Martha A. Cheves's Blog, page 78

Think With Your Taste Buds - Desserts

Lillian and I have gone out on our own.  With the help of a great IT man, we are doing our own thing and publishing our series of cookbooks Think With Your Taste Buds. Our 1st book Think With Your Taste Buds - Desserts is now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as e-books and will also be available in paperback through CreateSpace within the next couple of weeks.  The Think With Your Taste Buds series is created to stimulate your taste buds while cooking.  It takes simple recipes with Lillian and I talking you through some of the possible changes that can be made to make the dish fit your own taste.  Check us out and keep an eye on our site for our next book Thin With Your Taste Buds - Beef.  This has some really great dishes that are easy and fun to play with.

Pets and Poisonous Substances

I know this is a food site but now and then I run across something that needs to be posted to as many people as possible.  The information I'm posting today has to do with those wonderful, furry little babies that we call our pets.  If you're a pet lover like me, please copy this information and keep it handy.  It's one of the best lists of toxins that are poisonous that I've ever seen.  

Both known and unknown toxins can be found hiding in our houses and yards. In 2011, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) in Urbana, IL, fielded more than 165,900 phone calls about pets exposed to poisonous substances. Visit our poison app on Facebook.

1. Prescription Human Medications
Almost 25,000 calls last year were about human prescription medications. Pets, especially dogs, are notorious for ingesting any dropped pill. Cardiac and ADHD medications make up a large percentage of these calls. Always make sure to take these medications in a safe place away from your pets.
2. Insecticides
Insecticides were the subject of 11% of calls to the ASPCA in 2011. These include products used on the lawn, in the house and on the pet. The most important thing to do is read the label before you use any insecticide, and never use a product labeled for dogs on cats.
3. Over-the-Counter Human Medications
Over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen can kill your pet. Never give any medication to your pet without consulting with your veterinarian first.
4. People Food
Chocolate is still the number one people food that pets ingest (we received over 7,600 calls last year). Too much chocolate can cause vomiting, diarrhea, high heart rate and seizures. The second most common food is xylitol (the sugar substitute). Xylitol can cause seizures and liver failure in dogs. 
5. Household Products
It is amazing what animals can find to chew up around the house from fire logs to paint. Some household items may just cause stomach upset, while others can be deadly.
6. Veterinary Medications
Chewable medications make it easy to give your dog or cat a pill. However, this tasty pill can also mean that the pet, if given access, will ingest all the pills in the bottle. Always make sure to keep pet medications out of reach. Contact your veterinarian if your pet ingests more than its proper dose of
medication or ingests another pet's medication.
7. Rodenticides
When putting out baits to kill mice and rats, never underestimate the resourcefulness of your pet. Most bait is grain based and is attractive to dogs. Depending on the type of rodenticide, ingestion can cause internal bleeding, kidney failure or seizures.
8. Plants
About 4% of our phone calls are pet parents calling about their animals eating plants. This is one category that cats lead dogs in the number of exposures. Lilies can cause kidney failure and death in cats. Please see our list of toxic/non-toxic plants for more information.
9. Lawn and Garden Products
Fertilizers, which can be made of dried blood, poultry manure and bone meal, are very attractive to pets, so it is not surprising that we get many calls (almost 3,900 in 2011) on lawn and garden items.
10. Automotive Products
With more people keeping their animals inside (especially cats), the number of animals exposed to automotive products (antifreeze, brake fluid, etc.) has dropped. This is great news since many of these products, if ingested, can be life-threatening to pets.

If you have any reason to suspect your pet has ingested something toxic, please contact your veterinarian or the Animal Poison Control Center's 24-hour hotline at (888) 426-4435.

Chewy Coconut Almond Squares

This original recipe called for graham cracker crumbs. I decided to use cookie mix and the oatmeal chocolate chunk sounded good. You can actually use any flavor you want. You can also change the nuts from almonds to pecans or walnuts. This would probably even be good with peanuts. I like using the large shaved coconut that is unsweetened which I find at the health food stores in bulk.
Find the full recipe by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet

Frosting Tidbits

 Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size.
You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.       

Pizza Tidbits

 Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm.
This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.

Snicker Bar Apples

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!!  Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Molasses Cookies (With or Without Pecans)

I found this recipe on Grandparents.com. and I did added the pecans but that was the only change made. These cookies were such a hit with my food testers! They were gone in no time. For changes, add some shredded coconut or maybe some raisins. They are great with the pecans but just as good without.
Find the recipe by going to my site Martha's Recipe Cabinet

Ground Beef Hash

Another recipe going to the manuscript file.  This recipe actually started out as something else.  It was supposed to be patties but I either added too many hashbrowns or my idea to glue it together with cheese simply didn't work.  BUT...this dish became a success when I decided to "scatter" fry everything and turn it into hash.  Watch for it this fall when Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef is released.

Garlic Tidbits

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.  

Marzetti's Simply Dressed Strawberry Poppyseed Vinaigrette

Have you tried this yet?  Want to know what I think about this product?  If so, go to my site The Good, The Bad, The Maybe to find out.