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Cooking, Recipe and Food Blog

Tips For Keeping Yourself and Your Family Risk Free From Diabetes

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Diabetes is a disease that affects the body’s ability to produce insulin. There are two types of diabetes, as you may or may not be aware. The first type, Type 1 is only had by 5 to 10 percent of the population with diabetes. It is often genetic, but can develop in adolescence or into adulthood.

When people have diabetes it means that their pancreas, the organ which sits behind the stomach isn’t able to produce insulin, the hormone which tells the body to take food and use it as energy or transfer it into fat. Type 1 causes the immune system to attack the pancreas so it can’t do its job. This can be fatal if not monitored.

Type 2 diabetes is the kind that is often related to people with unhealthy lifestyles that are overweight or seriously obese. Type 2 is often only seen in adults, but can be seen in children as well. Diabetes is a serious condition and if you don’t have Type 1, you can keep yourself and your family risk free from contracting Type 2 by doing these things:

Don’t Raise Your Children On Processed Foods

Processed foods are responsible for so many of the health related crisis in the world, especially in the United States. Processed foods are often engineered to have a bliss point. This is when foods are just salty enough or just sweet enough that they leave you feeling unsatisfied and so you eat more. Because processed foods are often stripped of much of their nutrients as well, you’re left feeling hungry shortly after consuming a high amount of calories.

Processed foods are highly addictive, so if you’re raising your children on them, you’re potentially setting them up for a lifetime struggle with foods that could cause them to get diabetes. They can’t stop eating the foods, the body can’t process the foods, the body stores fat, the pancreas can’t handle the amount of sugar in the body, so it develops diabetes. That’s a stripped down explanation of what happens, but the best thing you can do is limit processed foods as your children are growing up.

Encourage Activity

Standard as it is, and you’ve heard the same message preached time and time again, diabetes is mostly linked to people who are obese or have a very unhealthy lifestyle that contains high amounts of toxic foods. Other than adjusting diet, you should encourage activity within your household. Limit the watching of television and get out with the family to encourage movement.

When you foster this lifestyle from a young age into your children, they’ll win the battle before it even begins. For yourself, teaching your kids the importance of food and activity in order to live a healthy life will help you practice the same theories for your own life. Type 2 diabetes ends when you take control of what you’re putting in and putting your body through.

The Cookbook Every Mom Must Have: Healthy Cooking for Happy Kids

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Every mom – or anyone who has had to take care of kids – will agree that there are times when nothing is good enough when it comes to food. One has to be rather creative – and patient – especially during periods when a child doesn’t feel like eating at all.

We’ve all had that…

But mom, I only want hotdogs!

I don’t want to eat anything but ice cream today.

I am sure you have heard all the possible variations of those from your kids, and I am even more sure that you want to give them healthy food.

Here’s where this new cookbook comes into the picture.

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Healthy Cooking for Happy Kids is a cookbook compiled by moms for moms who want to ensure that they’re meeting their children’s nutritional needs while at the same time avoiding frustration that can lead to God knows what. [Read more…]

Halloween Childrens Party Menu

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This menu is to give you an idea of what you could prepare and serve if you have a party to prepare for. All of the dishes serve 6 people, and are relatively easy and simple to make – meaning that you should be able to get the help of any children around.

Kids Halloween

Spooky Fruit Punch

An alternative to an ordinary punch, which looks great and is fun to make! Using the cranberry juice for ice cubes gives a different taste, and also freezes clear so you can still see the Gummy Worms

2 Packages of Gummy Worms

1 litre Cranberry Juice

1 litre Strawberry Smoothie

500ml Orange Juice

3 Cans Lemonade

1.       Put a gummy worm into each ice cube space, with half hanging out. Pour the cranberry juice into the trays and freeze for at least 2 hours.

2.       In a large punch bowl, pour the Strawberry Smoothie, Orange Juice and Lemonade, and stir.

3.       Before serving, add the ice cubes to the punch bowl, and fill glasses with a ladleful.

Carrot Fingers

A healthy snack, which looks lovely and gruesome! Just what’s needed at your party! Great idea, especially if you have any vegetarians at your party, just be careful with Nut Allergies

1 bag of peeled baby Carrots

Enough sliced Almonds for 1 per Carrot

Cream Cheese

Bottled Ranch dressing

1.       Put a bit of cream cheese on the end of each carrot, and place an almond face-down on top of it-  little hint, it should look like a fingernail!

2.       In a bowl, pour the Ranch dressing in it – just enough to allow you to stand four or five carrot fingers in it. On a small platter, lay the other carrot-fingers out.

Pizza Mummies

Very easy, simple and great fun to decorate! You can use tomato Puree to add extra blood, or bits of meat to be cuts and scars, Sweetcorn for pupils, and virtually anything else you can get your hands on really! You can make 1 parge pizza for everyone to have slices of, or even 6 small individual ones

Pizza Dough

Sliced Cheese

Tomato Puree

Sliced Green Olives

Vegetable or Olive Oil

1.       Add extra Tomato Puree to the pizza bases, before cooking the pizzas for 10 minutes less than needed

2.       Lay the sliced cheese out so it looks like bandages, leaving a small space where you can put two bits of sliced Olive to look like eyes. Brush with oil

3.       Cook for the remaining 10 minutes.

4.       Allow to cool before serving

Pumpkin Nachos

No, they aren’t made from Pumpkin. Ordinary Nachos, but cut in the shape of Pumpkins, so you’ll need a cookie cutter (or similar) in the shape of a pumpkin. If you can find another spooky shape, then you can use that, and mix and match them

1 pack of Soft Corn Tortillas

¼ cup Vegetable or Olive Oil

Chilli powder (optional)

Red and Yellow food Colouring

Salt

1.       Use the cookie cutter to cut out Pumpkin shapes from the tortillas

2.       Pour the oil into a small bowl, and add some food colouring to a bowl to get the desired colour – should be a bright orange. You may have to leave it a one or two minutes before mixing the oil to make sure it doesn’t separate

3.       Dip the shapes (or use a brush) so the tortillas are well coated on both sides

4.       Lay the Shapes out on an ungreased tray, and sprinkle with salt (and chilli if you would like). Bake at 175 C/ 350 F for 10 minutes, or until crispy.

Halloween Cakes

Using a range of small cupcakes, you can decorate these in a wide variety of ways, depending on the age of your helpers. The younger they are, the more basic patterns (i.e., Pumpkins, bats, moons), and for the older, you can go for more delicate patterns – spiders webs, bats, haunted houses, skeletons – the list goes on!

Try different decorations depending on the shape of the cake – for example, if you’ve got a large oval cake, look at getting a Pumpkin decorated onto it, or if you’re particularly creative, try a haunting scene!

Photo Courtesy of Ivanx