Cake Decorating Can Be Very Easy - How To Make A Cake From Scratch

[Honey Beans White Forest]
How important it is to make a cake beautiful? When your friend or family is having a birthday party, or something real nice happened to your colleague in the company, or on important moments like your wedding anniversaries, an elegant and beautiful cake can really enhance the festival atmosphere.
Cake decorating has always been one of the most demanding steps of making a cake. You need to prepare a lot of materials and tools which are usually rare to average household. However, what I'd like to introduce today is a pretty simple recipe, a decorated cake with no complex decoration needs.
To make this cake, you will need no cake stand, no sets of pastry tubes which you probably never use, no special spatula, and no need to practicing how to wipe the cream smooth at all. This is a simple but elegant looking cake, definitely attractive to the eyes and one hundred percent guarantee that is delicious.
I call it "honey beans white forest". It is made of chiffon cake, honey beans, light cream, white chocolate chips covered surface and fresh cherries as decoration. Delicate, soft, sweet and delicious, in short, this simple recipe is very easy to learn at home.
[Honey Beans White Forest] - HOW TO MAKE A CAKE FROM SCRATCH
INGREDIENTS:
INGREDIENTS FOR A 6-INCH CAKE: one 6-inch chiffon cake, 200ML whipped cream, 25 grams fine sugar, 80 grams white chocolate, some honey preserved red beans, and 8 fresh cherries.
INGREDIENTS FOR AN 8-INCH CAKE: one 8-inch chiffon cake, 360ML whipped cream, 45 grams fine sugar, 140 grams white chocolate, some honey preserved red beans, and 10 fresh cherries.
The amount of whipped cream and white chocolate in the recipe is only for your reference. You can totally change the dosage according to how thick you want the cream to be or how big you want the white chocolate chips to be.
PROCESS:
1. Baked a 6 inch or 8-inch chiffon cake. Cut off the top part of the baked cake, then cut the cake horizontally into three pieces.
2. Prepare some animal light cream and fully whip it with sugar. The amount of sugar can be adjusted according to your personal taste.
3. Take a piece of chiffon cake, evenly coat its top with one layer of whipped light cream.
4. Capped the creamed cake with a layer of honey beans.
5. Paved another layer of cream onto the honey beans.
6. Put on a second piece of cake.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 and put on a third piece of cake.
8. Cover the entire cake evenly with whipped light cream.
9. Scoop up some white chocolate chip with a rubber spatula and cover it evenly around the top and lateral side of the cake.
10. When the cake is entirely covered with white chocolate chips, make eight cream balls, and top them with fresh cherries if it is a 6-inch cake. If it is an 8-inch cake, decorate it with 10 cherries.

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Delicious Baked Salmon Recipe You Will Love

Here in the following section we will look at one delicious baked salmon recipe which you will surely love to try out at home. It is a special Thai recipe which makes use of black bean sauce to make a mouth watering dish you will like to make on every weekend.
Baked Salmon with Sauce
This Thai preparation is with black bean sauce and quite easy to make. The flavors of the recipe are enhanced because of the bean sauce and it is a good choice to use as everyday meal. The overall time it takes for preparation is ten minutes; cooking time is twelve minutes and can be served to two to three people.
Ingredients to Use
The ingredients you will require are streaks of salmon (about two to three), black bean sauce & cooking sherry (two tablespoon each), chicken stock (1/3 cup), minced three garlic cloves, galangal (one, thumb size), lime juice, brown sugar & fish sauce (one tablespoon each), minced red chilies (one or two), fresh coriander, sliced spring onions (two) and some amount of sesame oil.
Start Preparing the Dish
To begin preparing the dish first of all the oven is to be preheated (to about 350 degrees), then thaw the fish in case it is frozen or if fresh then rinse & dry it. Put the fish in baking dish which has flat bottom and is covered. Next combine the above mentioned ingredients for the sauce properly & stir so that sugar dissolves and then pour the prepared sauce on the fish which you have kept separately in the baking dish. Layer the fish nicely with the sauce and leave for some time so that it marinates.
After it marinates for some time, bake it for about twenty minutes and keep the temperature at 350 degrees (if these are fillets then bake for twelve minutes instead of twenty). After it is baked you will find that it has become opaque and firm and make sure it is not overcooked or else the natural succulence will be lost. Next taste how it is prepared with sauce to check how it is prepared.
Serve with Toppings
The sauce you had prepared earlier should be spicy as well as salty and when you eat it with rice & the fish, it will taste perfect. Saltiness of your sauce is dependent on stock used and if you feel it is not salty as required then you should add one more tablespoon of the fish sauce in it. However, if it is too salty then add some amount of lemon juice in it to reduce the saltiness. Next what you need to do is portion out the fish on separate plates, add topping of spring onions as well as coriander, sprinkle some amount of sesame oil & sauce over it & serve with rice.

As must have seen by now that this is a wonderful recipe to try at home and would certainly get you some appreciation from guests visiting your home on weekends.

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Turkey Chili - An Easy Healthy Meal

Chili is an all-time classic. As far as recipes go, it's a perennial All-Star. The delicious dish gets top billing in cook-offs, always managing to draw in big crowds. Although chili can be eaten any time of the year, it is best served during the winter months, when the outdoors is, well, chilly (excuse the pun). Chili is traditionally made with beef, tomatoes, beans and a variety of seasonings. Some people like to throw in some Jalapeños or top their chili with cheese, sour cream and green onions. More and more people are ditching the beef all together and replacing it with turkey. Turkey chili is growing in popularity and with good reason.
Turkey chili is delicious, its low fat and overall, a healthier alternative to beef. Not everyone will love turkey chili. It's a matter of taste. For those, however, that do, beef chili may have become a thing of the past. The same is true of individuals who have yet to try turkey chili. Giving it a try may be all that's needed to turn them into a believer.
Turkey chili can be made with virtually the same ingredients that beef chili is, sans the beef obviously. Aside from that, an individual could use the same ingredients. Tomatoes or tomato paste, beans, onions and seasoning would be all that's need. Now a person may want to look up a few recipes and experiment a bit to find ingredients better suited for turkey. After some time and some practice, with a good basic recipe, individuals should be able to come up with a signature dish that they'll be proud to share with their family members and friends.
Individuals who love chili but who would like to learn to prepare it so that it's a tad bit healthier may want to consider replacing the beef with turkey. Because turkey is leaner and contains less fat then red meat or beef, turkey chili would be a good option for the health conscious and those having problems with their weight or health. It can still be prepared in such as way that taste is not compromised.
As many of us grow older, it becomes increasingly important to eat differently. It's not possible to eat the same way many of us did when we were very young. However, rather then simply giving up those foods a person loves, learning alternative ways to prepare them is an option. For most people, it's the much preferred option. For those who enjoy beef chili, turkey offers exactly that, an alternative way to prepare a much beloved and tasty dish.

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About Fish: Grill, Fry, Poach or Steam?

Although I would never have believed it, the best two pieces of fish I have eaten lately were poached and steamed: The salmon was poached and the cod was steamed and I cooked both, much to my surprise. I tried both on a whim and found this method of cooking to be far superior to baking or frying.
I am not a gourmet cook- I have taken exactly one cooking lesson and that was in Florence, Italy, so I was more than a little distracted. But I like to know what I am eating and am learning to care about where the food is from since I am more than a little concerned about the rapidly diminishing quality of American food.
My husband and I love fish; living in northern Nevada as we do, the price of fish tends to be a lot higher than in many other parts of the country; therefore, we like to make the most out of our purchase. Although farm raised fish is on average, at least 25% cheaper than wild, we try not to buy farm raised as we are skeptical about the living conditions of those fish and the details of how they are raised.
My whim of trying the poached salmon occurred on a day when I felt fat since I'd not been able to work out for several days and I wanted to avoid calories. It was a holiday and my husband wanted to take me out for dinner; ordering the poached salmon seemed like the least destructive entree that I could order. To my surprise, the poached salmon was actually far superior to any I had eaten at gourmet restaurants. And when I decided to replicate it at home, I found that I could do it without too much anxiety- it was a matter of keeping the water at a minimal boil, best established via a candy thermometer to keep the water temperature between 160 and 180 degrees. However, a few days, I tried the steaming a piece of salmon and found steaming a good deal easier and just as good as the poached.
However, I do have a pound of wild halibut in the refrigerator which I will grill tomorrow- somehow, poaching or steaming halibut seems to be an affront.

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Tips On Cooking Seafood - Clams

They are usually supplied ready to cook by your fish supplier, but since they spend their lives in the sand they might be gritty, so could need cleaning before cooking. If so, scrub the outside of the Clams with a stiff brush, make up a mix of 1/3rd of a cup of sea salt to a gallon of water, or use clean sea water if you can, add ½ cup of corn meal to help whiten the meat in the Clam, and leave to stand in a very cool place for six hours. Check one or two by steaming open in a pan with a drop of water. If sand is still present then repeat the process. I can hear some of you saying it is not worth the effort, but it will be worth it when you get them cooked in front of you. You can also buy frozen and tinned Clams, but it is not the same as the fresh option.
Tip 1. Plain and simple Clam cooking
This is really very plain and simple cooking of Clams. For a starter or nibble you will need around 400 g of Clams in their shells. If any do not close when tapped discard them because they will be dead. In a suitable saucepan soften a tablespoon of onion and a garlic clove, both finely chopped, add the Clams with a glass of dry white wine a sprig or two of chopped parsley, put the lid on the pan and steam until open. The process will not take more than two or three minutes. If you cook them too long they will feel like shoe leather. If any of the Clams do not open discard. Serve in a bowl with the juice and a chunk of lemon With some good home-made bread they will taste wonderful.
Tip 2. Clam cooking with style and flair
This version is an extended and enhanced version of the above and could turn the dish into a main course. You can choose your own combinations to match your own tastes, but the one that I suggest has an Iberian influence to it. Use the same ingredients as in 'Plain and Simple' but replace the white wine with a good red wine, per person add 75 g of chopped Chorizo sausage, tablespoons of diced red pepper and de seeded and skinned tomatoes, 75 g of small chunks of potato and a sprinkle of paprika, and steam until opened A great taste from Spain.
Tip 3. Something a little different for cooking Clams
An alternative to Scallops. Served in Scallop shell with a circle of mashed potato surrounding. You will need 75 g of lightly cooked Clam meat per person, along with 25 g onion and a clove of garlic chopped, 125 ml of shellfish stock or strong fish stock, a dash of Pernod, flour to thicken, 50 ml of double cream, 15 g grated Parmesan and a sprinkling of breadcrumbs.
Soften the onion and garlic in a pan with a touch of Olive oil, add the stock, add the cream and Pernod. Check the consistency the sauce needs to coat the back of a spoon, if not thicken with flour mixed with water. Add the Clams to warm, not cook. Place in the centre of a Scallop shell or something similar, surround with mashed potato, top with the cheese and breadcrumbs and grill until golden brown.

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Pastina and Eggs

Pastina and eggs, or as we said it, "pasteen 'n eggs" (as one word) is a wonderful recollection of childhood. I'm back in the world of Eisenhower and Howdy Doody. The television was a small screen encased in a large piece of furniture. Snow days closed school and we were free. Snow was colder then. The sky was grayer. Out we went, into the blizzard, out in our multiple layers of pants and scarves and snowsuits tucked into knee high boots. We played until our faces were frozen. At some point our mother called us in much to a combination of our reluctance to admit cold and the desire to play forever in the snow. Freed of our many skins we were then re-dressed in corduroy that had been heated on the open stove door. There was the required small cup of tea and milk touched ever so slightly with a drop of whiskey. We didn't like that much. The tea was followed by our snow day lunch: our still very red cheeks and noses bent lustily over a bowl heaping with the creamy sweetness of hot pasta and eggs and fragrant cheese.
This is such an easy recipe. It is certainly nothing special. But, it's a dish that risks being forgotten in a world that eats cardboard box macaroni processed with orange dyed powders. Pastina and eggs takes no more than about ten to fifteen minutes and offers such a delicate delight as to please not only the adult palette but even the most difficult of children. Properly prepared and finished, pastina and eggs' smooth and velvety texture might even meet the requirements of a pasta first course in a full dinner. If used in this way, add the luxury of finely sliced porcini mushrooms, or, if you have the price, the exotic truffle.
The pastina used for this dish may take any number of several shapes. It may be "stars," or small grain "orzo" (as in the recipe below), or "acini di pepe," the finest of the small pastina and the most commonly used for this recipe. The eggs should be from pastured chickens. They are such a rich yellow. The best cheeses would certainly include good grated parmesan. You might also add hand broken fresh mozzarella or even a grated scamorza. Even if it's not cold outside, this is the most comforting lunch and one that induces a wonderful afternoon nap.

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Pasta Basics And How To Make The Perfect Pasta

Everyone loves pasta! Pasta's easy to find, fresh or dried, and simple to store. Keep pasta on hand for quick meals at your fingertips. Stuff it, stir fry it, or just add your favorite sauce to it. You can toss it in salads, layer it with cheese, or bake it in a casserole. No matter how you cook it, the compliments are sure to come.
Selecting Pasta.
Dried Pasta: Look for unbroken pieces. You should avoid any with a marbled surface or a lot of broken lines on it's surface. If it's like this it may fall apart during cooking.
Fresh Pasta: Look for smooth even colored unbroken pieces. It may look dry, but it shouldn't be brittle or crumbly. Avoid any packages with any liquid.
Frozen Pasta: You want the pieces to be loose and not frozen together. If it's in a solid block or if you see any ice crystals avoid it.
Storing Pasta
You can store it dry for up to a year at room temperature. You want to store it in tightly closed containers and you want to label each package as to it's contents and be sure to date it with the date it was put in the package.
You can keep it fresh in the refrigerator but you want to be sure to use it by the use by date on the package. You don't want to store uncooked pasta that has been opened for over three days in the refrigerator.
You can store your unopened pasta in the freezer until your ready to cook it. You want to store it in the freezer in sealed containers to avoid any danger of freezer burn. You can store it unopened in the freezer for up to nine months.
If you make it homemade store it just like dried pasta. You can refrigerate it fresh made for up three days or store it in tightly closed containers for up to nine months.
How To Cook Your Pasta
You can cook it and substitute it for one another as long as the sizes are near the same size.
You'll want to use one quart of water to cook every four ounces of pasta. The water should be boiling well before you add it. Add it gradually and stir it frequently to prevent it from sticking together.
You might have been told to add oil to the water but you never should. It isn't necessary and sauces will not stick to oil covered pasta. So don't add any oil.
Salt also isn't necessary but it does add flavor. As a guide add one half teaspoon of ground sea salt for each eight ounces of pasta.
If you buy it in a package be sure to read the instructions and follow the instructions carefully for the best results. It's always better to slightly under cook it rather than over cooking it. Your cooked product should be flexible but firm. If your cooking it in a casserole you want to under cook it because it will drink up the sauce and cook more in the oven. If you overcook it you'll end up with a product that is mushy, watery, and it won't have any flavor.
How To Store And Reheat Your Pasta
You'll want to toss cooked pasta with a small amount of olive oil so it won't stick together. Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to five days or in the freezer for up to nine months.
If you follow these tips you'll end up with a perfect cooked product each and every time. Even lasagna noodles don't have to be precooked if you'll just follow the instructions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7075667