Know Thy Ingredients is a motto of Essential Puree.

There is a terrific tool on the U. S. Department of Agriculture website that allows the cook to calculate the nutritionals for home recipes. As nutrition and hydration are key components for the dysphagia patient, this is an excellent resource.

Go to the Supertracker website and enter your recipe, ingredients and amounts. You enter the ingredients one by one, and the Supertracker calculates the nutritionals for you. (To get to the site, use the button below and once on the page, choose the My Recipes button.)

The software takes a little practice, but you can master it in an hour. You may also save your recipes on the website in your own folder.

This website is excellent for discovering the nutritional value of favorite family recipes handed down, where you have no idea of what Grandma was serving. All you know is that it tasted delicious and everyone in the family loved it.

You can also use the Supertracker for recipes gathered from any source where nutritionals are not provided.

The Supertracker website also contains the Food-A-Pedia page, with information on the nutritional values of 8000 foods.

The visitor can also navigate to the Choose My Plate webpage. Choose My Plate shows the ideal proportion of food groups on the plate to achieve balance in the diet.

The Plate illustrates portion sizes and tells what percentage of each food group should fill the plate. It promotes mindful eating. Meaning, pay attention to what you are putting into yourself and others. How much protein, carb, veggies, oils, sugars. The works. A handy tool.

You use it. You get a feel for it. The rest becomes intuitive. You achieve mastery over the chemistry of the kitchen. Lives may be transformed. It is alchemy.

The added bonus? These are your tax dollars at work. In a good way.