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Having Everyone Over to Watch the Big Game? Check Out These Football-Themed Recipes!

December 17, 2015 by

The only thing better than seeing your team score the winning touchdown? An excuse to indulge in some utensil-free finger foods! These game-changing recipes promise to keep mouths happily snacking during the big football game—when they're not busy yelling at the TV, that is!

Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread [browneyedbaker.com]
Requiring only a loaf of bread, some cheese, garlic, and scallions, this quick and easy recipe is good in a pinch. Simply cut a grid pattern into a loaf of bread, drizzle a garlic-oil mixture over top, then pop it into the oven. After the bread has toasted, remove it from the oven, tuck cheese into all of the crevices, then continue to bake until it's golden-brown. Your guests will get a kick out of pulling the gooey, cheesy bread bites away from the loaf.

Homemade Pretzel Dogs [thefoodcharlatan.com]
This recipe creates the quitessential party snack: pigs in a blanket. These pigs, however, are tucked into made-from-scratch soft pretzel dough for a salty, savory snack your guests will love. Serve them with a bowl of yellow mustard for dipping.

Peanut Butter Football Dip [crazyforcrust.com]
For the football fanatic with a sweet tooth, this dessert dip doesn't disappoint. Cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips are combined to create a decadent dip, which is then molded into a football shape. Serve the dip with mini pretzels for a salty-sweet treat.

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Cooking Without Eggs? Bookmark These Two Websites

September 17, 2015 by

Food allergies sometimes make creativity a necessity when it comes to preparing meals on your own. Lucky for those afflicted with allergies, there are many great resources to help people cook delicious food without the ingredient that trigger reactions. If you need to prepare a dish without eggs, bookmark these two websites for help with substitutions.

  1. Cooking and Baking Without Egg Ingredients [Kids With Food Allergies]
    With this website, egg allergies won’t stop you from making your favorite foods like pizza, cake, and pie. Get those recipes, plus suggestions on how to substitute eggs when used in other baked goods.
  2. Egg Substitutions [Chef in You]
    Discover a list of foods that can be used as eggs substitutes in various recipes. They include unlikely items such as bananas, applesauce, and vegetable oil.

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How to Prevent Cross-Contamination in the Kitchen

March 19, 2015 by

Cross-contamination in the kitchen occurs when you use the same tools and cutting boards to prepare things like raw meat or eggs that you use to prepare fresh produce or cooked foods, contaminating the food you eat with the bacteria from these raw items. To avoid cross-contamination, follow these safety tips.

  1. It starts at the grocery store. Although cross-contamination is usually thought of in the kitchen, it can also happen before you even get your foods home. When shopping at the grocery store, be sure to package raw meats tightly in plastic and put them in a separate bag from other groceries. Also make sure that your carton of eggs doesn’t contain any broken eggs that could leak on other foods.
  2. Use separate cutting boards. One of the most important ways to prevent food poisoning from cross-contamination is by using different cutting boards for meat and other items. Properly label each board, and never cut fresh vegetables, fruits, or breads on the cutting board that you use for meat or eggs. Also, clean your meat cutting board thoroughly and replace it often.
  3. Cook safely. When cooking, never use the same tools to flip raw chicken that you use to stir-fry vegetables, as this can spread bacteria from the raw meat. Throw away any marinades that meat was once soaking in, and always serve cooked foods on a clean, new plate.

Safe Food Handling: What You Need to Know [FDA]
Separate To Keep Food Safe [Home Food Safety]
Cutting Board Safety [Home Food Safety]

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Want to Become a Better Cook? Start by Learning These Culinary Terms!

June 19, 2014 by

When you encounter a recipe that’s full of complicated cooking terminology, it’s easy to feel intimidated. What if your chopping instead of dicing leads to a flop of a soufflé? These kitchen terms will teach you a few things about proper cooking techniques, and they’ll make you feel more confident about your next culinary endeavor.

  1. Beat. To beat a mix or batter is not the same thing as mixing it. Beating involves briskly whipping with a spoon, wire whisk rotary beater, or electric mixer, and it incorporates air into the ingredients in order to obtain a light, fluffy consistency.
  2. Blacken. Blackening a piece of meat or vegetables is a popular Cajun cooking technique that chars seasonings onto the food in order to give it a crunchy, spicy coating. This involves cooking over high heat in a heavy skillet.
  3. Fold. If a recipe calls for you to fold one ingredient into another, it means to combine them without decreasing their volume. Use a rubber spatula in vertical swipes across the mixture, pulling some of the mixture from the bottom to the top each time.
  4. Garnish. Once your dish is completed, you may garnish it by adding a decorative bit of fresh herbs, fruit or greens.

Glossary of Basic Cooking Terms [Les Petites Gourmettes]
Cooking Terms [Recipe Goldmine]
Glossary of Cooking Terms [UMN]
Glossary of Cooking Terms [Better Homes & Gardens]
Culinary Terms [About.com]

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Recipes, Decoded: Memorize These Common Cooking Terms

May 14, 2014 by

Whether you're a professional chef or a novice cook, you've likely come across recipe terms that'll have you scratching your head. Breeze through that next recipe by committing these three common kitchen terms to memory.

Braise
The ideal cooking method for preparing tougher cuts of meat, braising entails browning the meat in fat over high heat. Then, the meat is simmered over low heat in a small amount of liquid, either in the oven or on the stovetop.

Chiffonade
A knife technique for cutting leafy herbs, to chiffonade means to thinly slice leafy herbs and greens. The leaves are stacked, rolled into a tight tube lengthwise, then sliced to create thin strips.

Temper
This term is most commonly found in recipes that add eggs to a hot mixture. The hot mixture is introduced to the egg mixture in small increments to slowly raise the temperature of the eggs. This acclimates the eggs to the heat and prevents the eggs from scrambling.

Cooking Terms [Recipe Goldmine]
The Basic Kitchen: Glossary of Cooking Terms [Les Petites Gourmettes]
Glossary of Cooking Terms [BHG]
Glossary of Cooking Terms [Cookery]

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Great Websites for Unique Sandwich Recipes

April 17, 2014 by

You use a recipe for pastas, soups and cakes, but you probably wouldn’t think of looking up a recipe for a sandwich. These helpful websites feature sandwich recipes that are much more elaborate than your usual grilled cheese, and you’ll certainly notice the difference in taste.

Food Network
The Food Network is home to some wonderful shows about sandwiches, and now you can learn to make them yourself. Their Top Sandwich Recipes page features everything from grown-up turkey sandwiches to hot, gravy-covered sandwiches that are more dinner than lunch. The Mahi Mahi Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich that you might not have heard of, while the French Dip recipe will show you how to make this diner favorite right at home.

101 Cookbooks
Instead of updating the sandwiches you already love, try something completely new with the unique recipes on 101 Cookbooks. This beautifully-designed website is easy to navigate, and it makes for hours of inspiration for your next sandwich. 101 Cookbooks features an Avocado Asparagus Tartine, Vegetarian Lentil Burgers, and even an Egg Salad Sandwich with Greek yogurt instead of the usual mayonnaise.

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Healthy Seafood Recipes for Lunch or Dinner

January 22, 2014 by

Many home chefs are often intimidated by preparing seafood, either because of its delicate texture or because they simply don’t know which types to buy. These tasty and nutritious recipes will take the guesswork out of cooking with fish, shrimp and other types of seafood.

Baja-Style Salmon Tacos
Unlike many restaurant tacos, this recipe adds up to just 325 calories and is packed with 24 grams of necessary protein. The grilled salmon and whole wheat tortillas give these Baja-style fish tacos a healthy makeover that’s still a flavorful treat.

Fish Veronique
A traditional dish with a healthy, modern twist, this recipe for Fish Veronique is a comfort food that won’t break your diet. By removing the fat from the chicken broth and using low-fat milk, you can create a decadent, creamy sauce with none of the extra fat or calories.

Baked Red Snapper With Zesty Tomato Sauce
Create an elegant dinner for your family or your guests with this low-fat, low-calorie Italian fish dish. Use your choice of either red snapper or bass to find the taste you prefer, and top with zesty tomato sauce for major flavor.

For more nutritious meals using seafood, visit the NIH website here.

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Big Patties: Five Unique Hamburger Ideas

October 31, 2012 by

The humble hamburger is a great go-to meal, especially when you don’t have a lot of time. But with a few simple ingredients, you can elevate the fast food staple into something truly special. Here are five ways to make your burger a little better.

Make a patty out of ground turkey and mix it with a little dill. Stuff the middle with a chunk of Brie cheese and grill until the meat is cooked and the cheese melts. Serve on a roll with pickles and lettuce.

Mix Chinese five-spice powder into your ground beef to give it a rich, complex flavor. Once the patty has cooked, glaze the top with a soy ginger sauce and serve with cilantro, cabbage and pickled carrots.

Make a Chicago-style hot dog burger by topping a traditional patty with sweet relish, chopped white onions and hot peppers. A little ketchup and mustard will bring this one over the top.

For a classic French bistro take on the hamburger, gently caramelize onions in a pan and ladle them generously over the cooked burger along with a slice of Gouda cheese and crisp, thick-cut bacon. Serve on a buttery brioche roll.

To give your burgers a special kick, mix in adobo seasoning, red onion and finely grated lime peels into your ground beef. Grill ears of corn until kernels are just cooked, strip the kernels off and mix them with queso fresco and a little bit of mayonnaise to top the burgers.

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