Stromboli

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb. pizza dough {I used my fail-proof recipe}
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
9 slices salami
7 slices deli honey ham
1 egg, beaten
dried parsley & parmesan cheese {optional}
extra pizza sauce for dipping {optional}

Cooking Tips : 

Learning How To Complete A Meal On Time

Learning to cook can be one of the best things a person can learn to do. Cooking is something that one can always learn more about and share with others. The following article can add to your enjoyment of the art of cooking and give you information that can enhance your skills.

You can remove the garlic odor from your hands by rubbing them for thirty seconds on your stainless steel stove before washing them. Garlic adds a delightful flavor to many recipes, but the unmistakable odor can linger on your hands. Using this tip, you can enjoy your dinner without your hands smelling strongly of garlic.

Get the most juice out of lemons. Fresh lemon juice is much more tasty than the kind that comes out of a bottle, but it is sometimes surprising how little juice you can get out of a lemon. Heat the lemon in a microwave for 20 seconds on high power. Then, roll the lemon on your cutting board using as much pressure as possible. This way, you will get about twice the amount of juice out of the lemon, and your dish will be much more flavorful!

To make your sauce thicker, stir cornstarch into the simmering sauce. Combine 2 tbsp. of water with 1 tbsp. of corn starch in a bowl. Mic the solution together and put it in the sauce to thicken it up. However, it is important that the sauce is stirred often while the mixture is being added so as to stop it becoming too thick.

Make sure that when you are making your pasta, not to use oil in the water upon cooking. This will reduce the risk that the pasta will stick to the sauce, which can ruin the quality of your meal. Avoid oil in water when you are cooking pasta for maximum results.

When you are cutting garlic, one of the things that you can do is to put it in a plastic bag before you cut. Then, slice the garlic cloves inside the bag to protect your board from smelling. This will help to reduce the pungent odor that garlic can give off.

Keep a potato masher in your kitchen at all times. This useful device can be used to mash more than just your typical potatoes. Try mashing carrots, cauliflower, and other root vegetables. You can mix any of these in to your usual mashed potatoes to make them more vibrant, nutritious, and interesting.

Whenever possible, avoid canned ingredients in your cooking. They have numerous disadvantages. Canned food has lost vital nutrients that you want in order to cook the healthiest possible meals. They also taste different - if not downright worse - than fresh ingredients, potentially ruining your recipes. Finally, canned foods have unhealthy additives - especially extra sodium - that you do not need in your food.

One of the greatest things that you can do is to cook with family members or friends. When you cook with someone else, you will be able to pick up on tricks that they implement and will be able to better yourself as a cook. Talk to them to see how their thought process works, to elevate your expertise.

To have a meal ready when you get home from work use a slow cooker or crock pot. Some meals come prepackaged. All you have to do is pour it into the crock pot, maybe add some water and set the heat. If you like making your own meals you can prepare ingredients the night before. After you've prepared the ingredients put them in the fridge. Add everything to the crock pot in the morning before you go to work.

Freeze your excess ginger root. When you buy a ginger root for cooking, the chances are you won't use the whole thing in one recipe. Whatever you have left can be frozen. Not only will it keep for a long time, it's really easy to shave off a piece with a sharp knife, or grate it when it's frozen.

Make sure that you do not dispose of any leftovers after your Thanksgiving dinner. The meat can be cut up, stored in separate bags, and kept in the freezer. The turkey stays fresh for a few weeks this way and can be used to make sandwiches or can be put into a salad.

Avoid dry sandwiches by making sure the spread reaches every corner of the bread. Whether its mayonnaise or a cucumber cream cheese spread, it rids the sandwich of the dry taste of bread, meat and cheese. A quick dollop in the middle leaves only a well moisturized middle and less flavored and prepared edges.

You can make a quick and inexpensive meal out of some leftovers by adding pasta and rice to vegetables, meat or salad fixings. They cook quickly and are cheap, so use them to stretch the contents of your refrigerator. Toss in a few sauteed peppers or onions to make an even, fuller meal.

Even on simple dishes like mac and cheese, going letter by letter on the directions always gets you the best results. The perfectly cooked macaroni is very delicious with velvety cheese mixed with the pasta. A simple serving dish and spoon are all you need to serve dinner. Another great tip is to spice things up a bit with some black pepper.

When using a chopping board, make sure to always sanitize it before going on to a different ingredient. Making this a habit will prevent cross contamination of bacteria. It is also useful for keeping your flavors from being muddied by being chopped with other ingredients' residue. A clean chopping board is a safe and useful chopping board.

As was previously noted at the beginning of this article, learning to cook can be one of the best things that you will ever learn. It can be a skill, a gift, and a hobby. It can bring families together and is something that can be passed along to future generations.

Yummy

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Skinny Papperoni Pizza

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 cup non fat milk
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup reduced fat grated cheese (I used a combination of mozzarella and Parmesan)
• 1 cup diced low fat turkey pepperoni (5 ounces)

Cooking Tips : 

Planning The Perfect Meal For The Holidays

You want to impress somebody that you care for greatly, but your cooking is currently suffering greatly. Not everybody is born a great cook, but anybody can learn. Here are some great tips for ways that you can look like a great cook even if you have little to no experience.

Leftover vegetable pieces shouldn't go to waste. Broccoli tops, carrot pieces and onion peelings can be added to your vegetable, beef or chicken stock, to fill it with extra flavor. Don't forget to add the stock to your favorite meals to enhance their flavor and appear as a great cook in front of your friends and family.

One of the best things that you can do to save money and improve the quality of your dressings is to make your own. Homemade dressings will save you a lot of money in the long run and will also taste great, as most of the ingredients are natural and healthier.

Olive oil is one of the most important investments that you can make during the course of your cooking career. Find a high quality brand of olive oil and add this ingredient to a variety of different foods. This oil will help bring out the taste in pasta, fish and meat.

To reduce the fat and calories in a recipe that calls for a lot of mayonnaise, simply replace half the mayonnaise with sour cream. Since mayonnaise serves primarily a textural purpose in many of these recipes, replacing it with similarly textured sour cream gives you the same texture with a lighter, healthier taste.

When you are chopping onions for a home cooked salsa make sure you rinse them. Rinse your onions immediately after you cut them then blot them dry with a napkin. This will remove the sulfurous gas and will make your salsa taste better. This works well for other recipes too.

Check what you have at home and bring any new recipes with you when you go to the store. When you have the recipe with you, you'll have a handy list of what you need to buy. If you don't check what you already have, you may ending up buying more than you need. If you don't bring the recipe, you may forget something that you won't be able to cook without!

Cooking tip "� sweet treat for smelly fingers! Cleaning fish or shrimp is a messy task and leaves a distinctive smell on your hand for at least a day. There is an effective way of removing the smell. Squish a few fresh strawberries between your fingers for a couple of minutes and rinse your hand with soapy water. The smell will disappear instantly!

When sautéing vegetables using Pomace olive oil is a great substitute for butter that should be used. The Pomace olive oil is very affordable and will give vegetables a mild flavor that is quite delicious. You can purchase the Pomace olive oil at any Middle Eastern grocery store. It is low in carbs and in price which makes it extremely appealing.

One useful tool to use when chopping herbs into smaller sizes is the cutting board. Often while cutting, herbs move around instead of staying in place. To stop this from happening, simply apply a little salt to the cutting board before you begin cutting your herbs. This will keep them in place and make your cooking much easier.

Try making your own dried tomatoes. To be able to dry them yourself, cut the tomatoes half an inch thick, or you should cut Romas lengthwise in half. Put the sliced tomatoes onto a cooling rack, and lightly salt the cut-side. Put a cookie sheet under the rack and place in the oven for ten hours at 190 degrees. The tomatoes can then be placed in plastic bags and stored in the freezer. Dried tomatoes can be placed into a jar that is filled with fresh herbs and olive oil. Place this in the refrigerator and be sure to use it within 2 weeks.

Use either a steaming or a stir-frying technique to cook your vegetables. These two methods help the vegetables retain both their color and their nutrients, providing your family with a healthier side dish that also looks attractive. Your children, in particular, are more likely to eat their vegetables if they look nice.

Don't use prepared seasoning mixes when you cook, especially if you have high blood pressure. These mixes often have a high sodium content. Instead, use fresh herbs and spices, or make sure you choose a low-salt mix. For more flavor, try adding lemon or lime zest or a few chili peppers to your meal.

When cutting vegetables or meat it's very important to have sharp, high quality knives. This will help you to get the look and evenly cooked meal that you desire. If you use dull, low quality knives, instead of cutting your food, they will rip it which can cause uneven cooking and a not so appetizing looking meal.

Make sure you season your meat and fish evenly. Sprinkle your salt and pepper over the food as though it is snowing. This will make it so you avoid clumping and avoid having parts of the meat without any seasoning. This will make for a tastier meal.

Here is a cooking tip that will make your life easier on nights and weekends. When cooking, save any sauces leftover from cooking by pouring them into ice cube trays. When you need to use the sauce cubes, simply pop them out of the tray and reheat them in a sauce pan for a quick sauce without all of the cook time.

Keep a supply of chopped onions all ready to go, in your freezer. It is easy to be dissuaded from cooking a particular recipe because you don't want to go through the tears and smell of cutting up onions. When you are cutting one onion, you might as well take the time and cut up several of them. Put them in a baggie and freeze them!


In conclusion, if your cooking has a lot to be desired it is time to turn that situation around. As long as you apply yourself, you can pretty much do anything. Hopefully the tips and tricks provided in this article will help you to make that delicious meal and have everybody talking about your great meal.

Yummy

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Cheddar-Stuffed Burgers

serves 4

1 pound ground buffalo meat or lean ground

beef (7% fat or less)

1 small Vidalia onion, fi nely chopped

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon salt

¹/8 teaspoon black pepper

½ cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

4 English muffi ns, split and toasted

1 cup thinly sliced romaine lettuce

16 small tomato slices

1.      Mix together buffalo, onion, Worcestershire

sauce, salt, and pepper in large bowl just

until well combined. With damp hands, shape

mixture into 4 equal balls. With your fi nger,

make deep indentation in center of each ball.

Fill each hole with 2 tablespoons of Cheddar.

Enclose fi lling by pinching meat together.

Shape into ¾-inch-thick patties.

2.      Spray large nonstick skillet with nonstick

spray and set over medium-high heat. Place patties

in skillet and cook until instant-read thermometer

inserted into side of burger registers

145°F for medium, about 4 minutes per side.

3.      Place bottoms of muffi ns on 4 plates. Top

each with lettuce, burgers, and tomato slices;

cover with tops of muffi ns.

PER SERVING (1 GARNISHED BURGER): 224 grams,

343 Cal, 12 g Total Fat, 5 g Sat Fat, 0 g Trans Fat,

70 mg Chol, 754 mg Sod, 30 g Total Carb,

2 g Total Sugar, 3 g Fib, 30 g Prot, 257 mg Calc.

PointsPlus value: 9

Cooking Tips : 

Top Ten Recipes Inspired By French Chefs

No one is perfect at cooking and the best chefs even have things to learn. In many ways cooking is an evolutionary skill, a skill that is in a continuous state of change. If you want quick tricks to make cooking a little bit easier or funner, read this article. Read on to find out how!

Add flavor to boring roast chicken. Rather than using a roasting rack, place thick slices of onion in the bottom of the pan, and place the chicken on top of them. The chicken juices will be absorbed by the onion, creating a caramelization on the bottom of the pan. After roasting, remove the chicken, add a little water to the pan and cook on high heat for a few minutes. This will create a tasty sauce for your chicken.

Preparation is key when cooking for family or friends. Save yourself time and trouble by having all your ingredients ready. It is not too much to get your meals ready the day before. Make sure you have the necessary utensils. Did you think of everything? This means you don't have to worry when time is short, which means your cooking will be better.

To maximize the efficiency of the cooking that you do, always make your food in large quantities and when you are finished with the meal, store the meats in freezer bags. This will allow you to create a meal the next day for your family that is still fresh and tastes great.

Do not be afraid to experiment. There is no rule that says you need to follow a recipe exactly. If you do not care for an ingredient, leave it out. If you think a different ingredient would taste better, substitute it. If you think the dish is missing a little something, add it.

Saute tired salad greens. If your salad greens have seen better days, don't discard them - saute them! Salad greens such as radicchio, arugula and endive make a tasty side dish when sauteed. Cook them quickly in olive oil, chopped garlic and sea salt. Sprinkle with a little bacon and goat cheese, and you will be happy that you didn't throw away those unused salad greens!

Have you been making the same berry shortcake for a while? Make the flavor pop with the following tip. Mix your berries with a pinch of salt, a little fresh mint and a small spoon of lime juice. Your guests will never guess how you enhanced the flavor of the old family recipe.

Keep a few cut up, washed, and prepared vegetables in your freezer. This will reduce your prep time when you're cooking a recipe. Onions and peppers are great to freeze. Just buy them fresh, wash and cut them when you have time, and store them in individual zip lock bags.

Taste your food as you cook it. Tasting your food is a simple and enjoyable thing to do. It can also really improve your end result. By continuously tasting your food as you cook, you will have a better understanding of how it is progressing. If it needs a little something extra, you are more likely to catch and remedy this.

Know the gender of your eggplant! There are both male and female eggplants, and it pays to know the difference. The seeds of an eggplant can be very bitter. A female eggplant's seeds have a tendency to be more bitter than those of a male eggplant. You can identify a male eggplant by its base - it will be smooth and round, whereas the female base is more oval in shape and deeply indented.

Grilling is not an exact science, but you may have encountered some confusion the last time you hit the barbecue. A reliable meat thermometer can help you ensure that the meat is properly cooked on the inside. For the most accurate readings, invest in a digital thermometer. If you have a thick slice of meat, one that is more than 1.5 inches in thickness, you may want to close the lid of the grill to have the meat cook faster.

Never cook when you are tired. You need to be alert when you are cooking, to increase your level of safety, and put you in the best position to create quality food. Besides, you're not going to enjoy the experience if you feel exhausted.

Add seasoning gradually instead of putting it all in at the beginning. This is a great way to increase the flavor of your foods and make your seasonings last longer.

Whenever possible, you should buy your food from the farmers market rather than a normal grocery store or supermarket. Food from the farmers market is fresh and sometimes requires less maintenance to bring out flavors rather than normal food. Remember to keep it simple when cooking with food from the farmers market.

Rather than using a traditional store bought dressing when making a salad, try making your own vinaigrette. A vinaigrette that is homemade will contain less ingredients than store bought ones and have no preservatives. This makes the vinaigrette more natural and better tasting. Simply shake the ingredients in a sealed container and enjoy.

To save time when cooking for a big event like Thanksgiving, do all the prep work the night before. You can also make desserts a day or two before the dinner. This will give you more time to focus on what needs to be done and the day will be a lot less stressful.

If you are deep frying, make sure to use tongs to add the food to the hot oil. If you submerge the food below the surface of the oil with the tongs for about five seconds before you "drop" it in, the outside of whatever you are deep frying is sealed. This prevents it from sticking to other food in the oil.

As the above article has demonstrated, learning new methods of cooking is very exciting! It can rival eating when it comes to fun! This article should have provided you with ideas you can use for your meals, and new ways to cook in general. Cooking is a skill you will need for life!

Cooking Tips To Help Save You Time

Cooking your meals at home can be fun and easy, if you try some of these tips. You can prepare delicious and healthy dishes in the comfort of your own kitchen and make mealtime enjoyable for everyone in your home. Cooking can be a fantastic way to express your creativity.

When you have a really important occasion where you are going to be cooking for someone that you love or your boss, try to stick to a food that you know will turn out good. This is not the time to be trying new things as you want to be certain it comes out right.

If you are following a recipe, make sure that you do not follow this religiously, as you should always add a personal spice to your meal. Instead of following a pizza recipe to the tee, add some red pepper to inject a punch into your dish to make it unique and individualized.

If you are planning to sauté garlic, you will want to slice it instead of mincing it, which will reduce the chance for it to burn. Following certain procedures will not only improve the taste of your dishes in the kitchen but will increase your effectiveness and efficiency in getting the job done.

Before frying raw potatoes, allow them to soak for half an hour in a bowl of cold water; this will result in crispier fries. Vegetables fibers can breakdown under high heat conditions. Soaking reinforces these fibers to produce better results.

Let roasts rest before carving to allow the juices time to retract from the surface of the meat. Slicing beef, pork, poultry or lamb immediately after roasting lets most of the juice run out of the meat which makes it drier and less flavorful. Giving the meat time to rest prevents the loss of the juices.

When you are making chicken stock, think in terms of high volume. If you make a large pot of stock, you can freeze it and store it for future use. You can use that delicious chicken stock in stews, casseroles, and soups. Let your stock come to room temperature before you freeze it.

You should use nonstick cooking spray when cooking a meal or snack. The nonstick cooking spray keeps food from sticking to a pan without adding unneeded fats and calories. There are some sprays that are flavored, so that you can get the same flavor as if you had used butter.

To save time when cooking for a big event like Thanksgiving, do all the prep work the night before. You can also make desserts a day or two before the dinner. This will give you more time to focus on what needs to be done and the day will be a lot less stressful.

After you have cut up meats on your counter, be sure to thoroughly wipe the counters and chopping boards down with a disinfectant. You need to disinfect knives also. Keep separate chopping boards for uncooked and cooked foods. Many people get salmonella poisoning each year because they ingested food that was prepared on an unclean counter or chopping board. This is especially important if you prepare food for children or the elderly.

Cook small quantities of food at higher temperatures for a lesser amount of time. Bite-size cookies only need a few minutes in the oven if you put it a higher temperature because there is only a small surface area to cover and it will not take long to cook. This way you will be able to enjoy your meal in minutes.

How to 'un-seize' melted chocolate. If the chocolate you are melting suddenly gets lumpy or grainy, this means it has 'seized', and it will ruin a recipe. Remove the pan and add 1/2 to 1 tsp of shortening or cooking oil (not butter or margarine). Stir until the mixture becomes smooth again. To prevent seizing, make sure the pan is completely dry before trying to melt chocolate.

If you are making a recipe that contains pasta in a sauce, avoid it being too soggy by cooking the pasta few minutes less in water. Finish cooking it with the sauce. It will be the perfect consistency and not be the mushy starchy mess we all hate when eating pasta!

Roasted meat with vegetables is a versatile and easy meal. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a roasting pan with foil. In a large mixing bowl, combine seasonings of your choice and olive oil or melted butter. Add meat pieces and coarsely chopped vegetables. Coat evenly. Pour mixture into roasting pan, cover and cook for about an hour. Enjoy your one pan meal!

If you try these suggestions, you are sure to increase your cooking skills and find greater joy in meal preparation for your family. Use these tips to inspire your imagination into creating scrumptious cuisine in your home. The people you serve when using these ideas are sure to be impressed.

Yummy

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Peach Studded Bulger

serves 8 ( 1/2 c. = 3 points +)

• 1-1/3 c. water
• 3/4 c. bulger
• 1 T. canola oil
• 1-1/2 T. white wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. chopped, fresh thyme
• 1 tsp. crushed ginger
• 2 c. chopped, fresh peaches
• salt and pepper
• 1 oz. ( 1/4 c. ) soft goat cheese, crumbled

Combine water and bulgur in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 12 minutes; drain. Rinse in cold water.
Combine oil, vinegar, thyme and ginger in a large bowl. Add bulgur, peaches, salt, pepper, and goat cheese. Toss to combine.

Cooking Tips : 
Cooking Can Be Fun And Does Not Have To Be Boring

Getting educated about the right cooking techniques to use may seem to be quite overwhelming. You are sure to use the tips and information that is in the article to help you in your culinary learning experience. Absorb the information that is included and include it to your cooking methods and prepare a meal that you are sure to love.

To prevent the crust of your filled pies from getting soggy, coat the dough with egg white first and then bake it for about five minutes to allow it to set. You should then fill and bake as you normally would. This will stop your crust from absorbing too much of the filling during baking and becoming soft and wet.

Make sure you store all of your spices in cool and dark places. Make sure they are not over the stove. Humidity, light and heat, will cause them to lose their flavor. That will not make for a good tasting meal. Get a spice rack and store it in your pantry.

If you are cooking for someone important, such as a new boss or for a dinner party, don't use a new recipe and a new ingredient. Make sure you practice the dish first for your own family. Play around with it to make sure it is how you want it.

Leftover vegetable pieces shouldn't go to waste. Broccoli tops, carrot pieces and onion peelings can be added to your vegetable, beef or chicken stock, to fill it with extra flavor. Don't forget to add the stock to your favorite meals to enhance their flavor and appear as a great cook in front of your friends and family.

Use a collapsible steamer basket to make the best steamed vegetables. These devices are available widely and cheaply. They can slip into almost any pot you already have and can be used for almost any vegetable you would like to enjoy. Be sure to watch your cook time to avoid getting mushy vegetables.

When you do this, the mushroom will become absorbent and soak up the water. A better option is to use a clean, damp cloth to hand-wipe each mushroom.

Never cook when you are tired. You need to be alert when you are cooking, to increase your level of safety, and put you in the best position to create quality food. Besides, you're not going to enjoy the experience if you feel exhausted.

For an easy meal to put together, save the sauces from other meals you had earlier in the week. Put them in an ice cube tray. You can reheat the cubes in a sauté pan for a quick sauce. Add some veggies and you will have a yummy meal.

Store your spices and herbs in a area that is cool and dark, and keep them away from the stove. Doing this ensures your spices are always rich with flavor every time you reach for them. Heat, humidity and light will cause your herbs to lose their flavor much faster.

Prepare ingredients for the week's dinners. One great way to get a jump on time is to plan your dinners for the week on Sunday. When you know what you will be fixing each night you can take some time to portion and precook some of your ingredients. Vegetables can also be chopped and stored in Tupperware which will easily keep until used later in the week. By utilizing weekend time, you can save a lot of time during the week.

Save your leftover sauces, and freeze them into ice cube trays. When you're looking for a quick meal, the sauce cubes are easily tossed into a frying or sauce pan to reheat. By keeping the frozen sauce in smaller pieces, the sauce thaws and heats quickly, and your family thinks you spent all day making a homemade meal for them!

Freeze some ice tea and other cold drinks up in ice cube trays. You can use the frozen drink cubes as ice on those particularly hot days. That way, your drink won't be diluted by the quickly melting ice cubes. It makes for a nice change, not having to run back and forth to the refrigerator, just to top off your drink glass.

For easy low-fat cooking make sure that you measure the oil that you use in your recipes. If you just pour it from the bottle it is easy to accidentally include too much oil in the dish. By measuring it out, you are giving yourself much more control over how much oil you can use, which will help you to keep your dishes healthier.

Add a roll of sausage to your cabbage for a particularly tasty meal. Cut up a cabbage into bite sized pieces, cover with water, and put it on the stove to boil. While your cabbage is boiling brown some sausage in a skillet. Drain off the excess grease then pour the sausage into your cabbage. Cook until the cabbage is tender.

If you cook using only recipes from your favorite cookbook, try something new. Getting a few new cookbooks of different varieties is the first step towards diversifying the meals you cook. Experimenting and playing around with your current recipes is the second step towards not just making new meals, but becoming a better cook.

The vast varieties of potatoes do not easily substitute for each other in recipes. Waxy potatoes are great for boiling and potato salad but do not work as well for baked potatoes, mashed potatoes or french fries. When making those foods, potatoes which are fluffy, like Russets, are best.

When you are cooking rice make sure that you follow the directions to the tee! It is best when you are cooking the rice to put all of the ingredients in the pot and use the timer! Do not open the pot until your time is up! You will have the best rice.


Knowledge is the first step of any recipe. If you have the knowledge to do as the recipe has instructed, you are sure to be able to make the food as it was meant to be without any problems. Utilize the information in these tips and make delicious recipes to stimulate the taste buds.

Yummy

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Oven-Roasted Sausage and Vegetables

serves 12 ( about 1 c. = 6 points +)

• 13 oz. Hillshire farm turkey smoked sausage
• 2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 2 bell peppers, sliced
• 2 c. onion, sliced
• 4 large Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped ( leave skins on)
• 3 T. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spray a large jelly-roll pan with nonstick spray. Place sausage and veggies on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir twice during baking time.

Cooking Tips : 

Preparing A Family Inspired Holiday Dinner

Sometimes we can all use a little advice in the kitchen. There are so many ways to develop flavors and textures in foods. Ask 10 people how to make a pie and you'll get nine different answers. Learning these tips will give you new ideas for cooking meals that you've made a million different times.

When cooking any recipe, use the best ingredients that you can afford. Splurge a little on imported cheeses or better quality meats when you can, so that you can experience a restaurant, quality-tasting meal at home. To enhance the experience even further, try to creatively plate up the meal with a little thought, for something different every now and then.

Learn to use your hands when cooking (after washing them thoroughly first of course!). Hands are the most sensitive yet versatile cooking utensil you will own. They can be used for mixing, measuring and testing whether a product is cooked enough. A cake, for example, will show that it is done by springing back when touched lightly with a finger on its top.

Garlic is one of the more pungent odors that you will ever experience, and you will want to have tricks to get rid of it as soon as possible. Here is a suggestion, after you cook something with garlic, rub your hands on the base of your stainless steel sink for a minute to eliminate the pungent odor off of your skin.

When trying out a new marinade or seasoning, test it on a small piece of meat before you cook the entire meal. Dishes like meatballs, meatloaf and hamburgers need to be seasoned carefully. Therefore, you should never cook the whole cut of meat after seasoning it. Try cooking a small sample before making all of it. After you do this you can either completely cook it or add more seasoning as you see fit.

As you cook your meal during the course of the night, make sure that you taste it at several different points. This will allow you to pinpoint exactly when it is done, so that you do not run the risk of overcooking it. Tasting your food is important to achieve the quality you desire.

To take the metallic taste out of canned pumpkin pie filling, heat the filling with all of your spices first. Simply mixing your filling with the other ingredients and then baking traps the metallic taste in your finished pie. But by heating your pumpkin filling alone with the spices first, you release the metallic taste of the filling and simultaneously imbue it with the richer taste of spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger.

Save your butter and margarine wrappers to use when baking. The wax paper that butter and margarine is wrapped in just happens to be the perfect size for greasing pans or rubbing onto a potato before popping it in the oven for baking. Save wrappers butter-side to butter-side in a closed storage container, so it stays fresh for your baking needs.

A salad spinner can be a great addition to your kitchen. It will help to spin the water out of your lettuce so your salads aren't soggy and droopy. Salad spinners are inexpensive and can be found at most discount stores. They're also small so they store easy.

You should use your freezer bags more than one time. You need to store your meats or vegetables in regular storage bags and then place them into freezer bags so that you can use them repeatedly. Freezer bags are very expensive and this will cut back on your costs each month.

When sautéing vegetables using Pomace olive oil is a great substitute for butter that should be used. The Pomace olive oil is very affordable and will give vegetables a mild flavor that is quite delicious. You can purchase the Pomace olive oil at any Middle Eastern grocery store. It is low in carbs and in price which makes it extremely appealing.

When you are cooking, it is possible to substitute honey for sugar in several recipes. First, begin by using an amount of honey that is half of the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. If you find that the final product is not sweet enough, you can add more honey the next time around.

If you are making mashed potatoes, return them to the pot after you have drained them cover the pot tightly and then let it steam for about 5 minutes. By doing this, the potatoes are able to dry out, which will make them mash into the perfect texture. It will also soak up butter and and cream easier.

Save the delicious taste of summer by drying tomatoes yourself. Simply cut them into 1/2 half inch slices, or cut lengthwise for Romas. Lay your tomato slices across a cooling rack with the cut-side facing up, and salt them lightly. Place the cooling rack on a cookie sheet and dry in a 190 degree oven for up to 10 hours. They can then be stored in plastic freezer bags in your freezer. Another option is to store dried tomatoes in a jar that contains fresh, flavorful herbs and olive oil. Refrigerate and use within 2 weeks.

After cooking, always let your meat rest before serving it. This is especially true when you pull meat from a hot grill. Moisture that keeps your meat tender is sealed within it. When you cut steaming hot meat, the steam that rises is actually the moisture leaving the meat. When you let meat "settle" for at least 15 minutes prior to serving, the moisture and tenderness is preserved.

If you don't know much about the vegetable or fruit that you are handling, familiarize yourself with it. You might be surprised of the possibilities you will learn about for food. Taking the time to learn before starting to cook will leave you with a much happier experience in the kitchen.


Learning never ends when it comes to cooking. These tips are just a jumping off point for your exploration into the vast world of foods. Keep learning and trying new ideas and techniques so you can see what works for you. We have to keep our eyes always open for new ways to do the ordinary.

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Low Fat Baked Ziti with Spinach

Low Fat Baked Pasta with Spinach
(source Skinnytaste.com)
Servings: 8 • Size: 1/8th portion • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 296 • Fat: 7 g • Protein: 16 g • Carb: 44 g • Fiber: 5.5 g • Sugar: 5 g
Sodium: 524 mg

Ingredients: 

• 12 oz uncooked pasta such as ziti
• 28 oz crushed tomatoes (I prefer Tuttorosso)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 10 oz frozen spinach, thawed
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• salt and fresh pepper to taste
• 8 oz fat-free ricotta
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups (8 oz) shredded part skim mozzarella (I love Polly-O)
• olive oil cooking spray (I used my Misto)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.Spray a 9×13-inch baking pan with oil spray.
In a large pot of salted water, cook pasta according to instructions until al dente. Drainand return to pot.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, add olive oil and sauté garlic. Add chopped spinach, salt pepper and chopped tomatoes. Season with basil, oregano, salt and pepper.
Add sauce to the pasta and combine the ziti. Add half of the mozzarella, Parmesan cheese and ricotta. Mix well then transfer to the baking pan.
Pour the pasta mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Top with the remaining mozzarella.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until mozzarella is melted and the edges are lightly browned. Let it cool 5 minutes, then cut it into 8 equal portions.

Cooking Tips : 

Solid Advice When It Comes To Cooking

Learning the basics of cooking can make it a very enjoyable activity. This article will help you acquire new cooking skills.

Your spices and herbs should always be stored in a cool and dark area. If your spices are exposed to moisture, heat or humidity, these items will begin to lose their flavor. Most ground spices will retain their flavor for about a year. It is possible for whole spices to remain flavorful for several years.Storing your spices in glass containers with a

You can avoid stress by sticking to familiar recipes you enjoy. This will help you to cook with less stress.

To make your French fries crispier, try leaving the raw potatoes in some cold water for half an hour before you fry them.

Always use airtight containers to store baking ingredients such as sugar or flour in the kitchen. Keeping your food in sealed containers will keep them from spoiling or being infected with bugs. These containers are affordable and are definitely worth the money.

Plan on preparing a large pot of stock in order to freeze and store it. Good homemade chicken stock is a wonderful base in soups, stews, stews and other dishes.

Oil and butter provide a lot of fat. Try using nonstick cooking sprays that will help your food not contain anything unhealthy and works just like oil.

This will prevent them avoid burning while you cook. Use two parallel skewers as opposed to a single skewer to avoid food intact.

This will allow your food the maximum amount of flavor possible.

It is necessary for all cooks to have their supplies organized when cooking. If you are not well organized, you'll be spending a lot of time trying to remember where everything is. Try to keep similar purposes in proximity to one another. For instance, since basil and parsley are both spices, since both are spices.

You need to stay organized when you are cooking, which could be costly. Having an organized cooking area will help you are productive when cooking. If you aren't organized, it is easy to lose track of things and waste your money and delicious food that you could have been eating!

One great cooking tips you can find is to use your imagination. You don't always have to follow a recipe word for word. That is really a person a great cook!

Set aside approximately one-fourth cup of the pasta water.When you mix the pasta with this sauce, pour in a bit of the water. The pasta water's starch adds a "creaminess" to the sauce and make it creamier.

Onions that are raw have a great deal of sulfurous gas. This unappetizing gas by-product can ruin the flavor of fresh salsa. The gas is removed by rinsing and pat the diced onions.

There are a couple of ways to properly warm up tortillas. One of the ways you can do this is placing the tortilla on an oven rack after preheating it to 350 degrees and reach desired cripness. You can also cook your tortilla via stove top on the grill of a gas stove.Using these methods your tortilla will make for fresher and crispier.

Try to make sure you cook your cake to the proper temperature and do not over or undercook a cake. The cooking times suggested in recipes are good guidelines for an inexperienced baker, but these suggestions can be misleading; other factors, such as high altitudes, can have an effect on how long it actually takes a cake to cook. A good way to judge whether a toothpick into the center of the cake. If batter sticks to the toothpick when it comes out, it's done; if batter is on it, it needs longer to bake.

Learn about any new foods that you haven't cooked with before. You might be surprised how much you will learn about for food.

There are a wide variety of potatoes, and they are not all the same.

Cooling racks that stack on top of one another can prove invaluable when you are baking. Stackable cooling racks allow you to use your kitchen counter space. Stacking cooling goodies up the space you need to work in.

The concentrated heat in a microwave will cause the oil to separate from other food ingredients. Baking will keep all its parts cohesive.

Red or new potatoes are not ideal for a dense filling.

When mashing potatoes use hot, try using hot milk. This will make your mashed potatoes that light and fluffier. Nobody really wants to eat mashed potatoes full of lumps.

Try cooking with saffron if you want to try new spices. Saffron can create a very unique flavor that no other spice can. Saffron has been adored for centuries and is still considered delicious today.

Warm your oven so that it reaches 300 degrees.

Fresh fruits, such as apples, avocados, peaches, and apples may turn brown if left exposed to air. Lemon or salt water can do an adequate job of staving off the browning process, but the best flavor to use to stop the browning is by dipping the fruit in pineapple juice.A quick dip will work just fine, so don't worry about leaving it to soak.

It is a common mistake to overly season a dish with salt, but there is nothing to worry about if it happens. Just chop up some raw potatoes and place them in the sauce, and allow them to boil in the gravy for 15 minutes. The potatoes absorb the extra salt like a sponge. If your sauce is tomato-based, you can put in additional tomatoes for the purpose of diluting the excessive salt.

As you have learned from this article, there is much you can do to improve on your cooking skills. All you need is a little effort and time. When you utilize the tips you've found here, you'll become proficient and maneuver through your meals with ease. Cooking is a blast when you let it be.

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