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Crock Pot Cooking
Setting up A Recipe File
A recipe file is a must for every new kitchen, and especially for a young lady who is setting up her kitchen for the first time.
Whether a newlywed or a young girl in her first apartment, they will appreciate this as a housewarming gift. A mother-in-law can make sure her son has all of his favorite foods prepared like at home; this may keep him out of your kitchen for a while too!
There are many ways to set up a recipe file, an index card or notebooks are two ideas. Another great idea is one of the recipe files you can purchase through the internet, the kind that sends out a new set of cards each month.
An index card file is one common way, and can be set up either alphabetically or by topic, (casseroles, desserts, breads etc.). This is up to your discretion, but a topic is usually the easiest for her if she is unfamiliar with cooking!
Be sure to provide plenty of extra index cards, they can be color coded for the favorite recipes or plain white cards; this again is up to you.
A notebook is the most common way to set up a recipe file, and leaves plenty of room to add recipes as she learns more about cooking. Pages can be added from magazines too, if she happens to find something she would like to try in a magazine.
You can include a category on meals, which could include cards with entire meals, on them, with the individual receipts listed separately.
Another category could include basic cooking facts, measurements, cooking times, kitchen tips are always helpful.
I remember one of the things that I didnt know was how long to cook a turkey, now they just have the little pop up to let you know, but in my time they didnt have those!
There are so many little hints you can give someone, to you they are standard, to her they may make the difference between a great meal, and a total disaster!
See Also:
Cooking class: Two classic Italian pasta recipes
The Cost of Coffee
The Basics of Spices
Dried seeds (caraway and celery), fruits (allspice and chilies), roots (sassafras, angelica, sarsaparilla, licorice and horseradish) and barks (cinnamon) make up the family called Spices.
Used in small quantities they are used as food additives or more specifically flavoring for foods.
Spices are usually ground into a powder, unlike herbs which are the leafy part of a plant, which can be used fresh or dried, like basil or oregano.
Certain of the spices serve multiple purposes, such as turmeric which is also a preservative; licorice and garlic which are also used medicinally and garlic which is also used as a vegetable.
Some spices are used in religious rituals, burning sage is used by the Native Americans in many of their rituals for cleansing; however, sage is actually an herb.
Cinnamon is used as a base for many perfumes, including Tabu by Cody.Spices have been around sin the beginning of human history, and were some of the most valuable trade items in the world in ancient times.
Joseph was sold to spice merchants and the male speaker in the Song of Solomon refers to his love as many types of spices.
Explorers including Vasco Da Gama, who sailed to India from Portugal, and Christopher Columbus, both were either in search of spices, or used the find of new spices to peak the interest of investors in their travels.
Spices have been used for centuries to excite the senses and defend against illness. Cinnamon not only tastes good, but has been show to reduce the growth of bacteria that may cause food poisoning, this includes only 1 teaspoon in bottled apple juice.
Garlic, sage and clove assist in keeping cooked hamburger from spoiling by cutting down on food contamination. Using spices on your outdoor cooking could keep a picnic from being ruined by food poisoning.
Spices are an amazing part of cooking, increasing not only the aroma and flavor of food, but as a serious part of remaining healthy. |
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Setting-Cleaning Up Your Kitchen
Organizing Your Pantry
When I say pantry, I am referring not only to the shelves of food that you have but also the foods in your freezer and long lasting refrigerator items.
If you dont organize properly, you could end up forgetting that you have something and buy it again.
When organizing your dry and canned foods, put like items together, fruits with fruits, vegetables with vegetables and baking goods with baking goods.
It may seem silly, but it saves a lot of time later when you are looking for something specific.
Put all of your plastic wrapped foods, such as different kinds of beans and pastas in the same area, this could also include coconut, brown sugar etc.
Part of the reason for this is that in most instances they lie flat, and can easily be stacked on top of one another.
When wrapping foods for freezing, make sure they have at least one flat side, this will make it easier to store.
Use a one-inch piece of masking tape and write what the item is and the date it was frozen, attach this to the end of the item that will be towards the door of the freezer.
Designate a specific area of the freezer for certain foods; again, keep like foods together, pork, chicken, beef and hot dogs would all go in the area for meats.
If items are small, they can be put into a large plastic freezer bag with other smaller items that are alike, this makes things easier to find and keeps all the little packages from slipping to the back of the freezer.
Vegetables and fruits could go in one area; again they are in packages and are fairly easy to stack.
In the refrigerator, designate areas just like the freezer, the taller areas for drinks, and all the condiments together, the sandwich spreads, including mustard and catsup together.
Try to put the items that are most often used in the front, so you dont have to dig each time you want to find something.
By following this simple organizational plan for your pantry you will be able to minimize the possibility of duplicating items that have become lost, and save time and money when preparing food, creating your menu and while shopping.
Related Topics: Casseroles,
Cooking For the Holidays, Halloween Fun Foods
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