20 better store Recipes

whole-wheat lasagna noodles (15 noodles), lean ground beef (90 percent lean or higher), olive oil, portobello mushrooms, diced (about 3 large mushroom caps), good quality store-bought marinara sauce, part-skim ricotta cheese, frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained, egg, lightly beaten, salt, freshly ground black pepper, ground nutmeg, grated parmesan, grated part-skim mozzarella cheese (about 2/3 cup)

lamb shanks, garlic cloves, finely chopped, cm square piece of finely chopped gingerroot, orange , juice and zest of, sweet soy sauce, white wine, mint sauce , homemade is better though (either store bought or homemade)

graham cracker crust (homemade or store bought ), tofutti better-than-cream-cheese, tofutti sour cream, egg, sugar

any liquid can be reduced just by heating it - but why would you want to do that, answer comes back to two of our old friends, flavor and consistency (texture)., by reducing any flavored liquid you intensify its flavor and at the same time thicken it. you can continue this process until what you have left is a syrup if it contains sugar, or a sauce if it does not., this is 1 of the most important tools in the kitchen , believe it or not, because a great sauce can rescue an indifferent meal., literally any liquid can be reduced ., a few uses, wine is frequently used in cooking , both as a marinade and as an addition to sauces for meat., there are some problems with it though, 1 of which is that you need a really good wine and quite a lot of it to produce a reasonable sauce for, say, six people., on the other hand , if you use pure grape juice and reduce it to a syrup, that syrup, added to any sauce (or gravy if you prefer) will lift it into the realms of gourmet ., more , you don tsp have to make your reduction on the night you prepare your meal. you can reduce a liter of grape juice at any time to the consistency and flavor you want; then just store it in the fridge., you can do the same thing with any fruit juice - prune is sensational - and store it until needed. just about all of them will do things for ice cream, pies or tarts that will have your guests demanding the recipe, pork with apple sauce use a carton of fresh apple juice from the supermarket and reduce it. and if you want a real sensation add in a glass of apple brandy during the reduction process., are you getting an idea of how simple this is, take any carton of fresh stock straight of the shelf and reduce it. you will transform it into something even the manufacturer won tsp recognize. but beware, you need to start out with good quality in the first place, because when you reduce a liquid you intensify all the flavors, and not just the good ones., if it s salty to start with, for example, it will be salty beyond belief by the time you ve reduced it even by half. so if you are going to use a supermarket stock, make sure it s an extremely good 1., believe me when i tell you that stock cubes should not be used for reduction sauces., thickeners, because you will be tasting as you go (won tsp you ), you may find that you get the flavor you want before the desired consistency is reached., a couple of hints right now for your sauces., sweet ones can be thickened successfully without loss of color by adding in liquid glucose early on in the reduction process. surprisingly, this will add little in the way of sweetness and produces a beautiful velvety sauce when whisked., if you get it wrong and add too much, no problem. stir in a little extra water to thin it., reduction pans, reductions need to happen rapidly in serving to preserve flavors. and the greater the surface area of the liquid the faster the water will evaporate., however you may want to whisk something into the sauce while its cooking - such as butter or olive oil for example - and for that i find a small wok is best; 1 with a handle., a wok is less likely to reduce so fast that the sauce is burnt while your back is turned. but try both methods and see which you prefer. you may even end up using something totally different., no magic to this. whatever works for you, that s what you should use, in this and everything else to do with cooking., just bear in mind that what you re after is speed and ease of use. as well as a great tasting result, of course. :>), keeping, if they should dry out , simply add a little water and heat through., sauces containing meat juices of any kind must be frozen if you re going to keep them, and should be brought to boiling point before being used again. there is no need to thaw them out to do this, in fact it s better not to. simply drop the frozen cubes into a saucepan, melt them over a gentle heat, and then bring swiftly to the boil., why do you do this to avoid food poisoning, that s why. you are making sure that any bugs introduced into the sauce during the preparation process are killed off., worry , this will not be because of anything you have done wrong (i hope!), but because bacteria are part of our everyday lives and they exist in every kitchen, however clean., in fact your food , and especially your meat, is crawling with wildlife that you will never see. don tsp worry about them. careful handling and simple precautions will ensure that these miniature monsters can never multiply enough to harm either you or your guests.

dried fruit compote with sambuca, this quick compote is a good choice for a winter dinner when you have little time to cook but want to make an impression. you can prepare it ahead (it s better made ahead), then spoon it over store-bought ice cream to create an original and memorable dessert. i also like it with blue cheese at the end of a meal, especially if there s a dessert wine on the table., dried peaches or nectarines, cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips, dried pears , cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips, dried apricots, cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips or quartered, golden raisins, dried cherries, water, sugar, cinnamon stick, lemon zest strips, fresh lemon juice, sambuca or other anise liqueur

very hot water, whole milk, sugar, butter, yeast, salt, flour (i use better for bread flour), potato flakes or 1/2 cup mashed potatoes

refrigerated biscuits (plain store brand , do not use jumbo, flaky, buttered, etc.), vegetable oil (for fryer), whole milk, pure vanilla extract, sugar

chickpeas, onion, quartered, jicama or 1/2 cup water chestnut, roughly chopped, quick oats, egg (or substitute), chili powder or 1 tbsp cayenne pepper, salt and pepper

pecan pieces, eggs, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, butter extract, maple extract, whipping cream , whipped, tub of cool whip, whole milk

fresh whole mint leaves , unblemished, semisweet chocolate , tempered if possible, equipment : 2 sheets of acetate, the thicker the better, each about 18 by 24 inches (you can get this at an art supply store, or 2 pieces of parchment paper, or 2 nonstick baking mats; and a pastry bag (optional)

tilapia fillets, pumpernickel bread (thin sliced , 3 per sandwich), swiss cheese (very thin sliced , you need 4 per sandwich), thousand island dressing (a good store bought brand is fine), flour, cayenne, salt, pepper, butter (1 tbsp to grill the fish, 1 tbsp to grill the sandwiches), sauerkraut (a good store brand from the deli, fresh is better), red onion, cut in quarters and thin sliced, caraway seed, butter

elbow macaroni , undercooked in boiling,salted water &,drained, butter, flour, dry mustard (colman s), cayenne pepper, cheddar cheese soup, melted butter, salt, milk (skim is okay, higher fat is better), heavy cream, grated medium cheddar, grated colby cheese, plain breadcrumbs , very coarsely grated from a stale loaf of crusty white bread (good country bread is best but if you use store bought crumbs, make sure they are roughly grated, no)

frozen fries, white cheese curds, homemade gravy or store bought. homemade is much better

go to the crafts store., purchase 1 or more bags of dried fruit, some plaster of paris, brown paint and a disposable cake pan., go home ., unwrap the dried fruit , carefully folding the wrapper inside-out and placing it at the bottom of your trash can. better yet, send it through your personal paper shredder and use it for insulation in the attic., mix the plaster of paris with water and pour into the disposable cake pan. place dried fruit on top, gently pushing in so it looks baked in the batter. let dry., take your fruitcake out of the disposable cake pan ., cover the top, bottom and sides with brown paint, avoiding the fruit., wrap your fruitcake in festive , colored saran wrap and finish with a bow. i like using red wrap because it gives a warm glow to the fruitcake., give your fruitcake to someone you want to impress. when they lift it, they ll say, wow! you must have made a really rich fruitcake! don tsp forget to smile and say, oh, its paris-style fruitcake., worry about someone trying to eat your fruitcake. nobody actually eats fruitcake... that s just a rumor. just so you know, the dried fruit won go bad because it has the same preservatives as twinkies, which have a shelf-life of about 237 years.

i have found for cooking heavy whipping cream is best. cook slow and temper (this is when u add some of the hot liquid to the cream to bring it up to temp.) before putting in a hot liquid. if it is cooked to long and too hot it will break up or separate. i also know it can dry up, but just follow these rules and it should be okay. cream picks up flavors pretty quick. i would thin 15 or 30 mins. is long enough to let the cream sit with ingredients, althought when i was making souffles and other desserts the cream was not a factor unless i beat it too long (it would dis-solve to nothing), didnt have a clean, cold bowl or cream was warm., cream, half & is at least 10.5% butterfat (milkfat), light cream is between 18 and 30% butterfat, light whipping cream is between 30 and 36% butterfat, heavy whipping cream is between 36 and 40% butterfat., colder cream is to start, and the colder it stays as you whip it, the easier and better it whips., if it is not cold enough , it doesn tsp whip , it churns (no air is incorporated) which makes butter., when whipping cream , add the sugar when the cream is mostly whipped, and the cream will whip to a higher volume. adding the sugar at., prevent cream from curdling when adding to coffee, use fresh cream. as cream ages, its lactic acid content increases. acid can curdle cream. the acid in coffee, along with coffee s heat, favor curdling of cream., here are some facts and tips on using cream or milk in hot dishes., lower the butterfat (milkfat) content, the more likely cream is to separate., half & is at least 10.5% butterfat (milkfat), light cream is between 18% and 30% butterfat, light whipping cream is 30% to 36% butterfat, heavy cream (heavy whipping cream) is 36% to 40% butterfat, hotter the liquid , the more likely cream is to curdle (separate). cream should never be added to a boiling liquid., when adding cream or milk, it is best to heat it up a bit before adding it to another hot liquid. it is partly the difference in temperature that causes milk or cream to curdle. the beginning results is lower volume., freezing cream : freeze only heavy cream containing 40% or more butterfat. heat to 170 to 180of for 15 minutes. for storage longer than 2 months, add 1/3 cup sugar per quart of cream. cool quickly. place in moisture-vapor resistant containers, leaving 1/2-inch headspace., cream whipped after freezing and thawing does not become as stiff as never-frozen cream. individual whipped cream garnishes can be satisfactorily frozen by whipping cream before freezing. place dollops of whipped cream on baking sheet and freeze. once solidly frozen, remove dollops and store in the freezer in freezer containers.

cool whip or store brand non dairy whipped cream, your favorite chocolate instant pudding mix (the darker the chocolate the better and try not to use milk chocolate it s too light in flavor), your favorite chocolate syrup (hersheys, bosco etc), cinnamon , shaved chocolate and mint leaf for garnish (optional)

sugar, light brown sugar, chopped walnuts, toasted, all-purpose flour, cold butter, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, sugar, dark raisin, butter, crisco butter flavor shortening, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, chopped walnuts, toasted, perked coffee, baking soda, all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, applesauce (optional)