Cooking rice is a great way to add bulk to a meal
Cooking: -rice is a Great Way to Add Bulk to a Meal!
Stocking up on often used pantry items when they are on sale is the perfect way to not only save money on item you know will not go to waste but also to ensure that you will have enough ingredients on hand at all times to throw a meal together in a matter of minutes. Here is a list of my top ten pantry items that will help you add that all-day cooked flavor to quick cooking meals.
1. Pasta: Pasta is so versatile that you could make dinner with it every night for a month and never have the same meal twice. Dried pasta is the perfect pantry staple to stock up on every time it goes on sale at your grocery store. Keep different size and shaped noodles on hand to make meals more interesting. Dried pasta can be added to soups, stews or casseroles, it can be used as a bed for your favorite stir-fry, for more details visit to www.cooking-groundbeef.com to add some bulk to your meal or it can be the star of the show — a quick go-to meal by simply adding your favorite jarred sauce.
2. Spaghetti Sauce: Of course you can use a jar of spaghetti sauce to pour over spaghetti for a quick meal any night of the week, but think outside the box a little when it comes to this pantry staple. You would be surprised how many different ways spaghetti sauce can be used. The great thing about spaghetti sauce is that all of the cooking has been done and that all-day flavor is already sealed in. There are so many varieties on the store shelves that you can get a sauce with whatever flavor combination you prefer, for more details visit to www.apples-recipes.com or you can get a simple marinara sauce and spice it up your own way by adding fresh herbs and vegetables to suit your pallette and your menu.
3. Prepared Broths: Boxes or cans of prepared beef, chicken and vegetable broth are a must have pantry staple. When it comes to quick cooking you should not pass up any opportunity to add flavor. You can do this by substituting broth in place of water to add extra flavor to any recipe. You can even cook your rice in broth instead of water. If you cook often the larger boxes of broth can be stored in the refrigerator after opening so you can use as much or as little as you need and they can sometimes be a better bargain than the cans. If you do wind up with leftover broth in an opened container and are afraid that you will not be able to use it quickly, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. You can pop out as many cubes as you need and melt them right into your recipe. You can even get fancy by adding some dried herbs to your broth cubes before freezing for extra flavor.
4. Quick Cooking Rice: Rice is a great way to add bulk to a meal. Serving a stir fry of meat and vegetables over rice makes a delicious and satisfying meal. Rice is also a great way to add some whole grains to your diet by using brown rice or wild rice instead of white rice. Experiment with different flavors and find one that your family enjoys. Rice also makes a great side dish either by itself, with vegetables mixed in or simply topped with your favorite spaghetti sauce.
5. Condensed Soups: Condensed soups are a fabulous way to add both moisture and flavor to quick cooking meals. You will find recipe ideas right on the soup can labels and there have been entire cookbooks written around the theme of cooking with condensed soups. Cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, cream of celery and condensed cheese soup are probably the most popular. Take a close look at the soup selection the next time you are in the grocery store. Read the recipes on the labels and stock up on any that you can incorporate into your weekly menu planning. If nothing else, you can make soup for lunch or dinner on a cold rainy day. Don’t forget the chicken noodle in case somebody doesn’t feel well.
Common baked cheesecake recipe problems
Common Baked Cheesecake Recipe Problems
My Aunt Wendy was one of the greatest cooks I’ve ever known. Any time we went to her house, even just for a quick visit, there was something great to eat happening in the kitchen. She made chicken and dumplings with dumplings that were like little clouds, never gooey or floury like so many are. She made cakes, pies and cookies that were the winners of blue ribbons at every contest in town. And her holiday dinners were the most sought-after invite in the entire family.
However, Aunt Wendy until the day she died could not make a cheesecake that didn’t come out of the oven with a top that didn’t look like a topographical map of California. Cracks, big and little, narrow and wide, shallow and deep would crawl all over the top of the cheesecake, often endangering the structural integrity of the whole.
Cracks in the top of the cheesecake are one of the two major problems home cooks encounter, and they can make your beautiful labor of love into the ugly duckling of the dessert tray.
However, there are two simple steps you can take to avoid cracks. First, place a water pan in the oven with the cheesecake while it bakes. The added moisture in the air will keep the surface moist and keep it from cracking, in much the same way that moisturizing cream will help your hands. You can also mix a teaspoon of cornstarch into the batter before putting it in the pan. This natural thickening agent will guard against the separation that leads to cracking.
The other major hurdle most cooks encounter from time to time is the lumpy cheesecake. Unlike cracks, which don’t affect the overall flavor, lumps indicate poor or incomplete mixing, which will affect flavor. To guard against this, bring the cheese and the eggs to room temperature, to make the fats in the two mix more readily and completely.
Remember those tips and you’re on the way to baked cheesecake recipe success!
Cooking of vegetarian choose to start your vegetarian lifestyle
Cooking of Vegetarian — Choose to Start Your Vegetarian Lifestyle
You’ve finally made the decision to change your eating habits and dive head first into a vegetarian lifestyle. Congratulations! You have made a wise decision. Now you have to decide whether to go? Cold turkey? Or make the transition gradually.
Whichever way to choose to start your vegetarian lifestyle, you can will notice the health benefits of vegetarianism For more details go to: www.thanks-giving-recipes.com more quickly by firstly significantly reducing the amount of meats consumed, and making vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains the focus of your meals.
Take your time when shopping for food, plan ahead, and make sure you read food labels to ascertain information about food additives, food coloring and hidden animal ingredients. If you decide to eat dairy products, choose non-fat or low-fat varieties.
There is a wide variety of vegetarian foods available in most grocery stores; however, some of the more uncommon items may need to be sourced from one of the many specialty vegetarian food stores. Eat a wide variety of foods, and don’t be afraid to try vegetables, fruits, grains, breads, nuts, or seeds that you’ve never tried before. Convenient, ready-to-eat, whole-grain breakfast cereals, and quick-cooking whole-grain cereals such as oatmeal, whole-grain breads and crackers, such as rye, whole wheat,
For help visit: www.300-chicken-recipe.com and mixed grain and other grains such as barley and bulgur wheat are readily available.
*You should give consideration to the following foods:-
*Canned beans, such as pinto, black beans, and garbanzo beans
*Rice (including brown, wild, etc.) and pasta (now available in whole wheat, spinach, and other flavors) with tomato sauce and canned beans and/or chopped veggies
*Vegetarian soups like lentil, navy bean, or minestrone
*A wide variety of plain frozen vegetables, and canned and frozen fruit
*Fortified soy milks and soy cheeses, should you choose to not eat dairy
*A wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, which should be the core of any diet
Once you have mastered the art of cooking delicious vegetarian meals you will soon realize that a meatless diet does not have to lack variety. As a matter of fact you will find it easy and fun to serve up such healthy, tasty and perhaps life prolonging meals that you and your family will thoroughly enjoy.
Cooking tips for oil
Cooking tips for oil
Oil is used in large quantities in almost all the recipes. With today’s methods and traditions of cooking, oil is used to cook a good portion of what we eat, but the question is: it that healthy? Are there healthy cooking oil options? Of course there are healthy cooking oil options! You just need to know the right places to go and you also should have a good idea of what kind of cooking oil your particular dish or meal may need because that varies depending on the dish or style of cooking. When looking at cooking oil from the healthy side, take a look at the nutrition label and hone in on the fat information. There are «good fats» and «bad fats» when it comes to food and you should know what the good fats are and what the bad fats are so you can take appropriate action when choosing a cooking oil. Try to find cooking oils that are lower in saturated and trans-fats because those are the not-so-good fats. If you can find oils with a higher content of mono- and polyunsaturated fats then you’re in a good place. You may need to use cooking oil for many basic cooking needs, but it doesn’t have to be so unhealthy! Now you need to select a cooking oil based on what exactly you’re cooking. Various cooking oils include: olive, palm, soybean, canola, pumpkin seed, corn, peanut, grape seed, sesame, argan, and rice bran. Wow—that’s a lot of oil! And the best part is that all these oils fall under the «vegetable oil» category. The function of a cooking oil deals primarily with the temperature. The function of an oil may change with temperature and so, depending on what you’re cooking, you’ll want to take temperature into account before you choose an oil. For temperatures higher than 500 degrees Fahrenheit (high frying temperatures) you’ll want to consider almond, sunflower, peanut, and soybean oils. For moderate frying temperatures, think about using canola, walnut, sesame, or sunflower oil and don’t use olive or corn oil on anything higher than 320 degrees Fahrenheit. The right oil can be good for health and avoid heart problems.
Oil is used in large quantities in almost all the recipes. With today’s methods and traditions of cooking, oil is used to cook a good portion of what we eat, but the question is: it that healthy? Are there healthy cooking oil options? Of course there are healthy cooking oil options! You just need to know the right places to go and you also should have a good idea of what kind of cooking oil your particular dish or meal may need because that varies depending on the dish or style of cooking.
When looking at cooking oil from the healthy side, take a look at the nutrition label and hone in on the fat information. There are «good fats» and «bad fats» when it comes to food and you should know what the good fats are and what the bad fats are so you can take appropriate action when choosing a cooking oil. Try to find cooking oils that are lower in saturated and trans-fats because those are the not-so-good fats. If you can find oils with a higher content of mono- and polyunsaturated fats then you’re in a good place. You may need to use cooking oil for many basic cooking needs, but it doesn’t have to be so unhealthy!
Now you need to select a cooking oil based on what exactly you’re cooking. Various cooking oils include: olive, palm, soybean, canola, pumpkin seed, corn, peanut, grape seed, sesame, argan, and rice bran. Wow—that’s a lot of oil! And the best part is that all these oils fall under the «vegetable oil» category.
The function of a cooking oil deals primarily with the temperature. The function of an oil may change with temperature and so, depending on what you’re cooking, you’ll want to take temperature into account before you choose an oil. For temperatures higher than 500 degrees Fahrenheit (high frying temperatures) you’ll want to consider almond, sunflower, peanut, and soybean oils. For moderate frying temperatures, think about using canola, walnut, sesame, or sunflower oil and don’t use olive or corn oil on anything higher than 320 degrees Fahrenheit. The right oil can be good for health and avoid heart problems.
How to make a hangi
How To Make a Hangi
What is a Hangi? In it’s most basic form a Hangi is the subterranean process of cooking food utilized by the indigenous people from Aotearoa. Strongly associated to the samoan Umu cooking technique, the Hangi cooking approach is most definitely alive these days largely because of the amazingly distinct taste it gives the food. The way a Hangi is prepared is undeniably unique. To put together and cook a Hangi is a laborious operation taking many hours which is typically spread over a couple of days.
Folks who have sampled Hangi cuisine can testify to the complete uniqueness of the flavoring it gives to the food. Hangi food is cooked underground. You heard right, the meal is actually buried in the dirt as part of the cooking process. Any foreign visitor to New Zealand must make the effort to find and taste a Hangi first hand. You can’t truly say that you’ve been to New Zealand if you haven’t eaten a Hangi. This short article briefly describes exactly how a Hangi is prepared in the traditional way. It will give you a much better idea of what is actually involved as well as precisely how much energy goes into planning and making a Hangi.
Step one is to find several specific volcanic rocks to use as a source of heat to steam the food. River boulders, sand stones and also various other sedimentary types of stones won’t do the job simply because they won’t heat up to a high temperature and if you try to raise the temperature of them they can explode, resulting in severe injuries to anyone close by. Finding the proper classification of rocks for this job is absolutely vital to the successful conclusion of ANY Hangi. The second step is when the stones are positioned in a fire and heated for a number of hours up to the point they’re bright hot. It really is important that this is a wood fire exclusively mainly because any different materials may taint the taste of the meal. In New Zealand there are a few exceptional types of timber which are best for this task mainly because they give a special smoky flavor. On the other hand, treated wood or coloring in the timber could make you ill as well as poison your hangi. The third stage is to dig the Hangi Pit. Have as many mates available for this step as possible. The fourth step involves filling the Hangi basket using a mix of raw, but thoroughly defrosted, meat, vegetables, stuffing and one or two steamed puddings. Hangi baskets are usually built with wire or iron. An additional crucial factor to take note of is the way your basket is packed. The spacing, depth and order of the stacking has a strong effect on the outcome of the prepared meal. When the fire has done it’s task the rocks should be transfered into the pit. It’s incredibly important that this particular phase is carried out as efficiently as possible because the more time the rocks are out of the flames, the more energy they will lose. It takes place near a scorching fire and is the most important step. The filled basket ought to be positioned upon the sizzling rocks the instant the exchange has taken place. The next step is to adorn the basket using soaked sacking fabric. The particular type of material used and the amount of material applied here is very important, as is also the depth and placement of these covers around the basket and stones. Once the basket has been sealed it’s time to get hold of those shovels once again and bury the whole thing completely until it’s closed snugly underground. Now that all the hard work is finished it’s time to settle-back and wait, enjoy a beer or two and after a couple of hours dig it up and with some luck if you’ve done the whole thing correctly it’ll be cooked properly.
Hangi food is traditionally served as a public buffet. The food is usually laid out on a table and folks typically help themselves as they please. Excellent Hangi accompaniments normally include fried bread and / or rewena bread. This information is not meant to be a full guide by any means. In order to prepare your own Hangi there’s a whole lot more specific material you need with regards to your equipment, preparation and timing. If any one of these aspects is off your Hangi could quite possibly turn out to be a complete failure. To avoid having to buy KFC it would probably be best to look for more detailed material if you happen to be unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the process.
Nesco watt food dehydrator to the rescue
Nesco 700-Watt Food Dehydrator To The Rescue!
The Nesco 700-Watt Food Dehydrator is my lifesaver this time of year. I generally have these large plans for my garden in the spring when I plant. I think about how I’m going to freeze or can all the additional produce and have wholesome home-grown garden veggies throughout the winter and I plant just one more squash for extra and one more four tomato plants and perhaps just one more row of beans.
This will be the year that I’m going to be prepared for that harvest, then August rolls around. It’s hot out, everything appears to peak at the exact same time, you would like to go on vacation not be inside a sticky stifling kitchen with a canning kettle and there’s only so much room within the freezer. What to do?
I started drying my extra produce a few years ago and haven’t looked back since. Now I plant even yet another four or five tomato plants or patch of beets because they dry so well and it means I’ll have a stock of home-grown garden veggies in the pantry for that winter.
No more stifling hot kitchen in August over a canning kettle or giving up a day at the beach to pickle all those beets or beans until you don’t ever wish to see them again. No more wondering what that badly labeled block of ice something is from the back of the freezer, green peppers possibly?
Now I just pick what’s ready from the morning, do the preparation of slicing or blanching, whatever the vegetable or fruit needs for drying, set the temperature on the dehydrator and check back again in a number of hours for the finished item.
The dried fruit and vegetables take up a great deal less room than frozen or canned goods in my pantry or freezer. They store quickly in zip bags or plastic containers, just ensure that they are absolutely dry prior to storing. Any moisture left in will commence to mold and spoil the complete batch. They’re in particular fine in winter soups and stews where they simmer in the crock pot all day.
With the Nesco 700-Watt Food Dehydrator you have an excellent way of storing those veggies you planted in the spring and be able to enjoy your personal home-grown organic produce all year long.
Theres plenty of places for the power of cinnamon powder
There's Plenty Of Places For The Power Of Cinnamon Powder
There are spices that can work their charms in the background of so many different dished. Cinnamon powder is one of them. She can sweeten, but it’s her aroma that draws us in.
The power of cinnamon powder can be best conjured up in cookies and cakes, most often around Christmas. It’s one of those scents that come to mind when we think of winter and snow, fires aglow, and of grandmothers and mittens, and things.
Versatile is another great way to describe this spice. A dash here and there of cinnamon powder can change the taste without being noticed, as in chili and when used in other meat recipes. She works her magic subtly.
Anything with chocolate is fair game for this spice, and even coffee turns divine with a half a teaspoon of cinnamon in the brew. While it’s amazing for breakfast, you can always save it for more special occasions, or simply for dessert. Sprinkle the top of frothy milk with it. Add a chocolate square at each place for an added touch.
Even when the sun is shining, she can work with you to create mouthwatering delights. Add cinnamon to salad dressings and on fruit.
Your children and relatives will never want to go home if you serve them cinnamon sugar toast. Their dentists might smile, but life is for living, so live it. Just have them brush their teeth straight after breakfast.
The recipe is basically more sugar than cinnamon, make a small batch and test it out. Once you’ve found your perfectly sweet combination, make up a bigger batch and store it in a container or a spice bottle on the rack. Don’t forget to label it, so no one else mistakes it for plain cinnamon!
Let’s get back to the power of this spice in beef. I mentioned chili, but there is also spaghetti sauce. That’s right. This will add a touch of sweetness that most won’t be able to put their finger on, but it will linger there nonetheless.
Try it with pork, especially for recipes that produce a sweet taste. Again, it doesn’t take much to tweak with this spice.
Sweet cinnamon, whose flavor is most often pronounced, is, of course, the baker’s friend. Whether you favor raisins or not, cinnamon buns need plenty of spice to turn out right.
Such projects are fun to do together. Helpers make the work go faster, and they’ll be able to create their own designs. This can ensure that there are no leftovers, as everyone will want to gobble up their creations. It’s also a great way to introduce them to the pleasure of getting their hands, up to their elbows, in batter.
Be aware, they are going to lick their fingers clean, so instill rules about when, so they’ll try and hold out until the end.
The power of a little cinnamon powder can bring so much pleasure. It’s one of the top spices to add to your must-use list. Don’t be caught without it.
Cinnamon is a powerful scent that holds many memories for folks. It can also help introduce children to the marvels of baking.