Cooking 4 Everyone

so for my french class, i have to make my own school. i wanna make a french cookcooking school, but I'm not sure what name to write. can anyone make a few suggestions?

how about: "la nourriture des lâches"

I'm inviting a man over to my apartment for dinner. I'm going to cook something that will take about 45 minutes to prepare. I don't want him to help- I just want to impress him with a nice homecooked meal (as he's my guest).

I know we can talk and I'm sure he'd be fine with just that- but is there something I can do to entertain him while he waits for dinner? Or should we just talk? I don't want to make him feel awkward just sitting there.

Any suggestions?

THANKS in advance!

I would prep most of the meal before he gets there. Open up a bottle of wine while in the kitchen and have some conversation while your putting the finishing touches on your meal. It is also a great topic for conversation; cooking.

can anyone direct me to a web site with recipes for terracotta cooking . I have purchased a pot but their are no instructions whatsoever apart from how to clean the thing or can anyone give me some recipes for vegetables,meats and poultry please I am looking for healthy cookcooking tips . thank you

Try searching under Clay Pot Cooking or recipes. Here's a healthy chicken recipe:

Garlic and Ginger Chicken Baked in a Clay Pot
Yields: 4 servings
4 pounds frying chicken
2 cloves garlic large, minced
1 Knob ginger fresh, grated
salt and black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons sesame oil

Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry. Work your fingers under the skin of the chicken, carefully loosening skin from flesh across the breast and legs.

Mix together the garlic, ginger, salt and pepper; rub evenly under the skin. Brush the chicken with sesame oil.

Soak a 2-quart unglazed clay cooking pot in cold water to cover for 10 minutes. Drain and place the chicken breast-up in the pot. Cover and place in a cold oven; turn the thermostat to 475F and roast for 1 hour.

Remove pot from oven and place on a towel. Put lid on another towel (the hot clay will break if placed on a cold surface). Transfer chicken to a heated serving platter and drizzle with some of the juices left in the pot.
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Clay Pot Chicken and Vegetables
http://www.cookadvice.com/recipes/clay_pot_chicken_with_vegetables-37112-recipe.htm

Here's a bunch of clay pot recipes:

http://www.recipeland.com/recipes/clay+pot+recipes/

i am frying it.
and can you fry it with a lid on the pan?
thanks october!

If you fry it with the lid on, it won't get brown on the outside. Sausage is done when it's no longer pink in the middle. Test for doneness by cutting into the link or patty. Some spices for sausage can be fennel, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, chopped up sun dried tomatoes, black pepper.

I want friends to exchange recipes. Do u know any groups or clubs on the net for cooking and exchanging recipes? Does anyone wants to be my cooking friend? I love cooking and bakibng and Im ready to talk and exchange recipes with u.

Please find attached the links

An Italian home is an inviting one. Italians are fans of people and the homes that they live in have a welcoming atmosphere. Creating that atmosphere in your own home is easy to do with a little paint, arrangement of furniture, and certain accessories.

Good cooking, company, and wine are at the heart of an Italian; therefore, your decorating efforts should start in the kitchen. Italian decorations for the kitchen are very popular, so you shouldn’t have a hard time locating them. There are paintings and other clever things such as representations of spaghetti or meatballs that can be hung on the walls. The olive, a staple of Italian foods, is represented on many serving trays or other functional pieces for the kitchen. If you choose one thing and build on it, soon you’ll have things all over your kitchen that scream Italian.

Somewhere within this kitchen or in a dining room there should be a wine rack and at least four wine glasses, but preferably more. Wine is in the hearts of most Italians. They are famous for their vineyards and their love for their wine is obvious. White or red does not matter, but wine is a part of the Italian culture, and makes a wonderful addition to an Italian style decorated home.

The walls of an Italian styled home should be colorful. Rich earthy tones immediately come to mind. The kinds of colors that you may find out on one of those vineyards in Italy or on the shores of the ocean are the types you should use. The walls should also include some type of texture. It may be painted texture created by using the sponging or ragging technique while painting or it may be actual texture created by either using stucco or mixing paint with some sort of textured material such as sand, but there should be texture. A decorative moulding between the tops of the walls and the ceiling would also be a nice touch in at least one room, preferably the dining room. This will enhance the décor as well as add more texture to the room if it’s lacking.

Another staple to the Italian culture would be that of fresh herbs. If you have a sunny windowsill, place some fresh herbs in terra cotta pots. Not only are they functional, but they are also fragrant. Their scent will waft throughout your home creating a smell that in pleasant and reminiscent of Italian cooking. If you purely want these plants for the decoration and have no intention of using fresh herbs in your cooking, many stores will sell fake pots with fake Italian herbs in them or you can buy the supplies from a craft store and make them. Either way, they will give you that Italian look and you won’t have to worry about watering them or trimming them down.

The Italian decorated home is one that has a lot in it. There is a lot of color and warmth. There is a nice family feel to this home. With a little effort, an Italian style home will be created for many generations to enjoy.

Lee Dobbins
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/italian-style-decorating-tips-for-a-fresh-new-look-122335.html

Here’s the bottom line. There are plenty of people who are eager to begin living a healthier lifestyle, yet they don’t. They are under the misconception that they must have to throw themselves into it completely, by either all or nothing approach.

However, this doesn’t have to be the case. There’s nothing wrong with taking baby steps and working your way up to a completely healthy lifestyle. If this sounds like a better option for you, then continue reading and learn about the following tips for starting out on the road to healthy living. It all begins with your diet.

Healthy Cooking Tip #1 Eat lean meat

You should begin by eating less red meat, and for those times when you do eat it, you should eat the leanest type of red meat possible. Pork is a great lean meat you can use to replace red meat in your diet if you so choose. But the best meats to eat are fish and chicken. These should be the most common sources of protein in your diet.

Healthy Cooking Tip #2 Eat more vegetables

I know, I know, you probably find vegetable to be very boring, as well as lacking in taste. However, they don’t have to be this way. There are healthy ways of preparing vegetables that leaves them tasty also. You can sprinkle them with herbs or you can sautee them in a little chicken broth.

healthy cooking Tip #3 Eat more fruits

If you have trouble finding fruit appealing, you may want to consider adding it to your dinner plate, either sliced or whole. Chances are that if it’s on your plate you will eat it, but whatever the case, make sure vegetables are finding a way into your diet everyday.

Healthy cooking Tip #4 Splurge occasionally

While it is important to eat healthy in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is important also to realize that your purpose in life is to enjoy yourself. Thus, if you have a favorite unhealthy food you like to eat, such as pizza or Buffalo wings, then every two weeks make them one of your meals and allow yourself to splurge without feeling guilty.
You don’t want to feel dull because the most likely result is that you’ll give up on living a healthy lifestyle.

Making the change to live a healthier lifestyle is not something that has to occur overnight. In fact, attempting to try and completely overhaul your diet at a moments notice can leave you feeling frustrated after a few days and more likely to give up and go back to the way you were living.

You don’t want this to happen. In order to give yourself better odds, just focus on the small changes mentioned above, and once you get used to them, then you can expand a little further. If you do this, then you’ll begin to see significant changes in the way you look and feel everyday, great rewards to receive in exchange for a little self discipline.

Yuki Shoji
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/4-healthy-cooking-tips-137385.html

When you designing a kitchen many people will focus purely on the efficiency and organization of their kitchen, but they should not forget to give their kitchen some personality as well as it being functional. So when looking for a way to give your kitchen some personality then why not consider having a French Country kitchen decorating theme.

A well designed French country kitchen will make anyone feel as if they have just walked into a cottage in a rural part of France. Such kitchens reflect the French people’s joy of living as well as the importance of family and friends in their lives. To produce the vibrant and romantic feel of a French country kitchen there are a number of small touches which will help you to achieve the finished result.

Firstly we will look at colour as this plays a major role in any French country kitchen and were to you walk in to a French country cottage then more often than not you would find the walls painted either in a butter or mustard yellow colour. The cupboards in such a kitchen will be painted either cornflower blue or even salmon pink to accentuate the colour of the walls. But if you find these colours a little to strong then why not paint your walls blue and use lighter shades as accents.

For any French country kitchen natural light is also very important in its design. For many you will find that they only use simple roman shades as window dressings. The fabric is usually either canvas or toile and it can be striped or just a solid block colour, but if you want to be a bit more adventurous you could use a fabric with flowers, vegetables or herbs on it instead. One thing that you will find in any French country kitchen is lavender so why not have a dried bunch hanging from a hook in the ceiling or on a wall or just place a clump of it in a wall vase. In this way you will be able to bring the scent of a traditional French country kitchen in to your own.

Any accessories that you choose for your French country kitchen must be functional. Why not look for a terracotta or copper vase in which you can store all your cooking utensils. Also look at using free standing racks made from either copper or wrought iron for holding plants etc., in. Another good accessory to include in your design is a ceramic trivet in either the shape of a rooster or with a herb design that you can place on the wall when it is not being used on your kitchen table.

The best type of table for a French country kitchen decorating scheme is a plain pine work table that can also be used for family and friends to gather round for meals and just simply to sit and socialize at. But when choosing a table ensure that it will not interrupt the traffic flow through your kitchen.

Lee Dobbins
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/decorating-your-kitchen-in-the-french-country-style-97482.html

A successful culinary arts student will require a dash of hard work and a pinch of talent to make a great recipe for a career in the wonderful world of cooking. A fast-paced cooking environment that will require culinary arts students to obtain knowledge quickly and study hard to retain a good amount of information in a very short period of time to accomplish their goals. A cooking profession that revolves around a kitchen environment, there are many colleges and universities around the world that offer degrees and certificate programs to prepare and solve a students career challenge. For the students culinary career, they will learn various skills and cooking techniques while studying the art of cooking. Students in culinary arts can choose from a variety of different cooking programs, also various specialties, and these different specialties have unique techniques and skills necessary for a students career.

Specific types of chefs and their specialties are the order of authority, and are typical in a restaurant kitchen environment. An executive chef has the highest position in the restaurant, and his/her responsibility is in the planning and preparation of the food and meals that are being served to their customers. A typical executive chefs duty is to create a menu, make sure the quality of the food is up to standard and deciding how much food is required for the service. Food preparation and managing a staff are some of the skills students will have to learn and acquire, if their goal is to become an executive chef.

In restaurants, directly supervised by an executive chef, most times, are sous-chefs and they will assist executive chefs with their daily restaurant duties, requesting food and kitchen supplies, planning the restaurant menu. Some of the responsibilities of the sous-chefs are to teach new skills and techniques to a kitchen staff. Supervision of other kitchen personnel such as specialty chefs and cooks are a sous-chefs responsibility. While students study at culinary colleges and universities to become the next future sous-chefs, they will have to learn different cooking techniques and also teaching skills.

Specialty chefs also work in kitchens, and they can specialize in many areas of food including all the meat classes like beef, veal, lamb, poultry and fish to other areas from appetizers to pastries. Specialty chefs will prepare total and complete meals, to decorative food trays, and food garnishes for presentations to customers of the restaurant. Specialty chefs will help supervise other cooks and various staff members in the restaurant kitchen. At culinary arts colleges and universities, students who would like to become specialty chefs will study and learn about all the various aspects and techniques in cooking where they can make a decision on their specific specialty while at college or university.

Part of the professional kitchen staff are normal cooks who do most of the grunt work in regards to the cooking in kitchen restaurants. Cooks will prepare complete meals and then supervise other staff and help in the kitchens. It is a team effort from all kitchen staff to make a restaurant successful. Executive chefs and sous-chefs will start their culinary career as a kitchen cook in restaurants or other cooking locations, and it is usually one of the first steps into a successful culinary career once a student graduates from a culinary arts college or university.

To become aspiring professional chefs in this competitive world, students will prepare and learn all about the various aspects of culinary cooking. The proper techniques in cooking different types of foods, learn what food ingredients compliment one another and more. One of the most important parts of cooking is food safety and food safe courses are taken to make the cooking process food safe. Learn how to prepare food safely, learn proper cooking temperatures for various types of foods and the nutritional benefits, health aspects of different types of foods. Students have to know while preparing food, what is in the foods and how it will affect certain types of people with different health risks.

While fine tuning their cooking skills that students already possess, students at culinary colleges and universities will learn all about these important aspects of the art of cooking.

James Murray
http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/hone-your-culinary-cooking-skills-and-talent-at-a-culinary-arts-college-or-university-583163.html

Why do we use olive oil ?

Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acids (mainly oleic acid), which, unlike saturated fats, do not adversely affect blood cholestrol levels and may even help to lower them slightly. For those suffering from constipation, take more olive oil often as it helps to lubricate the intestines and eliminate waste from our bodies, thereby curing your constipation.

Olive oil also provide natural antioxidants (called polyphenols) which help to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Why are there so many kinds of olive oil ?

The flavor of olive oil varies, depending on the source, the variety of olive, the soil conditions, weather, etc. Some of the primarily source comes from Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey Portugal, Tunisia, Morocco, and California. Some olive oils is from a single variety of oils, others, like most Italian oils, are blends of oils from different types of olives and different countries.

What is the difference among “Virgin”, “Extra virgin”, “Fine” and “refined” olive oil?

Oil extracted from the first pressing of ripe olives is classified as virgin. Extra virgin simply means an oil from the first pressing that is particularly low in acid – less than 1%. Virgin olive oil may have as much as 4% acid. Fino or fine olive oil is a blend of extra virgin and virgin olive oils, with an acid content not above 3%.

After the first pressing, more oil is extracted in subsequent operations using a combination of pressure, heat, and chemical solvents. These refined oils may be blended with virgin oil to replace some of the flavor lost in the processing, and are sold as pure olive oil or just olive oil.

In some countries, you may also stumble upon light olive oil, which is not lower in calories, but which has been so finely filtered as to remove most of its color and fragrance (and flavor). It has a higher smoke point than the other types of olive oil, though, so it is well suited to high-temperature frying

For the best qualities, we should go for the “Virgin” or “Extra virgin” olive oil because they have a fruity and rich flavour, wouldn’t turn rancid so fast and are more easily digestible than refined oil.

For nutritional values, they are the same. However, lower acidity oils, such as extra virgin, tend to have more antioxidants.

Where is olive oil used?

Compared with other vegetable oils, only olive oil has enough flavour to replace butter and margarine for a healthier choice. Because of its pure state, extra virgin oil is often used as a dressing in salads or as a dip for breads.

Refined or light olive oil is suitable for deep frying. It may seem pricey to use it to fry food but the fact that such oil is four to five times more heat resistant than vegetable oil would mean you can reuse it to fry foods many more times before the oil begins to break down.

Will olive oil loses its nutritional value when heated ?

Olive oil, when heated at high temperature, will cause its alcohols and esters to evaporate. The esters are what make up the olive oil delicate taste and fragrance. So heat will only change the flavor of olive oil but not its nutritional contents. We recommend you use a cheaper olive oil like refined/light oil for frying and then add a more flavorful olive oil after cooking.

Will cooking in olive oil reduces the nutritional value of the food when heated ?

Heating food will break down its nutritional value. High heat such as frying is worse than moderate heat such as steaming, which is worse than eating vegetables raw. It is not the cooking oil per se, but the high heat of frying.

Most nutritionists recommend lightly steaming vegetables or eating them raw. A touch of a flavorsome olive oil added at the table will add taste and healthful anti-oxidants. This is what “Mediterranean diet” is about, which has been shown to help prevent coronary disease and have other health benefits.

How to store Olive oil ?

Keep away from heat, ie the stove, to prevent ageing of the oil. Better to keep a large container in a dark, cool cupboard and pour a small amount into a dispenser for everyday use. The container can be made of plastic, stainless or tinted glass.

Alternatively, you can store oil in the refrigerator or freezer, which will greatly extend its shelf life. Do not worry about the crystallized waxes in the oil when chilled. All you have to do is to warm the oil back to room temperature to re-liquefy it.

Find out how to keep your health in tip-top condition at http://www.ionehealth.com

Laura Ng
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/fine-olive-oil-vs-extra-virgin-olive-oil-whats-the-difference-120699.html