Archive for the ‘Cooking and Recipes’ Category

A Good Steak Recipe

Monday, January 4th, 2010

You can use any cut of steak, round, tenderloin, strip, rib eye, skirt of flank steak. Choose the one that fits your taste and pocketbook. Alter the cooking time depending on the size of the steak, about 6 to 8 minutes for a 1-inch thick steak and about 4 minutes for a 1/2-inch steak.

Cooking the onions with a little water in a covered skillet helps to bring out their sweet flavor.

Home-Baked Potato Chips are perfect with the steak. Start the potatoes first. They can bake while you prepare the steak. The secret is slicing them very thin. Use a food processor fitted with a thin slicing blade or a mandolin slicer.

Open a bag of washed, ready-to-eat salad and toss with a reduced-fat dressing to complete the meal.

This meal contains 457 calories per serving with 29 percent of calories from fat.

Helpful Hints:

—If a food processor or mandolin aren’t available, slice the potatoes by hand. Bake them longer if the slices are a little thick.

—Slice the onion using the same food processor or mandolin. No need to wash the processor first.

—The steak is sauteed in a skillet for this recipe, a stove-top grill, broiler or barbecue grill can be used.

Countdown:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Start the potatoes.

Make onions and mushrooms.

Cook steak.

Assemble salad.

Wine suggestion: A good old American steak calls for a good American cabernet sauvignon. As to which one, consult your grocer, your wine merchant, your pocketbook and your conscience. You love your daddy, don’t you?

ONION-SMOTHERED STEAK

Canola oil spray

1 1/2 cups sliced onion

1/4 cup water

3 medium garlic cloves, crushed

1 cup sliced mushrooms

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3/4 pound bottom round steak (strip, tenderloin, skirt, flank or rib eye)

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with canola oil spray and add onions. Saute 1 minute. Add water, cover with a lid and cook another minute or until water evaporates. Add the garlic and mushrooms and saute, uncovered, 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove to a plate.

Spray the same skillet with canola oil spray and add steak. Saute 2 minutes. Turn and saute another 2 minutes. A meat thermometer should read 145 degrees for medium rare, 160 degrees for medium and 170 degrees for well done. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Remove steak to a platter and cover with onions and mushrooms. Makes 2 servings.

Grilling method:

Place steak on a heated grill, leave for about 30 seconds and then move the steak by making a 1/4 turn. This will help keep it from sticking. Grill 4 minutes for a 1-inch-thick steak, about 2 minutes for a thinner steak. Turn over and salt and pepper the cooked side. Cook another 4 minutes for the thicker steak and 2 minutes for a thinner one.

Per serving: 317 calories (36 percent from fat), 12.6 g fat (4.1 g saturated, 5.8 g monounsaturated), 102 mg cholesterol, 38.5 g protein, 11.0 g carbohydrates, 2.0 g fiber, 117 mg sodium.

HOME-BAKED POTATO CHIPS

3/4 pound red potatoes

Canola oil spray

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash potatoes, do not peel, and slice 1/8-inch thick. Line a large baking tray with foil and spray with canola oil spray. Place potatoes on the tray. Do not overlap them. You may need 2 trays.

Spray potatoes with oil spray. Bake for 15 minutes. Check to see if they are crisp and golden. If not, bake another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Makes 2 servings.

Per serving: 140 calories (15 percent from fat), 2.4 g fat (0.4 g saturated, 1.5 g monounsaturated), no cholesterol, 3.2 g protein, 27.6 g carbohydrates, 2.9 g fiber, 13 mg sodium.for more recipe viste www.newbrunswicksteakco.com
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Making Delicious Fish And Seafood Part Of Your Healthy Diet

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Maximizing protein content while minimizing fat and calories is a goal of many people who are trying to lose weight, gain fitness or just enjoy a healthier diet. There are few foods that combine low fat, low calories and high protein the way fish and seafood do.

In addition, the protective oils in many cold water fish are being studied for their possible role in preventing heart disease and lowering levels of cholesterol in the bloods.

In addition, fish dishes are delicious, easy to prepare and often inexpensive. Many people have avoided buying more fish because they were unsure of how to cook and prepare it. While fish dishes can sometimes be a challenge, there are many recipes, both online and in cookbooks, that make it easier than ever to prepare fresh fish for yourself and your family.

Many nutritionists recommend that everyone eat fish at least twice a week. Substituting low fat, low calorie fish dishes for more calorie dense, fatty meats is a great way to lower the amount of total fat in your diet, and this can boost your level of fitness or help you lose weight.

The amount of protein in fresh and frozen fish and seafood is very high, certainly comparable to higher fat sources like beef, pork and lamb. And fish is generally thought to be a healthier choice, since all that protein comes with less fat and fewer calories. Everyone knows about the importance of protein in the diet, for both children and adults. Protein is a vital building block of muscle, and it plays a role in repairing muscle damage, growing strong nails and hair and other important bodily functions.

While protein is found mainly in animal based foods such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and dairy products, there are plant based sources of protein as well. These non animal sources of protein include peanut butter, lentils, peas and nuts. The downside to many protein laden plant based foods, however is their high content.

This is yet another feature that makes fish so appealing as a source of protein. Fish contains just as much protein as many of these higher fat, higher calorie sources. Eating fish provides - shall we say - a greater protein bang for the buck than many other sources.

You may have heard that salmon contains a lot of fat, and it is true that salmon does contain more fat than many other fish. Compared to high fat meats like sausage and bacon, however, salmon is still a relatively low fat source of protein. Like other fatty foods, however, it is important for those watching their fat intake to limit their consumption of salmon.

One advantage fish has over other types of meats is the type of fat it contains. Most meats contain saturated fats, which are solid at room temperature. Unlike cattle, pigs and other land animals, the fat in fish is of the polyunsaturated variety. Polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, and they are healthier fats for the people who consume them.

Saturated fats are thought to play a greater role in heart disease, stroke and hardening of the arteries. That is why healthy cooking typically involves the use of polyunsaturated fats such as canola oil and olive oil, instead of saturated fats such as beef lard and butter.

Many people worry about the level of pollution in general, and mercury contamination in particular, in fish. While it is true that polluted waters are of some concern when it comes to fish, seafood products are actually quite safe to eat.

In addition, many types of fish, like salmon and sardines, are farm raised, and their diet and environment is strictly controlled. It is recommended, however, that fishermen and fisherwomen limit the amount of their catch that is eaten if they live near a polluted river or stream. The local fishing and hunting authority usually issues guidelines for eating fish in areas where pollution is a problem.

About the author: Zaak O’Conan discovers and presents useful information on how to enhance and/or repair your life, body and relationships. You’ll find his other articles on eating better and other ways how to improve your life at http://your-health-center.com

Author: Zaak OConan

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Strawberry Jamming Again!!

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

More practical musings - hints and tips on making strawberry jam Sunshine for the rest of the year

So I’m preparing strawberries for jam, the third evening this week.It is the most productive week of the year as far as our strawberries are concerned. The best are already sold, fresh in punnets and the seconds, some with scarcely a blemish, others hideously deformed but still flavoursome, are piled in heaps waiting to be hulled, halved, weighed and jammed.

Just taking part in this process, I feel a bond back through the centuries with all the women, who preserved, jammed, pickled, prolonging the goodness and abundance of the seasonal produce to last the whole year through. In the days before fridges, freezers, supermarkets, intercontinental fast transport, each household would have relied on itself to survive the winter without diseases caused by vitamin deficiency and lack of sunshine. Making jam wasn’t just a luxury sweet, it was a way of preserving the summer sunshine a little longer, of giving your children some vitamins to keep them strong, when the only things growing in the garden were cabbage or Brussels sprouts! I wonder if those children ate them without fuss? Your preserves would have been eked out to last until spring brought new fresh growth with it.

Our jam supplies usually just last through until the next strawberry season. I’m generous to start with, giving it away as presents to friends, selling it at the market for our school, then, strawberry season over, I count the jars and begin to get more parsimonious. After all bought jam is now unheard of in the family, I’m the only one who eats marmalade, which fills the winter jam gap, so the strawberry and apricot jam has got to last, come what may.

My strawberry jam recipe for success? ( and please note that this is just how I make it… I’m not an expert and don’t even have a jam thermometer, but I guess they didn’t in the old days either. These are just hints and tips gathered from making my own mistakes and from the advice of my sister-in-law.)

Extremely simple ingredients, but results vary wildly from the runny (running right off your toast runny) to the thick (spoon stands up in it) for no apparent reason - well the length of time cooking together with the amount of pectin are the reasons but you can’t always tell about the pectin in advance. Strawberries are very low in pectin, which is what makes jam set and the riper they are the less there is. If they are wet that also dilutes the pectin (let them dry on kitchen towel or a dishcloth before preparing). So something needs to be added. I usually add lemon juice, which doesn’t affect the flavour, you can also buy pectin in packets. The more lemon juice you use , the more likely it is to set firm - I like mine a bit runny, so tend to juggle the lemon juice a bit.

1 kg prepared strawberries 750g sugar 25ml-50ml lemon juice or more if it doesn’t set!

Use a large thick based pan. The strawberries should only come to about half way up or they will boil merrily over, coating your stove with sticky foam. Let the strawberries soak with the sugar overnight. This brings out the juice and keeps the fruit firmer so it doesn’t dissolve into a mush when cooked. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring occasionally to make sure the sugar dissolves before it boils. Then add the lemon juice. Boil at a moderate pace, without stirring, for at least half an hour before testing. The main thing is to keep your jam under observation after the first half hour of boiling and sniff( to make sure it’s not burning on the bottom of the pan), test every 5 minutes with a drop on a cold plate. Let it cool for a couple of minutes. If it starts feeling syrupy and makes a string to your finger when you dip it, then that’s a good runny, syrupy jam. If a skin forms and wrinkles when you push your finger through the drop of jam then it’s a firmer set. If after an hour it still doesn’t get to either of those stages you might have to add more lemon juice and boil it up again for another twenty minutes or so then start testing all over again. You can tell if it is getting there as the bubbles start looking more syrupy, a slower rolling boil.

Have your jars ready. 1kg of fruit makes about three medium sized jars. I usually sterilise mine by pouring boiling water into clean, dry jars up to the top (they must be dry though, if there are drops of cold water in they can crack). Then when the jam is ready, pour out the hot water and ladle in the jam, right to the top, put on a circle of either waxed or baking paper and then the lid. Tighten the lid now while it’s hot for a good seal. The spills of jam are easier to wipe off while it’s still hot too, hold with a cloth though, hot is really HOT!

If all this is sounding a bit laborious, you can always try waiting for the apricot season. Apricots are far less temperamental, have plenty of pectin and set more easily…. But hey.. strawberries are worth the effort and it’s mainly patience you need, not technique. There is a huge satisfaction from seeing the jars lined up on the shelf, to see you through the winter. Good luck!

Kit Heathcock

About the author: Sometime flower photographer, keen observer of the resonances of life and fulltime mother. Born in the UK but now living on a farm in the southern hemisphere. Contributor to the creation and maintenance of A Flower Gallery.com one of the homes of chakra flower art.

Author: Kit Heathcock

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