Posts for 'Cooking Tips' Category

Toast is a pretty good breakfast, especially if the bread is wholemeal.  It is fast, easy and provides lots of slow release carbohydrates that should help keep energy levels up all morning.  If you are getting a bit bored of having plain toast with jam (jelly) or marmite every single day then liven it up a little.  Toast is essentially a blank canvas for all kinds of exciting toppings so you might as well experiment.Mock pizzas

This is a healthy and tasty way to start the day.  Put as many slices of bread as you plan to eat under the grill and toast one side.  Baguettes work best but any will do.  Then spread the other with a mixture of tomato puree, garlic, oregano, and olive oil.  Add some sliced peppers and/or onions with a little grated cheese and grill until the cheese has melted.

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Have you been frustrated by cracks in the top of your cheesecakes? Would you like tips to make flaky biscuits? Or would you just like to know a bit more about sweet potatoes? Try these cooking tips from the Good Cooking Central website today for better results in your kitchen endeavours:

• BISCUIT TIPS:

If you want biscuits that are crispy on the outside and flaky on the inside, you roll the dough thinly and fold it over once before cutting out the biscuits. They will then split open easily when you're ready to butter them.

To re- heat biscuits, put them in a well-dampened paper bag. Twist the bag closed and put in a 300º oven for several minutes or until warm.

For soft-sided biscuits, bake them in a pan with sides and put the biscuits close together. For crusty biscuits, bake them on a cookie sheet and separate them from each other.

• PREVENTING CHEESECAKE CRACKS:

Grease the sides of the pan before adding batter. The surface will not stick to the sides of the pan and crack when the cheesecake starts shrinking as it cools.

Run a knife or a metal spatula around the edges of the pan immediately after removing the cheesecake from the oven.

Drastic temperature changes can also cause a cheesecake to crack. Avoid putting a warm cheesecake from the oven into the refrigerator.

To disguise cracks, top the cheesecake with fruit or some other topping.

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This is my grown-up, rather Celtic (it’s the stout) reworking of my mum's chocolate cake. It’s the best cake in my repertoire.

225g (8oz) unsalted butter, slightly softened

225g (8oz) soft dark-

brown sugar

4 large eggs, beaten

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Chocolate Therapy Cookies

Makes 2½ dozen

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

6 tablespoons butter

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CAMDEN residents are being warned not to become complacent and leave cooking unattended on the stove.Camden Fire Brigade commander Rodd Bland said the NSW Fire Brigades was running a kitchen fire safety campaign this month.

He said almost half of all home fires started in the kitchen.Station commander Bland said water should never be used to put out fat and oil fires because water could cause the fire to spread rapidly.

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It takes much practice, and flour, to make the perfect tortilla.About a dozen people received a history lesson and cooking class from local chef and cookbook writer Melissa Guerra at the Museum of South Texas History Sunday.

Guerra walked her students through the process, first showing how the indigenous people of the area crushed corn with a molcajete, then showing the different types of flour.

Corn tortillas, the original tortilla, have been around for two millennia. Wheat flour tortillas arrived after European settlers came to the Americas, Guerra said.

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A good many people will love to get their hands on a good recipe for a deer meat dish. For most, this is not the first time they will be trying their hand at cooking deer meat and for a few it will be and these people will be more than grateful to get a few good venison cooking tips.

Irrespective of you being a seasoned cook or a newbie the following tips will be very useful to you:

The first thing to remember is to never over-cook the meat. , the more you cook red deer meat the more it will dry. Once the meat has dried there are few and very difficult ways to moisten it again, and even the gurus have known to have given up.

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Nowadays everybody wants to save time and keep a healthy lifestyle. We are all aware of the importance of healthy cooking and healthy eating. The challenge of keeping a busy yet healthy lifestyle had brought many to look for shortcuts, tips and ideas. Listed below are a few of the most helpful tips to keep healthy on the run.

Top Healthy Cooking Tips

1. Eat more fruit and vegetables. To keep valuable nutrients and colors of your vegetables, microwave, stir-fry or steam your vegetables instead of boiling them. Prefer using fresh or frozen vegetables, since canned vegetables are over processed and often have very high sodium content. Wash and scrub the vegetables instead of peeling them. Many nutrients are found close to the skin.

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Tonight marks the premiere of "Top Chef Masters," Bravo's new spinoff of the hugely popular cooking competition "Top Chef." The twist: "Masters" features famous chefs instead of newbies. Six groups of four contestants face off; one goes on to the championship round, while three in each group must "pack their knives and go," as Padma would say. The prize: $100,000 for the charity of the winner's choice. The first episode, airing at 10 p.m., features the only Boston contestant, chef Michael Schlow of Radius, Via Matta, et al. We spoke with him about his TV experience.

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Earth Day can be celebrated in the kitchen. Two new cookbooks can be your guide. They have much in common, including practicing what they preach. Both are paperbacks, printed on post-consumer recycled paper with soy or vegetable-based ink. The minimalist design offers no photos or drawings. They are all green business.

They do use a lot of words offering ways to save energy and cut back on greenhouse gas emissions from your household. There’s a lot to read here, but you can do it in bits and pieces. What the books really do is make you think about what you do in that kitchen and how many times you turn on the water and open the stove when you just don’t have to.

Big Green Cookbook (Wiley, $24.95) by Jackie Newgent is chock full of recipes, more than 200. But that doesn’t mean the book is lacking in green cooking tips that help discourage wastefulness. I found one about marinades rather interesting.

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