Making Bread and Butter Pickles

My kids love making pickles with me.  The easiest to make with them as a project are the Bread and Butter Pickles. These are milder pickles that can be made without being boiled and sealed so there is less danger to kids. There is no real hassle and there are plenty of recipes online for these pickles.

Bread and Butter Pickles are some of the most misunderstood of the pickles as they are often mistaken for their more garlicky and dill flavored look-alikes – the Dill Pickle. This is because dill pickles are also sold as coins, slices and half pickles. A major difference in terms of packaging is that a bread and butter pickle will rarely be sold whole like dill pickles are when you see them in the jars in the store.

The main characteristic of a bread and butter pickle is that it looks like a dill pickle but tastes more like a sweet pickle. However it is not as sweet as a true sweet pickle.  A true sweet pickle almost tastes like sugar. They can hurt your teeth. Bread and Butter pickles are a little healthier for the kids and easier to eat as far as I am concern.

Bread and butter pickles are the preference of people who don't like pickles with overpowering garlic or dill flavoring or a very sweet pickle. I know that my kids simply cannot stand any food that is way too garlicky and I don't blame them. Their taste buds have yet to develop.  Bread and butter pickles are neutral pickles and go great in sandwiches because taste-wise they do not steal the show.  You can put them in everything from a salmon salad to ham sandwich to a hamburger and their taste will not overpower what you are eating. You cannot necessarily say the same of the garlicky pickles.

In England it is very common to be served bread and butter pickles for high tea.  There is even such a thing as a bread and butter pickle tea sandwich. However bread and butter pickles go the best with a slice of mild cheese on white bread.

Use bread and butter pickles in any dish where you don't want the flavor of the pickle to overpower everything else. For instance, diced bread and butter pickles go better in tuna and chicken salad or even coleslaw.  Another reason I like them is that they are small and coin shaped. This means it is easy for a toddler to hold in his or her hand.  A toddler holding a full dill pickle can be a messy sight sometimes.

As bread and butter pickles are milder in taste then other types then they might also be easier on the sensitive taste buds of children.

Parenting Tips
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Staying a Young and Fit Mom

People who have bad nutrition often look much older than they really are. This is because over time they literally become constructed out of things that are not that good for them

I don't know about you but I don't like it when my kids point out things like the wrinkles around my eyes. My son started calling me Big Butt the other day. I did not appreciate it. However he was right.

So how can you avoid having your kids seeing you as too old or making those cute little cracks about your age or weight?

Health experts recommend a diet that emphasizes whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other tips:

· Drink eight to ten cups of fluid every day, and make at least five of those cups of fluid water. Water is needed by each and every one of your cells, including those in your skin to renew themselves. If you live in an area where the water is possibly polluted drink bottled water or distilled water.

· Limit your daily intake caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, which can wreak havoc with the nervous system and cause insulin spikes in blood sugar. This can also help create a big fat belly.

· Stay away from carbonated beverages, which are thought to be hard on the pancreas and increase insulin production. Studies have shown that people have lost as much as fifteen pounds in one month simply by cutting out colas from their diet!

· Reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet and replace it with healthy monounsaturated fats such as that in olive, canola, sunflower, safflower and soybean oils.

· When snacking, choose fruits, vegetables or whole-grain products and avoid sugary or refined products.

· Choose foods that have good calories and that give you the most nutritional intake for the effort it takes to ingest them. For instance a slice of whole grain bread is more nutrient dense than a slice of white bread even though both are approximately 90 calories.

· Eat several small meals a day to keep your blood sugars level. Many doctors recommend doing this to prevent bloating and weight gaian.

· Choose brightly colored fruits and vegetables as they contain antioxidants that assist in the fight against aging. They have more vitamins and minerals.

  • Avoid processed foods, artificial coloring, deep fried foods and monosodium glutamates (MSG) which are thought to accelerate the aging process, especially with regards to the skin include sugar, chocolate, preserved meat, chips, French fries and other kinds of junk food.

This is not just advice for you. It isa lifestyle and way of eating that is also good for your kids if you want them to grow up lean, healthy and happy.

Of course my main motive is to have my kids get to know me for as many years as possible.

Parenting Tips
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