5 never perfect Recipes

basmati rice, water (apprx), chicken stock powder (optional) or 1 tsp vegetable stock powder (optional)

everywhere you look , there is a lot of emphasis on cutting the fat out of our daily diets, but who wants to cut out the fat if it means cutting out the flavor when it comes to baking, there is a way to cut down on your fat intake without changing the ingredients in your favorite recipes. if you switch to nonstick silicone bakeware, you can cut down on your fat intake with minimal effort. because the bakeware is nonstick, you never have to use butter, shortening, or grease on your pans or sheets to ensure easy food removal., first silicone items made exclusively for baking were small silicone mats that fit nicely on your cookie sheet and allowed you to bake cookies with out greasing the cookie sheet or worrying about the bottoms getting burned. these little mats were a huge success and stores were hard pressed to keep them in stock., as the popularity of these mats grew , manufacturers decide to explore the idea of making more bakeware from silicone. they began making spoons, spatulas, and whisks that could withstand high heats and could be used with nonstick cookware with no fear of ruining the coating. silicone utensils were the perfect choice for candy making or any other project that required a boiling and sticky liquid to be stirred., kitchen supply manufacturers also introduced silicone potholders and oven gloves. because they can withstand heats up to 500 degrees, they are the perfect insurance that you won tsp get burned when you pull a hot dish from your oven. they don tsp conduct heat the way that a cloth potholder does and they are much sturdier and easy to keep clean than traditional potholders. home canners fell in love with silicone baker s mitts because they could actually reach into a pot of boiling water to remove a hot jar of food once it was done processing. as an added bonus these durable potholders do double duty as lid grippers making opening jars a snap., once silicone hit kitchens in the form of baking mats , utensils, and pot holders, kitchen experts began to see the potential of this material in everyday baking. suddenly almost any type of bakeware that could traditionally be found in stainless steel, aluminum, glass, or stoneware was being offered in brightly colored silicone. stores began selling muffin tins, bread loaf pans, cake pans, and pie pans. the most popular pieces tend to be the specialty designed cake pans that allow you to make cakes shaped like everything from roses to pumpkins. they even have mini cake pans that make individual, fancy shaped cakes., popularity of silicone bakeware skyrocketed as cooks began to see the benefits of using this material in their kitchens. foods pop out of silicone pans with amazing ease. you never need to grease, flour, or even use cooking spray on a silicone pan and that adds up to lots of calories and fat grams saved with each meal. because silicone is very flexible, it is easy to bend and twist it so that cakes and breads pop out easily. you never have to force baked goods out of the pan, so they retain there shape and you don tsp see a lot of split and broken cakes., silicone is a bakers dream when it comes to making evenly cooked delicacies. the material distributes heat evenly, so you never end up with a cake that is burned around the edges and still not cooked in the middle. it also cools down quickly ensuring that your foods will not continue cooking and possibly drying out once you remove them from the oven., because silicone is nonstick , cleanup is a breeze. a little soap and water and any crumb left on your bakeware disappears. it is nonporous, so it never retains any odors from the foods you cook. completely versatile it goes from oven to table to freezer and can even be thrown in the dishwasher. once you are done cleaning it, storage is a snap. with its flexibility, you can twist it, bend it, fold it or mash it up so it can fit in the smallest of drawers or cupboards., if you haven tsp tried silicone bakeware , add a piece or two to your kitchen. you will be surprised at its quality and flexibility.

christmas with louise, as a joke , my brother, jay, used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before christmas. he said all he wanted was for santa to fill them., what they say about santa reviewing behavior and checking the list twice must be true because every christmas morning, although jay s kids stockings overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty., year i decided to make his dream come true. i put on sunglasses and with a hat pulled down and went in search of an inflatable love doll. they don tsp sell those things at walmart., i had to go to an adult bookstore downtown. if you ve never been in an x-rated store, don tsp go. you ll only confuse yourself. i was there an hour saying things like, what does this do you re kidding me! who would buy that finally, i made it to the inflatable doll section. i wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my car so i could use the car pool lane, during rush hour. finding what i wanted was difficult. love dolls come in many different models. the top of the line , according to the side of the box, could do things i d only seen in a book on animal husbandry. i settled for lovable louise. she was at the bottom of the price scale. to call louise a doll took a huge leap of imagination., on christmas eve , with the help of an old bicycle pump, louise came to life., my sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours, long after santa had come and gone, i filled the dangling pantyhose with louise s pliant legs and bottom. i also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. i went home, and giggled for a couple of hours., next morning my brother called to say that santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him very happy but had left the dog confused. she would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more. we all agreed that louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional christmas dinner., my grandmother noticed louise the moment she walked in the door. what the hell is that she asked. my brother quickly explained , it s a doll. . who would play with something like that granny snapped. i had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut. where are her clothes granny continued., boy , that turkey sure smells nice, gran, jay said, trying to steer her into the dining room. but granny was relentless. why doesn tsp she have any teeth again, i could have answered, but why would i it was christmas and no 1 wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, hang on granny! hang on! ., my grandfather , a delightful old man with very poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said, hey, who s the naked gallon by the fireplace i told him she was jay s friend. a few minutes later i noticed grandpa by the mantel, talking to louise. not just talking, but actually flirting. it was then that we realized this might be grandpa s last christmas at home., dinner went well. we made the usual small talk about who had died , who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly louise made a noise that sounded a lot like my father in the bathroom in the morning. then she lurched from the panty hose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa. the cat screamed. i passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth to mouth resuscitation. my brother fell back over his chair and wet his pants laughing and granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car., it was indeed a christmas to treasure and remember. later in my brother s garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of louise s collapse. we discovered that louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh. fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape , we restored her to perfect health., louise went on to star in several bachelor party movies. i think grandpa still asks about her whenever he can get out of the house

mile high lemon meringue secrets, lemon meringue pie may be an american classic , but it can be tricky to prepare. there s the crust with all its issues, then the tart filling and the meringue itself, which is all too prone to weeping. and that topping is never, ever as tall and fluffy as we would like. we wanted to figure out how to make a perfect lemon meringue pie with a sky-high topping. here s what we discovered, make the meringue with a hot sugar syrup (what the professionals call italian-style meringue). this ensures that the meringue is cooked through and stable enough to be piled high on top of the filling. the addition of a little cream of tartar to the egg whites while mixing also helps to stabilize the meringue.flavor the filling with both lemon zest and lemon juice for the brightest citrus flavor. remember to strain the filling to remove the zest, which would mar the otherwise silky smooth filling.use a rubber spatula to spread the meringue over the filled pie, making sure to stick the meringue to the edge of the pie crust to prevent the topping from shrinking. once all the meringue is on the pie, use the spatula to make the spikes and peaks of meringue., all-purpose flour , for dusting, brisee (pie dough) for 1 single 9 inch pie crust, egg, heavy cream, cornstarch, cake flour, salt, sugar, egg yolks, lightly beaten, fresh lemon juice, lemon rind, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, egg whites, sugar, salt