A clean and easy way to dice an avocado

The other day I was dicing an avocado in front of some guests and the women marveled at my technique.  They said it was clean, fast and easy.  Some even said that they don't eat avocados because of the hassel factor.  I was stunned. I thought everyone diced an avocado the way I do it; but, apparently these ladies do not.

Step 1- Slice the avocado in half.  Twist the two halves a quarter of a turn and lift.  The pit will be in one half and the other half will look like the picture below.

Step 2- Stick the pit with a knife and pluck it out.  Be careful, I have flung a stubborn avocado pit across my kitchen a time or two.  It's kind of fun when this happens because the family livens up a bit when the pit smacks against the pantry doors.



Step 3- Slice the avocado flesh vertically and horizontally.

Step 4- Take a soup spoon and slide the edge between the flesh and the avocado skin.



Step 5- Scoop the flesh following the contour of the skin.

Step 6- When done properly you will have little or no flesh adhered to the skin of the avocado.

A simple yet brillant idea!

I was sent this link from my good friend, Christy!

http://arlinghaus.typepad.com/blog/2011/10/keeping-track-of-the-freezer.html

Red Tinged Cheese Frustrates Reader!

Have you ever made a lasagna the night before or a frozen lasagna and had your cheese pick up the color of the spaghetti saucee?

If so, you are not alone.  Here's what I do do prevent this not so appetizing phenomenon from happening.

*A lasagna made the night before-  Top with cheese just before placing in oven to bake.

*Frozen lasagna- I put my cheese on after the lasagna is frozen and put it back in the freezer again.

It also helps if you use coarser grated cheese rather than ultra fine or "fancy".

4 Easy Steps for Pasteurizing Milk

1. Slowly heat milk to 145 degrees.
2. Stirring frequently so it will not scorch.
3. Hold temperature for 30 minutes.
4. Rapidly cool milk in an ice water bath.

Time to pick Concord Grapes!

I pick my concord grapes after the first frost.  You may be like me, swamped with projects.  This translates to not time for grape jelly from my juice. 
Here's what I do during time crunches, I just juice my grapes and immediately process in a water bath.  Hopfully things will slow down and I will be able to find time to make grape jelly in the months to come...we'll see.  If not, the family will enjoy a lot of grape juice for breakfast.

Peanut Problems

Home-made wheat bread, peanut butter and home-made raspberry freezer jam!

I heard yesterday that the U.S. peanut crop has been hit hard, by the weather and with disease, resulting in a poor harvest. I translate this news to mean higher peanut butter prices and higher prices for anything that contains peanuts.  You might want to consider adding a few extra jars of peanut butter to your grocery cart over the next few weeks before the price increases.  Remember to check your expiration dates so you have time to eat the peanut butter before the jars expire.

And as always, "Eat what you store and store what you eat!"

Black peaches are the pits!

Over ripe and bruised fruit turns black when dried

I received a question regarding peaches turning black after drying.  The woman said she soaked her peaches in sweetened lemon juice; however. they turned black while drying them.  Why?  Because she either had fruit that was overly ripe or bruised.  The blackening is caused by natural enzymes.  Even soaking fruit in lemon juice will not halt over ripe fruit from turning black.  Also, if you are going to try to dry bruised fruit, for best results, cut away the bruised areas or they will turn black as well.