Delicious Food at Home - Cooking with Children

Bestselling Paleo Cook Book

I am fairly certain that most of us have either seen or at the very least heard of the hit situation comedy "Married with Children" that dominated television for quite a few years and is still shown in syndication in many markets around the world. There are some wonderful insights that are shown by this often dysfunctional family and a few pearls to bring into your every day lives. The same can be said when it comes to cooking with children.

There is little on this earth that can teach you about yourself and the way your children view you as easily as cooking with your children. Of course, this is the perfect opportunity for many of us to let our hair down a little, relax, and have fun in the kitchen. Unfortunately, if you are anything like me, this is a difficult process to say the least. I am a bit of a control freak in my kitchen. It is my domain or sovereign territory so to speak. For this reason it is difficult to give up that little bit of control and hand over the reigns to any one of my children.

On the other hand, I know they are learning important skills that they honestly need to know in life. This knowledge of course doesn't make it any less difficult when I'm scraping tomato sauce out of places I would never have thought to discover it on my own. If you are considering cooking with children you need to make sure you have the proper ingredients on hand before beginning. You certainly do not want to be caught without that cup full of patience you will be requiring nor do you wish to need to leave in the middle of things for a run to the local grocery store to pick up the missing ingredients.

Another great rule of thumb when it comes to cooking with children is the KISS rule. Keep it simple silly. This rule will help out more than you ever realize. First of all, most children have relatively short attention spans. While they want to learn and help mommy out, they also do not want to have enough time to get bored with the details. Use simple recipes when cooking with children and your chances for success will be much greater than with overly complicated or ingredient intense recipes. 

As if this wasn't enough to absorb another very important rule when it comes to cooking with children is to clean as you go whenever possible. Trust me on this. While there is part of you who will want to put off the task of cleaning the messes that are made until later, or wait till the end and only clean once, this allows the opportunity for messes to layer and compound themselves. Constantly clean throughout the process for the best possible results. You should enlist your children in the cleaning process as well. While it may be easier to do yourself, it is far more important to teach them the basics of cleaning as you go. Remember one day they will more than likely invade your kitchen while you're not looking.

Cooking with children can be an incredible way to have a fun day if you are able to let go of the control that you too often hold over the kitchen. Give over the keys to your kingdom for a day of fun and frolicking among the flour and sugar and see just how many wonderful memories you can make with your little ones along the way. 

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Cooking Basics for Beginners

Bestselling Paleo Cook Book

When it comes to cooking, it is important to keep in mind that everyone started somewhere. I do not know of a single person who was born with a wooden cooking spoon and ready to go. There is a lot of learning that must be done in order to become a prolific cook and then there is always room for improvement. Not only do you need to begin with the basics when it comes to cooking but you almost need to begin again when learning to cook a new cuisine such as Chinese, Thai, or Indian food. 

  

This means that at any given time in your cooking learning cycles there is quite probably someone somewhere that is better and/or worse at cooking than you. Take heart from this because even the best have bad days when it comes to cooking. There are many people who cook for different reasons. Some cook in order to eat and survive while others cook because they actually enjoy the process of cooking. Some cook during times of emotional upheaval and others cook out of sheer boredom. Whatever your reason for cooking or learning to cook you should always begin with the basics. 

The first thing that you need to learn is what the different terminology you will find in recipes actually means. There are many new and sometimes foreign sounding terms that you will find in common recipes. These terms can mean the difference in recipe success or failure. You should be able to find a good section in any inclusive cookbook that explains the different definitions for unfamiliar terminology. If you aren't absolutely certain what is meant by "folding in the eggs" it is in your best interests to look it up.

Another great bit of advice when it comes to cooking basics is to try simpler recipes for a while and then expand your horizons to the more complex recipes that abound. Most recipes will have a little note about their degree of difficulty and you can read through the recipe to see whether or not it is something you are interested in preparing or confident that you can prepare. Remember Rome wasn't built in a day and it will take quite some time to build a reliable 'repertoire' of recipes to work into your meal planning rotation.

The good news is that once you've learned the basics of cooking it is unlikely that you will ever need to relearn them. This means that you can constantly build up and expand your cooking skills. As you learn new recipes and improve your culinary skills and talents you will discover that preparing your own meals from scratch is much more rewarding than preparing prepackaged meals that are purchased from the shelves of your local supermarkets. 

 
You will also discover as your experience and confidence grows that you will find yourself more and more often improvising as you go and adjusting recipes to meet your personal preferences. If you prefer more or less of ingredients or want to make a recipe a little more or less spicy in flavor you can make simple adjustments along the way in order to achieve this goal. In other words you will begin in time to create recipes of your very own. And that is something you won't necessarily learn when it comes to basic cooking skills for beginners but you would never learn if you didn't master those basic cooking skills. 

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Beat the Summer Heat with Crock Pot Cooking

When the weather outside warms up, the kitchen can be a terrible place to be. There are many things you can do however, when it comes to cooking a nice home made meal that doesn't require traditional stove top or oven cooking. Learn to utilize some of the lesser heat producing equipment in your kitchen, such as the crock pot, in order to truly beat the summer heat and keep your cool while preparing a nice hot meal for friends and family.

So, how does crock pot cooking really help beat the heat? Simply put, the crock pot in and of itself puts off far less heat when cooking than an oven or stove top. This is the first and possibly the best reason to utilize the crock pot in your summer meal planning. You should also consider the fact that by not heating the house by using your stove top or oven you are also preventing your air conditioning (or other cooling methods) from working overtime in order to compensate for the additional heat that other cooking methods introduce. 

This makes crock pot cooking a win-win situation as the costs involved in operating a crock pot are far less than the costs involved in operating a stove or oven in general. Whether electric or gas, your stove and oven are often serious energy hogs. Add to that the fact that you are not raising the temperature in your home by traditional means of cooking and you are using even less electricity.

Unfortunately for most, the general consensus has been that crock pots were meant for comfort foods and hearty winter meals. The truth is that the crock pot should be one of your best loved and most often utilized cooking methods if you can manage it. When it comes to cooking with a crock pot, the options are almost limitless. Almost anything that can be baked can be made in the crock pot and many, many more wonderful and enticing meals and treats as well.

Benefits of Crock Pot Cooking

In addition to the cost benefits mentioned above when it comes to crock pot cooking there are many other benefits that are well worth mentioning. First of all, the bulk of the work involved in crock pot cooking takes place early in the day when you are refreshed rather than at the end of a hectic work or play day. This means that you are less likely to forget an ingredient or make other mistakes that often occur as we hurriedly prepare a dinner when we are exhausted from the activities of our day.

Second, many great crock pot recipes include the vegetables that insure we are getting the nutrients we need. So often, when preparing a meal at the last minute, vegetables and other side dishes are left out in favor of expedience. Crock pot cooking in many instances is a meal in one dish. 

Another great reason to use a crock pot for your summertime cooking is the ease of clean up. Unlike pots and pans, most crock pot meals are made in one dish. This means that there will not be mountains of dishes to be either hand washed or loaded into the dishwasher (or if you are like me-both) afterwards. You can spend less time cleaning just as you spent less time slaving over a hot stove. Oh wait! Make that no time slaving over a hot stove. Once clean up is complete you can get back to enjoying the sun set, chasing the lightening bugs with your little ones, or waiting for the first star.

While there will never be a one size fits all best cooking method, crock pot cooking comes very close. If you have a crock pot collecting dust somewhere in the back of your pantry it is time to get it out, dust if off, and dig up some great summertime crock pot cooking recipes. 

All About Pepper Spray

With crime being more present than ever these days, it always pays off to protect yourself.  Although there are police officers and others out there who uphold the law, you never know when something may happen and they aren’t around.  To protect yourself, there are several products and forms of protection that you can get.  Among the may products available to you, is something known as pepper spray - which is one of the most common forms of self protection.

Personal protection products such as pepper spray, will work a lot better and yield the most power when you have full belief in yourself.  When you have belief in yourself, you will trust your senses, pay attention to what is going on around you, believe in your naturally ability to defend yourself, and show people that you can defend yourself.  Although personal protection products are great to have, you need to believe in yourself in order to use them properly.

Protecting yourself is something you simply must do these days.  Over the years, personal protection products have become a way of life, with pepper spray being among the most popular and best forms of protection.  When used properly, pepper spray can stop humans from attacking quickly and safely.  It’s also useful with dogs as well.  It comes in an aerosol form, is easy to use, and can stop most attackers in a matter of seconds.

The active ingredient found in pepper spray is OC (Oleoresin Capsicum).  The spray comes in 10% or 15%, with a heat rating of 2 million.  OC is non toxic, non flammable, and comes from the well known cayenne peppers.  When used as a spray, OC acts as an inflammatory agent, causing immediate dilation of the nose, throat, lungs, and eyes - resulting in constricted breathing and temporary blindness.  Although it doesn’t lead to death, the effects will last up to 45 minutes, and make attackers feel as if they are dying.  The effects will take place immediately, giving victims plenty of time to escape and seek help.

  

The use of pepper spray is completely legal, although there are certain rules and restrictions that you must follow.  As you may already know, you can’t carry pepper spray or any other form of self defense on airplanes.  There are also some states that will prevent the use of pepper spray, while others require that you have a FID (Firearms Identification Card) to own or use the spray.  To be on the safe side, you should always check with local state regulations before you purchase any form of self defense product, such as pepper spray.

 

When you are out and about, pepper spray is easy to hide.  Women normally keep it in their purse, where it is easy to access.  If you plan to carry it in your purse, always make sure that it is easy to access, with nothing in the way.  You can also carry it in your pocket or in your coat as well, where you can easily reach it in a moment’s notice.  An attack can occur in a matter of seconds - which is why you want to be able to reach it fast.

 

All in all, pepper spray is a great self defense tool.  It can also be a deadly weapon if it isn’t used properly.  Whenever you carry pepper spray, you should always follow the safety precautions and rules of the spray.  If you use it for self defense purposes and know how to properly use it - you can enjoy the confidence and security that it provides.

Home Security

All About Padlocks 

We all remember the days of the padlock.  When they were first available, they presented a great way to keep your belongings safe.  They were common with lockers at school, with just about every locker having one.  Padlocks were easy to open as well; all you needed was the combination.  Once you had the combination, all it took was three clockwise turns, two counterclockwise, and once last clockwise turn to hit the final number and open the padlock.

 

Although the combination padlock was popular for it’s time, people soon began to realize what happened when they forgot the combination. Combination padlocks were great for those who had a sharp memory although sooner or later forgetting the combination was bound to happen.  Once the combination had been lost, a pair of bolt cutters would be required in order to cut the lock.

Shortly after the combination padlock came the padlocks of today – lock and key.  Padlocks that required a key were much easier to use, requiring no combination.  All you had to do was keep the key with you at all times and you had no worries about the padlock.  If you ended up losing the key however, you would need to cut the lock.  To prevent losing the key, most people chose to put the padlock key on their key ring or wear it on a necklace around their neck.

The most popular type of padlock today is Master Lock.  The Master Lock brand has been around for generations, proving to be the hardest type of lock to break.  It’s been well proven and well documented that guns can’t harm Master Locks.  Even if you shoot the lock dead on with a shotgun or handgun, the lock won’t give.  Master Locks are made of solid high grade steel and won’t give way to a few shots from a gun.  Although they may sustain damage from the blast, they will still be there once the shooting has stopped – protecting what you have them locked to.

Although Master Locks are the most popular and most common type of padlock, there are other types available as well.  Multi-Lock, Medeco, and KW are all excellent examples of quality padlocks.  These locks feature unique and innovative designs that are near impossible for thieves to get rid of.  You can use them around the house to keep doors locked, safes locked, cabinets locked, and virtually anything else that contains your possessions.

The best thing about padlocks is the fact that they are very affordable.  You can find them in virtually any department or hardware store.  You can shop online as well, and compare what each company lock will offer you.  The next time you need to lock up something and you need a small lock – you can count on one of the many padlocks to give you the protection and safety you need.

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All About Lock Picking

 

When you don’t have the right key, lock picking is a great way to open just about any lock out there.  Normally, picking locks is something we associate with crime and illegal activities, although crime isn’t always the case.  There are a lot of instances where lock picking skills can come in real handy. Take for instance a lost house key or locking your car keys inside your car.  Even though you could always break a window, calling a professional locksmith is the best to go - it can save you a lot of money in repairs, and get the lock open fast.

To properly pick a lock, you’ll need the right tool kit.  Even the most basic lock picking kit will contain a lock pin and a tension wrench.  If you have an emergency, you can normally replace the lock pin with a hair pin.  Professional locking picking kits on the other hand will normally include a variety of tension wrenches in several different shapes and sizes, covering several different styles of lock pins.  Some include a locking picking gun, which uses vibration to push all the lock pins up at the same time.

When picking a lock is necessary, the first thing to do is to insert the tension wrench into the keyhole and attempt to turn the cylinder.  Next, you can use the lock pin and gently pry up on the pins.  Once the pins reach the normal opening position, you’ll hear a clicking noise, letting you know that the pins are in the right place - and the lock is open.

 

There is also another technique to lock picking, which is known as racking.  Racking uses a lower precision level, and uses a special pick known as a rake.  To use the rake, simply insert it into the keyhole until it reaches the back of the cylinder, then quickly pull it out so that it hits all of the pins when it comes out.  A tension wrench is also used as well, to turn the cylinder.

The hardest lock out there to pick are master locks.  They offer an excellent protection system, and aren’t as susceptible to picking as other types of locks.  Master locks were invented by Henry Soref in 1921, introducing the first lock to use laminated layers of solid steel.  Although master locks use the same picking system as other types of locks, those that are in combined format will require a locksmith with a lot of patience - and skill.

To learn more about lock picking, there are several books and illustrations that you can buy, which will show you the techniques step by step.  Often times, a video or Cd is included that will show you the techniques in action.  Several books and videos were made by true locksmiths, although others are more directed for people who just want to learn a bit more on the subject.  If you want to become a locksmith or a professional at lock picking, you can also find books and videos out there that will help you become proficient at picking locks.

Anytime you buy a lock, you should always keep in mind that just about any lock can be picked.  Although most locks can be picked, there are some that take a bit more time and patience than others.  When you buy a lock, you should always think in terms of safety and select one that you know it isn’t to penetrate.  This way, you can have a sense of security in your lock - and know that you are safe and protected.