comfort food: farinata, a polenta delight

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These are perfect to use in BBQ parties, birthday party or even weddings as a table decoration piece and to light up the party when the sun goes down. It's very easy to do it and will cost almost nothing.

Not so long ago my Hostas were in fine flowering fettle. Now as Autumn approaches the slugs and snails are making a meal of the soft juicy leaves that are starting to give up the ghost.

If you are lucky enough to have a stream running through your garden you can plant many colourful plants at the side.

You are unlikely to be able to recreate the conditions and zones of Hawaii in your garden but you can still gaze at some of the exceptional plants and study their habitats. Isolated by thousands of miles of ocean for millions of years, the Hawaiian islands are home to many unique plants and flowers described with great photographs in this book

A meal kit delivery service sends a box of food ingredients to your home that contains everything you need to prepare a complete meal, including the recipe and instructions for preparing. There are dozens of companies offering meal preparation kits, and they provide a convenient and delicious way to make dinner with no grocery store runs, little planning, and minimal prep. You simply go to the company’s website, pick the meals you want to make, choose the number of meals you want to purchase for a week, and select the number of people who will be eating. Most companies offer a variety of menus, and many include options for dietary restrictions and child-friendly diets. Meal delivery is truly a simple and convenient way to deliver delicious meals with little effort.

I recently had a call from a South Carolina resident who lost power for more than 24 hours and wanted to know whether the foods in her freezer would be safe to eat. This is a very common problem in South Carolina winters and could easily affect you in the coming months.

Yes, you read that right – snowman hands. When I started teaching food safety practices to children I wondered how to teach them about proper hand washing. We all know how important it is to thoroughly wash our hands before preparing food, after touching raw meat and poultry or any other potentially contaminated surface. We can easily explain to children (and adults!) that singing happy birthday twice, while scrubbing hands, equals the prescribed 10 to 15 seconds that we should do while washing. However, how do you explain how much soap to use to create a good lather?? The answer: snowman hands! Use enough soap that your hands look like a snowman’s hands after rubbing them together! I have found great success with this tip while teaching children (and now my own children) to wash their hands properly. And guess what – it takes a good 10 to 15 seconds of scrubbing soapy hands together to create those snowman hands! Bonus to the singing of happy birthday while washing hands! So next time you are washing your hands, use enough soap to create snowman hands. This will help prevent the spread of food-borne illness (and those nasty cold and flu bugs too!).

Food waste and how to reduce it is a big topic with big implications. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that food waste each year totals 133 billion pounds which includes 31 percent food loss at the retail and consumer levels. Food is lost at all stages of the supply chain and for a variety of reasons that might include produce that is discarded because of flaws in appearance or restaurants serving large portions that may not be finished.

How to avoid common pitfalls that can turn Holiday Meals into a foodborne illness disaster and how to handle leftovers safely? For more details see, HGIC 3566, Food Safety Pitfalls at Thanksgiving & Beyond.

During these uncertain times, as we cope with keeping ourselves and our families healthy and practice social distancing, many are asking how the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) affects the safety of our food supply. The US Food and Drug Administration reports that “Currently there is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19” (USFDA, 2020). Unlike foodborne gastrointestinal (GI) viruses like norovirus and hepatitis A that often make people ill through contaminated food, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, is a virus that causes respiratory illness. Foodborne exposure to this virus is not known to be a route of transmission. Grocery stores and restaurants providing take-out food, are taking the necessary precautions to keep consumers and their employees safe. However, consumers should continue to practice proper food safety and personal hygiene practices. It is also important for consumers to follow the additional recommendations given by the CDC in order to stay safe (CDC, 2020). Along with the safety precautions given directly related to limiting the spread of the coronavirus, here are some practices that should be followed when purchasing and preparing food:

Moms and dads are busy people, and some may wonder if it is worth the time it takes to make homemade baby food over the convenience of buying store-bought baby food. There are considerations to make with this decision. Is my baby old enough and ready for solid food? Will my baby show any allergic reaction to a newly introduced fruit or vegetable? What are the food safety concerns with making my baby food? Below are a few ideas to help with your decision.