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How canned foods help you cook like the pros

For starters, they have most of their ingredients measured and ready ahead of time, "magically" shaving time off their meal-prep demonstrations. What trips up many home cooks is timing. They get started on a recipe and one of the ingredients gets overly browned or over-cooked while waiting for the next ingredient to be ready to go into the dish.



Relying more on canned foods, which come pre-cleaned, chopped and cooked, and easily portioned, can help you quickly assemble delicious and nutritious meals like the pros. Think of them as your personal prep kitchen. But, as evidenced by a recent consumer survey, Americans are unsure of the benefits canned foods bring to the table.



The fact is many professional chefs, accomplished home cooks and registered dietitians regularly incorporate canned ingredients into their recipes, so you can feel confident doing so as well. Consider these five key facts about canned foods.



1. Canned food is filled with important nutrients, including fiber, protein, and vitamins and minerals essential for a healthy diet. Yet, less than half (42 percent) of Americans surveyed realize the nutrients in canned food count toward meeting the U.S. Department of Agriculture's dietary recommendations.



2. Research shows canned foods offer comparable nutrients often at a lower cost than their fresh or frozen counterparts, particularly when waste and prep-time are considered. Additional research demonstrates that recipes prepared with canned ingredients rated the same or better in terms of taste and nutrition compared to those using fresh or frozen ingredients.



3. Canned food contributes less than 1 percent of the sodium in consumers' diets and there are more no-salt added, low- and reduced-sodium options on grocery shelves than ever before. A quick drain and rinse can further reduce sodium content by 41 percent.



4. Canned foods are considered minimally processed foods. After being cleaned, peeled, chopped and trimmed, as necessary, foods are cooked in the can to lock in nutrients and flavor.



5. Steel cans are strong, tamper resistant and feature an airtight seal to help guard against foodborne illness and contamination. In addition, steel cans are the most recycled food package.



So, the next time you are inspired to experiment like a pro, using recipes such as these tuna and black bean lettuce wraps, plan to work in a few canned ingredients to ensure you have plenty of time to enjoy the company of the family and friends gathered around your table.



To learn more about the facts about canned foods and discover more great recipes featuring canned ingredients, visit www.Mealtime.org/Myths.



Tuna and Black Bean Salad Wraps



Ingredients:



1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained



1 can (11 ounces) tuna in olive oil, drained



3/4 cup fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, or canned diced tomatoes



1/3 cup finely chopped red onion



1 tablespoon minced Serrano peppers



1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil



2 tablespoons fresh lime juice



1/4 cup chopped parsley



1/4 cup chopped cilantro



Salt and pepper, to taste



6 large butter lettuce leaves



Directions:



In a large bowl, combine beans, tuna, tomatoes, onion, peppers, oil and lime juice. Toss gently, being careful to keep tuna in bite-size pieces. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Add parsley and cilantro; season with salt and pepper. Spoon tuna salad into lettuce leaves. Fold up leaves and eat taco style. Serves 6.



Nutritional Information Per Serving:



Calories 270; Total fat 17g; Saturated fat 2.5g; Cholesterol 15mg; Sodium 200mg; Carbohydrate 14g; Fiber 5g; Protein 18g; ; Vitamin A 25%DV*; Vitamin C 20%DV; Calcium 4%DV; Iron 10%DV * Daily Value

Five basic steps to making a house your home

Owning a home remains a key element of the American Dream. In fact, a recent survey by TD Bank revealed that 84 percent of young renters (ages 18 to 34) intend to buy a home in the future. While it is exciting, home buying can be overwhelming and complicated if you don't have a general knowledge of the process.

Equipping yourself with the right tools will allow you to navigate the complexities of the home-buying process. Here are five helpful steps to follow on your way to homeownership.

Step 1: Learn the home-buying ABCs: Build your homeownership knowledge by participating in a first-time homebuyer class at a local non-profit agency in your community to answer any questions you may have. Staying well-informed will help you feel confident and in control of this major financial decision and nip any initial questions in the bud.

Step 2: Get out your calculator: Owning a home requires a large investment of time, energy and money, so make sure you are careful when making the decision to buy. If you're like 43 percent of survey respondents, staying within budget is the top consideration. It is important to determine how much you can afford - you don't want to fall in love with a house out of your reach. When applying for a mortgage, the bank will assess your debt to income ratio. By looking at your income and current monthly debts, you can determine your ideal monthly payment. From there, you'll be able to narrow the focus of your house search to homes in your price range. Be sure to include down payments and other upfront costs in your calculations.

A few free, helpful online tools can help you determine just how much you could potentially afford. For example, visit TDBank.com and check out its mortgage calculator.

Step 3: Shop wisely: Condo? Single-family home? A fixer-upper or new construction? Once you know how much you can afford, determining your housing needs - and selecting a qualified real estate professional - before you start looking, will help make finding your perfect home much less time-consuming. In addition to being able to answer any questions that come up during the process, a real estate professional will work on your behalf to pre-screen houses and guide you through negotiations.

Step 4: Pick your perfect match: According to the survey, acquiring a mortgage and making a down payment is the most preferred method of payment for those who intend to own a home. With the variety of mortgage products that exists today, it's essential you choose the right one for your needs. How long do you plan on living in this house? Do you plan on making improvements to the home? Answering these types of questions will help you hone in on your financial strategy. Finding the right mortgage is about more than a rate and terms - it's about finding the right financial partner. Don't get led down the wrong path by choosing a bank that doesn't provide flexible options. Look for a bank that offers a hassle-free mortgage guarantee to ensure your first home purchase is as smooth and worry-free as possible.

"As a portfolio lender, we are able to set our own lending guidelines and interest rates," says Michael Copley, executive vice president for retail lending at TD Bank. "This allows us to provide our customers with the most adjustable and affordable financing options to suit their borrowing needs."

Step 5: Sign on the dotted line: Once your home has been inspected, your contingencies have been met and your mortgage has been approved, it's time to close the deal. In most cases, a closing officer and your attorney will be present during closing. As the buyer, you should make sure to bring a binder for homeowner's insurance (document proving you have adequate homeowner's insurance), a paid receipt for the first year's premium and a certified or cashier's check for your down payment and closing costs. Before the closing begins, review your mortgage, mortgage note and settlement statement documents to ensure there are no errors or red flags. Remember to ask questions during the closing, as the closing officer is there to help.

After you've signed all documents and paid your closing costs and down payment, the closing is finished. Congratulations and enjoy your new home.

To get more information and to download your free TD Bank First-Time Homebuyers' Kit, visit esecure.tdbank.com/net/firsttimehomebuyers/default.aspx.

Kitchen remodeling 101: Making the space your own

Here are five creative, thrifty and helpful tips from Summer Baltzer, interior designer and former host of HGTV's Design on a Dime, to send you well on your way to a kitchen design that not only looks great in the long term, but also reflects you.



Tip one: Know your style.



Design your kitchen around colors and objects that make you feel great. This is the room you probably spend most of your time in whether you're cooking, entertaining or just doing homework with the kids. Loving the look is important. Make your design meaningful and something you'll want to see every day. Look for inspiration from a pottery collection, a piece of artwork, or even the food you love.



Tip two: Get creative on a budget.



A great way to save money is to repurpose found items for your accents where you can. Frame pictures from favorite recipes, use inexpensive flower pots or mason jars to store utensils and cutlery, repurpose an old console table as a center island. You might even want to spray-paint the old dining table and give it a new life. Look for salvaged floors, pallets or pottery to create new furniture pieces or accents. This approach not only saves you money, but also makes your kitchen enviably unique.



Tip three: Develop your vision.



Keep your ideas on track by collecting loose drawings; they can become your own personal design board. They don't have to be professional or even exactly like the finished product - just enough to make your point and start to envision what the finished product will look like. Seeing your ideas come together before taking a sledgehammer to your old tile not only gets you excited about your project, but can also save you from making design decisions that don't fit your vision. If you're hiring a professional, plans for the kitchen should be included in the cost. Make sure that they fit your vision and that you're getting everything you need from your new space before demo and installation begin.



Tip four: Create timeless beauty.



When focusing on your large installed items, don't just concentrate on what's popular now. Instead, take a look at the items that have been relevant for more than a decade. If you're designing a kitchen for a home you plan on living in for the next 20 years, by all means, go crazy and embrace colors and patterns that make you happy. But if you don't plan on staying there forever, give yourself room to grow. Look to classic color combinations like white, black or gray cabinets; stone countertops with white or walnut cabinets; or butcher block with just about any cabinet color you can imagine. Wilsonart's Calcutta Marble and new Old Mill Oak and Truss Maple are affordable laminate options that look real but are made from recycled wood fibers. They have finishes that withstand daily wear and tear, and are a fraction of the cost of traditional stone countertops. Look to lasting styles and materials, rather than what's simply trendy at the moment, to create a timelessly beautiful kitchen. Learn more at www.wilsonart.com.



Tip five: Start with simplicity.



Keep the lines of your installed, more permanent items clean and simple. To add style and versatility, get creative with your accents. For instance, try going Shaker with your cabinets. Traditional cup pull handles will move them in a more classic and traditional direction and linear pull handles will take you down a modern road. By keeping your appliances and more permanent items simple, and using your accents to create a sense of style, you'll open up tons of design doors for yourself, creating a kitchen that transitions easily, keeps up with your style and has staying power.



With this timeless know-how and creative inspiration, you're ready to create a kitchen you'll love both now and a decade down the road.

FEBRUARY 2015 MARKET UPDATE

 February 2015

DeLena Ciamacco

Included in this blog post is a link to my Real Estate Update Newsletter. Please click on the link below to get the latest Real Estate Update for February! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email my office. 

614-882-6725

delena@delena.com

 http://realtytimes.com/195/DeLenaCiamacco

What lies beneath your dream home? New homeowners skip sewer line inspections

A sewer line inspection is not included in the standard home inspection and is regularly waived in the purchasing process. Additionally, many buyers do not know that responsibility for the condition of the lateral sewer line leading from the street to the home lies with the homeowner, not a municipality. Buyers should reconsider including this important step before they sign a deal.

If a problem occurs, a sewer line replacement costs at least $4,500, but prices vary widely and costs increase dramatically by region, depending on depth and length of the underground pipes and if street repairs become part of the issue.

Experts at Roto-Rooter, North America's largest provider of plumbing repair and drain cleaning services, encounter this scenario far too often. Consumers, who just signed the dotted line on their dream home, soon find that they're trapped in an expensive plumbing nightmare.

"Just a couple of years after purchasing our home, we had a $15,000 sewer line disaster in our lap," says Jennifer Schappacher of Cincinnati. "The sewer line clogs began not long after we moved in, but as they became more frequent we had Roto-Rooter inspect the line with a video camera and only then did we realize the pipe had offset sections and a partial collapse that was causing sewage to back up into our house."

The Schappachers looked at only a few houses before deciding on one in a quiet shady neighborhood. It was charming with large, mature trees that shaded the entire street. But since the house was built in 1959, its concrete and clay underground sewer pipes were vulnerable to heavy root intrusion from the big trees. As those roots entered the pipe joints in search of water, they pushed the pipes apart and allowed surrounding soil to spill into the pipe, narrowing a 6 inch diameter pipe to just 1 inch in some sections.

Generally, a plumber can complete a sewer line camera inspection for $250 to $550, depending on the region. While not cheap, it's a relatively small price to pay when buying a home, especially if it helps a buyer avoid thousands of dollars in unforeseen repair bills.

To avoid unexpected and costly plumbing problems, the experts at Roto-Rooter recommend having a plumber conduct a video camera sewer line inspection, in addition to a standard home inspection, before buyers purchase a home. The process involves passing a waterproof fiber optic video camera through the pipe. The specialized cameras are equipped with bright LED lights so the inspection will reveal any cracks, breaks, offset or collapsed sections of pipe. The plumber will often provide a DVD copy of the inspection as part of the service.

"Sewer inspection camera equipment is expensive and often is only utilized by well-equipped plumbing companies, but the video inspection service itself is easy to complete and well worth the extra step," says Roto-Rooter master plumber Larry Rothman.

Root growth is the most common cause of sewer line damage and is often responsible for blockages and separated pipe sections. Outdated and eroding pipe materials are also a common culprit in sewer line deterioration. Older pipes are much more susceptible to root intrusion than new plastic pipe.

Inspections are especially important if:

* The home is 20 years or older.

* There are mature trees around the property.

* The home has been vacant for a period of time.

* The concrete surrounding the home is cracked or raised.

* There is considerable visible root growth in the yard.

Many homeowners, especially new homeowners, do not know or think about their home plumbing. For seasonal maintenance tips and general information, visit Roto-Rooter's plumbing basics section online at www.rotorooter.com/plumbing-basics.

New resource helps moms overcome dinnertime challenges

As every parent knows, the dinner hour can be fraught with friction and frustration - how can you get your picky eater to abandon his "no green foods" rule or make your chatterbox stop talking long enough to take a bite?



Relax, says mother of three, parenting expert and author of "The Big Book of Parenting Solutions," Dr. Michele Borba, who notes that all parents want to feed their kids well and enjoy the time together at the table. "Sometimes, the littlest members of the family establish patterns at mealtime that are difficult to break," Borba says. "Thankfully, there are scores of parents out there who have gone or are going through the same challenges; communities where moms can discuss and, hopefully, provide solutions to the everyday dinner time challenges from picky eaters to table manners."



Other tips for dealing with picky eaters, provided by Borba and registered dietician, Dr. Felicia Stoler include:

• Don't make it a big deal. "Research shows that picky eaters can become even pickier depending on how we respond," Borba says. "It's best to be neutral and calm and hold off on lectures. In fact, the less said about the food, the better."
• Branch out. "The best way to get the pickiest eaters to discover new foods is to send them to a friend or family member's house," Stoler says. "I am amazed at what picky kids will eat at my house and what my kids have tried at other people's homes."
• Turn your kid onto cooking shows. "One mom swore her kid was the world's pickiest eater," Borba says. "One day she caught her daughter watching a cooking show and it was the 'moment' she'd been waiting for. She bought her a small recipe box and showed her daughter how to find recipes on the internet. Each week her daughter found a recipe and encouraged her mom to make it. The best part: she ate it."
• Mix favorites with new tastes. "Children will refuse to try new foods without anything familiar on their plate," Stoler says. "Try filling their plate with their favorite foods and add a small amount of the new food to inch them toward exploring new flavors. My son loves pasta so I just make sure to mix in different vegetables each week to have him try something different. On top of that, traditional pasta sauce has two servings of veggies in every half cup so I always feel confident that he's receiving a wholesome meal."

Finally, trying a family-friendly recipe like Veggie Pizza Cupcakes that's fun to make and eat with the kids will get everyone around the table and asking for seconds.



Veggie Pizza Cupcakes



For meat-lover's cupcakes, substitute cooked ground beef for the veggies. Simply mix it in with the sauce and continue as in recipe.



Ingredients

1 package (12 oz.) refrigerated biscuits (10 biscuits)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1-1/2 cups assorted diced fresh vegetables (red bell pepper, zucchini, summer squash, onion)

1-1/2 cups Traditional Pasta Sauce

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 oz.)



Directions



1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll biscuits and press each into a 3-inch round. Evenly press each biscuit in bottom and up sides of each cup in 12-cup muffin pan; chill until ready to fill.



2. Heat olive oil over medium heat in 10-inch skillet and cook vegetables, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in pasta sauce and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer 2 minutes or until slightly reduced.



3. Evenly spoon vegetable mixture into prepared muffin cups. Bake 15 minutes. Evenly sprinkle tops with cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and biscuits are golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Gently remove pizza cups from muffin pan and serve.



Preparation time: 15 Minutes



Cook time: 20 Minutes





Yield: 10 pizza cups



Nutrition Information per serving



Calories 140, Calories From Fat 45, Total Fat 5g, Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 5mg, Sodium 460mg, Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 5g, Protein 4g, Vitamin A 6 percent, Vitamin C 25 percent, Calcium 4 percent, Iron 6 percent.