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Today is "Fat Tuesday" in the USA, "Pancake Day" in many other countries around the world. This is the day households and shops would rid themselves of all of the butter, lard, eggs and sugars that could not be eaten during Lent. Lent is the time of fasting and cleansing leading up to Easter. As with all religious holidays, this was taken/transformed from Pagan traditions to include the populous. How do YOU celebrate? Here are some interesting facts from around the world. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, Shrove Tuesday is known as "Pancake Day" or "Pancake Tuesday" due to the tradition of eating pancakes on the day. Catholic and Protestant countries (outside those mentioned above) traditionally call the day before Ash Wednesday "Fat Tuesday" or "Mardi Gras". The name predated the Reformation and referred to the common Christian tradition of eating special rich foods before the fasting season of Lent.

Apples are a favorite fruit of many people for eating out of hand or in fresh salads. The fruit of many apple varieties are also excellent for making a wide variety of cooked products. Apples best suited to particular uses are indicated below. Fresh to Eat McIntosh     Cortland Jonathan Red Delicious Golden Delicious Stayman Winesap Melrose Franklin Prima Pies Cortland Jonathan Grimes Golden Melrose Rome Beauty Yellow Transparent McIntosh Golden Delicious Stayman Winesap Lodi Freezing for Slicing Jonathan Golden Delicious Stayman Winesap Red Delicious Grimes Golden McIntosh Applesauce Golden Delicious Melrose Yellow Transparent McIntosh Cortland Jonathan Grimes Golden Stayman Winesap Rome Beauty Lodi Freezing for Sauce Yellow Transparent Wealthy Cortland McIntosh Freezing for Baking Baldwin Northern Spy Baking Jonathan Golden Delicious Stayman Winesap Rome Beauty McIntosh Cortland Grimes Golden Melrose Stayman Winesap The best cider is usually made from a blend of different v

Serves 4 2 pounds/900g chicken legs and thighs (substitute 4 boneless breasts-cut into 1” pieces) 1 tablespoon/15ml olive oil 4 pieces thick cut bacon cut into ¼ “/6.35mm pieces ½ cup/62g flour ½ teaspoon/2ml salt ½ teaspoon/5ml pepper 1pound/450g carrots, sliced on the diagonal in 1” /2.5cm pieces 2 yellow onions cut into 1”pieces or 8 ounces/225g pearl onions 1 pound/450g button mushrooms or baby bellas 2 cloves garlic minced ½ cup/125ml cognac or brandy 1 ½ cups/375ml dry red wine 1 cup/250ml chicken stock 1 tablespoon/15ml tomato paste ½ teaspoon/2ml dry thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh 2-4 tablespoon/28-57g unsalted butter 2-4 tablespoon/15-30g flour Heat olive oil in heavy bottom Dutch oven cook bacon until crisp (8-10 minutes). Mix ½ cup flour salt and pepper together in a large plate or sealable plastic bag.  Coat the chicken in the flour mixture and shake of excess.  Remove bacon from Dutch oven and place in a bowl.  Brown the chicken in the olive oil/bacon fat mixture on all sides. 

  2 pounds/900g of Tilapia, or other firm thin with fish fillets divided into 8 pieces 1 pound/450g of Feta cheese divided into 8 pieces 1 Tomato sliced thin 1 Cup/180g Black Olives sliced 1 bunch of parsley chopped Juice of one lemon Olive oil  Salt and pepper 1 cup/225ml dry white wine Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4 Lightly oil casserole dish.  Line with 8 slices of tomato.  Place the eight (8) pieces of tilapia on a cutting board, sprinkle with pepper.  Put one (1) piece of feta 1” from each end and roll up.  Secure each filet with a toothpick and stand up in a casserole dish on tomato.  Top each roll with tomato slice, and sprinkle with olives.  Combine remaining ingredients until well blended.  Pour over fish and cover with aluminum foil. Place casserole dish in preheated oven.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 10 – 12 minutes.   Remove from oven and serve with starch and vegetable.  Spoon juices from the casserole over the fish for a ready made sauce. priva

  INgredients 1   packed cup (165 g)   pitted Medjool dates 1/2   cup (128 g)   unsweetened natural peanut butter INSTRUCTIONS Line an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Add dates to food processor. Pulse until a smooth date paste forms. You may need to use spatula and scrape the sides a few times to help the food processor mix the dates. If your dates are old and no longer soft and moist, you will need to rehydrate them first before using. See notes for more details. Add in peanut butter. Pulse until peanut butter is completely incorporated into the dates. Your mixture should look crumbly but when you pinch it together, it should stick. Press mixture into your prepared pan. Use palm of hands to really compress your dough so that it will stick together. You do not need to spread the dough across the entire loaf pan if you want your brownies to be thicker. I left about 1/2 inch of space. You can spread the dough out as much as you want until you reach your desired thickness. Plac

And which one is best for your breakfast meat needs? By  Maxine Builder  and  Maxine Builder Bacon is a cured meat, made by letting a slab of pork belly (or side or loin or fatback) sit in brine or salt for a while to preserve it. So if all  bacon  is cured by definition,  what is uncured bacon ? And, perhaps more importantly for the average bacon enthusiasts’ needs, is there a difference between the two? In a world with so many different types of bacon, it can be hard to know if the  difference between cured and uncured bacon  is real or some kind of marketing ploy, especially since it can be challenging to tell which type you’re eating if you’re just handed a slice. Your taste buds aren’t deceiving you because the difference between cured and uncured bacon pretty negligible. You could even argue that uncured bacon doesn’t really exist. As Melanie Abel, director of marketing at Smithfield Foods, the leading U.S. producer of packaged pork products, explained, “Since all bacon is preser