Do your children need things to do over the summer holidays? Cooking and helping out in the kitchen might be activities they will enjoy.
Jean Pare in her Company’s Coming Cookbook, Kids Do Snacks, has simple recipes for all of us to try, either for ourselves or with our children or grandchildren.
The following are two examples from this book.
The Great Apple & Cheese Squeeze
Gather together grater, measuring spoons, dry measures, sharp knife, cutting board, microwave-safe plate.
1 flour tortilla (6 inch/15 cm,
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diameter)
2 tablespoons grated 30 mL
cheddar cheese
1/3 cup thinly sliced 75 mL
apple
2 tablespoons grated 30 mL
cheddar cheese
Place tortilla on plate. Sprinkle first amount of cheese on half of tortilla.
Arrange apple slices over cheese. Sprinkle second amount of cheese over top.
Fold uncovered side of tortilla over filling. Press down lightly. Microwave on high for about 30 seconds until cheese is melted.
Cut tortilla in half.
Chillin’ Cheese Toast
Gather together measuring spoons, can opener, grater, baking sheet with sides, table knife, spoon, oven mitts, wire rack.
1 Texas bread slice
1 tablespoon spreadable 15 mL
cream cheese
2 tablespoons canned 30 mL
chili
2 tablespoons grated 30 mL
cheddar cheese
Place oven rack in centre position. Turn oven on to 375 F (190 C).
Place bread slice on baking sheet. Gently spread cream cheese on bread slice. Spoon chili onto centre of bread slice. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes until bread is lightly browned.
Put baking sheet on wire rack to cool for two minutes. Turn oven off.
Instead of canned chili, you can use any leftover homemade chili, tomato sauce or a chili sauce.
The buzz on mosquitoes
Why do mosquitoes bite?
Mosquitoes technically don’t bite, but rather draw blood through a syringe-like appendage on their heads. Only females do this because they need blood to reproduce.
- What causes the bite to itch?
When a mosquito lands on your skin, it injects saliva that contains a protein that keeps your blood from coagulating. This substance triggers an immune response, resulting in an itchy red welt.
- Why do mosquitoes seem
to prefer certain people?
Mosquitoes have fine-tuned sensors that allow them to detect exhaled carbon dioxide up to 30 metres away. Closer up, they are attracted to hundreds of other chemicals we secrete, as well as heat from our bodies and movement. Everyone produces the same chemicals, but different proportions of them may make a person more, or less, appealing.
Different species are attracted to different chemicals. Some compounds conceal us from mosquitoes and people who produce more of them are naturally better shielded.
Researchers are trying to identify these masking compounds in hopes of developing a new generation of repellents.
- How can you avoid getting bitten?
Wear long sleeves and pants (preferably loose-fitting) as well as socks. When mosquitoes are out (they are most active at dawn and dusk and after it rains), use a repellent containing 10 to 30 percent Deet. Another effective repellent is picaridin.
You can also spray clothes (not skin) with permethrin, or wear permethrin-treated garments. Oil of lemon eucalyptus is as effective as low concentration Deet, but other botanical preparations provide limited protection, if any. Citronella candles probably offer no more protection than any candle smoke.
- Does taking B vitamins or
eating garlic repel mosquitoes?
No. This idea about B vitamins has not held up in studies. There’s no evidence that garlic or any other food helps, either.
- How can you control
mosquitoes around your house?
Mosquitoes breed in standing water, so remove or empty anything in your yard that can collect water such as hollow logs, empty flower pots and pet dishes. Clean out clogged eavestroughs. Drill holes in the bottom of outside garbage or recycling containers. Make sure screens on windows and doors fit tightly and have no holes. Try yellow bug lights on decks and porches; they attract fewer mosquitoes than regular lights.
- What about zappers or any
other high-tech devices?
Zappers mostly kill moths and flies and hardly any mosquitoes. Moreover, another study showed that zappers spray invisible insect parts, including bacteria and viruses, up to two meters away. Ultrasonic devices emit high-frequency sound that supposedly chases any mosquitoes, but studies show them to be
ineffective.
Expensive mosquito traps emit carbon dioxide and other chemicals that attract mosquitoes, which are then sucked inside. How effective they are depends on many factors – the mosquito species and number present, season, wind and where they are placed. Because mosquitoes are weak flyers, a good low-tech option is a powerful fan.
- How do you treat an itchy bite?
Apply ice, and try not to scratch. Ammonium solutions (in many after-bite products) provide some relief. Calamine lotion or hydro-cortisone cream may also help.
If you are sensitive to mosquitoes, taking antihistamines before you go out may lessen reactions to stings. Everyone seems to have a favourite home remedy such as vinegar, Vicks VapoRub, lemon juice, lavender oil, toothpaste, or a baking soda or meat tenderizer paste. There’s no science backing them, but some may have anti-inflammatory or other soothing effects.
Source: University of California, Berkeley, July 2008.
Alma Copeland is a home economist from
Elrose, Sask., and one of four columnists
comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them
This story about Lucky the chicken was submitted by Grace Gwyer for our recent pet story contest.
Lucky the chicken
It was raining with bits of snow on a miserable cold and windy day early in April 2002. I was driving home when I saw something move on the other side of the road. It was dirty and not very big, but it was definitely a live chicken just sitting on the pavement.
I stopped the car just as a speeding truck drove by just missing it. I turned around quickly as my first thought was that I had to get it off the road before it was killed.
When I got there, the chicken got to its feet and sort of ran and limped over to a restaurant and crawled under some rose bushes. I crawled in after it, grabbed it and placed it in the trunk of the car where it just sat down totally exhausted and half frozen.
When I got home I didn’t know how to break the news to my husband so I just said “guess what, we have a new pet and its name is Lucky.”
The first thing that had to be done was to carefully give her a bath. Once she was dry she worked for hours preening her feathers.
Her feathers looked pretty good but her beak, comb and legs were a very pale yellow and she was covered with bruises.
Lucky had to live in a large box in the house until the weather got warm. She didn’t seem to mind being in the box and was constantly looking out the holes or over the top to see what we were doing. She immediately enjoyed eating Sunny Boy cereal, oatmeal and dry cat food.
We went through a lot of old newspapers while she was living in her box. I would let her out for a walk around the kitchen occasionally and she would sing and cluck happily as she explored.
Before long, her legs and beak became bright yellow and her comb a lovely red. When she finally got to go outside, she loved it, scratching for seeds and bugs.
She had an inward clock because every evening at around 8 p.m. she would come and peck at the door. I would open the door and she would head over to her box so she could go to bed. When I lifted her into the box she would get comfortable and almost immediately be fast asleep.
One day I noticed her acting strangely. She went all over the yard seemingly on a mission. Finally she found a spot she liked in the vines beside the house and proceeded to make a nest there. She gave us a nice fresh egg almost every day after that. She had a great summer and grew to be a large beautiful snow white hen.
We didn’t have a warm place to keep her for the winter so she stayed with our neighbour’s chickens in his chicken house until spring came again.
I was anxious to bring her home as soon as it was warm enough. I’m sure she recognized us because she calmly let me pick her up and place her in a box for the ride home.
When she got home she promptly began a tour of all her old haunts, found her old nest and rewarded us with a beautiful fresh egg. To my amazement, at around 8 p.m. that night she was up pecking at the door to get in the house. It was so nice to watch her out in the yard happily going about, doing her thing.
Later in the summer, we were late getting home one evening and as Lucky wasn’t waiting on the doorstep or in her little house, I feared the worst. Sure enough, I found a trail where she had been dragged into the garden and killed. Not eaten, just killed. The tracks indicated that the killer was a raccoon.
I sadly wrapped her up and next day buried her in our little pet cemetery under an apple tree.
Lucky taught me so much – she wasn’t just a dumb chicken. She was capable of remembering many things and showing appreciation for loving care.
I will never forget her or the lessons she taught me about respecting all God’s creatures.
