Cooking

Cast iron cookware is great for cooking. While you might think a nice nonstick frying pan is useful and might want to think again. That nonstick coating contains quite a few chemicals that come off and put your body.

Our environment is full of toxins in these coating’s on frying pans and other cookware just add to what our body has to deal with. This is just one of the great reasons why cast iron cookware is so great.

Whether you’re wanting to work with a cast-iron Dutch oven, skillet, frying pan, brittle or cast-iron pot these cookware items will get the job done right. Oh sure you might complain their little heavy but do you complain about the weights when you’re exercising? Oh you don’t exercise will you should you know but that is another topic.

One real neat thing about cast-iron is that it retains the heat if you need to you can pick up the frying pan and walk around the kitchen and it’s still frying. Of course that’s just a novel idea but hey it isn’t quite done a need to take it out to the group in the backyard while there’s an extra minute cooking when you walk out there.

So grab yourself some great cast-iron cookware like a Cast Iron Skillet or a Cast Iron Griddle today!

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Recipes are a medium used by both the everyday housewife right through to the accomplished executive chef. They are the master plans that drive the cook to create the simplest and most complex of culinary delights. While relatively straightforward if you understand cooking lingo, sometimes a beginner may have difficulty in following a recipe. Here are some simple tips that can help you to succeed:

1. Reading the recipe is the first step, and as such, it takes time. Read the recipe thoroughly and familiarize yourself with what is going to be required, both in cooking terms and ingredient terms. Understanding the recipe will be vital to your success.

2. The first thing you will usually find within a recipe is a list of ingredients that will be required. Ensure that you have everything listed, or alternatively, find out if there are substitute ingredients that you could use in place of anything in the ingredients list that you do not have. Assemble all the ingredients, the measuring equipment and the utensils before you start.

3. Take care with the order of the words within the method of a recipe. There is a difference between one pound of butter, melted as opposed to one pound of melted butter. This is an extreme example as I doubt you will ever come across a requirement for one pound of melted butter. The difference between the two instructions is this. One pound of butter, melted means to measure one pound of butter, then melt it. One pound of melted butter is the total weight of melted butter. It would mean to keep on melting butter until you have a pound of it! This is an extreme example as I doubt you will ever come across a requirement for one pound of melted butter, but you can imagine the differences in quantities that would be required!

4. Take your time with your recipe. Double check your ingredients and the steps in the recipe as you go. Do not add extra anything until such times as you are experienced enough to know what difference the addition will make to the finished product. Additions to a recipe can alter the taste, consistency or presentation of the finished result.

5. There are many different terms used in cooking that you may be unfamiliar with. Most good cookbooks will have a guide that gives an explanation of each of these terms, and how to perform the task. Make sure you familiarize yourself with these terms as they apply to what you wish to cook.

6. Eventually, use your favorite recipes as a base for other alternatives. Make sure you follow the recipes as they are written to start with, then when you feel that you have been successful and are happy with the result, you can make additions and alterations to the base recipe.

Recipes are designed to give you a blueprint to follow. Its much like any task - you are shown an end result and then the steps you have to take to achieve that end result. Don’t expect perfection straightaway, although following a recipe to the letter should help you to achieve a pretty good result. A recipe can give you confidence in producing a finished product, and also enable you the opportunity to work on your cooking skills toward bigger and better creations.

Once you’ve got the basics, you might like to try some of the recipes that the restaurants use to impress your friends and family. Check out "The Official Secret Restaurant Recipes" - The Original Copycat Cookbook, I’m sure you will be impressed!

For more information, hints and tips on this topic, visit The Chaotic Cook!

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You open the cookbook and see a recipe title or a photo that tempts your tastebuds. Then you start to read the recipe, realize the preparation is more difficult than you first thought, and put the book back on the shelf.

Sound Familiar? Well here’s a simple guide to help get you started:

1. Abbreviations for Measuring

Tsp. = teaspoon
Tbsp. = tablespoon, which equals 3 teaspoons
C = cup.

Tip: Get a set of measuring spoons. The set will usually have 1/4 tsp., 1/3 tsp., 1/2 tsp., 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon.

Dry measure cups look like little saucepans and can be leveled off with a knife or other straight-edged tool. They come in sets like the measuring spoons. Liquid measuring cups have ounce marking lines so you can measure however many ounces you need.

Tip: Some recipes require exact measurements to turn out right so learn to measure correctly.

2. Common Ingredients

Make sure you know what you need.

Tips:

- Baking powder and baking soda are not the same.

- Ask the produce manager at the market about fruits and vegetables, the meat manager about cuts of meat.

- When trying something new, buy ONE. You can always go back for more if it turns out well.

3. Common Terminology

- Bake: Dry heat in the oven. Set oven control to the desired temperature while you’re preparing the dish to be baked. Once the light that says it’s heating turns off, the oven is at the proper temperature. Then put in the food–for best results, center it in the oven.

- Boil: Heat a liquid until it bubbles. The faster the bubbles rise and the more bubbles you get, the hotter the liquid. Some recipes call for a gentle boil–barely bubbling–or a rolling boil–just short of boiling over. Watch so it doesn’t boil over.

- Braise: A moist cooking method using a little liquid that barely bubbles on the top of the stove or in the oven. This is a good way to tenderize cheaper cuts of meat. The pan should be heavy and shallow with a tight-fitting lid to keep the liquid from boiling away. There’s a lot that can be done for flavoring in your choice of liquid and of vegetables to cook with the meat.

- Broil: Turn the oven to its highest setting. Put the food on broiler pan–a 2 piece pan that allows the grease to drain away from the food. In an electric oven on the broil setting only the upper element heats, and you can regulate how fast the food cooks by how close to the element you place it. Watch your cooking time–it’s easy to overcook food in the broiler.
- Brown: Cook until the food gets light brown. Usually used for frying or baking. Ground beef should usually be browned (use a frying pan) and have the grease drained before adding it to a casserole or meat sauce.

- Fold: A gentle mixing method that moves the spoon down to the bottom of the bowl and then sweeps up, folding what was on the bottom up over the top. This is used to mix delicate ingredients such as whipped cream or beaten egg whites. These ingredients just had air whipped into them, so you don’t want to reverse that process by mixing too vigorously.

- Simmer: Heat to just the start of a boil and keep it at that point for as long as the recipe requires. The recipe will usually call for either constant stirring or stirring at certain intervals.

Now you are ready to do the shopping and prepare that recipe that you’ve always wanted to try!

Happy cooking…

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Are you a mother (or father) of a picky eater child? If so, then you must have gone through the frustration, which the mother of a picky eater goes through. But now you don’t have to worry at all. Given below are certain tips, strategies and meal ideas from some parents and professionals for the parents of picky eaters.

Tips and Strategies for Feeding Picky Eaters

·        Encourage your child to eat new foods. But don’t present them in large quantities. You can introduce them on weekly basis. You can ask him to try just a bite of the food, but don’t force him to eat it if he doesn’t want to eat.

·        Child learns by looking at his parents. So, be a good role model. Eat good and healthy foods in front of him. Let him see that you love and enjoy different kinds of foods. He may get inspired from you and start eating the healthy food.

·        Make the foods appearance more appealing. Try using foods of various colors and cut them out into various shapes. Heart-shaped cookies or triangular sandwiches are more appealing to the children than the simple ones.

·        Serve food in a different way. Your child may hate food prepared in one way but may love it when prepared in different way. You can serve with a sauce or a dip.

·        Present the same food by giving it some interesting creative name.

·        Don’t ever force your child to eat the food. Let him eat the food he wants to eat. Don’t punish him if he refuses to eat. Don’t offer food as a bribe or a reward.

·        Teach your child about good nutrition. Tell him the importance of healthy and nutritious foods.

·        Don’t prepare special separate food for you child. Prepare a single healthy meal for everyone in the family. Let you child eat the same food.

·        Involve your child in food preparation. Let him prepare some food for himself.

Meal Ideas for Picky Eaters

Try to prepare various healthy, picky eater recipes for your child. You can try to incorporate nutritious recipes like:

·        Chicken salads

·        Grilled cheese sandwiches

·        Waffles

·        Nachos

·        Omelets

·        Pancakes

·        Spaghetti

·        Vegetable soups.

Prepare desserts like strawberry smoothies, ice creams or banana muffins once a week.

Instead of serving plain boiled vegetables, boil the vegetables in chicken or mutton soup and serve it. While preparing a sauce for spaghetti, add some vegetables to it.

Instead of serving boiled carrots, serve raw carrots with a dip or a sauce.

If your child refuses to eat veggies, offer them more fruits. If he refuses to eat fruits too, offer him fruit blended with milk, juice, or water. Adding yogurt, peanut butter or honey can make it tastier.

Brian Kennedy is a line cook and the single parent of two picky eaters. He runs an informational website with smart parenting recipes, nutritional guidelines, and snack ideas. To take advantage of all this and more, be sure to check out Brian’s website Picky Eaters at http://www.RecipesForPickyEaters.com

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If your goal is to cook up memories, the kitchen is the perfect place. When you spend time baking, cooking and enjoying meals with your family, you create lifelong, happy memories that you and your family will cherish forever.

There are many benefits of preparing and enjoying food as a family. You save money and your meals are healthier. There are many opportunities to connect and communicate with your children and spouse. And most importantly, you show love for your family when you spend time cooking and eating with them. Children of all ages need your attention and your time. By working together to create a meal or bake a batch of cookies, you are able to spend valuable time together.

Here are some steps to get your family cooking up some really awesome memories.

You can teach even the smallest child the fun of cooking by helping them bake cookies and cakes. If you are short on time, use a boxed cookie mix and spend your time decorating the completed products.

Practice the art of imagination. Encourage your youngsters to play pretend cooking. Kids love to play with real mixing bowls, utensils, wooden spoons or any other tools that they see being used in the grown up world. These make harmless toys and can be easily thrown in the dishwasher for quick cleanup.

If you live by your daily planner, schedule in this time with your kids. Our schedules can be so hectic that something as simple as baking a batch of peanut cookies can get skipped over. Write it down to make sure you do it.

If you have teenagers, let them play their favorite music while they wash the lettuce and set the table. There is a great sense of belonging when they can contribute to the evening meal.

Make cooking a task that you do together with your spouse. You can use the time to kill two birds with one stone and catch up on each other’s day.

Even if you are in a rush to prepare dinner, you can reduce your stress and focus on creating a fun atmosphere which will naturally encourages the whole family to participate.

The lessons of healthy eating choices can be given when you are spending time preparing food with your children. Keep the conversation positive and discuss healthy eating choices rather than just telling them the foods they should avoid.

On days where your time is tight, consider taking a short cut and use a frozen stir-fry mix or pasta with a jar of pre-made sauce. Your relaxed mood will be far more appreciated by your family, rather than having a stressed parent that had to make a dinner from scratch.

Share the grocery shopping. The first week, take one of the children as a helper, the next week dad can go with another child. If you always work from a grocery list, chances are the purchases will be similar on both weeks. You can let your children help you retrieve items and cross them off the list.

Use the dinner table as family time. It is the ultimate time to share about what has happened during everyone’s day, to share some laughs and have a bit of light hearted fun as a family.

By taking these steps today, you can make cooking part of your family time, and make your kitchen a fun and memorable place for your whole family.

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