Teaching Children How to Cook

I was extremely fortunate. My mom had me on a stool stirring spaghetti sauce when I was 6 years old. She got me involved in cooking early and while I didn’t do very much of it with her over the years of my childhood, I did learn several important lessons from her: Be prepared Understand [...]

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Simple Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe

Here is the simple buttermilk biscuit recipe I used a couple of days ago to good effect. Prep time should be less than 15 minutes before the biscuits are ready to bake. Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup buttermilk 5 tablespoons butter [...]

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New Goal: Making Our Own Bread

My five year-old daughter has an allergy to milk proteins. This goes beyond lactose intolerance. For any processed food we buy that she might consume, we have to look carefully at the ingredient list to see if it says Milk in the list of allergens it was made with. We also scan to see if [...]

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Spicing Up Eggs

I learned a long time ago that it’s not too hard to make a simple dish taste better. Spices are a key, as is technique. This is what I tell my wife. I grew up cooking. I can remember helping make spaghetti sauce as a 5 year-old with me propped up on a stool and [...]

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Skillet Recipe: Fried Potatoes w/ Italian Seasoning

Serves: 6-8 Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes Ingredients: 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil 2 lbs. of potatoes, peeled and sliced Dash of Italian Seasoning Salt and Pepper Preparation: Heat the skillet to medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil. Roll the skillet to coat the bottom. Add the potatoes to the skillet, frequently moving around to keep [...]

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Crock Pot Recipe: Apple Pork Chops

This is modified from the recipe found at About.com. Serves: 6-8 Preparation Time: 3.5 – 4.5 hours Ingredients: 6-8 pork chops, about 1 inch thick 6-8 apples (we used Juicy Delicious) 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons vegetable oil Additional vegetable oil to brown the pork chops Ground Cinnamon Ground Allspice Salt & Pepper Preparation: [...]

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Review: Serve the People

This book was an unexpected find. I’ve been visiting the library and checking out Chinese and Japanese recipe books because I’ve started to try and learn to cook more traditional Chinese recipes. Tucked in among those recipe books was Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China by Jen Lin-Liu. It does have Chinese recipes [...]

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Recipe: 15 Minute Chicken Burritos

Cooking is a passion of mine, but sometimes I just don’t have a lot of time to spend whipping up something good in the kitchen. Yesterday was one of those days. Since I’m working from home, and I’m trying to take on a lot of the home responsibilities, too, I have a limited time to [...]

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