Cooking & Baking Tips: Healthy Fats, Grain Prep & Substitutes

Mastering the kitchen involves understanding healthy fat profiles, variety-specific grain preparation, and safe food handling techniques.

Spicy Homemade Cajun Jambalaya

How to Cook Boudin in the Oven

Boudin is a type of sausage native to France. The dish became popular in Louisiana and Cajun cuisine after being introduced by the French.

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Honey and dipper on white background

When Should Athletes Eat Honey?

Honey is a sweet and thick fluid honeybees produce from flower nectar. Your body easily absorbs honey. Honey is made up of approximately 70 to 80 percent sugar. The rest is made up of water, minerals and traces of protein, acids and other substances.

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Boiled rice in crock pot, close up

How to Cook Rice in a Slow Cooker

While it may come as a surprise, cooking rice using your slow cooker is just as effective as using a steamer or saucepan. Both white and brown rice cook equally well in a slow cooker, although brown rice takes about an hour longer to prepare.

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Watermelon

Sorbitol & Fructose

Many people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, or with gastrointestinal issues, including bloating, constipation, diarrhea, flatulence and abdominal pain, believe that some foods may trigger their symptoms.

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Sausage on frying pan

How to Cook Little Smokies With BBQ Sauce

Cocktail wieners, or little smokies, smothered in warm barbecue sauce is a classic party appetizer that's simple to prepare. Little smokies are bite-sized, fully-cooked smoked sausages that only need to be reheated to enjoy.

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Sunflower oil

Is Sunflower Oil Healthy?

Choosing healthier sources of fat can lower your risk for heart disease, and sunflower oil may help. Most of the fat in sunflower oil is unsaturated, and this oil is a nutrient-dense food, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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No Sugar Added Organic Jams & Jellies

When you buy jams and jellies from a grocery store or supermarket, you may notice that certain brands are sugar-free or organic. Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania suggest that jams and jellies that are organic and sugar-free can be better for you than their standard counterparts.

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How to Cook Chicharon Bulaklak

Chicharon bulaklak is a traditional Filipino dish made from fried pork intestines. Chicharon bulaklak is crispy with a mild flavor that is accentuated when you dip it into a powerful sauce. You can purchase the pork intestines to make the chicharon bulaklak from many butchers for a relatively low cost.

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Big jar of protein powder, shaker, pills and tablets

Does Rice Protein Contain Gluten?

Gluten is a protein commonly found in many types of grain crops, such as barley, rye and wheat. Some people cannot eat gluten because of a disorder such as gluten intolerance or celiac disease, in which a person's immune system mistakenly attacks ingested gluten and damages the small intestines.

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Homemade Smoked Barbecue Beef Brisket

How to Smoke a Flat Brisket

Revered for its robust, beefy flavor, brisket is best cooked low and slow. A smoker grill helps you achieve melt-in-your-mouth tenderness and an intense smoky flavor. Brisket, cut from below the shoulder of a steer, is typically sold divided into two cuts -- the point cut and flat cut.

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Poppy seeds in wood bowl with two dried pods.

Are Poppy Seeds Safe for My Child?

Poppy seed stories have taken hold of people's imaginations, but are they true? ABC News reports that people have failed drug screening tests because of having eaten poppy seeds before testing. Indeed, the website “Poppy.

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Rice Vs. Couscous

Rice is cultivated and consumed all over the world, making it the most popular grain globally. For people living in Asia, rice supplies 35 to 80 percent of caloric intake, according to Duke University. Couscous originates in North Africa and plays a central role in Middle Eastern cuisine.

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Kish with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes

Do You Cook the Crust Before Filling a Quiche?

A hearty quiche is handy for entertaining since it can be made in advance and customized to almost any palate. This classic dish is not complicated to make at home, but following the proper method for baking the pastry crust means the difference between a success and a soggy mess.

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Woman Standing At Hob Preparing Meal In Kitchen

How to Stir Fry With Hoisin Sauce

Hoisin sauce is made from vinegar, sugar, soy, chile peppers and garlic, a combination of ingredients which gives it a sweet and slightly spicy flavor. Hoisin is usually served as a condiment, but if you love its flavor, you can add it to stir fry in place of a more traditional stir fry sauce.

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Fresh hen

Can I Cook Chicken Straight From Being Frozen?

USDA guidelines recommend thawing meat products in the refrigerator or cold water to prevent foodborne illnesses. But when you're short on time, go ahead and cook chicken straight from the freezer.

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Bowl of uncooked rolled oats

Do Oats Cause Bloating?

Oats do not commonly cause bloating in most healthy adults. If you notice that you develop bloating almost every time you eat oats, you need to make an appointment with your doctor to determine the cause of the bloating.

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cereal

Is 10 Grams of Sugar in Cereal a Lot?

Ten grams of sugar in your morning bowl of cereal may not sound like a lot. It’s about three teaspoonfuls that add only 40 calories to the meal and an amount that is about the average sugar content for cereals in the United States.

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Can You Use a Frying Pan As a Baking Pan?

Frying pans or skillets are typically used to saute, pan-fry or sear foods. Certain situations may lead you to use a frying pan for other uses, such as baking. Electric and stove-top pans typically have flat bottoms and deep, flared or straight sides, a convenient shape and size for some baked dishes.

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Mexican Rice

Is Spanish Rice Good for You?

Spanish rice, sometimes called Mexican rice, is a dish made with long grain white rice, onions, green peppers and a form of tomatoes, such as tomato sauce, tomato paste or canned tomatoes. Some recipes call for garlic and celery; saffron, chili powder or cumin is often added as seasoning.

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