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Convenience food is also known as tertiary processed food and is the kind of food that is prepared and designed to make meals quick and easy. The majority of these foods require little more than heating in a microwave, although many of them like candy and snacks can be eaten at room temperature. Convenience foods can be sold as hot dishes ready to be eaten immediately, shelf-stable items, and refrigerated or frozen foods. Vending machines on campuses and in the workplace provide a variety of convenience foods to snack on. To make these foods even more convenient, they are often packaged in individual serving sizes so that one can simply grab it and go with hardly the hassle of making and packing a lunch.

Convenience food had its beginnings after World War II when the military developed prepackaged meals that were easy to prepare on the battlefield and could be stored for long periods of time. After the war, food companies were left with an abundance of these convenience foods and decided to market them, developing new lines of canned and frozen foods. Because of Americans’ busy schedules and their obsession with convenience, the concept of convenience foods caught on quickly and is a multibillion-dollar industry today.

For single and career-minded moms or individuals with busy work or school schedules, convenience food makes life significantly easier. Dinner items like microwave-ready mashed potatoes or canned soup make mealtime easy and fulfilling. Microwave meals, soups, and pasta dishes, as well as individually packaged subs, burritos, salads, and snack foods make packing a lunch for school or work virtually effortless.

Even more convenient, fast food and supermarket delis require no preparation at all and immediately deliver any of a number of meals one might desire. People appreciate the added time this convenience gives them. Quick and easy meals and snacks enable individuals to spend more time on family, education, or career.

The danger of convenience foods is in the temptation to eat them all the time. They contain excessive amounts of sodium and fat. Although sodium is an essential nutrient for the body, fast food, junk food, and other convenience foods contain unnecessary amounts of this mineral. This can lead to health problems like high blood pressure. Because virtually all convenience food also contains higher amounts of fat than fresh or homemade food, it presents the dangers of obesity and clogged arteries and blood vessels that can ultimately lead to heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes.

People should avoid foods that are rich in sodium, but instead eat foods that are considered as potassium rich foods.

Depending on which hemisphere you live on, the cold season has just finished or it is about to begin. In any case this really doesn’t seem the right moment for a hot chocolate, but do you really need a reason to prepare one? Besides, this one is milk-free, so it is great for lactose intolerant.

Ingredients for four people:
1300ml (2¾ pints) soy milk
16 small marshmallows
350gr (12 oz) dark chocolate
1 pinch of nutmeg

Put the soy milk and the chocolate in a small pan on a low heat until the chocolate has melted and mix well until it is almost boiling, then take off the heat and set aside to five minutes cool.
In the meantime, take four ramekins or small cups and put four marshmallows in each one of them. Pour the hot chocolate and complete with a pinch of nutmeg, or cinnamon or chocolate flakes.
This milk free hot chocolate can become the perfect chocolate for chocolate fountain. Just double the quantities, and use it to fill the bottom container of a chocolate fountain. Dip the marshmallows in the chocolate.

And this one here is one of my favourite chocolate cake recipes.

Ingredients for eight people:
285gr (10 oz) sugar
8 eggs, yolks and whites separated
85gr (3 oz) cocoa powder
100gr (3½ oz) almonds
200gr (7 oz) flour
3 tbsp water or milk
3 tbsp vanilla-flavored sugar

Preheat the oven at 170ºC (338ºF). In a bowl, pour the sugar and the egg yolks and mix them together until foamy. Add cocoa and almonds, one tablespoon at the time, and also some water or milk in case it is too dry. Whip the whites until firm and add them to the egg mix using a wooden spoon, stirring from the bottom up. Lastly add the flour and mix well until smooth.
Pour the mix in a cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes.

If you are tired of baking and want to leave the oven off for a while, here is a recipe you will love: italian dessert tiramisu.

Are you trying to decide which rice cooker is the right one for you? Did you know that these days there is now a bigger selection of top quality Japanese rice cookers on sale in the United States than ever before. So with this greater choice comes a more difficult time knowing which machine you should purchase. Indeed, if you want the best then you should really consider a Zojirushi Micom rice cooker. This style will set you back over $100 and could cost up to about the $400 mark. There are quite a few different machines in this range so it is important to know what the differences are so that you get the best value device.

First of all there are the standard Micom appliances like the best selling Zojirushi NS-LAC05. This one is a 3 cup model. This is one of the other important distinguishing characteristics. There are three different sizes of cooker that you can get. The smallest are the 3 cup units, then there are the 5.5 cup models, followed by the larger 10 cup rice cookers. Zojirushi make Micom machines in these three sizes. Carrying on, Micro Computerized (Micom) rice cookers are controlled by a micro chip that is the “brain” of the machine. When you use one of these cookers you do not have to stir the rice or keep an eye on it in any way. The machine does all the cooking for you.

The biggest jump from regular Micom cookers to a higher level is when you start to consider the Induction Heating range. These machines of course are micro computerized but they also have a sophisticated hi tec heating system that uses a magnetic field instead of a heating element. If you want to get one of these devices it will cost quite a bit more money. They start at around $250. However in my own experience are well worth the extra initial cost. The rice they make tastes better.