The 3 steps to cook quinoa in a microwave oven

How to cook quinoa in a microwave

The standard way to cook quinoa is to cook in in boiling water.The microwave is used for cooking almost anything these days and quinoa is no exception. I have prepared these instructions using a 700 watt oven. Your microwave may be different and you will have to adjust the times to suit.

Step one

Measure out one cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water. The size of cup doesn’t matter as long as the proprtions are 2 to 1.

Step two

Rinse the quinoa under cold water for half a minute to remove any impurities.

Step three

Put the water and the quinoa into a microwaveable dish and cover. The next step is to place it in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes approximately. Take out of the oven and let it stand for 1 minute. Gently mix the mixture up a bit and then return it to the micro oven for a second cooking period of 3 minutes. The quinoa needs to stand on the kitchen counter for 2 or 3 minutes to finish cooking.

Depending on the type of quinoa the water may not fully be absorbed by the quinoa in which case you will need to drain it of the excess before carrying on with your preparation.

you can now tuck into the freshly cooked quinoa. The only difference I have observed in cooking quinoa in a microwave as opposed to cooking it the standard way is that is expands very slightly more and is a bit softer to the touch. The superb taste of quinoa is still there and it is easily used in all your best recipes.

You will find that quinoa is a great substitute for potatoes and rice and can be served up as a side dish to almost any main meal. Just serve it on the plate instead. The quinoa really works best however in salads and many stir fry dishes. This is where it really comes into its own and proves to be a versatile addition to your kithcen.

More on cooking here Creative Cooking School

How to cook quinoa the easy way

cook quinoa

Many quinoa recipes use quinoa that has already been been cooked and prepared before including in a recipe. There is a saying that you have to cook quinoa twice and this is true in most quinoa recipes. When you have prepared the quinoa in this way it is ready to be put into all sorts of dishes replacing rice and cous cous as a base for meals. You can also cool the quinoa for half an hour and put it in salads. You just take some of your favourite salad veg and chop it in with the cooked quinoa.

Step 1

Rinse the quinoa in a fine seive with cold water. Sometimes you must do this twice to ensure the saponin coating is totally removed. If the quinoa you have is fresh from the farm you must follow the rinsing and soaking method.

Step 2

Measure out one cup of quinoa to two cups of water into a saucepan.

Step 3

Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring gently to ensure it does not stick to the pan. When it has come to the boil you turn the gas down and let it simmer for between ten and fifteen minutes. If yuou want it crunchy then ten minutes will be enough – if you want it soft and fluffy then leave it to cook for longer. All the water should beabsorbed while the quinoa is simmering. When the water is absorbed the quinoa increases in size by double. Take the saucepan of the hob.

Step 4

Your quinoa is now ready to serve as a substitute for rice with curry and other dishes. This special grain is very versatile and be incorporated into many recipes and meals. Qunioa is very forgiving in flavour and fits in with all types of different foods and recipes. You will no go hungry with this grain as it is substantial and filling.

It is also ready to include in the recipes that are in the quinoa recipes book.

Find more on healthy cooking here Healthy Living Diet

How To Select A Wine Gift Basket

A wine gift basket can provide the ideal gift or a birthday, anniversary or other special occasion that requires a gift. They are beautiful gifts for any occasion and can include a wide selection of gourmet delights besides wine. They could also include treats like chocolates, fruit, cheeses and nuts or wine accessories like corkscrews and bottle openers, foil cutters, drip stoppers, or whatever else you decide to add to the basket. They are available already assembled or you can create your own to add that special touch. All you need to know is the style of wine the receiver enjoys, or you can create a surprise basket.

Buying Prepared Baskets

If you'd rather buy a wine gift basket pre packaged, stop into your local liquor store to see if they have a selection available. At holiday times especially, good liquor outlets will often well gift baskets. You should be able to select the wine you'd like to add to the basket and then select accompanying products.

Shop Online

The internet is a great place to order customizable gift baskets. Begin by choosing a bottle or two of wine, then start adding additional products from the range of food and accessories. Products that you could include would be caviar and smoked salmon, cheese or other savory crackers, artisan cheeses, cheese knives, nuts, exclusive mustards or honeys ... there's no limit to what you can add.

The online company will then deliver the packaged gift basket to you or directly to the gift recipient. This is a very easy option for a corporate gift or as a thank-you to a member of your staff.

Make Your Own Gift Baskets

Making your own wine gift basket gives allows you to add that extra personal touch. Start with an attractive basket. You don't need an expensive basket because you can decorate it yourself with fabric, paper or flowers. Buy your wine of choice or choose champagne for a special celebration, add some extra items depending on the preferences of the gift recipient. You don't need to limit your basket to wine or wine-themed gifts for example. You could include handicrafts for someone interested in arts and crafts, or a book about wine for a wine lover who is also interested in the history or the making of wine. Select some gourmet delights to accompany the wine, pack everything into the decorated basket and wrap it all up in clear cellophane.

If possible, personally deliver the gift basket to the recipient so you can see the joy when they receive it. If you're very lucky they may share the bottle of wine with you.

For those who don't drink wine you can still assemble some stunning gift baskets. For a coffee lover you could try a themed gift basket that might include coffee mugs, single origin coffee beans from different coffee-growing areas, gourmet cookies, toffees and nuts. A tea drinker may like to receive a selection of teas from different regions, a teapot and strainer and a fine china teacup. A coffee or tea gift basket could actually be packed onto a decorated tray rather that a basket. And again, you can wrap the whole package in clear cellophane and add a bow.

There is no limit to what you can create in the way of a gift basket.

Find more on wine gifts go to Gourmet Wine Gift Baskets

An Essential Kitchen Utensil - A Good Knife

All kinds of kitchen utensils are available. Just look in any kitchen store or in the aisles of kitchenware at other retail stores and you’ll see an amazing array of items used for cooking. If a utensil has only one use, sometimes it doesn't get used very often. However, there are other utensils that are more versatile, and needed and used daily.

Knives Are The Workhorse Of The Kitchen

If you do much cooking at all, you’ll use not one, but several kinds of knives. Each of these kitchen utensils has a specific function, like chopping, slicing, or filleting food.

All knives have the same major parts.

The Main Part Of The Knife - The Blade

The blade is pretty self-explanatory, being the metal part of the knife used for cutting, from the handle to the tip. It’s the most important part of the knife, and the quality of the blade determines how well the knife cuts. Good quality blades make it much easy to do food preparation for cooking.

A Better Bolster

The bolster is the small part between the blade and the handle, connecting the two together. The bolster needs to hold the two securely together so the knife stays in one piece.

It's advantageous, however, to have a bolster that does NOT go the full width of the blade. That might seem sturdier, but it gets in the way of sharpening the blade. For that reason, it works better if the bolster doesn't completely reach the edge of the blade.

The Whole Tang

The tang is an extension of the blade. Running through the middle of the handle, the tang not only provides a way to attach the handle, but helps give the knife good balance. The tang also strengthens the knife, thus making it more durable.

Sometimes the tang only goes partway into the handle. They are of varying lengths. A higher quality knife will have a tang that goes the full length of the handle. This makes the knife stronger and provides better balance.

Getting A Handle

You need a way to safely hold a knife, and that’s the handle. The handle wraps around the tang and holds it securely. A knife handle can be made of many different materials such as wood, metal or various types of plastic.

A knife handle should not only be sturdy, it should be easily held. Having an easy to hold handle is important since you'll be using a knife a lot in the kitchen.

Types of Kitchen Knives

Checking the different parts of the knife for quality gives you an idea what to look for when buying a good knife. When buying a knife, however, you'll discover there's a wide variety of types available. Some of these include:

· Boning Knife

· Butter Knife

· Cheese Knife

· Chef’s Knife

· Cleaver

· Deli Knife

· Filet Knife

· Frozen Food Knife

· Mincing Knife

· Paring Knife

· Sandwich Knife

· Serrated Knife

· Slicing-Carving Knife

· Steak

· Utility

There are also specialty knives for chestnuts, clams, grapefruits, deveining, lettuce and oysters, plus specialty knives for different types of cuisines such as Japanese and Asian.

It's fortunate you don't need to buy every type of knife out there. That would be a major expense for sure.

The Bare Essentials of Knives For The Kitchen

While every knife has a use, most people don’t need so many of the more specialized knives. Everyone should have a certain few kinds of knives in their kitchen, however. Able to do a number of different types of food preparation, these are the more versatile knives.

The Paring Knife

If you don’t have any other knife, you need a paring knife. It's a smaller type of knife, possessing a straight blade with a sharp edge. Paring knives run from about three to five inches long with a thin blade that tapers to a point at the tip.

Easy to handle, the paring knife is also easy to use. The name tells the function. A paring knife is mainly used for paring foods. It’s also good for cutting up small items, coring apples and such, and mincing garlic and other foods. Each and every kitchen should have at least one good paring knife.

A Knife For A Chef

The Chef’s or Cook’s knife is another versatile knife. The chef's knife come in several different lengths, from 6 inches to 12 inches long. Chef knives in the smaller sizes are called mini chef's knives. A smaller handed person will find the mini chef knives work better for them that the larger size. The bigger chef knive are well suited to people with larger hands. The knife will balance better in a bigger hand.

The chef knife picks up where the paring knife leaves off, and can cut bigger vegetables, fruits and meats. Slicing, chopping and mincing foods are handled well with a chef's knife. The bigger size makes it better suited for the heavy duty work, and making thicker slices than a paring knife.

The Serrated Knife

Instead of a straight edge like the paring and chef knives have, the serrated knife has notches in the blade. It can be anywhere from 5 to 10 inches long. A serrated knife is best used for foods that are hard on the outside, while being soft on the inside. A loaf of homemade bread is a perfect example. The serrated knife is also good for slicing tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.

Put A Cleaver To Good Use

You could make do with a paring knife, chef’s knife and serrated knife, but there’s one other blade that is highly useful in the kitchen. This knife had a very wide blade which is usually about 6 inches in length.

One of the best uses of a cleaver is for pounding and crushing foods. However, it can also be used like other knives to chop and shred foods, too. Cutting through chicken bones and other hard materials is another good use for cleavers.

Not only can a cleaver pulverize meat, but the flat of the blade can be used to crush garlic and other herbs. A cleaver takes up a lot of space in a kitchen drawer, but most come with a hole near the end of the blade so it can be hung up somewhere out of the way.

Choose Good Quality Knives For The Kitchen

Whatever knives you chose, get the best quality you can. The better the quality, the easier it is to use, and kitchen knives will see a lot of use over the years.

The more you cook, the more you will appreciate using good quality knives, and may wish to expand your selection to include more types. The paring knife, chef's knife, serrated knife are good for a starter kitchen, however, with the cleaver making a nice addition.

Every kitchen can use a few good knives.

Get more on cooking and cooking accessories visit Creative Cooking School

How to Get Started As A Cake Decorator, Part 1

The art of decorating cakes takes place when a man or woman has turned the kitchen into an art studio. Whenever any cake is finely decorated with artistic elements it is pleasing to both the creator and the recipient.Creating a cake doesn't have to be stressful - you just need to get creative. Don’t be afraid to try new ideas and techniques.

For some people cake decorating is a hobby, while for others, it is a career. The amateurs are those who find it fun and gratifying to bake the cakes and then decorate them for their family and friends, thus saving money by doing it themselves. With expert training along with good decorating tips and ideas, anyone can master this art.

With this art form you will also be able to stretch your imagination. If you continue building your skills, you will experience the joy of making others happy with your expertise.For the amateur decorator, the simplest cake decorating tips are the best ways to help you get started. Decorating can be as simple as using a stencil and dusting confectioner’s sugar or cocoa powder on the top of a cake.

Cakes can be iced using royal fondant, butter cream or cooked icing. Adding to the icing cakes can be topped with flowers, spun sugar, or candy. Cakes can be created to look like a hot dog, pizza, or just about anything you have the imagination to create.

If you want to be an amateur cake decorator, you will need to learn the basics and pick up as many of the tips you can. There are many tips and ideas widely available. You may decide to continue making and decorating cakes as a pastime or you may decide to look into making a career out of decorating and baking cakes.

Read on for more tips on becoming a cake decorator in "How to Get Started As A Cake Decorator, Part 2". For more free recipes, cooking tips and general help in the kitchen, please check out: thebestrecipesonline.com.

Find more on cooking here Creative Cooking School

Tips for Cooking Healthy and Light

Many restaurants these days are serving up super sized portions, so it's no wonder that people have become used to ingesting large amounts of food every day. This is no problem if they are eating meals that are low in calories and generally nutritious. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work this way. Therefore it's highly important that you choose healthful and low calorie foods when you eat at home, so you can minimize the damage from your restaurant splurges. This begins with cooking light.

Light, healthy cooking relies on more than the ingredients you use; the oil you cook them with is also important. In fact, the oil can have a big impact on the nutritional value of the meal. Even though all your ingredients may be healthful, for example, veggies, lean meats and whole grains, if you add oil containing unhealthy fats, you'll wind up having a meal that's not so good for you.

Try these easy ways to make your meals healthy and light.

1. Pick Vegetable Oils

This is the most critical of the guidelines. Pick a vegetable based oil to ensure that the food you're cooking won't impact your health negatively. These oils are beneficial for elevating your good cholesterol. They help to improve the performance of your cardiovascular system and compensate for the unhealthy cholesterol found in meat and animal fats.

2. Stay Away from Additives

As much as you can, stay away from seasonings and ingredients that aren't natural. It can turn a healthy meal into a questionable one. Artificial flavoring might heighten the flavor of the dish that you're cooking but it can also result in kidney and liver ailments due to its elevated sodium content. As well, stay away from batter mixes for deep fried foods; they just increase the calories without any nutritional benefits.

3. Cut the Meat

Make it a habit to use seafood and veggies in your home cooking. Restrict meat consumption to a serving or less per day. So you'll be getting the protein your body needs but avoiding the saturated fats contained in meat. On the occasions when you do indulge in a piece of meat, look for ones that are lower in saturated fats. White meats such as chicken and turkey are regarded as better for you than red meats such as beef and pork. And of these two, pork is the better choice as the fat can be trimmed more readily.

4. Cook Less

Another approach to healthy cooking is to make light meals, not just in terms of calories and fat, but also in quantity. This is particularly relevant when you're cooking the main meal of the day. But take your time making this change. If you vary your diet too much it can cause health problems.

It's also not recommended if you have young children. It's important that you give children all the nutrition they need to become strong and healthy. This doesn't imply overeating, but neither should you limit their calories unless advised by your doctor.

Get more on healthy cooking here Healthy Living Diet

Three Easy Steps to the Perfect BBQ

To a purist, BBQ is all about slow cooking. This usually includes using a smoker or a grill with a tight fitting lid and large surface. You need to position the food a short distance away from the heat. To achieve this, you could trying moving around some briquettes or lighting the fire on one side only. This produces a section of low heat that lets you implement the first of three steps to a perfect BBQ: infusing.

With infusing, your objective is to get all of the flavorful ingredients into the meat before the surface layer is cooked sufficiently to seal the inside. The rub, sauce, fat and juices mix with the smoke and heat to produce a complex interaction inside the meat. Both surface and interior fats melt away and the particles become part of the external layer. The conditions are now perfect for the flavor compounds to spread. Some killer BBQ is right around the corner.

During the second step, the actuall cooking happens, and this usually takes a while. As the interior temperature of the meat climbs, proteins break down and become amino acids. Sugars change their composition and spread their sweetness. Enzymes get active, and salt becomes ionized. The outcome of all this chemical activity is the transformation of a hunk of meat into a savory main course.

If you've added any wood to the fire, it will impart a smokey flavor to the meat during this stage. The surface of the meat becomes sealed and the inside juices are trapped; as they heat up they alter their composition. The meat will spend most of its cooking time in this phase. The temperature has to be lower than what you'd use indoors to cook.

Once the meat's inside temperature reaches 200F, it's time to take it off the BBQ grill or smoker.

In the third step, the meat continues cooking. As it cools, the internal heat is still high enough to continue to affect the meat. Your meat can tenderize even further during this stage, resulting in a mouth watering piece of meat.

When the temperature drops below 165F, it's ready to serve. Make a cut to check the color. Beef should be a dark red, and chicken should have become white and any juices should now be clear. If it's pork, it should be white with a gray tinge. The taste should be subtle and it should have an easy to chew consistency.

And there you have it: the perfect BBQ.

Get more on BBQ here Competition BBQ Secrets

Cast Iron Cookware and Cookware Sets

There are two kinds of cast-iron cookware made — bare cast-iron and enamel cast iron cookware. People today prefer to use enamel cast iron cookware for cooking and leave their bare cast-iron to age transform (eventually) into antique cast-iron cookware.

Enamel cast iron cookware doesn’t rust as easily as bare cast-iron cookware does, and is easier to clean. There are those who also believe that enamel cast iron cookware is healthier than bare-cast iron. Enamel cast iron cookware is basically bare-cast iron cookware with a protective glaze of vitreous enamel (also called porcelain enamel).

Many believe that enamel cast iron cookware can leech more iron into food than bare cast-iron cookware. Another main point about enamel cast iron cookware that you must always keep in mind is that it is about the most expensive cookware on the face of the planet. The process of making the enamel cookware is a lot more complicated than making many other kinds of cookware. Soap and water will ruin cast iron cookware, turning it incurably rusty.

Before you ever use your cast iron cookware, you need to be sure it’s correctly seasoned. If you receive cast iron cookware that is currently being used as cookware and has already been seasoned, then you can skip seasoning for now. It can’t hurt to at least be familiar with seasoning cast iron cookware.

At this stage, a little water is not going to harm the cast iron cookware. Another way to clean tough, stuck on food is to add a cup of water to the cast iron cookware, boil it for three minutes, dump the water (and, hopefully, the stuck on food), then let cool a bit and wipe with a thick cloth.

People love to collect stuff for the sake of collecting stuff we’ll never use, like antique cast-iron cookware. We might not know much about what a cast-iron cookware set in the past looked like if not for antique cast-iron cookware collectors. Antique cast-iron cookware is not just valuable – it’s also still useable, beautiful and tells more about our past than our grandparent’s stories often can.

A cast iron cookware set, properly taken care of, can not only be the last cookware set you would ever need, but your kids would ever need. But, if you’re going to plunk down that much money for cooking utensils, whether it’s bare cast-iron or porcelain cast-iron cookware, you want to get your money’s worth.

Get more on cookware and cooking here Creative Cooking School

How Cooking Schools are Helping us Stay Healthy and Slim

Creative Cooking Schools have never had more relevance to our everyday lives. The US is suffering from an epidemic: obesity. One survey claims that 100% of Americans will be officially obese by 2050. And this can be avoided - with the help of our fine US cooking schools. And, of course, a large dose of common sense.

The US has some of the best cooking schools in the world. It's hardly surprising: we also have some of the best restaurants representing pretty well every culture's cuisine. The standards are high; the diversity simply breathtaking. You could say that US cooking schools are a real melting pot!

So can a creative cooking school help our overweight population? To answer that, we have to think about what caused this obesity in the first place: processed food.

Our lives are busy. We are a productive, hard-working nation. No one, it seems has time to cook. We'd rather buy convenience foods to toss into the microwave oven, or get a take out from around the corner. We don't even need to go and fetch the food ourselves. Problem is, these foods are full of saturated fats, sugars and salt. And low in vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Not only that, nutritional experts agree that we should only ever eat enough to feel eighty percent full. That goes against the whole ethos of the fast food industry. But a good cooking school will understand the connection between good food and a healthy body. Many of the teachers will be nutritional experts themselves.

Where do cooking schools come in?

Cooking schools don't just how to prepare mouth-watering food. They teach us how to shop for the best fresh food, how to organize our time and make a food plan. Actually making the food is the last step. And it's the fun part.

So we can prove the survey wrong. Take a look at the courses on offer at some cooking schools near you, and keep the US healthy and slim.

Find out more on cooking schools here Creative Cooking School

Why Many Top Celebrities Champion Home Cooking

You want to control your weight. This means controling what you eat and drink. That's difficult to do if you eat out a lot or exist from take out to take out. Or you make do with processed food that you can toss into the microwave oven and eat two minutes later without even soiling a plate. Your weight will soon balloon, and your complexion will erupt like a volcanic landscape. That's why many top celebrities - people who earn their wages by looking good - are fans of home cooking.

That's not the only reason that home cooking is the choice of the the stars. Cooking at home gives you more control over other health issues than just weight control. Ever had stomach pains after a take out, or a visit to the local restaurant? The restaurant or take away bar might practise the highest standards of hygiene. It doesn't make any difference if you are allergiv to certain foodstuffs. And these allergies might not provoke violent reactions.

At Home Cooking, we believe there's an even better reason for cooking at home. Fun. We are naturally curious animals. We like to be in control of our destinies - even if it's in a very small way. And we like to be creative. Healthy home cooking helps you try out different foodstuffs, recipes, cultural experiences - all from the comfort of your own home.

People who love to cook soon develop their own ways of doing things. We do too. Almost every recipe we come across, we tweak after we've tried it a couple of times. It keeps the food we cook interesting. It keeps the food we make fresh. And it keeps the people we feed happy.

So, when we say 'healthy' home cooking, we mean healthy in body, mind and spirit. Try it. You'll see what we mean.

Find more on cooking here Creative Cooking School

What can a Gourmet Cooking Class do for You?

Summer is drawing to a close. All across the country, people like you are considering taking part in a course this fall. Either you want to add something tasty to your cv. Or you simply want to get out a bit more and meet some new people. Whatever your motivation, a gourmet cooking class could be exactly what you were looking for.

Gourmet food is more than just filling a yawning belly. It satisfies more than just hunger. It is the cooking equivalent to art. If Ronald McDonald were a house painter, gourmet cooking would be Vincent Van Gogh.

Professional gourmet chefs can command decent salaries. And though they work under pressure, often doing unsociable hours, the rewards can be high. You have the chance to make a mark in your local community. You can earn a certain notoriety - good restaurants get attention. They are written about in blogs and the press. Famous people, or at least well-known locals, will show up if the reviews are good. You could move into becoming a restauranteur, running your own business, perhaps even owning a chain of restaurants.

But there's one requirement; one thing you absolutely must have. A passion for cooking.

You have to feel the intoxication of great ingredients. You have to swoon at the sight of a well-stocked fish stall moments after the dawn fishermen have landed their catch. You have to catch your breath at the sight of a beautifully presented dish. And you have to want to go through everything it takes to be able to to that yourself.

There's still much you can gain from a gourmet cooking class, even if your goals aren't so lofty. The emphasis will be on quality over quantity - and with over 35% of the US population declared officially obese, that can't be a bad thing.

You'll learn how to present food to have your dinner guests reaching for their cameras. Your meals will become sensuous experiences shared with a chosen few of friends and loved ones. But most of all, your moments in the kitchen will be transformed into stimulating explorations, assaults on the senses that make life so worth living.

In short, attend a gourmet cooking class, and you won't just be enriching your diet. You could be spicing up your life.

Find more information on creative cooking visit Creative Cooking School

A good start to healthy living - a Vegetarian Cooking School

I am a vegetarian. Easy to say, but surprisingly hard to live up to. Tempted by gourmet dishes on all sides, quizzed by confused relatives and friends, flummoxed by Western cooking traditiions that rely on slaughter - it can be hard to stick to a vegetarian diet.

But I'm not writing to persuade anyone to convert to a vegetarian diet. There's plenty of convincing writing about that out there already. I'm interested in helping you get started once you've made the decision - or once you've 'made the right move', if I may be allowed a little evangelism.

There are two important steps to take once you've decided to become a vegetarian:

1. Stick to it for a month. Psychologists agree that it takes most people a month to form a non-addictive habit. So, adopt a vegetarian diet for a month and you're home and dry.

2. Get support. This is trickier. Without wishing to point fingers, the chances are that support from your immediate family and friends is a bit thin. But you need to learn what to eat. And how to cook it.

In short, you need a vegetarian cooking school.

Even if you're not a vegetarian, signing yourself up for a short and sweet vegetarian cooking course will inspire your cooking and expand your repetoire. You'll learn how to prepare a wide variety of healthy, appetizing dishes. Without meat. And if you are vegetarian, you'll find out how to make sure your diet is rich in all the protein, vitamins and minerals you need to live a long and healthy life. Without meat.

There are vegetarian cooking schools all over the country. And there are more vegetarian cooking traditions than you might realise - traditions that support healthy, long-living people. And learning about them and how to cook their food is easy and a lot of fun.

Get more on healthy living visit Healthy Living Diet

High quality Japanese Knives can be used for a lifetime

Typically wedding presents are given with the objective of allowing the young couple to achieve domestic self-sufficiency. As a consequence, few individuals look beyond big department gift registries for something truly special.

While people often give knives (in German: Kochmesser) or knife sets as presents to newlyweds, generally the ones from the large retail outlets are very poorly made. Chefs have known for years that better quality material and finer techniques result in superior and longer-lasting implements -- and in the case of the recent revolution in high quality Japanese chef's knives, such quality is now readily available for amateur and professional alike.

Traditional wedding gifts are becoming quite boring for many newly wed couples. Recently there have been higher quality Japanese chef's knives being manufactured. Chef's know that high quality material as well as better techniques bring about great time withstanding implements. Such quality is now available for both novices as well as professionals.

A couple that recently got married and is interested in cooking together, or any person who loves cooking (in German:: kochen) will get better results from quality knives. Why settle for inexpensive knife sets which are made from stamped metal, when it is possible to own quality Japanese chef's knives forged from the finest carbon steel which are more balanced and have edges that stay sharp. Both professional chefs and amateur cooks appreciate the high quality of such Japanese kitchen knife brands as Hattori, Shun, and Global, which continue to receive awards and accolades around the world.

A great wedding present is a set of knives, e.g. Japanese Haiku Messer Knives, that will outlast any other knife and be a reminder to the couple of their special day. In addition to their high degree of durability and reliability, quality Japanese chef's knives are quite attractive as well.

Most gifts couples get on their wedding day are things needed when starting their home lives together. The knives used by Japanese chefs delight the hand and even the eye; they can be passed down generations as wedding gifts from the parents.

Get more information on cooking supplies visit Discount Cooking Supplies

Cooking Fun With Cajun Food

cast iron cookware

It's an art form cooking in the very heart of Cajun country. There really is very little science to this particular form of cooking that includes a lot more than mere lagniappe from the pantry or the spice cabinet. Cajun cooking is something that has often been imitated around the country and around the world but can very rarely be accurately duplicated.

One of the best things about Cajun made cooking is that the recipes tend to be different for each dish. Cajun cooking is mostly made to taste rather than have the ingredients measured. Even more amazing is that from day to day one person can make the same dish using cast iron cookware, over and over again. It's quite likely to taste a little bit different each and every time it is made. The major reason for this is that in addition to being an art form in and of itself, Cajun food is often made even more delicious or mysterious simply by the mood of the one doing the cooking.

I'm sure that many of you have watched as Emeril Lagasse makes some special concoction and exclaims "Bam!" there is a good bit of that when it comes to Cajun cooking. Something that goes far beyond the ingredients in the recipe and somewhere into the heart and the soul of the cook in question. There is a reason that many southern cooked dishes are referred to as soul food and you should not for one second forget that New Orleans is in the heart of the Deep South.

Finding the right ingredients for Cajun cooking is difficult when looking outside of New Orleans. It is nearly impossible to find the fresh seasonings and spices that are essential to most Cajun cuisine outside the heart of the old south. During the cold Michigan winters, andouille sausage and fresh crawfish are hard to find.

If you are determined to learn to make Cajun food of your own, you must first find the ingredients. Specialty food shops or those that will special order might be your best bet. There are some grocers that will carry a limited stock of Cajun seasonings on their international food aisles. Keep in mind that these sources are extremely limited. Once you have the ingredients, it's time to let a little jazz emanating from your speakers in order to set the mood. Most of the best Cajun dishes require a substantial amount of time for simmering and this should be considered. Cajun food is not to be rushed-much like the citizens of the Big Easy. The food will be ready in time and as the one cooking the food you must learn to accept that about Cajun food. It has a way of letting you know when it is ready that is almost mythical until you've experienced it for yourself. Gather your best metal cookware and invite that someone special to enjoy your meal.

Cooking Cajun food will try your patience, try your talents, and in some cases zap your energy, as it tends to be an emotional process for many. On the other end however, Cajun food is some of the richest and most delicious food on the planet. Mastering the ability to cook this wonderful food will make you a slave to its flavor for many years to come.

More on creative cooking can be found here Cooking For Crowds

Cooking Classes Anyone?

cooking pork

Whether you are a seasoned pro when it comes to the fine art of cooking or an utter novice, there should be some cooking school or resources in your area that can help you learn and improve your existing skills. Interestingly, only a few manage to use opportunities available to them when it comes down to cooking classes.

If you are considering a cooking class you should be glad to know that many communities offer them for a nominal fee at night and sometimes on the weekend. These types of classes are quite basic and most times are created to assist women learn the easy aspects of a few healthy meals to put together for their families. If this is for you, visit the library for the available classes in your area locally. Even if they do not have the information available it is quite likely that they can point you in the right direction. If for some reason you're tight for time, there is also an option in taking cooking online classes. It will be easy to learn such skills as cooking rice, pastas, fish, and any other tantalizing dish.

If you are looking for cooking classes that you can take with your children, check out your library once again for the first resource. There are also many gourmet food shops that offer cooking classes for parents to take with their children. This is a great opportunity to bond with your child while you both learn to prepare a new dish or two together. It is quite likely that you will be quite surprised by the things you can learn from your child as well as the things you can learn by simply taking the class.

You will have to search further if you're looking for more experience in culinary art to achieve your goal. They do exist however, though your chances of learning Thai cooking are much greater in a larger city than in smaller towns throughout the country. If exotic cooking is your thing, then check out a cooking class while you're on your vacation, just to give you an idea. If you prefer other things on your vacation to cooking you could make a point of attempting one basic class in the cuisine of your choice for each vacation you take. This will give you a little more than the same old souvenir to bring back from your trip and an experience that in many cases is quite memorable.

Finally, if you are looking for a romantic idea, how about signing up to take a couples cooking class? Believe it or not, these classes are often offered in both big and smaller cities. They seem to be all the rage around Valentine's day, perhaps the hint is that the other partner in a relationship can share some of the cooking responsibility or perhaps the idea is that there is more than one way to steam up the kitchen.

No matter what the reason is for attending a cooking class, they are pure enjoyment and will make things easier for you in the kitchen. If you've never taken a cooking class, there is no time like the present to do so. No matter how skilled you are in the kitchen there is always something that can be learned.

Find more on cooking here Creative Cooking School