How To Cook and Visit

Cook by baking in the oven

2010-02-10T20:15:00.006-06:00

While cooking and visiting this weekend we cooked in the oven. In the winter cooking in the oven has 2 functions. The first function is to cook and eat but the second is it warms the air. This weekend we cooked stuffed baked turkey drumsticks. These stuffed drumsticks are so tasty it makes you want to cook them every week. Do we talk about them while we are eating them for sure. Being it is turkey it is supposed to be healthier than red meat, this is a great alternative to red meat.

The recipe: (my way)

3 nice sized turkey drumsticks
2-3 good pinches of salt and red pepper
9 cloves of garlic, chopped kind of big
1/2 onion chopped kind of big

In a bowl combine the spices and garlic and onion

Take a knife and stuff the drumsticks, near the bone, very well.

Put the drumsticks in a oven safe bowl with a lid and put them in the oven on about 350 for about 3 hours, more or less. Check the meat with a thermometer and make sure it is at the safe temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit , minimum.

You will know it's cooked when pricked with a knife juices run clear. But safety first and put a cooking thermometer in it and check.

The turkey comes out tender and tasty.

I actually made turkey enchiladas with left overs and that was wonderful too. My daughter loves enchiladas and so do I. So when she said she wanted some I made them with the left over turkey meat. You really think you're eating out at a fancy restaurant when eating these.

Enjoy.

Change eating habits

2010-01-28T09:26:00.005-06:00

One way we can eat healthy is to change eating habits. We do things out of habit. If we're thirsty we grab a can soda or sugary drink. Instead of sugary drinks drink water. Put a little lemon in it and it takes better. If your hungry for a sweet treat eat fruit instead. If your hungry for chips eat vegetables instead. Your getting my drift about now, I think. So instead of going to a fast food place to eat cook something instead. When you cook your food you know whats in it. Every once and a while I like to get on line and check out the calories/sodium/fat grams at the restaurants. It is amazing how much calories/sodium/fat grams is in the food. For example at BK a double whopper sandwich 910 calories/57 fat grams. The calories in an awesome blossom is 2710 and total fat is 203.0 grams. So chew on that for a while,,,, woow.

I found a great recipe to share with you and it's not hard. It's Mini Crab Cakes, it's pretty easy, so give it a try you will love it. Invite some friends to share with.

Mini Crab Cakes:

1 large egg, beaten
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
2 Tablespoon finely chopped onions
4 Saltine crackers, crumbled
1 Teaspoon seasoning (mixture of salt, red pepper, basil, garlic salt)
1 Tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 Pound lump crabmeat
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

Combine egg and next 5 ingredients and mix well. Gently fold in crab: don't over mix (your lump crab meat won't be lump anymore" Form int 12 mini crab cakes (the patties will be fairly wet).

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Fry crab cakes, in 2 batches. 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining oil and crab cakes. Makes 1 dozen.

This is one of the easier crab cake recipes I've seen and good.

*Note: non stick skillets lets you use less oil when preparing meals or you can even use an electric skillet.

Cooking to Visit

2010-01-20T17:08:00.007-06:00

Sometimes I think I am Cooking to Visit with people besides myself. When I feel like company I think about what kind of food I can cook and cook for my company. I don't know why but I enjoy cooking. Maybe it's because I like to eat fresh food. I think that's it, I like to eat food that I know whats in it.

Like tonight for supper I cooked some turkey breast. I cut the breast up in small chunks and put a little olive oil on the bottom of the pot and sauteed it. When it was cooked I sprinkled herbs on top. Then I made a salad on the side with cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, purple onions, boiled eggs, bell peppers, carrots, cheese and homemade bread crumbs (wheat). That was a good meal. We enjoyed the dinner and have a little left.

You wonder why go through the trouble for your self much less other people? Because it's fun and enjoyable when you can eat good food (that you fixed) and visit with family and/or friends at the same time. Just like going eat out together but at your kitchen table. I think going eat out is fun and all but for me, I don't like to do it too often. Cooking at home is cheaper too. If fixing a big family meal is too much for you then make it small. The salad I cooked tonight was not too big and it was loaded with nutrients. Another idea is chili or soups, that's a one pot meal. I saw a recipe for turkey chili, I'm interested in trying it, sounds good.

So I guess the point of this posts is to try and get you to see cooking is fun, nutritious, enjoyable and it gives you the opportunity to visit with family or friends. Get a recipe, get the ingredients and get cooking. It's not as bad as we think. That's the thing, think about what you want to eat, what makes you say oh yeah, I want to eat that. That gets me motivated, wanting to eat something specific. The other day my daughter wanted enchiladas. So I got a recipe for enchilada sauce on the internet, very good one, and made enchiladas. They were good. I used turkey meat in some and queso cheese in the others. The turkey meat was left overs from two days before. The meat was stuffed with onions and garlic and seasonings and cooked in the oven. The meat had made a gravy and I chopped it up and put it in the enchiladas with a little cheese and enchilada sauce. Wow, very good. My daughter likes mexican food and so do we.

So, decide what you feel like eating and cook that. Invite friends to eat with you it makes for good conversation.

We're cooking and visiting while eating gumbo today

2010-01-15T13:45:00.006-06:00

We are Cooking and visiting with friends tonight. We cooked a gumbo. What kind you ask? An okra, hen and sausage gumbo.
Oh boy it has been cold lately. I know I live in the south but this year, as for the rest of the country, this year hit record lows. We had temperatures in the teens. You northerners must be laughing right now, ha-ha, teens.
So that means you need lots of warm food and what's any warmer than gumbo. Gumbo is fairly cheap to cook depending on what you fix. If you cook chicken and sausage gumbo it is cheaper than shrimp and okra or seafood gumbo.

How I make a Gumbo

Gumbo is made with a roux. Today you can buy roux in a jar, it's that easy. Put as much roux as you like and add water- according to directions and add onions, garlic, bell pepper, some celery (not much celery). Let the roux come together with the onions, garlic, bell pepper, celery- do not cover yet, as the roux didn't boil yet, let it boil first before you cover it or it will boil over and it's a big mess. You need to add seasonings- salt (sea salt), pepper, a couple of bay leaves, if you like, some gumbo file'... what ever seasonings you like. Let this roux mixture cook for about 2 hours, the longer the better. After it's cooked long enough add your chicken and sausage or what ever you decided to cook.

Invite friends and family

Now the fun part is to invite friends and enjoy the conversation and food together.

Conversation topics:

Our conversation topics lately with our friends are

The new baby, The children, Finances, Husbands and Wives (lol), you know- life.
Enjoy.

Use electric skillets to cook a roast

2009-12-20T20:06:00.006-06:00

I like to cook for my family and friends, while visiting and some times that means being creative to save time. When I cook roasts I like to use electric skillets, that way my stove is free for the side dishes like rice dressing, potatoes or sauteed carrots. It's easy to use electric skillets and it frees up time. Put the roasts in the skillet, turn it to correct temperature and check to see how long need to cook per pound per roasts. You'll want to add chopped or quartered onions, bell peppers and garlic at this point. Let it cook so it is juicy and falling off bone, if has one. Ummmm, Ummmm sa say bon.

So when your cooking that roast in the electric skillet and your stove is free for he sides go ahead and cook them. The rice dressing is different meats ground up. Different meats like ground meat and ground pork also some liver is ground up in there, don't be scared, it's good. Get out a pot and put just a little bit olive oil on the bottom and brown the meat mixture. After it's browned well add some chopped onions, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Get those sauteed with the meat and once that's good lower the fire and let it cook. Now, if you like the rice dressing a little creamy and wet and some roux in there and mix it well so that you can add a little water and it makes it creamy. Let it cook down now for a while, so put it the temp where it won't burn.

Now if you want some green beans on the side take them out. Use fresh or frozen (of course). Get a big enough pot out and put a little olive oil in it. Put a little butter (not margarine), unsalted butter in there and let it melt. Add onions and bell pepper (about a 1/4 each) and let saute down. When done add the green beans and let cook on low/medium heat. Watch the beans do not let them burn.

So because you're using the electric skillet and the stove burners are free you can cook rice dressing and green beans. You can cook more if you want there's 2 more burners free. Ha,Ha.

Cooking flavorful, healthy and delicious food

2009-12-18T11:28:00.005-06:00

Welcome to How to cook and visit. This site provides tips and techniques for cooking and visiting with family and friends. How to cook and visit would love your ideas on cooking and visiting, let's face it we all can use good ideas.

When cooking it is best to use fresh quality ingredients. If fresh is not available frozen is the next best. The reason you want to use good quality ingredients is because it is healthier for your body. The nutrients are plentiful in fresh/frozen vegetables and fruits. There are hardly any nutrients (good quality) left in a can of vegetables. The process of processing foods boils most of the nutrients that the vegetable/ fruits have and then add chemicals, additives... most of the time.

Now, as for oil. We will need to add oil to our food some times. Instead of using animal fat oil use olive oil, extra virgin olive oil. Some times we will use butter (not margarine), to start some foods off. Use unsalted real butter in place of margarine. Use it sparingly, not a lot and it's okay. If your one who believes margarine is better for you do some research you may be surprised. These are my opinions based on the research I've done but don't think I know the answers, look it up yourself you'd be surprised at what's out there.

Herbs are nice to use in food. The fresher the better again but in the bottle/jar won't be so bad just check the source. Don't forget spices like Cayenne pepper, you can use it in place of black pepper if you want to. Some people want to use onion salt or garlic salt, go light with the extra salts, for sodium reasons.

So this is just an over view of what to start off with when choosing what to cook. Your basics, the food- fresh, the oil-extra virgin olive oil, the herbs-fresh, bottle, jar and the "spices"-some like it hot. So cook it up, spice it up and eat it up.

Don't forget your company when they visit. When company comes they get the good quality ingredients too they may not eat fresh foods and when you feed it to them they will notice the fresh quality and taste. The food we eat when we visit is part of the conversation.

Let's get cooking.