Archive for September, 2008

Southern Cooking CDs – Cookbook Alternatives

September 30, 2008

Down south, southern cooking is the center of interest and plays a pivotal role in most functions and activities. Did you realize that it was several centuries ago when southern cooking came into existence? Believe it or not, Southerners treasured their cooking back then, and treasure it even more today.

Southern cooking has even traced its history. Unlike cooking activity in any other place, it is different. Even some of the most well-known personalities in history, such as Thomas Jefferson and Leonardo d’Vinci, are also involved in the history of southern cooking.

There are several manifestations of idiosyncrasy in southern cooking. According to some historians, it derives from slavery and poverty. With so many things to cling on to about southern cooking, the bottom line is always to know its essence to the Southerners. The exceptional foods that they have make them known to the world.

If you are really interested to know more about the secrets behind the recipes and the common dishes prepared by the Southerners, there is a way for you to find this information. It is only in the southern cooking CDs where their secrets will be revealed.

Southern cooking CDs is a collection of recipes and detailed instructions about Southerners dishes. One very interesting fact about the CD is that these are derived from well-known and reliable resources. It is also combined with tips from expert cooks and chefs in the South.

You can now have the New Southern Cookbook and Regional Recipe Collection CD all in one. You will definitely not regret purchasing one because these contain not only hundreds, but also even thousands of distinctive home and commercial recipes suited for any occasion in your household.

The recipes that you find here will turn your heart out. You cannot ask for more. Every detail is provided for you. You will be provided with information that you want from the simple ingredients down to the dressing and the presentation of the foods.

There is no need for you to worry if you know nothing about cooking but you have the heart for it. With the Southern Cooking CD, it is made easier and even more convenient for you.

As long as you know how to follow instructions presented in the CD, you will be able to cook like a true Southerner. You can prepare the food as if you are an expert. Nobody will believe that you are able to serve that kind of food having a such great savor and taste.

The CD is also really helpful for those people who find it difficult to search for recipes on the Internet and in cookbooks . With just a press on your CD player, you will have the chance to watch and listen to everything and follow right along.

It also offers other advantages over typical cookbooks that most people are fond of buying. The price of CDs is usually less expensive. It is almost just a fraction of the price for a cookbook. Imagine, you are learning at the same time you are able to watch how the recipes are being applied over your television.

If everything is simply a dream for you before, make it realistic now with the southern cooking CDs . For certain, your family members will be amazed with the effort that you exerted in cooking their favorite food. They will not even know that your key to that is the southern cooking CD.

John Purdy operates websites dedicated to southern cooking and cooking supplies like chef aprons. For access to cooking resources, visit his sites today.

[tags]southern cooking,home cooking,country,south,cooking,chef,aprons,apron,food,recipes[/tags]

Cucumber Salad Recipes

September 30, 2008

Cucumbers are a good source of vitamins’ C, A and K. They are loaded with potassium and low in cholesterol, sodium and saturated fat. That’s all the information you are going to get from me on that subject. These are my own home recipes and I wouldn’t know where to start counting their calories. Relax, enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Greek Salad

1 or 2 fresh-picked cucumbers

1 head of iceberg lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces

3 medium sized fresh tomatoes, sliced

1 small red onion

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 pound Feta cheese

Composition Of The New York Cheesecake Recipe

September 27, 2008

The New York cheesecake recipe is one of the simplest recipes in any dessert cookbook, but it’s one that demands complete attention to detail and use of the highest quality ingredients to get the premium result. If you are the sort of cook who likes to save a few pennies here and there by skimping on the quality of your ingredients, you might not want to venture into the cheesecake world.

Part of the reason for the emphasis on quality ingredients is that there are so few of them. The basic New York cheesecake recipe includes eggs, cream cheese, cream, sugar and a handful of other small additions. The crust is generally a graham cracker crust, which is one of the simplest in the world to make.

When presented with such simple ingredients, the inexperienced cook might think success was in the bag and hit the mega mart to pick up all the goods. And while you would indeed produce something that looked remarkably like a New York cheesecake, when the taste hit your palate, you’d know something had gone terribly wrong.

Let’s start with the cream. You can go to the grocery store and buy what you need out of the refrigerator case in the dairy section. Instead of that, however, how about finding your nearest dairy farm or co-op market? Another good choice would be your nearest farmer’s market. Think farmer’s markets are just for produce? Think again!

Farmer’s markets are the home for all the best of your locally grown and made products. From the freshest local produce to local delicacies like country ham, cheeses and baked goods, you will find a great selection at most markets. At one farmer’s market in Asheville, N.C., there is even a bakery in the market where sourdough bread is baked all day.

Take the time to seek out quality ingredients, and your New York cheesecake recipe will be the hit of the table!

Andrew Krause is a Chef and Pastry Chef for over 30 years, at present I am retired, I owned a Gourmet Bakery called The Cheese Confectioner. You can visit my site at http://www.andies.cashhosters2.com

NOTE: You are welcome to reprint this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the about the author info at the end).

[tags]New York cheesecake recipe[/tags]

Baked Chicken Recipes

September 27, 2008

A package of skinless, boneless chicken can be used in hundreds of different ways. Deciding to have chicken for dinner is only the first step.

I’m going to share with you a few easy ideas for baked chicken I’ve used before, but keep in mind these are very simple ideas. Check your cookbook for more detailed and complicated recipes.

Chicken & Garlic

4 Skinless, boneless chicken breasts
About 1 stick of butter
Garlic, chopped
1 Jar sliced mushrooms

Arrange chicken in baking dish. Cut butter in slices and arrange on top of chicken evenly. Add garlic and mushrooms. Cook at 400* for about 45 mins.

Cheesy Chicken

2 Skineless, boneless chicken breasts
Garlic, chopped
1 Jar Sliced mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of corn

Place chicken in baking dish, arrange rest of ingredients on top. Cook at 400* for about 45mins

These are just 2 recipes I’ve used, the second being a “throw together” meal when I only had one piece of chicken left. It proved to be better with another piece later on, but it showed me you can add just about anything that sounds good to a chicken meal. You can also try a number of marinades from the store, either letting the chicken sit over night or adding the marinade to the chicken as it cooks.

Good luck!

About the Author: Kara Kelso is the mother of 2 and owner of several online businesses. For more recipe ideas like this, visit: http://www.idea-queen.com

[tags]chicken recipes, recipes for mom, idea queen[/tags]

Campfire Cooking (Some Yummy Recipes)

September 24, 2008

It’s almost picnic and camping time across most of North America. For that next trip into the woods or at the park, consider these treatsespecially for the kids.

S’mores

This is every kid’s favorite (including big kids). Simply put a marshmallow on a stick, roast it, and while it’s still hot, slap it against a piece of chocolate bar and sandwich it between two graham crackers.

Banana Boats

Cut a banana lengthwise. Stud it with miniature marshmallows and chocolate chips. Wrap it in aluminum foil and set it on some coals to melt the chocolate and marshmallows. Eat it while it is still warm.

Cheesy Hot Dogs

Split the hot dogs lengthwise and roast on the grill. Turn them over, cover the split side with cheddar cheese, and grill skin side down.

Minute Pizzas

Split English muffins. Spread pizza sauce on them. Sprinkle them with mozzarella cheese, and place pepperoni slices on top. Place them on the grill to cook. Cover them with a can or pan to catch the heat and direct it onto the tops of the pizzas. You can also bake these in a Dutch oven.

Makeshift Pizza

To make Makeshift Pizza, you will need a frying pan as large as the pizzas you will make. Bake the pizza crusts the night before or purchase round pizza-crust bread from the store. Pack them in the frying pan to protect them from breaking. Bring along a can of tomato paste for each pizza and a mixture of Italian spices. Bring your favorite shredded cheesesmostly mozzarellaand whatever pizza toppings you prefer. (You can find sliced pepperoni that does not have to be refrigerated in most grocery stores.)

When you are ready for lunch, build a small fire. A few one-inch diameter dead pine branches make the perfect fuel. Let the coals burn down.

As the fire is burning down, spread the tomato paste on the crust in the pan, sprinkle with Italian seasonings, and prepare the pizza with the toppings. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

Scrape the coals away and nestle the pan down into the warm bed. If there is too much heat, the crust will burn. Place a hot stick or two on top of the foil. Let the hot bed warm the pizza through and until the cheese is melted. You may have to recharge the bed with reserved hot coals. When the cheese has melted and is bubbly, the pizza is ready.

Makeshift Pizza only works the first day out unless you have some way to keep the perishables cold. (A good snow bank will do.) And the ingredients are a little heavy to be packing far.

Dennis Weaver is the general manager at The Prepared Pantry (http://www.preparedpantry.com) with recipes, ideas, and the best selection of mixes and ingredients. Visit the free Bakers’ Library for more articles like this, free baking guides, and tested recipes.

[tags]cooking, baking, outdoors, camping, fire, campfire, dutch oven, pizza, cheesy hot dogs, cheese dogs[/tags]

Gourmet Cheesecake Recipes

September 24, 2008

Cheesecake, do you think that cheesecake is hard to make, well if you do then you are wrong,cheesecake is one of the easiest deserts to make as far as I am concerned,it is even easier
and less messy than making cookies. Just go to Yahoo or MSN and type in the search box Free Gourmet Cheesecake Recipes and click search and you will find my site or just click on the link below about the author many recipes for cheesecake such as Chocolate Cheesecake,Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake,
Individual Vanilla Cheesecake with Lemon Curd,
Bailey’s Marbled Cheesecake and these are just a few we also have many recipes in our classic food section,pastry in our baked goods section,and there is also a scection on Wedding Cakes. All the wedding cakes that you find there
are cakes that I have done and have had time to take photos of.

Do you need something fast for dinner tonight? You know that a lot of quick and easy dishes are made in crock pots,you can start them in the morning and have them ready when you come home from work,crock pot lasagna or Golambki Another Old Time Polish Recipe,and these are just the beginning.

However you choose to locate the recipes that you need weather it be on a web site, blog,or whatever there are many good places and products that you can find them and you can be sure
that these recipes are top quality and will give you a perfect dinner or desert.

What ever it is that you are looking for you can find it online or in the public library,you will find many new recipes and some of them will become your favorite.

About The Author

Andrew Krause
I have been a Chef and pastry Chef for well over 30 years, and at present I own a Gourmet Bakery in Dickson City Pennsylvania.
The Cheese Confectioner Bakery was founded in 1983 and is a wholesale, retail manufacturer of Gourmet Cheesecake and other fine pastries
http://www.andies.cashhosters2.com
vzepwt4f@verizon.net

[tags]cheesecake,gourmet,recipes,articles,[/tags]

6 Tasty Low Fat Soup Recipes For Cholesterol Patients

September 21, 2008

Among low cholesterol recipes, soups that are low in fat happen to be very popular. Folks with high cholesterol love to have these soups as they are really tasty. These soup recipes provide a balanced and fat free food and could be of great assistance in dietary control for high cholesterol afflicted folks.

These soups to some extent also contribute to reduce level of LDL cholesterol. Some of these soups come under traditional recipes while some new soup recipes have also come on the block.

Lentil Soup
A very common of all soups among cholesterol patients is Lentil soup that could be easily prepared. Ingredients are tomatoes, onion, celery, carrot, curry powder and lentils. A balanced proportion of all these contents could be used to prepare this soup. These ingredients could be boiled together for ten minutes to be consumed. You may add chili pepper, chili powder or green chili as per your taste buds.

Cabbage Soup
Cabbage soup could also be given to cholesterol patients. This soup is prepared with cabbage, ginger, black pepper, onion, green chili, tomatoes and sherry. Its ingredients contribute to very little or negligible cholesterol content. The soup is free of saturated fat content.

Squash And Sweet Potato Soup
The other soup suited to people with high cholesterol is made with squash and sweet potato. This soup, in combination with salads that are rich in fibers are often offered to cholesterol patients. This soup must be prepared in canola oil. One pound each of squash and sweet potato could be used to prepare soup for four people. Other ingredients of this soup are chives, onion, black pepper and ginger. The soup may include chicken broth.

Bean And Spinach Soup
A cholesterol afflicted person may enjoy a bean and spinach soup. Even in this soup you can use chicken broth. This soup could also serve the purpose of lowering LDL due to presence of beans. Other ingredients of soup are carrot, celery sticks, tomatoes and dried oregano. Rotini is also added to it. Doctors often recommend this recipe to obese folks who are likely to develop cholesterol problem.

Low Fat Turkey Soup
Low fat Turkey soup is another soup serving to people with high cholesterol. Ingredients of this soup are sodium chicken broth, pasta noodles, celery stalks, carrot and black pepper. All these contents are boiled together to prepare the soup.

Black Bean Soup And Toskana Soup
Black bean soup and Toskana soup also happen to be very low in fat content and could be offered to cholesterol patients.

All these soup recipes happen to be good to your taste buds as well. You can enjoy these for the twin purpose of dietary control and LDL cholesterol reduction.

To get more information on cholesterol, cholestrol lowering diet and fat and cholesterol visit http://www.urcholesterol.com/

[tags]cholestrol lowering diet , cholestrol lowering foods , cholestrol medications[/tags]

Eight Time-Saving Cooking Tips

September 21, 2008

1. Plan meals at least a week in advance to incorporate the use of leftovers. For example, have baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy for dinner Sunday, and then use the leftover gravy as the base of beef stroganoff Monday.

2. If you know you’re not going to have time to cook one evening, prepare two dinners the night before and just reheat one the next night.

3. When preparing a meal using grated cheese, chopped onions, etc., prepare more than the recipe calls for and refrigerate the rest for another meal.

4. Clean your kitchen workspace as you go. When you’re done there will be little left to clean.

5. On grocery shopping day, have your children help individually wrap their cookies, snacks, etc., for their lunches. Makes lunch preparation for the rest of the week a breeze and snacks don’t disappear before lunches are made.

6. Don’t hide your cookbooks away. Organize them where you can get to them easily, and you will use them a lot more.

7. Keep a notepad on the front of the refrigerator for your shopping list. When you run out of something write it on the list right away. Encourage family members to do the same.

8. Prepare favorite beverages like lemonade, tea, or Kool Aid in gallon-sized pitchers, and you won’t have to make them as often.

Originally published at Suite 101. Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What’s for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For recipes, tips to organize your home, home decorating, crafts, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com

[tags]cooking, frugal living[/tags]

This Easy Cake Recipe Means Anybody Can Bake Homemade Cakes

September 18, 2008

If you’re fed up with the dull and boring cakes that you can buy from the local store, then perhaps it’s time to get back into homemade cakes. The cakes you buy may be beautifully packed to look attractive, but read the ingredients and you will see how many preservatives and additives are used to ensure they stay fresh on the shelf.

One of the easy ways to make cakes at home is to use cake mix, but again these prepacked mixes often contain ingredients designed to make the mix cheap and long lasting, rather than to produce a wholesome cake. But, help is at hand – soft, melt-in-the-mouth sponge cakes can now be made very quickly and easily thanks to soft margarines which enable ingredients to be blended very quickly.

Cakes can still be made using traditional methods of creaming together fat and sugar and then adding the eggs and other ingredients, and there’s no doubt that cakes made in the traditional way have a unique texture. But if you’re just getting back into making homemade cakes then try this very easy sponge which has to be the quickest cake to make from basic ingredients. You simply put the flour in a bowl and mix in all the other ingredients!

Very Easy Sponge Cake

4 oz…110g self raising flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
4 oz…110g quality, soft margarine at room temperature
4 oz…110g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2-3 drops vanilla essence

To finish:

Icing/confectioners’ sugar, jam

Two 7 in (18cm) cake tins, at least 1.5in (4cm) deep, greased and bases lined with greaseproof or waxed paper.

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3, 170 deg C, 325 deg F.

Sift the baking powder and flour into a large mixing bowl. Make sure the margarine is soft and simply add all the other ingredients to the bowl and beat them well until everything is thoroughly mixed together. An electric mixer will give good results. The mixture should just drop from a wooden spoon when tapped on the side of the bowl, so if needed mix in 1-2 teaspoons of warm water to get the right consistency.

Divide the mixture between the lined and greased tins and place on the centre shelf of the preheated oven for about thirty minutes. When cooked, the top of the sponge should be golden and springy to the touch.

When cooked, allow to cool for about a minute. Loosen the edges with a knife and turn the sponges out onto a wire rack to cool. Carefully remove the lining paper and when completely cool spread your favourite jam on the sponge and sandwich together. To finish, dust the top with icing/confectioners’ sugar if you like.

What could be easier? A lovely homemade sponge cake in less than an hour from beginning to end.

Mike Houghton has been cooking for his family for over 20 years. His first love is French food, simply prepared and beautifully presented, but he also enjoys traditional British cooking, especially desserts, such as crumbles and puddings. He is the webmaster for http://www.homemade-cake-recipes.com/ where a selection of lovely cake recipes can be found.

[tags]cake recipe,homemade cake,sponge cake recipe,easy cake recipe,homemade cake recipe,homebaking[/tags]

Some Irish Recipes to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

September 18, 2008

St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th, and it is a “day for wearing green” and other Irish traditions. Even though the patron saint St. Patrick was not born in Ireland, everything that is Green (which symbolizes spring and the prospering of the crops), fun and Irish can be worn or used to celebrate this holiday. And it is a holiday for all ages. Here are some entertaining ideas to use on St. Patrick’s Day.

A few drops of green food coloring goes into anything you might want green, even a mug of draft beer. Anything made with Irish cream or Irish whiskey has the Irish spirit, too.

Authentic Corned beef and cabbage

Corned beef brisket, about 4 lbs.

1 juice orange

18-20 whole cloves

1 tsp. whole yellow mustard seeds

1/2 tsp. caraway seeds

1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns

1/2 tsp. whole coriander

Put corned beef brisket into large pot for cooking. Take cloves and insert them, then sprinkle remaining spices on. Cover brisket with water, bring to boil, then simmer for 3 hours or until tender.

3 lbs. small potatoes, peeled

2 1/2 lbs. carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces

1 medium head cabbage

About 40 minutes before beef is finished, boil a large pot of water and cook potatoes and carrots. Add cabbage about 10 minutes before you’re ready to serve as it doesn’t need to cook long. Drain vegetables.

Arrange meat and vegetables on a platter and serve with your favorite mustards.

St. Patrick Day Cookie Pops (for the kids to make)

Box of Vanilla Wafers

Box of Popsicle sticks

Vanilla or chocolate frosting; or Peanut butter

Various decorations – chocolate chips, icing packs, assorted green candies, green sugar sprinkles, ju ju bees, sprinkles, etc.

Spread out