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Showing posts from September, 2009

The Pros and Cons of Different Types of Cookware

By K Hupp There are so many different types of cookware on the market today, it can be hard to decide which to type to buy. When I decided to replace my worn out pots and pans, I decided to do a little research before making a purchase. I was amazed at the differences in types of cookware. I found that some types of cookware are more healthier cooking choices than others. Here is a list of each type of cookware's pros and cons. This should help you make up your mind when it comes time for you to update your own cookware. Stainless Steel- Stainless steel is one of the best choices for cookware, as long as it is properly cared for. Stainless steel is nearly non-stick and heats evenly, especially if it has an aluminum clad bottom. Never use scouring pads or metal utensils with stainless steel. Scratching the inside of the cookware can allow small amounts of chromium and nickle to leach into your food. Be sure to follow cleaning instructions from the manufacturer when ca

Fast Cooking - 3 Easy Tricks How to Prepare Oven Dishes With Minimal Effort

When you are in a hurry and don't have time to cook, using your oven is the least thing you would consider. Oven dishes are not precisely what we consider to be fast cooking, since most of them take quite some time. Yet I found that my oven is a great asset on days when I am at home but still I don't actually have time to cook. Like Saturdays when I have to do all the housework I never got to during the week. Or Sundays when I would like to prepare a special meal but I don't feel like standing in the kitchen. There are many oven dishes that taste and look special and impressing whilst requiring only little time to prepare. And once in the oven, they basically cook themselves. I set my timer and quickly check on my food at certain times, and otherwise I can do some other work or simply relax. No need to worry about how long the food will take. That's a perfect opportunity to enjoy long-cooking foods without having to invest much actual working time. Here a

How Do You Cook Hamburgers on a Grill?

By Anthony Robert Don't you just love the flavor of a juicy fresh grilled hamburger? I know I do! It is summer time... No matter if it is fun in the park, fun at the beach, fun at the lake or fun by the pool at Grandma's house, we all want to picnic and have a good time. And the most popular of picnics include one of the many choices of hamburger recipes for the grill! So how long do you cook hamburgers on a grill? What are good hamburger recipes for the grill? All great questions my friend! First things first though. You will want to get the grill ready. Go ahead and light up the charcoals, pop on the gas, or throw on the wood... Regardless of the grilling method you use... it needs to get hot and ready! What is important is nailing how long you cook hamburgers on the grill. Nothing ruins the fun more than a dry hockey puck you could choke on before you get to savor the flavor! Yuck! Did I mention YUCK? There are several ways to keep this from happening so don

How to Cook Lamb Chops

Lamb chop is a special meat cut that is commonly used in preparing dishes for special events like holidays. To impress your friends, relatives and loved ones, you can serve delectable meals that use the meat as one of the main ingredients. To easily understand how to cook lamb chops, you can follow the simple steps or instructions in delectable lamb meat recipes. Caramelized Lamb Chops To start with the preparations, prepare all the ingredients needed for the dish. These include 16 single-rib lamb chops, a cup of roughly chopped cilantro, four cloves garlic, six tablespoons brown sugar, four tablespoons dark soy sauce and four tablespoons sherry. If you are having a hard time finding sherry, you can substitute it with Chinese rice wine. Mix the soy sauce, garlic, sherry, brown sugar and cilantro in a large saucepan. Stir and put the meats in the mixture. Make sure that the meats were coated with the mixture. Cover and place the mixture as well as the meats in a refriger

Green Pea Soup With Asparagus

It is not difficult to prepare a soups, it just needs time and patience to prepare it. Fresh ingredients are the key factor to make a delicious and healthy soup. At the same time, we can also add vegetables, meats, spices and herbs into a soup, in order to make the soups more flavorful and tasteful. Green pea soup with asparagus is one of the healthy and tasty soups that worth to prepare for whole family. First of all, green peas are known for its high-rich nutrients, it contains high amount of 8 vitamins, 7 minerals, fiber and protein. Its supercharged nutritional properties helps to boost up the energy. Green pea is an important food in our diet especially to supplement for fatigue and sluggish. While asparagus is another vegetable that often used in culinary as it is low in calories and contains extremely low fat or cholesterol. However, only young shoots of asparagus are eaten and bottom part of asparagus normally removed because it contains dirt and sand. Asparagus t

Useful Tips in Preparing Vegetable Smoothies

By Heather Stanford Vegetable smoothies are drinks made from leafy green vegetables, fruit and liquid, mixed thoroughly in a blender. The composition is usually sixty percent fruit with forty percent vegetables; so even if the drink may have the color of the green vegetables, the dominant taste is fruit. Many have discovered the benefits of drinking vegetable smoothies regularly. It is a great way of having the five daily servings of fruits and vegetables that are required for good health. One of the main reasons why people do not comply with the dietary requirement is their aversion towards the taste of vegetables. With smoothies, though, this is not necessary because the taste of the vegetables is masked by the flavor of the fruit. Thus, getting the daily dose of essential vitamins and minerals is easy. Greens are the preferred vegetables because they combine well with fruits and easy to blend. Cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are not recom

Space Saving Cooking Accessories

By Lucinda Jones Optimizing the space in your kitchen has a number of benefits. You should have a more organized kitchen, and, as a result, you will be able to find things more quickly. You will also be able to more readily see what items you need, so you can avoid forgetting items or purchasing something you already have when you go shopping. Saving space also allows you to have more kitchen items overall, even if you house or apartment is small. More space also means a cleaner kitchen in general. There is really no good reason not to invest in space-saving cooking accessories! Before you even start organizing the food items in your kitchen, work on making sure that your supplies are stored to save space. Start with the items that you use the most such as plates and dishes. Instead of stacking them horizontally, try purchasing a few plate cradles. These space savers allow you to store the plates vertically, making better use of your cabinet space and giving you extra

8 Key Benefits of Using Silicone Bakeware

Silicone baking products came out onto the market place several years ago. When I first saw these products in the local retail stores, I was skeptical that they would perform just as well as my traditional baking dishes. I decided to purchase a loaf pan and take it home to try it out. After all, I am an avid baker and would really put it through the test. After a few uses, I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised at how well it performed, matter of fact, it performed better than my metal and glass baking dishes. Over the years, I have purchased numerous pieces of silicone bakeware and I can honestly say, I now use them every day when I bake for my family. Here are 8 key benefits of why you need to use this type of bakeware in your own kitchen. 1. You will find that you can readily purchase the baking pans out in the market and for an economical price...many will come with a multi-year warranty, which makes them a great investment. 2. You will find that you wil

How to Cook Tilapia

By Kenny Leones Tilapia is one of the most nutritious and tasty seafood that can be used in special and delectable delicacies. The fish can be cooked in various ways like baking, grilling and steaming. To enjoy this seafood, you can try different recipes that can improve the taste and flavor of the fish. By looking at these recipes, you can also learn how to cook tilapia in the best way possible. Below are some of the most delicious and simple recipes that use the fish as a key ingredient. Lemon Garlic Fish In this recipe, you need four tilapia fillets and 1/8 cup of lemon juice as main ingredients. In addition to these, the dish contains a teaspoon of parsley flakes, a teaspoon of garlic powder, a tablespoon of margarine and a tablespoon of olive oil. Do not forget to season the fish fillets with a teaspoon of combined salt and pepper. To cook the dish, spray the baking dish with vegetable oil. Arrange the fish fillets on the baking dish. Heat a skillet on a medium fi

How to Make a Fresh Vegetable Lasagna That is Diabetic Friendly

By Linda Carol Wilson If you don't like meat or you are just trying to cut back on the meat in your diet, here is a fresh vegetable lasagna for you. One of the key words here, is fresh. You will notice this recipe does not use canned vegetables. And this recipe is okay for diabetics, too, since it has a great protein to carb ratio. FRESH VEGETABLE LASAGNA 8-oz uncooked lasagna noodles 1 pkg (10-oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 1 cup shredded carrots 1/2 cup sliced green onions 1/2 cup sliced green bell pepper 1/4 cup chopped parsley 1/2 tsp black pepper 1 1/2 cups 1% lowfat cottage cheese 1 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt 2 egg whites 1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms 1 can (14-oz) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped 2 cups (8-oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese Cook noodles according to the package directions, omitting salt. Drain. Rinse under cold water until cool; drain well. Set aside. Preh

How to Smoke Baby Back Ribs

By Joshua Borlovan Ok lets get started on the basics and using whats available in the the average household. First, we need to establish the three common methods of backyard cooking: 1. Grilling: Cooking over direct heat at high temperatures 2. Bar-B-Que: Cooking over indirect heat at med to high temperatures 3.Smoking: Cooking over indirect heat at low temperatures. (Below 235F) This is the method we are going to focus on for this article. Smoking meats in my opinion yields the highest flavor and quality in meats but especially ribs. This article specifically deals with baby back loin ribs. Traditionally "back ribs" are only considered "baby" if they weigh less than 1.75lbs however it is a loose term that normally applies to all "back loin ribs" taken from high on the hog's back by the loin. Select racks that are fairly close in weight when cooking multiple racks to ensure even cooking among them all. Look for marbling of the fat with

Tailgating Foods You Will Love - 5 Tailgating Food Ideas

By Kelli E. Stevens Down, set, hike! It's time to get ready for football season. That means breaking out the grill for those tailgating foods you will love. That can also mean you may have to break out those bigger jeans that hide in the back of your closet. The good news is you can enjoy those tailgating foods you love without having to get out those other jeans. I have taken some tailgating foods you will love and am giving you my tailgating foods ideas to make them a tad bit healthier. Chili • For your meat you want to choose a lean meat with no more than 8 grams of fat per serving. • For your sauce, try a homemade chili sauce by simply using a can of tomato sauce, a chili powder, a little bit of Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning (to eliminate some of the chili powder which reduces the amount of sodium), onion, and green peppers. • Cook all day in a Crock Pot to enhance the flavor! BBQ • To make a lean BBQ, try using a Pork Tenderloin, this is the leanest

How to Make an Old Fashioned Eggplant Stew Or an Amish Cheese Soup

By Linda Carol Wilson Here are a couple of recipes for some good soup and stew. This Amish recipe is from the Old Order Amish and uses the vegetables onion, carrots, and celery which gives this soup extra flavor and vitamins. The Eggplant Stew is an old Syrian family tradition. Whether you want a simple Amish Cheese Soup or something a little different with Eggplant Stew, be sure to add these recipes to your soup recipe files. AMISH CHEESE SOUP This is an old Old Order Amish recipe. 1/4 cup chopped onion 3 tbsp butter 1/4 cup flour 2 cups milk 1 cup chicken broth 1/2 cup shredded carrots 1/2 cup finely chopped celery 3/4 cup boiling water 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese Cook carrots and celery in boiling water until tender. Do not drain. Melt butter in large saucepan and add onion; cook until tender. Stir in flour and blend well. Gradually add the milk and chicken broth. Add the carrots and celery. Cook, stirring, until thickened. Stir in the cheese and stir over low