Fondant Cake Decorating Tips For Beginners

Many people just love to decorate cakes. The sky is the limit for the designs that you can use. Traditional butter cream frosting is most often used by home bakers, but the addition of fondant to your skill set can be great as well. Everyone has looked at wonderful cakes in magazines and on food network TV shows. Fondant is almost always used to make these works of art. The cakes look much cleaner and more elegant this way. Don’t be afraid to experiment with using fondant if you have never tried it before. It is straightforward and simple to use. Some people choose to mix it while others buy the premade kind such as satin ice fondant.

When first starting out using fondant on cupcakes and cakes, here are some tips to help you. It is simplest to start with already made products that do not need color added or mixing. This way, all you need to do is roll it out evenly and then cover your cake. Flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, and caramel can be purchased. Many different colors are also available including black, blue, red, white, yellow, pink, green, ivory, and many more. An extra benefit to buying premade fondant for sale is that the color will be identical to what you used before. When rolling out the icing, you should roll it to a thickness of around one quarter of an inch. Using a cake recipe that produces a sturdy cake that does not crumble is also quite helpful. This helps the cake to maintain its shape without caving in or crumbling during the covering process.

The use of cookie cutters can add great interest to the cake when you use them to cut shapes out of thin fondant. After the whole cake has been covered in a base layer, you can then place these cut outs on top. Making flowers is also fun to do. While flowers are more difficult for the beginner, they are something that all bakers should learn how to make.

Always make sure to store unused fondant in air tight containers. If you do not, it might dry out quickly and become unusable. Make sure to use it when it is at room temperature. If you do not know where to buy fondant, stores online sell many colors. The most popular kind is satin ice fondant. Get creative when making your cakes. Also be sure to enjoy yourself and have fun. Having fun is the key to making great cakes.

Tips For Decorating Cakes With Fondant

Cake decorating is loved by many people. There are many ways to be creative with your designs. Home bakers usually stick with traditional frosting, but fondant can also be a great addition to your cake decorating skill set. We have all seen the beautiful cakes made on TV shows and in magazines. These cakes almost always use fondant. It comes out looking much cleaner. If you are one of those people who have never used it before, do not be afraid to try it. It really is not that difficult to use. You can either mix it yourself, or buy already made products like satin ice fondant.

Here are a few tips if you are just getting started using fondant to cover cakes and cupcakes. Using pre made products are easiest because you do not have to mix it or add color to it. These just need to be rolled out evenly and then placed over the cake. There are different flavors available like vanilla, chocolate, and caramel. Also, more than a dozen colors can be purchased ranging from traditional white all the way to black and all other colors in between. The added benefit of using pre mixed fondant for sale is that the color will always be the same shade as you used before. You should roll it out to a thickness of about a quarter of an inch before covering the cake. Also, you might want to use a cake recipe that does not crumble easily to start with. This will allow for it to be covered more easily while maintaining its shape.

One great way to add to character to your cakes is to use cookie cutters and cut out shapes from thinly rolled fondant. These can then be placed on top of the base layer that is covering the whole cake. You may also way to try to create 3D shapes like flowers. Flowers are more advanced, but are a traditional favorite that all beginners should learn how to do.

You should always put unused fondant in an air tight container for storage. It has a tendency to dry out quickly. Also, it should be at room temperature when you are working with it. If you have ever wondered where to buy fondant, online stores offer a good variety of colors. Satin ice fondant is a very popular kind. Start using your creativity to create some great cakes today. Don’t forget to have fun and enjoy yourself. That is the most important part of cake decorating.

Something Simple

By Brent Arends

At Genessee Royale, such luxuries are par for the course. And while you must be thinking, “Nine dollars for three pancakes and a hillock of sautéed apples?” “Six dollars for a slice of pie?” I happily pay a small premium for the pleasure.

Located in a converted gas station in the West Bottoms, Genessee Royale is Todd Schulte’s second restaurant, a slightly more mature-looking sibling to his hippie-go-lucky luncheonette, Happy Gillis Café & Hangout in Columbus Park.

You’ll find the same, homey feel at Genessee; it’s just dressed with a slightly more coordinated eye. If the place weren’t so bright and neat, it could be a saloon, recalling the stockyard days of the surrounding neighborhood.

And just like Happy Gillis, Genessee Royale is only open for breakfast and lunch—although here you get table service—and you can’t make a reservation. That can create a bit of a traffic jam on busy days, especially weekends, when collectors from nearby antique shops fill the place.

The chef, Blair Corbett, came from You Say Tomato by way of Happy Gillis, where she made a brief appearance at the pastry station.

There’s an admirable efficiency about her food: It’s simple and delicious, clean and confident—a slightly lighter version of comfort food.

One morning I visited, she offered an omelet, fluffy and light, stuffed with melting cheese and sided by roasted potatoes. There was also a comforting bowl of steel-cut oatmeal, creamy and rich, served with a mini-buffet of accompaniments, including dried currants, crisp walnuts, meaty dices of sautéed apples and a drizzle of heavy cream.

Her pancakes are not those fluffy ones that sink in your stomach. The tidy discs have a tightly woven cornmeal crumb that is hearty and good, but not heavy. They’re served with real maple syrup. I liked them a lot.

At lunchtime, soups and sandwiches, and salads and sides appear.

There was a juicy Butcher’s Grind burger—almost a little too juicy for its English muffin bun, which arrived a touch soggy—with a choice of cheese for a dollar more. But the patty had good flavor and texture. So did the potato salad, which had a creamier dressing.

And there was an open-faced Farmers’ Market Vegetable Sandwich that, I suppose, was a stylized tartine—a fancy French word for a very unfancy thing. What I expected was an open-faced, vegetarian version of a muffaletta: the bread soaked with dressing, the vegetables roasted and tender. What I got instead was a salad on top of two buttered toasts that were a little too crisp and crusty. To be sure, there were some lovely, roasted asparagus, fennel and onions among the greens. But the parts were a little too segregated, impossible to eat together as one.

But then there’s Cobbett’s Monte Cristo. I’ve never felt virtuous eating a Monte Cristo until I ate this one—a crustless wonder with two buttery, soufflé-like slices of toast laminated together with a warm layer of cheese and turkey. It’s lightly dusted with powdered sugar and served with a side of strawberry jam. Though at press time, it had, unfortunately, rotated off the menu, I’m devoting an inch of ink to it in hopes that it will reappear.

Until it does, the Creamtop Buttermilk Biscuit and Fried Chicken represents the best of what’s printed on the menu (twice—it’s offered at both breakfast and lunch. The biscuit was fluffy, gently tanned on the outside. The chicken was tender and evenly breaded with a golden-brown crust that was crunchy and crisp. And the gravy was a thinner, slimmer cousin to the paste-like gruel I usually see. At first I thought it was a bit too runny, but draped across it all was a beautiful, sunny-side egg with a warm, runny yolk that helped give the gravy some hips.

But the best things at Genessee Royale aren’t on the menu. That honor goes to Cobbett’s pies du jour. By my fourth visit to the restaurant, I wasn’t asking the server what they were; I was just asking her to bring us some. Once, it was buttermilk pie with a sugar cookie crumble topping. Another time, it was an apple and sour cream pie, rich and tangy with a beautiful crust. There was also a wedge of chocolate, as dark as Mississippi mud.

Not one for pie? Brownies, cookies and a carousel of sweets rotate around a cappuccino mousse called Coffee Gourmand. In fact, all of the desserts here are great, especially those same brownies that first smited me at Happy Gillis.

I hear that special wine dinners are in the works. But even without those, the West Bottoms claims another victory. Do give Genessee Royale a holler.

Drink Up

Like the rest of the menu, the beverage list at Genessee Royale is tidy but good. I particularly liked the freshly squeezed lemonade, which comes with a spritz of seltzer in a highball glass rimmed with salt.

Looking to find more on KC Magazine “http://www.kcmag.com“> Kansas City

Keurig Special Edition Single Cup Coffee Maker – Coffee Brewing Perfection

By Wayne Rasku

Coffee can be a huge deal today. You can find a lot of specialty coffee blends, too as areas to go to get them. Generating individual servings within your own residence or office is also becoming really well-known. That’s why the Keurig Unique Edition coffee maker is now so well-known.

Plain coffee is fast becoming a thing of the past. It’s now quite simple to whip up a gourmet hot beverage for guest, family, or just for yourself. Nowadays there are a number of coffee clubs and circles in which coffee drinking has become somewhat of a social club. These social clubs meet in the community or on the internet.

Where did the good old days go where you could get just a regular, good cup of coffee all across America.

It’s all because there is a big craze over coffee these days. People are almost worshipping the coffee bean now. People get a thrill out of ordering and buying special coffees from specialty stores. They really like grinding their own coffee beans. They like visiting places such as Costa Rica and bringing back their special blends. And “coffee tasting” seems to be about as popular as “wine tasting”.

They even have furniture and home interior designs with a coffee theme. This would make great gifts for the coffee buff.

Coffee got its beginnings around 900 A.D. where it was at first used as a stimulant. It was also at times used as a wine and a medicine. It doesn’t look like anything is much different today.

There are not many products such as coffee that have continued “as is” for hundreds of years. And yet people are still scrutinizing and getting creative with it today and probably will be for years to come.

What is also interesting is that coffee is second to oil in dollar volume as a world commodity.

Did you know that there is two times more caffeine in a pound of tea than in the same amount of roasted coffee? This may be good news for those of you who hate the taste of decaffeinated coffee however wait just one moment. A pound of tea will make about 160 cups whereas a pound of coffee will usually make about 40 cups. This means that a cup of tea has about 1/4th the caffeine of a cup of coffee.

The content of caffeine in coffee decreases as it is grown at higher altitudes. If you want less caffeine in your coffee, grow it higher. Gourmet coffees are typically grown at higher altitudes so they have less caffeine than their grocery store counterparts.

There are many different types of coffee beans and way too many to describe in this article. Here are just a few of them:

You have Latte, Espresso, Low-Fat, Organic, Cal, Decaf, Half-Decaf, Black Forest, Cappuccino, Cafe au Lait, Alpine which has brown sugar, Arabian (lightly spiced and without filter), Cafe con Miel (Spanish for coffee with honey), and Cafe de Olla (a sweet coffee made with chocolate).

And you really should attend a coffee tasting at least once. You will get to experience how making and brewing gourmet coffee is slowly becoming a form of art. What is fun about the coffee tasting is that you could get a chance to taste two dozen or more different blends. You may even leave to start your journey as a coffee connoisseur. Any way you look at it, the tasting experience will be fun if you like coffee.

Once you have gotten the coffee “bug”, you will want to check into all the unique ways to brew the “good stuff.” Single serve coffee brewers are the answer for many who enjoy really good coffee. They can individualize everyone’s order at your group get together.

A Keurig Special Edition coffee brewer is one method to get an excellent cup of joe each and every time. Find out about this great brewer at http://thecoffeeniche.com.

Food Critic: Takes Time To Find Your Legs In A New Establishment

By Brent Arends

It’s bragging rights for being first to the courthouse, so to speak.

Then the journal critics—me included—start their rounds of eating and file their opinions in turn. Most, if not all of them, issue within a week of their last meal.

And then there’s my review.

Because KC Magazine works two months ahead of publication, I arrive on the scene like an echo, long after the party is over, often writing about dishes that are no longer on the menu, and sometimes, about staff that has moved on.

So, here I am to tell you about The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange, nearly six months after it opened and after dozens of local mouthpieces have already fêted and featured it in their pages, both online and in print.

Normally this lag would be inconsequential. But with The Rieger’s opening, time lost was momentum missed. In my five years as a critic for this publication, I have never seen such a strong or promising start by a new restaurant in this city.

Even before chef Howard Hanna and co-owner Ryan Maybee opened their doors in December 2010 after giving a slight facelift, The Rieger boasted a cult following. A large part of the excitement admittedly was for the reopening of Manifesto, Maybee’s specialty cocktail speakeasy in the basement of the historic hotel.

But there was also a fair amount of buzz around Hanna’s concept in those early days, which was described mouth-to-ear as “nose-to-tail,” the banner under which meat and all its butchery byproducts hang their hat. Foodies frothed at the thought of pig parts and game goods.

By my fourth meal there, however, I witnessed something a bit more sensible, a bit more diverse than that. Thank goodness.

If you get no further than the bar, you might peg The Rieger as an old-time saloon with British tendencies. Like the restaurant’s full name, it evokes the sepia days of Prohibition. A cast of vested and bearded gents stirs and shakes behind a dark bar, while offering wild boar rillettes, headcheese and a variety of snacks on toast (the best being popcorn shrimp on brioche with a lemony sauce, $3—more po’boy hors d’oeuvre than ye olde potted shrimp on toast you might expect).

But move a little closer to the open kitchen in the dining room, and you’ll find a menu that reads like Italy and tastes like the South.

There’s polenta and cavalo nero, also known as grits and kale ($21). By any other name, the dish would be just as delicious. The polenta was milky and soft, the greens fleshy and bitter, and it all was served with large cubes of pork shoulder layered with collagen and fat—meltingly soft inside, crispy on the outside.

There’s pot pie ($19). This one, big enough for two and made with rabbit instead of chicken, was excellently executed. The filling was rich and thick, full of peas, carrots, garlic and onions, and it was topped with fluffy drop biscuits.

If it’s chicken you want, there’s that too. Served bone-on, the poussin—an incredibly young chicken—was juicy and tender with crispy, seasoned skin ($19).

At its best, Hanna’s food is immensely soulful and incredibly comforting.

If the chef must choose just one totem to hoist, it’s The Rieger Pork Soup ($7), a hearty stew that is stretchy with gruyere cheese and threaded with bacon and pork confit. It deserves every inch of press it has received. You must order it.

There are pastas, all in half portions, like a toasted flour fettucine offered as a special one night. Nutty with a whole-grain feel, the noodles came with cauliflower florets.

Hanna’s risotto ($11) was creamy, its kernels tender. Mine was stained a glowing shade of orange by winter squash, its mellow sweetness cut by a tart swirl of herbed goat cheese.

A block of lasagna at lunch ($11) was deeply satisfying yet incredibly light. Served on some truly wonderful tomato sauce, the strata of spinach pasta, béchamel, ricotta and Bolognese were almost fluffy. If it weren’t for a slightly overcooked skin of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, it would have parted easily with a fork.

You’ll also find sandwiches like the Al Capone at lunch—breaded and fried eggplant smashed with olives and mozzarella between two toasty slices of whole wheat bread ($6). It’s one of the many vegetarian options on Hanna’s menu. So was a carousel of Swiss chard gnudi with brown butter and flakes of ricotta salata ($10). The gnudi, Italian dumplings, were a touch starchy and a tad dense, but the flavors were wonderful.

And the borlotti bean soup ($6), textured with faro, was delicious proof that vegans can eat just as well as carnivores.

In all, I found very few faults on the menu besides veal that was too tough and a weak “tuna mayonnaise” on the classic Vitello Tonnato duo ($9). And while a filet of barramundi, a soft, white-fleshed fish offered as a special one night with a delicious sunchoke puree, arrived with a nicely charred skin, the meat underneath was watery and mushy.

If the restaurant has one weak link, it’s the desserts ($6), all of which I’ve tried at the time this article goes to press. The rice pudding was watery, which wasn’t surprising given the use of basmati rice, whose nuttiness I found overwhelming. A mini banoffee pie tasted great, but, seemingly fortified by a layer of hardened toffee, its shell was nearly impenetrable. Better was a dark chocolate tart with salted caramel: The crust was crumbly, the ganache filling was smooth and the caramel was runny and rich. That one was a keeper.

As the reviews that have gone before this one prove, I’m not alone in applauding Hanna and Maybee for opening The Rieger. Together they bring food and drink closer to the center of the current, culinary zeitgeist with local ingredients, thoughtful cooking and a hearty dollop of comfort.

SIDEBAR

Upscale Downstairs

The opening sous chef at the original Room 39, and later executive chef of the members-only River Club downtown, Howard Hanna is no stranger to the Kansas City culinary scene. Saddle up to The Rieger’s beautiful, stone-topped counter with a view of the kitchen and watch him in action.

Below the restaurant, Ryan Maybee, Beau Williams and a team of bartenders (including award-winning Arturo Vera-Felicie) mix specialty cocktails in the modern speakeasy bar, Manifesto. Among my favorites is the leathery La Prohibida, musky with mescal, and the Smokin’ Choke, dark with applewood smoke, maple syrup and whiskey ($12 each). To see the full drink list and make a reservation, go to The Rieger’s homepage and look for the “key.”

To Find more information about new establishments visit http://www.kcmag.com/

Endless Combinations From A Cool Low-Cal Treat

By Brent Arends

With four metro locations including a newly opened store in Overland Park, Yogurtini’s topping bar features more than 65 choices—from hot sauce to bites of bananas foster. The myriad flavors—like “Kiss Me I’m Irish Mint”—are just as creative as their appetizing accompaniments. Posted nutrition information and “Flavortini” recipe ideas provide fro yo newbies with cues for delicious concoctions.

Though the frozen yogurt is self-serve at Red Mango, where flavors are tangy and toppings include fresh fruit, crunchy cereals and more, customers can opt for made-to-order smoothies, parfaits or Ghiradelli hot chocolate chillers. The store has two locations: one on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus and one in the Northland.

Options are simpler at Leawood’s Mochi Yo, where you’ll find just four flavors of Korean-style tart yogurt—including green tea and two rotating flavors. The store is not self-serve, but employees still dish up generous portions of both yogurt and toppings, which range from traditional candies to fresh fruits.

With nearly one quarter of its 25-plus franchises located in the Kansas City area, Peachwave is most likely just a few minutes’ drive from any spot in the metro. Flavors like tiramisu and fudge brownie put a decadent twist on the healthy treat, especially when topped with assorted fruits, candies and syrups: We splurged for the chocolate Magic Shell, which freezes into a delicious candy coat within seconds.

Thanks to similar décor and matching signage, we had to wonder if Orange Leaf could be Peachwave’s estranged sibling. Nonetheless, with six locations from Lawrence to Lee’s Summit, Orange Leaf’s yogurt menu covers everything from classic cookies ‘n cream to refreshing raspberry lemonade.

Any way you serve it, Kansas City is a hot spot for one of summer’s coolest treats.

MORE TO EXPLORE AROUND KANSAS CITY

Lemontree which is located in the Northland is a self-serve store that has recently opened a second location just north of Des Moines, Iowa. Green Apple: With two recently opened locations in Lenexa on College Blvd and Mission on Johnson Drive, Green Apple offers free Wi-Fi and endless combinations of frozen yogurt. It is a great place to sit and relax with friends while enjoying a cool treat.

The country’s best frozen yogurt chain celebrates its 30th birthday this year, and while many of TCBY’s stores have been remodeled to reflect the self-serve trend, local stores in Prairie Village which is located in Mission and the other located in Leawood maintain the classic atmosphere and service model that put TCBY on the map. Visit their website for a full list of flavors. We recommend the white chocolate mousse!f.

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Food Props Used in Restaurants and Movies Are Made to Look Great Even After Years of Use

Most people almost certainly never give a thought as to how or why those luscious-looking concoctions on the dessert carts in fine restaurants look so fresh and mouth watering, no matter what time of day. The answer is simple: they’re fake food, created using such care and precision, the fact that they’re artificial is almost impossible to detect. And, while display foods may be somewhat costly, the price is certainly warranted because these display foods take hours to create, AND provide the businesses great props with amazing longevity. After all, is it even feasible that a real chocolate frosted cake, a swirl of whipped cream or an ice cream frappe could last the entire day being wheeled around on a dessert cart or sitting in a exhibit case?

Although not made for actual consumption, display food props must nevertheless be approved by the Food and drug administration, because so much of this type of product is produced outside of the U.S. and may contain lead-based paint and other toxic substances. Those made here commonly contain safe plastics, foams, urethanes and similar components that pose no health threats.

Because they do look good enough to eat, it is important that they can do no harm if ingested or even exhibited close to real food since lead and other metals can leach out and contaminate food items around them. In addition, people, especially children, are apt to try to take a bite of these delicious-looking fakes, just to make sure they aren’t real so it’s important that simply handling them and subsequently putting one’s fingers in the mouth or eyes is not dangerous.

Fake foods for display props usually need to stand up to difficult circumstances. When used in TV advertising or motion pictures, for example, they may be handled repeatedly, placed under hot lights and may be used over days or weeks of filming and retakes. Those used for various other purposes, in museums, or as theater props, for example, are expected to last even longer, and are often displayed under hot lights. Still others are used by sales reps where they may be taken from trade show to trade show or from one grocery store to another, shown at buffets, cruise ships or banquet halls. For these reasons, good display foods are designed to last indefinitely, and often do so for years.

Naturally, some precautions should be taken when caring for fake food. Long exposure to direct sunlight is discouraged, as is cleaning with strong chemicals or abrasives. They should be shielded from extreme heat or cold or anything that might cause them to discolor. For the most part, however, these props will continue to serve their purpose and will maintain fresh look of mouth-watering freshness for as long as needed, with only a minimum of reasonable care.

Discover How To Select The Best Coffee From Coffee Suppliers

While many people buy their java from the local grocery, there are those who prefer the different taste experience that a good coffee dealer can offer with ground and fresh beans. Finding the right coffee suppliers that provide a wide variety of products, is key to enjoying a flavorful cup of java.

When purchasing coffee products, consider fair trade producers. Fair trade beans are bought straight from the growers at a higher price tag then regular beans. Fair trade growers concentrate on environmental and social concerns by promoting improved and healthier work conditions and better economic incentive to growers moving them in the direction of sustainable farming.

For people on the go, instant coffee provides a quick alternative to fresh brewed. An instant brew is made from freeze dried grounds that are turned into water soluble granules or powder. Adding the instant granules to hot water will make a tasty alternative to the real thing. It may take some taste testing to find the brand that meets your taste bud requirements, but there are several good tasting blends available.

The filter method makes an outstanding cup of Joe. To make a filter brew, a paper filter is filled with your favorite ground beans and hot water is poured and dripped through the filter and into a carafe. As long as the brew is not allowed to simmer on the stove burner for an extended length of time, the flavor is excellent. There are suppliers who sell exceptional filter systems that are ideal for making one cup of Joe with no waste.

There are suppliers that can be found online that offer fresh roasted beans in a wide variety of flavors, various types of brews, and java drinking accessories. You will find it enjoyable to experiment with the different kinds of beans available and the variety of brewing techniques.

Using the internet will also make it easy to order and provide quick delivery of your beans at a cost often much lower than the local store charges. Additionally, you may not be able to find the type of beans you are interested in at a local vendor. There is a wider variety of flavors and brands to choose from when shopping online.

Most local stores do not carry a generous assortment of beans, so searching the vendors online will be your best bet for finding an interesting selection of the product. In addition to purchasing the beans and instant brews, customers will be able to view a large collection of java drinking supplies.

What local coffee suppliers do offer, however, is a chance to speak face to face with someone who is knowledgeable about the brew. The consumer is able to see and smell the beans they are interested in purchasing. The decision to purchase from a local store or online will most likely be determined by the type of bean you are looking for and the cost. Regardless where the beans are purchased, take the time to discover the variety of flavors and preparation methods available to enhance your java drinking pleasure.

Looking online for coffee suppliers Hamilton or coffee suppliers Toronto? Muldoon’s, a leading supplier of coffee services across the GTA, offers a wide range of services including innovative brewing systems and hand roasted coffees.

Healthy Children’s Birthday Parties

If you’re trying to provide your children (and yourself) with a healthy diet, you’re probably going to come across a very common stumbling block: birthday parties. You want your child to have a celebration that they and their guests will enjoy. But all too often, the typical party food expected is enough to give any dietician a nightmare: chips (salt and fat), sweets (sugar), ice cream (sugar and fat), saveloys or cocktail sausages (fat, salt and mysterious red dye), etc. What are you going to do?

Some experts say that you should take some time off the diet – after all, birthdays don’t happen every day and as long as you eat healthy food most of the time, one day with dietary horrors won’t kill you. There’s something to be said for this point of view, as it does make for less stress for a parent, especially as kids’ parties take enough organising as it is. Another school of thought suggests that you should try to stick to your healthy eating plan, presenting healthy treat foods (they exist). If this sounds like something you’d like to try, or if you’d like to take the halfway option of having mostly healthy foods but with a few “baddies” thrown in, the following suggestions may come in handy:

Instead of:

Saveloys/cocktail sausages

Potato crisps/chips

Sweets

Regular ice cream

Bright coloured fizzy drink

Try this:

Grilled chicken wings or nibbles

Oven baked spicy potato wedges (easy enough for a 10-year-old to make)

Mixed nuts, salted or unsalted

Dried fruit (apricots, raisins, cranberries) and chocolate, preferably dark

Frozen yoghurt (ordinary yoghurt thrown into the freezer overnight will do)

Plain lemonade or mineral water mixed with fruit juice or chilled herbal tea (peppermint’s popular)

You can also try these healthy party foods:

raw vegetables and bread sticks dipped into hummus or guacamole

fruit kebabs in a chocolate fountain (dark chocolate, of course)

old-fashioned cubes of cheese stuck on a toothpick with a square of pineapple

mousetraps (slices of bread spread with Vegemite and a slice of cheese and popped under the grill; chutney or slices of tomato can substitute for the Vegemite)

garlic bread, preferably home made and/or wholemeal

cherry tomatoes

a salad of edible flowers – popular with little girls

It’s probably a good idea to make the cake yourself. You’ll probably want to ice it, which means food colouring and icing sugar (but you can get away with decorating a cake with plastic animals, if you have a good imagination, or with edible flowers). But at least you can control the sort of flour used and the ingredients that go into it (e.g. you can use rice bran oil instead of butter or margarine in the batter).

If you are throwing a party with a theme, you can try to include healthy foods that fit the theme. For a cowboy-themed party, baked beans fit in nicely (hot chilli and tabasco can be left off unless older boys want to take a dare). Edible flowers suit a princess or fairy theme, while an animal themed party can include foods that the animal would eat (e.g. carrots and apples for horses, meatballs made of mince for cats, dogs and tigers).

Find more tips about child rearing and healthy eating at Friday’s Child Montessori (Created using Semantic Writer – SEO for real readers, not robots).

Office Coffee Is More Versatile Than Ever

Office coffee is not what it used to be. No longer are the days of mixing cheap instant granules with tepid water, heated on an electric plate. Machines vary from standard to elaborate, and there are a wide variety of flavors and specialty drinks available. Whether for a tiny area, or for a corporate building with multiple break rooms, the possibilities are tempting and tasty.

There are numerous occasions for indulging in a cup of caffeine, or in a similar treat of the non-caffeinated type. Millions of employees rely on mid-morning servings, and on re-fueling in the afternoon. For a lot of people, their routines do not seem to be complete, unless a welcoming pot awaits them in the office kitchenette. Because so many workers now drink coffee on a regular basis, and because there is such an impressive array of delicious options, specialty drinks like mochas are frequently offered at meetings and parties, as well.

Depending on need, places of employment can provide the bare minimum, which might be a simple pot, or they may wish to use a more advanced apparatus. Machines that make the drink have evolved considerably, over the last several years, to reflect growing interest in beverages like cappuccino and decaffeinated latte. Espresso machines, once seen only in restaurants and cafes, are now available for any location, including offices.

Espresso drinks are always popular, and they are as present in a lot of workplaces, as they are in coffee shops. Many law firms, medical practices, beauty salons and auto dealerships have wisely included small machines in their back rooms, break rooms, and waiting areas. Customers and clients, as well as employees and business owners, appreciate a refreshing beverage, to help pass the time before a meeting or appointment.

Selections range from simple cappuccinos, to low in fat, no-sugar mochas. They can be hot and steamy, with a pile of foam, or chilled and iced, for days with hotter temperatures. For larger parties, a few machines may be required, and blended drinks can be as unique and diverse as the people enjoying them. Many coffee-makers come with pamphlets describing the most popular drinks and how to make them, in addition to instruction manuals.

There are an immense amount of choices, when it comes to types and flavors. Selections vary from subtle and sweet, to bold and strong. Some flavors have withstood the test of time, like hazelnut and amaretto, and French roast and vanilla are more classic favorites. Others are less traditional, such as peppermint-mocha, buttered-toast, and a host of additional creative ideas.

Holidays and company theme parties are ideal circumstances for sampling coffees, especially those flavored like eggnog, Irish cream, and even pumpkin pie. An event catered with Mexican food is even better, when finished with delicious cups of Mexican coffee, a cocoa and cinnamon-sugar concoction. Anything that tastes like chocolate is bound to find a loyal following, and vanilla-bean is perfect for birthdays and employee anniversaries.

Whether or not to serve coffee in the workplace, no longer seems to be a relevant question. The real issues now are, how much of it is needed, and what kinds should be considered. With so many choices and flavors, that can be a complex decision, and as personnel changes, so will preferences. One thing, however, is certain: office coffee Toronto never again has to be boring, bitter, and lukewarm; instead, it has been modernized, and comes in an exciting new world of tantalizing options.

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