Cast Iron Cookware – The Only Way to Cook

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When a gourmet chef steps into the kitchen to create a masterpiece, there are several elements that come into play to contribute to his ultimate work of art. One of those elements is the equipment he uses and specifically the cookware utilized to prepare his dishes. However, when one thinks of a gourmet chef, cast iron cookware does not come to mind. There is one thing that many food connoisseurs don’t realize: many of the fine dishes they have eaten have been prepared using cast iron pots and pans.

It has been used in cooking for hundreds of years. You can probably recall your grandparents using cast iron frying pans and skillets. Its ability to withstand extreme cooking temperatures makes it a fantastic choice for searing or frying, and its excellent heat distribution and retention makes it perfect for cooking stews and other dishes that require a slow, long cooking process. There are a number of different pieces of cast iron cookware, each serving a special purpose and making cooking a special experience. Types of pots and pans include Dutch ovens, frying pans, deep fryers, woks, flat top grill’s, griddles, and jambalaya plots. Each and every one of these pieces of cookware can find itself in the most elaborate of restaurants, as well as a campsite deep in the Rocky Mountains. But regardless of where it is used, it always gets the job done.

As you begin your quest with this type of cookware, keep in mind that preserving your cookware is very simple but it does require a bit more maintenance than other types of cookware. Because ordinary cookware cleaning techniques require scouring and washing, they are not recommended for a good piece of cast iron cookware. A dishwasher or scouring pad can remove the seasoning on a griddle or Dutch oven. As such, it should not be cleaned like most other cookware. Many who use cast-iron cookware suggest never cleaning cast-iron pans at all, but simply wiping them out after use or washing them with hot water and a stiff brush. Then again, other cast-iron aficionados advocate washing with mild soap and water, and then season the pan by coating it with a thin layer of fat or oil. There’s even a third approach that calls for scrubbing with coarse salt and a paper towel or clean rag. Any of these approaches will work fine as long as your cookware remains well seasoned, coated by oil or fat, and stored in a dry place.

Having and using cast iron cookware will benefit your family for generations to come. Your children and grandchildren will have an opportunity to go down to the creek and enjoy a good fish fry. At home, you most certainly will be able to wake up and enjoy the scent of cooking bacon and brewing coffee. Your life will never be the same once you invest in cast iron cookware.

Really Useful Time Management Tips from a Cooking Show

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In life, there are lessons available to use everywhere. We just have to have our eyes open to spot them. I have picked up some really useful time-management tips from watching a cooking show. Suspend your disbelief and let me explain further.

I dont watch a lot of television because it can be a huge time drain. But I enjoy experimenting and cooking, so I do watch a few cooking shows now and then. One of my favorites is 30 Minute Meals hosted by the ever perky Rachel Ray. Her claim to fame is that she can show you how to prepare healthy, great-tasting home-cooked meals in 30 minutes. Who can resist that?

After experiencing more than a few episodes of her program, Ive come to realize that she is a master at using time. Thats how she can get so much accomplished in 30 minutes. And here are her secrets that you can easily adopt.

Spend time in Planning

Most cooking shows lasting 30 minutes will feature maybe one item. In 30 Minute Meals, Rachel Ray generally prepares three to five items working alone in her kitchen. She doesnt have helpers and the ingredients havent been pre-chopped or diced or julienned ahead of time. She doesnt have another perfect souffl sitting in the oven waiting for her to whip out at the end to show you how it should turn out. She really does the cooking in real time. So how does she do it?

Before Rachel Ray even steps foot into her kitchen, she has the entire process for preparing the meal planned out. Does the dessert take longer to cook than the entree? If so, then it makes perfect sense to start the preparation of the dessert first. She knows which sequence of steps is the most efficient based on the planning. She knows exactly which ingredients she needs from the refrigerator so that she only needs to make one trip, which saves her time.

So, heres our real life application. When you look at your list of things to do, or errands to run, how can you use planning to become more efficient? How many trips to the refrigerator can you save by improving your planning?

Utilize Every Minute

This may sound like a no-brainer, but how many of us are really experts at this like Rachel Ray. She constantly talks about her pockets of time. When the water is heating up for pasta, she uses her pocket of time to chop onions, butter bread, cut up chicken, and anything else she can fit in. By using these little pockets of time, she whips up a meal in 30 minutes.

Now for our real life application: how many times have you put off doing something because you only had 15 minutes and the task takes an hour? What if you cant find a whole hour to work on that task for another week, but you can actually squeeze in 15 minutes everyday for the next 4 days? By using your little pockets of time, you are able to complete the task this week instead of next week. Thats the secret to getting more done.

Become a master at this like Rachel Ray. If you only have 10 minutes before you have to go to a meeting, return one phone call. This gives you the perfect incentive to be efficient about concluding the call. Pick up pockets of time everywhere and see how much more you can accomplish during your day.

Delicious Recipes For Children With Cooking Games

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On the Internet there are quite a few free cooking games for ladies, but are these folks as enjoyable as the real point? It doesn’t matter if you have young children which are fussy eaters or if your young children could eat close to every little thing which is in entrance of them, pam cooking is something a lot young children enjoy. Which is why there are so many free cooking games online. One can put your kid in entrance of the computer and let them play free cooking games, or one can consider some time and truly start off pam cooking for and with your young children. It is the great way to combine your really like for super food and your really like for your young children.

Cooking games for ladies are really preferred simply because these folks are basic, enjoyable, educational and can train ladies the pam cooking basics and offer them a basic knowledge of the food-service industry.

If you wish to grow the enthusiasm flowing for your ladies, enable them to play cooking games as an alternative. Cooking games are not solely enjoyable to me but these folksre exhilarating mastering how to prepare dinner sure foods, to bake a cake or prepare dinner the a lot delicious food items these folks could actually imagine. Cooking games offer accurate mastering event for those who wish to further their kitchen skills and event delicacies these folks dont eat on a regular basis.

Cooking games is really simple to play by ladies of all ages. Every little thing is explained with definitions of elements, utensils, preparatory terms, techniques, basic lingo, helpful hints.

Cooking games is more than just a sport is really interactive, providing quite a few quality recipes from throughout the world. It has been high received by customers and critics alike, and may high be the best sport for mastering a thing or two regarding super food and preparation.

In the free cooking games for ladies, there are games where these folks are shown how to prepare dinner breakfast; these folks want stir the eggs and so on. They are really basic and one can choose which to prepare dinner or bake: sandwiches, burger, sushi, pasta, pizza, soup, taco fresh salad, chocolate cheesecake, banana sour product, pumpkin pie, Ice Product and quite a few a lot more

If you enjoy pizza just choose Pizza Cooking Games. In the pizza games, you are making some strong dish specials for the imaginary customers. As the pizza chef, you could be slinging pastry in the digital feeling as you pile as a toppings and make the pizzas to purchase. The orders could velocity up, naturally, making you do the job which considerably swifter to get the pizzas forced and in the range just before the following purchase will come in. Fairly quickly you could sense enjoy you are until your elbows in digital flour and cheese.

There are mostly two varieties of cooking games. One breed is the digital cooking area sort and the other is the electronic cookbook variety. Digital cookbook is a larger choice as it incorporates a lot of healthy and internationally acknowledged quality recipes to pick from. A lot of them are simple to make and might be built in utensils which are accessible at home. You additionally get to comprehend a lot a lot more regarding the quality recipes as there could be feedback additionally regarding these quality recipes.

If you dont have a good amount of elements, one can choose from a substitution list of elements to make you favourite dish. If these folks dont give you any substitution write-up, you could need to study as a world wide web or other resources to come across one a lot more component which might be applied as a substitute.

All of these cooking games assist ladies so once these folks do get into the cooking area, these folks’ll have some thought of which these folks are doing and be inclined to prepare dinner hands-on.

Microwave cooking tips

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If your kitchen is like most kitchens these days, you’ve probably got a microwave oven sitting in it. And what do you use it for? Reheating? Melting butter or chocolate when baking? Maybe the kids throw a hot dog in once in a while. Well, if that’s how your microwave gets used, you’re missing out on a great cooking tool. After all, why heat up your oven when you can do the whole job in the microwave in the time it takes to pre-heat your oven?

A couple of good reasons to use your microwave instead of your oven are that no pre-heating is needed and the cost is greatly reduced. Using your microwave for 100 hours will cost about $7.00 compared to about $70.00 for 100 hours of conventional oven use.

Understanding how a microwave works will also help you rethink using it a little more, too. Molecules of fat, sugar and water within food attract microwaves that reflect against the metal walls of the oven. The molecules begin to vibrate against one another causing friction and that’s the heat that cooks the food. The microwaves can only penetrate food 1-1&1/2 inches so larger dishes need the vibrating molecules to move from the outside edges to the center of the food for it to be cooked. That’s why food placement, dish quality and cooking quantity are all important when cooking in the microwave.

Microwaves can pass through plastic, paper, wood and glass but not through metals. That’s why you’ll get “Arching” or sparking if you put metal in the microwave.

A good rule to remember when cooking in the microwave is that approximately 6 minutes per pound will cook most foods including meat, poultry and fruit and vegetables. Seafood will take less time and reducing the power of your microwave will require longer cooking time. About 20% of the cooking time takes place after the oven turns off so make sure you remember that your food will continue cooking after you’ve removed it.

You might be used to your ovens temperature in degrees but you can convert your microwave’s temperature that is described in power or watts. A microwave on high or 100% power is about the same as having your oven at 425 degrees. A 350-degree oven would be about the same as a microwave at 50% power.

You can determine the wattage of a microwave by placing 1 cup of tap water in a two cup measuring cup. Heat on high for two minutes. If the water boils in two minutes or less, the microwave is probably 700 watts or more. If it takes longer than it is 600 watts or less.

Different foods will require different temperatures to cook properly and while you should follow the 6 minutes per pound rule, add more minutes as you drop the power. Using 50% power, you’d want to cook your food for about 11 minutes. Cooking something that takes an hour in the oven should take about 15 minutes in the microwave.

Here are some helpful hints when cooking in the microwave:

Arrange food in dish so that the thicker part is on the outside and the thinner part inside for more even cooking.

Using a dish with a cone in the center will also help distribute heat evenly.

Let foods such as cakes with baking powder in them stand a few minutes before cooking to allow the leavening agents to work.

Don’t use as much liquid — if a recipe calls for milk and water, cut back on the water. You might want to use fewer spices as well.

Open covers away from you to release steam.

If you cover it in the regular oven, cover it in the microwave too.

Ready to try it yet? Get out your favorite cookbook and get cooking. You’ll be saving time and money and still eating those foods you love.

Healthy Cooking and Cookbook Publishing

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We at Fundcraft Publishing are so thrilled to be celebrating over 100-years of successful cookbook publishing and cookbook fundraising! We are so thankful to all of our customers that have returned to us time and time again over the years. Thank you and we hope to continue to be of service to you!

As one of the nations leading cookbook fundraising publishers, we are pleased to remain offering what we always have, and adding more as we branch into 2010 and 2011!

We are excited to see the results of our Hometown Recipe Contest. Someone will be the lucky winner of $1,000! We do love to hear from our customers and we would like to know if you have any questions and/or comments for us.

Sometimes we simply like to check in with our customers and gain their helpful feedback! As we always welcome new customers and continue to remain faithful to our tried and true, and we value all of our customer feedback. Our customers are what keeps us in business and we want to continue to provide you what you want and need, as one of the nations leading cookbook publishers!

***A million plus FREE database of recipes? Yes, that is exactly what youll find on Cookbooks.com. You will find over a million cookbook recipes!

Youll never be at a loss again and asking, “Whats for dinner?” Cookbooks.com has the answer! From desserts to five-star meals to quick and easythe list goes on.

From Chef inspired creations to recipes that even the I-cant-cook-person can whip up in minutes, Cookbooks.com is sure to be everyones addiction!

So, what are you having for dinner?

From soup to salad to fruit to desserts, main courses Cookbooks.com has it all. Download recipes to your cell phone! You are about to have the easiest shopping list so conveniently held in your hand with the ingredients for your next meal neatly laid out for you just like mom did it.

Busy tonight? How about the Quick and Easy section of Cookbooks.com.
Here is a sample to get your taste buds ready. Remember Quick and Easy!

QUICK AND EASY CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
4 c. chicken broth
11 oz. chicken, cooked and cubed
4 1/2 Tbsp. self-rising flour
6 (6-inch) flour tortillas
1 c. skim milk
poultry seasoning, if desired
thyme, if desired
parsley, if desired
Rub flour on both sides of tortillas, using all of flour. Cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Bring broth and seasonings to a rolling boil. Drop tortillas in broth. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Stir in cooked chicken and milk until heated. Let stand off heat for 5 to 10 minutes, covered.
Optional: Can add vegetables: carrots, peas, etc.
Visit Cookbooks.com today and find out how your life can be made easier! Want to cook light? Look for the cooking light section. No matter how light you cook, you wont be light on happiness after you discover this cooking website! Its an entire world of recipes, recipes, recipes!
As always, we thank you for your interest, satisfaction and continued patronage.

Questions? E mail us! Comments? E mail us! We would love to hear from you.

Happy Eating, Cooking and Fundraising from the Fundcraft Publishing team!

One family, 100-years strong we are proud to be of continued service to you!