The line from the Lord’s Prayer stating “Give us this day our daily bread” shows how integral bread is to the lives of people since ancient times. For thousands of years, bread baking was an activity done in most households around the world, but now many people have no idea how to bake bread even though they still eat it.

If you are interested in expanding your bread options beyond a factory produced blob of preservatives in a plastic bag, the good news is that bread baking is simple. Yes, there are a couple basic skills to learn and principles to understand, but mostly baking bread is as easy as falling off a bar stool and more fun.

Why you will like to bake bread:

Homemade bread is much more nutritious and satisfying than most varieties of mass-produced bread. When you compare the two types, you’ll see that most of the stuff at the grocery store is just air. It is hard to buy the taste of fresh hot bread straight out of the oven with butter melting on it. The experience is something that happens at home in your kitchen. As long as you have flour, salt, and yeast at home, you have access to fresh bread. All of these ingredients are cheap to stock up on too. Think about how many times you go grocery shopping when mostly all you need is a loaf of bread. Kneading the bread dough with your hands is a meditative activity that lets the world slip away for a few minutes. Many people juggle a lot of details all day as they rush through busy lives. Making some bread is a great way to disconnect and focus on one simple and essential thing. When you hold the warm dough in your hands and know that the yeast is alive and breathing inside it, you will feel endowed with creative energy. You are working with the living world to make something good to eat. People will be so impressed with you for baking bread. Your sandwiches will taste better when you use homemade bread, and they will fill you up more too. You will gain a sense of independence knowing that you don’t have to always rely on a bread factory for every slice. Baking bread can be a fun activity to do with family members, and it costs very little to do. You can explore recipes from different cultures or become more connected to your own ethnic traditions because many cultures around the world have distinctive types of bread.

Few people have time to bake all their bread, but learning how to do it and making time for the activity every couple weeks are both possible. Baking bread is a great way to slow down and deepen your understanding of the food you eat.

By: Tracy Falbe

About the Author:
To read more about how to make bread, dip your toes into the Recipe River and visit the bread recipes section. http://recipes.falbepublishing.com/bread_recipes.html

Losing weight is not fun, and anyone who tells you that it is fun would be a liar. You need to eat foods that do not interest you, work out for hours on end, and stick with it long enough for you to see the results. However, with advances in modern technology this process has become a lot easier and will enable you to at least eat the foods that you want without consuming unwanted calories and fats at the same time.

When you cook a burger, steak, or any other type of meat for that matter, you will often use a standard grill. This of course is what we have all used for decades, and their is no reason to believe that it will go out of style any time soon. The problem however arises from the fact that when you cook a meat product on a normal grill, the grease that is let off by the meat simply sits on top of, or soaks into the meat itself and is then ingested when you eat it.

New grills and other cooking devices have made way for people to enjoy the foods they eat with less grease and fat by pushing it off the meat and into the garbage. Though many diet experts would agree that eating meat on a diet may not be your best bet, but if you are so inclined it is recommended that you cook it in such a way which allows for excess fat and grease to be left off.

By: Peter Foti

About the Author:
The Hulk Hogan grill is a truly ground breaking piece of equipment. When used properly Hulk Hogan grills can help you lose weight to feel great, and still enable you to eat the foods that you want.

Pork loin has been the most prized portion of the piggy since man first domesticated the animal.

Unfortunately today’s average home cook using Grandma’s favorite recipes just can’t produce a decent roast of pork. There’s a reason for that.

Grandma’s Pork and Today’s Pork

Grandma had more forgiving pork in her day. The typical hog in her time was raised as much for the lard as it was for the meat. In fact they were often referred to as “lard hogs”.

The extra fat in her pork roast gave her a wider window of forgiveness for overcooking, which is the primary problem with cooking today’s pork.

Somewhere around the mid-1980′s the low-fat craze hit and health conscious folks started to shun pork products in favor of more poultry.

The pork industry responded!

They quickly developed leaner breeds of pigs and introduced new growing and feeding techniques to produce leaner pork.

Pigs are prolific breeders and birth to table time is extremely short (The average pig never sees his first birthday!). So it didn’t take long before the pork industry was touting pork as “the other white meat”.

This series of events is what brought headaches to the home cook. The leaner pork narrowed the window of roasting success dramatically.

If you suspect that your mother-in-law laughs about your pork roast behind your back then here’s what you need to do:

Three Easy Steps To Delicious Pork Roasts

With just three simple steps that are easy to follow you will have your mother-in-law asking you for cooking advice.

The first step in the perfect pork roast recipe is brining. When the temperature of meat reaches 120 degrees the cells begin to contract and squeeze out moisture.

Brining your roast in a solution of 1 cup of non-iodized salt to 1 gallon of water for 24 hours adds water weight to your roast. Some of that water will squeeze out during cooking but some will remain.

A juicier roast is the result.

Step number two is to put you in control of temperature. In order to do that you must make the tiny investment of buying two thermometers.

Oven thermostats are notoriously inaccurate. My own oven is off as much as 25 degrees at some temperatures. My temperature dial has about 1/8″ slack in it. I mean you have to turn it that much before it does anything.

So you need an accurate oven thermometer.

Next is a meat thermometer. For just a few dollars you can buy a probe thermometer that will let you know the internal temperature of your roast at all times.

Step number three has to do with temperature also. Roast your pork low and slow. Low temperature cooking results in a more evenly done product that doesn’t dry out as much as high temperature cooking.

250 degrees is hot enough for your oven. Be sure to go by your oven thermometer. Cooking time will be somewhat longer but with your probe thermometer you know exactly when it’s done.

Speaking of when it’s done I would like to say that I take my roast out of the oven at 140 degrees on my probe thermometer. Residual cooking will take it to about 145. It’s moist and juicy at this temperature and perfectly done even though recommended temperature is 160 degrees.

You be your own judge!

You now have in your possession the keys to cooking moist and tender pork roast. Just brine your roast, control temperatures and cook it low and slow.

Use the technique and when your mother-in-law talks behind your back she’ll likely be bragging about how great you are at cooking pork loin.

Pork Loin Recipes

Most of Grandmas recipes will have to be adapted to this method. But that’s not a problem. The technique will easily fit into not only Grandmas recipes but also any others that you might have.

By: Jim Bolding

About the Author:
If you would like specific pork recipes there’s plenty on Jim Bolding’s website Pork Recipes Online. Check out the Pork Loin Recipes section for great loin recipes.

Cooking is made easy for the college student with just a few choice appliances. Assuming you are in a living space that does not have a range or an oven and also assuming that the rules allow you to cook in your room, I have found these few appliances to be life savers.

Microwave Oven

This is listed first because of its ability to cook and heat. It is an excellent place to boil food especially vegetables. They also have steaming bags available now which allow for quick and healthy cooking. Oh yes, don’t forget about popcorn. Microwaves are available in all sizes so that you can find an appropriate size for your space.

Electric Skillet

If you cook it on the stove top, you can cook it in an electric skillet. As the name “skillet” implies, it is perfect for frying but it is also very effective for boiling. The control on the electric skillet allows you to set the exact temperature you want. Skillet toast is very tasty. Actually, it is just a grilled cheese sandwich without the cheese.

Toaster Oven

Just like the skillet above, if you cook it in the oven, you can cook it in a toaster oven. Admittedly, the size of the containers has to be much smaller but, after all, you are only cooking for one or maybe two. Obviously the toaster oven will make toast just like the regular oven does by placing the bread under the coils that broil.

Coffee Pot

This is an obvious necessity if you drink coffee or even hot tea. However, don’t overlook the possibility of using it for boiling water. Lots of convenience foods are available that require only the addition of boiling water, such as Ramen Noodles and Instant Soups.

Refrigerator (Dorm size)

This small refrigerator will allow you to have fresh food (vegetables and fruits) as well as dairy products (milk, butter and eggs). Admittedly they have to be in small quantities but the availability of a refrigerator will certainly make the healthy cooking easier.

It might be possible for you to buddy up with someone else in your dorm or apartment complex and buy together so that you can reduce the quantity to fit.

Any combination of these appliances will make it possible for you to eat healthy and stick to your budget. Invest in two large plastic totes that will slide under your bed. Store your food in one and your utensils and smaller appliances in another. This will alleviate the possibility of bugs and will keep everything organized and out of your way when not in use.

The microwave can have something stored on top of it without doing damage. The microwave can be stored on the refrigerator.

Prepare for the inevitable – eating, so that your energy can be directed to studying and having at least a little fun.

By: Carol Sue Smith

About the Author:
Grandma Carol, aka Carol Smith, loves to cook and has been doing it for her family and friends for over 50 years. Visit her kitchen as she helps the beginning cook with easy-to-follow recipes and techniques.

Annatto has many varying uses ranging from war paint to lipstick to food coloring and just about everything else you can think of in between. Having been used for years as a food additive the product is catching on greatly in society today for its multi uses and looks to continue growing in popularity in the coming years.

If you were to travel to Central of South America you might just stumble across the achiote tree which is the host to the annatto seed. This heart shaped seed is red colored and thus is used as a red food coloring in the kitchen. Most commonly it is used to color various cheeses such as cheddar, brie, and others. In general cheese makers will use the seed in their lower grade cheeses to give it a flair and get it sold better than if it did not have the color.

Aside from its coloring aspects the achiote tree is also rich in antioxidants which are said to be passed to the fruit and then ultimately to you. Cooks may also use the product as an oil in their cooking to reduce sticking and enhance the flavor of the product at the same time. It is a wonder that annatto is not more widely known in and out of the kitchen for all of its many uses.

Its rather interesting when you find something that at one point in history was used as face paint to fend off evil spirits. In another generation it was and still is used as a lipstick (hence the reason some call it the lipstick tree), and on top of all of that you are able to use the product in your everyday cooking either as an oil or a food coloring to give your food some flair.

Their are similar products to the annatto out there today, so perhaps that is the reason it is not very widely used, however you would have a hard time finding one with as many uses. At the end of the day, when you set up to cook a meal in the kitchen it is not always about the ingredients that you are using, or the tools that you are mixing with. Rather it is about the time, effort, and care that you put into each meal. Though if you are looking to add a little something extra, annatto may be for you.

By: Peter Foti

About the Author:
Annatto is a rather useful spice and should be used more in kitchens and on tables around America and abroad. With its large range the true annatto color is not known although it has been used as red, yellow and brown before.

Over 90% of kitchens in America have microwave ovens. Microwaves are super convenient for heating meals fast, making pop corn or cooking an entire meal in a fraction of the time a conventional oven takes. But, many families are looking for a better option for fast cooking times, less energy use and a healthier way to cook. For me, I decided to use a convection oven for the nutritional benefit, and energy savings.

What is a convection oven?

A convection oven is designed with a fan that continually circulates hot air around the food as it cooks. This helps the food to cook evenly on all sides, and thoroughly inside and out.

The benefits of convection cooking:

o Bake, broil, fry, roast, boil, grill and steam your favorite foods just the way you love them.
o Cook food in 25 percent less time without using a microwave.
o Save energy bills with the reduced cook time and lower temperatures compared to conventional ovens.
o Keep nutrients, vitamins and minerals in your food.
o Go low fat naturally because the oil drips away from your food.
o Foods have more flavors, come out tender, juicy and cooked to perfection with little effort on your part.
o Clean up is a breeze compared to the chore of regular oven cleaning. Some models have a single bowl to cook in so this is all you wash.

There are many new styles of convection ovens. Newer homes might have them built in or have a microwave combo that you can switch back and forth with. The counter top style is one of the most popular models because of it’s small size. They come in all sizes. You don’t have to get the biggest or most powerful one unless that is what you will be cooking with all the time and need the extra large capacity. A smaller turbo type is great for all cooking needs and fits any size kitchen, even the limited counter space.

No matter what your reason for cooking with a convection oven, know that you are giving your family a huge health benefit and finding a small way to go green in your home.

By: Robin Plan

About the Author:
Robin Plan has researched small convection ovens for her family and found a great fit with the one from Dr. Mercola’s site. Learn more from her Convection Countertop Oven site.

Pork roast is easy to cook in a slow cooker or crock pot. It stays moist and tender, and has a delicious flavor. You don’t have to buy the best cuts when you plan to cook pork in a slow cooker or crock pot. You can purchase cheaper cuts and still get a very good result.

One of the best things about cooking pork in a slow cooker is that you can let it cook while you are away from home. The low heat does all the work for you. Here are 2 slow cooker pork recipes for you to try in your own kitchen.

Pork Roast

4-5 pounds pork roast
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Coat inside of slow cooker or crock pot with vegetable oil. Set cooker on LOW setting and allow to warm.

Mix paprika, chili powder, pepper and salt together to make a rub. Rub both sides of roast well with spices. Place roast in preheated cooker and cover.

Cook on LOW setting for approximately 5 to 6 hours, or on HIGH setting for 3 to 4 hours. Roast is done when tender and no longer pink in the center.

Pork Barbecue

3-4 pounds pork roast
2 cups diced tomatoes
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together in slow cooker or crock pot. Place roast in cooker, being sure both sides of roast are coated with mixture. Cover.

Cook on LOW setting for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 5 to 6 hours. When done, roast will be tender and ready to fall apart. Remove from cooker and shred pork before serving.

Tip: The pork barbecue recipe doubles well for taking large amounts of BBQ to social functions.

By: K Hupp

About the Author:
K. Hupp enjoys cooking and gardening. Visit Kitchen Aid Mixers to find a great deal on Kitchen Aid Professional Mixers

Baking bread with a bread maker is really simple. The best thing about it is that once you have added the ingredients you don’t need to be around whilst it bakes the bread. What this means is that you can be asleep, or you can be cooking dinner or doing anything else. Ultimately this means that the time it takes to bake a loaf of bread is irrelevant, because you can just start it before you go out or whenever you want. A lot of bread makers come with timers which can be set so that it has bread finished in a certain number of hours, which means you can set them ready at night and wake up to a fresh loaf of bread.

These machines take in between 45 minutes to 3 hours to cook a loaf, but it depends on the type of bread that you are baking, the machine that you have and of course the size of the loaf that you are baking. Some machines are designed to mix the ingredients together very quickly and bake them at high temperatures, ready only 45 minutes later. You will find that these machines only bake small loaves, as it is impossible to get a big loaf to cook that quickly without burning it.

Making loaves takes a bit of learning, but it’s not too difficult to do that. I have found that with a bit of trial and error you will soon be on your way to making some good food. Ideally get a bread maker with a timer; they are so handy!

By: John Holler

About the Author:
See the Chefmate Breadmaker or the Toastmaster Bread Maker for more information!