The 'How to Cook' Blog

Breakfast should be fun! Experiment with tasty flavors and check and see what you have in your pantry. When I think of making pancakes, I check to see what kind of fruit we have on hand. Today, I chose dried sour cherries to make breakfast more exciting! Type: Breakfast Serve With: Damson Plum Syrup Prep Time: 8 minutes Cook Time: 12 minutes Yield: 8 large pancakes Pancake Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour –  [ Read More ]

I always love making fish cakes in a pinch because they’re quick, easy and fun to make because you can be creative with the ingredients you have on hand! Tonight, this was our midnight snack while we’re watching scary movies on the TV! LOL Type: Seafood Recipe Serve With: Horseradish Cream Sauce Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 12 min Yield: 6 cakes Crab Cake Ingredients: 170g can crab meat  [ Read More ]

Jerk chicken is a fun recipe to try to cook! It seems like a lot of ingredients to add, but typically they’re all sitting in your pantry already. Adding “this and that”, you’re going to look like a real pro in the kitchen! LOL…and the flavor will surprise you! Try it! Type: Chicken Recipe Serve With: Rice and peas Prep Time: 15 min + overnight marinating time Yield: Enough to  [ Read More ]

I typically make traditional flavor whipped cream, but today, I wanted it to be a bit fancier! Also, my father always used to put some of the whipped cream into his coffee during dessert and I never wanted to change the flavor. None of us drink coffee now, so I can play around with flavors a bit more! If you’ve never made your own whipped cream at home, you have  [ Read More ]

Don’t worry…Many people don’t know what it means to scald milk. In fact, it’s somewhat of an outdated practice unless you’re a serious baker. However, there was a reason why scalding milk was important back in the day. Firstly, it killed any potentially harmful bacteria that was in the milk. Secondly, it destroyed enzymes that keep milk from thickening in recipes. Nowadays, scalding is unnecessary because pasteurization of the milk  [ Read More ]

I wanted to bake these yesterday to eat with our turkey sandwiches, but better late than never. Everyone still wanted regular leftovers yesterday anyway! LOL These are a healthier version of buns made with all white flour, although you may make them with all white flour or bread flour. Type: Bread Recipe Serve With: Softened butter or when making roasted turkey sandwiches Prep Time: 15 min, 1 hr 20 min  [ Read More ]

Felt like doing something a bit differently this year for cranberry sauce – just a bit of a kick without alarming anyone the family that’s extremely traditional…mom…LOL This kicked it up just a bit for the rest of us and kept mom happy at the same time! Type: Sauce Recipe Serve With: Christmas or Thanksgiving Dinner Prep Time: 3 min Cook Time: 12 min Yield: 2 1/2 cups sauce Ingredients:  [ Read More ]

Don’t these muffins sound sinful? Well, they’re not very sinful…In fact, they’re kind of healthy. I use a whole wheat flour base instead of all-purpose flour, and add some nutritious ingredients that get “hidden” so that your family won’t even know they’re healthier for them! LOL Type: Muffin Recipe Serve With: Milk & Enjoy! Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 20-22 mins Yield: 12 large muffins Ingredients: 2 cups whole  [ Read More ]

There aren’t many things tastier to eat than roasted garlic. If you’ve never tried it, you’ll be so happy when you do. Not only is it fantastic for adding to other recipes, but it’s delicious all by itself. Plus, it’s really easy to do. Try it! Type: How To Cook Serve With: spread on bread, in potato recipes or anywhere else you use garlic Prep Time: 2 min Cook Time:  [ Read More ]

Funny…No one felt like pie this Canadian Thanksgiving. So, instead, I used this as an opportunity to play around with a dessert for our feast. Everyone in the family loves Chai flavors, so I tried to enhance our pumpkin spices with a bit of Indian flair adding cardamom. Then, well, alcohol enhances flavor and I used brandy for this recipe as it reminds me of the Holidays. Try this –  [ Read More ]

Looking for a healthier alternative to the traditional banana bread? Here it is made with whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, plus a few extras that will boost the nutritional value. The freshly sliced strawberries put a twist on basic, boring banana bread by using a classic combination. Enjoy! . Type: Bread Recipe Serve With: Milk & Enjoy! Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 40-50 min Yield: 1 loaf  [ Read More ]

Last year, I finally tried brining our turkey for the first time. We were all so very impressed that we said we’d never do it any other way again! Not only does brining impart fabulous flavor into your bird, but it makes it so much juicier as well. What we also noticed was that the turkey browned so much more evenly and more easily. I’m brining our turkey tonight and  [ Read More ]

Fejoida is the national dish of Brazil. It is a stew that has pork, pork and more pork in it and is traditionally eaten with white rice, cooked greens and slices of fresh orange. This is a peasant-style dish that the slaves of Colonial Brazil created using parts & pieces of pork the farmers discarded such as the ears, feet or hocks, and tail; however, today, other delicious forms of  [ Read More ]

We had a marvelous dinner tonight and I wanted to make a dessert that wouldn’t overwhelm us with sweetness. In fact, no one really felt like anything sweet tonight. I came up with this recipe on a whim and it was the perfect end to our meal – Just sweet enough and still somewhat healthy! Try my recipe for Buckwheat Sour Cherry Muffins with Honey Glaze…They were really delicious! Type:  [ Read More ]