Hanukkah Cooking Done Traditionally
February 22, 2010 by Owen Jones
Filed under Fitness
Whether you are genuinely seeking opportunities to explore new cultures or you are Jewish seeking appetizing recipes and cooking tips, you have come to the right place to get some of the basics. For as long as there have been family customs, eating good food at special events and during holy times has been a part of the jollity.
Regrettably, that appetizing food cannot be eaten unless someone goes to the trouble of actually cooking it. If you are looking for some delicious treats to do with the Hanukkah celebrations or simply want to get a taste of what other cultures do during their religious or cultural festivities there are a lot of appetizing foods you could be cooking for this particular holiday.
Oil is imperative in the celebration of Hanukkah and, as a result, many of the foodstuffs that are part of Hanukkah celebrations are prepared in oil. One popular favorite is Latkes, which are a kind of potato pancake that is deep-fried. Another popular favorite is fried lamb chops. The lamb is breaded and then fried much like many Americans fry chicken. Once again oil is used in the cooking of the meal.
If you are looking for something more like finger food or a snack, you might consider deep-fried ricotta balls, fried zucchini, fried onion rings and fried mozzarella are appetizing savory fried tid-bits for the season of light. Of course, fried food is not the only thing that is eaten during this 8-day celebration, but it does play a vital part in the menu and in the celebrations.
Even the sweet treats for this festival include a few fried bits and pieces. There are apple fritters and raspberry dough nuts and lots of other delectable fried foods for you to snack on. If you like something a little wicked to enjoy during this delightful celebration you might like to try blintzes in your favorite flavor. There are many to choose from and their recipes can be found easily online.
If you would like to include something a little healthier in your cuisine, then you might like to include an Israeli salad, stewed white beans, and baked aubergines and peppers. These meals provide the opportunity to have something that is not either fried or sweet to assist weight watchers, who always have a problem during festive seasons no matter which religion they observe.
Other Hanukkah favorites include delectable dishes like cheese gelt coins, loukoumades, vegetable kugel, and brisket. Once again the recipes for these dishes are fairly extensively accessible online and in books on Jewish cooking and traditions.
To make things go a little more efficiently cook as much food as possible well in advance and store items away quickly in order to stop them going off. Enlist the help of children and other family members when appropriate to move things along by taking turns preparing food.
You should also make an effort to keep the preparations as straightforward as possible to avoid delays and stress. This is a time of the year that is meant to be committed to celebration not to trying to cook tons of food. The good news is that with all that deep fried food, it is unlikely that you will find these dishes too difficult to prepare. Good luck and have fun exploring the world of cooking for Hanukkah.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the 2 quart crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots
Crock Pot Recipes
February 22, 2010 by Owen Jones
Filed under Fitness
In America, most people call these electric cookers crock pots, whereas in the Great Britain they are usually called slow cookers. Crock pots by Rival, DeLonghi, Hamilton Beach, Cuisinart and Toastess are particularly good examples of advanced crock pots. Some of these crock pots are programmable, which allows the cook more flexibility that the slow cookers of twenty years did not.
The first crock pots had only an on/off switch and no temperature control. This had the consequence that the recipes you could prepare with them were restricted, if you used your crock pot for preparing food while you were out of the house at work for eight hours or more. Modern slow cookers like those crock pots mentioned previously have revolutionized all that. Nowadays, modern crock pots are programmable.
These modern crock pots are very versatile and with the best of them, you can set the temperature that the slow cooker should function at and the duration of time it should heat for a bit like a microwave oven. For example, you could program a modern slow cooker to cook at, say, 180c for an hour and then 100c for two hours
Most people do not appreciate the features that modern crock pots have. Regrettably, there are still a lot of people who still believe that slow cookers are only useful for steaming rice, boiling soup or preparing cheap cuts of meat like scrag end of mutton. This is simply not valid any more, although manual crock pots were capable of more than that as well. Modern variable slow cookers can be used to make bread, cheesecake, custards and even sponges.
In fact, it is a good suggestion to get away from the old fashioned ideas people have about slow cookers and try to see them as an oven, which does not need a pot to cook in. Try the recipe underneath and see for yourself.
BANANA BREAD
1 3/4 c flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/3 c shortening 2/3 c sugar 2 eggs, well beaten 1 1/2 c banana, well mashed, overripe 1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the electric beater on low, fluff shortening in a small bowl, until it is soft and creamy. Add the sugar gradually. Beat in the eggs in a slow stream. With a fork, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, ? the bananas another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the rest of the bananas and then the last of the flour mixture. Fold in the walnuts. Turn into a greased and floured baking unit or a 2 1/2 quart mold and cover.
Place on a rack in your crock pot. Cover the crock pot, but prop the lid open with a toothpick or a twist of foil to let the excess steam escape. Cook on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Serve Warm.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the crock pots by Rival. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots
Food – Preparing And Storing It – A Few Handy Tips
February 2, 2010 by Owen Jones
Filed under Fitness
In these days of superior alertness of the shortages in the world and the recent economic problems in the whole world, but particularly in the wealthy Western countries, which are the powerhouses of most Third World countries’ progress, people are more aware of waste. It is a sin again to throw away food, like it was 50 years ago.
This can only be a good thing although it is a shame that it took an international financial crisis to make us remember the lesson. These days, waste of any kind is greeted with public disapproval and so it is at home too. Most people spend a very high percentage of their outgoings on food and so anyone who wants to cut back, has to first look to this quarter to make a saving.
However, saving does not necessarily mean ‘not buying’, it can and should mean ‘not throwing away’. In other words, prepare your food and do not let your food go off. Preparation and storage are the key words. With that thought in mind, here are a few of my tips for preparing and storing food correctly.
Bread – tons of bread is thrown away every day, because it has gone stale or mouldy and yet it is totally needless. Store your bread in the deep freezer and not in the bread bin. A whole loaf will slice frozen with the proper knife and sliced bread will come away slice by slice. There is no need to defrost as it only takes a minute or two at room temperature.
Bananas – most people understand that banana skins go black if kept in the fridge, but most people do not know that bananas can be frozen solid. Yes, the skins will still go black, but the fruit will be undamaged.
Cake – to stop cake from going stale, store it in a tin with an apple. The moisture in the apple will stop the cake from going hard.
Watercress – to prevent watercress from wilting, store it upside down in water, that is stalks up.
Salt – salt often gets damp, especially if stored in a steamy kitchen without sufficient ventilation, but you do not have to worry about that if you put two or three grains of rice in the salt cellar. They will soak up the moisture before the salt.
Cereal – prevent cereal from going soft by resealing the bag with a few clothes pegs. Your cereal will last weeks more.
Jam – boiling jam produces a scum which has to be skimmed off and thrown away. This wastes jam, goodness and flavour. However, if you whisk a knob of butter into the mixture at the last minute the scum will not materialize, saving time and goodness.
Funnel – you always seem to need a funnel when you do not have one. Then you vow to get a funnel for the next time. Do not bother. Just cut the top nine inches off a plastic bottle of cola. It makes an ideal throw-away funnel. Some of the larger bottles even have a handle on them which is even better.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with researching the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots
categories: crock pots,recipes,kitchen,gourmet,nutrition,food,health,fitness,hobbies,recreation,reviews,other,uncategorized,business
Let Personal Chef Atlanta Do The Cooking
January 4, 2010 by Mike Balkovic
Filed under Lose Weight
You might find this interesting if you like to cook or if you like to eat or if you like doing both. If you have ever thought about working as a chef but you did not want to work at a hotel or a restaurant you might look at the personal chef Atlanta. Even in tough times people still have to eat.
If people do not like or know how to cook they can either go to a restaurant, which gets very costly very quickly, or they can buy frozen dinners; those get old after awhile and they are not very healthy.
But there is another option and that is to have their meals prepared for them by a personal chef service. There are companies that have meals delivered to people who for a variety of reasons need their meals prepared for them and they do not want to go to a restaurant every day and they do not want to resort to processed frozen meals. Some senior citizens might not want to go to the grocery store or they do not want to cook for themselves.
These people are financially secure, they own their own homes outright and they have enough retirement provisions. They simply want someone to cook their meals for them. There are also people who have to follow a strict doctor ordered diet because of conditions like diabetes or other malady. There are families with two working parents who have no time to cook meals for their families.
A company like personal chef provides meals for these types of people. But the personal chef companies needs cooks. You can contact these personal chef companies to see if you can qualify as one of their chefs. You of course need basic cooking skills and you should enjoy cooking so that it does not become a job for you. You can work on your own terms and out of your own kitchen.
Unlike working as a chef in a restaurant or hotel where you will experience a lot of demands and cook in a stress filled environment you will be able to take as much work as you can easily handle. Many personal chef companies also offer courses on food preparation. However, these companies are not cooking schools.
These cooking certificate programs are only meant to bring you to a level that particular company needs you to be at in order to provide the quality of cooking their clientele expect. You might have one particular dish you want to prepare on an ongoing basis. If for instance you have a specialty like lasagna you can prepare this on an ongoing basis and be the companies source for lasagna meals for those clients looking for that particular meal that evening.
Perhaps you are more interested in receiving the meals verses preparing them. You can contact the personal chef and arrange for meals to be delivered to your home as you choose. The cost is very reasonable and you will save money verses going out to the restaurant. And it beats frozen dinners. Look into the personal chef today if you want to cook more or if you want to eat more.
Want to find out more about personal chef Atlanta, then visit Mike Balkovic\’s site on how to choose the best chef for your needs.
categories: business, food, drink, cooking, customer service, family, health, weight loss, beverage, gourmet, recipe
How To Use Dairy Produce: Part 3 – Eggs
December 20, 2009 by Owen Jones
Filed under Diets
The Basic Preparation Of Foods: Dairy Produce.
EGGS: Part 1
Eggs can be fresh or dried, the latter being only hens\’ eggs without the shell and water. Dried egg should be stored in a cool, dry place – not in the fridge! Store eggs for a few days or a week in a cool place away from strong-smelling foods. An egg stand is ideal for this. If the eggs are dirty, wipe them clean – washing will remove the natural oils which help preserve the eggs.
Pickled Eggs: eggs laid in the Spring keep better than those laid in the other seasons. Eggs that will not clean-up, must be rejected. Waterglass or the special preparations should be used. If an egg floats to the surface, use it immediately. Try to maintain the ambient temperature between 2 and 8 C and they should keep for 6 to 9 months.
Preparing Eggs for Cooking: break each egg separately into a cup, before adding it to the other ingredients to ensure it is not \’off\’. If you wish to separate the white from the yolk, tip the contents back and forth between the two eggshell halves and the white (albumen) will run off. Beat eggs with a whisk or a fork in an appropriate bowl; whip egg whites with a knife on a dinner plate – a pinch of salt will help.
Raw eggs used to be prescribed for invalids as they are easily digestible, but, this not to be recommended these days due to the ubiquity of salmonella. One method, presented here for the curious was to strain a beaten egg into a mug and slowly add a cup of hot milk (or tea, coffee or lemon water; add sugar to taste. Sherry was often added too.
Cooking Eggs: eggs must be cooked slowly because the albumen solidifies at a temperature lower than that of boiling water and becomes \’tough\’ at higher temperatures. Similarly, if raw egg is used to thicken a sauce and the liquid is subsequently allowed to boil, the sauce will \’curdle\’, i.e. the egg will solidify into small specks, ruining its texture.
Coddling: produces easily digested egg-whites, making it an ideal meal for invalids and children. Lower the eggs into 75mmof boiling water; replace the lid and remove from heat. Let it stand for: 7 mins for medium-, 5 mins for soft- and 20 mins for hard-boiled eggs .
Boiling: lower fresh eggs gently into 75mm boiling water with a spoon. Cover and boil gently for 3-3\” mins for soft-, 4-5 mins medium- and 10 mins hard-boiled eggs.
Place in egg cups and tap the shell to crack it. Allow the steam to escape, which will prevent the egg further cooking. For sandwiches, salads etc,. boil the egg for 12 mins and plunge into cold water. This enables the shell to be easily removed and prevents a black ring around the yolk.
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categories: recipes,cooking,gourmet,celtic,tradition,food,kitchen,wales,diet,dieting,eating out,DIY,entertainment,other









