Finding Cooking Recipes For You

Cooking recipes can range from a simple grilled chicken breast to the exotic such as Beef Wellington. The problem is that most people become intimidated by the thought of stepping outside of their comfort zone.

The chefs on television make it look simple yet when we stare at the recipe we get lost in the myriad of ingredients and the techniques needed to bring the dish to life. The reality is that anyone can cook a great meal if they know some simple shortcuts and tips.

Healthy cooking has become the mantra of today's health conscious society. Everywhere we turn there are ads telling us "No trans fats" or "zero calories" not to mention the hype surrounding carbohydrate-free meals. The secret to cooking recipes low in fat and healthy for us is to use the outer aisle.

No, the outer aisle is not some weird third dimension. In a grocery store the outer aisles are where you can find vegetables, meats, dairy, eggs and breads. Most layouts follow this floor plan.

Low carb recipes are very simple to prepare once you have the necessary ingredients. Avoid carbohydrates that are not filling. When making a choice between white flour and whole wheat, choose the whole wheat.

It is more filling and has the essential nutrients you need without the abundance of carbohydrates. Cooking recipes that utilize fresh vegetables and lean meats are a great way to avoid too many carbohydrates.

If you are a vegetarian, look to the salad bar at your local grocery store. Many people find themselves lacking the time to cut and chop vegetables. The salad bar takes the work out of whipping up a quick stir-fry dish. The vegetables are already cut, washed and ready to eat.

For protein consider adding tofu or chickpeas. A vegetarian meal does not have to be bland. There are many free recipes on the internet for vegetarian meals.

Cooking recipes that are fast and simple seem to be very popular thanks to Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals. The premise is great food prepared and cooked in less than thirty minutes. These appeals to those that find themselves pressed for time after work.

The meals are nutritious, appealing and simple for anyone to prepare. The key is having ingredients that do not require an excessive amount of time to cook.

We have all had recipes that turned out to be fitting only for the garbage disposal. Take heart from the mistakes and know that every cook has made them. Find the recipes that appeal to you and experiment them. Fit them to your taste and lifestyle and you will meet with success.

It is important to have a good time in the kitchen. Invite a few friends over and have a dinner party. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we start all over again.

Secrets to Making the Perfect Cookie

If you've wondered about the secret to baking perfect cookies, keep in mind that there are several factors that contribute to making a cookie turn out just right.

First, begin by making sure you have all the ingredients asked for in your recipe and that you understand all the terms.

Be sure you have all the ingredients called for and that you understand the recipe clearly.

Get all your pots, pans and equipment assembled in one place. Clear out a work area or a portion of the kitchen counter before you start work. Baking demands accuracy in measurement as well as method. Makes sure you use standard measuring cups and spoons.

While measuring liquids like oil, water and milk use a clear glass or plastic measuring cup. To measure the level of liquid in a measuring cup, place it on the counter and bend down to check the liquid at eye level.

Check the expiration dates on both the baking soda and baking powder. Sift the baking powder and baking soda along with the flour before you add in any of the wet ingredients. This way the baking powder and soda will spread through the cookie dough evenly and you will not end up with cookies with large gaps in them.

Makes sure you do not use more baking soda than asked for in your recipe. Too much baking soda results in cookies that have a salty, chemical-like flavor. If you are cooking at a high altitude, leave out the baking soda completely. The lower pressure at high altitude areas makes the cookie dough spread automatically so the additional baking soda is not required.

Use the exact kind of flour specified in the recipe. Cake flour, all-purpose flour and bread flour all work differently. While measuring flour, make sure you use level off the top using a spatula so that your measurements are exact.

Before adding in nuts, smell as well as taste them to see they are fresh. Nuts contain oil that can leave a rancid smell if stored for too long.

Check that the eggs are within the expiration date. Ensure that you use the right size of eggs. If the recipe calls for large size eggs, don't substitute medium sized eggs.

To make a good cookie dough, you should ensure that the butter is at room temperature. Do not melt the butter in the microwave, as it will turn too soft. Take the butter out of the refrigerator at least an hour before you plan to start getting the rest of your ingredients together. If you are short on time, cut up the butter into smaller pieces or grate the butter. This will increase the surface area and help the butter melt faster.

In case you are using shortening, make sure it smells right. Many of the newer trans-free shortenings tend to have a very short shelf life and give out a bad smell. So make sure all your efforts do not go waste due to foul smelling shortening.

Basmati Rice Cooking - The Recipe to a Great Meal

Basmati Rice Cooking is part of your recipe for a fine meal. You can find this rice in most super markets. You will taste a distinctive flavor that you will not find in any other rice. This rice goes well with red meat like steak. It compliments fish and chicken. And of course you can use it in any vegetarian meal.

What is your preferred way to cook rice... Stove top or rice cooker? Some simply do not trust the rice cooker. While some will not give up their rice cooker for anything.

You have to master the rice cooker if you have not used one before. It takes some practice but once you learn how you can set the cooker and allow it to cook rice without you having to watch it like you do when cooking rice on the stove top.

Some will soak the basmati rice before preparing it. This is because some believe this rice has a high starch level. They will even triple wash it before soaking it. This produces a firmer rice. But some like to prepare a sticky rice. If you like sticky rice then forget the soaking and washing. Just start cooking.

One way to have flavored rice is to replace the water with chicken broth or beef broth if you want a rich flavor. If you have to eat a sodium reduced diet you can find chicken and beef broth low in sodium at most stores.

If you want to cook the rice faster than the traditional method cover the pan and bring the liquid and rice to a boil. Rather than turning down the heat and allowing the rice to simmer until the liquid is gone allow the rice to boil. Keep your eye on the pan to keep it from over flowing.

When the liquid is gone take the pan off the fire. Allow it to sit for about five minutes allowing the moisture to evaporate. Check it with a fork to see if it is ready to eat. Do not worry about over cooking the rice with this method. But if you need to cook rice in a hurry this method will cut the traditional cook time in half. There are many ways you can experiment with basmati. There is no right or wrong way to prepare this versatile rice. After awhile you will develop some great recipes of your own.

The Key Principle to Create a Solid Recipe For Red Lobster Biscuits

Are you interested in creating your own recipe for Red Lobster biscuits? Then welcome to the club. Not that there's a real club, but thousands of us like to think of ourselves as culinary Sherlock Holmes trying to investigate the true form of Red Lobster restaurant recipes. In actual fact, most of us are only stumbling along like Lestrade - we frequently think we've got it, but at the last moment the truth slips away from our fingers. That's alright, though. The more Red Lobster biscuit recipes we try out, the more we learn. And getting there is half the fun, don't you agree?

Never forget that the recipe for these biscuits was not created overnight. There was much trial and error involved - two steps forward, one step back. Getting the recipe right just so was like exploring a maze with many dead ends and retracing of steps. The unique delicate taste, the airy texture, the way the biscuits seem to melt in your mouth. Red Lobster got it right in a way that became a hit with their customers. So when you try to duplicate these biscuits, remember that you'll need to go through lots of trial and error yourself.

Don't worry, I guarantee that your first time will be a disaster. But as long as you persist in your efforts, as long as you get more and more practice, you will get better and better results. With more experience under your belt, you'll get closer and closer to the perfect biscuit. Remember that Edison failed a thousand times before he invented the light bulb.

Not that you NEED to fail a thousand times. Just look around for cookbooks or recipe websites which have Red Lobster biscuit recipes. If you follow the steps in the recipe, you'll get your perfect biscuit faster. This doesn't mean you won't fail - it just means you'll succeed faster. After all, no recipe can cover every detail. Remember that practice makes perfect! If at first your biscuits look or taste weird, just try to figure out what went wrong and do it again.

Don't worry about it. Just have fun and you'll eventually be able to make your own perfect Red Lobster restaurant biscuits. Remember that nothing worthwhile comes without practice. The same goes for these heavenly biscuits.

Starter Recipe Ideas For a Dinner Party

If you are having a dinner party, you might be wondering about starter recipes. You probably already have the main course in mind and, whether that is going to be beef, chicken, something Chinese, fondue or something else, how do you choose which starter recipe to make? Actually it is not that hard to find something delicious.

With a dinner party, the idea of a starter is to whet the appetites of your guests. You do not want to fill them up because that would spoilt their appetite for their main course but you want to give them something tasty, appealing and the right amount of food to whet their appetite and make them want more, without filling them up too much.

Contrasting the Starter Recipe with the Main Course

When thinking about starter recipes ideas for dinner parties, you can break the different starters down into categories. Do you want to serve a hot starter recipe or a cold one? Do you want to serve meat, fish or vegetarian starters?

If you are serving chicken as the main course, for example, what about making a fish or seafood starter? If you are serving roast beef for the main course, you could serve a chicken starter recipe or something with fish. If you are making vegetarian food, you can serve a vegetarian starter.

Try to contrast the different courses. As much as your guests might love the chicken main course which you have been making, they will not want a chicken starter recipe before it. If you are serving lobster for the main course, you should choose something other than seafood for the starter, unless you are having a seafood themed evening!

A Few Easy Starter Ideas

A soup or a salad makes a good starter and there are lots of types of soups and salads to choose from. There are hot soups, warm ones and chilled ones and there are all different kinds of salads too.

You can make a simple soup or an easy, basic salad and this makes a perfectly adequate starter. Another easy option is garlic bread. Cut a baguette loaf into pieces, crush some garlic into some oil and spread the mixture over the bread, adding some finely chopped fresh parsley to the mixture. Put it under the grill until it is golden brown and serve that.

There are plenty of easy recipes for starters and you might want to make a classic recipe or something a little more unusual. Try to find out in advance if your guests have any preferences or allergies, so you can choose something they will love.

Bacon Wrapped Starter Ideas

You can wrap bacon around banana chunks, dates or prawns and deep fry them for a couple of minutes until the filling is hot and the bacon is crisp and golden brown. Grilling works for this too and these are starters which will smell incredibly good.

To make bacon-stuffed dates, which are really tasty, you need to remove the stones from a pack of dates, stuff blue cheese into them and wrap bacon around them. Use toothpicks to secure them and deep fry them or put them under the grill until the bacon is crisp. This is a really delicious recipe for a starter.

Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

This is an easy recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce with meatballs. While the cooking time is long, this can be mostly unsupervised, just give it an occasional stir. If you desire, you can use the crock pot or the pressure cooker for this recipe, those instructions are included at the end.

You can add other herbs to suit your liking. I've known cooks to add parsley, bay leaves, oregano, marjoram, or take the easy way out and use 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning mix instead of the thyme. Experiment until you find the mix your family prefers.

Italian Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

3/4 pound ground beef

1/4 pound ground pork sausage meat

3/4 cup dry bread crumbs - I like Italian style seasoned

2 small eggs

1 clove garlic, or 1 teaspoon minced garlic, or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

12 ounces tomato paste

1 large can of tomatoes or 2 regular cans

1 cup water

1 medium onion, sliced

1 green pepper, diced

1 tablespoon sugar

1 4 ounce can mushrooms

1/2 teaspoon thyme or other herbs as desired

2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Mix the meats, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and eggs. Form into meatballs the about 1-1 1/2 inches in diameter. Brown in the olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven (if cooking sauce on the stovetop).


2. When meatballs are brown, remove from the pan and add the onion and green pepper. Saute for a few minutes.


3. Return the meat balls to the pot and add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours on the stovetop stirring occasionally. You're going to want to cover this, tomato sauces tend to spit occasionally.

You can simmer on low in the crock pot all day until you are ready to serve, or you can also pressure cook this for 20 minutes at low pressure (5lbs.) When using either of these methods, follow the instructions completely until the cooking step. When using the crock pot, I reduce the water to about 1/2 cup or until the thickness you desire.

Preparing Lobster - Top Chef Explains How To Store, Prepare And Cook Live Lobsters

Lobster Thermidor Recipe

Storage

Live Lobsters are reasonably hardy creatures. They store well in the bottom of the fridge, covered with a damp cloth and can survive for up to a week, they should be checked regularly, if in any doubt of their freshness cook them straight away. Once cooked treat as any cooked food and store for up to three days in the coldest part of your fridge.

Killing Lobsters.

There are many different ways to kill a Lobster from drowning it in fresh water to dropping it into boiling water or even using a large chef's knife through the centre of its head between the eyes. Don't remove the bands on it's claws, they were put there to prevent them eating each other as they are carnivorous and also for your fingers safety too! They can snap at you very fast at room temperature so be careful not to get on the wrong side of it!

Cooking.

1. Using the largest saucepan you have, half fill with fresh water and add plenty of salt, and bring to a vigorous boil.

2. Drop the Lobster in and bring back to the boil.

3. When the water comes back to the boil wait about 15 mins for up to 1 1/2lb and add 5 mins per pound over that.

4. When cooked, strain the water into your sink and wash off the lobster in cold water.

5. Refrigerate if not required immediately

6. Pull off the claws and crack them, and remove the white meat.

7. Either pull off the tail and peel like a prawn, then cut the body lengthwise in half. Remove the grey gills.

8. Or using a large pointed chef's knife, locate the centre of the cross conveniently located on the top of the shell, and push the point vertically through the shell and down through between the eyes. Turn the fish around and with the knife reversed in the same hole cut down through the tail. Separate the meat as above.

Recipe: Lobster Thermidor

Ingredients

1x750g/1½lb lobster, cooked 20g/¾oz

fresh parmesan, grated

For the sauce

30g/1oz butter 1 shallot, finely chopped 1x284ml/

10fl oz tub fresh fish stock 55ml/2fl oz white wine 100ml/

3½ fl oz double cream

½ tsp English mustard

2 tbsp chopped parsley

½ lemon, juice only salt freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cut the lobster in half and remove the meat from the claws and tail. Leave to one side. Remove any meat from the head and set aside. Cut the meat up into pieces and place back into the shell.

2. For the sauce, put the butter in a pan, add the shallots and cook until softened. Add the stock, wine and double cream and bring to the boil. Reduce by half. Add the mustard, herbs, lemon juice and seasoning.

3. Pre-heat the grill and spoon the sauce over the lobster meat. Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese. Place the lobster halves under a pre-heated grill for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.

If you would like to know more hints and tips like these then why not sign up to receive my free newsletter at superchefsecrets.co.uk

Healthy and Balanced Barbecue Chicken Mix Kabobs Recipe

This is another swell recipe for your barbecue's list.
As we know, meat make up of a large portion of food we grill during our barbecue.
However, in order for us to enjoy a healthy and balance meal, we need to consume vegetables.
Therefore, this chicken mix kabob is a combination of meat and veggie which give you the necessary nutrient for a healthy meal.

Ingredients

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serving Size: 4

- 4 strip of chicken fillets 150g

- 2 1/2 piece of hotdogs (optional)

- 1/4 small yellow onion

- 1/4 red capsicum

- 1/4 green capsicum

- 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce

- 1 1/4 teaspoons of sugar

- 2 teaspoons of dried margoram

- 1 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

- 1/2 teaspoon of dried dill leaf

- 2 teaspoons of olive oil

- 8 bamboo sticks or skewers

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper

Preparation

1. Cut the red capsicum, green capsicum into 1.5 inch pieces. Cut the yellow onion about 1/2 inches width. Place them into the mixing bowl. Add the 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon of dill leaf tips and sprinkle some salt and black pepper into the bowl, and stir to coat well. Put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour

2. Cut the chicken fillets about 1.5 inches pieces and place the chicken fillet into another mixing bowl (Not together with the vegetables). Add in 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1 1/4 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of salt,1 teaspoon of dried thyme and 2 teaspoon of marjoram, stir to coat well. Put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

3. Cut the hotdog into 3 equal pieces. Fill bamboo sticks /skewers with pieces that are uniform in size and leave a little space between pieces so everything gets equally and thoroughly cooked. Don't overload bamboo stickers /skewers with food packed tightly together.
You are free to arrange the pieces in any order.
(My Kabob combination: Onion, Chicken fillet, red capsicum, chicken fillet, green capsicum, hotdog)
Put the Kabobs in the refrigerator until you are ready to grill.

Outdoor Grilling Method

1. Let then heat to stable first before setting the kabobs on the grill.

2. Turn the kabobs frequently as they're grilling. You have to grill for about 12 - 15 minutes (depending on the actual temperature) before serving

Oven Grilling Method

1. Set the oven mode to toast and preheat the oven to 180C before setting the Kabob on the grills.

2. Cook for 10 - 15 minutes before serving.

This article is provided by I love that Recipe.

Soul Food Recipes - 3 Embarrassing Cooking Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Soul food recipes can help make your life easier in the kitchen. They help you avoid the trial and error frustrations our great-grandmother's had to go through. She often test dishes for months or years to get a it right. Because of today's recipes we can take advantage of others work and effort and enjoy the tasty results and time-saving benefits.

But regardless of the obvious benefits, cooking mistakes can still happen when attempting to follow a recipe you can't wait to try. I receive many letters from readers confused as to why a certain recipe didn't turn out right. On closer examination it's normally one of the 3mistakes I'll list in this article. In fact, if you make sure to avoid making these 3 mistakes your recipe will have a 75% chance of turning out right.

However, if you make one of these mistakes your dish will have a 75% chance of turning out wrong. Either, bland, tasteless, dry, or generally inedible.

1. Missing the Action Words. Many times people go over the ingredients they'll need for the recipe with a fine tooth comb. But they'll often miss one or more of the action words or verbs in the menu. For example, chop, dice, mince, fold, simmer, etc. They'll rapidly boil instead of simmer or they'll dice instead of mince. They'll often miss a little detail that could change the integrity, taste and overall result of they dish.

2. Not Fully Understanding Cooking Terms. You can trace many mistakes back to this one basic mistake. Not knowing what a specific action term means. If a recipe requires you to broil and you thought it said boil. Or you stir when the recipe said to whip, especially if your making a topping, your result will be less than satisfactory. A good tip is to simply keep a dictionary close by , if in doubt about a term look it up. Better to take 2 minutes to look up a term you're not sure about than waste time making a bad recipe mistake.

3. Not Checking Your Temperature This is a biggie although it may see obvious at first glance. A large percentage of recipe mistakes happen because of temperature problems. One point to keep in mind is realizing many ovens heat differently because of calibration, altitude and other factors. So, after you've made sure you've set the temperature correctly, make sure you check the food often.

As you follow these simple but important solutions you'll start to get more soul food recipe confidence - and experience more mistake-free recipe success.

Looking For Mothers Day Ideas - What About Recipe Software?

Does your Mother enjoy cooking? Is she a great cook or just learning how to cook? Either way, a great gift for her would be recipe software. She can use it to keep her own recipes organized, Have you ever seen her going through a stack of papers that have one recipe scribbled on each piece of paper looking for a specific recipe? She can also use the software to download recipes from the Internet that she finds interesting instead of printing each recipe out - there's another scrap of paper to keep track of.

Cookbook software has come a long way in the past few years. You can manage your recipe collection, plan meals, create grocery lists, and calculate the nutritional analysis for any recipe. I recommend The Living Cookbook recipe software for many reasons. This software is very easy to use and that is a very important feature for most people. You can format your cookbook to look just like a 'real' cookbook. You can make the print, or font, any size you want. No more reading glasses!

The Living Cookbook software has a 30 day free trial, so you could even download the software and "borrow" your Mothers recipes and make a family cookbook to give her for a Mothers Day gift. You could print the cookbook and take it to a local office supply store and have them laminate the front and back cover and spiral bind it for you for a reasonable price. This would be a really unique Mothers Day crafts project that you could do for her.

The software has a feature that lets you include a picture above each recipe. This could be a picture of the finished dish, or you could scan her original hand written recipe and use that instead. My Mother has passed on, and, believe me, it really is a great feeling to see her original hand writing above those cherished family recipes. We have done another one that includes recipes from my Mother, Grandmother and Aunt. It has recipes that were favorites at family reunions and we used their hand written recipes in the pictures. It really is beautiful. It would be hard to find a more personal gift.

Cooking Tips and Techniques

I have prepared again another cooking technique for you to do at home. Have your Rachael Ray cookware set prepared as we are about to begin the fun of cooking. Now, am going to show you the secrets on how to prepare very delectable brioche dough that your family will surely go craving for.

- Ingredients of Brioche Dough:
- One half cup warm 125ml
- 2tsp sugar 10ml
- 2pkg dry yeast 2pkg
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour 250ml
- 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour 750ml
- 1tsp salt 5ml
- 2tsp sugar 10ml
- 6 eggs 6
- one half pound cold butter 225 g

You measure water into small bowl, and then add 2 tablespoon (10 ml) sugar and stir well to dissolve it. Next, evenly sprinkle yeast over water and let it stand for 10 minutes. Stir it well. Then stir it in 1 cup (25 ml) flour. Beat it hard with a wooden spoon then turn it out on floured board and knead it until it becomes smooth and elastic. Next to that, you shape it into a ball and cut a deep cross in its top with a sharp knife or kitchen shears. Then, you drop the ball of dough into a bowl of warm water and let it stand until it rises to the surface and opens up like a flower.

Finally, you combine the 3 cups (750 ml) of flour, salt, and 2 tablespoon (10 ml) sugar in a large bowl. Then, make a well in the centre of the mixture and then add the eggs. Mix it with a spoon and then with your hands. You beat the dough against side of the bowl by picking it up and slapping it down into the bowl and kneading it until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

On top of it, you carefully wash the butter under cold running water, at the same time kneading it with hands until it becomes very pliable. And then, you hold it in one hand and hit it hard with other hand until all water is beaten out. You add to second dough and work it in with hands.

Above it all, you lift the ball of risen dough out of water and hold in your hands until water drains off. Then, you add the mixture in a large bowl and beat it using your bare hands until the dough will be perfectly soft. Put the combined dough in a greased bowl, sprinkle it lightly with flour, and cover it with damp towel and then let it rise in a warm place until its size doubles up. Do this for about an hour. Lastly, cover it with transparent wrap and chill it overnight. Then, punch it down and roll it to wrap meat as directed.

How to Cook Filet Mignon

Filet mignon! To many peoples' minds, the words themselves speak of excellence, good living and expensive taste. No wonder. Carefully selected and expertly cut, filet mignon is a steak lover's dream.

Filet mignon is a boneless steak that is cut from the tenderloin of the cow, which, as its name implies, yields the tenderest meat.

The filet itself is usually cut into portions between 1 and 2 inches in thickness. Oftentimes, stores sell such portions pre-wrapped with bacon. The reason for this is that file mignon does not contain as much fat marbling as bone-in steak cuts generally do; the bacon, then, substitutes for the missing fat.

If you prefer your marbling to be natural, or you simply don't eat pork, then look for filet mignon that is pink rather than red--the lighter the color the better, in other words. Lighter color=more marbling.

One key point to remember when cooking filet mignon, whether you broil, roast, grill or pan fry it, is to use high heat in the process. A second key point is not to cook it too long; filet mignon is particularly susceptible to drying out as it cooks.

Keeping those two key points in mind, almost any steak recipe will work for filet mignon. Cookbooks and the Web are overflowing with imaginative things you can do with this royal cut of beef. If you've never cooked filet mignon, though, here are two basic recipes to get you started:

Grilled Filet Mignon

Ingredients

4 filets mignons

Salt

Black pepper

Directions

Heat grill. Grill filets mignons for 3 to 5 minutes per side, which will cook them to medium or medium-rare doneness. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Note: Connoisseurs will tell you that filets mignons can only be properly appreciated medium-rare or even rare. I tend to agree. But if you really can't stand the thought of eating steak that pink, feel free to cook longer. Again, start with high heat so as to minimize the time needed to reach your preferred state of doneness.

Sauteed Filet Mignon

Ingredients

4 filets mignons

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons fresh, chopped rosemary

Cooking oil

Directions

Season the filets mignons with the salt and pepper, then sprinkle rosemary over them. Heat a little oil in a skillet over medium to high heat. Place the meat in the skillet and fry for 3 to 5 minutes per side (for medium-rare doneness).

By the way, a red wine such as cabernet sauvignon or burgundy makes a great accompaniment to filet mignon.

Some Useful Barbecue Tips

Hardly nothing could be more soothing than grilling or barbecuing in your backyard a warm evening. Below I will provide you with a few tips about how to make your barbecue even better. In case your visitors might now be turning their heads away from your bbqs during parties or get-togethers, you may be needing a few barbecue recipe recovery. It is possible to dash up the flavor of your traditional barbecue if you follow these barbecue tips:

Add a Few veggies or Fruits

like for example some chunks of pineapple as well as a few slices of cucumber to your grill? This can help make your bbqs appear interesting as well as more scrumptious when you serve them to your loved ones or friends. Including fruits or greens furthermore gives nutritional vitamins that are great for your body. Pineapple chunks, for instance are full of Vitamin C. If you would like your barbecue to look appealing even to health enthusiasts, incorporating a few fruit and veggies is a great idea that you could try.

Make Tastier Meats

Lots of people apply bbq sauces to the meat twenty minutes or even an hour before cooking. The taste, on the other hand, are not able to leak into the meat. That can be done something about by soaking the meats into a marinade or bbq sauce over night or even longer prior to barbecuing. In case you are afraid that the meat could get spoiled, then put the meat as well as the marinade inside the fridge. You will observe that the meat is a lot more yummy when it's drenched for a longer time in the marinade.

Make Your Meat More Tender

People don't like to eat chewing gum as if it was meat, therefore it could be smart to serve meats that can be chewed and eaten without problems. This can be achieved by keeping the meat in the marinade for a longer time. Some likes to add white wine in the marinade as well. You can also opt for younger as well as more tender meats for your barbecue.

Make Your Marinade More Tasty

In case you are making your own barbecue marinade rather than purchasing ready to use bbq sauces, you could make the marinade more tasty through the use of a bunch of spices such as garlic, onion as well as pepper. Additionally, you can include pineapple juice in your marinade allow it a tangy flavor plus more vitamins C. Do this next time you put together a barbecue marinade and you will notify the yummy difference.

When you're cooking barbecue, make it more flavorful and delicious by using these tips; both you and your guests will appreciate that.

Pan Seared And Baked Hawaiian Wahoo-Ono

Ono, commonly known as wahoo, is a close relative of the king mackerel. Unlike true mackerel, ono rarely school, but groups may be found around fish aggregation buoys. Surface catches indicate that ono associate with banks, pinnacles and flotsam. However, longline catches suggest that this species is also widely distributed in the open ocean. Ono may grow to more than 100 pounds in round weight, but the usual size of the fish caught in Hawaii is 8 to 30 pounds in round weight.

Ono flesh is whiter, flakier, and has a more delicate texture than the meat of other fast-swimming, pelagic species. Although ono may make oceanic migrations as far as those of tuna and marlin, it contains less of the strong-tasting "blood meat" muscle that the latter species use for long-distance swimming.

This recipe can be done inside or on your grill. If grilled, expect the cooking time to be 4 to 5 minutes per side. Ono provides a great canvass for all kinds of side dishes from fried rice to Asian vegetable sautee.

Ingredients:

Hawaiian Wahoo (Ono) 4/6oz or 8/9oz Fillets

2 Tbsp Smoked Paprika Rub

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Lemon wedges for garnish

Instructions:Spray pan with nonstick spray or brush with olive oil to prevent sticking.

Preheat on med-high for about five minutes.

Pre-Heat Oven to 350 F

Sprinkle the Salt, Pepper & Smoked Paprika Rub on the meat side of the Ono.

Place fillets on grill skin side down and cook, turning once or twice 3-4 Minutes per side.

Move Pan to Oven for 4 to 5 Minutes to finish.

Fish is done when the Ono flakes easily.

Squeeze on fresh lemon and serve hot.

Plating:

Place each Ono Fillet on a Plate with your Side Dish.

Easy Dutch Oven Recipes - Getting Started Cooking With Your Dutch Oven

Dutch Oven cooking is fun and easy. Dutch oven recipes are abundant and adapting them from your favorite home recipes is easy. With a little experience you'll find that it is fairly simple to cook with your Dutch oven. Here are some easy Dutch oven recipes to try:

Easy Dutch Oven Mountain Man Hash

1 lb. Bacon or sausage

2 lbs frozen potatoes (shredded or southern style)

1 dozen eggs

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cut bacon/sausage into smaller pieces (about 1"). Cook the bacon or sausage in the Dutch oven. Add potatoes, cover with lid with coals on top. Cook until potatoes are done, stirring occasionally. Mix eggs together in a bowl and pour on top of potatoes. Replace lid with coals on top and cook until eggs are done (shouldn't need a long time if the lid is hot). When eggs are done, sprinkle cheese on top, replace lid and bake until cheese is melted. Serve as is, or wrap spoonfuls in warmed flour tortillas to make breakfast burritos (provide salsa).

Easy Dutch Oven Taco Pie

1 ½ lbs. Ground beef

1 medium jar of taco sauce

6 large corn tortillas

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

8 oz can of tomato sauce

Brown the ground beef and drain it. Mix the taco sauce and tomato sauce. Line the Dutch oven with tin foil and put 3 tortillas in the bottom. Put ½ of the ground beef on the tortillas and cover with ½ of the sauce. Put 3 more tortilla shells on top, and put the remaining ground beef and sauce on top of those tortillas. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Cover the Dutch oven, place a few coals on top, and bake until the cheese is melted. You could also add onions, olives, mushrooms for some variety.

Easy Dutch Oven Au Gratin Potatoes

8-10 potatoes, sliced thin

2-3 Tbsp. Melted butter or margarine

2-3 medium onions, sliced thin

15 oz can of cheese soup

¼ cup milk

½ cup cracker or bread crumbs

1 cup shredded cheese

Put a little oil in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Put a layer of potatoes in the bottom and brush with the melted butter. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Add a layer of sliced onions. Continue the layering with potatoes and onions as described until all have been used. Mix the soup with the milk and pour over the top. Sprinkle the top with the bread or cracker crumbs. Add any additional desired seasonings. Put Dutch oven over 6-8 briquets and 16-18 briquets on top. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the top with the shredded cheese. Replace lid and let the cheese melt-shouldn't take long.

Easy Dutch Oven Cowboy Stew

4 potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 can of corn

1 can of peas

1 can of stewed tomatoes

1 can of green beans

1 can of baked beans

1 can of tomato soup

Bay leaf

Brown ground beef and onions. Add all other ingredients (don't drain the cans). Add bay leaf and any other desired seasonings, such as salt and pepper. Cook until the potatoes are done.

Easy Dutch Oven Cinnamon Bread

4 cans of refrigerated tube biscuits

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup of sugar

4 tsp cinnamon

Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Mix the sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a zip-lock bag. Put the biscuit quarters in the bag and shake until they are all well-coated. Place the biscuit pieces in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Melt the butter and then pour over the biscuit quarters (you can do this with another pan, or you can use the inverted lid of the Dutch oven to melt the butter). Put 6-8 coals underneath Dutch oven and 14-15 on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

Each of these is a quick and easy Dutch oven recipe and will help you get started with Dutch oven cooking. Have fun!

3 Great Tips to Cook Nice Food at Home

America has some fantastic restaurants with great food but you don't need to pay top dollar to eat top meals. It is more than realistic to cook these restaurant meals in the comfort of your own home for a fraction of the cost. Great food can be had at home if you go about it the right way. Below are the three essential steps to creating great food in the comfort of your own home.

1. Get the right recipe. The internet is your friend when it comes to finding recipes. They are literally everywhere. Whatever you feel like cooking there is probably a recipe for you. First decide on your base recipe, chicken is always a good bet because you can do anything with it. Then hit Google and start searching!

2. Plan ahead. Like many things in life the key to successful cooking is in the preparation. Clean your surfaces and go shopping! There is nothing worse than getting half way through a dish and realizing you don't have all the ingredients. Check you cupboard, don't just try and remember. So you have your ingredients and everything is laid out on the work top. Do any chopping beforehand so you can concentrate on getting your timings right.

3. Enjoy Yourself. Cooking is fun believe it or not. Creating something from scratch that you and everyone in your house can enjoy. Cook for as many people as you can and you will get better, practice makes perfect. The only bad bit is clearing up afterwards.

Cooking is a great way to pass time and help you teach your kids about nutrition. Get the right recipe and your night could be a booming success.

The Guidelines For Marinating Fish, Steak and Poultry

There are many possibilities when it comes to marinating your own food and creating your own marinade. I like the cheapest, easiest way to clean up after I am done marinating. I like to buy a lot of large sized plastic bags which have a zipper on them.

You want to put the piece of meat in the bag and make sure that the marinate is completely touching the food in every direction. Throw it in the fridge and keep it cool, so the meat doesn't go bad.

How much marinate should you use? Well, a thumbs rule is to use 1 single cup of marinate per 1lb of food. But if you use a little bit more, it will not necessarily be worse. Try to get a relative amount though so you don't over-do it and waste ingredients that yield no difference.

Depending on the type of food and the marinade you use, it needs to stay for various amounts of time. To be safe, most marinates require at least 3 to 8 hours, although there may be quicker working ones out there sold at grocery stores. In fact, unless it is a sensitive type of sea food, marinating meats over night will not do any harm. In fact, they will be quite well. It is also important that you flip the bag several times to make sure all the sides of the meat are getting the juices on them.

Fish and Chicken usually can be done for as little as half an hour with quite successful results. If you are cooking beef steak or lamb, you should let it settle for a few hours.

And a tip for your own safety, do not marinate any food outside of the fridge for more than 2 hours as the bacteria can ruin it.

Barbecue Cooking Tips - Indirect Heat Grilling For Perfectly Done Outdoor Roasts

The spring and summer months are a great time to pull the old grill out of the garage, dust it off and start planning some delicious barbecue dishes.

Most of us know how to make basic grilled foods like burgers, hot dogs, steaks and sausages. These are generally cooked by the most basic form of grill cooking, direct heat cooking. Direct heat grilling means that the food is directly over your heat source (hot coals or gas burners) and cooks from this direct heat. Direct heat is perfect for smaller food items that you want to quickly sear the outside, producing that beautiful browned caramelization on the surface, while sealing in the juicy freshness of the inside. It is the ideal cooking style for steak which is nice and browned on the outside yet pink and juicy on the inside.

However, what many grilling neophytes don't know is that direct heat is not the only way to cook on a barbecue! Another important style of cooking is indirect heat grilling. Indirect heat relies on a heat source which is not directly next to or beneath the grilling food, but is rather separated by some distance. With the lid closed on your barbecue, this gentler form of heat cooks the food by convection of ambient heat in the hot air and smoke within your grill, rather than by direct radiant heat from the coals. This is similar to the way food cooks in your oven when roasting, except without the wood smoke!

So why should you learn how to cook with indirect heat? What is it good for? Well, if you tried to grill a whole chicken with direct heat over very hot coals, the surface skin and fat would be burnt to a crispy, black char long before the interior was fully cooked. Also, by the time the middle was cooked, the flesh would be dried out. You would loose the surface flavors and juicy interior of a well roasted chicken. So the solution? You guessed it, indirect heat. Indirect heat allows your larger cuts of meat to cook slowly, developing the outer brown color more slowly while allowing the interior to cook to perfect doneness. A perfect rack of ribs requires the meat to cook slowly until the meat is tender and almost falling off the bone. A chicken should cook completely while the exterior does not char. All this and more can be accomplished with indirect heat.

So how do you do it? Lets find out!

1. For starters, you will need a couple of things to help make your indirect grilling perfect (you can do without them, but they are helpful:
   
   
   
   • A shallow metal pan or dish half-filled with tap water
   
   
   • A meat thermometer
   
   
   • A grill thermometer (if your grill doesn't have one built-in)
   
   
   
   


2. Start your charcoal or gas burners as you normally would.



3. If you are using charcoal, when your charcoal is all hot and ready (when the briquets have a layer of grey ash over them), separate the coals onto the two sides of your grill. You will have two piles of coals on either side of your grill with a large empty space in the middle. Weber and other companies make indirect grilling coal holders just for this purpose which are basically metal baskets that hold charcoal on either side of your grill. However, you can do without any special equipment.
   
   If you are using a gas grill, you can use indirect heat by turning off one of your burners to have a less hot spot on your grill. Ideally, if you have three burners, you would turn off the middle one, leaving the two side ones on. If you only have two burners, turn on on and leave the other off.



4. Place the metal pan with water in it in the middle of your charcoal grate, between the two piles of charcoal (on on the turned off burner if you have a gas grill). This will catch drippings from your roasting meat and will also help keep the interior of your grill humidified so that your meat doesn't dry out.



5. Put your grill grate on.



6. Close the lid of your grill and let the heat accumulate. Use your grill thermometer to check the temperature inside your close grill to make sure there is adequate heat. If it is not warming up, either add more coals and wait for them to start burning or turn up your burners if you have a gas grill



7. Open your grill and place your prepared food (whole chicken, ribs, roast, etc.) in the "indirect heat zone" of your grill. This is the open area, under which there are no coals or gas burners burning.



8. Close the lid and let your food roast.



9. Check back periodically and flip your meat over or rotate it occasionally. Also check that there is still adequate heat in your barbecue. Baste your meat regularly when the surface dries out to keep it moist, about every 15 minutes.
   
   If the surface of your meat looks like it is browning too fast in any one area, be sure to turn or flip it so that all sides get equal heat and exposure. If it still seems like the surface is cooking too fast, your heat may be too high or the roast is getting too much direct heat from one of the heat sources. Attempt to move the charcoal away further or move the roast to a more isolated spot on the grill.
   
   Always remember to keep the cover of your grill closed between checking on your food. You want to keep all that good heat inside to help roast your meat!



10. When your roast is looking like it may be done, begin testing for doneness. The most accurate way to do this is with a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat (on a chicken this is the deepest part of the inner thigh meat or deep in the breast). Do not put your thermometer up against bone as this can artificially increase the temperature reading. Most thermometers have readings for doneness for beef, pork, and chicken. If yours does not, general rules to go by for chicken is 165 degrees, pork 160 - 170 degrees, beef/lamb/veal 145 for medium rare, 160 for medium and 170 for well done. If you do not have a meat thermometer, you can prick the meat deeply with a skewer or fork. If pork and chicken are done adequately, the fluid that runs out should be clear, not red or pink. If all else fails, cut a small slice into a deep part of meat to check the color.



11. When your food has reached its ideal level of interior doneness, remove from the grill and place on a large platter or plate.



12. Cover with tin foil and let your roast sit for 5 to 10 minutes at least so that the interior juices and heat redistributes.



13. Carve and serve!

A few other tips to make your indirect heat grilled foods shine!

• Marinating - Because grilling is a dry heat that can have the tendency to dry out meats that are cooked for a long time, marinating your food before cooking is a great way to both add savory flavors as well as increase the juiciness. There are many recipes for delicious marinades for poultry, pork and beef and even many bottled marinades available in supermarkets. Another option similar to marinating is brining which really seals in and concentrates flavors.



• Basting - I strongly recommend basting your meat as it cooks over indirect heat. When the surface dries out, every 15 minutes or so during the cooking time, baste it generously with a basting brush. The basting mixture can be similar to the marinating mixture or alternatively it can introduce new flavors. For example, barbecue sauce is not good to marinate with, it will just burn on the meat if it cooks too long. However, introduced later in the cooking process to baste the meat a few times before it is done creates a great, savory coating of flavor. Other great options for marinating include lemon juice, olive oil, and red wine vinegar, either together or alone. Again, there are many recipes with recommendations for basting mixtures for your slow roasted grilled foods. For safety, if you baste with your marinade, remember that your marinade came in contact with your raw meat. Therefore, avoid adding this mixture in the last 15 to 20 minutes of cooking so you don't introduce any uncooked meat to the surface of your roast! Its best to use a fresh basting mixture if possible.


Well that's it! A quick and complete primer to indirect grilling. I think you will find that it brings your barbecue cooking to a whole new level, making your roasts more tender and juicier.

How to Make a Cajun Roux

The process of preparing Cajun food is in no way hurried and involves a layering of flavors which allows each ingredient
to maintain its own identity.

The foundation of preparing authentic Cajun dishes like gumbo, sauce piquant and etouffee is the Cajun roux (pronounced 'rue'). Good roux is neither undercooked nor overcooked. Undercooking will yield a less full-bodied flavor and overcooking to the point of being burned will yield a bitter taste.

The French roux is usually a blend of equal parts flour and
butter cooked slowly until bubbly and well blended, but not
browned. The typical Cajun roux is a blend of equal parts of
flour and fat, cooked together in a heavy pot over high heat
until a medium brown color is reached. Roux must be stirred
constantly to prevent burning. Some people prefer a roux made with approximately one-fourth cup more oil than flour.

Most often, when Cajun roux is called for, finely chopped onion and bell pepper is added to the browned roux to arrest the cooking temperature and prevent the roux from scorching. This step begins the cooking of the desired dish, such as a gumbo or sauce piquant.

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup all-purpose flower

Preparation:

Heat vegetable oil in a heavy Dutch oven or 12-inch skillet over high heat. When oil is hot, add flour all at once; stir or
whisk quickly to combine flour and oil. If necessary, use the
back of a wooden spoon to smooth out any lumps of flour. Stir or whisk constantly, until roux reaches desired color (between a peanut butter and mahogany color) and has a nut-like aroma. Recipe yields a scant 1-1/2 cups of roux.

Recipe Notes:

(1) If small black or brown specks appear while preparing roux, it has burned and should be discarded. A burned roux will give a bitter or scorched flavor.

(2) Roux may be prepared ahead - cover, refrigerate and use
within 1 week.

(3) To prepare extra roux for later use, batches may be prepared by increasing oil and flour in equal amounts.

(4) Freezes beautifully. (Freeze in 1-cup portions for up to 6
months.)

(5) Caution: Be extremely careful when stirring and handling
roux during preparation. With a temperature exceeding 500F,
roux splashed on the skin will stick and cause a severe burn.

Preparing an authentic Cajun roux is not difficult once you know how. If you follow the above recipe exactly, you will be able to successfully prepare a roux to equal that of any
well-experienced Cajun chef.

Copyright ©2005 Janice Faulk Duplantis

Terms of Reprint and Publication Rules

This article is available for reprint at no charge. The requirements for publishing this article are: (1) You must leave the article and resource box unedited. (2) You are not allowed to change the context of the article in any way. Paragraph breaks must be retained where the author has placed them. (3) If you post this article on a website, you must set any URL's in the body of the article and most especially in the Author's Resource Box as hyperlinks. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Email to: bedrockpress-jfd@yahoo.com

Kids in the Kitchen - How to Get Your Kids Interested in Cooking

Cooking with kids can be great fun, if only your kids actually believed this to be true!

With so many distractions available to kids these days, it is sometimes hard to convince them that getting in the kitchen for some cooking fun can be just as enjoyable as playing a computer game.

My eight year old son would rather play on the PC creating pizza after pizza in a virtual cafe rather than make a real one. So I had a think about how I could temp him into the kitchen to show him that cooking can be enjoyable, and that spending time with me was just as fun as playing a computer game.

Knowing how much he enjoys playing on two certain websites created for children, the names of which I am not allowed to mention here as it would be seen as advertising, I suggested we create our own pastry versions of the games complete with all his favourite characters. The added attraction being that we could recreate these creatures in 3D, then eventually eat them!

Here is my simple short crust pastry recipe so you can have a go too.

200g plain flour,
pinch of salt
100g unsalted butter, cubed

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and work in the butter with your fingertips until it resembles fine crumbs.

Mix in two tablespoons of cold water and stir with a wooden spoon until it clumps together - add more water if it's dry a drop at a time.

Lightly flour a work surface and tip out the pastry. Knead gently until you have a smooth dough.

Now you can break off small pieces and let your child form them into their favourite characters.

My son particularly likes making penguins, so we divide up the pastry into about 8 pieces and add a drop or two of food colouring to each piece so we can make different coloured penguins.

Here is a tasty trick if you have quite a thick or large character made from pastry, and you are worried the centre will not cook through properly in the oven.

Hollow out the belly of your pastry character and fill with a bit of chocolate spread, jam, or stuff in a couple of mini marshmallows, then seal over the hole but squeezing the pastry back together.

Once cooked, you have cute characters with a gooey surprise in the middle.

Yum!

Recipes For Sweet Treats

Plain Oven Scones

Recipe Ingredients:

1lb Self Raising Flour

100g butter

2tbsp Caster Sugar

2 egg yolks

½ pint milk

1 tsp Baking Powder

Pinch salt

Method:

Rub together flour and butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs; add in sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix milk and egg yolks, then add enough to make soft dough. Flatten out to 1.5cm, cut and place on floured tray, brush tops with milk then bake at 200oC for 15 - 20 minutes. For a variation add in 4oz Mixed dry Fruit or 4oz chocolate chips

Chocolate Fudge

Recipe Ingredients:

3 oz full fat cream cheese

10 oz sieved icing sugar

2 oz chocolate, chopped into pieces

Salt to taste

Vanilla essence to taste

Method:

Beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and then beat in the sieved sugar. Melt the chocolate in a basin over hot water. Allow the chocolate to cool, but while still liquid, beat into the cheese and sugar mixture, together with the vanilla essence and salt. Press the mixture into a greased tin (measuring about 6x4) and smooth the top. Chill until smooth enough to cut into rough squares.

Peppermint Creams

Recipe Ingredients:

One Egg white

8oz Icing sugar

Peppermint essence

Method:

Place the egg white in a bowl and sieve in 6 oz of icing sugar. Mix well with a wooden spoon and slowly sieve in more icing sugar, half a tablespoon at a time until you have made a stiff paste. Shake a little icing sugar on the work surface and empty the paste onto this. Add 3/4 drops of peppermint essence or oil and gently knead it together with your fingers until you have a smooth paste. Roll out the mixture, cut shapes and place on greaseproof paper. Chill in the fridge and then coat the creams with melted chocolate.

Leftover Rice Recipes

Rice is a major staple in most homes. Available in a many varieties from white to brown to even black you will discover this grain is a beneficial addition to many meals. It is a filling food that goes along way. Sometimes though we make a little too much and not know quite what to with it. The reality is that 3 cups of rice can be a lot even for a large family.

There is no need to be concerned with leftover rice going to waste. The fact is that there are many things you can do with leftover rice. Rice can be used in many ways with many different dishes. You can use rice with meat, vegetables, and even fruit like mangoes to create recipes that you will want to add to your meal planning routine.

• With an egg, a bag of mixed vegetables, a few mushrooms, and even some meat if you choose, you can make a quick fried rice.


• Rice can be added as a filler to burritos. With a simple can of beans, some cheese, and salsa you whip up a delicious healthy treat the whole family can enjoy.


• Try stuffed bell peppers or portabellas. You can use any number of ingredients, along with the rice to create a one dish meal. You can even stuff a chicken with rice, bell peppers, mushrooms, and onions with a little salt and pepper for yet another one dish meal.


• If you are familiar with Chipotle's then you must know about their yummy lime cilantro rice. It is a very simple dish to make. All you need is some butter, lime, cilantro and salt. Use can eat this rice with many main dishes like fried or baked chicken, tacos, or enchiladas.


• Keep in mind that rice can be seasoned with many types of herbs to make a great side dish to meals you make throughout the week. Basil, thyme, and a touch of oregano added to rice makes a tasty dish to go along with just about any meal you make.


• Rice pudding is a comfort food that makes a tasty dessert on a cool autumn night. With simple ingredients like milk, sugar, and some raisins, you can create a recipe that can be handed down from generation to generation. You can even try to add other ingredients like pecans, or cranberries.


• Make a gravy and top it with rice as a side to pork chops or fried chicken. What a way to enjoy a nice southern style dinner.

There is no need to be afraid of a little extra rice. The possibilities are endless as long as you have the necessary ingredients and a bit of creativity.

Chinese Cooking Tips For Chinese Food Recipes

Chinese cooking night is a wonderful tradition that my family has created over the years and one that we have all come to love! On this special night once a month, my aunts, grandmas, parents and even my two brothers and their families clear their hectic schedules and gather around the family kitchen to whip up a savory and delicious meal straight from the Orient. Why Chinese food, you ask? Of all the different cuisines we have tried throughout the years, Chinese recipes are easy to follow, the food is delicious and Chinese cooking sauces have become our favorite. Their adaptability and variety of flavorful spices is loved by the whole family.

One thing we learned very early on is that Chinese food and Chinese cooking are greatly complimented by the key ingredients of the sauces. You can see this very easily in the American Chinese food cooking trends. It is mainly a mixture of vegetables enhanced with Chinese sauces. These cooking sauces are used as garnishes and in preparing many types of delicious authentic recipes. Most of our favorite Chinese dishes, like noodles and fried rice are made with a variety of spices and sauces making them very popular and savory meals.

In America, Chinese food has been used in ways that are non-traditional and has taken on some of its own new traditions. Their sauces have become famous as dipping sauces and cooking sauces that are mainly used for different types of meat dishes like pork or chicken. Sweet and sour sauce was originally used as a simple sauce for fish dishes in different parts of the world but was used to create American-Chinese dishes such as sweet and sour chicken when it was introduced in America. Along with sweet and sour sauce, some other types of sauces used in America to enhance flavor in popular Chinese foods such as noodles, fried rice and other Chinese dishes are chili oil, oyster sauce and garlic sauce.

Chinese cooking with its tasty dipping sauces is also a fun way to liven up a meal and something that my children love! Try serving the dipping sauces in a small bowl along with the meal to accompany Chinese appetizers like pot stickers, spring rolls and egg rolls. Let the kids have their own bowl to dip and watch their faces light up. One of the main reasons my family loves Chinese cuisine is that there are so many different types of flavors that can be easily incorporated into everyday meals. Some of the most famous are chili oil, sweet and sour sauce, hot mustard and garlic sauce. Chili oil is made from chili peppers and is normally used in stir-fry and to enhance the flavor of other dishes such as noodles. Another favorite and one that has been used for many centuries in China is sweet and sour sauce. Its main ingredients of sugar and wedding vinegar make it a very popular choice and one that adds savory flavor to Chinese dishes when combined with tomato sauce. Garlic sauce and hot mustard sauce are great sauces that work well with a variety of Chinese appetizers. Any of these sauces are easy to make and will give your meal that special oriental flavor your family will love!

Because Chinese cooking sauces are an easy way add great flavor to Chinese meals and are so adaptable, they have become very popular in China and around the world...making Chinese food a truly international cuisine. It is easy to experiment with all the many sauces and spices Chinese food has to offer and even come up with your own favorite combinations! From sweet and sour sauce to garlic and hot mustard, Chinese cuisine and its many sauces have proven to be an all time favorite that my family loves. Try it out on your family and I am sure that they too will look forward to your special night of Chinese cooking.

Healthy & Delicious Chili Chicken Recipe Cook at Home

We live in a very busy world. It is often hard to keep up with the laundry and daily house chores after working all day, let alone try to prepare a good meal for your family that is not just quick, but nutritious for them as well. Homemade cooking can allow you to not only prepare nutritious meals, but they will think you have been cooking all day. After working all day, it is very tempting to just stop and buy take out food, but this isn't really very good for your family to eat on a regular basis.

We are in a world that is full of convenience. Homemade cooking can be very simple all you have to do is be a little creative. Cooking could be fun if it's not a complicated recipe.

Home Made Chili Chicken Dinner

Family dinner doesn't get any better than this convenient yummy-in-the-tummy chicken dish. After all, self-cooking food assured with top class of "quality control" and less expensive!

Preparation Time: 25 minutes;
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Servings: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients-

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 large chicken thighs with skin and bones (about 2 pounds)
Ground cloves
1 1/2 cups diced seeded red bell peppers
1 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pitted imported green olives
4 small bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon hot chili paste or 1 small Serrano Chile, chopped
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice or long-grain white rice (9 to 10 ounces), rinsed, drained
2 to 2 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth

Method-

Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium-high flame. Sprinkle chicken generously with salt and pepper, then lightly with ground cloves. Add chicken to skillet and sauté until brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate.

Pour off all but 4 tablespoons fat from skillet. Add bell peppers, onion, raisins, olives, bay leaves, garlic, and chili paste to skillet. Saute until vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Press chicken into rice. Add 2 cups broth; bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender, adding more broth if dry, about 20 minutes.

Ceviche - Seafood "Cooked" in Lime Juice Makes For a Tasty and Healthful Dish

Mmm, I love ceviche. It will always remind me of Costa Rica and my never-ending quest for more ceviche and guacamole. And of course my lovely friends that I made in Costa Rica, some of which also share this ceviche obsession. However, many people do not like ceviche.

So beware if you are going to try this and don't know if you are a ceviche lover or not. If you know you are then this is a simple recipe that will remind you of wherever you traveled to have first tasted ceviche. Feel free to use any seafood you desire, however "cooking" times may vary. I enjoy a combo of shrimp and firm white fish, but other items like scallops will also work.

If you are not a ceviche lover or you are unsure, maybe you should take a trip to Central or South America and try it there first. Or if you are lucky enough to live in a region where a local restaurant actually serves ceviche try it there. It will be cheaper to try it in the restaurant then to buy all the ingredients.

Tips: The smaller the fish/seafood is cut up the faster the lime juice will "cook" the fish. Also, if you are unsure if your fish/seafood is "cooked" through cut it in half and you will be able to tell, the uncooked part will still look transparent. But "cooked" fish/seafood will be white all the way through.

Ingredients:
- 1-2 lbs. firm white fish/shrimp/scallops/ cut into small pieces 1/4 inch or so
- Juice of 6 limes, please do not use bottled juice, fresh only
- 1/4 red onion, chopped finely (you can use more of less to taste, this is a conservative amount)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped finely
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped finely
- 1/2 cucumber, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- 1 avocado, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- Salt and pepper

Pour lime juice over fish/seafood pieces, cover and let sit in refrigerator overnight. This process may not take this long depending on type of fish/seafood you are using. It has been my experience that shrimp take a long time, fish is faster.

When seafood is "cooked" through drain, reserving juice. Add onion, pepper, jalapeno, cucumber and avocado to fish/seafood. Combine gently. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours to let flavors blend. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with tortilla chips, adding back some lime juice of you like a juicy ceviche. Hot sauce can also compliment this dish.

So see a pic of the finished product check out my blog at: http://homemomcooks.blogspot.com/2010/02/ceviche.html.

Grilling Prime Rib - Prime Rib Recipes

What's better for a big holiday dinner bash, a special celebration, or big birthday dinner? Prime rib is always a favorite, and grilling prime rib is one way to make sure your roast is succulent, juicy, full of flavor and mouthwatering. It also opens up your kitchen oven for all the side dishes that are so traditional with a big holiday meal!

Getting the Prime Rib Ready for Grilling

Defrost the prime rib, if necessary. You can have your butcher cut off the bones and then retie them onto the roast for cooking, if you'd like. The roast is easier to slice this way after it's grilled. However, don't get rid of the bones! Tying them to the roast will spread the richness and flavor from the bones throughout the roast, and they can help protect it from overcooking, too. Without the bones, your roast can dry out, and no one likes a dry prime rib!

Next prepare your favorite rub or spice seasoning. Rub the seasonings on every side of the roast, (including the bones), wrap in plastic wrap, and place the roast in the refrigerator overnight. This will help the spices to flavor the roast.

Grilling the Prime Rib

Low and slow is the way to make sure your prime rib is done to perfection and is still juicy, tender, and oh so mouthwatering. That means to allow at least 20 minutes per pound for your roast on the grill, and more if you like it medium to well-done. Each grill is different, and each grill heats differently, so you need to experiment with your particular grill to find out where it's the hottest and coolest, and how high the heat actually gets.

Don't rely on the built-in thermometer in your grill's lid, they are notoriously wrong. Invest in a good meat thermometer, and know the internal temperature of your roast when it should be done (more on that later).

To get great results, first, take your roast out of the refrigerator to warm up at least an hour before you plan to start cooking. Never put meat directly from the refrigerator onto the grill! The cold will seize up the meat, make it tougher and less juicy, and will rapidly bring down the temperature of your grill, too.

Next, heat up your grill on high for at least 15 minutes, or until it's as hot as you can get it. Turn down the heat to about 200 to 225 degrees, and put the roast on the grill. Close the lid, and don't open it except to check the temperature of the roast periodically.

Grill the roast until it reaches the desired temperature (see below). Remove the roast from the grill and allow to rest at least 10 minutes before carving and serving.

Roast Temperatures

For rare prime rib heat until the internal temperature is about 130 to 135 degrees.
For medium prime rib heat until the internal temperature is about 145 degrees.
For medium-well heat until the internal temperature is about 150 degrees.
Even at medium-well, the end cuts should be well done, so you'll have well and medium well for those who want it.

Gas or Charcoal Grill

When grilling prime rib, you need a steady temperature. If you can keep your charcoal temperature steady, by adding more charcoal throughout the hours of cooking, then use a charcoal grill. However, gas grills maintain a more constant temperature throughout cooking, so if you're worried about losing your temp, and ruining your prime rib, try grilling prime rib on a gas grill for the best results.

7 Tools That Pro Chefs Swear by

Everybody has a kitchen in their home and many of us use to rustle up fantastic meals for our family every evening. Modern kitchens are usually quite well equipped and have most of the things you need in your every day cooking but there are some things that professional chefs use that you probably had no idea about. These tools can save time, save ingredient or just make the job much easier or safer.

1. The pouring lid is a lid that goes on the pan like any other lid. The difference is that this lid has holes in it allowing you to strain food without it ever leaving the pan!

2. A blow torch is an essential tool in any pro kitchen. Most of us probably grill the top of foods now and again, the professionals use a blow torch.

3. A full set of knives. That's right a full set, not just the small one you use to cut potatoes. In a full set of knives each knife has a particular use, learn how to use each one and in which circumstances.

4. Metal measuring jugs. Most people have the plastic jugs but these just don't cut it with the professionals. They use metal jugs because they are practically indestructible and much easier to clean.

5. Full set of pans. Cooking is all in the timing and having smaller pans for smaller dishes will help reduce cooking times, and washing times.

6. Wooden tools. Metal has one major flaw when it comes to cooking; it is a great conductor of heat. You can use wooden tools to stir dishes and leave in the pan and they will never burn your hand.

7. A small towel. The small towel is always at the chefs hand. Its used to pick up pans, dishes, hot spoon. Basically anything that will burn you.

Obviously having the right tools doesn't automatically make you a better chef but it can only help.

Bengali Recipes

What makes a Bengali, Bengali? The answer always seems to lie in fish. As a typical Bengali who spent his whole life trying to avoid fish, I always felt I was just not Bengali enough because I didn't salivate at the prospect of koi-maach. Moving to America, I thought I had escaped the accusing stare of the beady-eyed rui. And then I find myself in an Asian fish market in San Francisco staring nostalgically at piles of silvery fish. We grew up in communities of taste, says Prof. Krishnendu Ray. It is subconsciously embedded. In the act of migration, that community of taste is suddenly lost.

Prof. Ray should know. After coming to the US to study political economy of development and underdevelopment, he was, as he puts it, waylaid by that disreputable phenomenon? nostalgia or the idealizing of home-cooked food? What started as his personal journey to deal with the loss of shukto and ilish on a monsoon afternoon, has now become the first actual study of meals and memories in Bengali-American households? The Migrant's Table?.

Prof. Ray sent out a survey to some 1,000 Bengali families asking questions like? What was yesterday's lunch in your home? and What is your weekly fish bill? The answers, he hoped, would tell him not just what to expect for dinner on an average night at the Banerjee household in New Jersey but some larger issues of immigration and assimilation.

He found that Bengali-Americans spent on an average $91 a week at the grocery store and another $14 at a specialty Asian market. Dinner remained aggressively Bengali. Lunch was a mixed bag. Breakfast was toast and cereal. Single men reluctantly learn American eating habits like cold cuts and cold cereals but reassert their Bengaliness after marriage. Women are willing to play a little more with American food? think turkey samosa. Women still do the bulk of the cooking, though 65 per cent have professional credentials or a master?s degree. But almost half hold jobs rather than pursue?careers. Only 10 per cent of married men do grocery shopping on their own.

The act of migration also suddenly opens up a supermarket of possibilities. Families who ate chicken once a week can now eat it everyday. Take fish. A US AID survey in 1972 found 41 per cent of upper middle-class households in Calcutta ate fish for lunch on a typical weekday. At dinner in Bengali-American households, that rises to 63 per cent. Sixty-six per cent have meat.

But the plenty doesn't mean it's the same. Fish is abundant in America but Bengalis like whole freshwater fish. Fish fillets and steaks are just not gada and peti. It doesn't taste the same says Ray. But what people are really missing are other memories.? Sure, potol and mocha might be hard to find but sometimes more than the food, its the associations.

Saraswati Puja will not be the same without khichuri or sandesh shaped like lotus or fish, says Bharti Kirchner, the author of The Healthy Cuisine of India Recipes from the Bengal Region. The problem for Bengalis is Bengali food is not even available in Indian restaurants. Regional cooking was preserved at homes while restaurants in India made Mughlai cooking the standard, says Kirchner. Even at a Bengali conference in Atlantic City in 2000, there were six food vendors? three served pizza, sandwiches and pretzels, the other three served south Indian, north Indian and bhelpuri. No alur dom, no luchis, forget doi-potol.

At one level, being hard-to-find gives food its value, says Ray because food is the mythologisation of the mundane. That's why immigrants wax eloquent about street food like puchka or jhal muri which they endlessly try to replicate. But the damn things never taste like the jhal muri I had on the train,? chuckles Ray.

Nirmalya Modak helped start the first Bengali restaurant, Charulata, in the San Francisco Bay Area. While Charulata served lau-chingri and shorshe-ilish, the occasional customer would still ask for naan. ?During Durga Puja it was very crowded, remembers Modak. People would say, let's get luchi and kasha meat curry at Charulata. It will be just like the Pujas in Calcutta. But eventually, Charulata closed down, unable to rely on Bengali nostalgia as a viable business model. There are only some 30,000 Bengalis in the US. And if you include Bangla- deshis, the numbers hover around 100,000 says Ray.

Because you can only really get it at home, because it is an ethnic secret not easily available commercially, Bengali food becomes the place where the angst of immigration really stews. ?Fathers anguish that if their children don't like shukto they will never grow up Bengali, says Ray. Of course, he chuckles, back in Calcutta, the same fathers might have been longing for kebabs at Nizam's or cakes from New Market instead of shukto and daal-bhaat at home.

At some level, assimilation is inevitable. Even when the children identify with their culture, it's probably more as Indian as opposed to Bengali. So they will eat samosas rather than phulkopir singhara, says Ray. He realizes it most acutely when he brings his own four-year-old son to India. His typical menu macaroni and cheese with his daal bhaat. His comfort food is now truly Bengali-American.

Cooking Restaurant Meals at Home With Copycat Recipes

There is something about cooking at home that is so much more satisfying than eating out all the time. Not only can you save alot of money by cooking at home, it is also genuinely gratifying when there is great appreciation from friends and family eating your specially prepared meals.
Restaurant recipes are usually closely guarded secrets that are never revealled to the public. One obvious reason is that they don't want to lose business. There is a new trend sweeping cooking circles and that is restaurant copycat recipes. There are some sites on the web that specialize in selling copycat restaurant recipes and many are very good. The secret to copycat recipes is careful research. There are Ebooks available that contain hundreds of copycat restaurant recipes from some of America's most popular restaurant chains including Applebee's, Chili's, McDonalds, KFC, Boston Market, Hard Rock Café, Joe's Crab Shack, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, The Soup Nazi, Outback Steakhouse and many many more.

While the restaurants themselves don't really want you to know their secrets, you know the old saying " imitation is the sincerest form of flattery".

So if these recipes are jealously guarded secrets by the restaurants, how can you buy them in ebooks? Easy, because interested chefs and cooks from hundreds of backgrounds spend years reverse engineering the original recipes. What they come up with are copycat restaurant recipes which are true to the originals.These contibuting chefs recipes are compiled into ebooks that are available online such as America's Most Wanted Recipes book. It is hard to find many of the best copycat recipes for free,mainly because when someone finds out the secrets to a great recipe, they are not eager to share it lightly. The bright side though is that you can spend under $20 online and get incredibly large collections of restaurant copycat recipes and have them instantly downloadable so you can get cooking right away.

You don't need to be a master chef or have years of experiece to cook your favourite restaurant meals at home. When you get a good restaurant copycat recipe you can be sure you will impress anyone you cook for. Just find out their favourite dishes from their favourite resturant..go to your copycat recipe book and hit them with a surprise feast that will blow their mind, while saving you money at the same time.

Cooking Ribs in the Oven

There are several methods of cooking ribs and one of the fastest and handy methods is cooking them in an oven. It is necessary that you simply learn how to cook ribs in the oven properly if the meal is to become enjoyable. Apart from the oven and the ribs, you also want an aluminum foil, a baking or a glass pan, water, and seasonings to taste. You have to select the ribs carefully for an pleasing meal. When picking the ribs, it is best to be aware that they've a whole lot of fat and so it is best to double or triple the amount you need to end up with. You have to be particularly careful when deciding on the amount of ribs if there are no side dishes.

Step one to cook ribs is seasoning the ribs. The seasonings used depend on personal preference. Seasonings are vital in that they add taste to the ribs, but they aren't mandatory. The most broadly used seasonings for ribs are pepper, garlic, salt, and meat tenderizers. You can also use herbs such as paprika, rosemary, turmeric, oregano, and parsley. Some people add cheese. As an alternative of seasoning the ribs, you possibly can marinate them. You can buy marinades from a local grocery store. Marinating ribs helps tenderize them and it offers them moisture.

After seasoning or marinating the ribs, cover the baking pan with a heavy-duty aluminum foil. Be sure to leave some extra foil along the pan's edges since you'll need the additional foil fold back afterward to cover the ribs. Next, put the ribs on the baking pan and add water. The water ought to be about ¼ inch and it is important in that it helps the foil and the pan to scorch and it retains the ribs moist. An essential tip to cook ribs in the oven is that you could add potatoes, carrots, huge chunks of onions, and different vegetables to cook with the ribs.

One other vital tip to cook ribs is that the pan you use ought to be able to accommodate the ribs in only one layer since stacking the ribs will cause them to cook unevenly. Notice that ribs which might be too thick will not cook completely - try to use ribs of the identical dimensions. When placing ribs in the pan, it is best to have the arches of the ribs up.

The subsequent step in cooking ribs is that after adding the water to the ribs, cover them with the remaining edges of the aluminum foil, not unlike creating a tent. It's best to make sure the aluminum foil doesn't press on the ribs as they're cooking. The tent should not be airtight as it will cause steam to burst out, but it ought to be tight enough to maintain moisture in. Next, preheat the oven at 325 F and let the ribs cook for approximately one hour. Next, remove the ribs from the oven and roll out the foil. Preheat the oven at 375 F and put the ribs again for approximately fifteen minutes.