HEALTH FOOD TIPS

Archive for the ‘Home Brewing’ Category

The Gaggia Baby Class espresso machine is a full featured, easy to operate semi-automatic espresso machine. Gaggia has been manufacturing espresso machines for over 25 years, and is actually the creator of the modern pump espresso machine. The Gaggia Baby Class is one of Gaggia’s newest and most updated machines, and is available in semi-automatic design for the professional espresso maker.

The Baby Class features a new sleek, brushed stainless steel exterior, which is only one of the improvements made to this already terrific espresso machine. One of the numerous new features of the Gaggia Baby Class is a three-way valve and dual heating elements, which minimize heat, and steaming time. The portafilter and the brew group are now made of sturdy chrome plated brass, and the Baby Class has a powerful 15 BAR pump. The boiler quickly heats water, eliminating wait time. The water is easy to add to this machine, as the 60 oz. water reservoir is removable. This machine can be used to simply heat water to make hot chocolate, tea or even soup. This greatly increases the overall value of the versatile Gaggia Espresso Maker.

Of course the best feature of the Gaggia Baby is the delicious Italian style espresso it produces. Always thick and creamy, there is simply none better. It includes a turbo frother pivoting steam wand, which has been improved with this new model. It creates a creamy froth to top off not only espresso, but cappuccinos or lattes as well. This Gaggia espresso maker uses either finely ground coffee or E.S.E. style espresso pods. It comes with an accessory kit, which includes single and double filter baskets, a plastic tamper, and scoop. Prices vary but are generally from $499 to $600, depending on the retailer. The Gaggia Baby Class is not cheap, but commercial quality of this kind seldom is. It is fairly heavy at 17 lbs and it uses 120 volts, 1425 watts of power.

In product reviews, users boast that the Gaggia Baby Class espresso machine does indeed live up to its reputation. Enjoyed most are the quick brewing time and consistent results. People also love the fact that the machine is pretty to look at, and they enjoy having it sitting out on the counter instead of hidden away when not in use. The Gaggia espresso machines seem to offer the best quality, style and durability of all the espresso machines. This Baby Class is a top consumer pick and highly rated.

These days, there are so many demands on your time that it is often hard to juggle all the things that are important to you. Between work, family, home and home maintenance, it is often overwhelming for some people to make proper time for everything while keeping your family and home organized. If you add in leisure time, exercise and fitness, volunteer work, and all the other extra-curricular activities that you might be involved in, it can get very difficult to find enough hours in the day.

Saving time in certain areas so you can use it on others becomes an important consideration. Luckily, there are a lot of great ways you can save time in the kitchen. Saving time with some of the items listed blow, which deals with both food preparation and clean-up, will leave you with more free time to spend on other facets of your life.

Brownie Mix and the Edge-Only Brownie Pan:

Sometimes, unexpected guests will drop by and you will need a quick dessert. Sometimes one of your children will come home and tell you they need baked goods for a bake sale at school for tomorrow. Sometimes you have a big craving for a tasty treat that you don?t want to spend a fortune on. If these situations sound similar to ones you encounter in your life, consider keeping a bag or two of decadent brownie mix on hand. Make your brownies even better with an edge-only brownie pan, for quick and easy brownies that taste absolutely divine. This amazing pan priced at only $39.95 can offer a superior baking performance as it helps to circulate heat evenly throughout your brownies. Brownie mix costs around $5 to $7 and will leave you and your family begging for more brownies!

The Slow Cooker:

Cooking delicious warm meals in the middle of winter is a wonderful way to get the family together to enjoy some tasty nutritious food. But who has time to spend preparing and looking after those hearty soups and stews that taste great, but seem to be so preparation-intensive? The slow cooker is your perfect solution for making one-dish meals that save time in clean-up as well as preparation. For less than $60 you can buy a six-quart slow cooker that is perfect for the average family. For just $10 extra you can buy a fantastic recipe book entitled ?101 Things to do with a Slow Cooker? that will provide you with hundreds of tasty ideas for meals and desserts.

The Nuwave:

Slow cooking is great for soups and stews, but when you need to prepare and cook a meal from scratch in a hurry, the Nuwave is just what you need. Cook a roast straight from the freezer 50% faster than a conventional oven and only using 85% of the energy. Choose from the standard model that can hold up to a 10 pound turkey for just $99.95, or upgrade to the deluxe digital model, that can hold up to a 16 pound turkey, for $149.95. Either way you can enjoy perfectly-cooked meals in a fraction of the time.

Ice Crushers:

Give your cocktails and sodas a little more flash, or make your own fruity slushies and snow-cones with a fully automatic electric ice crusher. This machine can make perfect crushed ice quickly and effortlessly. There are many different models available, including a fantastic stainless steel model for just $79.95, and the compact high-impact plastic model that is even more affordable at $39.95. These are durable, hard-wearing, and can last through all those long summer days!

Van Vacter 4-in-1 Garlic Press:

Garlic can help to add a tangy, pungent, and very distinctive flavor to your food, but preparing garlic can be something of a chore to the person who does not have a lot of time to spend in their kitchen. Make it easier with the Van Vacter 4-in-1 garlic press. This is an amazing gadget that provides you with four different ways to prepare your cloves. Minced, thin-sliced, julienne, and coarse-pressed garlic is a breeze with this easy-clean press, and at $29.95 for this hard-wearing zinc and stainless-steel gadget, it is a great buy.

The Rotato Express:

Usually, peeling potatoes is messy, time-consuming, and just not fun. Make it quick and easy with the Rotato Express, a great, little, battery-operated machine that will peel your potatoes, apples, and many other vegetables and fruits in seconds. Simply put your potato on the Rotato Express stand, press the start button, and the skin is gone! It could not be easier. At just $29.95 it is definitely worth it!

Nutritional Label Scale:

If you are concerned about the nutritional aspect of the food you prepare, whether you are counting calories or simply want to keep an eye on your intake of macronutrients, the nutritional label scale is the perfect solution to quickly and easily find out all the information you need. Simply add food to the scale, select the correct food code, and the scale will provide you with accurate information about calories, fiber, carbohydrates, protein, fat, cholesterol, sugar, and salt. With an easy-to-read screen, 1,000 preset food items, and the ability to add up to 99 customized options, this is a fantastic addition to your time-saving kitchen at just $49.95.

Coffee is easily North America’s favorite beverage. Anyone can see this by the massive line ups at Starbucks around the country. Still many do not know the history or origin of coffee. How is it harvested? Where did it originate?

Coffee first originated in Ethiopia and has remained their most prized food import. From Ethiopia the Arab world expanded it’s trade and coffee made it’s way to Africa and then Europe. Of course from Europe it was brought to us in North America.

Coffee beans are grown on a tree and are inside a berry known as a coffee cherry. The outside of the berry is bitter but the inside is very sweet and incubated inside the flesh are two coffee beans. The beans are harvested North of the equator between September and March and south of the equator between April and May.

The beans are then dried out and the outer layers removed. The beans are roasted according to how light or dark. The roasting process takes the green raw coffee bean and turns it into the deep brown we all know it as.

Roasting Times:

7 Minutes – Light flavor the typical kind you find in the supermarket

9-11 Minutes – Medium full bodied roast sometimes known as a “city roast”

12-13 Minutes – Dark roast sometimes known as the french roast

14 Minuets – Darkest roast known as the espresso roast. The beans actually smoke and the sugars in the beans caramelize and burn creating a darker color.

The lightest roast has the most caffeine, as the roasting times increase the caffeine decreases.

That is the world of the coffee bean from Ethiopia in the 9th century to your cup in the 21st , one thing is for sure coffee has been around for a long time and will continue to be around for a lot longer .
By: Joshua G