Cooking Archives • Reviews by Kathy

Flavor Your Life Virtual Influencer Event Review

June 6, 2021 Leave a Comment

It isn’t every day you get to attend a virtual event that features both Alissa Mattei and Riccardo Zanni, but I recently was invited to participate, thanks to Flavor Your Life and Mom’s Meet and it was just as fun as I imagined!

Alissa Mattei – Alissa Mattei is an organic chemist, professional taster, recipe developer, and consultant. She has published numerous scientific articles and patents, has worked as a consultant for a multitude of companies and associations, and has organized tastings and scientific courses around the world. Additionally, she writes recipes from Tuscany and other Italian regions that incorporate olive oil. Today, she is the President of the Knoil Association, a non-profit who shares the culture of extra virgin olive oil, as well as an AIFO panel leader.

I loved watching Alissa sharing how recipes work together to make amazing dishes. I can’t wait to try some of her recipes she was so knowledgeable and informative.

Riccardo Zanni – Chef Zanni has four generations of cooking experience from his family, which has owned a restaurant since 1934. His experience includes working in a Michelin star restaurant and managing the food business at the Grand Hotel Palace of Rome (five luxury stars). He has traveled all over the world, cooking traditional Italian dishes and learning other cooking styles. Chef Zanni has taught cooking in Italy since 2005, including at the European Bachelor of The Cordon Bleu in Florence. Currently, he serves as the chef of Bonifiche Ferraresi, one of the largest agricultural producers in Italy.

Riccardo is so creative in the kitchen, his world travel makes him fun to watch while he is creating masterpieces. I was excited to try the extra virgin olive oil he used while demonstrating some of his recipes. His food looked amazing! I learned to cook olive oil on a low temperature to ensure the flavor stays in the ingredients!

Some information about the Flavor Your Life Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil is made by pressing olive oil, without heat or chemicals; it’s known as the first cold pressed olive oil.
● Olive oils are tested for peroxide values. Lower values indicate fresher oil and more rapid processing.
● Extra virgin olive oil is virtually free of acidity—below 0.8%. If the percentage of oleic acid (fatty acid) is too high, it indicates improper production and rancidity.
● A panel of trained, expert tasters tests for taste defects and the presence of positive attributes of fruitiness, bitterness, and spiciness. If the oil doesn’t have the signature fruity taste and harmonious balance, it won’t receive an Extra Virgin rating.
● Extra virgin olive oil has a high smoking point of 400°F, so it is suitable for cooking and baking.
● Between use, store your oil somewhere dark and cool (around 57°F, if possible), not on the counter or near a stove, and never in the refrigerator. Keep the lid screwed on tight, and use your oil within six months of opening.

About Le Stagioni d’ Italia

● Le Stagioni d’ Italia takes great pride in bringing authentic Italian foods from seed to

shelf, selecting seeds, harvesting crops, and packaging foods in their state-of-the-art

production facilities in Northern Italy.

● Le Stagioni d’ Italia’s short, fully traceable supply chain is guaranteed sustainable and the

great care they take with processing creates exceptional taste.

● 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the first cold pressed olive oil from the first round

of extraction of fresh, intact olives—it has not been heated during processing, so it retains

its full nutritional value.

● Harvested in Italy, it is vegan, gluten free, and contains no additives or preservatives.

● It has a robust flavor of artichoke and almond, with a medium bitter and spicy aftertaste,

as well as a green, ripe, fruity aroma with a leafy feel.

● 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil typically retails for $19.99 for a 500 mL bottle.

After attending the event I felt more confident in trying these amazing ingredients and making a dish. I made a deer sausage, squash and rice dish that was amazing!

Add one link sausage (I used deer sausage).

Add three squash, I cut up small,

1/2 onion &

season with Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

For the rice I used Le Stagioni d’ Italia.

This was the best, whitest, greatest textured rice I have ever tried!

The end result!

I can’t wait to try more recipes using this amazing Flavor Your Life ingredients!

“I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com) to use and post my honest opinions.

Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.”

Filed Under: Cooking Tagged With: Alissa Mattei, cooking, deer sausage, extra virgin olive oil, Flavor Your Life Virtual Influencer Event, Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Le Stagioni d’ Italia, Recipe, restaurant, Riccardo Zanni, rice, white rice

Fun Desserts To Make For Your Family This Weekend

June 3, 2020 Leave a Comment

Image

What better way to make life more exciting in lock down than create some great recipes?

We all love a good sweet treat now and again, and even when you are trying to be healthy, all things come in moderation and a treat now and again is worth the effort.

Today we want to share some amazing sweet treat recipes with you that will have to begging for more this weekend. Whether you are seeing family for the first time in months or still holding out a while longer, these recipes will be a showstopper for the table!

Profiterole tower (croquembouche)

Croquembouche is a classic french recipe and it is one that is always a hit with everyone. It is more commonly known as a tower of profiteroles and is easier than you think to create.

These are baked and then covered with a sugar caramel, but you can also use isomalt. Take a look at how isomalt is used in cake decorating.

Ingredients:

75g strong white bread flour

50g butter

2tbsp sugar

2 eggs

300ml double cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

150g Melted dark chocolate

150g caramel or isomalt

To create the choux pastry for this dish you will first need to heat up the butter in a pan until it melts. Add the flour and allow it to cook out to create a roux.
Take off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add beaten eggs and sugar and beat into a smooth pastry. Add to a piping bag.
Grease a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 190C.
Pipe small circles of pastry onto the baking sheet; using a damp finger to press down the peak on top. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and risen. Allow to cool.
Whip your double cream and add vanilla to sweeten. Using a thin nozzle piping bag, pipe into the profiteroles. Drizzle on some chocolate and Chill.
To create your tower, dip each profiterole in caramel or isomalt and tower on top of each other. You can finish the dish with a drizzle of caramel around the tower.

White chocolate and raspberry cupcakes

Cupcakes are a simple dish but always a pleasure for everyone in the family.

Ingredients:

175 g butter

175 g self-raising flour

175 g caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

3 large eggs

Dash of milk

100g white chocolate chips

50g fresh raspberries

3 tbsp raspberry jam

280g icing sugar

140g butter (additional)

White chocolate shavings

In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until it is light and creamy. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
Add flour and baking powder and fold gently. Add milk chocolate chips and 1 tbsp raspberry jam.
Preheat an oven to 190C and scoop mixture into cupcake tins. Bake for 15 minutes.
Mix together your icing sugar and butter until smooth and light. Add the remaining raspberry jam and mix lightly to create a marble effect.
Add to a piping bag with a nozzle and pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Top with a fresh raspberry and a shaving of white chocolate.

Filed Under: Cooking Tagged With: baking, cooking, Decorating, dessert, healthy, recipes

Looking For Catering Crockery Supplies For A Party

February 17, 2020 Leave a Comment

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If you are hosting a party or an event then you will inevitably want to put on an amazing day and ensure that everybody who is there has a fantastic time. There are so many elements which go into a party and it is not easy organizing and planning one.

You need to think about what food and drink to supply, where to host it, who to invite, what music to play and if any other form of entertainment is needed… the list is simply endless. If you carefully pre plan every aspect of the party then you are assured to have it sorted for the big day and it will all feel extremely worthwhile in the end when everybody leaves satisfied and impressed.

One of the things you need to consider when organizing a party is where to get your catering crockery from. This is something which is often overlooked and simply forgotten about, I cannot tell you how many times people throwing a bash have forgotten to sort out some tableware and have ended up stuck in a bit of a rut.

I suppose it is one of those things that you assume is always there so it can easily be forgotten about, but it can obviously cause a massive problem in the end as no one wants to go to a party to be eating their food with their hands. Of course, with finger buffets, including treats like those from esprovisions.com, less cutlery is going to be needed, and so this is definitely a good idea.

There are certain things you should look for when you are deciding where to get your catering crockery from in order to ensure that you get the best there is out there. After all, you want every element of your party to be perfect.

First and foremost, the most obvious aspect you need to consider is price. Nobody wants to cause a massive dent in their bank balance so I am certainly not going to advise you to go for the most expensive crockery available. Nevertheless, I also would not advise to go for the cheapest either as you run a massive risk of a lack of quality and you do not want your party to appear tacky. The best thing to do is go for something in the mid price range.

You should also go for a company which has had a lot of experience in the industry and has been running for several years. This shows that they have vast experience and knowledge of dealing with all types of parties and clients and thus you can rest assured that they will have the capacity to help you. I would also recommend that you do a little bit of background research online to see if previous clients have been happy with the service they have received. You will be able to gage an idea of whether people seem altogether happy about their experience or if people are warning you to try somewhere else.

If you put in a little bit of thought along the way I am sure your party will run a lot smoother – Good luck and enjoy your day!

Filed Under: Cooking Tagged With: catering, crockery, cutlery, Organize, plan, price

4 Kitchen Hacks To Bring More Flavor To Your Cooking

February 13, 2020 Leave a Comment

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It’s always good to find new ways of adding flavor to your cooking. You don’t have to be a chef to figure out how to add little bits of flavor here and there. In fact, it can be much easier than you think. Below, I’ve listed some of my favorite hacks to upgrade all of your dishes. Whether you’re cooking in the kitchen or putting on a BBQ for guests, these tips will help everything taste that little bit nicer!

Season sauces with table salt

Initially, this sounds like an obvious thing! However, there are two types of salt; table salt and rock salt. The rock salt is less finely ground and usually comes in one of those twisty salt shakers. When you add this to sauces or stews, it basically does nothing. You won’t add any extra flavor, so it’s a waste. By contrast, table salt is perfect for seasoning. It’s absorbed into the food, bringing out all the little flavors. Save the rock salt for seasoning salads or things that aren’t being cooked!

Switch to meat on the bone

Most people prefer to cook meat off the bone. This means you’re cooking chicken breast all the time, mainly because you don’t want to deal with the bone. However, when meat is on the bone, it has more flavor. It gets this from the bone itself, and it also tends to hold onto more juices. Next time you cook some chicken, think about trying oven baked chicken thighs instead of pan-fried chicken breasts. You’ll be amazed at the difference in flavors! You’re essentially cooking the same thing, but the different methods and cut of chicken will transform it into a flavor party.

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Use vegetables that are in season

An effortless tip that will make your meals tastier and add some extra diversity to your cooking. Pick whatever vegetables are in season, and you will instantly have more flavor in your food. When something is out of season, it never tastes as nice. They’re not as fresh, the flavors aren’t as powerful as they can be, and it’s a bit of a letdown. By contrast, the in-season veg is so fresh, so flavorsome, and so colorful. My advice is to pick the in-season veg, then make a meal around it!

Don’t rush it

We’re all guilty of wanting super quick meals that take a few minutes to make. However, when you rush through the cooking process, things don’t taste anywhere near as good as they could. Instead, take it easy – allow more time for flavors to develop. A good example of this is when you’re cooking a curry, and you add the spices. Let them cook off for at least five minutes to release all their flavors before adding in the liquid ingredients. Use this principle with all types of dishes – turn the heat down slightly to cook for a bit longer. The meal can still be cooked within 30 minutes, but you get way more flavor than if you rushed it in 15.

See, these hacks are so simple and require almost no culinary skills at all! Make a few little alterations to your cooking style, and you’ll create far more flavorsome foods.

Filed Under: Cooking Tagged With: BBQ, develop, flavors, kitchen, recipes, Sauces

It’s Always BBQ Time!

October 9, 2019 Leave a Comment

Summer has gone, and with it, the joys of outdoor living. For a few months, families enjoy the pleasure of a long evening in the garden, feeling the warmth of the sun as they prepare their dinner outside. Everybody loves a good BBQ party. There’s a sudden sense of freedom about food that no other cooking method can reproduce. Grilling your food outside is all about conviviality, simplicity, and healthy choices too. Indeed, people are more likely to create balanced dinners that focus on the real taste of food when they’re in front of a BBQ. Simple food is always the best! Unfortunately, now that the summer has gone, you can wave bye-bye to your beloved BBQ recipes. But what if we’d tell you that it’s always BBQ season?

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But it’s raining outside!

How can you prepare a BBQ party in autumn, when the rain can fall without warning? The answer is: You don’t need to plan an outdoor meal. You can use an indoor, smokeless grill, for instance. Gotham has some excellent models that are guaranteed to meet your expectations – you can click here for more Gotham smokeless grill reviews. Indeed, grilling remains a viable cooking option throughout the colder months of the year. While you might need to move the BBQ indoor, nothing is stopping you from enjoying the same effortless recipes you loved during the summer.

It’s unhealthy!

You are always in charge of your food. While the summer BBQ tends to stay on the healthy side, because of the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables in summer, things can be a little different in winter. However, all you need to do is to take a look at what you’re eating. Making nutritious meals your priority can help to tackle indulgent excesses in winter BBQ parties. For instance, if you’re going to make burgers, you can prioritize wholemeal buns. Alternatively, if you’re worried about sugar-loaded sauces, you can easily add flavors to your food with spices instead.

I don’t eat meat

You don’t have to be an enthusiastic meat-eater to throw a BBQ party. In fact, there are plenty of yummy vegetarian grilling recipes from cooking light here, for inspiration. Grilled eggplant, for instance, is super nutritious and filling too. If you want a meat substitute, tofu works well on a grill and is ideal with a salad of warmed vegetables. For a casual pick and mix dish, use grilled sweet potatoes with a homemade salsa – and don’t be shy with the chilies!

There’s so much to prepare!

There’s no reason why planning a BBQ meal should be the job of one person. The advantage of grilling your food is that everybody can contribute to the meal and help to get things ready. You can enroll the kids to prepare a marinate for your veg and meat, for instance. Once the ingredients are cut, you can let your family pick and mix them as they see fit. A BBQ party is the occasion for the family cook to relax!

If you’re missing your summer BBQ party, there’s still plenty of ways to enjoy a deliciously grilled dinner at home, even when the weather is horrible outside. More importantly, a BBQ can be fun, relaxing, and healthy, so there’s no reason to deny yourself the joys of winter grilling!

Filed Under: Cooking Tagged With: BB!, Cook out, food, healthy

Ling Ling Beef and Noodles & Asian Kitchen Giveaway Chicken Breast Noodles Recipe

November 14, 2017 Leave a Comment

This post was sponsored by Ling Ling, all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

This week we decided to try the Ling Ling Drunken Noodles with Chicken from Walmart. After falling in love with their fried rice meals, we knew this would be a hit and it did not disappoint!

We live 45 miles from nowhere so eating any type of Asian food usually means a two-hour round trip and having cold food by the time we get home. Ling Ling has saved me from reheating meals. These meals are quick and easy to prepare for those families on the go, yet so delish you will think you are eating out!! Since finding them at Walmart, you know you are paying the most reasonable prices.

The new Ling Ling Fried Rice line with five unique dishes based on pure and authentic Asian inspired recipes from Japan, China, Korea and Thailand.

Yakitori Chicken
Yakiniku Beef
Thai-Style Chicken
Chinese-Style Vegetable
Bibimbap Beef

And also, Asian Entrees, Ling Ling Noodles and Dumplings – also based on authentic Asian inspired recipes from across the region

Two Noodle varieties: Chicken Yakisoba, Drunken Noodles with Chicken
Two Dumpling varieties: Chicken Dumplings in Chili Sauce and Pork Dumplings in Chili Sauce

Baked Chicken Noodles Recipe

Take raw chicken and sauté it with olive oil, salt, pepper and kale!

Cook on medium heat until completely done.

Cook the Ling Ling Noodles as directed on the box and add the chicken on top.

This makes an amazing meal when you had bread and a salad!

You can find them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/LingLingAsianKitchen/

I love offering giveaways to my followers, great chance to win a Walmart gift card right before Christmas time!! There is a one in ten chance to win.

Enter for a chance to win by completing one of the actions below to be entered into the contest to win one of ten (10) $100 Walmart Gift Cards.

Prize: 1 of 10 $100 Walmart Gift Cards

Dates: November 10 – 22, 2017

Ling Ling Asian Kitchen Giveaway

I-C will randomly select winners from all program entries and will facilitate fulfillment of the winning prizes

Filed Under: Cooking, Giveaway

6 Hacks All The Best Home Cooks Swear By

August 29, 2017 Leave a Comment

When it comes to creating delicious meals for you and your family to enjoy, it’s not always easy to get it right. That being said, it can become easier, if you take note of what the pros say, that is. Have you ever eaten in a restaurant where the kitchen is in full view of the diners? Well, if you have, you will have seen how efficiently a team of skilled chefs can operate amongst the chaos of a busy kitchen. This is known in the industry as choreographed chaos, because although it looks like total madness from the outside, it is in fact well organized with the entire team moving as one well-oiled machine, and that is what every kitchen should be like.

Want to ensure that your home cooking is the best that it could possibly be? Then take note of the six hacks below that all of the very best chefs swear by, and implement them in your own kitchen.

Source for photo

Learn to season your own food

Don’t rely on sachet mixes for meals. Instead, learn how to season your own food. Invest in a spice rack for your kitchen and fill it with all of the herbs and spices that are most commonly used in cooking. These should include salt, pepper, oregano, basil, mixed herbs, allspice, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, garam masala, and turmeric. These are just a few of the herbs and spices that every home cook needs to make healthy and delicious meals from scratch.

Invest in quality tools

They say that a poor workman blames his tools, but when it comes to cooking, the tools that you have are vital. If you are cooking with old pots and pans, your food may burn onto them as you cook. If your knives aren’t sharp enough, it may take longer than necessary to prepare meals. That’s why it’s worth browsing websites like Stone Frying Pans to look for new cooking tools, such as new knives, for instance, to ensure that you are able to make preparing your food as quick and easy as possible. To be able to prepare your meals easily, good quality cooking tools are vital.

Freeze bases for busy days

To make cooking on busy days easier, it is worth making up some sauce bases in advance and freezing them. Sauce bases are easy to make and also great to freeze. Make up a batch of basic tomato sauce bases that can be used for all manner of dishes, from curries and stews to soups and pasta dishes, then when you go to prepare a meal, you already have a base made up. For adding extra flavor to bases, freeze olive oil in ice cube trays and add flavors to them, such as garlic, and herbs like basil and rosemary, so that you can add an ice cube of frozen flavor to the pan as your sauce bases defrosted.

Experiment

Don’t be afraid to experiment in the kitchen. When it comes to your cooking, be brave and experiment with your meals. Take a recipe that you have made many times before and find little ways to change it up. The fact is that all the best cooks experiment with their food, to find ways to improve it, so don’t be afraid to experiment with your own cooking.

Taste as you go

The biggest mistake that you can make in the kitchen is failing to taste your food as you go. As you cook each dish, make sure to use a clean spoon to taste it. This will allow you to ensure that it is well seasoned and has all of the flavors that it needs.

Your slow cooker is your best friend

Just because you have a busy day planned, that doesn’t mean that you can’t serve your family a healthy and delicious homemade meal. Utilize your slow cooker and make it your very best friend. On days when you know, it’s going to be too busy to prepare a meal when you get home, pop a few ingredients into your slow cooker in the morning so that by the evening the bulk of your meal is cooked. Just don’t forget to season the dish accordingly.

There you have it, your guide to the six hacks that all of the very best cooks swear by. Take note of these and implement them in your own cooking, and you can vastly improve the quality of the meals that you are able to make.

Filed Under: Cooking, Kitchen Reviews

7 Layer Dip, Recipe + Love One Today® Avocado Party

August 28, 2017 Leave a Comment

“This post was sponsored by Fresh Avocados – Love One Today® as part of an In-Home Party Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.”

Growing up, my mom served avocado with just about every meal we had. She loves them more than anyone I’ve met before, except maybe me. I don’t know if it was due to her influence of serving avocados so much or if it’s because I have the same cravings as she does, but like her, my kids were raised on avocados. From tacos to salads to my 7 layer dip recipe, I serve avocado’s just about daily. I even use them in my smoothies. As much as I love avocados, I equally love to host parties. Of course, I show off my favorite avocado recipes during all of my events. Some I’ve created myself and some I talked my mom out of. I’ve tried just about every avocado recipe online that I could find as well.

There are several reasons why it’s easy to get the kids to eat avocados. In fact, they were my kids first fruit. They are smooth and have a creamy consistency along with a mild taste. I would mash them up and feed them from a spoon until they were old enough to have slices of them. Like my own kids, even before I knew about the nutritional value of fresh avocados, I loved them. After learning that Avocados contribute nearly 20 nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and phytonutrients, that are important to infant/toddler nutrition, I started giving them to the kids even more often than I already was. My mom probably knew all of this when she served us avocados, but being a child, all I knew was that I loved the taste. She was counting on that when she served us meals with avocado in them. I’m sure she also knew that wholesome, fresh foods are less likely to contain added sugars, salt, and other processed ingredients.

Today I’d like to share my favorite 7 layer dip recipe with you so you can encourage your own kids to enjoy avocados. It’s sure to be a party favorite so go ahead and bookmark my post to save my recipe.

Ingredients:

5 Ripe Avocados. Use 4 in recipe and dice 1 for the top.
1 can of refried beans.
16 ounces of sour cream.
1 pack of dry taco seasoning mix.
1 to 2 lemons (need 2 teaspoons) or lemon juice.
Garlic cloves (grind 3 cloves).
Green onion (chop 3 to 4 stalks)
2- 8-ounce blocks of cheese, grated (I use mild). If you’re in a hurry, pre-grated cheese works well.
1 small can of sliced black olives.
1 medium-sized tomato diced, chunky sizes.

Instructions:

In a glass bowl spread the can of refried beans evenly along the bottom.
Combine the sour cream and the dry taco seasoning, then spread on top of the beans.
Mix the avocados with the lemon juice and garlic. Sometimes I mash them, sometimes I cube them. Add on top of the sour cream mixture.
Add the cheese, green onions, black olives and tomatoes to top it off.

Serve with Tortillas.