Friday, October 31, 2008

Learning to pick out the best Cheap Healthy Food

Virtually everyone's grocery budget is being stretched to the limit these days, but most people don't want to eat food that is just affordable but they want Low Price Cooking healthy food that is good for them while still fitting into their budget.  Anyone can pick up boxes of macaroni and cheese for a dollar each and have those for lunch or dinner, but there's very little nutritional content in items like this.  So what can you do if you're looking for cheap, healthy food that you can have on a regular basis?

The obvious answer is to eat more fruits and vegetables whenever you can.  These items are nutritious, tasty, and of course the best choice for Budget Cooking healthy food that there is.  But the problem with fruits and vegetables is that they can sometimes get a bit boring and repetitious, and many people want a hot meal for lunch or dinner rather than just raw fruits and veggies.  So how can you incorporate these items into your meal plans so that you're getting the best of cheap, healthy food but not missing out on taste or enjoyment?

Learning to cook is of course one important part, or just following recipes for certain items can make a difference.  Stuffed peppers are a great choice for cheap, healthy food that can be a main course for any meal.  Of course there's a right way and a wrong way to cook stuffed pepper so that they come out tasty rather than mushy!  But they're one easy dish that just about everyone enjoys.Sauces and seasonings are a great way to dress up your veggies and make your stir fry a little different than the last time you had it.  They make a great meal and a good idea for a cheap, healthy food that you can have on its own or that you can serve over noodles or rice.Sometimes its the side dishes that can really help fill people up and its always good to have lots of stemed veggies that can help fill people up.  This means you're having a cheap, healthy food at every meal but not losing out on the taste of meat, if that's what you enjoy.

Fruit makes a great dessert in many cases; this is another way of having a Low Cost Cooking healthy food that tastes good and that can be used in the place of something else that is less healthy or good for you.Your craving for dessert can sometimes be filled with a lot less calories if you just serve some fresh fruit with some whipped cream.  You might need to get a little creative with fruit as a dessert; for instance, try baking an apple with some cinnamon.One thing that a lot of people don't know is that baking it will bring out a lot of the sugars that are natural.  This is a cheap, healthy food that just about everyone loves for dessert and that is so easy to make.  By using your imagination and getting familiar with different cooking techniques, you can use fruits and vegetables as cheap, healthy food every single day.

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Come by LowPriceCooking to get your free Ebook on LowPriceCooking Basics just for joining the Low Price Cooking community for free. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Stop by and join for free and be a apart of our new Low Price Cooking Community.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

There are a lot of ways to Make Cheap Healthy Meals

Wanting to make Low Price Cooking meals is common these days since food prices are going through the roof, and wanting to make healthy meals can also be a struggle.  But the real trick is when you can make cheap healthy meals at the same time!  A box of macaroni and cheese can be less than a dollar but there's very little nutritional value in that, and a salad is good nutrition but produce can sometimes be the most expensive on your grocery list.  So how do you combine the two so that you can create cheap healthy meals that you and your family will enjoy?

The first thing you need to learn when planning cheap healthy meals is just what is meant by healthy.  Some people think that rice is healthy when it's actually a simple carb that breaks down as sugar in the body.  It's healthier than sugar or saturated fat but still not as good as vegetables or lean protein.  And while lean protein is healthy you don't want to think that all meats are good for you as beef is loaded with saturated fat that clogs the arteries.  These things of course can be had in smaller amounts but creating cheap healthy meals means understanding what is healthy to you and knowing what you can eat in larger amounts and what you need to be balanced about.

Understanding your own budget and what will go over well with your family is also part of creating Budget Cooking healthy meals.  Some people, men in particular, just want to eat meat and hate vegetarian dishes.  It can be part of creating cheap healthy meals to substitute meats for certain vegetables but if your family won't eat these dishes then you're just wasting your time and your money as well.  A better idea might be to just cut back on the amount of meat you use and add more veggies to bulk up your meal.  For instance if you're making a pot roast you can purchase a smaller cut of meat and add carrots, mushrooms, onions, and potatoes to a slow cooker or roasting pan as you cook.  By doing this you're creating cheap healthy meals that are still very tasty but that involve more vegetables and less meat overall.  You can do the same with a wide variety of dishes - cut down on the meat you put into spaghetti sauces or chili and add more diced tomatoes and onions.

Get creative when thinking of Budget Cooking healthy meals.  Try a vegetable stir fry that you serve over noodles; add a small amount of meat for that carnivore in your life!You can use some low fat cheese and a top with steamed broccoli to make a newer and healthier version of a loaded baked potatoe.Sometimes people don't think a baked potato can be healthy but if you leave off the sour cream, butter, and bacon bits and add salsa, it can be very healthy.  By putting some thought into cheap healthy meals for your family you're sure to find recipes that they'll love.

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Come by LowPriceCooking to get your free Ebook on LowPriceCooking Basics just for joining the Low Price Cooking community for free. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Stop by and join for free and be a apart of our new Low Price Cooking Community.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Dinner Fast and Easy: Quick Tips to Get a Healthy Dinner on the Table

If you think you don't have time to make dinner, think again. Use these ideas and you'll be whipping up dinner in no time.

Plan your meals in advance.
Nothing has people reaching for the take out menu faster than a lack of planning. If you've been trying to plan dinner after 5 pm, odds are that you give up on cooking most days. Make sure to plan at least five meals each week before you go to the grocery store for the week, so you have the ingredients on hand. (Printable grocery coupons are here.)  If you have enough food to make several different types of meals, you'll be less likely to eat out.

Each morning, decide what you'll make for dinner that night. You may want to put any meat that needs to defrost in the refrigerator. You'll also want to make sure you have all of the ingredients. Take a quick look at the recipe to determine what you'll need to start first so everything is done at the same time.

Come up with a system for dinner recipes.

Quick dinners are easy when you have a system to follow. Keep it simple. Your dinners can be protein, carbohydrate, plus veggie. This formula can cover a wide range of possibilities Рbaked chicken, cheesy noodles and broccoli, grilled steak with peppers and onions served with tortillas, saut̩ed ground beef with Asian vegetables served over rice. The possibilities are endless!

Save time with frozen vegetables.

Everyone needs more vegetables and serving frozen vegetables are an easy way to get more into your family's diet. Keep a wide variety of frozen vegetables on hand. You can change the flavor with spices, margarine mixed with lemon juice or even Italian dressing. A few minutes in the microwave or on the stovetop with a vegetable steamer and you'll have vegetables for your meal.

Cook some ingredients ahead of time.
Ground beef can be used in many different recipes, from spaghetti to tacos. It takes just as much time to brown two pounds of beef as it does to brown a half a pound. On a weekend, brown and freeze several pounds of ground beef or ground turkey. This way, the next time you cook a recipe that calls for ground beef you'll just have to reheat it. You can do the same thing with chicken pieces.

Keep backups on hand.
Even the most well planned menu can come undone from time to time. Keep a few frozen meals at the ready. Frozen lasagna, skillet meals and other pre-packaged foods are okay every once in a while. You can improve the nutrition of these processed meals by adding more vegetables and serving health side dishes.

For those special occasion meals when you need gourmet fare, consider a service that delivers prepared meals or gourmet entrees to your home (such as Home Bistro or Omaha Steaks). This option can get expensive if you use it a lot, but both companies issue online coupons and promotions from time to time. Check here for current Home Bistro Coupons; and here for Omaha Steaks coupons.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

How the Humble Cooking Apron Came of Age

Back in the 1960s, no self-respecting parent would dream of trying to do anything in the kitchen without first putting on a cooking apron. Clothes were too expensive to buy - and keep clean - to risk staining them with the residue of culinary exploits. However, by the end of the 1960s, the picture was very different. The cooking apron had begun to symbolise the downtrodden housewife. All of a sudden, being tied to apron strings was no longer cool.

Forward wind to our century. Everyone is watching cooking shows on TV before heading into their refitted kitchens to try out their new-found cooking skills. And TV chefs wear cooking aprons. Once again, the kitchen apron, that enemy of the new woman, is in vogue in a big way. If we want to feel like a "master chef", all we have to do is put an apron on. What we cook when we wear our cooking aprons is another matter entirely, of course (it all looks so much easier on TV, doesn't it).

Today's cooking aprons are now available in a masive variety of colours and styles. And the most popular seem to bear some kind of joke printed on the front (just think which area of the body they cover). Novelty cooking aprons are all the rage. If you're feeling inventive you can use the front of the apron and have a joke of your own printed - at the wearer's expense, of course.

The way we buy cooking aprons has totally changed since the 1960s. Online. They are easier than ever to buy - just run a quick search on the internet. We can do it all from the breakfast counter in our kitchen. And once in that sales funnel, it becomes almost impossible to resist buying more than one - it's just too easy. After all, guests have a habit of turning up when you least expect them. They must also agree to wear your newest cooking apron in the kitche, and get their hands, if not their clothes, dirty.

Monday, October 27, 2008

How much Easier can a Croc Pot Make your Life?

Now the evenings are closing in, its time for the barbeque to step down and the croc pot to take over. Invented by the Crock-Pot company, the croc pot, or slow cooker, uses very little power to cook food over a period of several hours. Because the ingredient never boil, food gets cooked without losing any of its natural flavour or nutritional value. This is a piece of cookware that is excellent for preparing rich stews. The length of cooking time is ideal for complex dishes that rely on binding diverse flavours. And modern croc pots are ultra-economical.

The concept has caught on. Well-known brand names such as Morphy Richards and Breville make super-efficient slow cookers that are affordable and easy to use. They have become a common feature in many modern kitchens because you can set a meal to cook and then leave it to work its magic. Modern families often find it difficult to prepare nutritious meals just as everyone is coming home from work or school. For many, that's the most chaotic time of the day - and the worst possible moment to start preparing dinner.

A croc pot allows you to choose the best moment to prepare your meal. You can chop your vegetables and prepare your meat in the morning, place it all in the slow cooker and turn it on before you leave the house. The first croc pots cooked at a pre-defined, low temperature that was controlled by a thermostat. Modern cooking pots now offer a host of features that essentially allow you to expand your culinary repetoire beyond the limit of simple stews. Some feature more complicated temperature control so that food can be kept warm once its cooked automatically. There are slow cookers on the market that automatically switch off when they detect that the joint of meat is cooked. You can even program more advanced slow cookers to start at a high temperature and drop, or the other way round. However, it is worth remembering that a rise in performance often means a drop in economy. A modern, simple croc pot is still the most efficient way to cook your food.

Croc pots come in just a few different sizes. These are the '4-quart' and the '6-quart', which hold exactly what they say on the tin. The 6-quart option would be perfect for a big family with healthy appetites and a large kitchen. But one factor that has made croc pots so popular over the years is the prevalence of 'pot-luck' dinners. In this case, a 4-quart, handled croc pot would be ideal. Pick up your pot, take it to the party and plug it in. Some croc pots even have a crockery bowl that you can remove from the rest of the cooker. You can serve your dish straight from the bowl in style. And because the crockery pot is quite heavy, it is sufficient to maintain the food at temperature without power.

Now that there have been so many croc pots and slow cookers on the market for such a long time, there are also plenty of recipes to go with them. Once you have familiarized yourself with the basics, your imagination is the only limit.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Your First Choice for Cheap Healthy Food

Virtually everyone's grocery budget is being stretched to the limit these days, but most people don't want to eat food that is just affordable but they want cheap, healthy food that is good for them while still fitting into their budget.Sometimes we all get stuck in the rut of purchasing those boxes of mac and cheese for just over a dollar but remember there is little to no nutrutional value in those items.  So what can you do if you're looking for Budget Cooking healthy food that you can have on a regular basis?

The obvious answer is to eat more fruits and vegetables whenever you can.  These items are nutritious, tasty, and of course the best choice for Budget Cooking healthy food that there is.  But the problem with fruits and vegetables is that they can sometimes get a bit boring and repetitious, and many people want a hot meal for lunch or dinner rather than just raw fruits and veggies.  So how can you incorporate these items into your meal plans so that you're getting the best of cheap, healthy food but not missing out on taste or enjoyment?

Learning to cook is of course one important part, or just following recipes for certain items can make a difference.  Stuffed peppers are a great choice for cheap, healthy food that can be a main course for any meal.  Of course there's a right way and a wrong way to cook stuffed pepper so that they come out tasty rather than mushy!  But they're one easy dish that just about everyone enjoys.  You can also have a vegetable stir fry and use different seasonings or sauces to dress them up.  They make a great meal and a good idea for a Low Price Cooking healthy food that you can have on its own or that you can serve over noodles or rice.  When you have other dinner items you can also just serve more vegetables and less meat; try steaming a variety of vegetables and filling up on those rather than the meat or other main course.The taste of meat is one that most people miss so if you try the recent suggestion you can still have the taste of meat and a cheap and healthy food.

Fruit makes a great dessert in many cases; this is another way of having a cheap, healthy food that tastes good and that can be used in the place of something else that is less healthy or good for you.  Some fresh fruit with a little bit of whipped cream is a small amount of calories, especially when compared to ice cream or something else.  You might need to get a little creative with fruit as a dessert; for instance, try baking an apple with some cinnamon.  Baking it brings out the natural sugars.  This is a cheap, healthy food that just about everyone loves for dessert and that is so easy to make.  By using your imagination and getting familiar with different cooking techniques, you can use fruits and vegetables as cheap, healthy food every single day.

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Come by LowPriceCooking to get your free Ebook on LowPriceCooking Basics just for joining the Low Price Cooking community for free. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Stop by and join for free and be a apart of our new Low Price Cooking Community.

 

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Helping your Grocery Bill with Cheap Foods

Gourmet foods can be a real treat for everyone; a nice juicy steak is something you might look forward to all week or all month, or whatever your favorite dish is.  But while we all look forward to gourmet items here and there, using cheap foods throughout the week and month wherever possible is going to go a long way toward cutting that dreaded grocery bill.  This doesn't mean that you always need to buy low quality cuts of meat or brands and varieties that you don't like, but just making some substitutes of Budget Cooking foods rather than the most expensive in a few dishes here and there can help tremendously.

As an example, chicken is usually much less expensive than beef.  Do you have beef dishes where chicken can work instead?  Using Low Cost Cooking foods in pot pies, soups, stews, and even chili can shave several dollars off your grocery bill every week, so when you make these items consider using chicken or even pork rather than beef.  You can also cut down on the number of times you serve any type of beef dish throughout the week and serve a chicken dish instead - use a rotisserie, or put a chicken in the slow cooker with some vegetables, and so on.  By using cheap foods like chicken or pork instead of beef you can save several dollars per week.There are so many pre-mixed spices that can really make chicken much more flavorful than you would think.

Vegetables can also be considered Low Price Cooking foods and can be used in several dishes either as a substitute for meat or to bulk up dishes so that you can use less meat.  When you make chili, cut the amount of beef you use in half and add more onions, beans, and tomatoes.  These are cheap foods that still fill you up so you won't miss the meat so much.  Making a hearty vegetable stew is a good idea and makes a good lunch throughout the week, especially if you accompany it with some cornbread or biscuits.  Vegetable stews, soups, and vegetarian casseroles are very cheap foods that can even be made with leftovers or frozen vegetables that can be purchased very cheaply.  Usually just a few added ingredients are all that's necessary to turn leftovers into tasty second dishes!

Using these types of cheap foods as much as possible can save you a tremendous amount of money in the long run.  There are many seasoning mixes and blends you can get from the store so you don't need to guess how to make these dishes tasty.  Kitchen appliances can also help, such as a rotisserie, slow cooker, tabletop grill, and so on.The results you get will be worth it on your grocery bill but you will have to spend a little bit more time planning the meals out.

Low Price Cooking and the community within low price cooking can help you with cooking nutrutious food at a lower price to help your family budget. Come by LowPriceCooking to get your free Ebook on LowPriceCooking Basics just for joining the Low Price Cooking community for free. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Visit and be our newest member of the Low Price Cooking Community.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Using Cheap Food and Cooking with Cheap Food

We all want to stretch our grocery budget as far as it can go but sometimes wonder just when we can choose or use Low Cost Cooking ; are those store brands or other items just as good as national brands?  Do they taste as good and if not, what can we do to fix that?

There are some things to remember when talking about cheap food that you can buy for your family and you would do well to consider these things since you of course don't want to sacrifice your family's health or have meals that no one enjoys eating.  But there are many brands and varieties of cheap food that often do just as well as the national brands or the more expensive varieties, and using these when you can is always a good idea.

You might immediately realize some cheap food substitutes and may already be using them.  The store brand cereal is much more cost-efficient than the national brand and rarely can anyone taste a difference.Sometimes those expensive foods such as dairy, meats, and even produce can found at your grocery store in their own brands instead of name brands.  And really, as long as they're not expired, what difference is there between two cartons of milk or two chickens?  So the store brand is a great way to get cheap food substitutes for so many items that you use every single day.  This can also include condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and salad dressing, or staples such as flour, rice, or oatmeal.Always remember that you can get very good store brands for a lot less than the comparible national brands.

But others ways of incorporating Budget Cooking into your family's meals is by using less expensive cuts of meat in different dishes, such as using chicken for pot pies or soups rather than beef, or having less expensive cuts of steak when you want to treat yourself.  There are many things you can use to dress up cheap food such as marinade mixes or spice blends; if you marinate a cheaper cut of meat overnight it usually comes out just as tasty as the more expensive cuts.  You might not really want to learn how to cook or learn how to make these items but if you do you may find that being able to use these cheaper cuts of meat on a regular basis really helps your grocery bill overall.

Another way to incorporate Budget Cooking into your family's meals is to use more vegetables or pasta and less meat for certain dishes.  When making chili, omit the beef and add zucchini or more onion and beans.  Make spaghetti with a tomato sauce and omit the meatballs.Vegetable Soup or Vegetable Stew are great meals to make and if you just add some biscuits then you have a great meal.You really may not miss the chicken or beef if you just try to serve a vegetable stir fry that is over noodles.  By doing this you'll see that sometimes cheap food doesn't always need to mean boring or bland food.

Low Price Cooking and the community within low price cooking can help you with cooking nutrutious food at a lower price to help your family budget. Visit LowPriceCooking and sign up for our community for free and we will give you a free Ebook on Low Price Cooking Basics. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Come be A part of our Low Price Cooking Community.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

How to Dress Up Budget Food Recipes

Everyone needs to watch their spending today; even someone making six figures is going to feel the pinch of gas prices and food prices that are skyrocketing out of control these days.  But while there seems to be no end to the number of Low Cost Cooking recipes that you can use to cut back on your family's grocery bill, very often these recipes leave something to be desired when it comes to their nutritional value and their taste.  Really, what's the point of following cheap food recipes if it means food that is unhealthy or that no one in your family will eat?  But there are some ways to dress up these recipes so that they're tastier and more nutritious at the same time.

For one thing remember that you can use foods that are reduced in fat and sugar but not necessarily fat free or sugar free.  Usually things like mayonnaise or salad dressing that are fat free are rather tasteless but you can use reduced fat items in Low Cost Cooking recipes that will make them healthier but still preserve the taste.  Think of how you can use reduced fat cheese, mayonnaise, salad dressing, yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese, and items like these in any cheap food recipes you may have to make them better for you.

It's also good to think of leaner cuts of meat you can use, such as using chicken or pork instead of beef.  Shredded chicken marinating in barbecue sauce makes for great sandwiches, or you can use chicken strips for rolled up sandwiches instead of steak.  Thinking of how you can make up cheap food recipes using less expensive cuts of meat this way can save you quite a bit over time. 

You might also want to think of items you can add to your Budget Cooking recipes to enhance flavor.  For example, salsa, spaghetti sauce, reduced fat cheese, or sour cream can be used in many casserole recipes without adding a lot of extra calories.  If you're making chicken and rice, add some cheese or sour cream and bake it for added flavor.  Leftover meatballs can be added to pasta sauce for a nice submarine sandwich.  These types of cheap food recipes use up leftovers so that you're not adding anything to your grocery bill.Leftovers don't have to be reheated alone, look in your fridge for things you add to these leftovers to give them a makeover.

A good rule of thumb is to add fresh veggies to any food recipe you are making to add flavor and bulk.Sometimes you always don't need to use as much chicken as the recipie calls for and you can add more broccoli or cauliflower.You really can have a well balanced meal even with a meat dish as you can steam fresh veggies as a side dish.  These make for cheap food recipes that are better for you.  You can even use pasta sauce over steamed vegetables as well for added flavor.The outcome of this will be good for everyone because you will get cheap food that is also healthy and budget friendly.

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Come by LowPriceCooking to get your free Ebook on LowPriceCooking Basics just for joining the Low Price Cooking community for free. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Come be A part of our Low Price Cooking Community.

 

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Learn Ways to Cook Cheap and Get Low Cost Cooking Tips

Everyone wants to save money but sometimes it's easy to get overwhelmed with figuring out just how.  Cutting back on your grocery bill is only going to happen if you have some concrete and realistic Low Cost Cooking ideas as to what to fix for each meal and snack.  Sometimes this means following a particular recipe or instructions for a meal, but often cheap food ideas can mean just getting creative and using some common sense for meals.

Here's an example of what we're talking about.  You can usually find frozen vegetables that are very affordable at your supermarket; many cheap food ideas involve using these in a soup or stew that you make yourself for just pennies.  A pan or broth or a few jars of prepared gravy are all you need for a vegetable soup or stew.  You can also buy a frozen pie crust and make a pot pie with gravy and vegetables as well.  These are great Budget Cooking ideas that are very filling and that can be done without a lot of fuss or without following a complicated recipe.  For a pot pie you simply follow the directions on the pie crust and for soup you can just add a few herbs such as oregano and basil.  While canned soup and canned stew are very affordable themselves, by making up your own as cheap food ideas you're saving even more money and usually get a meal that's much tastier than anything you get from a can.

Sometimes its good to think in advance the ways you want to use your leftovers when preparing a meal.  You might not think much of those few spoonfuls of mashed potatoes or those few bites of chicken but these can be incorporated into entirely new meals.  Mashed potatoes can easily become potato pancakes and any type of leftover meat can be reheated in a small amount of oil to be put over a salad or wrapped up in a rolled sandwich.  By using these items until they're actually used up and gone you have cheap food ideas that really only cost a few pennies for the additional ingredients and don't need to purchase a new helping of meat or anything else. 

When considering Low Cost Cooking ideas bear in mind the cost of buying prepared and packaged foods as well.Items you prepare yourself versus those same item that you can buy already prepared are much less expensive if you will just take the time to prepare them.  While you may occasionally need to purchase these things for special occasions you should never make a habit of allowing the supermarket to do your cooking for you!  You're actually paying for the labor needed to prepare these items which goes against the concept of cheap food ideas. 

So keep these things in mind when considering cheap food ideas.Two very easy ways to start cutting on your grocery bill is to not let the supermarket do your cooking and to always always utilize your leftovers.

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Come by LowPriceCooking to get your free Ebook on LowPriceCooking Basics just for joining the Low Price Cooking community for free. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Come be A part of our Low Price Cooking Community.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

You can do Cheap Food Without Fast Food

With everyone's budget being stretched to the limit these days, it's no wonder that many people are turning to the dollar menus and other items they find at those cheap fast food restaurants to help round out their meals.  When you have a family to feed it can be tempting to just take everyone to the local hamburger place for burgers and fries and unlimited soda, but if you're concerned at all about your health and your family's health then you may want to reconsider those cheap fast food meals and learn Low Price Cooking , no matter how tight your budget.

It's true that sometimes you can get more food for your money at those cheap fast food restaurants because they are able to buy things in bulk the way that private consumers just can't, even when you shop at those warehouse stores and outlets.  So they can offer a lot of items for a dollar or so when it might cost you half over that to make them at home.Cheap Fast food is still fast food and althought its cheap it doesn't mean its the best choice for your family.  When considering what you're going to eat and what your family is going to eat there are other things to think about than just the price.Sometimes its good to ask yourself why these restaurants can get such cheap food and its because they get the food with the lowest quality possible.  Their hamburger is full of fat rather than a lean cut and most fries are cooked in thick, artery-clogging saturated fat and oils.  So you might be eating cheaper food this way but it's not food that does anything for your health overall, and can be damaging as well so its best to learn about Budget Cooking .

Rather than rely on cheap fast food to fill in the gaps of your grocery budget, it might be time to learn some tips and tricks for feeding your family Low Price Cooking .  A can of soup usually costs about as much as a hamburger and can be even more filling.  It can be even cheaper if you make the soup yourself and usually tastes better as well.  Rather than get soda from the vending machine just buy it at the supermarket and bring it into the office; this is usually about a third of the cost of buying it even at a cheap fast food restaurant.  If you have a hot lunch such as a rolled up sandwich or plate of leftovers you might find this more palatable than a cold tuna sandwich.  A microwave at work can mean that you can easily heat the ingredients separately and make the sandwich while you're there so nothing is soggy.

It might take some effort to learn how to forego lunch or dinner at a cheap fast food restaurant all the time, but it's usually worth it in the end.Food with no nutritional value is not worth it no matter how cheap it is and this is what you will usually find at fast food restaurants.

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Stop by the new Community of Low Price Cooking and for joining, whcih is free, we will give you a free Ebook on Low Price Cooking Basics. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Come be A part of our Low Price Cooking Community.

Monday, October 20, 2008

How to make Cheap Family Meals

It may seem like an impossibility, the idea of making cheap family meals - at least meals that your family will enjoy that is!  Anyone can boil a piece of broccoli and slap it on a plate and call it dinner, but when we're talking about Budget Cooking family meals we're talking about things that your family will actually enjoy and even look forward to.

As an example, you might want to start getting into the habit of saving your leftovers from meals.  Anything that's still palatable can be used in a new dish or reheated for something entirely different.  Many cheap family meals are done by using up leftovers in new dishes.Remember you can make a pot pie with left over veggies that you have frozen in the fridge.  All you need is a frozen pie crust and a jar or two of gravy.Toss a salad while everything is cooking according to the crust directions and you now have a meal.  You can also make cheap family meals by getting in the habit of eating soup before your regular meals.  Just a small bowlful can help to fill everyone up so that you're eating less meat and potatoes at dinner.A tossed salad is always a way to round out a meal and this is relatively inexpensive.

Pasta is a mainstay for many Low Price Cooking family meals.  You can have a vegetable stir fry and serve it over noodles or serve spaghetti with a plain tomato sauce.  Casseroles are also a favorite as they are easy to prepare and usually require only a few ingredients.  Using creamy soup (cream of broccoli or cream of mushroom) with chicken and rice is a favorite staple for many.Sometimes its a good idea to use leftover chicken and try this out as well!  These types of Budget Cooking family meals also mean that you can just make some bread or a side salad for a complete dinner.

Sometimes making cheap family meals just means serving less things and eating less as well.  We often make the mistake of thinking that every meal should look like Thanksgiving dinner and wind up have several side dishes as well as dessert every single night.  Have your family get used to a meat and one side dish, and maybe some rolls or other bread.  Save dessert for Sunday if even then.  Sometimes cheap family meals just mean simple family meals.  You can even get creative - serve breakfast items like eggs and toast or pancakes for dinner, or sandwich roll-ups.  Personal pizzas can be made with some biscuit dough and a small amount toppings; this is much cheaper than ordering a pizza. 

So yes, it does take some work and effort to come up with ideas for cheap family meals but it can be done if you're determined.  In the long run you may find that these meals are not only nutritious and delicious but are saving your family literally hundreds if not thousands of dollars off your grocery bill each year!

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Visit LowPriceCooking and sign up for our community for free and we will give you a free Ebook on Low Price Cooking Basics. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Come be A part of our Low Price Cooking Community.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Make Cheap and Easy Meals with Leftovers

With rising food prices - and prices for just about everything else on the rise as well - it's no wonder that many people are wondering how to make as many Budget Cooking easy meals as they possibly can.  Of course there are many ways you can trim your grocery bill from buying more items in bulk to clipping coupons and checking store circulars before you shop.  All of these methods can cut your grocery bill by a quarter and sometimes even half, but there is another way to make cheap easy meals without all of that fuss.  And that's by using leftovers for an entirely new meal or as a basis for a new dish.

Many hesitate to use leftovers because often food that's been refrigerated or frozen just isn't as tasty as something cooked fresh.Sometimes instead of just reheating your meals you can turn them into brand new dinners which ends up being better in the long run.  This might mean that you need to add some additional ingredients or dress them up a bit, but it still means you're saving money by using this food you've already purchased.Below are going to be some tips for using your families leftovers to make the best cheap easy meals possible.

If you have a few spoonfuls of vegetables leftover, keep these frozen until you have enough for a soup or stew.  Usually just some broth and a few herbs such as oregano and thyme is enough to make a tasty soup; a few jars of prepared gravy will make stew.  These are very cheap easy meals that you can make with just about any leftover vegetables.  If you have some leftover meat you can add this in as well and suddenly you have not just vegetable soup or stew but chicken or beef soup.Filling people up may be a concern with these cheap and easy meals but you can always make some cornbread or other bread to help make the meal more hearty.

You can also use that leftover meat for Budget Cooking meals if you slice it and cook it in a little oil.  Chicken or beef cooked this way makes a great addition to any salad, or you can add a few more ingredients to make a great rolled up sandwich.Tacos and Burritos can be made out of left over hamburgers if you just take some taco season and reheat with a little bit of oil.  These are also cheap easy meals that are easy to prepare and that make great use of meat that you might otherwise throw away.

The real key to using leftovers for Budget Cooking meals is thinking of how you can dress them up or put them in new recipes so that they're tasty and palatable, as opposed to thinking that you should just pop them in the microwave.  Get creative with the food you already have in the refrigerator and think of how they'll make brand new cheap easy meals and you'll continue to cut that grocery bill every week.

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Stop by the new Community of Low Price Cooking and for joining, whcih is free, we will give you a free Ebook on Low Price Cooking Basics. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Come be A part of our Low Price Cooking Community.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

What Are Recommended Bakeware Necessities?

bakeware

Cooking and baking are two different events in the life of a kitchen and a cook. Cooking refers more to dinner and baking deals with cookies, bread, cake, different desserts and the like. For those who enjoy baked goods, here is a list of bakeware necessities you'll need to complete any masterpiece in the kitchen. These items can be pricey or on the thrifty end depending on what you need and where to you to get it. So, have a decent sized budget when shopping for the necessities you don't already have. Quality makes a difference!

First and foremost are measuring devices. This includes bakeware items such as measuring cups, spoons, liquid measurement and a sifter for powdered ingredients needing to be measured out for your recipes. For any recipe that requires a hot item out of the oven, a wire cooling rack is essential. It keeps countertops cool and provides a dedicated place for hot foods to cool down. A spice rack is a helpful and handy tool when you need to grab that last ingredient to finish up. Fresh spices are great, but just be sure to have special graters on hand to extract the amount you'll need.

When it comes to baking, there is no such thing as a pot ... or is there? If you're melting marshmallows or chocolate you'll need pots for boiling water and melting butter. But, when it comes to bakeware pans are the thing to look at. All sorts of pans are needed to create all sorts of baked goods. Pans for cakes come in all different shapes and sizes. Certain cakes have special pan needs, such as Angel Food cake. Other pans you'll need are for cookies and bread. Loaf pans and cupcake pans. Get the idea? Having a good idea of what you'll be baking ahead of time can help you out when shopping for these items.

Don't forget dessert dishes. They are an important item even if you're not entertaining. It can be a nice touch to the end of a busy day when you put jello and whipped cream in a beautiful dessert cup. Whether it is cakes or cookies, breads or ice cream desserts, having the bakeware necessities can make your time in the kitchen more pleasant and much easier. And remember; don't be afraid to try something new. Baking items get better all the time and can be a huge benefit to any cook in any kitchen.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Cooking Dinner for One Can Be Lots Of Fun

You can have a lot of fun cooking for one person. I cook specially for myself, as I do not eat some of the things the rest of my family does. After being involved with this habit for so long, I have quite a few recipes and ideas that are centered around creating only a single serving. If you are new to the idea of cooking for one, don't despair it is much easier than you might think.

When Cooking For One Pre-Planning And A Stocked Pantry Make The Task Much Easier

In order to create an amazing meal for an individual's tatse, a pantry full of ingredients is essential. Whole-wheat four cheese ravioli can be purchase in large packages, then divided into single servings and frozen for later use. On a night when dinner is in a rush, take out a serving for one size dinner portion, cooking it according to the package directions and then covering with a favorite canned spaghetti sauce makes a quick meal in only minutes. Serve it with a salad on the side and dinner is done.

New Packaging Seems To Be Done With Cooking For One In Mind

In recent years, companies are becoming more aware of families buying frozen items in bulk and using them as needed. This is particularly the case for fish and chicken companies. These days you can buy a large bag of frozen fish or chicken that contains individually wrapped packages. This is a great benefit to the single person who is often cooking for one.  Buying individually frozen meats, bulk packaged, allows for someone who is cooking for one to still enjoy the reduced cost of buying foods in bulk that stay fresher longer.

Specialty Kitchen Gadgets And Cookware Focus On Cooking For One Concepts

As a person that cooks for only one meal at a time, I find that I need items that are designed for smaller portions. On a recent shopping adventure, I found the perfect single size stoneware baking pan that holds the exact amount of vegetables for roasting, a fish fillet or beef steak or a baking potato. This piece of stoneware has become invaluable to me. It is the perfect size for cooking one serving and still fits in the oven with the traditional size cookware that I use for my family, so I can cook both sets of meals at the same time.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Low Cost Dinner Recipes

Food prices everwhere are going anything but down, so everyone is on the task to figure out how to same some money on your grocery budget.  But even with Low Price Cooking dinner recipes you still want to be sure that you're getting the most out of every single meal so that nothing is wasted.Starting now lets go over some tips and tricks for how to make this happen no matter the meal or ingredients.  After all even Low Price Cooking dinner recipes will mean wasted money if you're not doing everything you can to make the most of what you have.

Using leftovers is a good idea as this means that you may get another meal out of what you have left behind, or can make another meal with just a few added ingredients.  For example you can use cheap dinner recipes to make a simple chicken and rice casserole or an inexpensive meatloaf.  Chances are you're going to have something leftover after that.  You might not look forward to a cold meatloaf sandwich, but if you take a slice of leftover meatloaf and cover it with pasta sauce and a slice of mozzarella cheese and heat it for a few minutes, you get an entirely new hot meal that is rather tasty!  Using cheap dinner recipes like this means that you're using up your leftovers but still getting a very tasty meal in the process.  A simple chicken and rice casserole can also be reheated with some grated cheese on top, bread crumbs, or melted cheese mixed in.  You can even add some broccoli or other vegetables to fill out the dish.  These types of Low Cost Cooking dinner recipes use up what you have and make sure that nothing goes to waste.

Using vegetables in place of meat or filling up on those to have less meat is another way of making up cheap dinner recipes on your own.  Make a pot pie with a frozen pie crust and some jars of prepared gravy; you simply need to add frozen or fresh vegetables and cook according to the pie crust directions.  Soups and stews made without meat can be easy and cheap dinner recipes and can be served with some cornbread or biscuits for a hearty meal.  You can also just steam some vegetables or prepare more than normal so that you can eat less meat and be full.

It usually takes some thought and planning to get the most out of cheap dinner recipes but it can be done.  When planning your meals for the week be sure that you anticipate what leftovers you might have and how you might use those up.  Don't be afraid of freezing even a few bites of this or that, as you can keep storing items until you have enough for a soup or stew or something else.  This way you know you are getting the most out of your cheap dinner recipes and are making your grocery budget stretch as far as it will go.

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Stop by the new Community of Low Price Cooking and for joining, whcih is free, we will give you a free Ebook on Low Price Cooking Basics. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Come be A part of our Low Price Cooking Community.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Easy Meals, Cheap Meals, and Simple Solutions

It might be true that one reason many people have a hard time making cheap and easy meals is that they think they're somewhat complicated and take a lot of planning, coupon clipping, and so forth.  No one wants to spend their precious Saturday afternoon clipping coupons and studying store circulars, but of course the more cheap and easy meals you can incorporate into your weekly planning, the more money you're going to save overall - which means more money to pay for gas, your car, your mortgage, and so on.  But planning for and preparing Low Cost Cooking meals isn't as complicated as many people would assume, if you know just a few simple tricks and tips that can help.

You do need to involve some planning for your Budget Cooking ; obviously a big cost of many food items is when you don't plan your meals and wind up grabbing something from a vending machine or opting for items that are already prepared for you.  Even a cooked chicken from the supermarket's deli section is going to be about half over again what it costs to get a raw chicken and cook it yourself.  This is true of so many items, so cheap and easy meals will mean putting forth a bit of effort to plan your meals.  You might not need to actually write things down but you do need to give it some thought before mealtime, not after!

It also involves realizing how you can make substitutes for many expensive ingredients and items for your food.  Bulk up on vegetables so that you need less meat in any dish; when you have soup or stew, add more veggies than you normally would so that you can use less meat.  For other cheap and easy meals just steam a variety of vegetables and fill up on those so you eat less meat.Sometimes if you try them in the stir fry situation and then you can later serve them over noodles.There will be a lot less expenses if you just make a small change like moving to frozen veggies which also gives you more nutrition as well.

You can also make Budget Cooking with vegetables and less expensive items by learning what veggies and other items can be substituted for meat altogether.  For instance stuffed peppers are usually very filling and only cost a few dollars per serving.  Large mushrooms can also do the trick.Sometimes if you just make chili without the mean and add extra veggies it can still be just as good but a lot less expensive.  These are just a few examples of cheap and easy meals you can make without any type of meat at all.

It does take some thought and effort but usually it's worth it when you consider your cost savings.  And if you put that thought and effort into planning for these cheap and easy meals you might find that they're just as tasty if not even more so than your other standard fare!

Low Price Cooking is a brand new community website for Cooking Nutritious Food at a lower price to help your family budget. Come by LowPriceCooking to get your free Ebook on LowPriceCooking Basics just for joining the Low Price Cooking community for free. You will find cooking Forums, cooking Videos, Low Price Cooking Community Members and more just for signing up for free to join and then you can get your free Low Price Cooking EBook on Low Price Cooking Basics. Come be A part of our Low Price Cooking Community.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Quick Start Guide to Basic Home Cooking

At first it might sound like a crazy question, but what is cooking? Or, to be more precise, when does warming up food become basic home cooking?

A trip to the supermarket. Rush home with your frozen, pre-prepared meal. Open the packet and toss the frozen meal into the microwave oven. Set to high and turn the dial to 3 minutes. Wait for the ping then open the microwave oven door. Let the bubbling, steaming meal stand for two minutes. Now you're ready to sit down in front of your favourite TV show with your meal which is now too cool to burn off the outermost layers of your tongue.

Is that cooking? You had to use a cooking appliance. Control the time. Set the temperature. You had to know that the food should stand for two minutes after you took it out of the microwave oven. But you didn't prepare any ingredients. You didn't mix anything together. You didn't do anything to the food beyond changing its temperature. In short, you didn't cook anything, so we can't consider it to be even the most basic home cooking. Sorry.

Cooking requires knowlege of a host of techniques and skills. What's the best way to peel a carrot? How do you blanche a vegetable? How can you tell when a chicken leg is done? How do you braise a steak? Even making mashed potatoes needs a certain amount of cooking equipment and some knowledge of basic home cooking.

The point is, if your cooking skills extend only as far as using a microwave to warm-up pre-prepared food, then you don't cook. And if you don't cook, you're missing out on one of the world's most rewarding experiences - even if you can only manage the basics. And the most basic reward of basic home cooking? A healthy, varied diet.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Make a Great Presentation With Gourmet Foods

How to Locate Gourmet Foods

If you are seeking to impress your guests at your next dinner party or special event enrolling in a creative cooking school will teach the necessary skills to properly prepare gourmet food.  Most of the larger retail grocery stores have a gourmet foods isle. If you cannot find what you are hungry for there try a quick online search.

Hard to Find Meats

Many of the gourmet meats and poultry such as "Kobi" beef and barbequed or smoked ribs and turkey are available locally at privately owned butcher shops or in some of the larger super markets.  You can also have some of these items shipped from online stores.

If you do live in an area that has a great supply of gourmet meats make friends with the in house butcher.  Tell him what type of event you are planning and how many people will be attending.  He will be able to furnish you with all the information about the type of meat and its cost that you can serve to your guests that is sure to impress.

Gourmet Coffee


You may be serving coffee to family and friends or you may have a restaurant and want to provide the tastiest gourmet coffee around.  The fresh aroma that wafts through your home or cafe beckons guests in.  With so many brands on the market today discovering which gourmet coffee is best is difficult and depends on personal tastes.

Starting or finishing a meal of finer gourmet foods with a cup of gourmet coffee is adamant.  If you have spent the time and extra money on the main course you will also want to serve the most flavorful cup of java.  Starting with a flavored coffee and ending with a cappuccino or espresso is recommended.

Chocolate the Grand Finale

Of course no talk of finer gourmet foods would be complete without discussing gourmet chocolate. Everyone loves chocolate, and in fact there are very few foods in history that are as highly prized as chocolate.

Gifts of gourmet chocolate truffles, fudge, dipped fruits etc., are all highly prized by the recipient.  They can be found online and shipped directly to your friend or loved one.

There is an extensive selection of gourmet foods to choose from these days, most of which have been around since ancient times. Although these foods typically require more time and effort to cook it is always well worth it to take gourmet cooking classes, especially if you are entertaining guests and want to make a great impression.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

How can Cooking Pots Endanger your Health?

Certain materials are more inert than others. This means the pots you use to cook with can interact with the food you make. Traces of metals can make their way into your food.

This is not so important for adults. For babies and small children it can be a risk to health. Experts are divided on exactly what the effects are. The biggest risks are attached to those who are allergic to certain metals. And babies can't always tell you what has given them a stomachache or that unsightly rash.

When your cooking pots are shiny and new, there is no risk. As soon as they begin to get chipped, the metals they are made of can get into your food. Here are some tips from the experts to help you avoid any health risks:

- Avoid using copper pots that are not lined or insulated to prepare your baby's food. When it's hot, copper breaks down vitamins C and E and folic acid in food. Any food that contains vinegar is likely to be quite acidic. Acidic foods break down the copper in your pots - and this is deposited in your food.

- Aluminium pots are also broken down by acidic food so that traces of aluminium can get into your baby's food. A safer alternative is anodized aluminium cookware which prevents any aluminium getting into your food.

- Pots made of stainless steel are much safer because they don't react with food despite being made of a mixture of different metals. But you'd be better off not using them to prepare baby food if the pots are old - especially if they are dented or chipped.

- Cooking baby food in non-stick pans, particularly if they are old, can be dangerous as the teflon coating can chip off and taint the food. Many experts agree that noxious gases are released when a non-stick pan is heated to high temperatures.

In general, scrubbing your stainless steel cookware with an abrasive substance such as wire wool is not a great idea. As well as scratching your pots, it releases small quantities of of nickel and chromium into your food.

However, the news is not all bad. Cooking with iron cooking pots can benefit your health. When you cook acidic foods such as tomatoes in iron, the foods actually "pull" the iron from the pot. This increases the amount of iron, essential to replenishing blood cells, in your food.

The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition say that ceramic, glass and enameled cookware is safe. They recommend not using older enameled cookware because it may contain cadmium. Cadmium is toxic and is no longer used in the manufacture of cookware in the US.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Find Out What Cooking Equipment the Top Chefs Use

Would you expect the top chefs to use low or high quality cooking equipment? My bet is you answered 'high' quality. And you'd be right. Many TV chefs use their familiar faces to market and sell their own brand of cooking equipment. Jamie Oliver springs to mind straight away. And you wouldn't be far off the mark in thinking that Jamie's own brand of cooking equipment is top quality.

His cooking equipment has to be of the highest quality. He is a brand. He sells his shows, his recipes, his cooking style through the quality of what he produces. So the quality of his cooking equipment has to match the quality of the rest of his brand. Chances are, you wouldn't think much of your Jamie Oliver deep frying pan if the handle came off while you were following Jamie's show, frying up the perfect English breakfast.

OK, so much for celebrity chefs. They make their living from chopping up, mixing and cooking food, so they are only going to use the best cooking equipment. What about the rest of us? Is it possible to detect a real difference between the cheap cooking equipment and the premium brands? Does the law of diminishing returns apply to kitchenware?

The short answer is: cook a lot? Then buy the best. Good cooking equipment lasts a lifetime. It's something you forge a relationship with. Your tools are your cooking pots. They can become an extension of your body, even of your self. you. It is a heavy piece of equipment. It's solid. You really feel it's power every time you wield it. And there's research to suggest that cooking slightly acidic foods such as tomatoes in ironware will have a beneficial effect on your health. Contributing to your daily iron intake, traces of iron are released into your food.

On the other hand, cheap cooking equipment is very likely to let you down.

Friday, October 3, 2008

The Pros and Cons of Cooking Food in the Great Outdoors

Outdoors, food just tastes better. And if you're camping, appetites are bigger and everything feels so much fresher. Chances are that you're cooking food that you've carried with you - but you've probably also added any herbs or berries that you found by the wayside on your travels.

Cooking food isn't the easiest or most appealing part of camping. We've all experienced trying to light the stove in the rain, running out of water just when you need to thin the soup or discovering that you're missing a vital ingredient - like salt.

As a teenager, I went hiking with a friend in the Lake District. Because we had to carry everything on our backs, we decided that we would only carry lightweight food - and our solution was to pack lots of packets of dried soup. By day three, not only were we sick of soup, we were experiencing some weird side effects from all the e-numbers in the mixtures. It wasn't long before my ears felt as though they were burning - and my hiking partner told me they had started to glow red. But we didn't have any other food to cook.

The key to cooking food on a camping holiday is planning.

Carry a good lighter, a good stove such as a Trankia and some lightweight cooking pots and pans, and cooking food in the great outdoors doesn't look so daunting. Remembering to bring the right cooking equipment and utensils is one thing. You'll be cooking food though. And carrying all that food can be the problem.

While I still carry packets of dried food - because they are so light to carry and take up such little space - I steer clear of anything that contains a lot of e-numbers. There's plenty of room left for fresh food. Cooking food in the great outdoors is most fun if you use fresh food. And the best fresh food is the berries that you pick while you walk, or the fish that you catch in the river or lake that you pass.

I know, I know, it sounds a little idealistic. But I usually make sure I pass a supermarket or two on route. There, the berries are easier to find and the fish easier to catch. The idea is solid, and it promises to make the best part of your holiday the food you cook.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Fine Caviar from the World Over to Serve You

Parties are fun times and no party is complete without arrangements for special food to be served. It is the gourmet food fare offered at parties that takes our hearts away. Caviar can be a suitable delicacy to be served at parties. This is principally consumed as a garnish or as a spread. Serving of caviar on lightly toasted bread or crackers along with butter is acclaimed as a fine hors d’oeuvre. It is also common to find caviar being served with beverages like champagne or vodka. The caviar may be obtained from various fish species- the most commonly used fish species being the sturgeon.

 

Delicacy caviar obtained from various fish species

 

It is the eggs or roe obtained from the female sturgeon, a primitive fish species of the Northern Hemisphere that usually constitute caviar. These fishes are found in coastal waters, rivers and lakes. It is from the inland Caspian Sea- lying between Russia and Iran that most of the world’s caviar supplies is procured.

 

Among the sturgeon species it is the beluga sturgeon that produces the beluga caviar and the Russian sturgeon that produces the osetra caviar. Again, the stellate sturgeon produces the sevruga caviar. All these are varieties of fine caviar. The American paddlefish caviar- roe of a special fresh water sturgeon comes in many shades and ranges from pale grey to dark steel and has a smooth and silky texture and rich, complex flavor.

 

The Royal Osetra caviar is low-salt caviar obtained from the sturgeon fished in the Caspian Sea- Russian waters. The characteristic dark and rich color and incredible flavor and subtle sweetness make it so very special. Featuring among the rarest and the most magnificent of all caviar is the Tzar Imperial Beluga. This is near-translucent pale grey caviar. The large perfect pearls and delicate buttery flavor makes this stand apart.

 

Serving caviar secured from around the world

 

Caviar as secured from the world over is a highly esteemed delicacy. How best to serve it is the issue which concerns hosts offering the delicacy the most. The fine caviar obtained from various parts of the world and from various species of fishes are to be desirably served on lightly toasted bread or crackers together with butter. The bread or crackers are not to be made too hard by toasting in order to avoid losing of the taste. Utensils made of horn, wood or gold are traditionally considered as the best utensils to serve the caviar on. Mother-of-pearl and plastic utensils may also be suitable. However, utensils made of silver and steel- both carbon and stainless types need to be avoided as they have been known to alter taste and color of caviar.

 

Find resources on caviar and gourmet food and A1 Gourmet.

 

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Why Cooking Lessons for Children is such a Good Idea

Children love doing what adults do. Cook a lot at home? Then your kids will want to cook too. Or at least do their version of cooking. It's the ideal situation for setting up some cooking lessons at home. And your kids won't even know they're learning. For them, it will be more like a game.

Young children love getting their hands into sticky mixtures. Making muffins? Let your children pour in the ingredients. Let them do the stirring - with their hands, if you can stand it. You'll be giving them valuable cooking lessons in how different textures feel, how different smells relate to the food we eat. You'll be stimulating their senses and arousing their curiosity. And you'll even be helping them develop their fine motor skills. That amounts to quite a lot more than a cooking lesson!

When your children are a bit older, let them measure out the different ingredients. Their cooking lessons could include counting out the number of teaspoonsful of sugar you add to the cake mixture. They can learn about units of weight and volume by actually weighing flour and pouring milk into a measuring jug. They'll see how the number relate to the quantities they can see. And they'll be able to taste the effect of different quantities of the ingredients they add. This might prove to be a valuable cooking lesson when they're older.

Finally, when your children are learning to read and write, they can read through simple recipes themselves. Again, this is more than just a cooking lesson. They'll be able to see how the nouns relate to objects, and actions to the processes of cooking food.

Along the way, they'll be learning how to manage their workspace and their time. Cooking can be quite managment intensive. Many cooking lessons focus on managing a kitchen - how to manage your time by doing everything in the most logical order; your space by cleaning up as you go along. And they'll also be learning the basics of food storage and kitchen hygiene.

Children learn all these cooking lessons at home while they're having fun. Not a lecture to be heard. All hands on. all with tangible results that everyone can enjoy. And who knows, maybe they'll soon be making delicious food for you and the rest of the family. Now that has to be worth a few cooking lessons.