Camping: Food Tips That Will Keep Bellies Full

by

aayana

Whether you’re going camping for the first time or this is old hat to you, it never hurts to learn some new tips when it pertains to eating meals while out enjoying nature. Sure, it would be nice to fish and hunt for every meal, but that simply isn’t practical in many situations. Not to mention the fact that many families and groups simply don’t care to hunt for their own meals. There’s nothing wrong with that. Bringing food along with you is hardly cheating. You’re free to enjoy your outdoor excursion in whatever way you see fit. Here are some tips that will keep your group’s stomachs full.

Prepare in Advance

You want to complete as much food preparation as possible before venturing out the door. Sleeping in a tent may be romantic, but preparing food when surrounded by nothing more than branches and leaves can be a hassle. Do your prep work where you have access to all of the tools you need-your kitchen! Apply any seasonings you want while at home, as it is impractical to bring all of these niceties along with you to the campsite. The fewer containers you can get away with bringing, the better. Camping is much more fun when you aren’t dragging suitcases full of supplies behind you.

Use Your Freezer

If you’re planning to bring foods that are better served cold, you might want to consider freezing them in advance. They will stay cooler for much longer if they are coming down in temperature from a frozen state than if they are just coming out of the refrigerator. Note, however, that you should be careful about bringing anything that will spoil if not refrigerated. This can work if you’re only camping for the night, but any longer than that and you should stick with foods that aren’t going to go bad in a day or two.

Freeze-Dried Goods

If you want to bring both simplicity and a bit of variety to your camping meals, you will want to consider freeze-dried goods. These can last your trip without being refrigerated and they are very easy to prepare when your family is ready to eat. You can find a variety of freeze dried foods at your local military surplus store. Everything from macaroni and cheese to powdered milk can come in handy when you aren’t surrounded by the comforts of home.

Camping in Northwest Florida

is beautiful all year-round, and some of the best campsites in the country can be found at Navarre Beach. Learn more here:

floridabeachestorivers.com

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Camping: Food Tips That Will Keep Bellies Full

Make Soy Candles Meet the Wax Manufacturers

by

Mary Martha Deane

There are numerous waxes that you can use for candlemaking. Of these, soy is one that has arrived relatively recent on the scene. At present, there are a limited number of primary soybean wax producers: This article highlights Natures Gifts International, Inc. and Golden Brands, LLC.

Nature’s Gifts International (NGI)

One supplier of soybean wax is Natures Gifts International (NGI). They incorporated in 1999 and are headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee. Up until 2002, the used the brand name Ecowax. Their current brand name is EcoSoya.

They advertise that their soy waxes are engineered via their trademarked Molecular Blueprinting to control polymorphism. (Polymorphs are solids that have the same chemical makeup but different crystal structure. With regards to lipids, of which wax is one, polymorphism refers to how the lipid molecules line up for example in layers, tubes or blocks. Chocolate is a well known substance with polymorphism. Thats why you have to temper chocolate – to get it to solidify to the structure that provides the best shine and snap. The keyword here is solidify. Even if you do start with solid soy wax that has a particularly consistent crystal structure, it all disappears once the wax is melted. Therefore, I do not see what the benefits are of starting with a wax of a particular morphology.)

NGIs soybean wax and soybean wax blend offerings for container candles are as follows:

EcoSoya CB-XceL; 100% soy; Melting point is 125 F (51.7 C)

ExoSoya CBAdvanced Soy; soy blend; Melting point is 111 F (43.9 C)

EcoSoya CB-135; soy blend; melting point is 122 (50 C)

NGI sells a soyblend for molded candles, EcoSoya PB. It has a melting temperature of 130 F (54.4 C)

Finally, NGI sells a wax formulated specifically for priming wicks. It is called Eco-Wick Wax, and its melting point is 175 F (79.4 C).

Golden Brands, LLC

Another company that is a primary supplier of soybean wax is Golden Brands, LLC. As is stated on their website, this soywax supplier had a fascinating origin.

Golden Brands was established in 1982 by a local group of private investors and their families, each of which are very professional and successful entrepreneurs. With backgrounds ranging from real estate development to founders of several fast foods restaurant chains to engineering and even a professional football star, how could this group be anything but successful? Their common thread is their roots and belief in their Louisville community.

Their primary business is making shortening for the food industry. They began to manufacture soybean wax in 2000.

Golden Brands Product, GW416, is a natural soy tart wax, that is formulated for making tarts or for hardening other waxes. The melting point of GW416 is 130-135 F (54.4 57.2 C)

The rest of Golden Brands soybean waxes and wax blends are formulated for container candles. These waxes and their respective melting points are as follows:

GW402 115-120 F (46.1-48.9 C) pure soy wax

GW415 120-125 F (48.9-51.7 C) pure soy wax

GW464 113-119 F (45.0-48.3 C) soy blend

GW444 119-125 F (48.3-51.7 C) soy blend

GW435 120-125 F (48.9-51.7 C) soy and cotton blend

This article has focused on two of the primary manufacturing companies of soybean wax. There are a variety of other soy wax manufacturing companies who do not do primary manufacturing. That is they do not extract the oil from the soybean. Instead they would start with soybean wax as a raw material to make their own wax blends.

Mary Martha Deane is the Queen of Candle Making. She knows more about making candles than most people can imagine. She thinks that Candle Making is a fantastic hobby, both for those who consider themselves creative, as well as for those folks who dont yet know how creative they are. Learn more about

soy wax

by visiting

Candle Wax-Making Beautiful Candles

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Make Soy Candles Meet the Wax Manufacturers}

Funeral Costs: How much does an average funeral cost?

by

Michael Testa, CPA

Many times youll people say that the average funeral costs around $6,000. However, that estimate is based on a price survey taken several years ago. Funeral prices, like everything else, have increased with inflation.

Today, the average North American traditional funeral costs between $7,000 and $10,000. This price range includes the services at the funeral home, burial in a cemetery, and the installation of a headstone. While cremation is gaining in popularity, the traditional funeral is still the most popular manner for disposing of the deceased.

Although funeral prices vary considerably between funeral homes and geographic areas of the country, here is a reasonable ballpark estimate of the main costs that are involved:

fee for the funeral directors services: $1,500

cost for a casket: $2,300

embalming: $500

cost for using the funeral home for the actual funeral service: $500

cost of a gravesite: $1,000

cost to dig the grave: $600

cost of a grave liner or outer burial container: $1,000

cost of a headstone: $1,500

In this example, total costs would approximate $9,000.and thats just for the main items. There could be additional charges for things like placing the obituary in the newspaper, buying flowers, and limousine rental. There could also be additional charges for prayer cards, use of the hearse, and a donation to the organist, soloist, or officiating clergy.

Fortunately, there are many things you can do to reduce the cost of funeral services to a more reasonable level. This is one area where a little bit of planning can make a big difference.

Michael Testa, CPA and funeral expense experthttp://www.funeral-tips.com

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Funeral Costs: How much does an average funeral cost?}

Submitted by: Scarlett O’Cheesecake

The supposedly good natured rivalry in Birchfield among the towns best cooks was the biggest scam ever perpetuated within a county noted for sleights of hand.

Back in 1747, Joshua Prentiss won a drinking contest and possession of Nathaniel Mapletons pregnant mare by quaffing more tankards of plain apple juice than Nathaniel did of spirits-charged cider. Mapleton spent the night on the tavern floor while Joshua Prentiss pretended to reel out into the dark and then, straight and tall in the saddle, rode his newly acquired mare to her new home. He bedded down on clean straw in a stall next to the mares on the chance the tavern wench he had bribed might sell him out, but she did no such thing. Instead, Peggy Wilson walked half the night to the Prentiss farm and scared Joshua half to death when she lay down on the hay beside him. He made a quick recovery. Peggy never returned to the tavern. They married and their first child was born about the same time the mare foaled. The baby was christened Joshua Prentiss II and the colt was named Rascal, but as it turned out, the names could have been interchangeable.

Throughout the next 172 years, the Prentiss brood prospered whereas Nathaniel Mapletons lineage had bad luckuntil Lettie Mapleton was born. Feisty from the moment she drew breath until she died in 2005, a non-virginal old maid, Lettie was a force of nature. She had no patience for the familys lamentations about their hardscrabble plight. On scholarships she earned and student loans she borrowed, she achieved an MBA, a doctorate in economics, chucked the corporate world to write one best-selling historical novel after another”bodice rippers”all based somewhat on the bad blood between and Prentiss dynasty and the Mapleton family tree. For relaxation, she turned her talent in the kitchen into a thriving business, and the signature delicacy of her wares (other than her own considerable charms) was her acclaimed cheesecake.

Known to only Lettie, the recipe lived in her head, not on paper. She prepared a dozen or so cheesecakes once a week when she was alone in her sprawling house. Most were pre-ordered but the rest, pardon the expression, sold like hotcakes. Some called for fresh berries, others for drizzled chocolate or her own raspberry preserve. Occasionally a customer requested nut piecesalmonds, walnuts, pecans. Those customers whose cheesecake called for whipped cream were handed a separate container filled with crme de la crme whipped just shy of turning into butter. Letties mini farm included a dozen Jersey cows and a flock of laying hens. Nothing but the best.

When Lettie died at age 85, passing peacefully while asleep into her next adventure, the good cooks and bakers in Birchfield rejoiced. Not because they disliked Lettieeveryone either liked her or got a kick out of her; she had no enemies, other than the giant food conglomerates who tried repeatedly to beg, borrow or steal her cheesecake recipebut with Lettie gone, Birchfields bakeoffs and harvest fair competitions would not be dominated by Letties culinary gifts.

But thats not what happened. A young man began living in Letties house. Who was he? Her grandson, thats who! And he had the birth certificate, DNA certification, and a notarized statement in Letties handwriting, all of which attested to the fact that a love affair between Lettie Mapleton and Nate Prentiss had produced a child who then parented Nathaniel Prentiss, III. Yes, that Nathaniel Prentiss, the owner of the two most exciting fine dining experiencesone in L.A., the other in New York City. And he was determined to give full rein to the genes he had inherited.

The Birchfield women organized: all cooking and baking competitions would be limited to females only. Nathaniel Prentiss III laughed. He had no intention of entering. His plan was to foster the talent already displayed by his young daughter. Peggy Mapleton Prentiss had inherited her great-grandmothers ability to create a new cheesecake recipe that blew away all competition.

The good ladies of Birchfield sighed and bowed to the inevitable.

About the Author: In her day, Scarlett O’Cheesecake was a bit of a dish herself. Now she beguiles with her tales, both bland (well, not really) and spicy (verily). More of her stories and of course, delicious cheesecake can be found at:

Cheesecakes to Go

Source:

isnare.com

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