February is Bake for Family Fun Month! This month, families across the nation are encouraged to spend some time together in the kitchen. If you’re looking for an activity that will bring the family together but won’t break the bank, baking is the perfect choice. The Home Baking Association designated February as Bake for Family Fun Month, because it is important for kids and parents to have an activity that they can share. And what can be better than a fun activity that ends with a delicious treat? The HBA even went so far as to make a schedule to use as a guideline for those families who wish to participate in the fun.

(Click on the links to see what each activity is all about)

Week 1

General:

Let’s Get Started Baking!

Preschool:

Create and Pretend with Rainbow Dust

Everyone Loves Pizza

Flat Bread

Light-as-a-Feather Multigrain Pancake Mix

Kindergarten:

Butterfly Art for Very Hungry Kids

1^st Grade:

Good Day Granola

4^th Grade:

Basic Pizza

Week 2

General:

Baking for your Valentine

1^st Grade:

Cookie Pop Art

Let’s Plan a Party

2^nd Grade:

Quilt Cake

Week 3

General:

History of Leavening

2^nd Grade:

Apple Dumplings

Quilt Cake

Science of Baking

3^rd Grade:

Exploring Pancakes

4^th Grade:

Baking Traditions: Tortillas, Soft Pretzels & Stone Soup Bread

Soft Pretzels

Week 4

General:

Muffins, Done the Way you Like Them

Preschool:

Sugar Cookies Go Whole Wheat

4^th Grade:

Sharing Cocoa Cupcakes

What’s your favorite thing to cook with your family? Leave us a comment below and tell us!

For more information on Bake for Family Fun Month or to find some great recipes for the whole family, visit www.homebaking.org.

The following infographic comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and encompasses the main food groups and their relative portion size, as well as some examples of canned goods that fulfill those dietary requirements.

Join ChefUniforms and give to the needy this February. You’ll be glad you did!

1. Attend a pie Festival! Attend the Great American Pie Festival in April at Lakeside Park in Celebration, FL.
2. Eat Pie! Make it yourself, pick it up at the store, or order it for dessert. Any way you choose, eat some pie today.
3. Make a pie! If you’re going to bake a pie, today’s the day! You can even combine this one with #3 to make the festivities that much yummier!
4. Teach others how to make pie! If you don’t know how to make it, find someone who does and learn. Or, simply call Crisco’s very own Pie Hotline (1-877-FOR PIE TIPS) to speak with a live pie expert, and ask any pie question you can think of!
5. Have a pie-making contest! Invite the best bakers you know to compete for prizes. Have cooking teachers, pastry chefs and other pie lovers to be the judges and give scores based on texture, taste, and overall quality.
6. Share a pie! Whether it’s homemade or store-bought, share a slice with a neighbor or friend.
7. Have pie night! Celebrate the miracle that is pie amongst family and friends.
8. Give a pie! Have a charity contest for pie eating (or throwing) and donate the proceeds to your favorite food-based charity.
9. Sample some pie! Pie retailers can introduce customers to pie through special sales and promotions this National Pie Day. Restaurants can offer a pie sampler plate or a free pie with dinner.
10. Hold pie activities! Stage some activities for kids including pie-making, poetry and art contests. Teach math, science and world history through pie (this one is probably easier for math with pie graphs).
11. Remember pie! Call older members of the family and ask them to give you some pie recipes. Talk about your favorite pies and your favorite memories associated with them.
12. Do pie things! Sing pie songs, read pie poems and books, and make some pie graphs.
13. Eat more pie! There’s always room for one more slice of pie…

What’s your favorite type of pie? Do you like it a la mode or just by itself? Leave us a comment below and tell us all about it!

1. Americans eat over 10 BILLION bowls of soup every year!
2. Women eat more than twice the amount of soup as men.
3. Soup can be traced back to as early as 6,000 B.C. and used to be made out of hippopotamus!
4. Soup used to be known as “sop”, and was a piece of bread served with a broth poured over it. As time progressed, the sop was poured into deeper bowls, and the liquid became the focus, rather than the bread. Sop became Soup, and the bread was then dipped into the liquid and eaten. Today, the word “sop” is used to soak something up.
5. Each year, 99% of American homes purchase soup.
6. Soup is a $5 Billion per year business.
7. In the late 1700s, the King of France was so vain that he commanded his royal chefs to create a soup that would allow him to see his own reflection in it. Thus, consommé, or clear broth, was born.
8. In the French court of Louis XI, the women’s meals were mostly soup, because they were afraid that chewing on solid food would give them facial wrinkles.
9. Back in 17^th Century Europe, thin soups were all the rage. This is because the soup spoon was invented so that the large, frilly ruffles that the men and women wore around their necks would not get dripped on.
10. Before going on stage to perform, Frank Sinatra asked for chicken and rice soup in his dressing room.

What’s your favorite type of soup? Leave a comment below with your favorites, or send us a recipe and we’ll post it!

Click the link below to read the whole story, and get some great ideas for seasonal dishes, with recipes to help you get back in shape!

http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-recipes-pictures/10-fall-recipes-inspired-by-the-white-house-garden.aspx#/slide-1

So, in the spirit of the season (and National Pumpkin Pie Day), we’ve decided to give you, our readers a gift. Here is a delicious and easy recipe for a tasty pumpkin pie that the whole family will love:

Prep Time
15 Min

Servings: 8

Per Serving: Calories: 379 | Total Fat: 14.3g | Cholesterol: 70mg

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

This recipe is courtesy of AllRecipes.com.

ChefUniforms.com would like to wish a very Merry Christmas to all of our friends, coworkers and customers! We hope you have a happy, healthy and delicious holiday!

Fried Foods

Since Chanukah celebrates the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days instead of just one, foods that are cooked in oil are especially popular for this holiday. One such food is potato pancakes, or “latkes”. These are made with potatoes, onion and either matzah (unleavened bread) or breadcrumbs. Many people eat this dish with applesauce of sour cream on top. Another fried Chanukah dish is called “Sufganiyot”, or jelly-filled doughnuts. Recently though, since more and more people are becoming health-conscious, this dish has been placed on the back burner in many Jewish homes.

                            Potato Latkes                                                                 Sufganiyot

Dairy Foods

Dairy is served on Chanukah to remember Judith, a Jewish woman who, according to legend, saved her people from the Babylonians by serving their leader salty cheese to make him thirsty, followed by large amounts of wine. When the leader fell “asleep”, Judith killed him, and the Babylonians left her village. In order to honor Judith for her bravery, we serve dairy for this holiday, such as cheesecake and blintzes. Blintzes are thin pancakes (like crepes) which are stuffed with a cheese filling and then fried in oil.

                       Cheesecake                                                                      Blintzes

If you’ve got a favorite Chanukah recipe that you’d like to share, leave a comment below, we’d love to hear it! And again, Happy Chanukah from ChefUniforms.com!

1)      Find an object or edible item.

2)      Drizzle, pour or dip it in your favorite chocolate.

3)      Take a picture of the chocolate covered item.

4)      Enjoy the chocolate covered item.

5)      Either email the picture to ChefUniforms.com at contests@chefuniforms.com or post it to your own Facebook profile.

Need some ideas of things to dip in chocolate? See our collection below, or click on the following link for some more out-of-the-box options! http://www.chocolatecoveredanythingday.com/ideas-for-dipping.html

Chocolate Covered Chocolate                      Chocolate Covered Fruit

Chocolate Covered Grasshopper                             Chocolate Covered Peppers

              Chocolate Covered Porsche                                    Chocolate Covered Raisins

Chocolate Covered Rose                                          Chocolate Covered Strawberries

1. Bruschetta: authentic Italian appetizer that doesn’t get any easier…top a slice of Italian bread with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and basil—viola!

2.       Guacamole: avocados help lower cholesterol and regulate blood pressure, an added tip:  mix in diced tomatoes for additional antioxidant power.

3.       Veggies and hummus (or greek yogurt based dip): use the red and green veggie colors to your advantage to spruce up your veggie display!

4.       Fruit and cheese plate:  crowd favorite, try a fruit dip made from vanilla  yogurt and cinnamon for a sweet kick.

5.       Whole grain crackers and lean meats: pack a protein punch with lean meat slices (roast beef and turkey are generally lower in fat than ham).

6.       Mini soup shooters: serve a veggie based soup like tomato or broccoli in small plastic cups that will be easier for guests vs. a spoon…soups are a great low-calorie way to warm & fill up.

7.       Smoked salmon and whole wheat toast: salmon is a winner all around, it combines easily digestible protein and Omega-3 fatty acids to provide muscle, heart, and brain benefits.

8.       Spinach quiche: use a whole wheat crust and a hefty heaping of this super-food (chock full of iron and calcium).

9.       Low-fat bean dip with whole grain chips: legumes are a great source of fiber and protein, reducing cancer risks, improving blood glucose & blood pressure, and lowering cholesterol (no brainer!).

10.   Bite-sized desserts: small portions allow guests to sample a couple different types of dessert while watching waistbands… an added tip: if the recipe calls for white flour, try ½ white ½ whole wheat…makes it healthier and the difference is undetectable! 

Do you have any favorite holiday dishes to add to our top 10 list? Share your thoughts below!

Clean

-          Wash your hands often in order to stop the spread of illness-causing bacteria. When to do this:

• Before eating food
• Before, during, and after preparing foodBefore and after treating a cut or wound
• Before and after caring for someone who is sick
• After handling anything uncooked
• After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
• After touching an animal
• After touching garbage
• After using the bathroom

-          Wash surfaces and utensils after each use, because bacteria can spread to cutting boards, utensils and countertops.

-          Wash your fruits and veggies before cooking or eating, but not meat, poultry or eggs! Why not meat, poultry or eggs?

• Washing the raw meat can help bacteria spread, because the juices can splash onto your sink and countertop, contaminating them.
• All commercial eggs are washed before they are sold. Extra washing runs the risk of cross-contamination, especially if the shell is cracked.

Separate

-          Use separate cutting boards and plates for produce and anything that requires cooking.

• Having ready-to-eat food on a surface that had raw meat on it can spread the bacteria from the raw meat’s juices and make you sick.
• Before using the surfaces again, wash the cutting boards, utensils, plates, etc. thoroughly after the raw meat is removed.
• As soon as your cutting board starts to become worn and begins to have grooves in it that are difficult to clean, replace it – bacteria likes to hide in places you can’t reach!

-          Use separate bags for your raw meat, poultry and seafood to avoid contaminating the rest of your food.

-          Keep your raw food away from all other food in the refrigerator. If you aren’t planning on using these foods in the next few days, put them in the freezer instead.

Cook

-         Use a food thermometer. Color and texture alone won’t give you 100% certainty that your food has been cooked thoroughly enough to kill harmful bacteria. Some foods need 3 minutes of rest time after cooking to make sure that the harmful bacteria are killed (it keeps cooking even after being taken off of the heat source).

-          Keep food hot after cooking and before serving. Be sure to use a chafing dish, warming tray or slow cooker in order to keep your food warm before serving. Bacteria thrives while the food cools after cooking due to the drop in temperature, so be sure to keep the temperature of your food over 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

-          When microwaving your food (whether it is freshly made or leftovers) be sure to stir your food in the middle of heating. This allows all of the food to be cooked evenly, killing the bacteria that may be underneath.

Chill

-          Refrigerate perishable foods within two hours of cooking or using them. Since cold temperatures slow the growth of harmful bacteria, it is important to be sure that your fridge is not overstuffed (this will allow the cold air to circulate better throughout your fridge). Divide your leftovers into several clean, shallow containers and they will chill faster.

-          There are four safe options for preparing frozen food to eat:

• Thaw it in the refrigerator. This is the safest way, just be sure to place the meat on a plate or pan that will catch the juices that could leak out of the package. If you’re marinating your food, the refrigerator is the best place for it.
• Thaw it in cold water. Just remember to change the water every 30 minutes or so, and cook the food immediately after it has been thawed.
• Thaw it in the microwave. This is the fastest way, but the food must be cooked immediately after.
• Cook it without thawing. It is safe to cook food without thawing it, but your cooking time will be about 50% longer than it would if the meat was thawed.

-          Know when it’s time to let go – you can’t tell whether harmful bacteria has begun growing on your food just by looking or smelling it. Click here to see FoodSafety.Gov’s Food Storage Chart.

Always keep to these four steps and you’ll be sure to always keep those harmful bacteria away from your food. Food poisoning-causing bacteria are everywhere, and it is very important to know how to buy, store, prepare, serve and keep prepared food properly to avoid getting sick. To learn more about proper food safety, visit http://www.foodsafety.gov/.