Tips and Thoughts

Eating Rules

While browsing the net, I found these eating rules. It's good to know...

  

      

    
   


                                                                       

                     


              

  

                                   

Accidents

Just had some unhappy incidents in my kitchen :(.  Accidents happen even to the best cooks.  Distractions while cooking can cause us to add too much salt, overcook or even burn the food.  Here are some ways to salvage our masterpiece from total disaster.

If instead of soft cookies your cookies become crispy, put them first in a cookie jar prior to serving.  Add a slice of fresh bread onto a piece of aluminum foil into the cookie jar. When the bread dries, the cookies will become softer.

If the cake falls apart as you remove it from the pan, cut it into small pieces.  Layer the pieces with whipped cream, pudding, custard or softened ice cream. Top it with nuts or fruits.

 Soften over baked brownies by putting them in the microwave for several seconds prior to serving.

If you accidently put in too much salt in soups or stews than required by the recipe, just remove the liquid (just enough to dampen the excess salt) and add unsalted liquid to dilute the taste.

If you added too much garlic into your soup, pour parsley flakes into a tea ball and then dip it into the soup to soak up the excess pungent garlic.

If meat is scorched, take the pan with the food in it to the sink and set in cool water.  Remove the unscorched meat and put it in a different pan. You can cover up the taste by adding soy or Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke or liquid bouillon.  Barbecue or hot sauces can also do the trick.

If your casserole is too runny, thicken it with shredded cheese, crushed potato, tortilla chips or dry instant potatoes.

Happy Cooking :)





When hosting a party, determining the amount of food to buy can be difficult.  But it    is best to have more than less.  Always prepare at least 10% more and freeze the leftovers or a give it as a gift to your guests.


                    

“Emotional eating” is very common. When we are sad, under stress, or even when we are happy, one of the first things we think about is food. “Where are we eating to celebrate? I am stressed out, I want chocolates!” We eat and over-eat thinking we are doing ourselves a favor – we are treating ourselves and we deserve to indulge. But afterwards we often feel over-full, uncomfortable, and unsatisfied    because “emotional eating” is indulging in food when your mind is not present to enjoy the food.

However if you eat slow and mindfully, you bring awareness to your eating experience.  This allows you eat smaller amounts of food; genuinely savoring the flavor, texture, and sensation of every bite. 

So the next time you have a hunger to eat emotionally, shake your mind of it so you will enjoy your food more and make healthy decisions!

There really is no secret to exquisite cooking!  The key to creating delicious food is in the heart.  If you love what you do, you will create a masterpiece!






No More Soggy Left-Over Pizza 
Heat up left-over pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove.  Set heat to med-low and heat till warm.  This keeps the crust crispy.

    

Flip a toaster on its side and grill open-faced cheese toast in it! Yummy :)

Soak your greassy, oily, dirty steel pans overnight in Coca-Cola for a clean non-grease pan ready for another cooking experiment!

Fresh chicken stock gives a better flavor than cubes.  Some supermarkets sell this.  Look for it in the chiller cabinet of supermarkets.

Cleaning time.  I don't know about you but I am more motivated to cook if my utensils are sparkling clean; especially my pans.  I have compiled here ways to keep your pans sparkling clean:

1. Cleaning will be much easier if immediately after you removing food from the pot you fill it with water and put the pot back on the stove.  Let the water to boil for several minutes. Turn the burner off and let the pot soak.

2.  If your pan is burned, sprinkle baking soda onto the bottom. Pour in just enough water to moisten it. Let this sit for a number of hours then wash the pan.  The burned stuff should come off.

3.  To avoid damage on the surface of your pan while cleaning, boil a cup or of water with two tablespoons of baking soda in the pan. Remove and scrub the debris off. To extend the life of our   pan, wipe the surface with cooking oil before you use it again.

   4.  Remove the black stains from stainless-steel pots by pouring full-strength household vinegar   into it. Let it stand for a couple of days. Then replace the vinegar and let stand for another day or two, if needed.

   5.  Remove the dark stains from aluminum pans by boiling water and several tablespoons of cream of tartar.  This will help lift off the affected areas.

   6.  Boiling eggs or potatoes would darken your pans.  To avoid this, add a tablespoon or two of vinegar to the water. Don't worry a little bit of vinegar won’t affect the taste of the eggs or potatoes.

   7.  Grease is a challenge.  To prevent the grease from sticking to the utensils you are hand washing - your dishes, pots and pans -  add about a half cup of vinegar to the dishwater. This will help prevent the grease from sticking to the items you are washing and it keeps the grease off your sink too.

  8. And finally, a DIY cleaner. If your run-out of a scrubber or soap pads, scrunch up a wad of aluminum foil and sprinkle a bit of cleaning product onto it.