HomeWise

FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF NOV. 18, 2001:

Is there a way to tell if a turkey has been in the oven long enough without using a meat thermometer? My mom just estimates the time based on the turkey's size.

Sorry, says Sandy McCurdy, University of Idaho Extension food safety specialist: guess-timating cooking time from a turkey's size isn't safe. There are simply too many confounding variables.

For example, stuffing, partial freezing and using foil tents all can slow down cooking. Using oven-cooking bags, roasting pan lids and dark roasting pans can speed it up. The depth and size of a pan can interfere with heat circulation, the oven may be heating food unevenly, the oven thermostat may not be working right and the turkey may simply be too big for the oven.

Be safe on Thanksgiving: use a meat thermometer and make sure your turkey reaches these temperatures: 180 degrees inside the thigh, 170 degrees inside the breast and 165 degrees in the center of the stuffing.

Your guests will thank you for it.

My 3-year-old has problems with sharing. I'd like him to play more cooperatively with his cousins but, so far, it's not happening. How can we help him?

At 3, children are just becoming sufficiently interested in others to be willing to share, says Diane Demarest, University of Idaho coordinator of the Parents as Teachers demonstration project. They finally have the words to persuade another child to let them have the toy they want, and they're able to wait--though with difficulty--to have their own desires gratified.

"They can accept that something belongs to someone else and can ask permission to use it," Demarest says. "They can trade one toy for another."

To increase or promote sharing by your son and his cousins:

• First focus on taking turns, 5 minutes at a time. That reassures children that they'll get the toy back. Keep time for them, give them gentle reminders and make sure they follow through.
• Eventually, put them in charge of sharing: Tell them they'll need to share but they can decide how to do it--or ask you for ideas if they can't. Require each participant to personally give the toy to the next child in line for it, even though that child may have lost interest in the meantime.
• Point out the advantages of sharing and praise spontaneous sharing.
• Model sharing and cooperation by showing how you share things with other adults and with children.
• Allow some things not to be shared. "Children need some special toys and space just for themselves." If a favorite toy is simply too hard to share, ask your son to put it away before his cousins come over.
• Once children have been taught these skills over and over, don't respond to indignant cries of "She's not sharing!" Remind them that they've learned how to share and encourage them to solve the problem themselves, says Demarest.

I moved onto 10 acres with one cat and have since inherited two more outside cats. I want to keep them all alive and well. The previous owner set food dishes outside the shop, but this location has attracted 15-20 magpies and has become a real mess. I do not have the finances to buy some of the electronic deterrents I've seen on the Net, but I could spend a few bucks.

Kathy Barker, president of the Golden Eagle Audubon Society in Boise, suggests installing a cat door in the shop and feeding the cats inside. Despite their investigatory vigor, magpies are unlikely to step through the door, she says.

If you haven't already done so, Barker encourages you to have those outside cats spayed or neutered. Not only can their litters eat you out of house, home and shop, but cats can destroy even more songbirds than magpies can.

I recently found out that I have an oral allergy to certain fruits and vegetables. Do I need to eliminate these foods from my diet?

Allergies to fruits and vegetables typically produce oral symptoms like itching and tingling of the lips. The protein in the offending fruit or vegetable is what provokes these symptoms, says Martha Raidl, University of Idaho Extension nutrition specialist.

You can decrease your allergic symptoms by either peeling the fruit or vegetable--because the greatest concentration of the culprit protein is in the peel--or by denaturing the protein through cooking.

"That's why some people with an apple allergy can eat baked apples, apple pie and applesauce but not fresh fruit," Raidl says.

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