Hard boiled eggs

from ParentHacks commenter Phil

Put the eggs into the cold water (just enough to cover the eggs) and cover tightly. Put the pot on the stove on high. When the water comes to a rolling boil then turn off the stove but leave the pot on the hot burner with the lid on and leave it for five minutes. The eggs will come out perfect.

I'd been doing it something similar but leaving for 10. I'll have to try reducing the time by a few minutes and see if it makes a difference.

Tip: Roasting poultry

I read this in the Toronto Star on Saturday January 27, 2007

When roasting a turkey, chicken or capon, rest the bird on a couple of large pieces of celery, two carrots and two cooking onions.

When the bird is done, it lifts out easily and the gravy is delicious. You can also add the celery if you make soup.

Beef stew

found in the comments here:
https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11982554&postID=2121106556739239456
by KLee

A good crockpot recipe -- I take a package, usually about a pound or so of stew beef and put it in the bottom of my crockpot. Then, I empty an envelope of "beef stew" seasoning over the top, put in about a cup and a half of water and a bag of frozen crinkle cut carrots, and slap that baby on. When I return from work, I can either dump in two cans of sliced or diced potatoes, or if I have the time, peel and dice potatoes myself. If the mix is too thin for my taste, I add an envelope of brown gravy, and it's good to go. Cook on high for five hours, or on low for eight or more, depending on how dense you want it to be. I usually serve over rice.

English muffin pizzas

adapted from:
http://homeparents.about.com/od/snacks/r/pizza5.htm and
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/recipes/r/eng_muf_pizza.htm


INGREDIENTS:

• Whole wheat muffins
• Pizza sauce (or homemade tomato sauce or fresh tomato slices) (2 TBSP per muffin half)
• Mozzarella cheese (grated)(about 1/3 cup per muffin half)
• Pepperoni (optional)
• Mushrooms (optional)
• Other pizza toppings (green olives, pineapple, ham cubes, hamburger, onions, green peppers)

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Put presliced English muffins face up on a cookie sheet.
3. Spoon some pizza sauce on each half of the muffins.
4. Top with pepperoni, mushrooms etc and then the cheese.
5. Bake for about 5-10 minutes or until the cheese melts and bubbles slightly.

A delicious secret truth

A wonderful story about memories of making fudge. Printed in the Globe and Mail.


A delicious secret truth
A cherished family recipe lost and found. At the age of 12, fudge had taught me the virtue of patience.
by PETER DESBARATS

I was still in grade school when I made chocolate fudge for the first time. It was my initial experience of the magic of cooking -- the transformation of such everyday ingredients as milk, sugar and butter into something entirely different and wonderful. I loved the process. I loved the result. Everyone in the family loved what became known, particularly at Christmas-time, as Peter's Chocolate Fudge. I continued to make fudge throughout high school. I became expert in detecting that critical moment in fudge-making called the soft-ball stage. One Christmas season I must have been the only student in Montreal's Loyola High School, or perhaps in Canada, to include a candy thermometer in his Christmas list (and to receive one).
By then my limited repertoire in the kitchen included spicy spaghetti sauce, much to the horror of my Scottish-Canadian mother who practically fainted at the mere mention of garlic. Later, as a young adult aware of belonging to the first generation of Canadian males who cooked with flair and pride, I continued to expand my repertoire. The pages of cookbooks that my wife Hazel and I have collected over the years are filled with scribbled comments noting the dates and outcomes when recipes were first tried by either one of us. But somewhere along the line, the original chocolate fudge recipe disappeared. Gone forever, I reluctantly assumed.

Until last December when I received an e-mail from my cousin Mary in Lachine, Que. Mary is the one who always keeps me up-to-date on the latest jokes and funny videos circulating on the Internet. Her mischievous sense of humour hasn't changed much since my high school days when I baby-sat her and her younger sister Jill. This time, Mary informed me that, while sorting through some old memorabilia, she had discovered a tattered sheet of paper entitled Peter's Chocolate Fudge. Was it possible, she inquired, that this was the fabled long-lost recipe?

"That's it all right!" I immediately e-mailed in return. "Like coming across the Dead Sea scrolls, only more delicious. Let me know how it turns out."

I had recognized it at once. There was the half-a-cup of corn syrup added to the three cups of white sugar -- sweetness on sweetness. There was the cup of Carnation evaporated milk for richness. There were the three squares of unsweetened chocolate for pure, undiluted ambrosia. And there was the admonition to cook all these over a low heat until the mixture reached the critical soft-ball stage, the elusive moment that had evaded Mary on her first try. She e-mailed the bad news to me:

"I'm glad it's the right recipe but my efforts bombed. Kathy (a neighbour who owns a candy thermometer) didn't come home so I winged it with the testing in cold water. I was sure it was ready for the butter, etc., and the beating since I could actually form . . . well, a soft ball. But it isn't cooked enough, I can tell. It runs, if slowly, when I tip the pan in the fridge. Oh woe! I beat it furiously 'til my arm fell off well over 10 minutes later. I even went outside to help the cooling along as I was beating, so I don't know what's wrong. I'm wondering now if I can re-cook it. Well, maybe I'll try tomorrow. Nothing much left to lose."

I urged her to do this but warned her against re-cooking. I advised her to start over again and this time to stir the mixture slowly. This was the first secret of success that I had discovered. At the age of 12, fudge had taught me the virtue of patience. I counselled Mary against putting it in the fridge to set. As soon as it was taken from the stove, that was the time to add the four tablespoons of butter to make it glossy, the one teaspoon of vanilla for depth of flavour and the cup of walnut pieces which were the only optional ingredient but which I always added for that delicious subtle crunch in the depths of the velvety fudge. And then you had to beat the slowly cooling mixture until it was thick but not too thick. That's usually about the time when your arm says enough. On Christmas Eve last year, Mary's triumphant cry rang out across the Internet : "Hallelujah! A successful batch! . . . tho' I may have to have surgery on my arm for the beating it's taken in getting it right. Ouch! Well, it was worth it. That's a very good recipe, Peter! Thanks for all the tips and encouragement."

So thanks to my cousin Mary, Peter's Chocolate Fudge lives again but of course the recipe will have to remain a family secret. What's that you just said? You mean that I've already . . . Oops!

Peter Desbarats is a London, Ont. author, journalist, playwright and academic.

hodge-podge Shepard's Pie

found here: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/mothership/6409402327281165460/#229306
in the comments to this post: http://momm-eh.blogspot.com/2006/12/feed-my-family.html

Ingredients:
Ground Hamburger (about a 1lb)
Potatoes (peeled and cubed)
Carrots (peeted and chopped)
Mashed Potates (Roughly 4-5 potatoes mashed, or buy Instant stuff like I do)
Shredded Cheese of your likingButter (2 TBS)
Optional items: onions, peas, sweet potatoes... you get the idea)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Get out a glass or metal baking pan (doesn't matter on the size really).

In a large bowl mix: chopped potatoes, carrots, raw ground hamburger, optional items. Once mixed well.
Spoon all of the contents into the baking pan. Place dabs of the butter over the top (about 1TBS on each half).

Spoon the Mashed potatoes over the top and spread to cover (like frosting). Sprinkle with the shredded cheese.

Place in the oven (lower rack) for about an hour (maybe an hour and a half depending on your likes or dislikes). In my family, I have to cook it until the Carrots and potatoes are mooshy (and the ground beef will be cooked thoroughly by then too).

Mac and cheese

found this here: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/mothership/6409402327281165460/#229276
in the comment section from this post: http://momm-eh.blogspot.com/2006/12/feed-my-family.html

YOu will need: about half of a standard bag of macaroni, one-and-a-half cups of milk (2% works fine), three tablespoons of flour, two tablespoons of butter, a tablespoon of cooking or olive oil, and one of those one- or two-year-old extra-old cheddar cheese wedges from PC. (You can use another kind of cheese, of course, but I find that size is perfect for one batch of mac and cheese.)

While the macaroni is boiling, melt the butter and oil in a large saucepan (large enough to add all hte macaroni to when it's done--a wok is about the right size, if you have one). When it's melted, add the flour and stir constantly for one to three minutes. If it's starts turning brown, you've been cooking too long. I find one minute is generally not too short.

Then slowly add the milk, whisking as you go. Don't worry if it's a bit lumpy, it'll all smooth out when you add the cheese. (I forgot to add that the cheese should be grated before you even add the macaroni to the pot, because it'll take a few minutes). Stir until the mixture is slightly thickened and bubbly. Now add grated cheddar to the milk mixture by the handful, stirring until melted; reserve one or two handfuls of the cheddar cheese for a topping.

Once the sauce is done and the macaroni is done, drain the water from the macaroni and add it to the sauce pot, stirring to coat, then add the remaining cheddar cheese to the top. You can stick it in the broiler if you like, but I think that's overkill. I usually just wait until it's melted, or melty, and then it's ready to eat.

Spiced Up Ginger Cookies

Haven't tried these yet, but they come highly recommended

It came with this advice for me:
"Believe the cooking time! they won't look done, but after resting overnight you have what you got :)If you make a lot of drop cookies or like gadgets get a #70 disher and drop them straight into a bowl of sugar. "
--

from http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2005/07/spiced-up-ginger-cookies.html

"These Spiced Up Ginger Cookies are really good. Certainly the best in recent memory, if not the best chewy ginger cookies I've ever had. They have a lot of spice. They have nice crispy edges when they're freshly baked. They use oil instead of butter so they remain very chewy, even after a few days!I'm reprinting the recipe here. I added a pinch of salt and rolled the cookies in sugar before baking. The rolling could certainly be omitted, but I love the way it looks."

Spiced Up Ginger Cookies
2 cups ap flour
1 tbsp ground
ginger
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp
each ground cardamom and black pepper
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup
vegetable oil
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup chopped candied
ginger
1/4 cup coarse sugar, for rolling
Preheat oven to 350F and line a
baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour,
spices, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and
vegetable oil. Beat in egg and molasses until smooth. Stir in flour mixture
until well combined, then add in candied ginger.
Shape dough into 1 inch
balls, roll in coarse sugar and place on baking sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes until
very lightly browned.
Let cookies cool for 3-5 minutes on cookie sheet, then
remove to a wire rack until cool.
Makes 3 dozen.