Tomatoes to the max, frozen and zapped
30.01.10
Two of the overpower inventions of all time are the freezer and the microwave oven. Although I grew up in a household with neither constant water nor indoor plumbing, I now can no longer imagine existence without these two essentials.
In these times of economic stress, the freezer and microwave oven are my best friends. They reserve time, money, space, stress. They are powerful machines, yes. But their superpowers are very alcohol-friendly and kind to novices. I use them for everything.
Take tomatoes, which these days rep from R5 to R20 per kilo, depending on your market’s snob entreat. Scientists tell us that a cooked tomato is more nutritious than a raw one. This defies all prior medical advice which stressed freshness. The tomato’s most receivable content, Lycopene, is actually enhanced by heat. When tomato products are stimulation processed the bio-availability of the Lycopene actually increases.
Lycopene is a vivacious anti-oxidant that helps in the fight against cancerous chamber formation as well as other kinds of health complications and diseases. Redeem radicals in the body can be flushed out with high levels of Lycopene, and the tomato is so extensively loaded with this vital anti-oxidant that it actually derives its well provided for redness from the nutrient.
Source: Manila Bulletin
Steam offers a new recipe for healthful foods
27.01.10
You might gauge Harumi Furugaki as a sort of kitchen wizard.
Thanks to her diligence, cooks today can steam-fry chicken at the move of a button--and not have to worry about their waistlines.
At Sharp Corp., Furugaki, 51, helps make grow the automated cooking menus that are built into modern microwave cookers. Such menus use software to automatically set the at the same time and oven temperature for a particular dish.
Furugaki has devised more than 5,000 recipes for instinctive menus since she joined the Product Planning Department six years after she started working for the Osaka-based band.
In Japan, homemakers have traditionally done their cooking on stovetop gas ranges. Divergent from Western countries, most homes do not come equipped with an oven for baking and roasting.
Furugaki's 30-year profession at Sharp Corp. has paralleled the development of a microwave oven that also allows cooks to barbecue meats, bake cakes and even roast turkeys in augmentation to the convenience of microwaving.
Source: Asahi Shimbun