- Graham crackers
- Jar of Nutella
- Marshmallows
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Delicious Nutella S'mores
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Secrets To Great Cooking
Secrets To Great Cooking
1. Collecting Good Recipes - Good recipes come from many sources not just cookbooks. Many can come from family and friends. The benefit of collecting recipes this way is you taste thembefore hand. Live cooking demonstrations sometimes offeres free samples. When collecting recipes keep them organized in either a notebooks, recipe box, in the computer, or even online.
2. Use only the best equipment- Good equipment makes work in the kitchen easier. A good thing to invest in would me a good knife set. But as always go with the best you can afford.
3. Keep it Simple- Some of the best tasting meals in the world are the simplest. Simple meals have fewer ingredients and they compliment each other superbly. Adding too many ingredients to a dish can create a canceling of other flavors as well as overwhelming it.
4. Buy Top Quality Ingredients- Leading chefs only use the freshest and best tasing food the can find. Even the best chefs is the world would have difficulty making food taste good from inferior products. However this does not mean that eveything has to be made from scratch. Always good for quality and freshness when purchasing pre-packaged times. If cost is an issue go for smaller portions. Better a healthier small amount than a larger inferior product.
5. Use Complimentary Foods- A secret to cooking well lies in combining complimentary foods, where one ingredients actually enhances the favor of the other. For example favorite combinations are tomato and basil, another would be brown sugar and cinnamon. There are many endless possibilites.
Hopefully this list will makes cooking for some of you easier to understand and also a helpful guide to preparing delicious quality foods. I will try and post some new recipes soon. Good luck and Good Eating!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Hmmm noticed I haven't been here in a while...
Friday, November 9, 2007
Teaching Cooking
I would love to be able to teach someone how to tell when cookies or a cake is done by the smell of it, be able to make a pot of rice without having to measuring anything, or know an amount of food simply by looking at it.
Basically teach them confidence in what they do, so no matter what they will always be successful. I believe that is the main reason why so many people dislike cooking, they lack the confidence to do it well. I have also come up with 3 other reasons why ppl don't like to cook.
1) Time issues:
In our society everything has to be fast, even the food. And I am sorry but GOOD food can NOT be rushed. Now with a little preparation ahead of time one can make a good yet quick meal.
2) Negatiave experiences with food:
If the only time someone got to cook was with someone they don't like or prepare something they don't like then they probably won't like cooking. Also having to prepare a meal when you are tired all the time for others or forced to because no one else will can make ppl hate cooking.
3) Someone you know is bad at it:
Particullary the main cook in your household, if you have a bad teacher then you will probably not make good food yourself. This is not always the case but it can affect your ability to do certain things because you were not taught how to do it or how to do it correctly.
These are just a few of the things that I will be teaching when I finally get to that point, my aim as before is to build confidence in and through cooking but also to be able to turn a few minds around about cooking. Well more on this later!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
1st Post, Fall Food
Fall Apple Candied Yams
- 4-5 cooked yams
- 4 large apples (Granny Smiths or other tart apples)
- 1 cup Brown Sugar (you can you dark brown for more of a molasses taste)
- 1 cup margarine or butter, melted PLUS 2 Tbs.
- 1 1/2 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chopped Walnuts
1. Core and peel apples, cut them into moons. In a large saucepan use saute apples with 2 Tbs. margarine or butter until slightly transparent.
2. Cut cooked yams into equal sized moons and alternate with the apples in a greased 13"X9" pan.
3. To 1/2 cup of the melted margarine or butter add brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
4. Pour mixture over the yams and apples.
5. Bake for 20 minutes at 350.
6. With remaining 1/2 cup melted butter pour over yam and apples top with the walnuts and bake an additional 20 minutes.
ENJOY!
Hints:
- If you don't like walnuts you can use whatever nut you like, pecans are very good with this too!
- You can sprinkle on the brown sugar after you add the melted margarine or butter for a nice crust on the yams and apples.
I love this recipe and I hope that you all like it just as much!
