Cooking With The Power of the Sun

Many people understand the concept of passive solar for heating a home. Fewer realize it can be used in to cook food and sterilize water.

Cooking With The Power of the Sun

A solar oven is pretty much what it sounds like. It is used to cook food and sterilize water. Most people do not even know they exist, but they are an effective way to cook from both an economic and efficiency point of view.

The basic idea with a solar cooking is to create a box like structure that the sun heats up dramatically. If you have sat in a car in rush hour during the summer, you know the sun can generate a lot of heat. Instead of cooking you in a car, a solar oven focuses on food.

So, how do we cook with it? The box structure is created with dark paneling and then covered with a clear glass or plastic top after pots and food or water has been inserted. The structure is sealed. Much like a car, the sunlight beats through the clear top and heats the interior of the box. As the heat rises, it cooks the items inside. Yes, it produces more than enough heat to do the job. It really is as simple as that.

There are three general types of solar ovens. A solar box works as described in the previous paragraph. A panel oven uses reflective surfaces to focus the sun on a pot to create heat and cook the material inside. A parabolic version is designed to focus the sunlight into the bottom of a concave area upon which sits pots. There are variations of these three forms, but all solar cooking designs are derived from these basic forms.

While cooking with the sun is a fun and efficient, most people will never apply it in their home because of obvious design issues. At a cabin or when camping, however, it is a perfect solution.

Cooking With Honey – The Healthy Sweetener

If you want to be able to cook sweets without the negative health effects of refined sugar, honey is an excellent option. Among other reasons, honey is metabolized more slowly by your body, meaning that you are less likely to get a sugar “high” after eating something made with honey.

Honey can be challenging to cook with, though, for several reasons. So many people don’t cook with it because they don’t know how. But once you know how to use honey in your favorite kitchen creations, it’s not hard at all to use.

The first challenge that honey presents is that it burns more easily that normal sugar. This problem is usually eliminated by doing your cooking or baking at a slightly lower heat.

The main hurdle to cooking with honey is that it is a liquid. Replacing sugar with honey will ruin some recipes if you don’t make an allowance for the extra liquid that the honey adds.

Most muffins, simple quick breads, yeast breads, etc you can make the substitution without any adjustment. Cakes, cookies and some other recipes you should decrease the amount of liquid in the recipe to account for the honey.

Honey is also very easy to use in pies. Since they are already somewhat liquid, you can replace the sugar with honey. If the pie filling seems too runny, just add a little extra thickener before you pour it in your pie shell.

The flavor of honey can sometimes be an issue, but not usually. If you are making a recipe that you don’t want the flavor to be noticeable, there are several things you can try. First of all, get the mildest flavored honey you can. Usually that will be a very pale clover honey. (The paler the honey, the sweeter and milder the flavor, in general.)

If necessary, you can use part honey, and part some other sweetener, such as apple juice concentrate, agave nectar, stevia, or even sugar if you have to.

Cooking With Fine Italian Wine

Instead of enjoying a fantastic glass of your favorite fine Italian wine with dinner, consider using the nectar of the gods as an ingredient in your favorite dish. Cooking with wine has never been more popular and endless recipes abound that incorporate all different types of wine into favorite dishes and unique spins on classic cuisine. When you cook with Italian wine, the alcohol evaporates, so the dish will be appropriate for individuals unable to consume alcohol, underage eaters, or individuals who do not wish to imbibe any alcohol.

Many international dishes include wine, especially Italian, French, and Spanish favorites. You can use any type of wine or alcohol to cook with, but Italian wine has substantial fan following when it comes to cooking with wine. Whether you want to add a unique flavor or a powerful zest to your dishes, adding your favorite Italian wine will have everyone raving over your cooking skills and the dishes you serve.

The key to cooking with wine is to choose good quality Italian wine. Just as quality directly affects the drinking enjoyment of a glass of Italian wine, the quality will also affect the end taste of dishes that are prepared using wine as an ingredient. Remember, quality wines are not necessarily the most expensive wines, so avoid associating price with taste. It is safe to say that if you enjoy drinking a particular vineyard’s wine, you will also enjoy cooking with the same wine.

Also, you should carefully choose a Italian wine appropriate for the dish. Generally, the recipe you choose will come with
the appropriate Italian wine included, but the traditional rules for serving wine with food applies to including the wine as ingredients with food. Many individuals choose to cook with white wine for a tangier, crisp taste and choose red wines for heartier dishes, including those filled with tasty cuts of meats.

Even though water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, alcohol has a much lower boiling point, around 175 degree Fahrenheit. For this reason, you can quickly remove alcohol in Italian wine, in fact, approximately 40 percent of the alcohol is boiled out in approximately 15 minutes. Eventually, the Italian wine will turn into a thick syrup is boiled long enough. This syrup is perfect for use as a glaze with meats or vegetables.

Once the alcohol has been evaporated, the flavors are emphasized. Also, alcohol, including Italian wine, brings out the flavor of tomatoes and other ingredients. Consider adding a bit of white Italian wine to tomato sauces to bring out the flavors.

There are a variety of cooking wines on the market, but you should avoid these products, since they are of lower quality than a fine Italian wine and usually contain a high amount of sodium. However, if you are a collector of fine Italian wine, save these delicious drinks from the heat, since the alcohol will only be evaporated and the importance of the wine will be lost. There are a variety of quality Italian wine on the market that are perfect for cooking. Choose rich, fruity wines for dessert dishes and strong white wines for sautéed or baking dishes.

Cooking With Eggs

We use eggs in so many recipes. They are a staple in the kitchen.

An egg can be cooked alone – boiled, poached, fried, scrambled.
Or used as an ingredient in baking, batters and cakes.
Alternatively use an egg to thicken sauces or to add air to lighten dishes.

The egg is truly amazing. And without it – well our menus sure would be dull.

But do you know much about the egg?

Chances are that you have never even given it a thought. Well it is time you did.

The most critical aspect of the egg is – it’s air content. (bet you thought I was going to say the shell).

When first laid, the egg has barely any air inside a tiny air pocket. However, because the shell is porous, it allows air to penetrate. And as time passes, air moves inside the egg and the air pocket grows.

As this air pocket enlarges, the moisture in the egg evaporates. So, as the egg gets older the yolk becomes less plump and flatter and the white separates and spreads.

And this all impacts on cooking. Depending on how you intend on using the egg determines how fresh an egg you should use.

If you fry an older egg, you will end with a flat ‘pancake’ instead of a neat rounded egg.

The more stale an egg the more fragile and difficult to separate it will be.

As opposed to the fresh egg, which has a tight and tough inner skin. This makes peeling the shell off the boiled egg very frustrating. As the egg ages with skin relaxes allowing the shell to peel much easier.

If you are lucky enough to have your own hens, then you know how old your eggs are. But what if you have to buy them?

The easiest method of tell how old an egg is, is to put the egg in a dish of water.

If it sinks and lies horizontally – very fresh.
If it sinks but tilts slightly – about 1 week old.
If it sinks but stands vertically – older, stale.
But if it floats – it’s off and be careful not to crack the shell.

Some people prefer brown eggs and some white. But nutritionally they are the same.

The yolks will also vary in color depending of the diet of the hen.

Do you find your eggs crack when boiling? Well, follow these simple steps to get perfect eggs, every time.

Use 2 week old eggs and ensure they are at room temperature. Make as pin prick in the rounded flat end of the egg – this allows any steam that might build up to escape.

Use as small a saucepan as possible, so the eggs fit in snuggly – you don’t want to much space otherwise they may bounce around and crack.

Bring to the boil but only simmer do not boil vigorously. Follow these tips and your eggs won’t crack.

So, for frying and poaching use as fresh an egg as possible. When the recipe calls for eggs to be separated, use fresh eggs as well. But if you want easy to peel eggs use the older ones. And when it comes to scrambling, fresher is best but older ones will do.

Happy Egg Cooking
Lisa “The Crock Cook”

Cooking Up Kiwi Cuisine

Stemming from its British Colonial heritage, culinary culture in New Zealand has long been characterized by straightforward fodder such as steak and fries, fish and chips and baked meats. However, driven by the demands of increasingly sophisticated tourists to the region and influenced by both Asian and Pacific flavors, New Zealand cuisine has quickly evolved to cater to gourmet tastes. Today’s New Zealand menus combine the incredibly fresh produce, meat and seafood with an eclectic mix of indigenous plants and exotic vegetables to create complex, flavorful dishes.

Fortunately, travelers heading to these dreamy, green islands in the South Pacific don’t have to wait long to indulge in a Kiwi feast. For example, Air New Zealand offers a gourmet New Zealand-inspired menu for passengers traveling in its Business Premier and Pacific Premium Economy classes. Designed by world-renowned consultant chefs, an array of authentic options are paired with fine native wines to offer travelers a glimpse of the country’s culinary culture before they even hit the ground.

For a sample of New Zealand cuisine at home, try this recipe handpicked by one of the consultant chefs from Air New Zealand and currently available on all flights originating from North America.

New Zealand Glazed Snapper and Arugula Salad with Vanilla Saffron Aioli

Serves 4

4 vine-ripened tomatoes

12 baby gourmet potatoes

4 medium fillets of fresh snapper

1 cup fresh arugula

Place tomatoes on a tray of rock salt in the oven at 320° F and roast until skins begin to split.

Remove from oven and keep warm. Slice potatoes into thin slices and pan fry in olive oil with sea salt till golden and crispy.

In a large pan, fry the snapper (sprinkled with sea salt) skin-side-down until golden. Turn the fillets over to finish cooking the fish. To stop the fillets from curling up, use a fish slice to press down on the fillets as soon as they go in the pan. Hold for 20 seconds at the start.

Toss arugula in a bowl with 1 teaspoon of New Zealand or regular extra-virgin olive oil.

Arrange potato slices on warmed dinner plates and squeeze “circles” of vanilla saffron aioli around the potatoes. Place snapper on top with arugula and roast tomato to the side. Brush with lemon caramel and serve while hot.

Vanilla Saffron Aioli

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon ground New Zealand or regular saffron

1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1 egg yolk

6 oz. grape seed oil

Boil the vinegar and saffron together. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise and rub the seeds into fine salt. If using vanilla extract, skip this step. In a bowl, whisk vanilla salt or extract onto the yolk, whisk in vinegar and slowly add in the oil, whisking well. Place in a bottle until ready to use. This makes it easy to serve and will keep in the fridge for up to four days.

Lemon Caramel

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon salt

Juice of 1 lemon

Boil sugar, water and salt till golden caramel in color. Remove from the heat and cool slightly before carefully stirring in the lemon juice. Use a pastry brush to coat the snapper fillets.

This authentic New Zealand dish can help spice up your menu.

Cooking Recipes, Anytime And Anywhere.

Have you ever known exactly what you want to cook but searched and searched through all of your cook books and had no luck finding that tender morsel that has been making your mouth water all day? Having to settle for something else is so disappointing isn’t it? Or have you been to a restaurant and fell in love with a dish or a dessert but don’t have the money to go there to enjoy it all the time? Well I have got the answer for you, and that is internet cooking recipes!

You know all of the advantages of computers and the internet by now but let me run through them real quick just to emphasize my point. First its paperless, you don’t have the clutter of cookbooks and cards and other random loose cooking recipes that you have collected over the years.

Second the search is so much better than paging through each paper recipe, all you do is simply type a small description of what you are thinking and the computer spits out several cooking recipes that match your request. Other things are the incredible access that you gain when you have the internet at your disposal. You can get recipes from the chef’s themselves. You can get recipes from any country in the entire world directly. You can even find the secret recipes from the famous dishes at restaurants that you crave. Sounds like its worth it to make the switch doesn’t it? Even if it would cost you a little money!

Well the cool part is that many if not most of the cooking recipes on the internet are free. You simply have to search on one of the main search engines and you will get more options than you can handle some times. You can often download the text so that you can have it on your computer filed away in an organized fashion for the next time you feel like making that dish. Often too there is contact information for the person who posted the recipe on the internet for you to contact if you have a question about a certain ingredient or a change that you are thinking about making.

There are sites that if you pay a reasonable one time membership fee or a small monthly fee will allow you access to award winning restaurant dishes and dishes from famous chef’s as well as popular international dishes that are translated into English for you. If you are serious about cooking it is certainly worth checking out all the wonderful cooking recipes that are available to you.

Cooking Recipes – Know Where to Look for Success

Have you ever had the craving for a particular dish or meal, but cannot seem to find a recipe for it? If this sounds like you, there is no need to fret. The fact of the matter is that recipes are available all over the place. Just because you are not a master chef does not mean that you cannot find cooking recipes. If you know where to look for recipes you should never have any problem getting started with your next delicious meal.

Here are three places that you can find cooking recipes without having to spend hours looking for them.

1. The most obvious place to find cooking recipes is in a cookbook. Paper recipes are what the majority of people turn to when they are trying to make a dish that they are not familiar with. After all, paper recipes allow you to keep the instructions handy as you move through the process. The good thing about cookbooks is that there are hundreds of them for sale, with each on touching on a unique topic. You can find a cookbook that covers everything from bread making to desserts.

2. When searching for cooking recipes never overlook a good friend. Chances are that if you like to cook, you probably know somebody else that shares the passion. Why not swap recipes so that everybody can enjoy? Trading paper recipes with a friend is one of the most overlooked ways of finding new dishes to make.

3. Of course, you can search for recipes online. If there is something that you need information on in a hurry, the internet is the place to look. Computer recipes allow you to find what you need without having to buy a single thing. In addition, many people have decided to go the internet route because they can print out the computer recipes and take them to the kitchen. It does not get much easier than that.

Regardless of what type of recipe you are in need of, the fact of the matter is that they can be found in a number of different places. If you do not have luck with one of the options listed above, you can always try the next. And if none of them work for you, why not find your own way of compiling recipes?

The bottom line is that you do not have to be a cooking professional to find quality recipes.

Cooking Advices For Vegetables

People have the opportunity to enjoy a large assortment of vegetables, which come in delightful colors and pleasing shapes. Some people like vegetables so much that they decorate their homes with their images on all sorts of home decorating modes. The foremost cooking advices for vegetables are that they should be eaten as often as possible because vegetables do a body good as far a nutritional value.

Some of the more popular vegetable choices are tomatoes, carrots, shallots, eggplant and cauliflower, and also include an abundant assortment of beans and squashes that people enjoy immensely because they are easy to prepare. Some vegetables come ready to cook straight from the garden where they are grown. Corn on the cob is a favorite vegetable that everyone in the family can enjoy.

People that live in the country, on farms, estates, and home far off the beaten travel path of the busy cities that surround them, routinely maintain gardens in their back yards and window sills to keep them in stock of precious vegetables they might not have otherwise. Some cooking advices for vegetables have said that distance plays a big factor on how much people want vegetables in their diet, and with this type of pre-planning and planting, they are assured of a wide variety of vegetables throughout the year.

When listening to the cooking advices for vegetables, people enjoy hearing about the history of a particular type of vegetable before they try to prepare it. Some of these advices are long winded, because the preparation process can be very complicated. Some tales are folk stories about country people who started the tradition of home-canning vegetables to preserve their flavor and afford them the opportunity to eat them in the Winter season when snow was on the ground.

Today, home canning is a big sales market where many devices have been manufactured to accommodate the large quantities that are prepared in large industrial complexes that make jellies and preserves, and a variety of canned vegetables that are too numerous to mention. The home canning cooking advices for vegetables canned in the home say homes keep it simple and only need water, mason jars and lids and jar rings and tongs to perform the home canning process.

Tomatoes are a very popular vegetable that people might buy several days a week if they are dieting. People that live in apartments love growing tomatoes in small pots, and in locations where land space is available, tomatoes are typically one of the first items to be planted. They require only water and good earth to grow, and plant food can be purchased to increase the size and quantity of what is planted.

Children love eating watermelons during the Summer months, and these vegetables can vary in size and flavor from year to year. To grow good watermelons, cooking advices for vegetables such as the watermelon say that they need direct sunlight and lots of water to grow on the vine throughout the day and night.

Cooking Advices For Meat Preparation

There are people that have gained great notoriety in the preparation technique that they have patented to prepare many different grades of meat. These meat preparation specialists have listened carefully in the past to cooking advices for meat preparation and in one form or another, have modified their learning and created a specials cooking style, or taste that is trademarked.

Some of these trademarked cooking advices for meat preparation might come in the form of barbeque that they have created, and generally it is the sauce that has been changed, rather than the meat itself. There are various levels for cooking meats for barbeque, and some of them require boiling for long periods of time to simply cut the cooking time when meat items such as ribs are placed on a grill outside, or in the close confines of the kitchen stove.

Other cooking advices for meat preparation that have been trademarked are centered on the grill on which the meat is cooked. The trademarked grill line is known by name only, and is said to remove the greatest amount of fat from food. This is a factor that health conscious individuals value highly, and they are afforded the opportunity to purchase porch models, yard models and various fuel sources to cook their meat on.

The cooking advices for meat preparation in this manner is that all meats will be juicy and flavorful, but with less calories than afforded with other grills on the market. The fuel sources in these reduced calorie grill models can be charcoal, and propane gas types in various sizes to fit this amazing assortment of models offered in this trademarked cooking grill. There are countertop models that homeowners find very convenient to prepare their meats, and are very surprised to see the amount of fat that can be removed form their diet by one cooking tool.

The cooking advices for meat preparation are broken down to meat type. The types of meats available on the market are pork, beef, chicken, veal, and blends of meat that can be used in chili preparation, sausages and processed sandwich meats that have a wrapping on them that the local deli section slices to please.

The cooking methods are the most widely talked about of all cooking advices of meat preparation methods. Some meats can be roasted and broiled, which is primarily reserved for large roasts that can be derived from pork, beef, or mutton. Other favorites for meat preparation are derived from the different meat cuts off of a specific body area of a cow. People enjoy choice sirloin and rib eye steaks, that are grilled to perfection, and will be eaten quickly any time they are prepared for dinner.

Pork requires longer cooking times than any other meat, because of bacterial growth concerns. Pork meat should not contain any form of redness in the meat, and should be returned to the kitchen for further cooking if you receive it such a state in a restaurant. Chicken has long been a favored meat in kitchens and some restaurants have chosen it as their only menu item. This is because chicken is very affordable, and from cooking advices for meat preparation, can be fried, or boiled or stewed to meet the menu requirements of any night. Microwaving chicken will give it a dark brown covering enriched with seasonings of your choice, and moist and delicious meat that can certainly save a budget.

Cooking A Cholesterol-Free Feast

When it comes to lowering one’s cholesterol levels, it is a must that one changes his or her eating lifestyle. Cholesterol buildup in the body is actually caused by eating way too much of the sinful types of food like processed meat, fried food, sugar rich foods and beverages like chocolates (although dark chocolate, the bitter kind is actually proven to help lower one’s cholesterol levels) and soft drinks.

1. Eliminate Catalyst Factors

It is also important to note that people who have bad lifestyle habits are the usual targets of having incredibly high cholesterol levels. Smoking and drinking are the common vices that people, not only those who are suffering from high cholesterol levels, should eliminate once and for all from their systems.

2. Cooking With No Cholesterol In Mind

- When buying cereals or microwavable pre-packed foods like t.v. dinners look at the labels on the side of the box to ensure that you are not going to take in excess calories and fat
- Being aware of what you take in is the first step in lowering high cholesterol
- Avoid restauraunts and fast food places that offer all you can eat meals or incredibly enormous meals
- The serving size listed on the packaging is sometimes misleading – a serving size is not always the total size of the package, it is often one-half or even less

3. Know How To Read Food Labels

Food labels are divided into two parts – the top half deals with aspects of food you should limit, such as total fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates and protein. The bottom is a summary of those you need, such as vitamins, iron, etc.

It is actually quite hard to understand what most food labels mean, in a way they are quite deceiving. You may think that you are eating healthy when in reality you are unknowingly taking in cholesterol, fat and calories in reduced levels. Here are a list of some of the claims that we can often find on our food’s packaging according to the Food and Drugs Authority –

- Calorie-free –

This product has fewer calories per serving (around 5 calories less) than the leading brand. It does not mean the product contains no calories.

- Low-sodium –

This product contains less than 140mg of salt per food serving.

- Low-calorie –

The food is actually less than 40 calories per serving.

- Low-cholesterol –

Less than 20mg of cholesterol as well as only 2 grams of fat per food serving

- Reduced –

25 percent less of what health professionals specify for the nutrients as well as the calories of a usual food product of the same type.

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