Cooking My Way to Fitness

During the course of this year, I learned two important things when it comes to losing weight and becoming healthy – you really need to watch what you eat and move a little more. You cannot only do one thing, you have to do both. And between cooking or preparing food and exercising, I find cooking healthier choices for food harder. I can exercise for hours, feel sore and still keep doing it the next day. My main challenge is that I do not know how to cook. I read somewhere that to be able to maintain healthy living, one must learn how to prepare his own food (we must be aware of the ingredients of what we are eating), so I have bought a few recipe books, did grocery shopping on the produce section and wet market and tried to learn.

Now I am cooking! I want to replace our old stove with the new range of electric cookers though. I went to a friend’s place and she was using an electric induction cooker and it was easier (for me) to operate, clean and cook with! I am eyeing this cooker:

Hotpoint HAE51K Black Electric Cooker

Hotpoint HAE51K Black Electric Cooker

At 50cm wide the neat and compact black Hotpoint HAE51K cooker should fit nicely into any kitchen. Both the cavities have lights, double glazed doors and are self-cleaning. The top cavity includes a grill and 1 shelf, the main oven is fan assisted with 2 shelves. The hob is ceramic with 4 heating zones featuring residual heating indicators. If a reliable, standard cooker is your preference then put the Hotpoint HAE51K on your shopping list.

The electric cooker is quickly becoming a very common way of cooking. It comes in a freestanding stove that has mostly four heating surfaces where the cooking is done. While professional chefs still prefer gas cookers because they are easy to regulate, electric cookers have become the standard cooking appliance that is installed in all new apartment units and condominiums.

I can think of so many advantages of electric cookers:
1. They are cheap.
2. They are safe.
3. Another advantage that electric cookers have is that they do not need a match or a lighter to light. A push or a button or a turn of the knob ensures automatically turns the on and there is a light that comes on to indicate that the unit is in use.

Slow Cookers

I have had a slow cooker since 2010 and I have not used it since. I bought one of those 4-quart slow cookers during the Black Friday Sale thinking it can be useful for a mom like me who works from home, has two kids and no househelp. I liked the idea of having to just put all ingredients in one pot and then let it cook by itself – that’s why it was a crockpot!

I don’t know why but I never got to using it. I should break into it soon. We recently moved to a new home and I finally have space for all the kitchen appliances I have been buying throughout the years.

Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker

Slow Cookers are convenient for busy families and for moms on the go who do not have time to hover at the kitchen watching and cooking meals. It’s a great way to serve home cooked meals after a long a day at work and school without resorting to processed foods or worse, take-out food!

There are a lot of recipes you can find online but know that conventional recipes can be adjusted for slow cookers too.

1. Fresh vegetables produce the most desirable results. Potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic should washed and cut in uniform pieces, then placed in the bottom of the crock. Canned and frozen vegetables produce overcooked dishes.
2. Tender foods such as pasta, asparagus and snow peas should be added in the last hour of cooking.
3. Dairy products such as cheese, milk, and sour cream should be added in the last half hour of cooking.
4. Seafood such as shrimp, scallops, and fish should be added in the last 15-30 minutes of cooking. Once the recipe has finished cooking, add seafood and cook just until done.
5. Ground beef should be browned and drained before slow cooking to remove grease.
6. Spices and seasoning: slow cooking does not intensify spices. In the test kitchen, we recommend adding spices in the last hour of cooking.

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Using the Induction Cooker

We ran out of gas a few weeks ago while we were cooking and had to use our stashed induction cooker. We have been using it ever since. We will try to see if it’s low on electricity. I am not too keen on using it all the time but the husband insists we try it out. I just realized we still need a gas stove because if ever the power goes out we have a back-up plan. This reminds me to get a maha mh-c808m charger for our rechargeable batteries. We are trying to go green in our own small ways in the house and we try to limit our usage of batteries (we have so many remote controls and wireless everything around the house). I was trying to stock our emergency preparedness kit during the impending typhoon Pablo and was reminded of all of these.

Snow Cone Machines: A Great Party Concession


Parties are a great way to celebrate birthdays, reunions, get-togethers and holidays or special events. These days there are a lot of features you can add to a party to make it more festive and enjoyable for your guests. One of these is by adding concession stands like an ice cream cart or snow cone machine or a dessert buffet station so your guests can eat something while watching games and programs or while mingling around with fellow guests.

You can even invest in a snow cone machine for your family! Both young and old will surely enjoy a refreshing snow cone every now and then, at an amazingly cheap price too!

There are a lot of machines available for purchase online. All you need to do is visit the site and browse around. Ask for feedback too about great models – those which are easy to clean, low maintenance, have repair parts available and are covered by warranty. There are also machines that come with a removable tray and have an internal light or a door. Good snow cone machines usually have a 1/3 HP motor and can produce up to 500 lbs of shaved ice in one hour.

When purchasing a snow cone machine, it is advisable to decide first if it’s going to be for personal or business use. Machines usually differ in size and amount of shaved ice produced so that is a deciding factor.

Now that you have decided on a snow cone machine, the next step would be to purchase the supplies to be able to produce those yummy snow cones.

Some materials you need are the following; these can also be purchased as a package:

• Gallons of Syrup (You choose the flavors: Your choice of flavors: Tigers Blood, Blue Raspberry, Strawberry, Wild Cherry, Grape, Orange, Watermelon, Lemon-Lime, Red Raspberry, Bubblegum, Green Apple, Root Beer, Pina Colada, and Cotton Candy.)
• Snow cone pumps
• Snow cone cups
• Steel snow cone cup holder
• Colorful spoon straws (200ct)
• Plastic scoop

Once you have everything, you are now ready to enjoy snow cones in the comfort of your own home or offer it for parties and make it into a business!

Slow Cooker

slow cooker

I have been wanting to get a slow cooker for my kitchen for quite some time. Actually, I already have one, but it’s 110V and wont work with 220V outlets without a transformer. It just gets bulkier. I am not a good cook – in fact, you can even call me a lazy one. So I feel/think/hope the slow cooker would be my redemption at cooking! I am waiting for Friends and Family Offers for it so I can get it at a discounted price.

Water Ionizers From AlkalineWaterPlus.com

Some of the water ionizers from AlkalineWaterPlus.com.

There are many known benefits of and this explains why a growing number of people prefer to use it whether for drinking, cooking, and many more. The question is where to get alkaline water or how to make alkaline water.

Alkaline water, also often called ionized water, is water that has a pH of around 8 unlike ordinary water. Because of the pH of alkaline water, it does a better job of hydrating your body and keeping it healthy. A regular water filter cannot provide you with alkaline water because to make alkaline water, you need to break down the water molecules into ions and free oxygen. You can do this with the help of a distiller, a , or by adding alkaline ingredients to the water. Among all of these, the easiest and most convenient way to have alkaline water is to use a water ionizer.

AlkalineWaterPlus.com is an excellent online source of high quality water ionizers. Below are some of the products you can get from the website.

  • Jupiter Water Ionizers. There are various Jupiter water ionizers available at AlakalineWaterPlus.com such as Melody, Venus, Athena, and Delphi. These water ionizers are known for being well-built and easy to use. Jupiter water ionizers are among the first water ionizers which means the company has the longest and most extensive experience in producing water ionizers. Aside from these, Jupiter water ionizers have trouble-free, continuous self-cleaning electrode plates. They can be easily installed under your sink and you get lifetime warranty with every unit of Jupiter water ionizer.
  • Samsung Water Ionizers. Among the newest water ionizers, Samsung water ionizers received the highest certifications and ratings possible. Made in the same high quality facility where Jupiter water ionizers are made, Samsung water ionizer shows extremely good potential to compete against the best water ionizers.
  • KYK Water Ionizers. Designed by Dr. Kim Young Kwi, the director of Water Science Research in Korea, the KYK water ionizer has won awards for both research and design. Reasonably priced and often updated with improvements, the KYK water ionizer may not be the best water ionizer in the market but it is definitely among the better ones.
  • Enagic Kangen Water Ionizers. If you want a water ionizer with a fast flow rate, then the Enagic Kangen water ionizer is for you. This is the reason why it is popularly used in health and fitness clubs, doctor’s offices, and other places where a large volume of water is dispensed every day. Enagic Kangen water ionizers are among the best in terms of overall quality, ORP per unit of pH, and its ability to get pH extremes. Although this particular brand is more expensive than other brands, Enagic has over thirty years of experience in manufacturing water ionizers.

Turbo Broiler

To help me eat healthier, we bought a stove top grill and a turbo broiler. A turbo broiler is a popular appliance in the Philippines. It helps you cook meat and chicken (even fish) without the oil. You can think of it as a cross between oven baking and grilling. This way, I will not eat too much food with oil and would not need hoodia gordonii pills to help me lose weight.

A Turbo Oven is really quite simple to operate but if you want to make sure you knew how to use it properly first, have a look at the following video and see how easy it is to have a beautifully-roasted chicken in just 40-45 minutes!

A Turbo Oven / Cooker / Broiler is a table top oven that uses convection heat and therefore cooks 50% faster than regular ovens so if you’re adapting a regular oven recipe, remember to cut cooking time in half and lower the temperature of the turbo by about 50 degrees fahrenheit. Don’t worry because there will be some examples later in the page.

You can also prepare healthy and delicious dishes with it. There is no need to rub meat with oil or butter for a tender and juicy roast because the circulating hot air perfectly browns and sears the outside of the meat, sealing in the juices to preserve flavor and moisture. You can opt to let the fat drip onto a baking pan, placed under the wire rack in the oven, for a flavorful, delicious and satisfying meal minus the guilt.

 

  • It’s versatile. A turbo oven can bake, steam, broil, grill, roast, and even thaw frozen food.
  • It’s very easy to use. Just throw all your ingredients together in a baking pan (or a few sheets of foil), place it on the wire rack that comes with the oven, cover, switch it on, set the temperature and timer and voila! You can go on doing other things while the oven cooks your food.
  • It lets you save on time. Because it uses convection heat, it’s hotter and therefore cooks up to 50% faster than regular ovens so you can make more in a lot less time. It also requires no preheating so you can just go ahead, put your food in and relax.
  • It lets you save on space. Unlike oven ranges, turbo ovens are portable and can easily fit on a kitchen counter or table top. If you’re short on space, getting one would be a practical solution as you can cook practically anything with it.
  • It lets you save money. Turbo ovens are a practical and economic choice for your kitchen, requiring 80% less electricity than a conventional oven. Like I mentioned above, they can cook anything and they cost a fraction of what an oven range does. If you have a small family and don’t do heavy-duty cooking and baking, a turbo is definitely a smart choice.
  • It lets you cook healthy. Preparing food in a turbo, like chicken for example, doesn’t require extra fats or oils to guarantee that you’ll always end up with crispy, golden-brown skin and flavorful, juicy meat. The circulating hot air perfectly browns & sears the outside of meat and seals juices inside to preserve flavor and moisture.
  • It’s not hazardous to your health. Because the turbo oven doesn’t use the harsh radiant elements of a microwave or a conventional oven, heating is more gentle and more thorough and the flavor of your food is kept intact. Notice that when you cook with a microwave, heating is uneven – hot outside but cold in spots?
  • It keeps your kitchen clean and fresh. It’s smokeless, odorless and won’t heat up your kitchen.
  • It’s easy to clean up. I usually place the food on a baking pan or on a wire rack (with a baking pan beneath for catching drippings) so my food doesn’t actually touch the inside of the oven. After using, I just take the food out and then wipe the vessel clean with paper towels. That’s it!

Wish List: Kenmore Gas Grill

Kenmore 4 Burner Gas Grill with Side Burner

December has just started and this just means that the festivities are about to begin. I am sure most of you have been invited to parties and get-togethers. You might even be hosting one yourself. Hosting a party this season can mean a lost of pressure, but the key to having a memorable party is having good times with friends and most importantly, having good food. I prefer to do the cooking when I host at home, and one of my wishes this season is to finally have one of those kenmore gas grills I have been wanting forever. We do a lot of BBQ parties at home – this is one of the only cooking abilities I have, and having a Kenmore 4 Burner Gas Grill with Side Burner can make us cook more burgers and some more dishes on the side burner at a lesser time.

This product retails for $599 but you can get it at a discount for $470. Kenmore gas grills have always been considered one of the best, if not the best, gas grills in the world. It is a worthwhile investment.