidelines as to how long vegetables should be cooked for. Take them out earlier if you like them slightly crunchy still or later if you like them soft and over cooked! Always have at least a couple vegetables per meal ensuring at least one is also green. Put your vegetables into the water when it boils rather than leaving them in the pot while the water is heating up.

Broccoli, around 5-7 minutes.
Carrots, Parsnips, Potatoes, around 10 minutes.
Swede and Turnip, around 20 minutes.
Runner Beans, Kenya Beans, around 7-10 minutes.
Spinach, about a minute.
Leek and Cabbage, around 7-10 minutes.
Mange Tout, around a minute.
To roast vegetables instead of boil them they will need about 25-30 minutes. Not everything can be roasted either, peppers, potoatoes, tomatoe and onions can though

Cooking Potatoes

New Potatoes: For new potatoes, place the scrubbed potatoes with skins still on in a large pan of boiling water. They should take around 10 minutes to cook, but check them with a fork to see if they are soft on the inside.

Potato Wedges: Cut up your scrubbed potatoes into wedge shapes, do this by cutting the potato in two, then cutting to where the middle would have been, so you end up with lots of wedges. Cover these wedges in a bit of oil and cook in the oven at around 180 degrees for 10-20 minutes. They should be cooked through and a bit crispy.

Roast Potatoes: Firstly para-boil your potatoes the same way as New Potatoes, but take the skins off this time, then place them on a baking tray cover with a bit of oil and place in the oven for around 20 minutes or until they are crispy.

Mash Potato: As new potatoes only take the skins off this time, once cooked, drain the sauce pan of water, and mash the potato, you can then add a tablespoon of milk, mustard, pepper and a bit of grated cheese to give your mash a bit more flavour! Mash until it is lump less… unless you like lumpy mash of course!

Baked Potatoes: Clean a baking potato, and place in the oven at 180 degrees for about an hour, leave it longer for a crispy skin. You can also do it in the microwave in around 10 minutes, ensure you split the skin in both cases so it doesn’t explode! You can then add whatever filling you want to your potato. Cheese, carrots, beans, tuna, sweetcorn… whatever you like!

Food Gone Bad?

You should be able to tell if certain food has truly gone off for the most part, it usual smells bad, has mould growing on it or has changed colour! When this occurs its a good idea not to eat it unless you plan on having food poisoning. Sometimes though it can be difficult to tell whether food has gone off and below is a guide as to how long you should keep certain food items, knowing that they are probably still safe to eat.

Warning: This is only a guide! If food is smelling bad already or has mould growing on it then use common sense and don’t eat it! Make sure you wrap your food up well after opening it so that nothing else can get in!

Opened Raw Meat: 1-2 days in Fridge.
Opened Bacon: 1 week in the Fridge.
Butter and Margarine: 1 month.
Cheese: Hard Cheese can last 2 or 3 weeks if properly wrapped. Soft cheese a week.
Eggs: 3 Weeks.
Green Vegetables, Carrots and Parsnips: Keep in the Fridge, once opened will last around a week.
Onions and Potatoes: Keep in a dark place, they can last up to 2 weeks.
Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Courgettes, Lettuce, Peppers: Up to a week.
Supermarket Salad Packs: Up to 2 days after opening.
Tins: Keep forever near enough, but in your cupboard.
Dried Pasta, Rice, Noodles: Keep for years in your cupboard.
Bread: Keeps for around a week before going stale (can still be used for toast unless mouldy)
Fruit: Varies, soft berries for around 2 or 3 days, Apples for around 1-1.5 weeks. If it looks bad don’t eat it!
Supermarket Sandwiches: Within a day or purchase.
Milk: 4-5 days after opening. Keep in fridge.
For anything unopened, trust the use by date, for the most part you can probably go a day or so past it, however don’t do this for raw meat (unless frozen) or dairy (unless frozen).

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

One of my favourite easy recipes is Homemade chicken nuggets, they taste so much better than shop bought ones, mainly because of the higher quality chicken! Why bother you may ask! Well besides the extra tastiness homemade chicken nuggets are a great way to use up bread that is stale or about to go off!
Ingredients
Bread/Stale Bread
Pinch of Pepper
Pinch of Cajun Spice
Honey
Mustard
1 Chicken Breast
Chips, Potato Wedges
Sweet Corn, Peas etc.
Recipe
Firstly take the bread and place it in a freezer back, then using your hands or a rolling pin rip it apart and continue doing this until it is breadcrumbs! Add to this bag a small amount of cajun spice and pepper for taste if you want to! You can always send the breadcrumbs through a sieve if you want them to be perfect!
After this create a Honey and Mustard marinade as previously describe by mixing together 2 tablespoons of honey with 2 teaspoons of mustard creating a paste.
To this add chunks of chopped up chicken breast, so they are complete coated in the honey paste.
Now add the breadcrumbs to the marinade and ensure that all the chicken is covered completely
Place your chicken nuggets in the oven for around 20-30 minutes with some chips added with around 15 minutes to go!
Once they are ready serve and eat!

5 Tips about Pasta

1. When serving pasta, people tend to eat more than they need. Once cup of cooked pasta has about 200 calories. Measure a cup of pasta once or twice to see what a serving should look like. It would also be helpful to measure how much your pasta bowl holds. If you find your eating too much, cut back a little big. Replace a portion with more vegetables to expand volume.
2. When choosing pasta, look for 100 percent whole grain varieties for more fibre. Try something new. Pasta made from different whole grains such as whole wheat semolina, brown rice or flax.
3. Pasta is a low glycemic index food. This means that it supplies a more sustained release of energy which can help feel full longer and can help manage your blood sugar. Just because it is a low glycemic index food doesn’t mean you could eat unlimited amounts. Portions still matter.
4. Although you can buy pasta favoured with vegetables such as spinach or tomatoes don’t count on it for a serving of vegetables. These pastas typically are made by adding powder to flour so you get the colour but not much else. Serve vegetable alongside or mix them into your pasta sauce.
5. The best sauces are tomato based because they are low in fat and calories. There are lots of store bought sauces in the market. Look for products that are lower in fat and have less than 400 mg of sodium per ½ cup serving. It’s always best and tastiest to make your own!

Cooking Pasta

Pasta is easy to cook and easy to love. With different shapes and sizes, it’s enjoyable and you can never go wrong. For healthy pasta dishes try using whole wheat pasta, lots of vegetables and low fat protein ingredients.
Always cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water. To prevent boiling over, the pot should be large enough so it is only ¾ full.
Never: Add oil to cooking water. This has been one of my many mistakes. The oil tends to cling to the pasta when drained and the sauce can slip off more easily.
Tips:
• Salt the water just before adding the pasta.
• Taste the pasta to see if it is done rather than depending on recommended times. It should be tender and not mushy. If you do happen to add oil, by mistake your pasta will by slimy and mushy.
• Drain pasta well but do not rinse it. Rinsing prevents the pasta from sticking to the sauce nicely. Toss immediately with sauce.