Season Your Pans for Non Stick Cooking
October 22, 2007
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to cook a delicious meal and having it stick to the bottom of the pan. A well season or cured pan will make cooking more fun, easier to clean and create better tasting food. There is a saying in the restaurant business; Hot pan ? Cold oil. Meaning never put the oil in a cold pan and then heat it up. By heating the pan first and then adding the oil, then immediately the food, you’ll have much less sticking. Furthermore if you season the pan when you first purchase it, you will have even better results.
Curing by metal types
Stainless Steel ? Unfortunately stainless steel cannot be seasoned because of the hardness of the metal. A matter of fact I don’t know of a single restaurant which uses stainless steel pan. They are great for storing food because the food won’t react with the metal, but horrible for cooking. My advice is just stay away from them altogether.
Best Casserole Recipe: Hot Dog Casserole
October 22, 2007
Best Casserole Recipe: Hot Dog Casserole
by: Donna Monday
This delicious hot dog recipe will add some fun to your dinner table.
1 1/3 cups dry mash potato mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
2 teaspoons mustard
4 to 6 hot dogs
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare mashed potatoes as directed on package, using water, milk, margarine and salt. Stir in relish, mayonnaise, onion and mustard. Spread into ungreased 1-quart casserole.
Cut each hot dog lengthwise in half, then crosswise in half. Insert hot dog pieces around edge of mashed potatoes.
Bake 25-30 minutes.
About The Author
© Donna Monday
Over 100 easy-to-make meals at your fingertips
http://www.best-casserole-recipes.com
Do I Really Need to Follow a Recipe?
October 21, 2007
These days, its seems like everyone is looking for different recipes to add to their tried and true favorites. Many people are looking for recipes that are low carb or that fit into the type of diet they are on. Or, they are looking for a new things they can make for busy nights like crock pot recipes or quick recipes. Maybe you are looking for a new cookie recipe or even an easy gourmet recipe.
Whatever your choice is, you can usually do a search for them online.
There are many, many websites full of different and new recipes for you to try. Most web sites offering recipes are able to provide them free of charge. With so many people looking to expand their cooking ability or learn new recipes, the web is a wonderful tool.
Search for quick recipes online and you may find not only recipes that are quick, but time saving tips and things you can do ahead to make dinner time quick and simple. You may find many types of quick recipes as well from crock pot recipes that are prepared well ahead of time to easy gourmet recipes. You’ll find low carb or low fat recipes to meet your needs.
Best Casserole Recipe: Vegetable and Bean Polenta Pie
October 20, 2007
Best Casserole Recipe: Vegetable and Bean Polenta Pie
by: Donna Monday
Here’s a great meatless polenta recipe for those who enjoy this traditional Italian staple.
Polenta
1 ½ cups yellow cornmeal
2 ½ cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Filling
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1 cup coarsely chopped onions
1 cup coarsely chopped green bell pepper
1 small zucchini, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 (15.5 oz.) can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 (14.5 oz.) can tomato paste
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9 or 10-inch deep-dish glass pie pan.
In medium saucepan, combine cornmeal and broth. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in margarine, egg and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add onions and bell pepper; cook and stir until tender. Stir in zucchini, beans, tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 5 minutes.
Best Casserole Recipe: Potato Taco Casserole
October 19, 2007
Best Casserole Recipe: Potato Taco Casserole
by: Donna Monday
Here’s a slight twist on the traditional taco casserole recipe. The cheesy potatoes add another level of flavor to the tasty beef and seasoned cheese. Run for the border indeed!
½ pound ground beef
1 package au gratin potatoes
2 ¼ cups boiling water
2/3 cup milk
1 cup shredded taco-seasoned cheese
1 cup coarsely broken tortilla chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook beef in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain.
Mix uncooked potatoes, sauce mix, boiling water and milk in ungreased 2-quart round casserole. Stir in beef and ½ cup of cheese.
Bake uncovered 30 minutes or until top is light golden brown. Sprinkle chips over casserole; sprinkle remaining cheese over chips.
Bake 3 to 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand 2 minutes before serving.
About The Author
© Donna Monday
Over 100 easy-to-make meals at your fingertips
http://www.best-casserole-recipes.com
Cooking Lobster at Home
October 18, 2007
Lobster has always be one of those extravagant meals which few people ever try because of the high cost. With restaurants paying thirty dollars a pound, by the time they put their markup on it, you’re easily paying sixty dollars for a ten ounce tail. This high cost leaves lobster dinners for the well-to do or at least only for special occasions. But, this doesn’t have to be.
With more and more retail store offering lobster, you can create a romantic dinner for two at a reasonable price. If you buy two eight ounce tails for thirty dollars, that’s only fifteen dollars a person. Add a starch and vegetable and it’s still cheaper than going out to dinner and having steak or even chicken. Turn the lights down low, add a candle and ship the kid’s off to grandma’s house.
Cooking lobster is relatively easy. There are hundred’s of recipes on the internet or in books. The simplest way is to split the shell down the top, pull the meat out of the shell about 90% of the way and lay it on top of the shell. Place in a pan with a little water and cover with foil (do not let the foil touch the lobster). Cook at 350 degrees until the meat turns white (around 140 F) then baste with butter and season with salt and pepper. As with any food, avoid the temptation to overcook it. When overcooked the lobster meat will become tough and less appealing.
Best Casserole Recipe: Wonderful Wild Rice Casserole
October 17, 2007
Best Casserole Recipe: Wonderful Wild Rice Casserole
by: Donna Monday
Wild rice is healthy and delicious, but sometimes it gets boring. Well, here’s a wild rice recipe that will spice things up a bit.
1 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed
3 cups water
6 slices bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 cup chopped onions
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped carrot
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 (10 ½ oz.) can condensed chicken and rice soup
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In medium saucepan, combine wild rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 50 to 60 minutes or until rice is tender and water is absorbed.
Meanwhile, grease a 1 ½-quart casserole dish.
In large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet; drain on paper towels.
Discard all but 1 tablespoon drippings in skillet. Add onions, celery, and carrot; cook and stir 3 to 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in mushrooms; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in soup and bacon.
Low Carb Recipes Actually Taste Great!
October 17, 2007
Many people are beginning diets that encourage low carb recipes these days. But, what are low carb recipes? What things can and cannot be made into a low carb recipe? Following your diets strict guidelines is important, but using the Internet as a tool will help you. For instance, you may do a search for quick recipes and come up with many low carb options. There are many different diets to choose from that have low carb rules. But, many recipes may also be able to be changed into low carb by making simple changes. Meat recipes are probably the most oblivious choice including chicken as it is such a healthy option in most cases. But, what about other choices? Cookie recipes may be the most difficult to find, but choices for sweets will be found. What about a special occasion? Yes, you can easily find easy gourmet recipes as well. Make in advance crockpot recipes? Yes, those too will be found with a little devoted looking.
How Are Jelly Beans Made
October 16, 2007
How Are Jelly Beans Made
by: Gray Rollins
One of the questions that I hear all of the time as a candy manufacturer is “how are jelly beans made?” This is a very important question and one that has a solid place in history.
All jelly beans are made up of a few basic ingredients. These ingredients include sugar, starch and corn syrup. These are the bases with which the jelly beans are made, there are of course other things used to flavor and color the beans but the above are the main body of the jelly beans. http://www.youreaster.com/jellybeans/howarejellybeansmade/
For the most part jelly beans are flavored by fruit juices, artificial flavoring, fruit pectin or powders. The flavors will generally match with the color of the beans and the colors are created with dyes.
Some of the jelly beans that are manufactured for today’s market contain no fat and next to no calories. These will have some ingredient switched out for this kind of result. They are made the same but with a few different ingredients.
An Introduction to Wine
October 15, 2007
What is wine?
Wine has been made for centuries from just a two simple ingredients: yeast and grape juice. Actually, just about any fruit juice can be used, but by far the majority of all wine is made from the juice of the grape.
How is wine made?
Yeast is the magical ingredient that turns grape juice into wine. Interestingly enough, there is actually wild yeast spores in the air and all that is really needed to make wine is an open container of grape juice and time. The result however, would probably not be the most palatable of beverages.
There are numerous strains of yeasts and the types used to make wine have been cultured just for this purpose. Well anyway, yeast is a living organism that feeds off of sugars in the grape juice in a process called fermentation.
During fermentation, yeast spores will reproduce exponentially until all of the fermentable sugars have been consumed. During this fermentation process, the sugars are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The yeast will also impart a taste to the finished wine depending on various factors such as the strain of yeast used, the temperature during fermentation and other factors.
