Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

Make Your Own Ice Cream

Monday, September 12th, 2011

If you’re still having second thoughts about getting your own ice cream maker, don’t. There are simply too many advantages to owning one that you’re losing on a great opportunity to experience ice cream at its finest by not owning an ice cream maker. There’s already a wide variety of flavors available in the supermarket but if you own an ice cream maker, there will be endless variations that you can make. You’ll be opening an entirely new world of frozen goodness. Also, if you’re on a particular diet (low-fat, low-sugar), you can create ice cream to suit virtually any diet.

If you have allergies, it can quite a challenge to find ice cream manufacturers that can cater to your very specific needs. But if you own an ice cream maker, you can enjoy ice cream just like everyone else. Besides, ice cream makers can be very inexpensive. The return on the cost is too great to pass up.

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Catering for Large Parties and Events

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Holding an event for a large group of people like a dinner party or wedding can be a lot of work. Quite a bit of planning and pre preparation must be made in order to make sure everything happens as it should. Sourcing out some of the details like food preparation can be an excellent idea. The less you have on your plate, the more you make sure that everything else is taken care of correctly. Caterers are specialists at preparing food for large groups of people. They have cooking facilities to make large quantities of food and the the catering equipment to cook and serve it up correctly. On top of that, when it’s time to clean up, they take all their stuff away and you don’t have to even think about it ever again. Good food can make or break an event so farming off the cooking to experts makes really good sense.

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The Kitchenaid Artisan Stand Mixer for Anyone Looking to Expand and Upgrade

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Today I’m strongly suggesting the Kitchenaid Artisan Stand Mixer to anyone looking to expand and upgrade their kitchen appliances. I own a little diner in a small town up state and just expanded our menu so that I could make our own breads and baked goods. I knew that I would need to get a good stand mixer and actually ended up getting two of them because the price was so good. I knew that Kitchenaid made good products but I’ve been amazed over the past few weeks about how well this thing performs under the high pressure of a busy diner. I could not have made a better choice because ever since expanding our menu our business has been doing a lot better than it ever used to. I can’t necessarily give all the credit to the Kitchenaid Artisan Stand Mixer but it sure has been an awesome addition to our high volume kitchen.

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Space Matters: the Main Grilling Area

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

In the product specifications, most grills list how many square inches of grilling space there is. Though caution should be taken to verify that the stated number of square inches refers to how large the main grill surface is, rather than the combined total of the warming rack and main grilling area. Some grill manufacturers and dealers report this number.

Other considerations also include what materials the grilling grates are made of. Grill grates are typically made of stainless steel or cast iron. Many top quality grills like the Weber Spirit E-210 use cast iron as the metal of choice. The core metals for the grill grate are coated in porcelain enamel, which provides protection from rust and adds durability while subjected to high heat.

Grilling space while important for any grilling enthusiast is especially critical for those who entertain large parties or like to cook large amounts of food and are otherwise more space conscious than most.

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Recipes with Quinoa: Satisfying Your Needs for Healthy Foods

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

If you have made the decision to cook quinoa recipes and consume them regularly, then you are increasing your chances of making positive changes to your health. It is because quinoa has been proven to contain a lot of nutrients that are all essential for human survival. For you to start taking the grain, do not fail to consider preparing the following recipes with quinoa:

  1. Quinoa Cakes and Spinach with Goat Cheese. For this recipe, the following ingredients are required: cooked quinoa, cooked and drained spinach, minced garlic cloves, crumbled goat cheese, egg, salt and pepper. To cook this, you need to first mix all of the mentioned ingredients in a bowl. After mixing, start seasoning the mixture with salt and pepper. You can then start forming patties from the mixture. Once the patties are formed, heat oil in a skillet and put the patties into it. Cook the patties for about five minutes for each side or until they turn brown.

  2. Curried Quinoa Pilaf. The ingredients that you will need are cumin seeds, garlic cloves, olive oil, grated ginger, orange zest, orange juice, turmeric, vegetable broth, peeled and cubed apple, peeled and cubed sweet potato, quinoa, raisins, salt and pepper. In order for you to cook this, you need to toast cumin in a pan for about two minutes. After that, the oil is heated in a skillet. The ginger and garlic are then sauted for two minutes. The next step is to combine all of the ingredients in a pot. Boil and simmer for thirty to forty five minutes. After that, the recipe is ready for serving.

  3. Quinoa with Pine Nuts. This is composed of pine nuts, whole grain quinoa, minced garlic cloves, chicken broth, chopped scallions, extra virgin olive oil and black pepper. The cooking directions state that you need to first heat oil in a saucepan and then saut garlic and scallions for about two minutes. Add the quinoa into the pan and saut for another two minutes. The broth is then added. Boil the mixture and simmer for about fifteen minutes at a reduced heat. The pine nuts and black pepper are then stirred into the pan. Remove from heat and set aside for approximately five minutes. Serve.

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Where to Find Coffee Espresso Machines

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Even though there are a lot of models of coffee espresso machines, still, there is some sort of difficulty as to where you can buy these stuffs intended for coffee lovers. Coffee Espresso Machine Reviews provide numerous sources of these kinds of equipment.

First and foremost, you can check the availability of this equipment in the appliance stores in your area. If there are some, you have to take note of the names and models of the coffee espresso machine for greater comparison. Aside from your outdoor search, you may also try to read the internet reviews posted. All you just need to do is to type the necessary keywords of the possible manufacturers of the coffee espresso machines. Once you are finished searching online as well as offline, decide for the best coffee espresso machines considering their individual specs. Remember that you have to proportionally weigh its quality as well as durability. This will ensure you proper decision with regards to buying the device.

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Green Tea Side Effects

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

While green tea is generally very good for you, there are some times when you may need to be careful about how much you actually drink each day. Of course, most people can drink as much as they like without any green tea side effects at all however if you are particularly sensitive to caffeine you may need to be careful how much you drink. There is much less caffeine in a cup of green tea than there is in a cup of black tea, coffee or many carbonated drinks but there is some caffeine present.

If you are concerned about the amount of caffeine you take in each day yet you still want to benefit from the health benefits of green tea there are a few options open to you. One option is to buy decaffeinated green tea which is available usually in tea bags. This will limit the amount of caffeine yet still give you some benefits. Of course, green tea in tea bags is no where near as healthy for you as loose leaf green tea as it is made from what is left over after making loose leaf tea. Another option is to brew your tea using loose leaf green tea, toss out the first cup and then pour water over the tea leaves again. This second cup should be almost as strong as the first but most of the caffeine will have been already extracted from the tea leaves.

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Beef Recipes: Try It with Black Bean Sauce!

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Black bean recipes can go well with almost about anything. Have you tried pairing it with meat or quinoa? Well, I would recommend that you do. In fact, I will give you a black bean recipe with beef.

How long will the preparation take? It will take about 20 minutes with additional 30mins for marinating. How about the cooking time? Fifteen minutes is the usual time for cooking. How many servings will you get from this? The recipe is good for 4 servings.

What will you need? 500g of rump steak strips, 1tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp sherry, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sugar, cooking oil, 1 onion (sliced thinly) 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped), 1 tbsp fresh ginger (chopped), 1 red capsicum (thinly sliced), 90g of drained bamboo shoots (sliced), 6 spring onions (diagonally sliced), 2 tbsp black beans with salt (rinsed and mashed)

What will you do with these? The first thing to do is the marinade. Do this by mixing sherry, soy sauce, sugar and cornflour. Place the meat in a ceramic bowl then pour the marinade. Cover the bowl and refrigerate it for thirty minutes. After 30minutes, drain it but keep the marinade. Heat the pan or wok then pour 2 tsp of oil. Afterwards, stir-fry the meat (two batches) for about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the meat. Reheat the pan and put in a tbsp of oil then stir-fry the onions for 3 to 4 minutes; use medium heat. Add the ginger, capsicum and garlic then stir. Increase the temp then cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Afterwards, put in the marinade, black beans, bamboo shoots, and spring onions plus 2 to 3 tbsp of water to the pan or wok. Cook using high heat. The sauce should be boiling and all ingredients should be well cooked. Then put again the beef in the pan. Serve warm. This will surely become one of your favorite black bean recipes!

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Food Safely Preserved in Jars

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

When you go grocery shopping and your looking for long term food storage options going for the canned foods is probably what you usually aim to for. But these processed foods might not be exactly what your looking for as there is no telling what they done in the canning or food preparation process. Not only that but the fruits and vegetables may not always be the best quality or the nutrition on the label may be questionable.

Jarring foods isn’t that hard if you know a few basics and understand the safety reasons behind it. The first thing to know is that you need to have a pressure canner so that you can boil the food under high pressure to reach 240 degrees and kill not only the bacteria but the spores that the bacteria make.

Not only that but you need to make sure you have all the proper equipment to handle the hot foods and jars.

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Tasty Stir Fry Vegetables with Zest of Balsamic Vinaigrette

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

If munching fresh vegetables is a bit boring to you, try stir frying them. It may be dull for some. I hope it won’t let others draw in to strike of not eating vegetables. Fresh ones and cooked under the fire can still be healthy. Just don’t restrain yourself from consuming vegetables.

There many vegetable stir fry recipes and this one will require florets of broccoli and cauliflower. They’re both robust in dietary fiber and contained vitamin C.

You don’t have to be messy in cutting off these florets. For broccoli, trim the stalk from the head. Let it be high enough so the florets will just fall off. Cut the florets into smaller size if you prefer it.

In cauliflower, remove the core after you take off the leaves. Detach the florets from the center and separate them by using a paring knife.

These crispy veggies will be yummier with balsamic vinaigrette that needs the following items:

Sauce: 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoon of soy sauce, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of sugar and ½ teaspoon of salt.

Vegetable stir fry recipe:

1 ½ cup each of broccoli and cauliflower

2 medium carrots, sliced thinly for about 1.5″ long a piece

½ cup of chopped Italian parsley

1 cup of beans, cut into 1.5″ long a piece

1 cup of snow peas

1 large green capsicum, sliced thinly in lengthwise

Procedures

  1. Mixed all the ingredients of sauce in a bowl and just set aside.
  2. Lay all the cut vegetables in a microwave bowl and flush ½ cup of water on it. Cover then steam in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.
  3. Bring 2 tablespoon of oil into a smoking hot in a wok. Add the veggies to be stir fried for 4 to 5 minutes. Let it cook but they should be still crunchy
  4. Pour the sauce and stir to coat all the veggies properly. Turn off the heat and sprinkle the parsley. Serve.

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The Hamilton Beach Toastation is Highly Rated

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Although it is small and compact, this 2 slice toaster named the Hamilton Beach Toastation is highly rated by people who have left reviews about it.

Obviously it is a small piece of equipment, but if that is all that you need, then it would make a great addition to your kitchen. It will cook 2 slices of toast just the way that you prefer it, and the small oven, though compact, is capable of cooking small meals in a fast time.

This means that you don’t have to switch your main kitchen oven on to cook small portions of food, and when you consider how much a large oven actually cost to run, you will eventually be saving money by using a compact toaster oven.

The Hamilton Beach Toastation is a very nice looking oven, with its modern design of black and steel exterior, and would make an elegant counter top piece of practical equipment.

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Enjoy Your Favorite Coffee with the My K Cup

Friday, October 1st, 2010

The Keurig coffee brewers have ranked high in every coffee drinker’s list of favorite coffee makers. This is mainly because of the many different features that this innovative machine has that no other coffee brewers are offering. With its seemingly simple appearance, it is actually a very powerful coffee machine.

K Cups are used in this coffee maker; these are small cups that contain flavored coffees. The cups are placed inside the machine where the coffee drink is brewed to perfection and transferred to your awaiting mug in less than 2 minutes. The coffee cup has its own filter inside which makes it very easy to use; this filter is disposable and should be discarded along with the cup after the brewing process.

If you want to use your own type of gourmet coffee grounds in your coffee maker, you can use the Keurig My K Cup reusable coffee filter. This is priced at $14.57 and measures 3 x 3 x 5 inches. This can only be used in the B40 Elite, B50 Ultra and B60 Special Edition models. It has a hard plastic frame but the filter itself is made of metal. This has the capacity of holding 2 tablespoons of your favorite gourmet ground coffee. Before using the reusable coffee filter, however, you must first remove the K Cup holder from the coffee machine. Afterwards, be sure to clean the filter under running water. Do this every time you use it.

You therefore have more options on how you would like to have your brewed coffee. You can choose from the hundreds of varieties of coffee cups that are available in the market or you can opt to brew your favorite brand of gourmet ground coffee using the reusable coffee filter. The versatile machine will always give you a perfect cup of coffee that tastes like the ones that can be bought in expensive coffee houses and restaurants.

The different flavors and blends of K Cups can be purchased online. There are different manufacturers that makes top of the line coffee cups at different prices. You can compare prices and choose the flavors that most appeal to you. Shipping is free if you subscribe to a regular delivery of coffee cups.

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Baking Your Own Wedding Cake

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

Choosing to bake your own wedding cake might be viewed as a stressful undertaking, but it can be hugely satisfying and rewarding, especially to see all of your wedding guests enjoying your cake creation. Apart from the bride (obviously) the wedding cake is the main attraction at the reception, grandly perched on cake stands on a table. And this is one detail of your wedding that you want to make sure is done properly. Store bought cakes are fine once and a while, however, a wedding reception holds a lifetime of memories and a is a day that should be tailor-made for the bride and groom. The decision to create your own luscious and lavish wedding cake gives you absolute control over the image, size and ingredients to ensure everything goes your way. Why settle for someone else’s vision and concept for that special day? With a little ingenuity and creativity you can make the wedding cake of your dreams for a fraction of the cost of buying one.

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Tips For Grilling Vegetables Using An Indoor Grill

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Grilled vegetables can taste great when you are using an indoor grill. You get a richer flavor and you do not have to worry about the veggies slipping through your grills or getting overcooked. Vegetables that taste great when grilled include mushrooms, potato pieces, asparagus, tomatoes, eggplants, green beans and zucchini. Just add some seasoning and you’re good to go.

You can simply season them with a little bit of salt or herbs. Balsamic vinegar or olive oil works great too. Heat up your indoor grill at the highest setting and make sure it is properly heated before placing your vegetables on the grate.

Spray or brush some vegetable oil on top of the surface and then place your food on it. If the vegetables you are grilling have a flat surface, then you can place them at an angle to create grill marks which makes your food looks tastier. Vegetables with a stick form are best placed perpendicular to the grill lines. Turn the vegetables to ensure they are fully cooked on all sides.

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