Health benefits of dehydrating foods for storage and use

The art of dehydrating foods dates back many thousands of years. It has persisted over the ages, and its popularity is well-deserved. Dehydrating foods is one of the very best methods for preserving food and making it portable. Here are some compelling health benefits of dehydrating foods that will convince you to give a dehydrator a permanent home in your kitchen.

Dehydrated foods contain all of their original nutrients.

Virtually all of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other beneficial compounds remain in a food when you dehydrate it. By contrast, cooking a food rather than drying it can destroy some of its nutrients and enzymes. Dehydrating is a great way to preserve food, give it a longer shelf life, and make it more portable while keeping it just as nutritious as the original. This is the ultimate health benefit over other, less nutritious snack foods out there.

Dehydrated foods can make healthy replacements for sweets and candy.

 

When a food is dehydrated, the lost water content causes the flavor of the food to be more prominent. This means that dehydrated fruits are tasty and extra-sweet. If you like to snack on sweet things, consider making a switch to dehydrated fruit slices. They are just as sweet and delicious, while providing you with tons of vitamins and other nutrients that candy doesn’t contain.

The possibilities are endless. You can dehydrate virtually any type of fruit and thus have a wide variety of sweet snacks on hand all the time. Another great option is fruit leather, which is made by dehydrating fruit puree. This fruit puree can contain any combination of fruits you like, and even spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or chili powder.

Dehydrated foods have a long shelf life, with no preservatives.

There are many benefits to making food last longer. If you have a bumper crop in your garden or find a great sale on fruits, you can dehydrate it all so it won’t go to waste. If you store your dehydrated food in a cool, dark, and airtight place, it can last many years. Fruits, vegetables, and grains that have been dehydrated have been known to last up to three decades. With almost no water present in the food, no microbes will colonize it and it will not rot.

Dehydrated food lasts a very long time yet is all-natural. It doesn’t contain any artificial preservatives. This is great news for people who like to eat natural whole foods and avoid preservative chemicals.

More Benefits of Dehydrating Your Food

 

The health benefits of dehydrating foods are not the only type of benefit. You’ll also see financial benefits and added convenience.

Dehydrating foods yourself is much, much more economical than buying them pre-made in a store. If you love dehydrated fruits, trail mix, or jerky, consider making it yourself for a fraction of the cost. Another financial benefit is that, as mentioned earlier, you can pick up large amounts of food when you see it on sale and dehydrate it at home. By taking advantage of produce sales you can save a good deal of money.

On average, dehydrated foods are less than one-sixth as bulky as their original form. Not only do they take up a lot less space, but they’re also a lot lighter. This means these foods are perfect for packing as a snack before you leave for work or school, or taking them with you on a camping or hiking trip.

Dehydration is the ultimate method of food preservation. What other method improves taste, portability, and shelf life while also potentially saving you a lot of money? Once you give dehydrating your own food a shot, chances are you’ll never go back. Try an effective, high-quality food dehydrator from a reputable brand like Sedona®.

from dig/s Home Goods & Housewares – Housewares and Health – News and Views https://digs-homegoods.com/blogs/news/health-benefits-of-dehydrating-foods-for-storage-and-use

source https://digshomegoodsandhousewares.wordpress.com/2017/04/29/health-benefits-of-dehydrating-foods-for-storage-and-use/

Sanitary-Health Benefits of Automatic Soap Dispensers

Automatic soap dispensers are sometimes thought of as a simple convenience. However, they are far more than just devices that save time and effort when you wash your hands.

Automatic soap dispensers can actually be thought of as the front line defense against germs and disease. These types of soap dispensers offer important benefits that bar soap and traditional pump or lever dispensers do not, because of the simple fact that the user does not need to touch anything in order to put soap in their hands.

Clean hands are a requisite for your well-being, and the right kind of soap dispenser provides a way for you to ensure consistently clean hands, at home or at work.

Protecting yourself from germs by washing your hands regularly is a must when you consider the large numbers of bacteria and viruses you are exposed to on a daily basis, usually without even realizing it.

The statistics on communicable diseases suggest that up to 20% of people develop a case of influenza during the winter flu season. Far from being a harmless disease, influenza kills 36,000 people in the United States alone every year. The common cold can infect the same people several times a year, because your body’s immune system cannot detect different strains of the virus when they first enter your body.

Even more sinister diseases like Streptococcus infections can be caused by touching surfaces contaminated with bacteria and viruses that can survive outside the human body for several days.

Everyone knows that washing your hands with plenty of soap and hot water serves as a preventative against sickness. What you might not know is how important this simple prevention measure is for your health. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control have estimated that half of the deaths caused by gastrointestinal germs could be avoided with proper hand washing.

Respiratory and even many food-related diseases could be drastically reduced as well. Globally, estimates have suggested that better hand-washing habits could save up to a million lives from being lost to disease. Truly, the power of soap and water should not be underestimated when it comes to keeping healthy.

If hand washing is such a powerful preventative measure, why isn’t it more widely used? One problem is the way that conventional soap dispensers are designed. Conventional soap dispensers present a problem to the user, because they require you to dispense the soap by touching the device with dirty hands. In this manner, dirty water and disease-spreading germs end up on the dispenser handle, and sometimes the nozzle as well.

Even if you clean your restroom, kitchen, or hand-washing station regularly, this problem will still arise within a few uses of the dispenser. These conventional dispensers therefore become a potential liability for their users, and may even discourage some people from using soap when they wash. In turn, these issues can lead to serious hygienic problems whether at home or at work.

Automatic soap dispensers circumvent this problem by providing each person with just the right amount of soap for hand washing when they place their hands under the nozzle. A reliable motion sensor detects the movement, and dispenses the soap through the nozzle, without needing to pull a lever or press a handle. This way, you can wash your hands in a completely hygienic fashion, without worrying about whether you are inadvertently exposing yourself to germs as you clean your hands.

Soap and water can stop disease, save lives, and prevent absences from school and work. In order for this strategy to effectively prevent diseases, however, people need to have access to automated, rather than conventional, soap dispensers. Automated soap dispensers can help improve compliance with hand washing regulations at work, and better cleanliness at home.

People are more likely to wash their hands when they know they can do so without needing to put their hands on a bar of soap others have used, or pumps, levers, or handles that create a risk for spreading additional germs. Automation therefore provides convenience and improvements in cleanliness at the same time. With so many potentially preventable diseases out there, automatic soap dispensers are a must-have tool for maintaining your health and well-being.

Ready to buy an automatic soap dispenser? Check out the Umbra Otto Automatic Soap Dispenser from Digs!

from dig/s Home Goods & Housewares – Housewares and Health – News and Views https://digs-homegoods.com/blogs/news/sanitary-health-benefits-of-automatic-soap-dispensers

source https://digshomegoodsandhousewares.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/sanitary-health-benefits-of-automatic-soap-dispensers/

~breakfast on the beach~{bohemian tablescape}

It's spring and the weather is finally shaping up!

Time to get the yard in order and get the paddle boards out.

Dining outside is something we love to do in the warmer months.

I thought I'd show you how we through an impromptu breakfast on the beach {dock} recently, and also link you up to some friends who are showing their spring outdoor table settings.

This look can be recreated anywhere, on a deck, a lawn, at a park even.

I started with a pallet as my starting point and built up from there.

You can find pallets free all over the place, craigslist is a good source. I like to look for ones with lettering and grayish weathered wood.

The wood wine crate in the center not only corals all your food and dishes, but is a great mechanism to get all your stuff to your destination.

You can use a basket or any sort of tray too.

Instead of a tablecloth I opted for bits and pieces of scrap lace and old  monogrammed napkins.

Various pieces of beach glass and coral keep the lace in place when it's breezy.

My kids collected these on a recent vacation in Mexico.

For seating I through down some blankets and down filled pillows.

Bagels, blueberries, and fresh squeezed orange juice!

I am really looking forward to more lazy mornings like this as the weather continues to get even better.

For even more inspiration, please visit my friends below to see how they are setting their outside tables this spring.

French Country Cottage~Thistlewood Farms

Nesting With Grace

Most Lovely Things~The Leslie Style

xoxo

from
http://www.mysweetsavannahblog.com/2017/04/breakfast-on-beachbohemian-tablescape.html

How To Make Great Tasting Smoothies In A Blender

With the seasons changing and the temperatures rising, this is a great time of year to get in the habit of making some healthy and delicious smoothies. The great thing about smoothies is that you can put anything you want in them, and leave out things that you don’t like.

 

It is important, however, to watch the sugar content of some smoothies that you are expecting to be beneficial for your health, because if they have too much sugar they can cause your blood sugar level to quickly rise and then plummet. Here are some great tips and tricks for making some healthy smoothies and other healthy meals in your blender this summer.

Some great things to put in your blender to make a smoothie are seasonal fruits such as blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, peaches, and plums. There are also a lot of smoothie recipes that call for vegetables such as spinach and kale. This is a great way to increase your intake of fresh produce and it even gives you a chance to add some superfoods to your diet such as chia seeds and flax seed oil.

One great way to make sure that you always have what you need on hand is to find your favorite smoothie recipes and prepare the ingredients ahead of time. Chop all of your fruit and remove any seeds before packing each serving into a small plastic bag and sticking it in the freezer. This way, you can grab one on the go at any time for a healthy snack.

It only takes about five minutes to blend up a nutritious snack with your favorite healthy ingredients. You can easily add some protein with the addition of peanut butter or Greek yogurt as well. Here are some simple recipes to create in your blender.

Power Green Smoothie Recipe

1 cup fresh spinach
1/4 cup frozen berry mix (blueberries, raspberries, etc.)
1 medium banana (frozen)
1/2 cup almond milk

Peel the banana before sticking it in the freezer for at least two hours in advance. You can also keep them in the freezer for weeks in advance so you always have them prepared and ready to go. To make this recipe, simply add all of the ingredients into your blender and blend until it is smooth. Add a tablespoon of peanut butter or protein powder if you want to make it into a meal.

Peach Pie Smoothie Recipe

1½ cups of frozen peaches
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup of water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 small packet of stevia

Combine the Greek yogurt, water, stevia, chia seeds, and spices in a blender until they are mixed. Add frozen peaches and puree. Pour into a glass and enjoy.

You can also make some fun summer recipes in your blender that are more savory than sweet. For example, this gazpacho recipe is easy and perfect for a hot day. All you need to do is puree your ingredients in a blender and top it with a bit of olive oil before serving. To make this, incorporate the following ingredients into your blender:

4 large tomatoes – cored and quartered
2 slices of white bread torn into pieces
1 diced cucumber
1 medium, seeded, and chopped green bell pepper
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

There are a lot of great recipes you can make in your blender, and it is easy to make them all healthy. Avoid using liquids such as fruit juices or whole milk to cut down on calories and fat and replace these things while real fruit and nut milk such as almond milk.

If you want to make a recipe extra creamy without adding cream, try adding 1/4 of an avocado to smooth up your treat.

Love Mocha Shakes? Check out this video-

 

Fast Breakfast Smoothie Ideas-

 

 

from dig/s Home Goods & Housewares – Housewares and Health – News and Views https://digs-homegoods.com/blogs/news/how-to-make-great-tasting-smoothies-in-a-blender

source https://digshomegoodsandhousewares.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/how-to-make-great-tasting-smoothies-in-a-blender/

Are Expensive High End Juicers Worth The Money? Tribest Green Star Elite GSE 500 Jumbo Review

This high-end Juicer is worth every penny. Why: Awesome health benefits of juicing fruits and vegetables and some terrific recipes.

This high-end Juicer is worth every penny. Why: Awesome health benefits of juicing fruits and vegetables and some terrific recipes.

The Tribest Greenstar Elite GSE-5000 Jumbo Twin Gear Cold Press Juice Extractor is an impressive kitchen appliance. The twin gear press extracts a high quantity of juice filled with vitamins and minerals. It is does more than just extract nutritious juice from fresh fruits and vegetables.

This powerful appliance can be used to make nut butters, baby food, sorbets, sauces, and pates. Unlike other masticating juicers, the Greenstar utilizes crushing, slicing, and cutting functions, much the same way we masticate food with our mouths. The masticating twin gears are made of strong, non-corrosive, stainless steel.

The Elite GSE 500 produces more juice than some comparable machines. It is sized for use on a standard kitchen counter or for use in a commercial kitchen. It weighs approximately 24 pounds, making it portable. The GSE-5000 comes apart for easy cleaning. It has a 110 RPM motor to ensure freshness of the juice. This top juicer comes with a 12 year warranty.

The benefits of using a good juicer are many. You may be looking for inspiration to improve your health by adding more fruits and vegetables into your diet, or looking for inspiration to lose weight and gain more energy. The Greenstar Elite masticating juicer extracts nutrient dense juice from fresh fruits and vegetables by thoroughly breaking down the plant fibers to get the most vitamins, minerals, and enzymes available in the produce.

Features of This Top Juicer

The Greenstar Elite GSE-5000 is a versatile and powerful juicer. Here are some of the basic features.

• Horizontal twin gear masticating system
• Automatic pulp ejection
• Disassembles for easy clean-up
• 110 RPM motor speed
• 200 Watts of power
• Weighs 24 pounds
• Standard 120 or 220V
• Dimension are 6.5 x 19 x 12.5 inches
• 12 year warranty

Here is what is in the box:

• The basic machine with removable power cord
• Juicing and breadstick knobs
• Fine and course screens
• Jumbo twin gears
• Glass juice pitcher
• Drip tray
• Plungers
• Stainless steel strainer
• Cleaning brushes

Healthy Recipes

The best benefits of using a good juicer are all the healthy food options. You can extract fruit and vegetable juices, make food for your baby, churn nuts into butter, and make sauces for pasta. The possibilities are nearly endless with this top juicer.

A healthy green juice may be just what you need to get you going in the morning. 

You can make really creamy nut butter. Check out this video on demonstration of peanut butter with chocolate. You could replace the peanuts with hazelnuts for something resembling the ever popular kid’s spread Nutella.

The Bottom Line

This powerful masticating juicer and food mill gets 5 stars for its versatility and for the quality of the juice it produces. The health benefits provided by juicing fresh produce cannot be ignored. Being able to make nut butters, sauces, and desserts with the Greenstar Elite GSE 5000 takes this appliance to the next level.

 

from dig/s Home Goods & Housewares – Housewares and Health – News and Views https://digs-homegoods.com/blogs/news/are-expensive-high-end-juicers-worth-the-money-tribest-green-star-elite-gse-500-jumbo-review

source https://digshomegoodsandhousewares.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/are-expensive-high-end-juicers-worth-the-money-tribest-green-star-elite-gse-500-jumbo-review/

~One Room Challenge week 5~

I am calling this week of the ORC  the plain Jane stage because even though I have the furniture installed, everything is very white and boring.

I am waiting on a new rug, my wall art, some accessories, a chandelier {the Ikea one turned out to look horrible} and a floor lamp.

I have rotated the table around which really opened it up.

I will say, my husband came home from being out of town and he looked at the room and looked at me like I was crazy. Then he said he trusted me and knew I had a vision.

Let's hope this room turns out!

This cupboard from Ikea is called the Godmorgon.

I got a high gloss white door for a more modern look.

It's actually made for a bathroom, but I'm not telling if you aren't.

 This piece is the Besta TV unit with high gloss white doors also.

I had a friend help me put them together and hang them.

I really hope they don't come crashing down in the middle of the night.

I have another white cowhide coming from All Modern which I will layer with the other one.

The frame is all ready, just waiting on my photo enlargement and then off to the framers it goes.

I played with the color on the frame a little and added a bit of brushed nickel spray paint followed by Annie Sloan dark silver gilding wax to age it just a bit.

I switched out and got all new switch plate covers. 

At this point the thing I am most excited about though is having finished baseboard mouldings!

I painted my chandelier, and it turned out hideous.
So I ordered a new one from Painted Fox Home and I am hoping it gets here in time!

I have 3 of these coming, I love the punch of color.

This is also on it's way:

I cannot wait to finish this room and move onto the next!

So many projects in the works.

Thank you for following along, please come back next week of the final reveal.

xoxo

from
http://www.mysweetsavannahblog.com/2017/04/one-room-challenge-week-5.html

Health Benefits of Cold-Brewed Coffee

Cold brew coffee has exploded in popularity, often appearing on menus at trendy cafes and restaurants. Home coffee drinkers can also benefit from this alternative method of preparing coffee by using a home cold brew coffee maker to steep coffee grounds to produce cold brew coffee concentrate.

How is it made?

This method takes a bit longer than traditional coffee makers, with most experts recommending a soak in room temperature or cold water for 12 to 24 hours. The resulting cold brew concentrate is highly versatile and can be used to make either cold or hot coffee drinks, so cold brew coffee makers are actually multi-functional hot and cold coffee makers. Simply grind coffee beans on the finer side, and use a ratio of one part coffee to five parts cold water in your cold brew coffee maker. If you want your concentrate a bit stronger, just reduce the amount of water used. Leave the mixture to rest and brew overnight, and a batch of cold brew concentrate will be ready when you wake in the morning!

What are the benefits of cold brewed coffee?

Less Acid

Many coffee drinkers love the pick me up and taste of coffee, but have trouble managing all the acid. One of the major benefits of cold brewed coffee is that using cold or room temperature water for this method instead of hot water means that the process yields fewer acids and tannins, which are more easily released at higher temperatures. Slowing down the brewing means that the end result is easier on teeth and sensitive stomachs.

Smooth and Long Lasting Flavor

Coffee aficionados find that the cold brew process creates a smooth, mellow, and less bitter flavor, which can be a nice change in comparison to traditionally hot brewed coffee. One extra plus is that unlike hot coffee, the flavor of cold-brewed coffee is stable and does not degrade and become stale over time like cooling hot coffee. This means that you can use cold-brewed coffee concentrate over a period of many days without a significant loss of flavor!

Versatility

Cold-brewed coffee concentrate can be kept for up to two weeks in a tightly closed mason jar or similar container. Not only is cold-brewed coffee concentrate great for making iced coffee, hot coffee can easily be produced by adding boiling water. This is great for households where both hot and cold coffee makers in the same family are living under one roof. Brewing up a big batch of cold-brew concentrate at the beginning of the week will take the hassle out of coffee preparation, and having cold-brew concentrate on hand will make it simple to quickly make any kind of coffee drink. For those who adore coffee flavor, the less acidic cold-brewed concentrate is perfect for adding a hint of coffee to recipes for baked goods, marinades, sauces, cocktails, and ice cream.

Superior Iced Coffee

Iced coffee addicts will be particularly impressed with cold-brewed iced coffee because the reduction in acid means that more flavor of the bean can shine in an iced coffee beverage. Many professional coffee chains have switched to cold-brewed iced coffee particularly for this reason. However, perfect iced coffee results can be had at home with the help of a cold brew coffee maker, which could mean big savings on buying iced drinks from expensive coffee chains.

Want to cold brew your own coffee? Pick up these cold brew coffee jars and start enjoying the health benefits of cold brewed coffee! Still prefer to have the option to do both hot and cold coffee? Check out our post on “4 Best Coffee Maker Types“.

from dig/s Home Goods & Housewares – Housewares and Health – News and Views https://digs-homegoods.com/blogs/news/health-benefits-of-cold-brewed-coffee

source https://digshomegoodsandhousewares.wordpress.com/2017/04/26/health-benefits-of-cold-brewed-coffee/