|
|
Microwaving Meats
Skillet Meals From Home
While there are hundreds of boxed meals that can be prepared in a skillet, with a minimum amount of work, you can create your own skillet meals at home.
Macaroni and cheese is a wonderful base for many of these, but there is no limit to the kind of foods that can be cooked in a skillet. Some of the most tender barbecue ribs I have ever made were made in an electric skillet, at the time I had no oven.
I boiled the ribs in beer, cooking removes the alcohol, then put them in an electric skillet, brushed them with barbecue sauce turned the skillet to simmer and put the lid on.
I let them cook for about 5 hours, checking occasionally to make sure they were not burning, and adding sauce as they were turned. They were delicious, and fall of the bone tender, give it a try sometime, you will love them!
Now back to the macaroni and cheese, while cooking the macaroni, brown hamburger in a skillet add a can of chili, when the macaroni is done add the cheese then stir into the hamburger chili mix.
Its called Chili-mac and a favorite of even the most discriminating family members! This is a little trick I learned from a true Texan, just open a small package of Fritos and add chili to the bag, only one skillet used for the chili and no dishes to wash.
Give everyone a spoon; they will love it for camping and outdoor parties. Left over roast can make a wonderful one skillet mean, just cut the roast in small pieces, add bouillon for flavor, add water and cook in the skillet until the meat is tender, add vegetables and cook until they are done and the water cooks away.
Left over pork steak is excellent when rolled in flour, and fried in olive oil; add water and rice to the mixture, the flour on the pork creates wonderful gravy for the rice.
See Also:
Outdoor Grills at US-Appliance.com
Whats a Wok?
Woks are for stir-frying over a very hot fire for a very short period of time, stir-frys are usually made with fresh vegetables that remain crisp and some type of meat.
They were originally created with a very round bottom, and were balanced on the coals of a fire.
Thus leaving the both hands free to prepare the food, usually holding a spatula in one hand and chop sticks in the other.
Later, when stoves were made, there was a special place made to hold the wok. A concave metal disk placed on the hearth allowed the flames to reach up and around the sides.
The difficulties for Americans using a wok are that the wok was not created for the burners on American stoves.
Because the wok is round bottomed, it is very dangerous, and may slide off of the stove. You can purchase round bottom woks with two metal handles; this allows you to hold it in place with an oven mitt while cooking.
The disadvantage is that you must remove the wok before adding additional ingredients; this changes the heat which should remain constant.
A ring may be purchased to sit over the top of the burner; however this raises the wok up off of the flame, which reduces the intensity of the heat.
There are three styles available on the market today:
*Round-bottomed with two steel handles, (the handles get hot and you will need either an oven mitt or a dishtowel to hold it in place)
*Round-bottomed with one wood handle and one steel handle
*Flat-bottomed with one wooden and one steel handle (these work best for American stove tops.
Even though you can buy woks made with a wide variety of metals, the best woks are made of heavy-gauge steel. Properly maintained this wok will last for a lifetime. |
|
More articles:
MySpace.com - The Leftovers - PORTLAND, MAINE - Pop Punk / Powerpop - www.myspace.com/theleftovers
Vegan & Vegetarian Recipes, Articles, Health Resource
Amazon.com: "Organizing Your Pantry": Key Phrase page
Types Of Cookware
Co-op News -- From the Ground Up
The Cost of Coffee
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: Outdoor Grills,
Cast Iron Cookware, Say Hello to Jell-O
|