Author: Carma Spence

Carma Spence has been experimenting in the kitchen since she was four years old and loves trying out new recipe ideas. She is the author of Bonkers for Bundt Cakes and Your Perfect Pie, as well as author and contributor to several more non-food-related books. With Carma's Cookery, she is taking her passion for empowering people and blending it with her passion for cooking, gift-giving and entertaining.

Creative Cookery

Bring a Touch of Romance Back to Your Date Night Dinner

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date May 16, 2018

Being busy parents can make it a challenge to find the free time to spend with one another and catch up on how you’ve been. Finding a babysitter isn’t always an option, and money and routines might be tight, especially if your older kids are now back to school. However, it’s crucial to the success of the relationship with your other half to make an effort to enjoy their company when it’s just you two there. Food is the perfect way to show someone how much you love and care for them, and you can treat your spouse to a date night in your own home.

There’s no need for expensive restaurant meals, trips to the theater, or an overpriced cocktail lounge; your kitchen and dining space will provide a dreamy location for you to chat, reminisce and enjoy your culinary delights together. Whether you pick a Friday or Saturday night to enjoy your stay-at-home date; ask for some help in getting the kids ready for bed, ensure you’ve done the right prep and planning, and cook up a feast. The following are some tips and ideas for those who want to create the perfect date night for their spouse, where the focus is on the food, and more importantly, the company.

Set Your Kitchen Up

It always helps if your kitchen is stocked up with the equipment you’ll need to create you and your partner’s favorite meals. You can begin collecting items piece by piece, until you’ll be able to grab any cookbook (or food blog) and whip up something delicious, without worrying about not having your oiless deep fryer or electric whisk. It’s worth keeping your eyes peeled (as well as your vegetables) so that you can spot the latest equipment on the market, and find a great deal on what you need.

Choose the Right Recipes

Although you’ll want the cooking side of things to go as smoothly as possible on the big night; you don’t want to serve your beloved something that you are always eating together as a family. You’ll want to make the night a little more special by making something new or putting a twist on their favorite cuisine. Think about simple dishes or regional food that you both enjoy eating; perhaps Italian or Greek is the running theme throughout the night, and each dish complements the next. You don’t have to become a master chef; just put as much effort into the meal as possible so that you’d happily pay for the food in a restaurant. If you have no interest in cooking at all; perhaps it’s time to order in your favorite take away or pick something up from a great restaurant on the way home, but that’s for another blog post.

Add Style to What You Serve

Try to ensure that you serve your date night food so that it looks appealing and your loved one will be excited to dive into the meal. If you’re heading in the paella direction, you could invest in a paella dish that will look great as the table centerpiece. The same goes for any specific cuisines; tagines, balti dishes, and ramen dishes will all add the touch of a restaurant to your date night, and you’ll be able to utilize them in the future, so could be a purchase worth considering. Take your side dishes into consideration also; rice, pasta, and potatoes will look great in a decorative bowl or in your best serving dish. For a more formal feeling to your meal; plate everything up at the kitchen counter, before bringing it over to your spouse and beginning your evening together.

Tags date night dinner, romantic food

Healthy Living

How to Create Healthier and More Nutritious Meals

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date May 15, 2018
1 Comment on How to Create Healthier and More Nutritious Meals

Whether you are looking to lose weight or make sure that your kids are eating healthy and are getting all the nutrients in their diet that they need to grow and develop, you might be thinking about changing some little things that will make a big difference. While it is convenient to reach for the frozen fries and burgers on a busy night, you can create healthy and delicious meals in just as much time and with little effort. Below you will find a few tips on saving time and making your food healthier.

Use Fresh

Whenever it is possible, you should use fresh ingredients. If your potatoes have been in the fridge for a few days, they will have lost some of their nutrient value. You can drop into the local farmers’ market or farm shop on the way home, or in the morning, and plan your meals so you are getting the vegetables and meat as fresh as possible. While it is not always possible to trace our food back to the farm, you will be able to reduce your carbon footprint and get fresher produce.

Use Organic

Organic food always tastes better. Whether you are looking to create a tasty hot pot or bake some butternut squash, leek, and sweet potatoes to go with your homemade burgers, you can find a local organic shop where you can even pick your own fruit and vegetables. Plan your meals according to what is in season, instead of your whim. You are more likely to get organic produce if you choose fruits and vegetables that are in season.

Grow Your Own

Even if you only have a small garden or a balcony, you can grow a few things, such as runner beans, tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce. Your kids will love picking the fresh produce, and you will know exactly what is in your soil and how organic the pesticides you used were. Check out square yard gardening to learn how to make the most out of a small patch and grow a variety of vegetables in one square yard.

Avoid Ready Made Mixes

While getting a gravy powder or a vegetable cube is an easy and fast option, you will not know exactly what is in your meal. If you have to use some stock, you can learn this skill and avoid getting artificial coloring and flavoring in your meals. The good news is that you can experiment with a variety of spices and organic mixes until you develop your signature meals and dishes that taste amazing and are unique.

Change Your Cookware

In case you are used to using your oven all the time and frying your fries and vegetables, you can find an alternative option. A health steamer and an air fryer can take care of a lot of your dishes and preserve the nutrients and vitamins in your food. In case you need to fry, you can swap to an copper saucepan that will distribute the heat more evenly and has no harmful Teflon coating that could potentially damage your health.

Add Antioxidants

We all like spicing up our cooking. Even if your kids don’t like vegetables and fruit, you can add some antioxidants without them noticing. Ginger in chicken meals tastes good, as well as in cookies. When you cook your wild rice, you can add some Turmeric, which is a natural antioxidant. Add garlic to your meals, including your salads, and honey to your fruit. This will improve your health, and protect you and your family’s immune system at the same time.

Integrate Raw Food In Your Diet

Every now and then we need a detox and an energy boost. Whenever you are feeling down, try to create raw sauces and drips that you can use with your main meals. A celery puree or a parsley sauce doesn’t necessarily need to be cooked. Give your kids a fresh fruit smoothie in the morning, instead of cereals, adding linseed and Goji berries. Add fresh lettuce, cabbage, carrot to your pasta salad, and your kids will not even notice that they are eating healthy meals.

There are several ways you can make your cooking more delicious and nutritious. Change your habits, shop organic, and trick your kids into eating raw, fresh, and organic. Add some antioxidants to your meals, and avoid overcooking vegetables. Use an air fryer instead of the saucepan, and a steamer instead of boiling vegetables, so you get more nutrients from your food.

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Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

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Tags fresh food

Recipes

Sweet Potato and Peanut Butter Soup

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date May 8, 2018

This soup is great for cool days. It is smooth and creamy and combines two of my favorite foods: Sweet Potatoes and peanut butter.

Ingredients

2 10-12 oz sweet potatoes, scrubbed
1 lg onion, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Chopped roasted peanuts (optional)

Directions

Prepare sweet potatoes:
- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Pierce sweet potatoes with fork.
- Bake until tender, about 50 minutes.
- When cool enough to handle, peel.
- Mash sweet potatoes.
Prepare soup base:
- Saute onion in oil in large saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring, until translucent. About 10 to 11 minutes.
Prepare soup:
- In a large blender, combine sweet potatoes, onion, peanut butter, broth and spices.
- Blend until smooth.
- Return soup to saucepan.
- Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes
- Season to taste with salt, pepper and additional spices listed above.
Serve soup:
- Makes about eight servings.
- Garnish with chopped nuts.

Tags peanut butter, sweet potatoes

Recipes

Taco Casserole

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 30, 2018

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 can chili beans in sauce, undrained
1 cup salsa
1 can whole corn, drained
2 cups coarsely broken tortilla chips
1 medium tomato, chopped
4 medium green onions, sliced
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Toppings

sour cream
shredded lettuce
whole tortilla chips

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly cooked. Drain.
Stir in beans, salsa and corn. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.
In a 9×13 inch casserole pan, place broken tortilla chips. Top with beef mixture. Sprinkle with tomato, onions and cheese.
Bake uncovered 20-30 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Slice and serve with toppings.

Tags American, casserole, Mexican, tacos

Healthy Living Product Reviews

Product Review: Caesar’s Frozen Foods

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 27, 2018

This review of Caesar’s frozen Italian meals is a bit late … I actually received and tasted these pasta dishes over seven years ago, but their flavor lingers on. In fact, I can safely say that their potato gnocchi is the best I’ve ever tasted and I’ve looked for them ever since. Turns out that although this product is available at dozens of store chains, it is not available at the stores I shop at.

I was provided a sample of six different frozen Italian meals. This is what I remember:

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Caesar’s Vegetable Lasagna and Cheese Lasagna

These frozen lasagna products were tasty, but I still like Stouffer’s better. Perhaps I just like meat lasagna the best and both of these were vegetarian. These are both gluten- and wheat-free, however, they are just as thick and plump as normal lasagna noodles. [/one_half]
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Caesar’s Manicotti with Cheese and Marinara Sauce

I’m not a big fan of manicotti, but these were quite tasty. They had a little too much tomato sauce for my tastes. Again, I really didn’t notice that they were gluten- and wheat-free. [/four_fifth_last]

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Caesar’s Potato and Spinach Gnocchi

I can still taste how awesome this gnocchi was. They were very potato-y, which I really liked. It was almost like eating potatoes themselves. These products can be found at stores in my area and might well be worth a special trip just to buy them. [/one_third]
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Caesar’s Stuffed Shells

Again, I’m not much of a fan of stuffed shells and marinara, so this item fell flat for me. [/four_fifth]
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Recommendation

If you are looking for a tasty gluten- and/or wheat-free option, these pop-them-in-the-microwave options are a good buy. They are tasty and truly Italian in flavor. You can learn more, as well as find stores near you that sell them, at their website, caesarspasta.com.

Score: 4 out of 5

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NOTE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you’ve read past product reviews, you’ll know that I don’t pull my punches when I believe they are warranted. I also try to provide balanced information so you can make your own decision to read or not read the book, even if you disagree with my opinion.

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Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

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Tags Caesar's, frozen food, gluten-free, Italian, wheat-free

Food Fiction & Essays

The Double-Yolk Egg

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 25, 2018

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of double-yolked eggs. In fact, one dozen I purchased had more than half of them with double yolks! That lead me to do a little research about the kitchen phenomenon of the double-yolk egg.

Double-Yolk Egg Facts

Sometimes, a chicken can get eggs backed up in her oviduct system, which causes two yolks to be encased in one shell. This occurrence is apparently rare, happening in about one out of 1,000 eggs — so guess I’m just lucky of late.

In fact, in my research I read an article where a woman had a dozen with six double-yolk eggs. I guess I got her beat since my dozen had eight!

That said, given how we produce eggs in the Western world — collecting eggs from flocks of hens who are roughly the same age and selecting for the size of an egg — the odds of finding double-yolk eggs is more like one in 30 than one in 1,000.

More often than not, a double-yolk egg is produced by a young chicken, since her reproductive system has not fully matured. However, a double-yolk egg can also come from an older chicken nearing the end of her egg-producing period.

I used to think that a double-yolk egg was a “twin egg.” However, because the eggs you buy at the store are not fertilized, no twin chicks were possible. In addition, most double-yolk eggs come from young chickens before they are ready to produce viable offspring. Again, not likely to have twin chicks.

Rarer than the double-yolk egg is the egg with three yolks. The record so far is an egg with nine yolks!

Double-Yolk Egg Superstitions

When you find a double-yolk egg,

You or someone close to you is pregnant, probably with twins. (Nope, not me!)
You will be getting married soon. (I got married in October 2016, so I won’t be doing that again any time soon.)
You have lots of good fortune coming to you. (That would be nice.)(
A death will occur in the family soon afterward. (Yikes! Let’s hope not.)

So, have you found a double-yolk egg? Share your story in a comment below.

Tags eggs, ingredient spotlight

Creative Cookery Product Reviews Taste Tests

Dorot’s Fresh Frozen Herbs Are Easy to Use

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 23, 2018

Have you ever bought a ginger root or bunch of fresh herbs only to use a small portion and have the rest go bad? I know I have!

I’ve tried freezing ginger root — it makes it hard to cut into cubes later. I’ve tried refrigerating ginger root — it goes bad before I can use it all. I’ve even tried storing it in potting soil — it takes up up a lot of space, is messy, and if you don’t remember to water it, it goes bad. That’s why when I was given the opportunity to try out Dorot’s all-natural frozen seasoning products, in particular, its crushed ginger, I was intrigued.

I was sent samples of Crushed Ginger, Crushed Garlic, and Chopped Basil. Below are my thoughts and ideas about the product.

About Dorot’s Frozen Seasoning

Dorot Garlic & Herbs specializes in developing, producing and marketing frozen seasoning products throughout the world. The company was established in 1992 and is fully owned by Kibbutz Dorot in the southern part of Israel. The kibbutz has more than 3,500 acres of field crops, which are picked, and then immediately chopped, packaged and frozen in a unique fast freeze process, maintaining their taste, freshness and nutritive value.

Dorot’s frozen herb and seasoning products help cooks have on hand fresh, flavorful ingredients they can use in a pinch. It solves the problems of food waste while not sacrificing flavor. And it saves you time in the kitchen – no prep or clean up needed!

The herbs are packaged in miniature ice cubes and can last up to two years in your freezer. All Dorot products are natural, raw, and vegan. They are non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, and soy-free, and contain no preservatives or artificial flavors. Dorot is kosher and halal.

You can find it in the frozen veggie aisle at most major grocery retailers including ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Kings, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Wegman’s, Ralph’s and Safeway, among others. They retail for about $2.99 per package.

What I liked about Dorot’s Fresh Frozen Seasoning

They are so easy to use and take up very little space in the freezer. The selection I received, as well as others that are available, are all flavors that I’ve personally struggled with issues of food waste or preparation. These are really handy to have around, and because they last up to two years, you will have a lot less food waste.

What I didn’t like about Dorot’s Fresh Frozen Seasoning

I really couldn’t come up with something I didn’t like about these seasoning cubes. They were quite handy and I noticed no reduction in flavor.

How I tested Dorot’s Fresh Frozen Seasoning

I used the basil and garlic in a couple of soups I made from scratch. I also added the ginger to smoothies. Each seasoning added flavor just as well as fresh or dried versions of the same herbs I’ve used before. An added benefit is that because the ginger was frozen, it helped chill my smoothie, so I used less ice!

Overall Comments on Dorot’s Fresh Frozen Seasoning

I really enjoy having these seasoning cubes around. Once you get in the habit of looking for your herbs and spices in your freezer, you’ll rarely go back to fresh!

Who Is Dorot’s Fresh Frozen Seasoning Suitable for?

Home cooks will love these, especially the garlic and ginger, which can be so problematic for many. Garlic can be hard to prep and often leaves your counter and hands smelling of garlic for days. Ginger is hard to grate or chop, can be really stringy and is hard to store for long. Dorot’s Fresh Frozen Seasoning solves all those problems.

For More Information

Dorot’s Website
Flavors available: Garlic, Ginger, Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, Dill and Sautéed Glazed Onions

Score: 5 out of 5

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NOTE: I received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest review. If you’ve read past product reviews, you’ll know that I don’t pull my punches when I believe they are warranted. I also try to provide balanced information so you can make your own decision to buy or not buy this product, even if you disagree with my opinion.

Tags Dorot's Gardens, herbs