Your own kitchen can seem boring at times. You can change that by making a hobby out of cooking. Your kitchen turns into your canvas, and your meals are your finished painting, something you can be proud of, that pleases everyone. These tips will help you along the way.
When cut and exposured to the air, many fruits will turn brown. Apples, bananas, pears and avocados are good examples of fruits that brown after being cut. Using lemon mixed with salt water is the common way to stop this, but pineapple juice does a better job overall. Just briefly dipping it will work, so you don’t need to let the fruit soak.
When preparing a meal, make it part of your routine to wash dishes as you use them. Fill your sink with hot water and soap on one side and clean water to rinse your dishes on the other. It’s easier to wash bowls after they have just been used, and they’ll be available for you to use again if you need them.
Save time and stress with night-before preparation of ingredients whenever possible. Put together a lasagna that you can refrigerate or freeze, or chop some vegetables for stir frying, and you shave precious time off of a stressful day and still put a tasty warm meal on the table for your family.
One great cooking tip is just be flexible and creative; do your own thing. Use recipes as guidelines rather than step-by-step instructions. You can add a little of one thing, or take out something else, to suit your tastes and enhance the recipe. That makes a person a great cook!
Fresh ingredients are much better to use in all of your cooking than those that are frozen or dried. Fresh ingredients are often inexpensive, and can help bring a lot of flavor out of your dish.
If you want to make fat free stew or soup, begin by using a soup stock or broth that is fat free. Keep fat content to a minimum by loading the soup with lean meats and vegetables. Let your soup chill in the refrigerator when it is done cooking. Any excess fat will surface and harden in a layer on the top. Then you can skim off the firm fat layer and toss it. This helps you to remove hundreds of calories easily.
Soy products and beans are a wonderful place to get protein if you need to add some to your diet. Both can be purchased at just about any grocery store. Tofu can be pan-fried with some seasonings, and makes a tasty meat alternative. Beans may be boiled with herbs for a delicious protein source.
Try grilling some fruit! You can skewer a selection of fruits such as peaches, melon and bananas. Keep grilling them until grill marks show up. Finally, serve them with a slice of cake or a scoop of ice cream.
A dish that has a lot of oil can be baked instead of microwaved to avoid creating a greasy mess. Microwaves heat oils faster than solids which will cause your food to separate. However, oven baking provides a consistent heat to the dish, not allowing different ingredients to separate.
To make slicing meat into thin strips a little easier, partially freeze it. This method is great for oriental meals that require small strips. Partially freezing meat keep the fibers in meat from stretching and tearing resulting in perfectly sliced strips. However, the meat strips should be thawed to assure even cooking.
Use the ideas from this article to help inspire you to come up with some unique cooking recipes. Create artful dishes that your whole family can enjoy at the dinner table. Cooking can be a lifelong passion, and you are never done learning. Make your kitchen the warm and inviting center of your home.