Showing posts with label The Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Food. Show all posts

Friday, July 20, 2012

How to make Cream cheese Froasting

Cream cheese is a soft, mild-tasting, white cheese with a high fat content. Traditionally, it is made from unskimmed milk enriched with additional cream. Cream Cheese Frosting pairs exceptionally well with a host of cakes, including the carrot cake, and red velvet cake. If you are making this frosting for your Christmas tree cake, you will need to double this recipe.
To have perfectly smooth cream cheese frosting with enough body to spread in dramatic swirls or even pipe through a pastry bag, you have to know these two secrets. First, overbeating breaks down the cream cheese, and produces grainy looking frosting that is too soft to hold a shape. Second, cold (not softened) cream cheese produces the best texture in both of our methods. Have the butter, if you use it, at the temperature recommended for the method you choose, and sift the powdered sugar after measuring.
These extremely moist, sweet, and perfectly dense cupcakes are killing me softly with each bite and it hurts so good. Some people are addicted to cream cheese frosting. Like…we should not be left alone together because I will inevitably do something that will make me feel shameful and sad that the workout we did that morning will count for nothing and then some.
If you’re not super crazy about cream cheese or if you like sweeter frostings, this might not be your thing, but if you love that thick, creamy, cream-cheesy frosting on carrot cakes and spice cakes and pumpkin-y stuff and your finger, this one’s for you.
The ingredients aren’t any different than other cream cheese frosting recipes–cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla (or almond) extract. The difference is the proportions–this calls for way more cream cheese and cuts down on the butter and powdered sugar.

Tools: Electric mixer, paddle attachment
Preparation time: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS
1
package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2
cup butter or margarine, softened
1
teaspoon vanilla
4
cups powdered sugar


Direction:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients and oil with carrots. Add one egg at a time and beat well after each egg.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until combined and fluffy vanilla until light and fluffy

Set the mixer on low speed, and add the confectioner’s sugar to the creamed mixture in batches. After all the sugar is incorporated, increase to medium speed to thoroughly mix the ingredients.
Add the vanilla, and continue beating until combined.
Use immediately
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Notes:
It sounds weird to refrigerate this cake and eat it cold, but seriously, it’s a must. It gets so moist and yummy after sitting in the fridge overnight!
If the frosting doesn’t completely combine in your mixer, scrape down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and continue beating.
For a peppermint cream cheese frosting, substitute 1⁄2 teaspoon peppermint flavoring for the vanilla. For a lemon cream cheese frosting, substitute 1⁄2 teaspoon lemon flavoring for the vanilla.

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Friday, July 13, 2012

Steamed Shrimp Rice Cakes





The traditional Steamed Shrimp Rice Cakes are made with Rice Flour, shrimp, wrapped in phrynium leaves and served with fish sauce. Most fresh shrimp must be soaked for several hours until soft and then grounded finely in a blender. After added salt, sugar and fish sauce is stir-fried until dry and having a sweet and salty taste.
The rice batter, made of rice flour, should be smooth and soft. Next, fried shrimp is spread on the top of the rice batter, and the whole is wrapped into a rectangular shape and steamed for about 15 minutes.It is the time to take off the cover and sniff the elegant scent of phrynium leaves. The shrimp is crispy, a bit greasy, sweet and salty in a nice way that most people are inclined to savor it gradually, and it is mixed so well with the rice batter that it tastes great on its own and even better with the sweet and spicy fish sauce.
Now, I will give you the way to make Steamed Shrimp Rice Cakes.

Ingredients
  • DIPPING SAUCE:3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup prawn broth
  • 3 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • 2chiles, chopped
  • 3 1/2ounces/100 g rice flour
  • 1tablespoon/15 g tapioca flour
  • Salt
  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 4 teaspoons vegetable oil, for batter
  • 14ounces/400 g small tiger prawn
  • 3cloves garlic, finely diced (1 tablespoon)
  • 1 tablespoon finely diced red shallots
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup pork crackling, crushed
  • Special equipment: 20 small ramekins
Directions
For the dipping sauce: Add sugar, prawn broth, fish sauce, and vinegar to a bowl. Mix until the sugar is dissolved. Now add the chopped chile. Set aside.




In a large bowl combine rice flour, tapioca flour, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Make a well

in the center and pour in 1/2 the warm water.

 
Using your hands stir the ingredients together kneading the dough until it is well combined. Now add the rest of the water, use a wooden spoon to stir it all together until you achieve a fine liquid batter.

Add 2 teaspoons vegetable oil and allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes.

 

Bring a pot of water to the boil, add prawns and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the prawns, peel and reserve the prawn broth.
 
Bring a steamer pot to rapid boil, place as many ramekins to the steamer tray as you can. Now fill each ramekin with the batter 2/3 full. Cover and steam for 5 minutes. Repeat this process until batter is finished.

 

Pound the cooked prawns in a mortar and pestle until crushed.

 

Put a fry pan on low heat, add the crushed prawns, garlic, and shallots, stir fry for 5 minutes or until prawns are completely dry and floss-like texture.
 

Turn off heat, add pepper and continue to stir fry for a further 3 minutes. Add some oil to each rice cake and top with prawns, crushed pork crackling, and fish sauce

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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Children's food

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Summer is time for kids to do a lot of exciting activities outside, enjoying fresh air and their summer vacation. Many nutritious foods are in season during the summer and can offer a refreshing and nutritious meal or snack for your child                    
Instead, follow these moms’ healthy summer tips to keep your kids playing throughout the summer. And when it comes time to feed all those hungry mouths, get them involved! Kids love helping and being a part of what ever is going on, no matter their age. These recipes are kid-friendly, both in that they can lend a hand in the preparation and they’re nutritious eats for their growing bodies.
Can kids eat fast-food? It is depend on how you handle it
Here are healthy tips for children’s favorite summer foods:


5.Pizza

A doughy crust with a tomato-based sauce, cheese and toppings has made pizza a favorite with kids and adults. One slice of thin-crust cheese pizza from a medium pizza is about 215 calories. Let your kids choose which veggie they'd like to include.
Kids can even help make their own on whole-wheat pita breads.

4. Chicken Nuggets

Chicken nuggets or chicken tenders are great finger foods and also top the list of kid favorites. Easy to eat, chicken tenders are good sources of protein. Yet, some chicken nuggets are fried, making them full of fat and calories. One way to make this meal more nutritious is to add veggies.
"Instead of kids having six to seven tenders, give them two or three chicken tenders with vegetables such as stemmed green beans, broccoli or salad," said Krieger. "The more variety, the better."

3. Roast Beef sandwiches

Roast Beef sandwiches are easy good for you and the kids love them. Place a 3 -4 pound roast in the crock pot in the morning. Pour some red wine, beef broth, and any other favorite seasoning. When you come home from work pull apart the beef and place between either burger buns or deli buns, (even hot dog buns work) and place a little of your favorite cheese on each sandwich. bake at 350 for about 5 minutes. Serve with carrots or cucumbers, and a favorite fruit and you have a great meal in minutes, that is completely silverware free. Most kids love to eat with their hands. They could help build the sandwiches as well
2: Macaroni and Cheese
Pasta and cheese seem to make the perfect combination for a quick, hot meal that kids love. One cup of macaroni and cheese from a packaged mix packs an estimated 260 calories and counts for two grains and one-half milk portion Many store-bought macaroni and cheese brands do offer a healthier alternative preparation. Brands are also offering whole-wheat pasta options.
If you want to take it a step further and make your own at home, use whole-wheat pasta, but vary the shapes -- elbow, bow tie or corkscrew -- for a different look





1: Chicken-noodle Soup

A perfect dinner for a cold day, chicken-noodle soup is another kid favorite. This classic soup can be homemade or from a can and usually includes chicken, noodles, carrots, celery and onions. Soups can be high in sodium, so look for reduced sodium varieties; encourage your children to have a glass of water with lunch or dinner to quench their thirst
Even though chicken is in the name of this meal, make sure that your soup actually has large chicken chunks.
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Sunday, July 8, 2012

Top 5 korean food you have to try


All images are of my attempts to follow the recipes linked below. The recipes are easy to follow and each one is incredibly delicious. If you can make these dishes you should because home cooking is always best, but if it is not possible, be sure to try them all out at your local Korean restaurant. You should also note that the recipes all contain videos of the cooking process.

The Korean culture is quite unique in its approach to food. Food seems to permeate every aspect of life. If you have watched a Korean drama or movie you will undoubtedly have noticed that in at least one scene someone is eating. There are even entire films and dramas based around Korean cuisine. For Koreans food is much more than something to fill the belly – it provides taste, medicine, and a connection to the country. Below  this is a list of five dishes that are truly the most delicious; these are foods that every Westerner will love as much as Koreans.
5
Yangnyeom Tongdak Seasoned Fried Chicken -양념통닭
I guarantee that once you try this, you will be ditching KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and switching to the other KFC – Korean Fried Chicken. This fried chicken has to be tasted to be believed. When you bite into a piece of this chicken you are initially met with a sticky, sweet, spicy red sauce. But then your teeth crunch through a triple cooked batter so crispy that you wouldn’t believe it possible. This then leads to the most incredibly moist and flavorsome chicken inside. This really is one of the most delicious Korean foods ever invented. In Korea there are many shops selling their own special version of yangnyeom tongdak and they deliver until the late house of the night. But home made is always better. This recipe is particularly good as it shows (because of the addition of ketchup) how Koreans are willing to adopt foreign flavors and use them to their advantage. You need to try this as soon as possible.



4 Japchae
Stir Fried Noodles –
Japchae is one of the most popular Korean dishes both inside and outside of Korea and when you taste it you will understand why. Originally japchae was made without noodles – it was invented for the King by one of his chefs and he loved it so much that it became famous across Korea. In more recent times the noodles were added and now they are an essential element to the dish. The noodles used are sweet potato starch noodles which give japchae its very distinct chewy texture. The vegetables are all lightly cooked so they retain all their flavor. This is definitely a great alternative to the typical (and often bland) stir fry we all cook at home when we want “Chinese”. Korean dish.
3 Bulgogi Marinated Beef BBQ – 불고기

Bulgogi (Korean pronunciation: [pulɡoɡi]) or neobiani[1] is a Korean dish that usually consists of marinated barbecued beef, chicken or pork. It is listed at number 23 on World's 50 most delicious foods readers' poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011.

The word Bulgogi (불고기) literally means "fire meat" in Korean, derived from Pyongan dialect, equivalent to neobiani in Seoul dialect. It refers to cooked marinated meat, applied old traditional grilling techniques using gridirons or perforated dome griddles that sit on braziers, unlike deep frying or boiling in water. The term is also applied to variations such as dak bulgogi (made with chicken) or dwaeji bulgogi (made with pork), depending on what kind of meat ingredient and corresponding seasoning are used.


Bulgogi is believed to have originated during the Goguryeo era (37 BC–668 AD) when it was originally called maekjeok (맥적), with the beef being grilled on a skewer. It was called neobiani (너비아니), meaning "thinly spread" meat, in the Joseon Dynasty and was traditionally prepared especially for the wealthy and the nobility class

Bulgogi is an extremely versatile way of preparing beef and the one most westerners have sampled at Korean restaurants. Typically in the west we eat bulgogi on a korean barbecue – a hot plate in the middle of the table. But in Korea this is just one of many ways. It can be made into a stew (as in the recipe above) or as the basis for other dishes. It is such a versatile marinated meet that you could even use it to replace pulled pork in a western style sandwich. Bulgogi is very thinly sliced beef which is marinated in a sauce made from pear juice, garlic, soy sauce, and many other things. There are as many recipes as their are uses. The end result is a delicious sweet, savory, and soft slice of meat.


2 Bibimbap Mixed Rice – 비빔밥
Bibimbap (비빔밥, Korean pronunciation: [pibimp͈ap̚] is a signature Korean dish. The word literally means "mixed meal" or "mixed rice". Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions.  It can be served either cold or hot.

. All of the ingredients except the meat (which is optional) are prepared in advance so you can add them at room temperature to the top of hot steamed rice. You then quickly fry and add the meat and a sunny-side up egg to the top. Bibimbap is usually served with a spicy sauce made from gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste) which you can add to your liking – allowing you to control how hot it is. You then use your spoon (Korean food is always served with metal chopsticks and a spoon) to “bibim” it all until it is completely mixed together. The trick then is to see how much you can fit in your mouth in one go! Well, not really, but it tastes so good that that is invariably what happens at my house. This really is a taste sensation and it really is impossible not to fall in love at first bite.
In Korea, Jeonju, Jinju, and Tongyeong are especially famous for their versions of bibimbap. It is listed at number 40 on World's 50 most delicious foods readers' poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011.


1. Kimchi
Fermented Cabbage – 김치
Kimchi is the national dish of Korea. At first it can sound daunting to us westerners because of the word “fermented” but don’t forget that we eat a lot of fermented foods already – yoghurt and bread for example. In the case of kimchi the cabbage is coated leaf by leaf in a delicious spicy mix of hot pepper flakes, garlic, chives, onion, pear juice, and more. It is then able to be eaten right away (in which case it is fresh, not fermented) or you can leave it out of the refrigerator for two or three days to start the fermentation process. As it ferments it develops a rich and slightly sour flavor – true also of German sauerkraut (which means sour herb or cabbage). It lasts for months and is also used as the base for many other dishes such as kimchi stew and even as a filling for kimbap (Korean sushi). Kimchi is such an important dish in Korea that it is eaten with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It may not look pretty but it sure tastes good! And if you don’t have time to make it yourself (it can be a little time consuming) it is always available pre-made at your local Korean grocery.

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Friday, July 6, 2012

10 Coolest Summer Foods

1: Corn on the Cob

Glistening, sweet and fresh, corn on the cob is a side dish worthy of its place on a paper plate. Save a spot for it on your grill this season. Or, be daring and cook it nestled in the coals with the husks still on. Whatever cooking method you choose, corn on the cob slathered in butter is as close as you'll ever get to tasting sunshine in its own convenient carrying case.

If you're in a hurry, you can microwave corn on the cob quickly and easily. Just husk it, rinse it, and wrap it in waxed paper. Your corn will be hot, moist and tender.

2: Fair Food

  

Come on now, we all have at least one guilty summer food pleasure. An informal poll around here revealed that county fair food takes the prize for bad-for-you options that are worth the occasional lapse in judgment.
Maybe you have a soft spot in your heart for elephant ears, funnel cakes, pulled pork sandwiches, corn dogs or cheese fries. Does something more exotic stir your taste buds? How about deep-fried Twinkies, or battered and fried butter -- yes, butter. If you must, you must. We won't tell.

It's not like you eat fair food every day, so enjoy yourself!

3: Fresh Fruit

Feasting on sun-kissed fruits served at their peak of freshness is one of the perks of summer dining. You may love chilled half crescents of watermelon, chocolate dipped strawberries, fresh picked blackberries or those first-of-the-season cherries. Whatever your fruit fix of choice happens to be, wash it thoroughly in cold water before you indulge.
Why not try a pick-your-own fruit outing this year? Your family will come away with plenty of fruit and a better appreciation for local farming and agriculture.

If you want to eat fruits with big antioxidant benefits, look for purple or blue fruits, like grapes, blueberries and blackberries

4: Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches (BLTs)

 

We love BLT sandwiches. They're a celebration of salty, smoky and garden fresh flavors all rolled into one. The classic summer BLT relies on very flavorful ingredients, so make sure you have quality bacon and a great tomato going in.
Seriously, this summer sandwich is even worth growing your own tomatoes for. Another hint: Use thick sliced bacon and potato bread.

5: Chicken

 

When the temperatures soar, a light entree is the best way to beat the heat. Grilled or fried chicken served cold is a perfect choice, especially if your family is on an unpredictable schedule. To spice it up a bit, try a mustard and tarragon marinade, or go for a citrus-based marinade with lime and cilantro. Keeping it cool on warm, humid summer evenings doesn't mean sacrificing flavor.
When you're performing outdoor cooking prep, use separate utensils for meats and vegetables to avoid cross contamination.

6: Green Salad

 

Summer is the best time to luxuriate in a big, beautiful green salad. All the ingredients will be fresh, and most of them will probably be available locally. This season, add more variety to your basic dinner salad recipe by using spinach, bitter greens and a variety of colored peppers. The more colors and textures you add, the more interesting and flavorful your simple salad will be.

7: Grilled Burgers, Brats and Ribs

 

There's nothing like meat on the grill to make mealtime a summer recreational activity. The griller at your house may not think he's into performance art, but stand back and you're likely to see real showmanship at work.
Be the envy of your neighborhood by expanding your grilling repertoire. Beyond burgers and brats, try grilling your veggies like corn on the cob and even using the warm grill for a few dessert options this year. We love outdoor cooking, not just because al fresco food seems to taste better, but because it keeps the heat and mess out of the kitchen, too.

8: Ice Cream

 

Summer wouldn't be nearly as nice without ice cream, and your favorite brand will taste even better when you use it in these fun and interesting ice cream-based desserts. If you have a weekend afternoon to spare, try making your own ice cream concoctions. You'll be a superhero -- cape optional.

9: Gazpacho

 

Chilled summer soup is a refreshing option with a sandwich. You eat salad vegetables right out of the fridge; why not go for a flavor-packed refrigerated soup, too? With a few fresh veggies and a food processor, you can create a memorable meal with Latin flare that doesn't contain fat or a lot of sodium. Gazpacho thickened with bread crumbs (the Portuguese way) has a nice broth, and the tomatoes and cucumbers give it just-picked goodness. It's full of nutrients, easy to make and low in calories. What's not to like?
If you like the idea of a cold soup but want to avoid a tomato-based dish, try a fruit soup instead.

10. Snow Cones

 

Snow cones are brimming with cool flavors and a satisfying crunch. You don't have to be a kid to love them, either. Head to any fair or recreational food court, and you'll see plenty of grown-ups standing in line for a snow cone or Hawaiian ice of their very own. In fact, these summer sweets are so popular that you can pick up crushed or shaved ice makers and syrup through most food supply outlets and make your own at home.
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