Quick Tip: Keep Your Bananas Fresh!

Photo Credit: choosemyplate.gov

Most people love fresh fruit. However, most people can't have fresh fruit as often as they would like because of their busy schedule limiting their shopping trips. Also, most fruits don't keep as long as we all would like. Especially the banana.

How many times has this happened to you?

You go to the market and pick out the greenest bunch of bananas you can find because you know that the really yellow ones will be brown well before you get the chance to eat every one in the bunch. 

Sound familiar?

Even if it doesn't, you can at least agree that bananas do not fare well when it comes to the staying-fresh-for-long-periods-of-time department.

So what can you do about this? Do we just stick them in the fridge?

Nope - actually, sticking them in the fridge will turn them brown even quicker in most cases. Also, if you live in a dorm, you might not have your own fridge.

Your best bet is simple - don't keep your bananas in the bunch. Keep them separate. They will stay fresh for much longer.

Rather than keeping the bananas together as a bunch, separate them by pulling apart the bunch until each banana is now a single unit like this:

Photo Credit: WallpaperPimper.com

If you want to up the ante - wrap the stems tightly in plastic wrap.

The reason that bananas go bad so fast is that, as they ripen, they undergo a chemical process that releases tons of ethylene gas. This particular gas is released from most fruits as they ripen, but bananas release loads more than other fruits. In fact, bananas release so much ethylene gas that they will cause other fruits to go bad faster if they are kept in close proximity of one another.

So, when you buy your bananas, keep them separate, wrap the stems, keep them away from other fruits, don't put them in the fridge, and keep them in a well ventilated area.

Quick Tip: Stop the Excess Foam!

Photo Credit: Lacey Wilcox 

There isn't much else to say here, right? You see the picture above. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Whether you are making rice, pasta or any other dish that requires you to boil something, you can very easily end up with a big mess from the pot boiling over like crazy. You might deal with this fairly often - especially if you are multitasking in the kitchen. Just the sight of this image may have you boiling over. 

So let me show you another image to help you simmer down...

Photo Credit: PlentyPerfect.com

Ahhh....

That's better right? Do you see what's happening here? That's right, you've got a pot that looks dangerously close to boiling over, yet there is something preventing that large pile of foam from getting any larger and spilling over.

The very simple secret to keeping your water from boiling over is to place a wooden spoon right over the top of the pot. So is this some kind of ancient ninja secret passed down through the ages by wizened master chefs?

Not exactly.

There are actually a number of scientific reasons why the spoon keeps the foam in check - some having to do with thermodynamics. I'm not going to pretend to be any sort of physicist here, for I am merely a humble student of gastronomy. However, a simple Google search will yield the nitty gritty details, if you are so inclined.

Suffice it to say that the reasons are fairly simple - the temperature of the spoon is less than the temperature of the steam that fills the bubbles of the troublesome foam. Also, the mere presence of the spoon breaks the bubbles and causes the usual mountain of foam to collapse inward, instead of growing ever larger at the center and expanding outward until the inevitable over-spillage occurs. 

There are most assuredly other physics-related reasons why this little trick works - and my above description is most likely a gross oversimplification. However, the fact of the matter is this trick works and it makes life in the kitchen so much simpler.  

Easy Meal: Tomato-Cheese Toastie

Today I would like to share a very simple recipe with you. It is a delicious, light vegetarian meal that even non-vegetarians are sure to love, mainly because it features one of everyone's favorite foods on the planet - cheese.

I like to call this a Tomato-Cheese Toastie.

Imagine - you are sitting at home and you are light on ingredients, but want a delicious meal. This is where The Ramen Ninja steps in.

I'm going to show you how to make a meal using two very basic ingredients: tomatoes and cheese.

Photo Credit: Reimanpub.com

What You'll Need:

1 preheated oven set to broil 500F degrees.
1 oven-safe pan
1 spatula
1 plate

Ingredients:
1 hamburger bun or 2 slices of sandwich bread
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1 tomato - sliced
2 slices of Mozzarella cheese (or whatever kind you have on hand)
mayonnaise
salt
pepper
garlic powder
paprika
Italian seasoning

Step 1:
Preheat the oven and lay out your bun open-faced on the pan.

Step 2:
Toast the bun in the oven for about 1-2 minutes on each side.

Step 3:
Spread the mayo onto the bun.

Step 4:
Place one slice of tomato on both halves of the bun.

Step 5:
Put one half teaspoon of balsamic vinegar on top of each tomato slice.

Step 6:
Sprinkle a small amount of each of the above seasonings: salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, Italian seasoning. A little goes a long way here because you are using so many different seasonings - so just a pinch of each will do.

Step 7:
Put one half teaspoon of olive oil on each slice of tomato.

Step 8:
Finally, lay one slice of cheese on top of each slice of tomato and put your sandwich open-faced back into the oven.

Step 9:
Allow the sandwich to toast in the oven for 3-4 minutes. It is done when the cheese starts bubbling.

Step 10:
Remove the sandwich from the oven and serve onto a plate using a spatula. Enjoy!

Quick Update

So I have not really been active on the blog since summer. Has it really been May since my last post???

I'm sure my few followers may have considered me dead and gone, but the Ramen Ninja lives, yet!

However, today is officially my first day back and I will try my hand at adding some new recipes every once in awhile.