Old Fashioned Recipes Are Still The Best Cooking Medium

By: Eddie Yak

It seems like every day offers up a new medium online or on television for recipe lovers. On cable, channels dedicated to cooking have cropped up, and individual programs offer in-depth look at specific types of cooking, cuisine and recipes. And on the Internet, there are even more resources for new and old-fashioned favorite recipes, as well as forums and communities that let you search and share recipes with other amateur cooks.
There are more resources than ever available to recipe lovers everywhere, and new recipes that no one has ever heard of are invented every day. Yet even in the face of all of the new recipes and cooking styles, good old-fashioned recipes still remain the number one favorite of Americans as well as people in other countries, as well. While our cooking tools, implements and ingredients have changed dramatically over the last century (think of the microwave and fat-free ingredients, for instance), the favorite recipes are still those that were cooked up well over a century ago.
Old-fashioned favorite traditional meals still make up the majority of the meals that are cooked for families across the United States and other nations around the world. While the way we cook may have changed, the food that we eat really hasn't. Although it may be presented in different ways, the old-fashioned favorites are still showing up in recipes just as frequently as they were a century ago. And can you really blame anyone for enjoying old-fashioned cooking and recipes more than the new-age, bland, strange food that is served up in some new restaurants?
The best-tasting recipes are the ones that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers treated their families to many years ago, and some people count family recipes as their most prized possessions. They commit these family recipes to memory and pass them on to their children as heirlooms that are to be treated with reverence and respect. In fact, even suggesting a small change to grandma's traditional recipe is enough to anger some of today's cooks in their own home kitchens. But wait: what about new fat-free and healthy eating crazes that have captured much of the nation?
For some, it is heresy to transform traditional family recipes into fat-free or healthy versions, but luckily it is still indeed possible to create those traditional recipes while using healthier ingredients. Thankfully, many new healthy ingredients taste much the same as our traditional less healthy counterparts, so most people won't notice much of a difference. But just to be safe, it is probably better not to mention to the most traditional diners that you went out of your way to make their meal a little healthy. Let them eat and enjoy, and the healthiness of your traditional recipe can be your own secret!


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Aaron Cherry is a big time chef.

Your best standby on the food front: delicious pasta salad.

Has this ever happened to you? You’ve been invited to a party and realize you don’t have a meal to bring. Not only that, but the party starts in an hour. What should you do?

You have four options:

Don’t go, and miss out on a really fun time. Show up empty-handed and explain red-faced that you forgot. Grab a casserole dish and head to the deli. Order your food and have them put it right into your casserole dish. Yes, I’ve done this. It’s expensive but it works.

If you get asked for the recipe, just wink and say “It’s Grandma’s secret recipe.”

Whip up a big batch of pasta salad for only a few dollars, and have plenty left over to eat for lunch during the week. You will save money and look good showing up at the party with a great dish.

Pasta salad is truly one of the easiest meals to prepare. All you need are noodles and salad dressing. You can use pretty much any salad dressing on the market – the standards like Italian, Ranch, or, if you’re ambitious, your favorite homemade dressing.


Now for the fun part. Cook the noodles, following package directions and then drain. Pour the dressing on while the noodles are warm so they will absorb that entire good oily flavor.

Look around your kitchen to see if you have any of the following ingredients:

Fresh veggies – carrots, broccoli, green onions
Frozen vegetables – frozen peas are wonderful in pasta salad
Cubed or shredded cheese
Garbanzo beans (also known as Chick Peas)
Black Olives

Toss in whatever you can find. It’s an ‘everything goes’ type of recipe. Bring more dressing with you in case you need to add it later, and voila! You’re done.

If you’re feeling fancy, you can bring some cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese, bacon bits or sunflower seeds as toppings. It’s all good.

The next time you are invited to a party, don’t panic. Just grab these instructions and whip up a meal in minutes. Enjoy!


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Baking Thoughts for Summer Foods

Summer is a great time of year for baking. The natural response to the warmer weather would be to enjoy the outdoors rather than baking in your kitchen, but it is quite the opposite. Although you are working in the heat of the oven, the snacks you can create are enough to cool you off while enjoying the process of creating deserts yourself. The countless flavors that are fitting for the summer atmosphere will make you forget about the heat in the kitchen. Many baked goods also do well when served cold or frozen, making them perfect to help you cope with and enjoy the summer.

When it comes to baking in the summer, fruit is often the centerpiece. Strawberries, mangoes, limes and a wide variety of melons are commonplace. Homemade cream mixed with berries also finds its way into many summertime desserts. Muffins and pastries with exotic fruit flavors also stand out this time of year. Then there are the cakes. From decadent to fun, there is an abundance of variety available when it comes to summertime cakes.

Using fruit for baking is wildly popular in the summer. The sweet juicy flavors refresh the palate and provide a wonderful touch to recipes that fit the warm weather. Making jam is also popular in the summer. Taking your favorite fruits and turning them into jams and preserves is not only delicious, but also relatively easy. It is a baking activity fit for the entire family. If you really want to make the activity outstanding, bake your own bread to go along with the jam. You can even bake the bread over a fire when you are out camping for a perfect culinary adventure. Pies are also a popular use for sweet, summertime fruits. If a classic pie does not quite fit your style, you can use piecrusts, cookie dough or even basic pizza dough to make fruit pizza. Make the dough yourself, use yogurt or a similar spread able food for your sauce and spread fruit around the dough to make an irresistibly sweet delight.

Muffins and pastries are also very popular baked goods for the summertime. Mixing your favorite fruits into your favorite variety of muffin dough can make a perfect summer breakfast. Peaches, strawberries, raisins and bananas make for wonderful ingredients in your muffins and pastries with these fruits are a perfect baked good for your sweet tooth. Kiwi, pineapple and blueberries also go wonderfully in your muffins and pastries in the summertime.

A great part of summer baking is cakes. Fresh fruits find their way into cakes as well. Banana cakes, strawberry shortcake, pineapple cakes and others are all extremely popular when the weather heats up. Fruit filled cheesecakes also tend to be baked frequently in the summertime. You can also login onto www.cajuns-recipes.com. Including ice-cream with your cakes is a great way to keep everybody cool. Another summertime trend is making cakes in exotic shapes. Whether it is a watermelon cake both in flavor and in design or a towering castle of confectionary delight, the options for cake design in the summer are infinite. Other popular elements of design are flowers, butterflies, vines and collections of fruit.

As if the fruit muffins, pastries and cakes are not enough, summertime baking also features includes ice cream. Bake some French toast or Belgium waffles then add your favorite ice cream, fresh fruits and any other toppings you may enjoy. You will have yourself a dish to cool the summer heat and delight your taste buds simultaneously.

When you have exhausted these recipes, you can try making your own scones or fried dough. Another option is to make your own jam to go with your dough. If there is still more that you want to do, try fondue. Melt some chocolate or peanut butter and add in your homemade jams, this allows you have all the dips you could need. Bake some fried dough, mix in fresh fruit, and dip it all together to liquefy your dessert.


Baking in the summer has endless possibilities. However, in the end it all boils down to using a wide variety of fresh fruits. Whether you are making jam, bread, muffins, pastries, and cakes or enhancing your ice cream, the key to baking in the summer is in the fruit.

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How to Design Your Own Beer Recipe

Perhaps the greatest thrill in making beer is that innate desire of the individual brewer to create a truly unique, signature brew. This process of recipe design comes easy to some, but it can present a big challenge to others. Sometimes it’s good to get back to basics and remind ourselves that all beer essentially contains just a few key ingredients: malt, hops, yeast, and water. We know that the malt provides the fermentable sugars, and the yeast converts these sugars to alcohol, while the hops work to balance the sweetness of unfermented sugars. That’s the general process. It’s the manner in which we bring these and other ingredients together that determines the characteristics of the finished beer. Take the time to really familiarize yourself with these ingredients. For example, it’s fine to read about the unique flavors imparted by different varieties of hops, but you should also focus on the aroma of the hops as you use them. Seek out existing recipes that call for ingredients you have never used. Recreate these recipes, and keep a detailed journal of each brewing session. This journal should include a list of the ingredients, starting and finishing gravities, fermentation temperature, and all important dates and times such as time of boil, pitching, fermentation, secondary racking, and bottling. ProMash is just one of many software programs available to help with this task. I only mention it because it is what I use. If you would prefer, a pen and notebook will work just fine. Once you have found a recipe you enjoy, go back to your journal. Look for ways to make it even better, and make it your own. Perhaps there are other flavors, enjoyable to you but not always used in beer, that you can bring to this recipe. Begin the process of experimentation. Recently, I discovered a wheat beer recipe that I enjoy very much. My goal now is to recreate it, slightly lighter in body and with a hint of lemon and basil. Take the liberty to do the same with your beer. Just remember to keep the batch sizes small during the experimentation process. That way, if you don’t care for the finished product, not much is lost.

Ouzo - It’s all Greek to me

Do you know why Ouzo appears milky? No? I’ll tell you then; It’s the anethole (be careful how you say it) you see. Anethole is what supplies the aromatic taste to Ouzo, and it dissolves in alcohol, but not in water, so when Ouzo is diluted, the anethole separates and turns the drink milky. Not a lot of people know that, as Michael Caine once said, but this isn’t a story about anethole, it’s about that wonderful Greek institution, Ouzo.

Like the drink, Ouzo’s history is a little murky too. Although the popularity of Ouzo as we know it today, rocketed during the nineteenth century, there are some who believe the drink to be much older. The claim is that Ouzo is the offspring of Tsipouro, a drink that was distilled during the Byzantine Empire and adopted by the Ottomans. The home of Tsipouro was said to be a monastery on the much revered Mount Athos, where fourteenth century Monks would prepare a type of Tsipouro that was flavoured with anise, and it was this that eventually came to be known as Ouzo.

Following Greek independence in the nineteenth century, distillers on the island of Lesbos began a tradition that is still strongly followed today, with the island being a major producer. The islanders have a strong claim to be the originators of the drink, at least in its modern form. When people fell out of love with absinthe in the early part of the twentieth century, they turned to Ouzo, which was described as absinthe without the wormwood so the drink gained status. Copper stills were introduced in 1932, which is now considered an essential for any Ouzo maker worth his salt. Varvayanis, who are located in the town of Plomari, are one of the main producers of Ouzo. You will also find the home of Pistillate in the same town.

One of the arguments cited by the pro-tsipouro lobby, is the visit to Thessaly in 1896 of Professor Alexander Filadelfefs, who claimed that the name changed to Ouzo after the following event; At that time, Thessaly exported fine quality cocoons to Marseille, and in order to distinguish the crates from the run-of-the-mill production, they were stamped with ‘Uso Massalia’, which means ‘to be used in Marseille’, so these two words in effect meant ‘Superior Quality’. When a Turkish diplomat by the name of Anastas Bey visited the town of Tymavos, he was requested to sample the local Tsipouro. As he savoured the aromatic drink, the diplomat exclaimed ‘this is uso Massalia my friends’, and as the story spread, the name Ouzo began to be used.

However, there is another explanation of the name; Sir G.Clauson tells us that the word Ouzo is a derivative of uzum, which is Turkish for grapes, so it would seem that not only the origin of the drink is in question, but also the source of the word by which we identify it.

Anyway, you could argue about it until you’re blue in the face, but I prefer to think about it whilst I’m drinking it. Ouzo is Ouzo; it just is. I’d rather discuss which is the best way to drink Ouzo. The traditional way is with water in a small glass, but the brave ones amongst you may like to try it neat. Adding Cola has become a very popular, but in my opinion, barbaric option which neutralises the liquorice taste. Go and drink an alco-pop if that’s what you like. It is also traditional to eat bite-sized snacks with your drink, or a small portion of sardines, much like the Spanish Tapa, but the real, main ingredient for enjoyment is the same as any drink; surround yourself with friends, Greek if possible.

Ouzo is also considered a medicine, especially by the older generation, who refer to the drink as ‘To Farmako’ (the medicine). It is said to relieve toothache, but I suppose any alcoholic drink would if you drank enough. Other medicinal uses of Ouzo are; as a liniment for aching muscles, to calm the nerves, as an expectorant, as a diuretic and as something to settle an upset stomach.

In 2006, Greece won denomination rights for Ouzo, Tsipouro and Tsikoudia, which disallowed foreign distillers from using the names.


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Chocolate Cookie Recipes (fun to Make With the Kids)

One of the best ways to make memories with your children or grandchildren is to allow them in the kitchen with you. Kids love to bake and they enjoy eating and sharing with others the goodies they make. It is also a fun learning experience for them, one they don't even realize is a lesson. Organing ingredients, following the instructions in the recipe, working together to make something special, and don't forget clean-up. It is important for children to learn that after the fun, there is clean-up to be done. If you work it right, they will even think that is part of the fun. Counting and measuring is also a good math lesson. So don't try to keep your children out of the kitchen. Invite them in and have fun together. Homemade Chocolate Sandwich Cookies is a recipe they will love as they get to put the cookies and filling together to make "sandwiches". They may not get them perfect but life is not about perfection in everything. You aren't trying to make a masterpiece, just a cookie! And the kids will love dunking the Chocolate Dunk Cookies in the chocolate mixture. Note: When baking with chocolate and children, be sure they wear aprons, smocks, or older clothing.


HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE SANDWICH COOKIES

This recipe is from an old Midwestern State church cookbook.

1/2 cup butter or oleo

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsps baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa



Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together in the order given. Beat until smooth. Drop by rounded teaspoon on buttered cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 7 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool and make sandwiches using the filling recipe below.




Marshmallow Filling:



1/2 cup white shortening

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup marshmallow cream

1 tsp vanilla

3 or 4 tsps milk (adjust amount for the right consistency)



Cream shortening and sugar together and mix in rest of the ingredients. Spread between cookies and make sandwiches. Wrap individually in plastic wrap to store so they won't stick together.

CHOCOLATE DUNK COOKIES

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

8 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, divided

3/4 cup margarine, softened

2 tbsp firmly packed Splenda brown sugar blend OR 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup SPLENDA granular

1/4 cup egg substitute

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Coarsely chop 5 squares of the chocolate and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat margarine, brown sugar, and SPLENDA with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg substitute and vanilla extract; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture beating until blended. Stir in chopped chocolate and nuts. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Dough drops should be two inches apart. Bake 11 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute before removing from cookie sheets. Cool completely on wire racks. Melt 3 squares of chocolate in microwave as directed on package. Dip one half of each cookie into the melted chocolate. Place in single layer on waxed paper and let set until chocolate is set.

Note: This recipe uses some ingredients that make it diabetic friendly. You can make the following changes, if you do not have diabetics in your family: Substitute 1 egg for the egg substitute and 3/4 cup granulated sugar for the Splenda granular.

Enjoy!