Mouth-watering Apple Recipes
Apple pudding, apple compote, apple jelly, apple soup and of course apple pie. These are just a few examples of the 90 apple recipes that Amy Tylor put together into one of her fine recipe books: Mouth-watering Apple Recipes – The Ultimate Cookbook for America’s most popular fruit.
I was lucky enough to be able to obtain a license to give away this great book for free! Just use the download link at the end of this post to download your free copy of the book. The book has been saved in the PDF format, so if don’t have a PDF reader already, you need to download and install it to your computer. A free PDF reader is available from Adobe and can be downloaded from here.
I have obtained give-away licenses to a few more cookbooks, but their license doesn’t allow the books to be offered as public downloads. I can, however, use them as a free gift to people who subscribe to my site. So, just use the ‘subscribe via email’ box at the top of this site to sign up and you will be send a download link to the other books as soon as I have gone through them, to decide which ones are worth your while!
You can download your free copy of Mouth-watering Apple Recipes by clicking here!
Food and Cooking Recipe Search Engine
When looking for new recipes to try out, in addition to flipping through my many cookbooks, I often use the Google search engine to find recipes on the ‘net. The Google search engine has been my longtime favorite way to search the web, but sometimes the search results contain a lot of useless sites. What if we could use Google’s search to only search through sites that we know to be good? Well, we can! Google lets you create a custom search engine that will only search the sites that you want it to.
I’ve been playing with this exciting feature and created my own little food and cooking search engine. You can give it a try here. It’s far from complete, but with your help it can become the best place to search for recipes. You can help me improve this search engine by letting me know what your favorite food and recipe website is, so I can add it to the list of sites that are searched with this search engine.
Basic fresh homemade egg pasta
Fresh pasta is very easy to make and it tastes a lot better than the dried pasta you can buy in stores. Making pasta only requires a few basic ingredients and it doesn’t take very long to make fresh pasta. You can use any type of flour to make pasta, but the best pasta is made with type 0 flour, which is a very finely sieved flour.
Ingredients
100 gram flour
1 large egg
The above amounts of the ingredients will make about one serving of pasta. If you are making pasta for 4 people, use 400 grams flour and 4 large eggs.
Put the flour in a large bowl, make a little hole in the middle and crack the eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork and mix in the flower a little bit at a time. When everything is kind of sticking together, empty the bowl onto a wooden board and continue kneading the dough with your hands. Put the dough into a plastic bag and let it rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature.
Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour and roll out the dough. When it has the desired thickness you can cut the pasta into little strips and cook them.
Home made play dough, safe for kids
Today I have a little different recipe. This recipe is not going to make you something you can eat, but since it uses regular cooking ingredients and is made in the kitchen, I guess it can be posted on this site.
I’m not going to lie about it, yesterday I badly needed some play dough. Never mind why, sometimes a grown man can have a dire need for play dough! Being Sunday and all, I couldn’t just go to the store and buy any of the stuff, so I decided I’d make some myself. The recipe is really simple and it uses ingredients you probably already have. This play dough is great for kids, as it is totally non-toxic.
Ingredients
2 cups of flour
2 cups of warm water
1 cup of salt
2 tbsp of oil
Mix all the ingredients in a pan on low heat and keep stirring until the dough doesn’t feel sticky anymore. You are looking for the consistency of mashed potatoes, make sure you cook it long enough or it will be sticky.
With the basic, off-white, play dough done, you can now take little portions of it and knead in some food coloring.
That’s all there is to it! Now, the only thing missing is the authentic Play-Doh smell. I never really liked the smell, but I know a lot of people love it. If you want to make your home made play dough smell like Play-Doh, there is a solution for you: just mix in some Play-Doh fragrance!
I’m not sure your play dough will be non-toxic after adding it though. The thing I find most disturbing about this product is this: the fragrance is not supposed to be used in your home made play dough. The directions read:
Gently spray on pulse points of neck, wrists, and décolleté.
What the hell is your date going to think when you show up reeking like Play-Doh???
Potato pancakes
Oh, the childhood memories… My grandmother used to make the best potato pancakes when I was a little boy. She always had to make me some, whenever we went over to visit my grandparents, and I would always help her.
Potato pancakes are really easy to make and only require a few ingredients. They can be the whole meal, or you can serve them with meat and veggies. We always eat them just with applesauce.
Ingredients:
1 kilo potatoes
2 big onions
2 eggs
2 cups of rolled oats
Salt
Pepper
Peel and wash the potatoes, peel the onions and cut into quarters. Use a food processor to turn the potatoes and unions into a thick batter. Stir in the eggs, rolled oats and some salt and pepper.
Make the pancakes by dropping a tablespoon full of batter into a well oiled hot frying pan and use the back of the spoon to spread out the batter. I love to use my cast iron skillet to bake pancakes, there’s no other pan that even comes close. Fry on both sides on medium heat until golden brown.
Best served with cold apple sauce!
Chinese cabbage with potatoes
Chinese cabbage is a very versatile vegetable. As the name suggests, you will find this vegetable widely used in Chinese cuisine, often used in stir fried dishes. There are many western dishes that can use Chinese cabbage as a replacement for various ingredients. Recipes that call for chicory or endive can be made with Chinese cabbage, but it can also be eaten raw, like lettuce. I tried a dish that I normally make with endive and I think the Chinese cabbage was a pretty good replacement.
Ingredients:
1 Chinese cabbage
Potatoes
Peel and dice your potatoes and cook in salted water for about 10 – 15 minutes. You want to use about the same amount of potatoes as you would normally eat. Cut the cabbage in quarters and remove the hard middle part. Chop the cabbage into 3 cm wide strips and add to the boiling potatoes. Pour of the water after 2 minutes and your Chinese cabbage with potatoes is done. To make it a bit richer, you can add some baked bacon to the mix.
Serve with gravy and brats or meatballs.
Venison ragout
Red deer meat is a traditional holiday dish ingredient in our family. This year I made some venison ragout.
Ingredients
500 grams red deer meat
½ tsp pepper
2 tbsp flour
1 big onion
0,5 liter red wine
2 bay leaves
2 whole dried cloves
6 whole black peppercorns
150 grams crème fraîche
1 tsp sweet paprika
Canned sweet lingonberries
Cut the meat into 3cm big cubes and roll in flour and pepper mixture. Heat about 4 tbsp of oil in a big frying pan and brown the meat at a high temperature. Add chopped onion, when the onion starts to color, add wine and spices. Cook on low heat with a lid for about 2 hours. When the meat is soft, take it out with a fork and pour the sauce through a sieve. Add the crème fraîche and bring to a boil, if the sauce is too thick, you can add a little water or wine. Add the meat to the sauce and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Serve with red cabbage, rice or potatoes and a tablespoon of lingonberries.
Fruity red wines like Pinot noir or Beaujolais are nice with this dish.
Chicken and fruit salad
Here’s an easy recipe for chicken and fruit salad. It is a great side dish for a BBQ or it can be served with toast or crackers when watching a movie or having company over. This dish can be prepared ahead of time, in fact it should be kept in the fridge overnight to allow the flavors to melt together.
Ingredients
Chicken breast filet
Canned mandarin
Canned pineapple
Mayonnaise
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Start by frying the chicken breast in a pan, it should be slightly over-cooked to the point where it almost falls apart. You can also use turkey breast filet or leftover turkey meat for this. After the meat has cooled down, cut it into small pieces. Prepare the dressing by mixing mayonnaise with a little salt, sugar and lots of freshly ground pepper.
Add the chicken meat and cut up mandarin parts and pineapple. Use about one part mandarins and one part pineapple to two parts chicken meat. If the mixture is too dry, you can add a little of the juice from the canned fruits. Put everything into an airtight container and store in the fridge overnight.
Amazon Holiday Markdowns
Amazon currently has some amazing holiday markdowns. If you have a food lover in your family and didn’t find the right Christmas present for them yet, now is your chance. Here are some of my favorite items currently on sale.
Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized 12-Inch Everyday Pan with Lid
Constructed of heavy-gauge hard-anodized aluminum for superior heat conductivity. Patented stay-cool cast-stainless-steel handles. Stick- and scratch-resistant surface; dome-shaped hard-anodized lid ideal for moist-heat cooking. Oven-safe up to 450 degrees F. Lifetime warranty.
This pan has a list price of $168 but is now on sale for $19.99, thats a 88% discount!
Pinzon Matte Chrome-Plated Corkscrew and Foil Cutter Set
Striking, easy-to-use, powerful device pulls wine cork in 3 seconds. Chrome-plated opener with steel gear mechanism and Teflon-coated corkscrew. Squeeze-and-twist foil cutter strips away foil covering cork. Opens one-thousand bottles in its lifetime.
The normal list price is $60 and it is now on sale for $17.17, a 71% discount!
This would make a perfect gift for any wine lover.
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Wusthof Classic Hollow-Ground Santoku
Originally from Japan, this knife is quickly finding a following among American chefs. The curvature of the cutting edge offers great opportunity for rocking the blade while slicing and dicing. An excellent choice for cutting vegetables and meats into slices or cubes. This blade can cut paper thin slices, a great benefit to those who adore sushi and sashimi and the hollows within the blade keep food from sticking to it.
This knife just got marked down 43% and can be ordered for only $79.95
Euro Pro KP300H Triple-Scoop Ice-Cream Maker
Turn your home into an ice cream shop! Make three kinds of ice cream at the same time and treat everyone to their favorite! Euro-Pro ice cream maker has three canisters that let you make a variety of the world’s best ice cream, sorbet and frozen yogurt with no mess, no fuss and in no time! There’s nothing like homemade ice cream. And thanks to Euro-Pro making it is as easy as pouring in the ingredients and flipping a switch.
This ice cream maker has a list price of $99.99 but is now on sale for $32.21, a 68% discount!
Chef’s Secret 5-Ply Stainless-Steel Griddle with Glass Lid
5-ply surgical stainless steel round griddle with see-thru glass lid. Ideal for pancakes, hamburgers, chicken pieces, or other favorites. This 5-ply stainless steel round griddle by Precise Heat has superior technology to cook quickly and evenly. Measures 13 1/2 inches with 2 helper handles. Comes with a lifetime warranty.
This griddle has a list price of $88.95 but is now on sale for only $39.97, that’s a 55% discount.
But there are tons more items on sale, have a look at the complete list of over 3,500 items!
Still didn’t find the right gift? There is always the option to give a Gift Card
Salmon Teriyaki
I really love Japanese cuisine. A lot of Japanese dishes are very simple and don’t require many ingredients. It’s these simple dishes, that don’t use herbs or spices, I like most, because of their pure flavors. Japanese soy sauce is often the only seasoning used and it gives the dishes the distinct Japanese taste. Because of the simple dishes I often wonder if a Japanese chef should really be called a cook, they are much more artists that have really perfected the ways to present food.
After I had a chat with Robert-Gilles the other day, I couldn’t stop thinking about salmon teriyaki. This is one of my all time favorite Japanese dishes and it is one of those really simple to make ones. When looking for teriyaki recipes, you will find many different versions. I like the most basic one, which is probably also the most authentic. Here’s how I put salmon teriyaki on the table in about 5 minutes:
Ingredients:
Japanese soy sauce
Mirin
Sake
Salmon filets
Wash the salmon filets under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Rub some sunflower oil onto the filets and place in a hot frying pan. Cooked salmon is very fragile, so you don’t want to turn the filet over more than once. You can see the side of the salmon filets change color when being cooked, so you can see when it’s time to flip it over. After frying the second side for a bit, turn down the heat to medium and pour some soy sauce, mirin and sake over the filets. I like to use about 3 parts soy sauce, 2 parts mirin and 2 parts sake, but you can experiment with the ratios to get the taste to your liking. Let the sauce cook a bit, until it has reduced to about half of its original volume.
Carefully place the salmon filets on plates and pour a little of the teriyaki sauce over them. The fish can be served with rice, but I like to serve it by itself. This makes a great late night snack!
