You already know grilling is a healthful, flavorful and fun way to cook while enjoying the great outdoors. But did you know it can also be a “green” activity?

By choosing earth-friendly fuel options, better ingredients and sustainably sourced seasonings, you can satisfy your family’s taste buds and Mother Nature with these greener grilling tips:

• Grilling with charcoal briquettes imparts a wonderful flavor to foods, but many cooks resort to a squirt (or several) of lighter fluid to get the coals burning faster. Forego the lighter fluid and invest in a charcoal chimney – a metal cylinder that makes it easy to get charcoal started. Briquettes go on the grate atop the chimney and newspaper goes at the bottom. When you light the paper, the chimney effect of the tube lights the charcoal from the bottom quickly and easily.

• Many people use disposable dinnerware for outdoor dining. While it may be convenient to not have to wash those dishes, reusable dinnerware and table linens are better for the environment and cheaper in the long term. Plus, cloth napkins and real plates impart a special charm to dining al fresco.

• This summer, why not try meat and poultry from free-range or grass-fed animals, rather than factory farmed? Better yet, select meat from a local farmer, buy organic or go vegan or vegetarian. Firm tofu, Portobello mushrooms and even polenta are healthy and trendy alternatives to meat. Such options reduce the environmental impact of your meal, and they often taste much better!

• Seasonings are a great way to add flavor without fat to your grilled meats and vegetables. When you choose sustainably sourced spices and herbs from purveyors like Frontier Natural Co-op, you’re not only getting outstanding flavor, but you can be assured the seasonings have been produced using practices that are better for the environment, too.

• When purchasing produce, look for local options. Locally grown veggies and fruits travel a shorter distance to make it to your grill, meaning less fossil fuel is consumed overall. 

• You can conserve resources without skimping on flavor if you make marinades using whole spices that you’ve pan roasted and freshly cracked before blending. Flavored and artisan black pepper corns, salts and sugars are trendy right now. You can also incorporate artisan vinegars, fine drinking wines and unusual beers into your marinades to create unique and pleasing flavors.

Do you love adding smoke to your grilling? Rather than buying pre-soaked planks or pre-processed briquettes, try smoking by soaking whole herbs, spices and tea leaves in water then throwing them on the hot coals to create unusually flavored smoke blends that go far beyond basic mesquite and hickory.

To get you started, try this blackening spice recipe from Frontier Natural Co-op:

Paprika, Garlic and Thyme Barbecue Rub

Rubs are key to a flavorful barbecue. Season your meat one hour before cooking for grilled items, and a day ahead for smoked meats. This recipe works especially well for ribs, but it’s good on almost anything you’d want to barbecue or grill, such as chicken, turkey, steaks, burgers, firm fish or shrimp. For fish dishes, consider adding a teaspoon of fresh lemon zest.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Yield: 1/2 cup

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Frontier paprika
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Frontier sea salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Frontier ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Frontier garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Frontier thyme
• 1 teaspoon Frontier cayenne (or to taste, may be omitted)

Directions:

Mix together all ingredients. Rub into chosen cut of meat. For best results, allow to marinate one hour to overnight before grilling.

*BPT

The post Greener grilling: Good for you and for Mother Nature, too appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

Summer is finally here and the last thing that you want to be doing is spending all of your time in the kitchen! Get ready for five products to make cooking and cleaning a breeze.

First thing first, lets start this like I start every day, with coffee!  There is nothing wrong with the good old fashion coffee pot, except when everyone in your house likes different drinks!  From light roast to dark roast coffee drinkers, tea to hot chocolate my family has it all.  Instead of the hassle of strategically scheduling the coffee pot and shelves of various types beans, boxes, and cans, try a Keurig Brew Station.  The Keurig K-Cup Single Cup Brewer is the mess-free way to brew a single cup of your favorite hot or iced drink.  Pop in a K-Cup of your favorite coffee, tea or cocoa, and in less than a minute you have the perfect cup of your favorite beverage!  With Keurig’s huge selection of different K-Cups you are sure to find the perfect one for everyone in your house.  As someone who recently moved from the Minnesota to New York, I love that I can still enjoy my favorite coffee shop, Caribou Coffee, in K-Cups available right on the Keurig website, http://www.keurig.com/KCupSystem

Ok, now that we have caffeinate under control, let’s move on to food!  My go to speedy kitchen mini-appliance is definitely my food processor.  I use it for super fast salsa, soups, chopping veggies and my favorite summer snack: hummus!  My beloved food processor is at the end of its life so I am in the market for a new one and the KitchenAid Architect™ Series 13-Cup Food Processor in Candy Apple Red is at the top of my list!  What is so special about this food processor (other than the super cute color)?  It has the first-ever externally adjustable slicing level, so you don’t have the fuss with the messy blades to change from thick to thin slicing!  Check it out here: http://www.kitchenaid.com/shop/-[KFP1344CA]-403903/KFP1344CA/

Want a basic hummus recipe?

Ingredients:

• 1 16oz. of chickpeas (reserve the liquid from the can)
• 4 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1 ½ tablespoons tahini
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Throw all of the ingredients in your food processor, with the blade on a fine setting, and blend until smooth.  Add the chickpea liquid to adjust the consistency, if needed.

Once you have mastered the basic hummus, try adding new ingredients to mix it up.  My favorite combo is jalapeños, cilantro and lime juice!

Has the idea of smoking your own meat sounded like fun “in theory” but a nightmare in practice?  The Orion Cooker produces tender, fresh smoked meat with that slow-cooked taste at an unbelievably quick speed.  This outdoor charcoal grill is small, portable, and super easy to use.  Simply load the cooker, light it and you are free to go enjoy the summer!  This would be perfect for a hassle-free main dish for a backyard party, your guests will be awed and your can spend your time enjoying the party rather than being stuck in the kitchen.  Try these “Hush Yo’ Mouth Baby Back Ribs” or check out one of their other recipes at http://www.theorioncooker.com 

Hush Yo’ Mouth Baby Back Ribs

Preparation Time: 1hr 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Baby Back Ribs (1-6 racks)
• Cayenne Pepper (1 tsp)
• Orion’s Dry Rub Garlic (2 cloves)
• Apple Cider Vinegar (1 cup)
• Salt (to taste)
• Ketchup (1 cup)
• Mustard (5 tbsp)

Cooking Instructions:

Remove the ribs from the package, rinse, and pat dry. Apply Orion’s Dry Rub evenly. Affix the ribs to the rib hangers and place in the cooker. Then, fire up your Orion Cooker and cook for 1 hour 15 mins*, or until done. Best if cooked with mesquite chips.

Barbecue Sauce (optional): Mix vinegar, ketchup, and mustard until it’s a light orange color. Add the cayenne pepper, garlic, salt and Tabasco sauce to taste. Apply before and after cooking.

Additional Comments:

*This time is for six racks of ribs. For fewer ribs the time will be less.

Now it is time for some help with the clean up.  There are few things more annoying than wasting time washing the faucet after getting it messy trying to turn it on with dirty hands, that’s why I am obsessed with the Moen Motion Sense Arbor Faucet!  This touch-free unit is the perfect solution to the messy-hand situation or when you have your hands full.  The sleek design and cool finish of the Oil-Rubbed Bronze complements almost any style of kitchen!  http://www.moen.com/arbor-with-motionsense/oil-rubbed-bronze-one-handle-high-arc-pulldown-kitchen-faucet/_/R-CONSUMER%3A7594EORB 

Finally, if you want some serious cleaning done but you’re not a big fan of elbow grease, there is nothing better than the Shark Sonic Dou floor cleaner.  Watch the scrubbing pads do the hard work for you, cleaning your floors like nothing else.  This one device will take care of just about every floor in your house including wood, hardwood, stone, vinyl & tile, carpets and rugs.  Spend less time scrubbing and more time with your feet up, enjoying a nice summer drink!  http://www.sharkclean.com/shark-sonic-duo/ 

The post It’s All in a Days Work… 5 Hot Products for the Home! appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

Women are picky about men. We are selective about men, but willing to eat any meat-like substance cooked by a teenager at the local drive-through. It is time for us to start applying the high standards we have for men to food. According to Candice Kumai, “Just like men, food can be held to various standards, and yours should be top notch.” Candice’s new cookbook, Cook Yourself Sexy, will show you how to raise the bar for the food in your life.

Cook yourself Sexy is a surprising new cookbook written by Candice Kumai, who is a former model trained at Le Cordon Blue California Cooking School. This new cookbook teaches women to revolutionize how they look at dieting and promises that with this new way of looking at food, “You don’t lose the taste, but you will lose a dress size.” That was a promise that I had to take her up on. The first recipe that jumped off the pages at me was Candice’s Gone Bananas Chocolate Oatmeal. This breakfast is a deliciously creamy combination of peanut butter, chocolate and healthy oatmeal that my kids cannot get enough of. It is on a regular rotation in my kitchen now.

As Moms, we start out parenting focusing on healthy food during pregnancy, but we quickly move to eating whatever comes from a drive through while taxiing kids from school to lessons and athletics. Cook Yourself Sexy can help Moms get back that skinny jean feeling through delectable healthy eating and living right. Candice’s book focuses on portion size, water, and fresh ingredients. There are no pills, starvation or gimmicks involved, and these are realistic changes that can be applied at home.

To get you started, here is a recipe for Mac and Cheese that is to die for: 

Dreamy Butternut Squash Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Makes 6 servings

443 calories, 5 g fat, 16 g protein, 6 g fiber per serving 

Mac ‘n’ Cheese

2 ½ pounds butternut squash, peeled, halved, and seeded, then quartered and sliced into triangles

6 garlic cloves

1 thyme sprig

2 cups unsweetened almond milk

2 cups chicken stock, or vegetable stock (vegan)

1 pound small elbow macaroni or mini shells

2 tablespoons grated Gruyere

Herbed Breadcrumb Topping

¾ cup panko breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 garlic cloves

¼ teaspoon sea salt

To make the Mac ‘n’ Cheese:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large saucepan, add the butternut squash, garlic cloves, thyme sprig, unsweetened almond milk, and stock. Cook until the butternut squash is fork-tender. Remove the sprig of thyme.

2. Place the squash mixture in a food processor or blender and puree until velvety smooth.

3. Meanwhile, cook the macaroni in salted water until it is al dente (semi firm). Drain and rinse with cool water.

4. Spread out the macaroni in a lightly greased 13-inch x 9-inch pan. Pour the squash puree over the noodles.

To make the breadcrumbs and bake:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the herbed breadcrumb topping.

2. Cover the mac ‘n’ cheese with foil, place in the oven and bake for approximately 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and evenly spread the breadcrumb topping and Gruyere cheese over the top. Transfer to the broiler and broil for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and bubbly.

This recipe has been excerpted from Cook Yourself Sexy.

The post Cook Yourself Sexy! appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.