Old-Fashioned Meatloaf Taking a few basic ingredients and making them taste great is the hallmark of Americana cooking. So to mess too much with an old-fashioned meatloaf recipe would make it no old-fashioned, but new and fancy. Therefore, without taking too many liberties this is my favorite old-fashioned recipe with some minor upgrades. Basic ketchup [...]
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Banana Bread Recipe
Banana Bread This is a tried-and-true classic recipe for banana bread, but with a modern twist. By adding a little sour cream we moisten and lighten the bread up. Total time: 90 minutes Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar 8 tablespoons butter, room temperature 2 eggs 3 bananas 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground 1 [...]
Bittersweet vs. Semisweet Baking Chocolate
Typically, semisweet chocolate has lower cacao content and is sweeter than bittersweet chocolate. However, there are no official information about what to consider bittersweet and what to consider semisweet. By U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, bittersweet chocolate must contain at least 35 percent chocolate liquor; semisweet can contain between 15 and 35 percent, [...]
Paprika
Paprika is a spice made from grinding dried pods of mild varieties of pepper plants, usually bell peppers or chili peppers. The Paprika peppers originally grown were hot. Flavor can vary from country to country, with different varieties designated with grades such as mild, hot, and sweet. Paprika is high in antioxidants and vitamin C. [...]
Chinese Five Spice Powder
Five spice powder is a mixture of five spices, combining all five flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty. There are many variants in which kind of spices to mix, but the most common is star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and ground fennel seeds. Instead of true cinnamon, “Chinese cinnamon” (the ground bark [...]
Pine Nuts
Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pine trees. They are small elongated ivory-colored seeds from pine cones, measuring about 1/2 inch long. When raw, the seeds have a soft texture and a sweet, buttery flavor. They are often lightly toasted to bring out the flavor and to add a little crunch. They’re rather expensive, [...]
Chipotle Chile Pepper
Chile Pepper, Chipotle – the dried, ground pods of Capsicum dates back to a region that is now northern Mexico City, prior to the Aztec civilization. Chipotle (chee-po-tieh) chilies are smoke dried jalapenos. Prior to being smoked, this hot pepper has a thick skin that is firm with a uniform green color. After being smoked, [...]
What Kefir Is, and Why You Should Be Drinking It
For years I’ve seen kefir grains growing at friends’ kitchens but have always declined to try the final product – kefir, a tart, slightly sour milk with about the consistency of drinkable yogurt. “It’s good for your health” they’d say. No thanks, I’ll pass. It wasn’t until I started building smoothies for breakfast that I [...]
Making Superb Vanilla Extract at Home
Vanilla extract after cold percolating one month. Vanilla Extract Making your own vanilla extract is one of those amazing kitchen tips you wish you’d known of years ago. It’s so simple, just vanilla beans and vodka in a bottle. But the payoff is big in terms of product quality, cost savings, and health benefits. Read [...]
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that can be used in both sweet and savory foods. Cinnamon trees are native to South East Asia, and its origin was in Europe until the sixteenth century. Its botanical name derives from the Hebraic and Arabic term “amomon”, [...]