Tag: #Cookbooks

Posted in From My Kitchen

Betty Crocker: 20 Best Brazilian Recipes

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

A Collection of Brazilian Favorites from Betty! Photo of Every Recipe Celebrate the glorious cuisine of Brazil with this delectable collection of recipes from Betty Crocker! Try full-flavored, traditional favorites like Fresh Seafood Stew (Sopón Marinero) and Brazilian Cheese Buns (Pao de Queijo), or whip up a batch of Caipirinha cocktails and Banana Flans for your next party. From mouthwatering mains to snacks and sides, these recipes will bring the taste of Brazil to your kitchen.

Kay Marie Wagner
5.0 out of 5 stars Summer Cocktails
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2013
Verified Purchase
Yummy refreshing new summer beverages!!! A great way to start your next social gatherings for all family members, alcohol optional. You get to choose something new BE it brunch or late night relaxing alone. I love all the fresh ingredients , easy to follow instructions, and most ingredients you probably already have on hand. This is going to make my summer cocktails a real hit and so simple to prepare. I'll be a master come fall!!! I can't wait to serve up some new summer traditions.
ALTEREDSTATE16
4.0 out of 5 stars Easy and delicious
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2013
Verified Purchase
The recipes in this book are very easy to make and the ingredients are readily available, most of which are inexpensive. I have not tried them all but the chosen few were quite delicious and refreshing. Although most of the recipes are alcohol free there is no reason vodka, gin or rum can' be added and used as a cocktail at your summer bar - b - ques ! The nutritional data is also included for each recipe which is an added benefit.

Find more recipes like this on my companion blog, “Good Food, Good Meat, Good God, Let’s Eat!”

Posted in From My Kitchen

75 Chicken Recipes with 5 Ingredients or Less

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

You don’t need a full fridge to make these easy chicken recipes for dinner. With a few ingredients, five or fewer to be exact, they’re perfect for busy weeknights. Note: We don’t count basics like water, salt, pepper and fats into the ingredient count.

Taste of Home

Posted in #allrecipes

32 Recipes That Start with Shredded Chicken

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Shredded chicken is such a smart, time-saving trick for quick dinners during the week. We love having shredded chicken around, already prepped for the week. These top-rated shredded chicken recipes are terrific, whether you’re using up leftover chicken, roasting a chicken specifically for shredding, or simply dropping by the grocery store for a pre-made rotisserie chicken to shred.

Allrecipes

Posted in From My Kitchen

What ‘Test Kitchen Approved’ Really Means for Our Recipes

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

At Taste of Home, almost all of our recipes come from home cooks—we get several thousand submissions every year from people all over the world.

But before we publish a recipe on our website or in one of our magazines or books, our expert Test Kitchen team must approve it. We put every recipe through a rigorous selection, testing and evaluation process to ensure we share the best recipes that work every time.

Taste of Home

Posted in From My Kitchen

Rethinking My Recipes

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

What brought this on?

I was doing that dread chore again, cleaning out the freezer and the refrigerator. I was struck by the sheer amount of “mystery leftovers” that I found. We all have them, even if we don’t think about them. However, it got me thinking about the food being wasted and thrown out.

So what seems to be the problem here? None of us start out looking to waste time and money, especially not on food. This puzzled me so much that I decided to take a look at what the answer might be.

For those of us who learned to cook from our parents, we probably had to cook enough for between 4 to 6 people. I know that I did. The trouble was that when I got married, I only knew how to cook for 6. All the recipes that I knew made that much.

I remember looking at cookbooks, looking for smaller recipes. What I found was recipes that started at 4 servings and went up from there. Not much help, to be honest. After my children were born, the 4 servings were just right, but things changed.

What to do, what to do!

Portion control and Serving Size are two of the key factors in any meal plan. It’s all fine and good to say that the recipe makes 4 servings, but if you don’t know how much a serving is, how can you make sure you’re getting the correct amount?

With some recipes that feature things like chicken parts, pork chops, etc., it’s easy. A serving is one piece. Recipes that make stews, soups or chili are harder to work with.

Once again I had to go digging through cookbooks for clues. The older cookbooks (think Betty Crocker) might tell you how much soup the recipe would make, and then you could use the information to find out how much a serving is. However, these cookbooks don’t give you the nutritional information. The newer cookbooks have the nutritional information but not how much soup the recipe makes! Frustrating to say the least.

A Two-Part Solution

The solution turned out to be a two-part solution for me. The first part involved getting smaller appliances such as a slow cooker or an Instant Pot Mini. There are just some foods that you cook on the fly such as a roast. If you can only fit so much into your cooker, you can’t make as much. You start automatically reducing the amount of food you are making.

The second part was both easy and difficult at the same time. The recipes that you use have to be sized to make only 2 servings. My favorite example of this is lasagna. Most of the time a lasagna recipe makes a 9 x 13 pan. Nice if you are having family over, way too much for a couple. If you substitute a loaf pan for larger pan, you end up with lasagna that is just enough for 2 people.

You might think that the easy part would be to simply divide your recipe in half. You would be wrong. My favorite source of recipes is the people at America’s Test Kitchen. When they initially set out to create a cookbook for 2 people, they discovered the flaw in that thinking. You see, there are some recipes that work because of the “ratios” of ingredients. Those recipes have to be totally reinvented to yield 2 servings. For other recipes, it makes more sense to change the ingredients to accommodate smaller amount needed.

The easy part? Finding cookbooks for two! The hard part is giving up your favorite recipes to start including ones that make smaller amounts