Random Cooking Tips

Here are some tips and tricks that have been used to solve those common culinary problems. Learn a few new tricks and put them to work for you today!

Bacon: Minimize bacon shrinkage by running bacon under water before frying.

Beans: A tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda in a large pot of beans while soaking them, the ‘flatulence’ caused by the beans is kept to a minimum

Boiling Eggs: Add a little salt or vinegar to your boiling water when cooking eggs; a cracked egg will stay in its shell this way.

Boiling Over: Rub butter or margarine on the rim of a pot in which you cook rice or macaroni and it won’t boil over.

Cakes: A cake will keep longer if you place half an apple in the cake tin when storing.

Chocolate Cake: Make a better chocolate cake by adding a teaspoon of vinegar to your cake mix.

Corn: Don’t boil corn for more than 3 minutes. Place the corn directly into boiling water, and do not add salt. You will find the flavor is much better than cooking for 10 minutes or more. Corn will never get soft, no matter how long you cook it-it will only lose its taste

Descaling Fish: Soak fish in salt water before descaling and the scales will come off easier.

Frozen Vegetables: A quick way to separate frozen vegetables is to pour boiling water over them through a colander and then add them to your casserole or pot to finish cooking.

Grating Cheese: To easily shred cheese, let sit in freezer for 30 minutes.

Icing Tips: Add a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to your icing and the icing will stay moist and prevent cracking.

Jelly Mold: To easily remove a jelly from the mold, lightly brush mold with oil before pouring in the mixture.

Meatballs: When making a lot of meatballs a fast and simple method is to shape the meat mixture into a log and cut off slices. The slices roll easily into balls.

Pancakes: Adding a little sugar to the batter of pancakes and waffles will make them brown more quickly.

Pie Pastry: For flakier pastry, substitute 1 teaspoon vinegar for 1 teaspoon of the cold water called for in the recipe.

Ripening Fruits and Vegetables: A lots of fruit and veg found in supermarkets today look ripe, but are hard as a rock. Put them in a brown paper bag and hide the bag away in a dark cupboard for a day or two. Use This is great tip for items such as avocados, bananas, kiwi fruit, peaches, nectarines, and many more.

Salads: Serve iceberg lettuce wedges instead of torn salad greens to save time making a salad.

Spaghetti Sauce: Put a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in spaghetti sauce to remove the acid taste from the tomatoes.

Speedy Sauce: Instant sauces can be easily created by heating a can of undiluted condensed cream soup (i.e. cream of tomato cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, cream of celery, etc.).

Soups: To remove some of the fat in soups by add a lettuce leaf to the pot. Remove the leaf after fat removal. Place a raw potato in salty soup. The potato will absorb the extra salt.

Tenderize Meat: One to two table spoons of vinegar with your meat help tenderize it while you are cooking.

Vanilla: Make your own vanilla concentrate by placing 2 split and chopped vanilla pods in 1 liter of vodka or bourbon. Shaking the bottle once a day, let sit for 2-3 months, or until desired color.

Vinegar used as a meat tenderizer: Add a tablespoon to water when boiling ribs or meat for stews, and even the toughest meat will be so tender you can cut with fork or will fall off the bone.
Vegetable color Add vinegar to the water when boiling vegetables to retain color.

Wilted Vegetables: Perk up wilted vegetables. Soak in 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon vinegar

Wooden Skewers: When using wooden skewers for kebabs, soak in cold water for 10-30 minutes to prevent them from burning.

Quick And Easy Dinner Ideas

Sometimes it’s a race getting dinner on the table. Tracy Metro for the Kraft Kitchens shares two recipes that will beat the clock and allow you to make a home cooked meal in 30 minutes, or less. So, put down that delivery menu!

Ingredients
Easy Beef and Broccoli
2 cups instant white rice, uncooked
1 Tbsp. oil
1 lb. beef stir-fry strips
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup KRAFT CATALINA Dressing
1 Tbsp. grated ginger root

STOVE TOP One-Dish Chicken Skillet
1-1/2 cups hot water
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.)
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup BREAKSTONE’S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

Directions
Easy Beef and Broccoli
COOK rice as directed on package. Meanwhile, heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add meat; cook 3 min. or until evenly browned, stirring frequently.
ADD broccoli, hoisin sauce, dressing and ginger root; stir. Cover. Cook 5 min. or until heated through.
SERVE over the rice.

Tips
• If you can’t find beef stir-fry strips in your supermarket, you can use any grilling steak, cut into thin strips, instead.
• Substitute jarred minced ginger for the grated ginger root.

STOVE TOP One-Dish Chicken Skillet
MIX hot water, butter and stuffing mix.
COOK chicken in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat 5 min. on each side.
MIX soup and sour cream; pour over chicken. Top with stuffing; cover. Cook on low heat 10 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF).

Tips
• Substitute fat-free milk for the sour cream.

Quick And Easy Pasta Recipes

Michele McAdoo for the Kraft Kitchens shows how to make two restaurant style pasta dishes that are easy to make at home. Capelinni Caresse and Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken are sure to impress your family and friends.

Capellini Caresse

Ingredients
1/2 lb. capellini or spaghetti, uncooked
1/2 cup KRAFT Tuscan House Italian Dressing and Marinade
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 cup fresh basil, finely sliced

Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 25 min
Servings: 4 servings, 1-1/2 cups each

Instructions
Cook pasta as directed on package.
Meanwhile, heat dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; cook and stir 2 min. Add tomatoes; cook 5 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.
Drain pasta. Add to tomato mixture; mix lightly. Sprinkle with cheese and basil.

Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken

Ingredients
1/2 lb. fettuccine, uncooked
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1-1/4 cups fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 tsp. flour
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, cubed
3 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper

Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 25 min
Servings: 4 servings, 1-1/2 cups each

Instructions
Cook pasta as directed on package.
Meanwhile, heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 5 to 7 min. or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally. Remove from skillet. Mix broth and flour in same skillet. Stir in Neufchatel, 2 Tbsp. Parmesan, garlic powder and pepper; cook 2 min. or until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly with whisk. Stir in chicken.
Drain pasta; place in large bowl. Add chicken mixture; toss to coat. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan.

Tips
• Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley just before serving.
• Prepare as directed, using whole wheat fettuccine.
• Stir in 2 cups chopped cooked broccoli before serving.

Health Values of Different Cooking Oils

Are cooking oils and their substitutes unhealthy, but necessary evils that we must use in order to make a meal? Or like any foods are their choices to be made that will add healthy benefits to your meals. We will point out that there are indeed healthy choices along with some very unhealthy ones. But even when you use the right ones, moderation is always in order.

When choosing an oil for cooking, the most important thing to consider is how stable is it when heated. Oils that are unstable when exposed to heat and light are most prone to oxidation and free radical production. These will be the most inflammatory inside our bodies, and this can be the cause of many of our internal problems such as diabetes, heart disease and many other degenerative diseases. The cooking oils we often use that have the greatest instability with heat: polyunsaturated fats which are prevalent in most vegetable oils.

It gets confusing because there are healthy foods that have polyunsaturated fat, such as seeds and nuts, so why should we not also avoid them? The difference is as long as they have not been exposed to high heat, and therefore have avoided the oxidation process. In the case of vegetable oils such as cottonseed, safflower, grapeseed and corn oils, they have usually been refined during processing. As a result, they are already inflammatory prior to cooking with them, and the cooling process does even more damage. Read the rest of this entry »

Easy Frappuccino Recipe

If you had tried this frozen drink, then you know the urging feeling for it. One of the main advantages of making your frozen drink at home is that you can make it as strong as you want. You can also make it any time that you want. You do not have to stick to any one recipe by necessity because there are many. You can give it a tweak here and there and you can even concoct a very healthy drink where you do not have to worry about the calories. One of the ways to do this is to use a Frappuccino recipe that advises you to skip the cream or to replace it with skimmed milk. You can also skip the milk and cream altogether and be assured of lesser calories in your drink.

This is just a very simple Frappuccino recipe but there will be many more if you would like to make a different Frappuccino every time you desire one. Of course, you can try different ingredients for different flavors, different amounts of sugar depending on how sweet you would like your drink to be.

Ingredients
Ice
½ cup strong brewed coffee
Milk of your choice; this could be soy, nonfat or any other milk
Enough instant pudding
A tall blending variety cup
Read the rest of this entry »

Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes for Vegetables

Crock pots and slow cookers can be your best kitchen friends. Being one who prefers vegetables over meat, I love using my slow cookers and crock pots (yes, that is plural, you can’t have too many) for tasty vegetables, too. No need to keep it back just for soups and roasts. Try these delicious recipes and see what I mean! Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes are perfect when your oven is occupied with the meat. This is also a good way to prepare your sweet potatoes so they are ready when you get home. My German heritage come through in my love of cabbage. I think I could eat it everyday and never tire of it. One of my favorite cabbage recipes is Bavarian Red Cabbage which combines the red cabbage with apples. Give it a try, and see just how good it is. The New England Style Baked Beans turns a simple navy bean into a mouth-watering veggie!

Easy Baked Sweet Potatoes
Scrub approximately 12 (or enough to fill your cooker) sweet potatoes.
Place potatoes in the slow cooker or crock pot. Add 1/4 cup water to pot.
Place lid on cooker and cook on high setting for 1 hour. Turn heat to low setting and cook for another 6 to 8 hours. Potatoes should be very tender.
Read the rest of this entry »