10 Cooking Class Tips with a Splash

Went to a cooking show last night and it was so much fun. The cooking demonstrator onstage created 10 different recipes over two hours, including appetizers, entrees and desserts:

APPETIZERS
Fall Harvest Salad
Smoked Salmon & Chives Cheesecake (also great as a party food)

PARTY FOODS & MUNCHIES
Snickerdoodle Chex® mix
Fresh fruit centerpiece

ENTREES
Cheesy Vegetable Chowder (smaller portions make a good appetizer, too)
Stuffed Manicotti with Spicy Sausage & Fresh Marinara Sauce
Mini Kentucky Hot Browns (can also be party food)
Stuffed Flank Steak Santa Fe

DESSERTS
Caramel Apple Twist (also great for breakfast)
Harlequin Cake

10 GREAT COOKING TIPS
The cooking demonstrator also offered several helpful tips that I am passing along to you:

1. Use 7-Up beverage instead of lemon juice to keep chopped apples from browning. (It has to be 7-Up; other lemon-lime drinks don’t do as well.)

2. Snip fresh herbs inside a plastic cup with kitchen shears to hasten clean-up.

3. Use stretchable silicone bands instead of string to truss a bird or stuffed steak.

4. Use slow cooker liners to avoid scrubbing. They are found on the plastic wrap aisle in the supermarket.

5. A wet paper towel underneath a thin flexible plastic cutting surface will help keep the cutting board from sliding on a polished counter.

6. Decorate food with chocolate leaves for fall; paint melted chocolate over washed fresh leaves and put in refrigerator. Peel chocolate off when leaves are cold. Use as garnish.

7. Try Head Chef cooking utensils for kids. They are adorable.

8. When oil and vinegar don’t stay mixed, use an emulsifier (such as cream) to blend and bind the two together so they won’t separate. Use equal parts oil and vinegar (1/4 cup each) and add twice the half-and-half (1/2 cup). Shake.

9. To make buttermilk when you don’t have any, measure one tablespoon vinegar and then fill up the same measuring cup with enough milk to equal one cup. Refrigerate. You should have homemade buttermilk in about 15 minutes.

10. Freeze cake lightly to cut down on crumbs getting mixed up in the frosting.
Wouldn’t you know it. Ruth came with me to the cooking show and was so enthralled by the onstage cooking production that she neglected to visit the ladies room until it was almost too late.  She was in a bit of a hurry once inside the single restroom, but got sidetracked by a puzzling development: she had no place to put her purse! (Oh my, never on the dirty floor!!)  There was a large pedestal sink, no hooks anywhere, and no drop-down panel for packages. What to do?

Nearly desperate for relief, Ruth flung her purse into the sink and proceeded about her business. All of a sudden, the automatic water faucet cheerily filled her purse with several measures of water.

Shall we say Ruth certainly made a splash?

Happy cookbooking,

Erin

About Erin Miller

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