General kitchen advice

Buy Local Food : Cultivate an awareness of how far your food travels. When Rich Pirog, Food Systems Program Leader for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, tracked the miles traveled for 16 types of produce, he found that locally sourced fruits and vegetables such as apples, lettuce and tomatoes traveled an average of 56 miles, compared to 1,494 miles — nearly 27 times farther — for the same fruits and vegetables delivered through conventional retail channels. Things get stickier with combination foods, strawberry yogurt for example. Pirog came up with 2,216 miles by adding up the distance traveled for the yogurt’s milk, sugar and strawberries. That figure could be slashed by 90 percent if you buy plain yogurt and stir in some locally grown honey and fruit.


Kitchen Tip : Even though they are like magnets for spills, keep stovetop reflectors clean. They will reflect heat better and save energy. If you need new ones, buy quality. The best on the market can save as much as 1/3 of the energy used with inferior reflectors.


Weight loss

The Glycaemic Index Diet
The gi index diet is based on the glycaemic index, a list showing food types and a score illustrating the rapidity with which the energy in the food gets changed to sugar in the dieters blood stream. The believe is that slow release types of food (ie those foods with a low Glycaemic index score), keep you feeling full longer and help you to take in fewer food without feeling you are always hungry.
It is also extremely effective for folk with diabetes, as the low GI foods are helpful in reducing rises in blood sugar levels.




Armagnac Prune Cake Recipe
Armagnac Prune Cake Category Cake Recipes 
Views 18 
Ratings 0 
Ingredients And Procedures
Ingredients
12ozprunes, pitted
2cupwater
1/4cuparmagnac, or cognac
1 1/2cupvegetable oil
2 1/4cupsugar
5eacheggs
2tablespoonvanilla extract
3cupflour, all-purpose
1tablespoonbaking soda
2 1/2teaspooncinnamon, ground
1teaspoonnutmeg, ground
1teaspoonallspice, ground
1/2teaspooncardamom, ground
1/2teaspooncloves, ground
1teaspoonsalt
1 1/2cupbuttermilk
  
---GLAZE---
1 1/2cupsugar
1/4cupbutter, unsalted
1/2cuparmagnac, or cognac
2tablespooncorn syrup, light
2tablespoonlemon juice, fresh
1teaspoonbaking soda
  
---OPTIONAL---
1ice cream, vanilla

Directions:

FOR CAKE: Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. butter and flour 12 cup bundt pan. Combine prunes, water and Armagnac in heavy medium saucepan. Simmer until prunes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain prunes, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid for glaze. Coarsely chop prunes.

Beat oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, spices and salt to blend. Mix dry ingredients into dry mixture. Add buttermilk, beating until batter is smooth. Fold in chopped prunes. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake cake until tester comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Transfer to rack in pan.

FOR GLAZE: Combine reserved 1/4 cup prune cooking liquid, sugar, butter, Armagnac, corn syrup, lemon juice and baking soda in heavy large saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil 2 minutes.

Pierce cake in several places with long toothpick or wooden skewer. Slowly pour 1 1/4 cups glaze over hot cake. Reserve extra glaze. Let glazed cake cool in pan 30 minutes. Turn cake out onto platter. Cool completely.

Cut cake into wedges. Serve with vanilla ice cream, passing additional glaze separately as sauce.
 
Rate this recipe!
1   2   3  4   5  
 
Post this recipe to your site




Search Recipe Database: